By Zephyria Ga-eul, as if finally finding her voice, continued speaking slowly and carefully.
“I… I want to confirm my usefulness. Right now, I can’t do anything and I’m just a burden…”
“……”
Usefulness. It wasn’t a word one would expect from a high school student. Eui-jae took a fresh look at Ga-eul. From head to toe, she looked like an ordinary student one could see anywhere. A nineteen-year-old minor. How bizarre it was to hear the word usefulness from the mouth of such a young teenager.
“I don’t want to always receive help from others. I want to quickly do my part as a person, too…”
Was this how his aunt felt when she looked at him?
Then Cha Eui-jae only had one thing to do. He wasn’t a perfect adult either, but he had seen and learned things so far.
“Is this a conclusion you’ve reached after really thinking seriously about it?”
Instead of answering, Yoon Ga-eul lowered her gaze to the floor. She glanced sideways at Ga-young, who shrugged her shoulders, as if she knew nothing. Ignoring his stiff arm, Eui-jae gently urged her.
“I’d like you to tell me honestly.”
“…I know it’s sudden. But I’m scared. I’m scared that I won’t be able to stop Doomsday again.”
“……”
“What happened this time is just a prelude. Doomsday will come several more times in the future. To swallow this world. But I can’t fail anymore…”
Lee Sa-young’s leaning shoulder felt heavy. Eui-jae patted Sa-young’s back and stared intently at Ga-eul.
“So… I want to try anything I can do. That’s…”
Her golden eyes looked around. Anxiety was clearly visible in those eyes, but a deeper emotion flickered beneath the surface.
A fundamental fear.
Prometheus. A Mutation that wasn’t observed in the first and second worlds. Yoon Ga-eul seemed to have marked Prometheus as the breakthrough for this Doomsday. Whether that was due to the influence and words of those around her, or solely her choice, he couldn’t be sure.
Eui-jae glanced at Sa-young. He had already raised his head and was staring intently at Ga-young. Not Yoon Ga-eul, but Ga-young.
See, all those words about being okay were lies. Why were there so many people to take care of? Eui-jae let out a small breath. Ga-eul was the priority now.
“I respect Student Ga-eul’s choice.”
“……”
“But…”
Perhaps no matter what he said now, it wouldn’t resonate with her. She would be buried in countless thoughts and responsibilities. Eui-jae had been like that too. There were times when all the burdens of the world weighed down on his shoulders. Times when he couldn’t hear anything anyone said. Nevertheless, he had to say these words.
“If it’s hard, you can tell me anytime. If it’s too hard, you can run away.”
“……”
“Because you’re not alone… We can help each other.”
“……”
“Just like we did.”
How much comfort the words ‘you can run away’ had been.
If he hadn’t run away, Cha Eui-jae would have died fighting, or withered away, or met his end in some other way. He hoped that someday, she would remember these words. She didn’t have to understand what he meant when he said them. He just hoped she could put everything down and run away.
Ga-eul had a puzzled look on her face, but soon nodded with a determined expression. That was enough. Eui-jae turned his gaze to Ga-young.
“I trust you won’t do anything petty like blocking contact. No experiments disguised as treatment, no injecting various drugs, no confining her anywhere, no brainwashing. All of it.”
“Oh my, if you say that, you’ll make us sound like a group of criminals~”
“Isn’t that what you are?”
“Well, it might look that way to you well-to-do Awakened!”
Ga-young clapped her hands together.
“Don’t worry. She’s the Seer who will suggest methods to us. Our goal is the same, to stop Doomsday… We plan to treat her very preciously!”
“…No.”
Lee Sa-young, who had been silent until now, opened his mouth. Purple eyes shone brightly beneath his sweat-soaked and disheveled hair. Black fingers pointed at Ga-young.
“Words aren’t enough. It’s good to have at least minimal safety measures in place… J.”
“That’s too much~ Do you have so little faith in us?”
“There’s no way… Is there?”
Ga-young’s face twisted slightly, and her pale lips contorted. Lee Sa-young let go of Eui-jae’s arm and staggered forward. The sound of his shoe soles dragging across the floor, zhiik, zhiik, was clear. Lee Sa-young quietly looked down at her.
Ga-young frowned slightly, then smiled.
“…I wanted to meet you in person too! Lee Sa-young… was it?”
“……”
“I used to have a kid I took care of who used Poison too…”
“…Is that so?”
A chilling aura swirled in his voice. A heavy pressure crushed the space where people had died. From where Eui-jae was standing, he couldn’t see Sa-young’s expression. Only his back was visible. However, it was clear that Ga-young and Yoon Ga-eul’s faces were gradually turning blue.
Soon, a large, black hand gently touched Ga-young’s glasses frame. A languid voice spoke softly.
“Be careful…”
“……”
“You’ll die. If you keep doing that.”
The atmosphere instantly froze. But Ga-young let out a small laugh.
“Heh, heh heh. Is that from experience?”
“Maybe…”
Sa-young took out gloves and put them on, then grabbed one of Ga-eul’s shoulders. And he lowered his head and whispered something. Or, it seemed like he was whispering. He patted Ga-eul’s shoulder, then returned with a slow gait like a sated lion. He gestured to Eui-jae.
“It’s done. Let’s go.”
“Where to?”
“We have to go home… I came all the way here to find you.”
Eui-jae pointed awkwardly inside the building.
“Song Jo-heon hasn’t come out yet.”
Hearing his name, Sa-young frowned in annoyance.
“Ah, right… You said that old man was here too. Why?”
“Something happened. I’ll tell you later. He’s coming.”
Two heavily armed soldiers appeared, panting. They were each carrying his limbs. Ga-eul screamed softly. The soldiers, who dropped Song Jo-heon as if dropping a bundle, saluted Ga-young and disappeared. Eui-jae quickly approached him and checked his pulse. Fortunately, it was just a simple knockout. Ga-young stroked his cheek and muttered.
“Guild Master is really unsightly…”
Come to think of it, the Ga-young he met on the road had a Samra Guild employee ID card around her neck. Was she working at the Samra Guild, or was it a fake identity? Eui-jae looked up at Ga-young. She covered her mouth and smiled.
“Oh, did you hear that?”
“Wasn’t that what you wanted me to hear?”
“Well~ half of it was.”
“You were wearing a Samra Guild employee ID card.”
“You noticed that. That’s right. I worked at the Samra Guild. For more details~ listen directly. Aren’t you going to take me and interrogate me anyway?”
“……”
Eui-jae didn’t respond. Instead, he took off his white coat and covered the tattered body with it, then carried him on his back. He was quite heavy. Sa-young looked on with a displeased expression.
“Let’s just drag him down. He won’t even get scratched.”
“Hey, that’s harder.”
“……”
Sa-young crossed his arms and turned his head away. But it was clear that his hidden fingers were trembling through the gap in his arms. Eui-jae turned his body and looked at Yoon Ga-eul and Ga-young. And he nodded to Ga-eul.
“I’ll be going.”
“Yes… Go carefully.”
“Contact me anytime… I’m going to get a new phone.”
“Ah, yes, yes!”
Ga-eul nodded with a bright face. Eui-jae glared at Ga-young one last time, then kicked Sa-young’s calf. Sa-young went straight into the forest as if he had been waiting. Eui-jae looked back one last time.
“……”
And he turned his back.
The two didn’t say a word until they passed the steep downhill and escaped the forest. It was because he knew that whatever he said to Lee Sa-young now, he would only give twisted answers and wouldn’t give a proper answer. Eui-jae stared silently at the black back moving ahead.
As they emerged from the dense trees and onto the gentle ground, the road came into view. A van with a slightly dented bumper was parked on the road that touched the bottom of the mountain. And Bae Won-woo, leaning against the car and sucking on an energy gel, was there too.
Bae Won-woo waved his uninjured hand when he saw Lee Sa-young, then widened his eyes when he saw Eui-jae coming down behind him. More precisely, when he saw Song Jo-heon being carried on his back. He flailed his arms and legs as if he was playing charades, and finally spat out a word.
“S, Song Jo-heon Guild Master has been kidnapped too?”
Eui-jae replied weakly.
“…Let’s just say that for now.”
Bae Won-woo drove quite skillfully with one arm. He glanced at Eui-jae and Sa-young through the rearview mirror. After a while of silence, Eui-jae leaned his temple against the window and opened his mouth.
“Hey, Lee Sa-young.”
“I’m disappointed… I have a name, you know, calling me by my last name.”
A languid answer came back. Good, he seemed to have regained some sanity. Eui-jae looked at Sa-young reflected in the window and replied.
“It’s because of someone named Ga-young. That’s why you’re like this.”
“……”
Bae Won-woo’s eyes, visible in the rearview mirror, widened. Eui-jae didn’t stop.
“Don’t lie and say you don’t remember. You recognized that person earlier.”
The dilated pupils as soon as he saw her, the tense body, the sweat that flowed reflexively. The actions of instinctively clinging to Eui-jae.
He was afraid. Of Ga-young.
“That’s the person who took you and experimented on you, isn’t it?”
“……”
Sa-young in the window closed his eyes. The answer that followed was unexpected.
“So what?”
“…What?”
“What changes if that’s true?”
Eui-jae lost his words and only moved his innocent mouth. Sa-young’s lips twisted loosely.
“Ugh… I didn’t think I’d have to say this…”
“……”
A black hand suddenly appeared in his vision. The cold hand gently covered his eyes. Darkness came. Eui-jae slowly swallowed. The sound of swallowing, gulp, was clear.
Soon, a gentle voice whispered.
“It’s my business, so mind your own.”
It was a gentle voice with content that wasn’t so gentle.
And,
“…This rude bastard, really!”
Eui-jae didn’t hold back.