By Zephyria “Damn, that’s accurate.”
Sa-young slowly rose and approached the fish tank. He leaned forward, bringing his face close to the glass, and the violet eyes reflected on the blue and red surface stared back at him. If he put strength into his hands behind his back, his fingers moved accordingly. He still had control of his body.
Lee Sa-young he had faced on the desolate beach. His faded lilac eyes were unpleasant, filled with a deep sense of loss. Sa-young stared blankly at the goldfish in the tank before straightening up.
“You told J to pass on the Matthew story, right?”
“Huh? Yeah.”
“Did you meet him in person?”
“Well… yeah? I don’t have his contact information. I heard J entered a Dungeon belonging to our affiliated Guild.”
“……”
Sa-young gripped the tank, searching his mind. A few goldfish approached his hand, fluttering their fins.
Everything had been a mess since he woke up. Three months had passed since he opened his eyes, the world was drastically different, and an influential uninvited guest had taken up residence in his body. Was it because they shared the same roots, because they were both Lee Sa-young? He would lose the initiative if he relaxed even for a moment.
The only thing that kept him sane was….
‘Are you okay?’
Because Cha Eui-jae was by his side.
He tapped the tank with his finger. The goldfish opened and closed their mouths.
Memories were jumbled in his head. Separating his memories from ‘Lee Sa-young’s’ required considerable effort.
As if to prove they were the same Lee Sa-young, their thoughts were similar, they had similar memories, and the people who appeared were mostly the same. To distinguish between them, he had to play a tedious game of spot the difference every time, finding the sense of incongruity within the similar memories.
But even within the jumbled memories, there were things that were uniquely his.
White gowns moving in his blurry vision, unknown drugs constantly being injected into his body, a terrible sweetness and sweet smell, restraints that held him captive, a grotesque sensation of his skin and organs slowly melting, a splitting headache, and the days when a metallic taste of blood filled his mouth with every breath.
The nights he wandered in front of that massive cavity in the middle of the sea, a hollowed-out space with traces of the Rift. The sea smell that he was now sick of because he had smelled it for too long. The endless days of waiting for someone who would not return, the days he waited believing in a flimsy promise woven only with his fingers. And….
‘Even twins who are one minute apart can tell each other apart!’
A condescending tone and temper that didn’t suit his handsome face.
‘I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise.’
A pale, ashen face, unable to breathe properly, weighed down by guilt, unable to make eye contact.
‘…….’
The smile he wore, baring his teeth even in the face of a Monster.
The playful smile and the lips that popped out whenever he grumbled, the eyes that darted around whenever he made excuses while avoiding eye contact.
The slowly closing eyelids when they kissed, the hot, straight nape of his neck, the flushed ears. The two hands and arms wrapped around his neck.
All of that Cha Eui-jae, and the memories Cha Eui-jae gave him, belonged to Lee Sa-young.
That alone was what allowed Lee Sa-young to remain Lee Sa-young.
“Why that?”
Sa-young turned his head. Honeybee was looking at him with an anxious expression.
Should he ask? Yes. For some reason, the uninvited guest had lost Cha Eui-jae. Cha Eui-jae in that bastard’s world was dead. Afraid of being possessed, he grabbed onto Cha Eui-jae and searched through the fragmented memories, but he couldn’t find that memory.
The memory of the moment Cha Eui-jae died.
‘I need to know how he died….’
So he could at least prevent it. There was no guarantee that a death that had happened once wouldn’t happen again. There were even several ominous signs here. Bae Won-woo, who had lost his arm in the last world, felt pain in his intact arm, and Honeybee saw the faces of those who had died in the last world overlapping.
The influence of the Destroyed world, which had lost its caretaker, was growing stronger.
He was afraid of losing him again.
Sa-young gritted his teeth. Then he turned to face Honeybee completely. Sa-young leaned his back against the tank. He had to endure and accept whatever he heard. It was from the past world. He wouldn’t stand idly by like the uninvited guest. Sa-young took a small breath and tilted his head.
“On J’s face. Did you not see anything?”
“Like what, Jung-bin’s neck?”
“Yeah.”
“Come to think of it….”
“……”
“Oh, that’s right? It wasn’t there.”
“…What?”
It was an unexpected answer. Sa-young frowned. Honeybee seemed to be deep in thought, rolling her eyes and looking at the ceiling. After staring at the ceiling for a while, she muttered.
“Yeah, I really didn’t see anything. I would have remembered if I had seen it. Especially since it’s J.”
“……”
“Is it because of the mask? No…. There’s a Hunter in our Guild who wears a mask, and I could see it on him. Hmm…. Could it be that he didn’t die? It’s J, after all.”
“No.”
He blurted out the resolute words without realizing it. Honeybee, her eyes wide, frowned.
“What, how can you be so sure?”
“……”
Sa-young closed his mouth instead of answering. To be more precise, he didn’t have time to answer. In the last world, Cha Eui-jae died. But how? Why did he die?
No one had chased after J’s traces as much as Lee Sa-young had. He knew everything about the grueling campaigns J had undertaken during his three years as a Hunter. He had even seen the West Sea Rift, albeit in a terrible fragment. He had seen the mountains of bones piled up. Cha Eui-jae was the one who somehow managed to return alive even from that hellish place.
And yet he.
‘Why the hell did he die?’
Why did he die?
What killed him?
Sa-young glanced down at the tank again. For some reason, the uninvited guest was quiet even though Cha Eui-jae wasn’t by his side. He was only quiet at times like this. Sa-young twisted his lips. Not even a fragment of memory that could be a clue came to mind. There was no feeling or sensation of anything flowing in, as if the door was locked.
‘How convenient….’
Sa-young scoffed at the uninvited guest. Nevertheless, the uninvited guest remained silent. But he could understand the psychology. If he were in the same situation as the uninvited guest, he would lock away his memories as well. So that no one could see them. So that they could remain only his.
Then he heard a burst of laughter.
“Ha.”
Honeybee, who let out a short laugh, snapped in a sarcastic voice.
“See, you know something. Hey, tell me right now. I feel like I’m going crazy right now.”
“You think I don’t?”
“Oh, yeah. Congratulations!”
Thump! The table shook. Honeybee, who slammed the table, gritted her teeth.
“At some point, I started seeing Matthew bleeding and dying overlapping.”
“……”
“Ha…. I thought I was really going crazy? So I went to the Doctor and got a checkup. There’s nothing wrong with me. No curses or anything!”
She roughly swept her hair back. Even though it was covered with makeup, the dark circles under her eyes were faintly visible.
“But they say his life is in danger. That he’s addicted to some ridiculous drug. Does that make sense? Shit.”
A rough hand reached out and grabbed his collar. Sa-young looked down with a bland gaze at the hand, which was so strained that it had turned white. The calloused hand was shaking terribly.
After a while, the strength slowly drained from her grip, and Honeybee muttered.
“So…. Anything is fine, just give me the information quickly.”
“……”
“Please.”
Haa…. Sa-young let out a long sigh. He knew too well what she must be feeling right now. That’s why he felt unpleasant. Sa-young placed his gloved hand on top of the hand gripping his collar.
“Okay.”
“……”
“I’ll tell you that along with the drug information. Wait.”
“…Really?”
Honeybee raised her head sharply, then looked at him with suspicious eyes. Sa-young nodded, removing her hand.
“I keep my promises well….”
The loaded words were a bonus.
“I have some trauma related to promises.”
Over the busy footsteps, various voices and loud noises overlapped. In the middle of the bustling fish market, a young man wearing a black coat and a Gas mask was walking, his coat fluttering. People’s glances were fixed on him, but he didn’t care.
Sa-young took out his cell phone and checked the time. Quite some time had passed since they last exchanged texts. Was he doing well? Judging from the atmosphere of the merchants, it didn’t seem like anything had happened.
His gaze soon turned forward. What was guiding Sa-young now was not a person, but a bright red goldfish swimming in the air. Its fins moved languidly.
“……”
Sa-young tilted his head as he followed behind it. The goldfish was guiding him not to Rose Seafood, but in another secret direction.
How far had he drifted again? Surely he wasn’t waiting at the lost and found. Imagining Cha Eui-jae sitting alone at the lost and found with his lips sticking out a foot, his terrible mood improved a little. The corners of his lips lifted slightly.
The goldfish stopped in front of a beaded curtained door like a waiting room. A small sign was attached next to the door. Video Room. He had visited the fish market several times so far, but this was the first time he knew such a place existed.
‘What kind of scheme is this….’
Sa-young frowned as he looked at the sign. Small voices were faintly leaking from inside. The only voices he could distinguish were those of Mackerel. He grabbed the handle and burst open the door, and the first thing that greeted him was a large screen filling one wall, and the second was….
“Oh, you’re here.”
Whether he was wearing a mask or not, it was Cha Eui-jae’s distorted voice.