By Zephyria 185
“How is it? I don’t think it’ll be harmful.”
Eui-jae stared blankly at the hollow smile. In truth, he could tell her right now. Even with fragmented memories, he clearly remembered his aunt’s end. It would be a little painful, but they were as close as family.
But he had a strange feeling. If he told Director Ham Seok-jeong everything about his aunt now…
Eui-jae glanced up at her withered face. Even the little vitality she had left was gone. She looked like an elaborate wax doll.
‘Even if I tell her someday, it’s not now.’
Eui-jae deliberately shrank back and lowered his head.
“If it’s okay if it’s a little late.”
“……”
“I’m sorry, I don’t remember everything that happened inside either… I think I need some time.”
Ham Seok-jeong frowned slightly. A small emotion bloomed on her hollow face. She asked worriedly.
“Do you have problems with your memory?”
“Yes…, a little. Actually, I don’t even know how I got out of the Rift.”
“Is your body okay? Shouldn’t you get checked out?”
“No, my body is fine.”
“Okay…. That’s a relief.”
Ham Seok-jeong answered more calmly than he expected. She sighed and moved the fingers propping up her chin.
“It can’t be helped…. I’m sorry to you, but I hope you remember even a little bit. From what I hear, your experience in the West Sea Rift seems to be related to Doomsday.”
Doomsday. Eui-jae raised his head sharply. He asked urgently.
“Director, how much do you know about Doomsday?”
“I don’t have much information. I’ve only heard vague words that Doomsday will come someday. Fragmentary scenes and…. The problem is that I still don’t know when or how it will come.”
“But why do you believe in Doomsday, Director?”
“Well, an S-class told me… and thanks to Prometheus. It’s funny, though.”
Ha, Ham Seok-jeong, who let out a long sigh, rubbed her chin. Worry clouded her fierce face.
“Have you heard of Prometheus?”
“Yes. I’ve heard of it.”
“Well, you’re with the Wave Guild. Of course, you’ve heard of it.”
Damn it. Eui-jae rolled his eyes inside the mask. It wasn’t like Ham Seok-jeong wouldn’t know, but it felt strange to have it confirmed directly. It felt like he was affiliated with the Wave Guild. Ham Seok-jeong said slowly.
“Actually, I’ve known about their existence for a long time. They started moving, taking advantage of the gap in the Hunters’ power after the West Sea Rift. You wouldn’t have known.”
“There must have been a reason they revealed themselves.”
“Yes. Civilians were disappearing, and they all had in common that they were people who had been caught in Dungeons or Rifts and escaped. I immediately cooperated with the police to investigate, and at first, I thought it was human trafficking. But it was more terrible.”
The story that Nam Woo-jin had told him when he visited the Seowon Guild came to mind. The stories he had told him while walking in the forest.
‘Besides, at that time, their research wasn’t very advanced, so they took people with more unique characteristics and used them as test subjects.’
‘Unique characteristics?’
‘Yes. People who have been caught in a Rift, or have scars from Monster attacks. Anyway, special points related to the Rift. To put it bluntly, it was almost an anarchy, so it wouldn’t have been difficult to kidnap test subjects.’
Eui-jae thought of the boy who had reached out his hand, begging to be saved, as he listened to the story. Who would have known that the boy was Lee Sa-young? Who would have known that he would have suffered all kinds of hardships and experiments close to torture while he was gone?
‘But that bastard doesn’t even tell me properly….’
It would be nice if he told him directly. All the stories after he entered the Rift were being told to him by others. It was extremely annoying.
‘I want to know everything.’
Eui-jae tapped the floor with his foot. Ham Seok-jeong leaned back against the backrest and continued.
“At the time, they didn’t even have such a grand name. It was just a group of losers who felt inferior because they weren’t chosen by the System, couldn’t become Awakened, and crazy people who were obsessed with the desire to create and explore Awakened with their own hands. Besides, they were extremely few.”
“……”
“If I had left them alone, they would have disappeared on their own. Without achieving anything.”
Eui-jae recalled the conversation he had with Hong Ye-seong, who had possessed Cluck’s body. ‘Hong Ye-seong,’ who had watched the first and second worlds, reacted indifferently when asked about Prometheus.
‘Well, that’s because they didn’t leave any special traces in my world. I’ve only seen such a grand name in Greek and Roman mythology read in comics.’
In the first and second worlds, they would have disappeared on their own as Ham Seok-jeong said. They wouldn’t have even made their names known. However. A frustrated look began to appear in Ham Seok-jeong’s voice.
“But at some point, they became corrupted. Those who would have been broken and disappeared on their own had a clear purpose.”
“To prevent Doomsday…?”
“Yes. Instead of the Awakened chosen by the System, let’s create Awakened with our own hands and prevent Doomsday. Doomsday must be prevented by human power…. It’s quite a grand purpose. It sounds like pie in the sky.”
“……”
“Someone said that Prometheus has a Seer.”
“A Seer?”
“They say they know what’s going to happen in the future…. Ha, that’s ridiculous.”
“……”
“Misguided knowledge and beliefs are the most terrifying. In reality, they don’t have the ability to do anything, but they can rationalize everything with just one belief. They make the impossible possible.”
Ham Seok-jeong closed her eyes in annoyance. Eui-jae racked his brain. Even Yoon Ga-eul can’t see the future. She only looks into fragments of the already Destroyed world, the past. Judging from Ga-eul’s case, Prometheus’s Seer doesn’t see the future, but….
‘Isn’t he applying past experiences to the future?’
But this world is heading in a completely different direction from the past two worlds. There are more than one or two differences from the past. The West Sea Rift, the 8-year gap, Prometheus, Lee Sa-young, who was kidnapped and used as a test subject….
‘Still….’
When and in what form Doomsday will come, what happened in the second world. What memories is the Seer using as a basis to act as a Seer, or is he a Seer who really knows the future? To know all this, he had to dig out the information of the other Lee Sa-young inside Lee Sa-young.
“……”
No, I don’t want to.
Eui-jae squeezed his eyes shut. He didn’t want to get involved with a pervert who asked him to strangle him. He was Lee Sa-young too, but something was wrong!
But you have to do things you don’t want to do to become a true adult. Eui-jae clenched his fists and muttered.
“……I, I’ll try to remember as much as I can.”
“Okay…. But don’t overdo it.”
Ham Seok-jeong grabbed the chair and stood up. Eui-jae also stood up awkwardly. She leaned on her cane and slowly approached him. Her warm hand clumsily patted his shoulder.
“I’ve left the key with Jung-bin. Hye-kyung’s house and the house you lived in. Pick it up before you go back.”
“Ah, yes….”
Was the Director really managing it? Eui-jae blinked. Why didn’t she dispose of the house of the dead?
“You must have resented me. I know.”
Was it lingering attachment?
“I won’t ask you to forgive me.”
“……”
“But…. Be careful.”
The hand patting his shoulder sharpened sharply. Ham Seok-jeong, who suddenly leaned in, whispered in a very small voice.
“The person at the highest place is bound to stand out.”
“……”
“I know you’re the kind of person who doesn’t run away to the point of being foolish. But not everyone knows that.”
The red letters written on Prometheus’s website.
“The fall of a person in a high place is all the more visible. There will be many people waiting for you to fall.”
―Do not trust the hero J.
―He is a traitor who abandoned the world and ran away.
“Always keep that in mind.”
“…Yes.”
Ham Seok-jeong’s hand fell, leaving a throbbing pain. She personally opened the door to the Director’s office and saw him off. Just before the door closed, Ham Seok-jeong’s eyes, which he met in an instant, were hollow but filled with a little worry. That fact was reassuring.
Perhaps because it was in front of the Director’s office, the hallway was deserted. All the busy signs were felt downstairs. Had he told Jung-bin to come? Eui-jae scratched his head and was about to look for Jung-bin. A strong presence was coming up here from downstairs.
‘He’s probably coming to see me….’
Eui-jae deliberately walked near the stairs. Soon, black hair mixed with sparse white hair appeared beyond the bent stairs. Tak, the cane hits the floor. The long coat flutters. A sharp face like an old and clever tiger turned to J. A surprised look appeared on his wrinkled face.
“Oh, my…. Goodness, am I seeing things right?”
“Yes, probably.”
“Good heavens!”
Eui-jae answered jokingly. Song Jo-heon, who strode up the stairs a few steps at a time, spread his arms wide.
“J! I don’t know how you came back, but you’re really welcome!”
“Hunter Song Jo-heon. Ah, you’re the Guild Master now, right?”
“Haha, call me whatever you’re comfortable with.”
A rough hand suddenly reached out. Song Jo-heon, who shook hands, smiled.
“Welcome back. I missed you.”
“……”
‘The fall of a person in a high place is all the more visible. There will be many people waiting for you to fall.’
Ham Seok-jeong wouldn’t have said that for no reason.
Eui-jae smiled, clasped his hand, and slowly shook it up and down.
“Thank you for welcoming me.”