By Zephyria For two and a half months, Cha Eui-jae, with Min-gi Seo under his feet and the Wave Guild and the best civil servant Jung-bin on his back, did his best. He didn’t discriminate between Dungeons, Rifts, or Monsters.
In the process, he saw how Jung-bin used his famous face to manipulate public opinion. Indeed, there was a reason why he had snagged all the public service advertisements. Eight years was more than enough time to evolve a diligent colleague into a sly fox.
However, the effect of stopgap measures such as, ‘In a moment of crisis, the national hero who appeared after 8 years saved the country again!’ seemed to be wearing off. Judging by the articles arguing about Lee Sa-young.
‘I wish a big Monster would appear.’
The public, who had cheered for J’s return, were gradually taking J’s performance for granted. Well, because he’s a hero. If there’s a problem, he’ll come, of course. Bae Won-woo, whom he occasionally encountered, would grumble with a displeased face.
‘It’s absolutely not something to take for granted. They’re all complacent about safety.’
Eui-jae just shrugged. It wasn’t new to him, as he had experienced it many times before.
His thumb busily swiped across the screen. Eui-jae mechanically scanned the headlines of the news and stopped. A photo of a middle-aged man with a tiger-like impression, with sparse gray hair, was on the screen. Song Jo-heon. The title of the article with his photo was as follows.
「Why is the hero silent, questions about the West Sea Rift」
“……”
He tossed his cell phone on the drawer next to the sofa.
“This is a headache….”
Tap, tap, tap…. The sound of fingers tapping on the leather sofa stopped.
Lee Sa-young’s house is quiet. According to Min-gi Seo, Lee Sa-young is light sleeper and wakes up at the slightest noise. So, he had thorough soundproofing installed.
In fact, it wasn’t very welcome to Cha Eui-jae. That’s because he can only fall asleep comfortably with noise. Ever since he escaped from the West Sea Rift.
Eui-jae rolled up his loose sleeves. A silver watch, broken messily, was on his left wrist. Only one of the three small hands was crawling.
‘Last chance.’
When all the hands stopped, would he succeed or fail?
Eui-jae took off the watch and put it on the armrest of the sofa, turned on an eight-hour rain sound video on his cell phone, and closed his eyes, using a cushion as a pillow. Was it because he knew that Lee Sa-young was beyond the wall? He wasn’t lonely.
His consciousness slowly began to sink.
Soon, Cha Eui-jae opened his eyes. He looked around and it was familiar. It was the hallway of the old Awakened Management Bureau building, which Cha Eui-jae used to frequent more often than his own home. The murmuring sound is clear.
His feet crossed the hallway without hesitation. Most of the faces of the people passing by were blurry. If he tried to observe them carefully, they would soon turn black. Then, a woman with a clear face appeared. It was Honeybee, sitting with her legs crossed with a sulky expression. Honeybee looked at Eui-jae and rested her chin on her hand.
‘What, what brings you here?’
“It’s not strange for me to be here. It’s strange that you’re here.”
‘I’m here to meet Jung-bin, so don’t bother me.’
Honeybee added bluntly.
‘I clearly heard you went to a remote mountain village in Gangwon-do.’
“That was yesterday. Your news is slow.”
‘Tsk.’
She turned her head away. Her long blonde hair, tied in one, fluttered. Eui-jae persistently asked.
“How are you doing these days?”
‘Well, same as usual. Anyway….’
Honeybee gestured to the end of the hallway and got up. It was towards the emergency stairs. Eui-jae pretended not to know and took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and followed her. Bang, the door closed. Honeybee, who checked the surroundings, lowered her voice and whispered.
‘I talked to Matthew as you said? Certainly, the frequency of Rift occurrences has increased these days. There are also several Rifts whose existence is hidden to alleviate anxiety. Matthew was also thinking it was strange.’
“……”
‘The frequency of Monsters jumping out of the Rifts has also increased. I contacted Gyu-Gyu and it’s the same overseas. The atmosphere is unusual.’
“I see.”
Honeybee frowned and crossed her arms.
‘If you find out anything, share it, okay? You’re not doing this to live alone.’
“…Sorry. I don’t have anything concrete yet.”
‘Hey, J.’
Bright brown eyes shone sharply.
‘Please don’t try to… …to….’
Honeybee’s voice and face, which he was facing, began to fade. Soon, all the surrounding scenery distorted. Eui-jae muttered.
“Another failure today.”
And after a while, Cha Eui-jae opened his eyes again. A dark and familiar ceiling greeted him.
Swish…. The sound of rain continued endlessly. Eui-jae groped around his head and picked up his watch and cell phone. Only 30 minutes had passed. He slowly got up and moved. He opens the tightly closed door.
He managed to find a chair placed next to the bed in the darkness and sat down, and Eui-jae, looking at the vaguely visible side profile, lay down on the bed with his eyes closed.
After Lee Sa-young fell asleep, Cha Eui-jae occasionally saw something in his dreams. Cha Eui-jae became ‘Cha Eui-jae’ and moved, traveled, and talked to strangers or familiar people. He also met Lee Sa-young several times.
‘Hyung.’
The Lee Sa-young there had black eyes, was good at cooking, and was kind. Eui-jae realized it only after eating the meal that Lee Sa-young had prepared himself.
‘It’s not a dream.’
Well, how could you taste anything in a dream?
What Cha Eui-jae was seeing was someone’s vivid memory. Perhaps, judging from the fact that Lee Sa-young’s eyes were black and the shape of the house he was living in…. Perhaps the memories of the first Cha Eui-jae.
Yoon Ga-eul was the only expert in the phenomenon of seeing something every time he fell asleep, so he went to Ga-eul first for consultation. It was a meeting on the rooftop of the high school she attends. Eui-jae chose to break the lock on the rooftop for a quiet conversation.
Ga-eul, who was listening to the story while sniffling, tilted her head.
“You didn’t used to have that, but you’ve been doing that since the Day of Change, right?”
“Yes.”
“Is there anything that has changed since before? If it suddenly appeared, there must be a trigger.”
Eui-jae, who had been thinking for a while, muttered.
“There are too many.”
“If you pick out only a few really important things?”
Eui-jae began to fold his fingers one by one.
“First of all, I quit my part-time job at the Hanover Soup Restaurant. Instead, I started working as J.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Lee Sa-young fell asleep….”
It was when Cha Eui-jae’s fingers were folded about five times. Ga-eul, who had been listening quietly, said.
“Most of what you’ve said so far are changes in the surrounding environment. What about the changes that have occurred to J himself?”
“Me?”
“Yes. For example….”
Ga-eul fiddled with her hair.
“The fact that your hair turned gray…. That, the watch on your wrist. Come to think of it, we haven’t focused on the fact that Lee Sa-young Guild Leader collapsed and haven’t investigated the watch yet, have we?”
“Ah.”
Eui-jae hurriedly rolled up his jacket sleeves. A worn-out watch that looked like it would break at any moment was revealed. Ga-eul said worriedly.
“It seems highly likely that it’s because of this. How about trying to fall asleep after putting the watch far away first?”
It was quite a reasonable statement. Eui-jae had Min-gi Seo put the watch in the Hanover Soup Restaurant and went to bed, and that night he dreamed of the West Sea Rift instead of the kind Lee Sa-young. It was the moment when it became clear that it was because of the watch.
There was another expert on items, namely Hong Ye-seong, the self-proclaimed or other-proclaimed best Artisan in the world.
His secret hideout this time was at the foot of Mt. Inwang. With the help of Jung-bin, he entered the secluded house where The Artisan was staying, and Hong Ye-seong ran out on all fours and grabbed Cha Eui-jae’s pants leg.
“I was so bored I was dying! You didn’t even send me a text! I hate you!”
Jung-bin, who was watching with his hands behind his back, smiled kindly.
“You wouldn’t have been able to see it even if you sent it anyway.”
“But!”
Every time he was imprisoned in a remote place, Lee Sa-young restored the internet for him, but this time, Lee Sa-young, who would restore it, had fallen asleep, so he lived a life really cut off from the world. Hong Ye-seong, who was listening to the story while grilling seaweed with the fire that Cluck was spewing out, suddenly said.
“You said you used that watch to turn the world around, right? That… the first you.”
“Yeah.”
“Then a tremendous amount of energy must have gathered. And you said that. That you become the axis.”
“I did.”
“The fact that you need an axis means that the item alone can’t do anything. The axis and the item must come together to barely work.”
“Come together?”
“Yeah.”
Cluck, who spat out a small flame for the last time, began to diligently walk around Eui-jae. Hong Ye-seong muttered while cutting the seaweed with scissors.
“Maybe that watch is partially merged with ‘Cha Eui-jae’ who became the axis? It’s not like your body was sucked in, but, hmm, memories or… strong wishes… something like that might be contained in it.”
“……”
“And that caused some kind of reaction by meeting the same Cha Eui-jae. If it doesn’t harm your body, wouldn’t it be good to keep experiencing it? You might be able to get some clues.”
“……”
“…Of course, I didn’t make it, so I don’t know the details!”
Once again, intelligence began to dwell in Hong Ye-seong’s words. It was too frequent to be called an intermittent symptom. Eui-jae stared at Hong Ye-seong with suspicious eyes, then hit Hong Ye-seong’s back for no reason.
“Ugh!”
“Squawk!”
Hong Ye-seong and Cluck screamed at the same time….
Beep beep beep beep―
Cha Eui-jae opened his eyes again. His cell phone was flashing with a red screen and ringing loudly. Eui-jae abruptly raised his upper body. It was an emergency call from Jung-bin.
―An Invasion Dungeon has appeared in Mokpo. It’s larger than before.
Invasion Dungeon. It may be connected to the West Sea Rift. He suddenly became alert. Without thinking further, Eui-jae hurriedly got up and ran out of the door. The locked door opened, and silence returned to the large house.
The silver watch left in the darkness sparkled.