By Zephyria Time is a torrent. It flows irresistibly, disappearing into the hole of the past in the blink of an eye.
Jin Mu-hae thought that what he had once heard on Goryeo City’s public broadcast was only half true.
When he thought about the past, he definitely felt that a year passed quickly. But Mu-hae’s present was always long and boring.
Especially the days he spent without working were so long that he could count every minute and second.
“You ate really slowly.”
“……”
“Jin Mu-hae ate faster.”
“Who said anything?”
In that respect, a day spent with Joo-oh was unique.
Time didn’t stretch out like melted marshmallows. The 24 hours weren’t meticulously broken down into 1,440 minutes, into more than 80,000 fragments.
Just sitting together made the stagnant day melt and flow away.
Was it because he was such a bizarre human being?
Blink. The light on the terrace came on. Finally, it was Sakdal’s time.
The surroundings were still bright, but the sun would soon set. Since the Comfort zone’s day and night basically followed the outside world, it wouldn’t be long.
“Wow.”
Joo-oh, who had been fiddling with his empty plate, let out a long exclamation. A moment ago, the neon sign of the bar across the street had lit up with a pop.
Even in the shopping district with relatively few entertainment establishments, Sakdal was Sakdal. Pawnshops and vintage shops, which had been gloomy during the day, lit up one by one in a splendid display.
“It’s like a different neighborhood.”
Colorful fluorescence was reflected in Joo-oh’s eyes as he spoke to himself.
He had put on his mask a while ago, but his hood was slightly askew, revealing his face.
Mu-hae silently reached out and pushed his hat down.
Joo-oh, who had been looking at his fingertips with expectant eyes, clicked his tongue softly.
“Get up.”
Now that Sakdal had awakened, they had to move too.
The Mu-hae party quietly blended into the bustling streets, where people and businesses were busy.
Sakdal’s night streets were dark yet bright. The dazzling neon signs shone brightly enough to fill the void of the sun, and the dirty alleys hid quietly in the shadows.
Secret conversations were buried in the noisy clamor. Thanks to this, Joo-oh’s appearance, which had been conspicuous during the day, also lost its distinctiveness and became relatively bland.
Some people still turned around at the passing artificial light, but that was all. The people who visited this place were too busy with their own affairs to pay attention to strangers.
“Was it here?”
It wasn’t that he hadn’t spoken during the day, but Joo-oh, who had finally regained his voice, spoke cheerfully.
He hadn’t told him the exact location. When did he steal a look at the map again…?
“Do you feel anything?”
Joo-oh shrugged at the vague question. He could understand what he meant without having to open his mouth.
It was too flashy to focus on his senses, and there were too many smells.
However, the fact that he flicked his eyes to one side seemed to indicate that he had found something.
Mu-hae roughly nodded and pulled Joo-oh closer to his side.
“Don’t turn your head from now on.”
After whispering with a nonchalant expression, Jin Mu-hae strode towards a small building.
He passed through a relatively dark path between buildings that were not yet lit, and arrived at a space filled with trash cans.
The back alley had an eerie atmosphere that was hard to believe, considering the splendor of the street only 50 meters away.
“Stick to the wall.”
Joo-oh nodded at the instruction and stuck flat against the wall of the building.
Mu-hae also followed, hiding himself in the corner, and held his breath so that not a single sound could be heard.
“……”
How long had they waited? A long shadow stretched from the outside towards the alley.
Someone had followed them in.
The shadow, which had been looking around, gradually approached them.
The shadow, which had been approaching step by step, climbed up the wall, and the sound of gravel crunching underfoot could be heard from close by.
Whack!
“Ugh!”
Mu-hae’s arm, which shot out like lightning, grabbed the arrogant figure’s face.
Bang! The man, whose head was slammed against the wall of the building, fainted before he could even scream.
Red blood vessels flowed down next to his white eyes.
Mu-hae, who rubbed the saliva-stained hand against the wall of the building, returned to his original position like an antlion.
“Dirty.”
“Shut up.”
Mu-hae glared at Joo-oh and listened to the faint sounds from outside, and then a shadow appeared again in the alley.
Compared to the man from before, this guy was a little more careful. The figure, who slowly approached while surveying the surroundings, stopped abruptly in front of them after a long time.
“What the fuck.”
He belatedly discovered the man’s body that had been laid out as if to be seen and cursed under his breath.
A black and huge shadow fell over the face of the man with a half-shaved head, who was hurriedly raising his head.
Whack!
A hand as big as a pot lid grabbed the face of the man who was trying to run away.
The man with the half-shaved head writhed as the hand squeezed with a force so strong that he couldn’t even make a sound.
“Mercenary?”
When he asked in a low voice, her eyes obediently showed denial.
“Is he from here?”
Blink. The eyelids of the man with the half-shaved head moved.
“Who told you to follow me?”
Again, blink. The trembling face was gradually turning red.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been disliked by anyone here.”
Joo-oh pulled at the sleeve of Mu-hae’s clothes, who was muttering and lost in thought.
“Die.”
“He’s not going to die.”
“His eyes are weird.”
When he turned his gaze at those words, the eyes of the man with the half-shaved head were rolling upwards.
Only then did Mu-hae release the strength in his grip.
Huek, cough, cough! The woman, who collapsed to the ground, coughed frantically and inhaled.
“Haeek, kuek, shit, huek, fuck…!”
“Judging by how easily he’s spilling everything I ask, it seems like someone just picked some kids who don’t have any money and sent them.”
“Fuck you, cough!”
“Who is it? The human who said it was okay even if I found out about this.”
“Bullshit, huek…”
He was sloppy. He wasn’t qualified to tail a mercenary who had faced Beasts and Aberrants.
Rather than being someone’s employee or confidant, he seemed closer to being a nobody sent to scratch Mu-hae’s nerves.
There weren’t any big shots among the humans he had clashed with in his life who would do something like this. Mu-hae’s face gradually hardened.
Especially since he didn’t even come to this Sakdal unless he needed to buy or sell something. There was no one who came to mind at all.
“Move.”
Judging by the way they were talking, the guys who had followed him seemed to know the identity of their employer.
However, Mu-hae didn’t ask any further and kicked the half-shaved head, who was gasping for breath, out of the way.
It was as if they had been sent to be asked. Ominously.
He already had leeches following him since broad daylight. There was a 100% chance that it would be annoying if he heard it.
“Let’s go.”
“Okay.”
Jin Mu-hae frowned and turned around the alley. It was better to hurry since he had been caught up in a senseless quarrel.
He would get information about the signal device here and shouldn’t even come close for a while. Mu-hae, who had made up his mind, stepped back into the dazzling light.
And at that exact moment.
Flash!
The dim sky turned pitch black, becoming a complete night.
A song announcing 8 p.m. was heard, and a reddish light came on in the store near the alley where they were standing, which had been turned off all the time.
It was a store with no special decorations on the entire building, but it had square lights attached along the door frame of the entrance.
Inside the wide-open door, a round doormat was glowing.
▲
WELCOME
The ordinary scenery became an eerily sharp sense of déjà vu, scratching at Mu-hae’s brain.
What suddenly tickled his mind was a simple and meaningless pattern with a circle inside a square and a triangle inside the circle.
The red mark on his fingertip flashed before Mu-hae’s eyes. After that, the Hologram Window that appeared before his eyes, and the record of his father that he had encountered for the first time.
“Follow me.”
Despite the conclusion that seemed like a wild guess, Jin Mu-hae blankly headed there like a moth to a flame.
As he crossed the threshold of the store, a chime rang out dully, announcing a customer.
“Eh.”
After briefly observing the clerk who greeted him with a short and rude greeting, he turned around… A large and colorful mural was painted on one side of the dimly lit store, filling his field of vision.
It was an obscene painting of anthropomorphic animals spreading their legs wide. At the center of it, meaningless black letters were densely engraved like a censorship sticker.
“Ugh. A polar bear is winking.”
Mu-hae hesitantly approached it. Leaving the grumbling Joo-oh behind, he brought his Watch to the black letters.
Then, beep- too!
A unique signal sounded as if it had been waiting, and the screen lit up.
Mu-hae quickly covered the light source of the Watch with his right hand.
Oh my god. His prediction was correct. The blue light flickering between his fingers seemed to indicate that something was being output again.
“…The painting is nice.”
Mu-hae, who had been staring at the mural, spoke to the clerk in a low voice.
He received a look that showed no interest. He had checked just in case, but it seemed that he was not an accomplice.
If so, it would be better to pretend to be an ordinary customer, buy something, and leave. Mu-hae, who took a long breath, finally turned his head to the side.
“……?”
Pressing down on his pounding heart, the corners of his lips slowly drooped as he looked around.
[Giant Dragonian]
[Sweet and Bloody Thorn wolf]
[Monster in Another Dream
(SALE)
]
[Visitor in a Secret Bed]
“Look at this. It looks interesting.”
“……”
“It looks like a sausage with thorns. Right?”
When did he pick up that crazy thing?
A long, red silicone dangled in all directions, following Joo-oh’s brightly smiling hand.
The fingers that were holding the base of the bright red monster’s dick looked particularly white. Mu-hae’s vision flickered in and out for a moment at this absurd sight.
He turned his head back to the clerk. Was it because he had touched the display item? The clerk’s gaze, which had been perfunctory, turned towards them.
Jin Mu-hae’s throat felt dry for no reason at the gaze that scanned the two of them in turn.
“…Put it back.”
“I’ve never seen this before.”
“I know, so put it back.”
The item that he snatched away with a clack shook elastically in Mu-hae’s hand.
He almost dropped it because he could feel a hard core inside the soft silicone.
“It’s on sale.”
“He says it is.”
“Should I get you a new one?”
“He says there’s a new one.”
Shut up. Mu-hae, who barely managed to say that, moved with a expressionless face.
Seeing the item in his hand, the clerk took out a black box from inside the counter.
“121 Deal.”
Beep-.
“Offline purchase lubricant gift event. White, translucent, transparent…”
Beep-.
“A/S can also be applied for online…”
Beep-.
When he came to his senses, Mu-hae was standing in front of the store for people with strange fetishes, holding a suspicious paper bag in his hand.
“Are we going back now?”
Listening to the gentle voice, Jin Mu-hae slowly rubbed his forehead.
Why was the code in a place like that… He was curious, but he didn’t want to know.
He just wanted to get out of here quickly.