By Zephyria Eyes
Something shook his body violently. Eui-jae frowned. The queasiness churned his stomach like seasickness. Eui-jae licked his lips. Damn it, just a little more sleep….
“J!”
At that moment, a thunderous voice pierced his ears. Eui-jae snapped his eyes open. The first thing he saw was a cracked ceiling. Cracked? Dust was falling from the ceiling, so it wasn’t a hallucination. Ga-eul was gasping, her face pale, as she gripped Eui-jae’s shoulder.
“Student Ga-eul?”
“Th-thank goodness… I was worried because you weren’t waking up for so long, no, this isn’t the time. We have to get out of here right now!”
“Huh?”
“The Shield is suddenly collapsing. Ah, watch your head!”
Thump! With a loud rumble, debris rained down from the ceiling. Eui-jae quickly raised his upper body and blocked the fragments with his arms. What he saw through the collapsed ceiling was….
A pitch-black void.
The same void he had encountered when he opened the Memorial Dungeon.
The entire classroom shook ominously. If the floor collapsed, would that place also be a void?
‘That would be a disaster.’
He refused to be trapped in a void of unknown origin. Ga-eul wiped away the cold sweat and muttered.
“Th-this is strange. This place shouldn’t be shaking like this since Hong Ye-seong made it….”
Hong Ye-seong. Even if he was strange, his skills were undeniable. Ga-eul asked in a trembling voice.
“Could something have happened outside…? Or, to Hong Ye-seong….”
Several ominous possibilities swirled in her head. Eui-jae grabbed his throbbing temples and got up. Then, he scooped Ga-eul up into his arms.
“Let’s get out of here first!”
“Ah, yes! But I can manage on my own―”
He didn’t even listen to her last words. Eui-jae tightly gripped the ticket he had stored in his Inventory. At the same time, his vision shifted.
Eui-jae looked around. It was the Wave Guild’s Guild Leader’s office. The place he considered the safest. From there, Eui-jae headed to Ga-eul’s hideout….
“Um, you can put me down now….”
“Ah, sorry. I was in a hurry.”
“J! You’re back?!”
Just then, the door burst open. Shield Guy, Bae Won-woo’s expectant gaze scanned the room. And realizing that only Cha Eui-jae and Yoon Ga-eul were there, he averted his gaze. Seeing his slumped shoulders, Eui-jae felt bitter.
“I’m sorry, I met him but couldn’t bring him….”
“It’s alright. It wasn’t going to be a quick thing anyway. More importantly, we have a big problem!”
“A big problem?”
“Yes, yes. I’ll tell you on the way to the conference room. It’ll be faster to see it with your own eyes. You, Student, come with us too!”
Bae Won-woo gestured for them to follow quickly. Eui-jae exchanged a bewildered look with Ga-eul, then hurriedly started running after him. Bae Won-woo descended the emergency stairs two or three steps at a time, saying.
“Right now, not only the Bureau of Rift Management… the whole world is in a state of emergency.”
“Did a Monster Wave break out? Or a Mutation?”
“No, no…. Ah, we’re here!”
Bae Won-woo threw open the door to the conference room. Several Hunters were already gathered inside. Bae Won-woo gestured for them to move aside and led Eui-jae to the window. One wall of the conference room was made of glass, providing a clear view of the outside scenery.
And, Eui-jae was overwhelmed by a strong sense of unease.
“……”
“…Do you notice anything different?”
“…That.”
Eui-jae raised his index finger and pointed to the sky. After the Day of the Rift, it had always been there in the sky….
“The Whitehole is gone?”
Ugh, dark red blood splattered onto the dirt floor. Beside Hong Ye-seong, who was lying face down and constantly vomiting blood, Cluck circled around anxiously. Cluck’s subordinates, no, its six bird friends also circled around with it.
“Cluck? Cluck….”
“Ugh, waaaah….”
After vomiting blood for quite some time, Hong Ye-seong avoided the pool of blood he had vomited and flopped onto the ground. The acrid smell of blood filled the air. He roughly rubbed his nose and mouth with the back of his hand. Blood smeared all over it. His golden Emotional Eye rotated busily, staring at the blue sky.
The peaceful flow of the clouds stopped. At the same time, cracks began to appear in the sky with a cracking sound. Hong Ye-seong patted Cluck, who was burrowing into his side, with a blood-free sleeve.
“Yeah, yeah. You’re asking if I’m okay? I’m not okay at all. I’m in so much pain, Cluck. It feels like my stomach is torn.”
“Cluck….”
“Let’s see….”
He closed his eyes and listened. The sounds of something breaking, cracking, and shattering echoed from all directions. The Shield that he had built up piece by piece over a long time after gaining his ability was collapsing.
“Looks like the stalling is over~…. I held out for quite a while, didn’t I? Even so.”
“Chirp….”
The yellow-furred chicks trembled. Some of them were unable to move, their limbs stiff. As fragments of the blue sky fell and the pitch-black void was revealed through the gaps, their trembling intensified.
Hong Ye-seong sniffled. Swallowing the blood that kept rising up every time he breathed was also quite a chore. He pouted and grumbled.
“Seriously, it’s not even my fault. It’s a bit unfair~, isn’t it?”
“Cheep….”
The trembling chicks let out a final, gasping sound and collapsed. Hong Ye-seong reached out with difficulty and touched their soft feathers. Warmth remained, but the signs of life had disappeared.
“Aww…. If I had known this would happen, I would have just roasted them. I only got attached for nothing….”
“Cluck!”
“Sorry. I should have just handed them over to J…. My friend would have raised them better than me. Right.”
Cough, Hong Ye-seong coughed softly. Cluck seemed to sense something and rubbed its head against his side. The sky was collapsing. He stared at the falling fragments of the sky. His sharp senses, the fear engraved in his bones, flesh, and Soul, warned him.
Run away.
Run away!
Runawayrunawayrunawayrunawayrunawayrunawayrunawayrunawayrunawayrunaway
However, he couldn’t even lift a finger. Hong Ye-seong might be used to burns and heat, but he was helpless in the face of pain. His twisted stomach kept tormenting him. Cough, Hong Ye-seong tilted his head and spat out a lump of regurgitated blood. His vision flickered.
‘If I had known this would happen, I should have gotten some training….’
I shouldn’t have ignored the public servant and Director Ham. At least I could have built up my endurance. Only belated regrets piled up. His vision swayed. Was the ground shaking? No. Soon, Hong Ye-seong realized. His whole body was trembling. Cold sweat soaked his back and neck. Hong Ye-seong carefully stroked Cluck’s head with his sleeve.
“Cluck….”
“Cluck….”
Cluck rubbed its head against him, crying pitifully. Hong Ye-seong spoke in a trembling voice.
“Run away.”
Thump.
The blue sky collapsed without a trace. There was only a void darker than the night sky. In the darkness without a single star,
A pure white circle appeared.
A pure white circle disappeared and reappeared above the void. As if a human was blinking.
Blink, blink. The white circle, which repeatedly disappeared and reappeared as if focusing, fixed its ‘gaze’ on Hong Ye-seong next to the pool of blood.
Hong Ye-seong forced his stiff cheeks to move, creating something similar to a smile.
“Hello.”
The giant white eyeball stared at Hong Ye-seong. Something was constantly swirling inside the eyeball. Suddenly, Hong Ye-seong realized. A thunderous realization struck his entire body.
He struggled to move his unmoving mouth. His Emotional Eye rotated rapidly.
“…You.”
The moment the warden of the Destroyed world disappeared, the Black Hole in the sky turned pure white. Those who knew the inside story thought it was a hole connected to the Destroyed world, and those who didn’t know thought something must have happened. People called the suddenly changed Black Hole this.
Whitehole.
But, what if it wasn’t a hole connecting world to world?
Not a hole….
“…You were watching?”
What if it was an eye?
The round circle narrowed slightly. As if smiling.
As if to say that his thought was correct.
His whole body trembled. He couldn’t tell if it was excitement or fear. Sparks flew in his head from the sudden realization. Hong Ye-seong gritted his teeth. And with a trembling hand, he pushed Cluck away.
“G-go, Cluck!”
“Cluck?”
“Hurry! Run away! Anywhere is fine!”
It was a desperate cry. The pushed Cluck instinctively started running. Flapping its sleek wings, leaving bird footprints on the dirt floor. As it ran, it was already in front of the gate. The gate was already half-collapsed.
Cluck stood on the threshold and looked back. At that moment.
Thump!
The floor collapsed. Cluck regained its swaying balance and jumped through the gate. The last thing reflected in its small black eyes was,
A giant, white hand pressing down on the dirt floor and….
The blood flowing out profusely.