By Zephyria Beep, beep, beep…. The warning sound rang loudly. J carefully, with as little strength in his arm as possible, embraced the emaciated back. The boy, held in his arms, coughed intermittently.
There’s a smell of blood. J gently stroked the bony back. The body, limply leaning, was strangely light, and the heartbeat was faint but fast. As if proving that he was alive.
‘He’s alive.’
I saved him. This kid.
He repeats the obvious fact. Only then did his stiff body relax. J sighed. Just when the boy’s cough seemed to subside, his body flinched. He must know he did something wrong, too. But he didn’t feel like getting angry. He barely came to his senses thanks to this crazy brat.
‘Why die, you have to live to the end….’
That’s how he’ll live with this stubborn, opinionated, and proactive crazy brat. Sigh, he sighed again. This sigh was much longer than before. The boy’s hand, which had been clutching his collar, carefully fell away. J put his cheek against the top of the boy’s head and muttered.
“Does it hurt?”
“…….”
“It must hurt…. Why did you suddenly do that?”
As always, there was no answer. But as time passed, J was able to find the answer in the boy’s small reactions.
Clearly rougher breathing and a trembling body. A boy who learned to endure instead of saying it hurt. J patted the boy’s back. The warmth touching his body was welcome.
“You can do whatever you want…, just don’t scare people. Got it?”
“…….”
“The teachers will be here soon. Just bear with it.”
“…….”
The boy, who had been quietly listening to the voice, suddenly shook his head. Then he started pushing his chest as if trying to get out of his arms. J, flustered, grabbed the boy’s arm.
“What, why?”
“…….”
“You don’t like the teachers?”
The reaction was ambiguous. It didn’t seem like he liked them or disliked them. In this case, he had to throw out a new question. After rolling his eyes for a moment, J rubbed his cheek against the top of the boy’s head and asked playfully.
“Or, why? Do you want to be alone with me?”
The head under his cheek began to nod vigorously. It was a reaction so definite that J was taken aback. J stared at the boy with a dumbfounded face. Soon, a smile bloomed on the face behind the mask. And it was only a moment before the smile turned into laughter.
“Hahaha! Ah… really.”
The boy started struggling as if trying to get out of his arms. J hurriedly hugged the boy and soothed him.
“Wait, wait. I’m not laughing at you. Really.”
“…….”
“…Ahem, ahem. Just a moment.”
J took out a bottle containing an opaque sky-blue liquid from his Inventory. The liquid wriggled and crawled inside the bottle by itself. It was a piece of slime he had picked up after watching Hunters play with it. He brought it thinking it would be good for a child to play with, but he found a new use for it.
J tore off a small piece and threw it towards the crack in the door. The piece of slime, hitting with a squelching sound, slowly swelled and blocked all the small gaps. Stuck like that, it would be impossible to open it easily.
‘While I’m blocking it….’
And he tore off another small piece and threw it towards the CCTV attached to the ceiling. The piece wriggled and completely covered the CCTV. J dusted off his hands.
“Good…. Now no one can come in. Okay?”
“…….”
“You’re always so much trouble.”
The voice, speaking as if scolding, was filled with undisguised affection. The boy leaned in a little closer. His upper body was fully touching. Now the boy could feel J’s heartbeat. J patted the emaciated back and blurted out. It was a word he didn’t want to say.
“…I’m going to be away for a while.”
“…….”
“Um, it might take a while this time. I don’t know how long….”
A hand that can’t even hold something properly tries hard to grip his collar. J stared at the hand for a moment and asked.
“…You don’t want me to go?”
The boy slowly nodded. How nice it would be if he could. In fact, J didn’t want to go into the jaws of death either. In the past, he would have gone as soon as the order came down. Without any judgment, as they told him to. Without even considering his own life.
But the reason he was still here was.
J slightly lifted the mask that completely covered his face. A sharp lower jaw, still with a hint of youth, but already showing the features of an adult man, was revealed.
“Give me your hand.”
“…….”
He grabbed the hand clutching his collar and pulled it to his face. The fingertips, obediently dragged along, flinched as if burned the moment they touched bare skin. J laughed softly.
“Touch it properly.”
“…….”
“I promised you back then, I’d let you touch it. Well, this isn’t a mask, it’s my face….”
“…….”
“Weren’t you curious?”
As he gently urged, the fingers that had been frozen as if stiffened carefully stroked his cheek. J closed his eyes and quietly offered his face. As the movements repeated, the hesitation buried in his fingertips melted away. The fingers that had moved from his cheek to his chin stopped at his lower lip.
The corners of J’s lips slightly turned up. He deliberately opened his mouth and asked.
“Why did you stop?”
“…….”
The fingertips jumped up as if surprised and moved away from the vicinity of his lips. It was inevitable that the playfulness that had been submerged rose up in the more cautious movements. What could he do if he found the reaction amusing? J said playfully.
“You’re the first person to touch my face like this.”
The hand that had been touching his face stopped abruptly. J carefully pressed his cheek against the bandaged palm. Warmth and warmth meet. The warmth of a person is reassuring. Because it’s proof that he’s alive. J moved his lips.
“…I’ll be back.”
He knows. The possibility of returning is extremely low. The possibility of survivors inside is also slim. But he has to go. Everyone wanted it. For J to enter the unidentified Rift and eliminate it.
As heroes always have. Because a hero should.
J also agreed with their opinion. He had to save those he could. There was no reason needed to save people. Even he himself thought so, so there was no one who could hold him back.
‘…Everyone thinks so except you.’
J looks at his only one. The boy’s face was slightly distorted. He looked like he was about to cry soon. What could be a more selfish request than asking someone who might not return to wait for him?
But.
It’s okay to be this greedy, right? The young man reveals his undisguised feelings. Carefully.
“Will you wait for me?”
There was no answer. The boy took away the hand that had been covering his cheek. He knew it would be like that. He could understand it well enough. Just as J was about to close his eyes.
“…….”
The boy held out his pinky finger.
In fact, he doesn’t properly remember what happened in the Rift after that. Even if he tries to recall it on purpose, he can only remember short, fragmented scenes.
He thought the scenery of pure white ash falling like snow was beautiful, and before he could even finish that thought, he saw blood droplets splattering on the white ash.
Killing Monsters, finding parts of the bodies of Hunters who had entered earlier, seeing Hunters who had entered together being torn apart by Monsters, voices crying out to be saved, screams, human sounds indistinguishable from beasts, the dying words of his aunt….
He rummages through piles of corpses to take out even one arm or one leg, and when he sticks fangs into the Basilisk’s head, a silence like death comes….
‘And I opened my eyes in a pile of garbage.’
Cha Eui-jae smiled wryly and tossed the bags he was holding in both hands into the pile of garbage. He took off his vinyl gloves and swept back his stuffy hair.
They say that if you get too much stress, you erase some of your memories. He could only guess that was the case. Even if he only looked back on the tattered, fragmented memories, that place was hell.
Yes, that place was Godok. It was.
A place that draws in and imprisons countless lives, and picks only one winner….
After recalling that the place was Godok, Cha Eui-jae stopped trying to piece together the scattered memories like fragments. He only repeated the names and faces of those he couldn’t save.
Even though Cha Eui-jae’s body was outside, J seemed to remain in Godok. Searching through the corpses of his comrades, wandering through the emptiness, wondering if there were any survivors. Looking back at those he couldn’t save.
Keeping the promise and the desire to save everyone. Alone.
‘And only now….’
He has escaped. From that Godok.
Eui-jae moved his steps without hesitation. Something that shone smoothly in front of the tightly closed steel door of the Hanover Soup Restaurant, where warm vermilion lights flickered, stood tall. It was a welcome guest. Eui-jae smiled brightly.
“Cluck!”
“Cluck?”
The porcelain Cluck reacted to the voice and turned around. Cluck, carrying a box about the size of a human head on its back, jumped up and down in place.
“Cluck!”
And at the same time, the cell phone he had put in his apron pocket rang. It was a text message.
The sender was….
010-XXXX-XXXX: The item you ordered has arrived, customer. Please check the attached file.
Very Small Miracle Mingi Seo.