By Zephyria Cha Eui-jae opened his eyes.
Pure white light painfully stabbed at his eyes.
He squinted and tried to block the light with his palm. But that didn’t make the light disappear.
“…Ahem.”
Eui-jae folded his fingers, one by one, that were shielding the sky, and began to ask and answer himself.
Where am I?
Still don’t know.
Last memory?
Bae Won-woo’s mouth getting bigger and bigger. He saw his dangling uvula.
Physical condition?
His back and arms are sore, but within the normal range.
Mental state?
Seems pretty clear-headed.
My purpose?
To deal with Doomsday before the world ends.
He folded all five fingers into a fist. In the meantime, his eyes, which had adjusted to the bright light, reflected the surrounding scenery. A world covered with white ash to the end of the horizon. Just like the West Sea Rift.
Eui-jae raised his upper body. Pasasak, something crumbled and a cloud of dust rose. The place he had been lying was a small hill.
Instantly, the back of his neck prickled.
‘…Surely it’s not a mountain of corpses.’
He hurriedly groped the ground with his hands and felt hard, rough concrete. It seemed to be a hill made of building debris. Eui-jae roughly rubbed the surface of his mask. Seeing the pure white scenery made his anxiety soar.
Did I come to the right place?
If I came to the wrong place—
Before he could come to a conclusion, a black shadow fell over him. Eui-jae raised his head. And immediately rolled to the side to avoid the shadow.
Kwaaaang—!!
A cloud of dust rose from the hill. Eui-jae gritted his teeth.
“What the hell?!”
He sprang to his feet and examined what had almost crushed him. It was a red sports car. Or rather, a part of it. Only the trunk and rear seats of the sports car remained. The front part was roughly torn off, and claw marks and bite marks were clear on the red body. Following that, something square fell with a thud from the back seat of the sports car.
[…eauty Salon]
This time, it was part of a sign that had been roughly torn off. It was a beauty salon sign, as there was a small scissors shape drawn behind the letters.
“Is this… where the things they ate fall?”
Eui-jae moved away from the hill where things were constantly falling and observed the uneven ground. When he swept away the ash covering the ground, the scenery of a certain street was revealed. Building fragments, streetlights, cars, and signs that had been bitten according to the bite marks. And scattered above and below them were white bones. The white bones were wearing clothes, but there was no intact part. Whether it was an arm or a leg, an upper body or a lower body, parts of the body were cut off.
He offered a silent prayer in front of the white bones with their arms outstretched. And opened the wallet placed right in front of his hand.
“I’m sorry…. I’ll just check the wallet.”
There were a few receipts in the wallet. They were receipts from just a few days ago. Eui-jae carefully examined the white bones.
“…The person who was eaten back then has already become white bones?”
Isn’t that physically impossible? To become white bones in just a few days, without any signs of decay. Eui-jae put the wallet back in its place and stood up. Everything was unexpected.
‘I thought I could come in, fight, and finish it right away.’
It was then.
Tak, jijijik….
He faintly heard the sound of something dragging. Eui-jae immediately lowered his body and looked in the direction of the sound. He saw a swaying shadow at the edge of the horizon. The shadow was slowly approaching this place.
‘…A person? A Monster?’
The eyes behind the mask glowed blue. He closed and opened his eyes. Instead of the swaying shadow, flickering golden flames appeared. Eui-jae slightly opened his mouth.
“……”
Tak, jijijik, tak, jijijik….
The flames grew closer and closer. Soon, he heard the sound of someone humming a tune.
“Let’s see….”
Eui-jae blinked. The first thing that caught his eye was a crutch made of pipe. The next was a vivid green color that didn’t match the world, which was all white and black. Long brown hair was scattered over the worn-out green tracksuit.
“I wonder what fell today…. Oh? What’s that? A car?”
The end of the crutch began to rummage through the hill. Eui-jae only moved his lips, then suddenly called out his name.
“…Hong Ye-seong?”
“Huh? Ooh?”
The owner of the crutch raised his head with a start. Through the disheveled brown hair, he could see bandages wrapped tightly around his left eye and cheek. He scratched his head.
“Who called this body’s name? …Am I hearing things now?”
Eui-jae stood up and called out in a louder voice.
“Hong Ye-seong!”
One round brown eye wandered through the air and finally reached Eui-jae. A bright smile bloomed on the face of the man in the tracksuit, Hong Ye-seong. He threw away his crutch and spread his arms wide.
“Oh, my god. My friend!”
And,
“Seeing you finally makes me sure! This is heaven, right? You have a free pass to heaven!”
He lost his balance and tilted to the side.
“Hey, you….”
Eui-jae shouted and ran out.
“As if it’s heaven, you idiot!”
Purple eyes appeared through long eyelashes. Lee Sa-young blinked slowly. Recently, the time it took for him to fall asleep had increased. Was it because of boredom, or because the surroundings were quiet? Maybe it was because he didn’t have much life left. Sa-young fiddled with the silver watch with his black fingers. His hands were already dyed black up to his wrists.
Knock, knock*, after a small knock, someone carefully opened the door. It was Yoon Ga-eul. She closed the door so that it wouldn’t make a sound and approached Sa-young.
“Lee Sa-young.”
“……”
“Um, I’m here to tell you the situation. You told me not to tell you about these things one by one… but I thought you should know anyway….”
A low voice answered.
“There’s only one thing I’m curious about.”
The minute hand of the old clock ticked, moving one space.
“When will the vaccine be completed?”
“Soon…. Soon. The Doctor is also doing his best.”
“……”
“Once it’s completed, then….”
Ga-eul hesitated and only looked at the floor, then slowly but firmly raised her head. Her eyes shone brilliantly with a golden light.
“Let’s turn back time. Before it’s too late.”
“Yeah.”
“As The Artisan said, that clock has already been used once…. Even if Lee Sa-young becomes the axis, there won’t be enough power. We don’t know what kind of side effects will occur.”
Sa-young slowly nodded. Yoon Ga-eul in front of him was a being reconstructed from memories. She was no different from an actor playing a play with a predetermined ending. But she straightened her back and said each word with force….
“So I asked the surviving Hunters for help. To help activate the clock.”
She seemed like a living person.
“Either way, this world will disappear once the clock is activated. I want to gather even a small amount of power to increase the probability of success, even a little bit. Everyone agreed.”
Ga-eul gasped for breath after finishing speaking. Sa-young closed his eyes. Even with his eyes closed, golden light flickered beyond his eyelids. Sa-young knew what would happen next. So he saved his words.
…We will fail.
Lee Sa-young held the clock in his hand and stood in the center. Hunters, the unlucky survivors, gathered around him. Pure white light poured out from his black hands. A large clock rose behind him. The clock pointed to 11:56.
Our world is over.
But, if we are given one more chance.
Tick, tock….
The clock slowly began to turn backwards. Hope bloomed on the tired faces, one by one. The speed of rewinding gradually increased, and all the hands raced towards 12 o’clock.
A long time passed.
Lee Sa-young opened his eyes.
Silence flowed. The people who had been surrounding him were lying on the floor. Behind him, he heard a small breath that seemed to be on the verge of dying out. Sa-young turned around. Ga-eul, who had been holding onto his shoulder, was standing with difficulty. Ga-eul looked somewhere in the air with blurry eyes. A locked voice asked.
“…Did we… succeed?”
“……”
“Why…. Is my consciousness still….”
Sa-young raised his head. The clock that had appeared in the air was stopped.
11:59.
The second hand moved very slightly. At the same time, Ga-eul’s knees buckled. Before she completely collapsed, she supported herself on the floor with her trembling arms. Sa-young did not support her or lift her up. Because her life was over.
So this much of a lie would be okay.
“…Yes.”
The second hand did not stop. Someday it would reach 12 o’clock. A faint smile appeared on Ga-eul’s face.
“…I’m glad….”
The body that had been forcibly supported collapsed. Ga-eul closed her eyes with a smile. Even the small breaths she had been taking soon disappeared.
Sa-young was left alone.