By Zephyria For a few blinks, his thin eyelids fluttered. His vacant eyes stared blankly into the darkness. The first thought that came to mind was nothing special.
‘Did I go blind again…’
Just that much.
Fortunately, all his senses gradually adapted to the darkness, and he began to distinguish the surrounding objects. He propped himself up on his elbows on the mattress and slowly raised his upper body. The feel of the blanket covering him was familiar. It was probably his bedroom.
He reached out and turned on the bedside lamp. Crimson light filled the room. His pale face was stained reddish.
…….
It felt like he had a very long dream.
…….
Was it really a dream?
There was something sparkling on the soft blanket. Without hesitation, he grabbed it and got out of bed. His body staggered with each step. Moving his body felt unfamiliar, as if it wasn’t his own.
He opened the door. His bare feet touched the cold floorboards and fell a few times before he stood in front of the large window.
“…….”
His turbid eyes turned to the sky beyond the window. The giant hall in the middle of the sky was dyed white, and white ash fluttered down. It was a landscape he had seen for a terribly long time.
The landscape of Doomsday.
He slowly lowered his gaze. Ash was falling on the shattered remains of buildings. Everything was pure white. No trace of life could be found anywhere. His head throbbed. The hand that gripped the window was black up to the inside of his wrist.
Doomsday is always silent….
Thump.
He shook his head and looked at the street again. High-rise buildings covered with cloth as if under repair, cars moving busily on the road, small people walking down the street. The faint sound of car horns. Everything was in place. The hand gripping the window was only blackened at the tip of one finger.
Not yet.
“Ah….”
He let out a small sigh and roughly wiped his face with both hands. His forehead and nape were already damp with cold sweat.
“Shit.”
Purple eyes shone brightly through the blackened fingers. A small anxiety settled in his arrogant eyes.
“What the hell is this now….”
“Why,”
Click,
“Won’t the,”
Click,
“Fire start.”
A sturdy hand wrestled with a fluorescent green old-fashioned gas lighter. Eui-jae stuck his spear into the ground and struggled to light a cigarette. Min-gi Seo glanced at him.
“Should I get a new lighter ready?”
“No, you don’t have to go that far…. That’s weird. There’s some left.”
Eui-jae held up the lighter and shone it in the air. Only then did he notice the writing on the surface of the lighter. Below the strange white letters ‘Mackerel Sashimi Specialty Fish Market’ was a phone number. He had just picked up any lighter left behind by customers at the Hanover Soup Restaurant. Anyway, he couldn’t understand the tastes of the Hunters.
Min-gi Seo raised his head.
“Ah…. I do have an item that can light a fire, would you like to use it?”
“What is it?”
He rummaged through his Inventory and took out something that looked like a gun. When he pulled the trigger, a bright blue flame soared up. Eui-jae stared blankly at the blazing pillar of fire.
“…A flamethrower?”
Min-gi Seo said with a proud look for some reason.
“I swiped it from the confiscated goods warehouse when I went to rob the Awakened Management Bureau. It looked useful. They said it was made from a flame Monster’s Mana Stone.”
Come to think of it, Hong Ye-seong’s Cluck, who he always carried around, seemed to spew blue flames from its mouth too. Could it be. Eui-jae asked.
“Don’t tell me Hong Ye-seong?”
“Yes. The Artisan made it.”
He really made all sorts of strange things. Eui-jae reluctantly reached out and held the cigarette to the flame. However,
Whoosh!
“Customer?”
The blue flame swallowed the cigarette and Eui-jae’s hand at once. Min-gi Seo hurriedly pulled the trigger to put out the fire. Eui-jae nonchalantly shook off his hand, which only had a slight amount of soot left.
“It’s too powerful to use.”
“…I see. I’ll send a lighter to Guild Leader’s house.”
“I said you don’t have to….”
Eui-jae licked his lips and put on his mask.
“So, it was another bust.”
They were standing on the ruins of a collapsed building inside the Invasion Dungeon. The ash that had been blowing in periodically no longer appeared after they killed the Dungeon’s Master.
“Yes. I explored as much as possible, but there was nothing noticeable. I didn’t find anything unusual compared to the existing Invasion Dungeons either. Except over there.”
He gestured with his eyes behind him. Beyond the black stream of water, another vast land stretched out.
“We can’t rule out the possibility that there’s something over there. It would be good to investigate now, but….”
Min-gi Seo put away the flamethrower and scribbled something busily on the tablet he had taken out, then shrugged.
“You don’t have time for that, do you?”
“…….”
Eui-jae didn’t answer. Silence was affirmation. Min-gi Seo stopped writing.
“There is a way to deploy the Wave Guild investigation team, but it’s a bit tricky. It’s best to consider it impossible.”
“Which Guild owns the Dungeon?”
“It’s a place called Sanyoung Guild, and it has a cooperative relationship with HB Guild. Broadly speaking, it’s owned by HB Guild.”
Min-gi Seo scratched his temple with the butt of his pen.
“You can go anywhere with your position as a hero and Ranker No. 1 and the civil servant’s confirmation….”
“…….”
“It would be a disaster if I got caught here.”
He needed to quickly return to check on Lee Sa-young’s condition and retrieve the watch. But he couldn’t leave Min-gi Seo alone. Eui-jae kicked the concrete debris with his Walker. Fortunately, he was quick to give up and accept.
“I can’t help it. Let’s go.”
“Yes, customer.”
Very Small Miracle Mingi Seo melted into Eui-jae’s shadow.
Splash….
As soon as they got out of the Dungeon, the salty smell of the sea tickled their noses. Soft waves crashed against the cliff, carving it away and breaking into white foam. The Mokpo Invasion Dungeon was created below a cliff that bordered the sea.
The sea.
They had definitely promised to go to the sea together, but Cha Eui-jae had come alone. Then and now.
‘When will we be able to go together?’
Regardless of Dungeons, Monsters, or the System, just the two of them.
‘Now, whenever I see something, I think of Lee Sa-young.’
It was as if the world had been completely reorganized with Lee Sa-young. He felt bitter for no reason. It was the moment he stepped onto the white sand. A sharp energy pierced his spine coldly. Eui-jae readjusted his spear and stared at the place where he felt the energy. A prim voice rang in his ears.
“You’re finally looking here. Isn’t Ranker No. 1 too defenseless?”
In the cold sea breeze, her high-tied blonde hair fluttered like a flag. It was a person Cha Eui-jae knew well. Well, she was a person who consistently appeared on TV, both before and after the Day of Change….
Because she was a regular at the Hanover Soup Restaurant.
“Well, we’re both busy, so should we talk briefly?”
Honeybee tucked her fluttering blonde hair behind her ear and stared straight at Eui-jae. Fortunately, he didn’t feel any particular murderous intent.
“…….”
Eui-jae lowered the spear he was holding threateningly and replied.
“Dungeon entry is permitted. HB Guild doesn’t need to make an issue of it.”
“That’s none of my business. I came to find you for something else.”
If it were normal, he would have ignored her and left. Because the risk increased the more he encountered other Hunters.
But was it because of the memory the watch showed him that he wanted to hear her story? Or was it because of their connection at the Hanover Soup Restaurant? He didn’t know.
Honeybee said.
“Do you know about the drug that turns Awakened into Dummies?”
He knew. It was because of that drug that he met Lee Sa-young again. But Eui-jae didn’t answer and watched Honeybee’s reaction. Honeybee seemed to take the silence as affirmation and continued slowly.
“The reason I came to find you is… because I thought you could help me.”
She twirled her hair with her finger. She seemed hesitant for some reason, but she soon opened her mouth with a determined face.
“I need help, J. Just tell him one thing.”
“What thing?”
“Matthew needs to be cured.”
He had met Matthew at the Artisan Exhibition. He was the current Ranker No. 3 in Korea and the Guild Leader of HB Guild, or so he had said. Eui-jae asked casually.
“Shouldn’t you go to a healer for treatment?”
“I already showed him. He said he couldn’t treat him. Even Nam Woo-jin. Tsk….”
Honeybee started biting her thumbnail anxiously.
“Do you know that HB Guild has established a cooperative relationship with Samra Guild?”
“For now.”
“…Maybe that was the turning point. After that, Matthew’s condition started to get a little strange. A person who was always calm and without big emotional changes suddenly had big mood swings, was always anxious, and couldn’t control his ability….”
Her eyes flashed eerily.
“Damn it, did you think I was a blind person who couldn’t even tell that….”
“…So?”
“Ah.”
She seemed to come to her senses and raised her head. Then she lowered her eyes and muttered.
“…I heard from Nam Woo-jin. Matthew’s symptoms are the early stages of drug addiction that mutates Awakened. There’s an organization called Prometheus behind the drug distribution, but he only knows the drug itself well, and Wave Guild knows a lot about that organization…. He told me to ask Wave Guild for cooperation.”
“…….”
The reason he told Honeybee the story that he had repeatedly asked to keep secret must mean that Matthew’s condition was that serious. In the Fragment Ga-eul had shown him, he remembered Honeybee sitting down and wailing.
The Honeybee standing in front of him now didn’t cry, even though her eyes were red.
“You’re working with Wave Guild these days, right? Then tell Lee Sa-young. Shield Guy can’t deliver the message because he’s been living in the Dungeon these days.”
“Lee Sa-young too….”
His throat choked up for a moment. Eui-jae cleared his throat slightly and shook his head.
“Lee Sa-young won’t be of any help either. You know. Due to health problems….”
“What are you talking about?”
Honeybee frowned.
“It’s all been revealed that it’s an excuse for health problems. A few hours ago, everyone shared on Ranker Chat that Lee Sa-young was wandering around Incheon….”
Thud. Honeybee’s eyes widened for a moment. It was because J grabbed Honeybee’s shoulder and suddenly thrust his face forward.
A black mask that didn’t reveal his expression, and a modulated voice that didn’t convey emotion. The modulated voice asked as if spitting out the words.
“What, did you say just now?”