By Zephyria 2 PM. Thud, a pair of shoes without a speck of dust stepped onto the soil. A gaping space in the middle of a long stone fortress wall, with a signboard hanging above it. Bogukmun.
Bogukmun was originally a regular course for hikers climbing Bukhansan Mountain. However, from the moment Hong Ye-seong moved into the Bukhansan Artisan Village, he blocked access to the surrounding area under the pretext of repair work. Jung-bin took out a yellow talisman from his suit pocket. And without hesitation, he moved his steps towards the space beneath the gaping fortress wall.
Soon, a completely different landscape appeared. Behind several layers of forbidden ropes, a yard with soft, green grass, a huge cauldron placed in one corner of the yard, and a thatched-roof house beyond the yard were visible. It was the space where Hong Ye-seong, exiled to Bukhansan, resided.
Jung-bin bent down and stepped under the forbidden ropes. A bird chirped clearly.
“Hong Ye-seong. Are you there?”
“…Ugh?”
A brown mass sprawled like a slime on the wooden floor slowly raised its head. Hong Ye-seong, who had already become a wreck after being exiled for so long. Hong Ye-seong, wearing green training pants, rolled over to look at Jung-bin. A sparkling light returned to his hazy eyes.
“No way, is my exile already over?!”
“No.”
Jung-bin, who spoke bluntly, put his hands behind his back.
“I came to ask you something. Is it okay to talk for a moment?”
“Aww… I’m busy.”
Hong Ye-seong wriggled and stretched out again. Jung-bin shrugged his shoulders.
“Weren’t you just sprawled out like a slime?”
“That’s all part of the agonizing process, Mr. Civil Servant.”
“Oh dear….”
Jung-bin let out a deep sigh as if to be heard. And he half-pulled out a warm chicken box from the air.
“If you’re that busy, I guess you can’t eat the chicken I bought. That’s a shame.”
“……”
“I’ll have to take this to the Awakened Management Bureau team members….”
“No!”
Hong Ye-seong got up like a thunderbolt, slipped on his slippers, and quickly crossed the yard. Then he crouched down and whispered.
“Quick, put it away so Cluck doesn’t see it!”
“Has your busy work gotten a little better?”
“It’s better now, so hurry!”
Hong Ye-seong pushed Jung-bin’s back and quickly headed to the thatched-roof house. As soon as Jung-bin took off his shoes, he was pushed into a small room, and he also entered and slammed the door shut. Hong Ye-seong, who put his ear to the door and listened for any signs outside, let out a sigh of relief.
“Phew, that was close.”
“Then I’ll ask you a few things.”
“What about the chicken?”
“I’ll give it to you if you answer.”
“Tch.”
Hong Ye-seong grumbled as if to be heard, but Jung-bin ignored him. He took out a necklace from his pocket and held it out.
“This necklace, it looks like you made it, Hong Ye-seong… is that right?”
“…Huh? What’s this?”
Hong Ye-seong narrowed his eyes and stared intently at the necklace. The way he tilted his head suggested that he didn’t remember it at all. Jung-bin pointed to the place where the initials were engraved with his finger.
“HYS. You engraved it, didn’t you?”
“…Ah! Ahhh! I remember. Yeah, I made it.”
Hong Ye-seong nodded his head rapidly and rolled his eyes while rubbing his chin.
“That, that student in the pajama pants, she… picked up some kind of fragment from the Golem. Frag, frag… what was it? Anyway, she kept putting it in her pocket and fidgeting, so I made it into a necklace before the civil servant took her to the Seowon Guild.”
Hong Ye-seong looked up with sparkling eyes, as if asking if he did a good job. Jung-bin couldn’t overcome the numerous pieces of information contained in one sentence and squeezed his eyes shut.
“Frag… is the fragment a Fragment piece, by any chance?”
“Yeah! That’s right. Here, this piece… Huh? It looks a little different. Anyway, this.”
Hong Ye-seong pointed to the white fragment attached to the necklace. He thought it was just an ordinary piece of raw stone. Besides, Fragment pieces didn’t only appear in Yoon Ga-eul’s dreams? Jung-bin stared at the necklace with a confused face. But he soon came to his senses. This was an urgent situation.
“Then, did you happen to hear anything more from J about the Rift or Invasion Dungeon? It would be even better if you could contact J, but I doubt that’s possible….”
“Huh? Ah~ of course I can!”
“Yes?”
“Contact with J!”
“…Why is that possible?”
A confident answer came back to the question he asked without much expectation. What on earth had happened in the places he couldn’t see? Jung-bin opened his mouth slightly. Hong Ye-seong smiled suspiciously and twitched his lips.
“Well, we’re really close. Curious? Curious?”
He didn’t want to know. He didn’t care about their friendship.
“……”
Actually, he was a little curious. No, he was very curious. Lee Sa-young wasn’t enough, he also had contact with Hong Ye-seong? Why? Where and how did they meet? Why did he have contact with two of the most avoided Ranker Hunters? Jung-bin began to sincerely worry about the human relationships of his former colleague, J.
However, Jung-bin closed his mouth with superhuman patience because he could see that Hong Ye-seong would become even more arrogant and run wild if he asked unnecessarily. Hong Ye-seong, who was circling around like a dog craving attention, drooped his shoulders.
“What… you don’t need it? You’re not curious?”
“…Just please contact him.”
“Tch.”
Hong Ye-seong, who stuck out his lips like a duck’s beak, opened the door slightly. And he shouted towards the yard.
“Cluck!”
Cluck, who was sitting on the perch, raised its head. Its white, round body shone smoothly in the sunlight. Hong Ye-seong made a megaphone with his hands and shouted.
“Go visit J! Turn on the communication function when you arrive.”
“Clooock….”
“Ah, I know it’s hard. It’ll be even harder here because it’s on a cliff. But please do me a favor. Okay?”
“Cluck.”
Cluck jumped off the perch and sadly left through the gate. Was this really going to work? Just as Jung-bin was suspiciously looking at the place where Cluck had disappeared, Hong Ye-seong made a sound and got up from his seat.
“Oh, right. I made some Sweet Rice Drink, would you like to try some?”
“You’re not doing the work you’re supposed to be doing…. And this is not the time,”
“Oh, come on.”
Hong Ye-seong, who quickly brought a transparent plastic bottle from the kitchen, poured Sweet Rice Drink into a paper cup and held it out. Jung-bin accepted the paper cup with an ambiguous face and took a sip. His eyes widened.
It was delicious.
“It’s good, right? It’s delicious, right? Awesome, right? I should start a Sweet Rice Drink business when I retire.”
Jung-bin sipped the Sweet Rice Drink without answering and thought.
‘Please don’t use your skills for this….’
At 3 PM, Eui-jae was sweeping the floor as usual. After sweeping away all the dust, he straightened his back and let out a deep sigh.
After Ga-eul disappeared with only a fragment, in the early dawn. Eui-jae opened his eyes in the small room. As if hearing the sobbing voice until just now was all a dream. Eui-jae stared at the dark ceiling and only blinked. And just as he was about to get up, he realized that he had something in his hand.
It was a white fragment with black stains. As if to prove that it wasn’t just a simple dream.
“……”
He didn’t know why, but he wanted to save Yoon Ga-eul. Because he knew what it felt like to be alone in a place where there was no sign of anyone. But even if Ga-eul went to the Destroyed world, he didn’t know what to do with this fragment. Even if he gripped the fragment tightly or injected power into it, the fragment only flickered intermittently.
Then something tapped on the door.
Eui-jae threw the door open. There was no one there. No, when he lowered his head, something white and round was looking at Eui-jae. Eui-jae greeted it happily.
“Cluck!”
However, instead of a cute “cluck” sound, a cliché comment flowed out.
―Target confirmed. Connection to Master will be established through the communicator. Prepare yourself.
Eui-jae, with wide eyes, picked up Cluck and closed the door. And he took out a mask from the Inventory and put it on. It was an instinctive reaction. After a while, a familiar voice flowed out from Cluck’s beak.
―…Ah, can you hear me? This is Jung-bin from the Awakened Management Bureau.
‘Fuck.’
Eui-jae took a breath and answered in a modulated voice.
“Wh-what’s going on all of a sudden?”
―Ah, J. Thank goodness.
A voice mixed with relief spoke.
―The reason I’m calling is because there’s something I really want to ask you. You said that you were the cause of the Dungeon Restructuring. Is that correct?
“…Yes, that’s right. Although it’s just an assumption.”
―Then, do you happen to know about the Fragment that Ga-eul picked up in the Dungeon?
“Yes?”
Eui-jae’s eyes widened. Jung-bin said in an anxious voice.
―Ga-eul has collapsed. According to Hunter Nam Woo-jin, it seems like her Soul itself has been dragged into another world.
Jung-bin’s explanation continued. Eui-jae, who was listening to him quietly, took out the fragment from his apron pocket. The one that Ga-eul in the dream had left behind. Jung-bin, who had finished his long explanation, muttered.
―I’m sorry, I didn’t want to contact you with something like this… but I was wondering if you knew anything.
Eui-jae answered briefly.
“I do.”
―Yes?
“I think I know how to bring her back now, too.”
Eui-jae stroked the fragment and made eye contact with Cluck.
“Don’t worry too much. I’ll take responsibility for bringing Student Ga-eul back.”
―Wait, J! What does that mean?
Eui-jae put Cluck down outside the door. Jung-bin’s shouts were still leaking from Cluck’s beak. After flipping the “Preparing Ingredients” sign to “CLOSED”, he carefully locked the door and turned off all the lights in the Hanover Soup Restaurant.
In fact, wasn’t he going around the easiest way?
‘She’s in a situation where she could die at any moment.’
Then there was no time to hesitate. Eui-jae took a deep breath and held the small fragment between his thumb and forefinger.
And,
Crack, the fragment shattered between his thumb and forefinger. Soon, a brilliant light poured out from there.
…Cha Eui-jae opened his eyes.
It seemed to be the hallway of a house. Strangely familiar. There was a picture of a blue sea hanging on the wall.
Warm sunlight poured in from the large window in the living room that was visible in front. The white curtains swayed gently in the breeze coming in through the slightly open window. He was sure that this place was safe. Strangely. The tension melted away sweetly in an instant. Eui-jae took a step.
The wooden floor that touched his bare feet was warm, perhaps because it was receiving sunlight. He wiggled his toes without realizing it. The rustling and clattering sounds became closer as he moved his steps.
Eui-jae saw the kitchen, the dark brown wooden table, the savory smell of eggs cooking, the subtle heat of the toaster toasting bread, and… a tall young man standing with his back to him. Standing in front of the induction stove, he spoke without even turning around.
“You overslept again, Hyung.”
It was a voice mixed with laughter. Strangely familiar. The voice, the black curly hair that covered his neck, and the tall build. The young man, who seemed to fit in with the warm house, was wearing a thin white T-shirt and had rolled up his sleeves to his elbows.
A hand without a single scar moved skillfully. The shoulder blades stood out on his back, and a sky-blue checkered apron was tied around his waist in a familiar way. Strangely, his throat felt choked. His mouth moved on its own.
“I woke up a long time ago. I just didn’t get out of bed.”
“You always make that excuse.”
“Hyung is taking a nap because he’s free for once, why are you talking so much?”
Words flowed out without him being aware of it. It felt like an answering machine. But Eui-jae didn’t notice anything strange. He was just immersed in the feeling of longing and coziness that he was feeling for the first time in a long time.
Without hesitation, Eui-jae approached the young man and rested his chin on his broad shoulder. There was a fragrant scent of fabric softener.
“What are you doing, making rolled omelet?”
“Yeah.”
“Rolled omelet and toast? Shouldn’t you be making fried eggs?”
“Hyung, you can’t even cook, but you talk so much.”
“Oh, is that so….”
Eui-jae slightly raised his eyes to look at the young man’s face. Plump lips, a smiling upturned mouth, all familiar things. The black eyes under the long eyelashes glanced at Eui-jae and narrowed slightly.
“Hyung.”
It was a gentle voice.
Eui-jae’s mouth answered on its own.
“Yeah, Sa-young.”