329 – HGL 329

329

‘Remember.’

He took a deep breath. The wasteland around him had returned to the conference room. Cluck closed its beak and looked up at him silently. Eui-jae tried to calm his pounding heart.

‘That just now….’

It must have been the memory of the first world, when Cha Eui-jae first turned back time. The moment when he struggled alone against Doomsday, desperately trying to leave even the slightest mark on it. His right hand trembled. The muscles in his entire body were taut with tension, as if he had been gripping and throwing a spear shaft with all his might until just now.

It was that vivid a memory. Enough for his body to remember. Eui-jae clenched and unclenched his fist.

“The fact that you showed me this means Hong Ye-seong….”

Cluck drooped its head sadly. That was the answer. He didn’t ask any further and stroked Cluck’s head. Cluck rubbed its smooth head against his palm. Eui-jae said in a deliberately light voice.

“Lee Sa-young should have seen this. Right?”

“Cluck?”

“That way, that bastard wouldn’t even think about falling. Look. He’s running wild because Lee Sa-young isn’t here.”

“Cluck.”

Cluck nodded as if agreeing. Eui-jae held the porcelain chicken in his arms and approached the conference room’s large window. Below was a scene of utter chaos. People gathering to enter the shelter, broken roads and tangled cars, people running around, and….

The Eye of the Apocalypse watching from the sky.

“…….”

Just as the direction of the vortex seemed to shift slightly, an unknown gaze fixed on his entire body. A heavy, intense, and empty gaze. ‘That’ was clearly recognizing and observing Cha Eui-jae’s existence.

If he had simply died fighting Doomsday, it wouldn’t have even recognized him. Eui-jae smiled.

“My last struggle must have succeeded, Cluck.”

“Cluck?”

He didn’t know what happened to the spear shaft. Because he turned back time before confirming it. But feeling the eerie gaze, he realized it.

Cha Eui-jae left a mark on Doomsday!

His heart pounded. Not with fear, but with pure excitement.

Even if it was just a scratch, it didn’t matter. The fact that he left it was important. The fact that he left a wound meant that he could leave a deeper wound….

He might even be able to eliminate it.

Gray hair was reflected in the glass window. The hair near the crown of his head, illuminated by the incandescent light, looked almost white at first glance. There was no time. Not for Cha Eui-jae, nor for the world.

Which would come first, Mutation or Doomsday?

There was no time to hesitate or calculate.

His phone vibrated. Eui-jae took out his phone and pressed the call button.

“Yes, Director. …I actually have something to tell you as well.”

Eui-jae turned his back to the glass window.

“I’ll head to the Bureau of Rift Management.”

Step, step, feet in low heels crossed the long corridor. The librarians who passed by gasped softly and stood against the wall. A woman with long hair tied up in a bun and wearing a white coat, Ga-young, burst into the Guild Leader’s office with a bright smile.

“Seowon Guild Guild Leader~ Are you here~?”

“Master is absent.”

Ga-young’s eyes rolled as she looked down. A boy in a white coat stood in front of the door as if blocking the way. Glass marble-like green eyes captured her completely. Unpleasantly. No, not the same.

‘They’re real glass marbles.’

The Marionette who assists the Seowon Guild Guild Leader. She had been curious about it for a while. Ga-young’s ‘children’ were like patchwork dolls sewn together. Ga-young reached out and pulled the boy’s cheek. It stretched surprisingly softly. Ga-young turned his face this way and that with a curious expression.

“Oh my? I thought it would be like clay.”

“…….”

“Did you use real human skin as a shell? Or leather? Silk? Specially made fabric?”

“…….”

“Hey, you answered your Master just fine when he talked to you, so why aren’t you answering my questions?”

“I answered the first question. I judged that there was no reason to answer the subsequent questions because they were not related to Master.”

“Ah, you don’t answer questions about yourself. Is it for maintaining secrecy?”

“…….”

Ga-young let go of the cheek she had been pulling as if she was bored.

“Well, fine. That’s not what’s urgent right now. Where did the Guild Leader go?”

“He is resting.”

“At a time like this?”

“Master needs to recover his strength.”

“Does he know what’s happening outside while he’s sleeping?”

“The Whitehole disappeared and reappeared.”

“What about the accelerated rate of Whitening? The Invasion Dungeons exploding and Monsters crawling out? The fact that you become a Mutant if you’re attacked by those Monsters?”

“I am receiving all the information.”

“He has no sense of responsibility.”

“…….”

“Well, whatever. I came because I have something to talk about.”

Ga-young smiled brightly and held out her hand.

“I’d like you to share the vaccine you’ve researched so far?”

The boy replied without a change in expression.

“I refuse.”

“Oh my, why?”

“First, the research on the vaccine is not finished. We cannot share an incomplete vaccine. We do not know what side effects may occur. Second, we have confirmed that the Seowon Guild’s development speed is faster than Prometheus’s. Using an incomplete vaccine as a reference….”

“Ah~ Stop with the platitudes. It’s boring.”

Ga-young cut him off with a nonchalant tone and flicked her fingers behind her back. Humans with thorns sprouting all over their bodies staggered out. She took a step back and crossed her arms.

“Sorry~ but this isn’t a request? It’s an order to save more people.”

“Orders do not apply in a cooperative relationship.”

“Really? Then let’s call it robbery. I’m used to being the villain.”

As she twirled her index finger, the humans who had been drooping raised their heads. Snap, Ga-young flicked her fingers. Kee-e-e-ek! The humans screamed and rushed at the boy.

Ga-young sighed softly.

“Really, Mutants are increasing even while we’re wrestling like this…. Are you saying it’s okay because Awakened have a low probability of Mutation? I’m telling you, we can save more lives if you share it?”

“It is sophistry.”

“Well~ please bear with it even if the kids are a bit violent~ It’s okay because you can fix it again even if it breaks, right?”

“…….”

“Hey, don’t break it too much. I need to open it up too~”

Thud, thud, the sound of hitting and crushing flesh was heard. Aha, did they fill it with flesh instead of cotton inside? Ga-young hummed a tune and started walking with her hands behind her back.

“Hmm~ Which way was the lab…?”

Step, step, the shoes crossed the long corridor lightly. The deeper she went, the quieter the surroundings became. It was better that way. She had been living with the tiresome fake hymns and piano sounds for a while.

‘Humans should live in quiet places after all….’

She went down the stairs and entered another corridor. It was probably in this corridor. The lab where they took the Mutant’s leg. Was everyone out in the field because of the emergency situation? It was strangely quiet.

‘Well, I like it.’

Because there’s no need to silence them separately.

Step, step….

Creak….

A strange sound mixed in with the footsteps. Ga-young turned around quickly. There was nothing there.

“…….”

A door sound? No, it sounded like something scratching the wall with something sharp….

‘…Am I overreacting?’

Ga-young frowned and started walking again. It would be a disaster if she missed the opportunity by paying attention to these sounds. Mutants were still increasing even now.

Step, step….

…Even after several years since the Day of the Rift, it was as difficult as picking stars in the sky to find a proper funeral home. There were many deaths, and the funeral homes that were doing their job were limited. So, most of them gathered all the people who died in one Dungeon, in the Rift, and held a joint funeral.

Ga-young stared blankly at her younger sibling’s photo stuck among the numerous portraits. The scale was large, but it was shabby. That child wasn’t supposed to die like this. He could have lived. If it wasn’t too late. If he had received treatment in time.

If that Awakened hadn’t stolen the order!

If the treatment order hadn’t been pushed back!

Ga-young gritted her teeth. She clawed at the mat-covered floor with her fingernails. Fire flashed in her eyes.

The shabby funeral, the sadness of losing her only family gradually turned into anger and hatred with nowhere to go. She hated everything. The people and media who praised the Hunters and acted like the Hunters were the answer to everything, and the Hunter bastards who walked around shrugging their shoulders! She hated them all!

Then, someone approached her.

It was when Ga-young was standing in front of the river where she had scattered her younger sibling’s ashes. A man in a white coat approached and stood beside her. Ga-young didn’t turn to look at him.

“Did you lose your family?”

“…….”

“Me too.”

“…….”

Stories of losing loved ones are common.

However….

“Do you hate Hunters?”

Such questions were rare.

Ga-young raised her head. A man with a soft smile was looking at her.

…There was a time when she had such hope.

Step, step.

To stop Doomsday with human power and save humanity.

Creeeeeak….

Ga-young stopped again. She hadn’t misheard. Something was definitely following her. The failures she had created? No, those guys don’t make these sounds….

She turned her head and looked back. As expected, she couldn’t see anything….

No.

In the long corridor, there were bloodstains left behind her.

Drip.

Something fell from the ceiling. Ga-young slowly raised her head.

“…….”

“…I cut them all up.”

The boy, who had been clinging to the ceiling on all fours, dropped to the floor and stood on two feet. He was covered in blood on his white coat and all over his body, and he was holding an ax as long as his arm. His face, soaked in red blood, was expressionless.

“It’ll be okay, since you can just make me again.”