By Zephyria “Wait, don’t you think killing him is a bit much?”
“You, Yoon Ga-eul.”
“Yes, yes?”
“Is there anyone like this in your memories?”
Student Ga-eul. We have history together. Eui-jae gave her the most earnest look he could muster. But Ga-eul hesitated, then shook her head.
“No…. I’ve really never seen him before.”
Damn System.
“Same here. This is a Memorial Dungeon…. An existence that’s not in anyone’s memories popped out like a foreign object. You think we should let him live?”
“…….”
“He doesn’t even die right away when I strangle him….”
The arm around his neck tightened.
“The fewer variables, the better.”
“That’s true, but….”
Eui-jae frowned. Damn it, why is his arm so thick? In truth, Lee Sa-young’s argument was perfectly valid. Eui-jae would have made the same decision to eliminate the variable. But….
‘You have to recognize me.’
An inexplicable feeling of resentment reared its head. Eui-jae didn’t hold back and punched the arm constricting his neck. He heard an annoyed sigh from behind him. A low voice whispered in his ear. Goosebumps prickled his skin.
“Stay still…. I’m holding back, so.”
Holding back what?
He didn’t need to hear the answer to know. The pressure around his neck intensified. Ah, right. He was holding back from wanting to kill him. Our Sa-young doesn’t just kill people right away. How impressive.
You personality-wrecked bastard.
He couldn’t take it anymore. Had they been apart for so long that he’d become like this….
Thwack!
“…Ugh!”
The arm strangling his neck loosened. The body that had been plastered against his back bent over. Eui-jae, having withdrawn the elbow that struck his solar plexus, quickly escaped from Lee Sa-young’s embrace. He was faster than he looked. He always had been.
Eui-jae pointed a finger at Lee Sa-young’s face and scolded him.
“You just start strangling people and try to kill them! Does that make sense! Are you out of your mind!”
“…….”
“At least listen to what people have to say before attacking them, you rude bastard!”
“…….”
“Is that how I taught you! Huh!”
Eui-jae spewed out his anger like a machine gun. This guy’s discipline has gone lax while I wasn’t looking, you can’t be like this, do you even know how much I suffered to get here, do you know how worried I was…. Lee Sa-young, clutching his struck solar plexus, just stared up at him with a blank face.
Meanwhile, Honeybee muttered with a serious expression.
“He’s speaking another language again…. Is he really a foreigner?”
Anyway, Eui-jae’s scolding, nagging, and lamenting finally came to an end after a long time. He felt refreshed after saying everything he wanted to say. Eui-jae wiped the sweat from his forehead with a satisfied look. Lee Sa-young mumbled.
“What the hell is he saying….”
“Excuse me, what did you say after ‘rude’?”
Unfortunately, it seemed Eui-jae’s scolding hadn’t been properly conveyed. To be precise, it seemed they only properly heard up to ‘You rude bastard!’ How hopeless.
‘Is it being distorted if it includes the content that I’m Cha Eui-jae?’
This would be a headache. In fact, the way to escape this Memorial Dungeon is simple. Wait until his role is over.
‘But if I do that…. Lee Sa-young will have to stay for too long.’
So he came to get him out in the middle. So he wouldn’t spend too much time alone. Because being alone is too lonely.
Open the Dungeon entrance and take the three people trapped in the Memorial Dungeon out. That was his goal, but…. Eui-jae glanced sideways. Honeybee was hiding Ga-eul behind her and aiming her Rapier, and Lee Sa-young was….
“…….”
Staring intently at Eui-jae, to the point of being burdensome. Still clutching the solar plexus he’d been hit in. He was going to get a hole drilled through him. Eui-jae subtly averted his gaze.
‘I messed up from the first button.’
It didn’t seem like he’d obediently follow if he told him to come along. Then, a brilliant idea came to mind.
‘Let’s knock him out and take him.’
Lure him to the Dungeon entrance and knock him out. He could carry one on his back and sandwich the other two under his arms. When they woke up, they’d be in the original world, so they’d be able to communicate. Eui-jae smiled contentedly. Act first! Then explain! His motto was about to shine.
So Eui-jae ran.
“Huh? Wait! Hey! Where are you going!”
“Oh, what do we do? Should we follow him? It could be a trap….”
“Don’t let him get away.”
“Ga-eul, if you can’t run, I’ll carry you!”
“Yes? Ah, yes!”
Good, the three of them started following him. Eui-jae scanned his surroundings with the Eye of the Tracker. Fortunately, the Portal he’d entered through was nearby. Whoosh, the black Walker stopped, kicking up white dust. The Dungeon entrance rippled and rotated with a blue light.
The three of them arrived quickly. Honeybee, having put down Ga-eul, widened her eyes.
“…What, a Portal?”
Thank goodness. It seemed they could see it too, so he wouldn’t have to knock them out right away. Eui-jae pointed to the Dungeon entrance and said clearly.
“Let’s go out.”
“…….”
“Surely this doesn’t sound strange to you too, right? Let’s go out. Get out. Okay?”
“I can hear you. Wait, was this the strange energy reaction we felt? Is this really the Dungeon entrance?”
Sa-young, who was examining the Portal as if observing it, replied.
“The color is the same as the entrance in the Jongno 3-ga Underground Dungeon. The energy too.”
“Oh my god….”
A bright smile gradually spread across Honeybee’s face. She grabbed Eui-jae’s shoulders, seemingly excited, and bombarded him with questions.
“You opened a closed Dungeon? How did you do it? Who are you? Did you come all the way here on purpose? To take us? Wait, this is really the entrance, right?”
Eui-jae nodded to each question. Each time he nodded, Honeybee’s face grew brighter. It was a radiant smile like something you’d see in a commercial. She hugged Ga-eul with a beaming face.
“Crazy! We can get out, Ga-eul!”
“Oh, Unni…!”
“Ah, this damn awful place! I have to get out of here quickly. I don’t want to see Matthew die with my own eyes.”
Honeybee stepped into the Portal without hesitation. Her figure disappeared without a trace. As expected of Honeybee, so cool and straightforward. But Ga-eul was hesitating in front of the Portal.
At that moment.
He felt a force pulling something out. Eui-jae hurriedly looked at the Portal. The swirling Portal was getting smaller and smaller. A desperate voice came from beyond the entrance.
“Can you hear… maintain the door… come back…!”
“……!”
“If J isn’t here… can’t open the door….”
Damn it! Eui-jae gritted his teeth. It seemed the Portal’s maintenance time was up. He couldn’t hesitate any longer.
“Student Ga-eul, I’m sorry!”
“Yes? Eek…!”
Eui-jae pushed Ga-eul, who was hesitating in front of the Portal, in the back. Ga-eul disappeared into the Portal with a short scream. Now there were only two people left. Had he recognized who he was now?
“Lee Sa-young! You too….”
Eui-jae was about to turn around, but he couldn’t see his face because of the large body that suddenly hugged him from behind. Thick, firm arms embraced Eui-jae’s shoulders and neck. Large hands rubbed the bandaged nape of his neck. A tingling pain rose wherever his fingertips touched. Soft hair brushed against his ear, and a low voice whispered.
“Hyung.”
“…….”
“Will you stay here with me?”
“…….”
“It’s just the two of us…. Until the world ends.”
“…Why, so you can strangle me again without recognizing me?”
“Uh-uh…. I don’t want to, but if Hyung wants to.”
“I don’t have that kind of taste.”
“I’m kidding. All of it.”
He chuckled, and the vibration was transmitted through the touching skin. Eui-jae looked at the shrinking Portal and replied.
“You recognize me now?”
“Ah…. I’m sorry about earlier…. I thought I was seeing another hallucination.”
“…….”
“I’m more used to seeing you dead…. I couldn’t believe it was real.”
He couldn’t say anything to that. Just as his lips were about to touch his ear, a wet tongue licked his ear. Damn it. His waist tickled. Eui-jae hunched his shoulders and neck. A low laugh burst out. Soft lips touched and left his temples and cheeks. It felt like empty spaces were being filled. Eui-jae grabbed the arms that were hugging his neck.
“…You don’t still see my face strangely, do you?”
“That’s right. It looks a bit bland…. Like it’s foggy.”
“But you want to do this?”
“Have I ever liked you because of your face?”
Large hands gently grabbed his chin and turned his face towards him. Eui-jae didn’t resist. Their eyes met. In the purple eyes, the familiar tenderness had returned. Slightly rough lips touched his lips. Eui-jae opened his mouth slightly as always, but a tongue didn’t enter. Instead, light kisses rained down like a bird pecking. Low words flowed in between the touching lips.
“It’s good because you’re Hyung.”
“…….”
He felt like his head was melting. There were so many things he wanted to say. He wanted to talk about what he saw in the Experiment of Prometheus, and he wanted to talk about the past when he wasn’t there. He wanted to ask what it was like for him back then. He hadn’t been okay at all just from seeing that Fragment, so he wanted to know how he had been.
Before he knew it, the Portal had shrunk to the size of Eui-jae’s upper body. He really couldn’t hesitate any longer. Eui-jae put on his black mask and grabbed Sa-young’s hand.
“Let’s go.”
“…….”
“It’s time to go back.”
Sa-young smiled.
Those stories wouldn’t be too late to tell when they got back. Because they had plenty of time. Eui-jae reached out to the Portal. His body was sucked in. At that moment.
Thud.
“I can’t go.”
What?
The warmth he felt in his hand disappeared. Eui-jae hurriedly turned around. He couldn’t see anything. The sensation of the world twisting shook his entire body. The surrounding noise assaulted his ears.
“J has returned!”
“J’s return complete!”
“Total of three people, return complete.”
Eui-jae opened his eyes. And he opened the hand he had been holding.
Only a black glove remained.