By Zephyria 287
“Lee Sa-young! What’s wrong…”
Jung-bin, who had been chasing after him, gasped and quickly inhaled. Sa-young carefully supported Eui-jae’s hand. His fingernails were a mess. How much had he scratched the floor? His fingernails were broken, and his skin was peeled off, revealing blood. Sa-young surveyed the disarray around him. Blood and handprints remained clearly on the wooden floor and scattered books, along with an unidentifiable translucent liquid.
Sa-young knew what it was. ‘His’ memories were telling him.
“I’ll go get the Doctor!”
The sound of shoes faded away. Sa-young couldn’t hug Eui-jae tightly, nor could he put him down on the floor. He knew it would be better to keep his distance, but he couldn’t bring himself to put him down on the floor. Sa-young rubbed his wet cheek with the back of his hand. Even though he was unconscious, his breathing was still irregular. Sa-young listened to Eui-jae’s heartbeat. It was too fast.
“…Hyung.”
Cha Eui-jae had reached out his hand towards the air. His hand and gaze were directed somewhere other than Lee Sa-young. Had he seen something else? No. Sa-young saw it clearly. His dark eyes were anxiously searching the air. They were shaking, unable to find their destination.
‘He can’t see.’
Sa-young gritted his teeth. His ash-gray hair, illuminated by the light, looked white.
‘Since when?’
Since when had he had problems with his eyesight? Had this happened before? Sa-young retraced the memories that weren’t his, but he didn’t gain any particular insight.
‘It hasn’t.’
Cha Eui-jae never showed such a weak side, no matter how much it hurt.
His head was spinning. He had been fine until now.
Surely, he had been fine.
Cha Eui-jae was panting and trembling even while unconscious. Occasionally, he seemed to regain consciousness and moved his body greatly, flailing as if trying to avoid Sa-young. But Sa-young blocked his movements with his arms. He couldn’t let him run away.
Eventually, Cha Eui-jae grabbed onto the collar of his coat and curled up in a ball. Tears welled up in his soaked eyelashes and dripped onto Sa-young’s pants. Sa-young withdrew his hand, which had been about to wipe away the tears. In this state, it wouldn’t be strange if he stopped breathing the moment he was touched.
“…Are you coming to your senses?”
His shoulders twitched. His breathing became a little rougher. A sob-filled sound leaked out. Sa-young suppressed the desire to hug the trembling body. Instead, he clenched his fist and pressed it against the floor.
“Try to catch your breath. It’s too fast right now.”
“….”
“Breathe in, breathe out…”
His upper body moved slowly in response to the low voice. Sa-young praised him lightly.
“Good job. Keep going.”
“….”
How long had it been? His breathing gradually regained its pace. His crying also subsided a little. The hand that had been gripping his collar slowly lost its strength. Sa-young tilted his head and stared at the ash-gray crown of his head.
“Don’t let go of my hand…”
“….”
“Where are you going? You can’t even see.”
The rustling movements stopped. He must have been thinking that he’d been caught. His thoughts were obvious. Sa-young sighed and tilted his head back. He would have pressed him harder if he wasn’t in pain, but he couldn’t bring himself to torment someone who was trembling in fear and pain. In the end, Sa-young spoke softly instead of scolding him.
“You hid it well. Didn’t you.”
Of course, he couldn’t resist the following sneer and complaint.
“…Is it so hard to say you can’t see? Can’t you just be honest?”
Sa-young closed his eyes and sighed again. His stomach churned every time this happened. Why did he have so many secrets? Would it hurt him to be a little more honest?
Then, a very small murmur was heard.
“…Scary.”
Lee Sa-young stared at Eui-jae with wide eyes. Scary, Cha Eui-jae had said. What was?
…An answer lingered in his mind. Sa-young hesitated for a long time before carefully asking. His clenched fist tightened.
“…Me?”
Cha Eui-jae didn’t answer. Instead, he shook his head from side to side. Ah. That was a relief. Strength drained from his entire body. A sense of relief surged from his toes. Sa-young unclenched his fist. Cha Eui-jae took several breaths before continuing.
“…Not.”
“Huh?”
The hand gripping the coat collar tightened. Cha Eui-jae spoke with a trembling voice, emphasizing each word.
“I don’t want to die.”
“……”
“I don’t want to die…”
The hand holding the coat collar lost its strength. At the same time, Eui-jae’s head drooped forward. Sa-young quickly supported Eui-jae’s head with his coat. He stared blankly at the face of the young man who was exhausted from crying. He always acted like he had no regrets. He didn’t hesitate to stab himself in the stomach. He acted like he would do anything to save the world.
‘He doesn’t want to die.’
Cha Eui-jae looked younger than his age. He didn’t look like he was twenty-eight at all. Some people mistook him for being in his early twenties. Sa-young realized anew. The Cha Eui-jae who had promised to return to him must have had this face too.
Twenty years old. Too young to die.
Tap, tap, tap, hurried footsteps approached.
“What on earth…”
Nam Woo-jin stopped abruptly. He must have seen it too. The bloodstains scattered on the floor and the translucent white liquid. Sa-young pulled off the glove on the hand that had been holding Eui-jae’s hand with his teeth. Then he threw it at Nam Woo-jin. Sa-young put his bare hand in his coat pocket and said.
“That liquid on there. Isn’t it similar to the blood of mutated Monsters?”
“…Who spilled it?”
“This guy.”
Sa-young gestured to Eui-jae with his chin. Nam Woo-jin made a sound of contemplation. He rolled up Eui-jae’s sleeve and inserted a syringe into the exposed skin. At first, red blood filled the syringe, but gradually a translucent white liquid mixed in. Nam Woo-jin’s eyes widened.
“…This is…”
And.
Time stopped.
“…What? Why are you stopping mid-sen…”
To be precise, other beings except for Lee Sa-young seemed to have stopped as if frozen. Nam Woo-jin was frozen in the position of holding the syringe, and Jung-bin was also frozen with a worried expression. Sa-young frowned and looked around. Silence flowed.
“…What is this now.”
Sa-young carefully shook Eui-jae, who was leaning against him. Judging by the fact that he was frowning, he didn’t seem to be frozen like the others. Sa-young rummaged through his pockets and took out his cell phone. Would he be able to make a call in this situation? He searched through his contacts and found Honeybee’s number. At that moment,
The phone rang.
[Hornet]
“Speak of the devil.”
Sa-young chuckled and pressed the call button. A sharp voice burst out from the other side of the phone.
—Hey! Are you okay there? No, is this call even connected?
“It is. Judging by how urgently you called, something strange must be happening on your end too.”
—It’s not just strange. Everyone’s frozen! It’s like the world itself is broken. What did you do? Tell me honestly!
“I wouldn’t be wronged if I had done something.”
Sa-young retorted in a disgruntled tone. He wedged the phone between his shoulder and ear, then moved Eui-jae’s arm to remove the needle that was still stuck in his arm. A round drop of blood welled up. Sa-young readjusted Eui-jae in his arms and stood up.
“It happened suddenly. I don’t know the cause either.”
—Then tell me what happened last!
“……”
Sa-young looked down at Eui-jae in his arms. What happened last. Nam Woo-jin drew Cha Eui-jae’s blood and realized something. And at that moment, the world stopped. Pure white blood. Cha Eui-jae was undergoing Mutation.
‘Did he realize he was mutating?’
This world is a world reconstructed from memories. So, what if something different from the memories that make up the world happens? What if that event is too big for the world to handle?
…There was still not enough information. Sa-young changed the subject for no reason.
“You didn’t do anything, did you?”
—Hmph, I’m innocent. I was eating roasted glutinous rice cake with Matthew.
“Ah…. You were having a good time?”
—Could you call it information gathering? I was memorizing all the Rifts and Dungeons that have been created so far?
“Oh, is that so.”
—Anyway, where are you now? Seowon Guild?
“Yeah, come over here.”
—…Okay, I’ll be there soon.
Click, the call ended. Sa-young scanned the people who were still frozen. A whitish liquid dripped, dripped, from the tip of the syringe needle. Sa-young rubbed his hair against the hair of Eui-jae, who was in his arms.
At that moment, a pure white System Window appeared. Red letters flashed.
[Error occurred.]
[Analyzing the cause….]
[…Cause analysis complete.]
[Error; A phenomenon that deviates from the recorded memories has occurred.]
[Error; Individual Nam Woo-jin and individual Jung-bin are unaware of the Mutation of individual Cha Eui-jae.]
[…Removing the cause of the error.]
A pure white circle appeared in the air. Soon, pure white hands popped out from inside the circle.