By Zephyria There was an air of embarrassment in his usually gentle smile. He covered his mouth with his fist and cleared his throat, then nodded slowly.
“Yes, I saw it.”
“How was it? Aren’t you acquainted with both of them~”
“Haha, it’s not my place to comment.”
Gyu-Gyu bared his teeth and chewed on the straw.
“Ehh~? Is there really something between them? All the Hunters in the world are curious.”
Jung-bin didn’t answer and maintained his smile. Gyu-Gyu, who had been scanning Jung-bin for a while, shrugged as if he was bored. Then, he flung the empty takeout cup behind him.
“Aww~ how boring.”
Clang—
Crack, a thin crack appeared above the gap in the air. The crack revealed a ruin covered in white ash. Soon, a white light burst from within, scattering into white ash. Gyu-Gyu rose from the corpse and balanced on one foot.
“Oops.”
Jung-bin looked around. As the gap disappeared, the mountains of Monsters around them began to turn to ash and scatter. Finally, the Monster that Gyu-Gyu was standing on turned to ash. He lightly jumped to the ground and grabbed the back of his neck, turning his head from side to side.
“A fish market, should I drop by for the first time in a while….”
Gyu-Gyu, who usually left the country like clockwork after finishing his business, had been staying in Korea for a long time for some reason. Even though the request to track J had already ended with his appearance. What changed his mind must have been the Day of Change. The one that pierced through the giant whale in an instant….
Jung-bin stared at the bustling Gyu-Gyu and opened his mouth.
“How have you been lately?”
“Why the sudden status check? I’m just living moderately.”
“I heard you’ve been attending weekend services without fail….”
“Ugh. Where did you hear that?”
“Your father’s church website has a huge picture of Gyu-Gyu plastered on the front page.”
The son of a pastor, Ban Gyu-min. Hunter name Gyu-Gyu. His picture plastered on the front page of the church website he attended was quite famous. Jung-bin had secretly burst out laughing when he first saw the picture reported by his team member.
Because among the mediocre people, a guy who stood out a head taller was forcibly smiling and giving a thumbs up. Even wearing a choir robe.
“Ah~ I told them not to post the picture….”
Gyu-Gyu scratched his cheek with a rare embarrassed expression. Jung-bin added in a gentle tone.
“You’re quite the filial son.”
“Ugh. Just say what you want to say quickly. I have other places to go.”
“Alright. Do you have any intention of attending this General Assembly?”
“Wow…. You came all the way to this remote place to ask me that?”
Gyu-Gyu stuck out his tongue and pretended to vomit as if he was disgusted. He then scratched his messy hair and grumbled.
“Why would I go there? It’s annoying. I’ll probably just get a ton of nagging from the Director.”
“But this agenda is important. Haven’t you been feeling the uneasy atmosphere lately?”
“……”
Gyu-Gyu just stared at Jung-bin with a grinning face. It was a signal to show his hand first. Jung-bin fiddled with the earphone in his ear and said.
“Distrust of Hunters is growing day by day. This General Assembly is being convened because of that agenda.”
“What, are you all gathering to figure out how to be loved? Hmm~”
Gyu-Gyu, who had been pondering with his arms crossed as if he was deep in thought, smiled brightly.
“I’m not going!”
“Are you really not coming? You’ll regret it.”
“I’m not going~ I’d rather fall into Lake Baikal than go there.”
“That’s a shame.”
Jung-bin sighed loudly as if to be heard. Then, he deliberately made loud footsteps and turned his body. The whisper, a little louder than a murmur, was a bonus.
“J is said to be attending this meeting in person….”
“……”
“I can’t force you to come. Then I’ll be going. I have to go pick up Hong Ye-seong too.”
It was when he had taken about two steps. Swish! A thin vine stretched out from behind and wrapped around Jung-bin’s wrist. Jung-bin peeled off the vine wrapped around his wrist one by one with his other hand.
“Aren’t you going to Lake Baikal?”
“No, well, I wasn’t necessarily planning to go.”
The vine seemed to gently touch his wrist, and then a white wildflower bloomed. Jung-bin turned around. Gyu-Gyu was half-turned, pretending to be on his phone. The vine that grabbed Jung-bin’s wrist stretched out from under his feet. Gyu-Gyu, who raised his head, grinned slyly.
“I was just wondering if I should find out the schedule~.”
Cha Eui-jae blinked amidst the momentarily blurred vision.
People with blurry impressions hurriedly passed by. Once again, he was standing in the hallway of the former Awakened Management Bureau. He stood in front of the door with his hand reaching for the doorknob. Eui-jae looked up and read the nameplate next to the door.
Director’s Office. Ham Seok-jeong’s room.
‘Is this a memory of meeting Ham Seok-jeong?’
What information could he get from his conversation with her? It would be nice if he could get even a clue about Doomsday. The hand that was about to grab the doorknob stopped. Eui-jae took a step away from the door.
Right next to the Director’s office, there was a black door.
‘Was there a door like this?’
It was a door that didn’t exist in ‘Cha Eui-jae’s’ memory. The suddenly appearing door strangely caught his eye. There was no name written on the nameplate attached to the new door. A black aura rippled and leaked through the crack in the door. The aura was strangely familiar.
‘What is it?’
Someone whispered. Open the door. Eui-jae reached out as if possessed and grabbed the doorknob. It was chillingly cold. He slowly turned the doorknob. Creak, the door opened more easily than he thought. Eui-jae stuck his head out and looked inside the door. It was pitch black.
‘Something’s strange.’
He had read ‘Cha Eui-jae’s’ memories through the watch several times so far, but this was the first time such a variable had occurred. Was there anything that could have changed? What was different between then and now?
‘Lee Sa-young woke up….’
Thump, the Shield vibrated. Something strong pushed him through the door. He instinctively tried to resist, but it was so strong that even that was impossible. Eui-jae was pushed into the middle of the darkness with a lightness that was almost absurd.
Bang! The door closed behind him. Eui-jae looked at the air with a dumbfounded expression.
‘Damn, I’m being pushed so easily?’
When he clenched and unclenched his fist, he felt a sense of incongruity.
‘…Huh?’
The power that had always been with him as if it were his own had disappeared. Was I this weak before Awakening? He was embarrassed. It felt like he had become an ant. Eui-jae blankly stared at the darkness.
‘Cha Eui-jae’ whispered. It’s because this isn’t yours.
‘What the hell are you talking about again….’
It was then.
A voice echoed in the void where nothing could be seen and nothing could be heard.
‘…He, turned back time?’
A low, subdued voice. A resonance closer to a beast than a human. Creak, creak, the sound of stepping on the floorboards. Clatter, the drawer opens. An old watch floated in the air.
‘Then I can turn it back too….’
“……”
When he opened his eyes again, pitch-black darkness and a strange gaze greeted Cha Eui-jae.
Before he could even grasp the space he was in, he quickly sprang up and groped his face. There was no mask.
What is it? Where is this? The strange gaze was still following his every move. There was no attempt to hide it. It was the moment Eui-jae was about to punch the unknown being.
“You don’t have to be so surprised.”
A familiar voice replied. It was Lee Sa-young’s voice. Click, the sound of a button being pressed. A faint vermilion light turned on. When he narrowed his eyes and looked around, Lee Sa-young’s room, which he had been in and out of for months, came into view.
Next to it, Lee Sa-young was sitting cross-legged on the chair that Eui-jae had often sat on. Lee Sa-young, who felt his gaze, unfolded his arms.
“Looks like I woke you up….”
“……”
“Did you have a good dream?”
“…You.”
Eui-jae stared intently at Sa-young. His eyes flickered through his shadowed face. They were eyes that reflected everything like a mirror. Eui-jae clenched his fist.
“You’re someone else.”
“Yeah…. That’s right.”
Lee Sa-young surprisingly agreed lightly.
“You woke up in two days.”
“What?”
Two days? It was a hard story to believe. He tried to check the time, but there was no medium to check the time in this room. Because Eui-jae had cleared everything away. There was no cell phone either.
That’s right, the watch. Eui-jae raised his wrist, but his wrist was also empty.
“Are you looking for this?”
“……”
The watch was already in Lee Sa-young’s hand. A black hand fiddled with the watch.
“It’s very old….”
“……”
“It’s working somehow.”
Was it true or false? Eui-jae tried to read something from Lee Sa-young’s face. But he couldn’t read any emotion from his expressionless face. That made Eui-jae more uneasy than anything else. Because the Lee Sa-young he knew surprisingly showed various emotions on his face.
Lee Sa-young, who had been silently capturing Eui-jae in his eyes, tapped his temple.
“It seems like you had a fun dream.”
“……”
“How was it?”
The emptiness entangled at the end of the long dream. The faintly heard voice. The owner of that voice was definitely Lee Sa-young. Lee Sa-young raised the corners of his mouth and smiled.
Neither ridicule nor joy. It was a mechanical smile that didn’t show any emotion.