By Zephyria Was he knocked out like this, by any chance?
“Hey, Lee Sa-young.”
“……”
“Are you sleeping? Hey, are you really asleep?”
Just in case, Eui-jae listened closely and could hear him breathing softly. Eui-jae hugged Sa-young and stared blankly into the darkness. Should he be relieved? He was relieved. At least he didn’t do anything here. Even though the heat from earlier was still lingering.
Just then, the heavy body felt a little lighter. The clanging of chains also disappeared. Eui-jae carefully groped Sa-young’s back, who was nestled in his arms. The well-defined muscles, even through the clothes, were smooth without a single puncture mark.
‘Did he lose consciousness, so the connection was severed?’
He groped his wrists, neck, arms, and ankles. They were only stained with blood, with no other traces left. Only then did Eui-jae rest his chin on his outstretched shoulder and sigh. Was this what it meant when they said he wouldn’t die? Because there was no damage to his body.
“Haa…”
His head was a mess. Lee Sa-young, who had lost his mind and lunged at him, and the fact that he had to repeat this endlessly. Whatever the case, he couldn’t leave Lee Sa-young in a place like this. Eui-jae groped around and put on his mask. Then, supporting Sa-young’s back and legs, he carried him towards the firmly closed door.
But how do I open this door?
It opened automatically when I came in. Eui-jae kicked the door with his foot.
“Hey, open the door.”
He heard rustling sounds from beyond the door. Soon, with a thud, the door slowly began to rise. Light began to pour into the darkness. And, when the door rose as high as an average person’s field of vision.
Eui-jae faced pale, blue faces.
“……”
“……”
Thud, Bae Won-woo, who had been staring blankly at Eui-jae, knelt down and collapsed. Mackerel didn’t drink the bottled water he had put to his lips, but let it flow down his face. Finally, Hong Ye-seong rolled his bloodshot eyes and cautiously called out to him.
“…Friend.”
“Yeah, why.”
“Did you kill him?”
“Kill him? He just fainted. I don’t know if he’s asleep or fainted.”
As Eui-jae took a step forward, Mackerel jumped up from his spot. Then, grabbing Bae Won-woo by the scruff of his neck, he retreated two steps. Mackerel showed Eui-jae his palm.
“Ah, wait a minute, Hyung? Shouldn’t we maintain a safe distance?”
Why were these guys acting like this all of a sudden? He was already exhausted from Sa-young sucking his energy. Eui-jae replied irritably.
“Safe distance? What safe distance… Are you going to talk nonsense?”
“Ah, do you not realize what you look like right now? Um, Hyung, you look like a murderer from a horror movie right now.”
“What?”
“It would be perfect if you were holding a chainsaw instead of Lee Sa-young. Wait… a mirror, is there a mirror?”
Mackerel, who was frantically rummaging through his pockets and Inventory, exclaimed, “Ah,” and took out a mirror the size of a person’s face from his Inventory and held it up.
“Look at this. We’re not doing this for no reason.”
“……”
In the mirror, a black murderer, soaked in blood from head to toe, was standing there holding a pitiful? victim. Not only was the mask covered in blood, but his hands and neck were also covered in bloodstains, making him look gruesome. Eui-jae looked at the floor. Footprints marked with blood, with blood dripping onto them, creating small puddles. He turned his gaze slightly and looked down at Sa-young in his arms. His pale face was clean except for the bloodstains on the corners of his mouth.
‘We went through all that trouble together, so why is only this bastard okay?’
He felt wronged. But to the others, did it look like a murderer was contemplating how to cook the last remaining survivor? Bae Won-woo, who had regained his senses, hurriedly took out a bottle from his pocket.
And opened the lid―
“I’m sorry for now, J…!”
Splash!
He poured it on Eui-jae. It wasn’t just pouring, he splashed it so forcefully that it was like slapping his cheek with the mysterious liquid. Silence fell.
“……”
“Wo, wow. Amazing.”
Mackerel covered his mouth and took a step back. The raised corners of his mouth made it clear that he was smiling. Even though he had suddenly been slapped in the face with a mysterious liquid, he wasn’t angry. Bae Won-woo wasn’t the type to do something like this without a reason. Eui-jae swept back his wet hair and stared at Bae Won-woo. As expected, he had thrown away the bottle and was examining Eui-jae.
“Oh my… are you okay? It’s not anything weird, it’s just Antidote. Sa-young, that guy, his blood is poisonous… Clothes alone wouldn’t have been enough to block it all.”
Ah, is that right? He was worried about me, wasn’t he? Eui-jae smiled gently. Though it couldn’t be seen.
“I’m fine. This much is nothing.”
“But.”
Hong Ye-seong raised his head. The blood flowing from his eyes had stopped, as if he had turned off his Emotional Eye. He looked at Eui-jae with bloodshot but clear eyes.
“Why did you come out so early? You should have lasted longer than usual.”
“He lost consciousness.”
“Suddenly? That can’t be… Did you give him excessive mental stimulation or something?”
“……”
Hong Ye-seong tilted his head with a rather serious expression. Eui-jae didn’t answer and pursed his lips. Does taking off the mask, licking his fingers, and kissing him count as excessive stimulation? He had his own social face to save. Actually, Sa-young seemed more out of his mind than usual. He lunged at him like a beast that had almost lost its reason. Biting and licking…
‘Ah.’
Eui-jae slyly pretended to lift Sa-young in his arms and raised his collar. To hide any remaining bite mark-shaped bloodstains. Hong Ye-seong, who was still contemplating, rested his chin on his hand and groaned.
“Ugh~, I thought he would last another hour… This is going to mess up my calculations.”
“Is this even effective?”
“Of course, it is. There was no one who played the role of warden as well as Lee Sa-young from the previous world. Even if he’s only half-fused, the effect is certain.”
“But Lee Sa-young from that world was preventing the Destroyed world from merging with our world, right? That doesn’t mean he’s stopping Doomsday, does it?”
“Haa… That’s why they’re ignorant.”
‘Hong Ye-seong’ shook his head. His tone still had a strange intelligence to it. Mackerel, who was wiping his wet chin and neck, muttered.
“Was he always like that? Wasn’t he a little more… scatterbrained and out of it?”
Mackerel had a knack for twisting the expression “stupid” in various ways. Regardless, Hong Ye-seong gestured in the air with his finger and muttered.
“What should I compare this to so they can understand it perfectly? Okay…”
As the blood-stained finger pointed in the air, a small galaxy unfolded in the air. As the long finger drew a circle, a black and red circle with an ominous color appeared.
“This is a huge game. Doomsday is the player, and the worlds are like game stages. That Doomsday has to clear.”
“That’s a very blasphemous analogy.”
Hong Ye-seong ignored Mackerel’s interjection and moved his finger. The black circle moved little by little and began to devour the stars that made up the galaxy one by one.
“The player, Doomsday, will clear the stages one by one, right? That’s the purpose of the game and the player’s instinct. But there’s a stage that almost got cleared but narrowly failed.”
The black circle that was moving quickly stopped abruptly in front of a certain star. The small star was half-swallowed by the black circle, but it regained its shape. Its light was precarious but didn’t go out.
‘Hong Ye-seong’ pointed at Eui-jae with his index finger. The first world where J alone turned back time. The world escaped from the brink of destruction thanks to his sacrifice.
“You’d definitely want to clear it next time, right?”
“……”
“So you challenged it again.”
The stopped black circle moved again and covered the star. The small star was mercilessly torn apart by the black circle, leaving only a very small fragment. The black circle lingered around the fragment before heading towards another star.
How much time had passed? The fragment slowly but surely began to regain its shape. However, it wasn’t perfect, and it was tattered in places. Meanwhile, the black circle that had been rummaging around stopped.
“But a stage that was definitely cleared appeared again? But it doesn’t seem complete. How strange?”
“……”
“Wouldn’t you come looking for it if you were me?”
“You’d come looking out of curiosity, at least.”
“Well, that’s what it is. Doomsday doesn’t have a personality, but to explain it in human terms, that’s it!”
As Hong Ye-seong waved his two upright index fingers, the galaxy and the black circle disappeared at the same time. However, only the tattered star remained. Hong Ye-seong circled the star.
“Lee Sa-young’s job is to hold onto and maintain the Destroyed world. It’s like covering the current world with a layer of the Destroyed world… Then it looks like the Destroyed world on the outside.”
“……”
“It’s a kind of trick. How is it, do you understand?”
“…So it’s not a fundamental solution after all.”
“That’s right. It’s just buying time. We don’t know when it will notice.”
A heavy silence descended. At that moment, Sa-young’s fingers in his arms twitched. Eui-jae hurriedly checked Sa-young’s face. His long eyelashes seemed to tremble, and then his purple eyes slowly appeared. The eyes stared blankly at Eui-jae before…
“……”
He reached out his hands, wrapped them around Eui-jae’s neck, and pulled him down. Eui-jae followed along without being able to hide his bewildered expression. And,
Peck.
He kissed him on the mask.
Eui-jae stared blankly ahead. He was sure that his face was probably similar to their expressions right now.