By Zephyria “Hanover Soup Restaurant? Out of the blue?”
Sa-young looked at Eui-jae with a dumbfounded expression. Ga-eul was also watching with a bewildered face. However, Eui-jae was in no state to answer. He clutched his head.
‘Damn it, why did I forget about that?’
It’s definitely the watch he had since right after his Awakening. After all, the System gave it to him as a gift for the first Awakened!
But back then, it didn’t seem special, so he just thought the System was handing out souvenirs.
‘Shit, I thought it was just for show.’
Besides, for Cha Eui-jae, who was rough on his body, an accessory that wasn’t even a high-performance item was a luxury. For that reason, he shoved it into his Inventory and….
Forgot it even existed. He was too busy living!
Then why was Cha Eui-jae, who escaped from the Rift, wearing the watch he had shoved in his Inventory?
‘Why did you do that?’
I don’t know.
Even when he asked himself, he couldn’t recall. Solving one question led to another, endlessly. He was about to go crazy with frustration. Aaaah, Eui-jae let out a low scream.
Meanwhile, the only person who knew why they had to go to the Hanover Soup Restaurant was just tearing at his hair, so the remaining two couldn’t do anything. They could only watch. But they couldn’t bear to see him hurting himself.
Sa-young quietly clicked his tongue and clapped his hands deliberately, making a loud smack.
“Okay, let’s say we have to go to the Hanover Soup Restaurant… Anyway, we have to go back, right.”
“Huh?”
“Do you have one? A way to return to the original world.”
Eui-jae froze in place, still clutching his head. Sa-young’s gaze turned sharp.
“…Ah, so you came here without even figuring that out? Just like that?”
“…….”
“Don’t you have too few countermeasures? Securing an escape route is the most basic of basics—”
“…I’m sorry.”
Eui-jae mumbled an apology. Lee Sa-young, who had been sharply rebuking him, paused. Cha Eui-jae lowered his head, his hair disheveled from being pulled.
“It’s my fault. I didn’t know you would come too.”
“…….”
“If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have gotten you involved….”
Seeing him with his head bowed made his heart stir. His chest felt like it was throbbing. He had felt this way only once before, when he appeared in Incheon Port in such a mess.
Lee Sa-young gritted his teeth and abruptly reached out, grabbing Eui-jae’s arm. Cha Eui-jae looked at him with wide eyes. Sa-young was fully reflected in his bright blue eyes.
Sa-young spat out as if chewing on the words.
“Don’t apologize.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t apologize.”
Cha Eui-jae did nothing wrong to Lee Sa-young. Nothing at all.
“No, but still, this is….”
Lee Sa-young reached out and messed up his disheveled hair. To make Eui-jae angry. And Cha Eui-jae, like the old man he was, immediately reacted and grabbed Lee Sa-young’s hand.
“Hey, you punk, my hair….”
“Yoon Ga-eul.”
“Yes?!”
Sa-young ignored Cha Eui-jae, who was tapping his hand, and nodded.
“Do you know anything?”
“Um, can I think about it for a bit?”
“Are you ignoring me?”
“You better think fast.”
Sa-young ignored the fingers attacking his hand and began to smooth out the messy bird’s nest.
“From what I can see, only the Soul seems to have crossed over here… If the body and Soul are separated for too long, it won’t be good.”
“…Ah, that’s right. Jung-bin said so too. We need to move as quickly as possible.”
“Hmm…. Ah! Then maybe J, from the Invasion Dungeon.”
“Huh?”
Soon, the messy hair returned to its original neat shape. No, it was slightly different. Sa-young narrowed his eyes. Cha Eui-jae’s hair color was slightly lighter. As if white paint had been dropped into black.
Or as if the color had faded.
“…….”
“You told Hong Ye-seong that the Dungeon Restructuring phenomenon was caused by J.”
“That’s right.”
“What was the basis for that assertion?”
“I do have one….”
Cha Eui-jae trailed off. Thin gray hair fell over his eyes.
“You and I saw a Fragment. The restructured Dungeon was similar to a Destroyed world where Doomsday had arrived. Just like here.”
“…….”
“If you know something, please tell me. It might be the key, J.”
An anxious gaze touched his cheek. What was he so anxious about? He couldn’t tell. He wanted to uncover the source of Cha Eui-jae’s anxiety. He wanted to dig into it, lick it, and devour it. So that he would never feel anxious again. So that he could live a slightly foolish life, doing only what he wanted to do.
Sa-young, who was receiving the gaze, deliberately raised the corners of his lips and smiled. And he gently urged him.
“Why don’t you tell me?”
“…….”
Cha Eui-jae scratched his head and opened his mouth.
“…I’ve been thinking about it since Student Ga-eul first showed me the Fragment, but this… Destroyed world where Doomsday has arrived and the Invasion Dungeon are… surprisingly similar to the West Sea Rift. No, you could even say they’re identical.”
“…….”
“The reason I didn’t refuse when Student Ga-eul talked about the Invasion Dungeon… was because just hearing about it, the Invasion phenomenon was too similar to the West Sea Rift.”
Cha Eui-jae muttered in a low voice.
“They’re so similar… it can’t be a coincidence. I thought there must be a reason.”
“…….”
Cha Eui-jae had clenched his fist tightly without realizing it. He could see the fist trembling slightly.
“The West Sea Rift and the Invasion Dungeon, and furthermore… this Destroyed world might be connected. Is that what you’re saying?”
“…Yeah. It’s just a hypothesis, though.”
“According to that hypothesis.”
Cha Eui-jae raised his head. Sa-young looked around.
“It would be here. The cause of the Invasion phenomenon too.”
The gray-haired man silently nodded. His face, which was usually healthy and pleasant to look at, was pale. Did he know? That his emotions were all over his face. Sa-young turned his head and looked outside the wall.
In the Destroyed world, the sun never sets. Only an endless white night continues. If you stay in a place like this for too long and only see white, your eyes will burn out. Like Nam Woo-jin. If the West Sea Rift was like this, it was a miracle that Cha Eui-jae’s eyes hadn’t burned out. Lee Sa-young crossed his arms and gestured outside with his chin.
“Then let’s move forward with that hypothesis as true.”
“…You believe this?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
Lee Sa-young tilted his head in confusion.
“The world has been like this since the Day of the Rift, and we’ve been dragged here with only our Souls because of some Memorial Dungeon.”
“Ah, that’s right. There was something I wanted to talk about regarding the Memorial Dungeon….”
“Again?”
At that moment, a hand suddenly rose from outside his field of vision. Only then did Lee Sa-young lower his gaze. Ga-eul was looking up at them with a determined expression.
“Um… I’m really, really sorry.”
“Yes?”
“…What is a Memorial Dungeon?”
“…….”
“…….”
The three people’s gazes met in the air. It was time to organize and share information. Cha Eui-jae was a really good person, but the problem was that he bounced around like a rubber ball, going in unexpected directions. He didn’t know how he managed to do his restaurant work. Lee Sa-young irritably rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt to his elbows.
“Everyone, come out.”
A little later, the three of them were standing on a flat plain where white ash was falling softly. To be exact, two were standing and only Lee Sa-young was squatting on the ground, scribbling something. Soon, Sa-young blew the ash off the end of his black fingers and stood up.
“…To summarize.”
The ground covered with white ash was densely covered with letters written by Lee Sa-young with his finger.
“We didn’t know, but the world has already faced Doomsday twice. Not just once.”
“Yeah.”
“Yoon Ga-eul has only seen one Fragment so far. That is….”
The world where Cha Eui-jae died. Sa-young swallowed the rest of the words. Why did that world’s Lee Sa-young let Cha Eui-jae die? What did he do until someone as strong as Cha Eui-jae died? He couldn’t understand.
And the words that Lee Sa-young couldn’t dare to say, Cha Eui-jae said too easily.
“The world where J died first. Right?”
It had a terrible nuance. Sa-young twisted his lips. A light touch tapped his side, but he ignored it, crossed his arms, and closed his eyes.
“Yes…. That’s right. I’ve seen countless Fragments so far, but I’ve never seen a world where Hong Ye-seong and J coexist. All of them were worlds where Lee Sa-young survived. But it’s strange.”
“What is?”
“Why… um, let’s assume it’s the first one. Did no one know about the first world? Both worlds would have turned back time with the watch J mentioned. Why does the difference exist….”
“I’m wondering about that too, but that bastard Hong Ye-seong just spouted nonsense and disappeared.”
“You said the watch is at the Hanover Soup Restaurant.”
“Huh? Yeah.”
“We’ll have to move after all.”
If the mysterious figure in the cloak was Lee Sa-young who lost Cha Eui-jae. Would he do anything that would harm the living him?
If so, that is not Lee Sa-young.
He could be sure of that much.
There must be a reason why Yoon Ga-eul was brought here. Lee Sa-young opened his eyes. To induce Cha Eui-jae’s actions. He would look for Yoon Ga-eul as soon as he came to his senses. There was something nearby.
“Follow me.”
“Did you find something?”
“Maybe.”
The sound of two people’s footsteps followed behind. His keenly developed sense of smell easily found the unfamiliar scent. They hadn’t walked far when a bumpy floor appeared instead of a flat plain. The height was too uneven. Then, a scream came from behind.
“Are you okay?”
Eui-jae was holding Yoon Ga-eul’s arm, who was about to fall forward. Ga-eul bit her lip and nodded. He bent down and pulled out something that had tripped her.
It was a bone.
“…….”
Lee Sa-young brushed away the ash piled on the floor with his foot. Soon, a skull with a broken head appeared from under the ash, as if opening its mouth.
“This is…. No, here is…. Wait, just wait a minute.”
The muttering voice was terribly shaky. He heard the sound of someone collapsing to the ground. Lee Sa-young hurriedly turned his head.
Cha Eui-jae was crawling on all fours, sweeping away the ash on the floor. As his hand moved, countless bones were revealed.
“Ah, ah….”
A drop of water fell on the bones.
Cha Eui-jae was crying.