By Zephyria His entire vision flashed red. The System Window also flashed red as if warning him.
[■■ Dooms■ of ■■ and ■■■ ■■■■■■■■■■]
[This ■hoice is irre■ersible.]
[No]
[No]
Eui-jae subtly pulled his hand back.
“…What is this? Neither of them.”
“Does the System have a self?”
Sa-young clicked his tongue and tried to wave the window away. But the window didn’t disappear.
Instead,
[No]
[No]
[No]
[No]
[No]
[No]
[No]
[No]
[No]
[No]
[No] options began to multiply like crazy.
“Hey, hey, don’t touch it rashly!”
Eui-jae hugged Sa-young’s waist and hurriedly stepped back. The red System Window with [No] written on it continued to increase in various places in the air, in time with the ding, ding, ding notification sound. As if blocking the origin and them, as if creating a wall to protect the origin.
Eui-jae recalled the moment he Awakened.
The law of the System. The System displays a window and presents choices to humans.
Yes and No.
It is up to the human to choose. You must press the option directly with any part of your body. Hand, foot, or tongue.
In other words, the moment a part of your body touches that red option….
“…Never touch that.”
“Ah… the moment my body touches it, that [No] will be activated. I understand.”
Sa-young understood at once and nodded. Ding, ding, ding, in time with the regular notification sound, the window constantly multiplied.
“What are you going to do? It keeps increasing.”
“Do you trust me?”
“……”
Sa-young narrowed his eyes and looked down at Eui-jae. He swept his hair back irritably.
“Yeah, go ahead and do whatever you want again. Just do whatever your body tells you to do.”
Eui-jae expressed it with actions instead of words. Run, slide. He gestured to the wall the System was building. Whether it took a certain amount of time to summon [No], the wall blocking them and the origin was not yet complete. Especially the lower part of the wall was completely empty.
“……”
Immediately after Sa-young nodded, the two ran out like bullets. And at once, they lay on the floor and slid.
Ka-ga-gak!
Their bodies shook up and down because of the scratches on the floor. Eui-jae gritted his teeth and crossed the System’s barrier. There was no more time or need to hesitate.
The two stood up as if bouncing. And, at the same time, the origin of Doomsday emitting a faint light.
He threw a fist at the scratched sphere.
Crack—!!
Creak. Cracks appeared on the surface of the sphere. Eui-jae gritted his teeth and put more strength into his fist.
Ka-ga-gak! The origin trembled and shattered. Pow! The two fists collided in the air. They hurriedly withdrew their hands and grabbed their fists. The fragments fell to the floor and turned to dust.
“Ah!”
“Ah, damn… how can you be so strong, I almost broke my bone.”
The [No] that had been coloring the Shield red disappeared for a moment. At the same time, the Shield vibrated. A pure white light burst out from where the sphere had been.
Kwaaaang!
A strong pressure like an explosion pushed them away. Eui-jae hurriedly grabbed the hem of Sa-young’s coat. Sa-young reached out and wrapped his arms around Eui-jae’s waist.
“Damn it…!”
“Be careful!”
The pure white light colored his entire vision. Eui-jae hugged Sa-young’s waist tightly. When the trembling of the Shield stopped, the floor they were standing on disappeared. Their bodies began to fall downwards.
“Ugh…!”
Eui-jae looked down. There was only endless emptiness there.
‘Ah.’
He was momentarily breathless. Cha Eui-jae had come here with no intention of returning. If he could stop the Doomsday, if he could seize the last opportunity, anything was fine. Even if the end was death.
He destroyed the Doomsday. The System also disappeared. Stepping on the failures of countless people, he finally succeeded.
He is falling into the void.
Together with Lee Sa-young.
Lee Sa-young shouldn’t be here. He couldn’t let him fall into this void as well. But he couldn’t think of a way.
Is this the end?
Eui-jae blankly stared at the pitch-black void. Then a large hand wrapped around the back of his head. A low voice whispered in his ear.
“Remember? What we did in the desert. When you changed your mind a little.”
Desert. A pure white desert came to mind. When he nodded, his fingers stroked through his hair.
“Then…. Think about where you want to go back to.”
“…Where to go back to?”
“Yeah. Where you want to go back to. And….”
“……”
“Where we want to go back to.”
Where to go back to. If he had been asked immediately after returning from the West Sea Rift, Eui-jae would not have been able to give any answer. But now he could answer. The people who desperately held on outside. The people he met after overcoming the 8-year gap. Messy but fun people, Grandmother and Ha-eun, and….
Eui-jae hugged the warmth in his arms tightly.
Even a long fall, he could endure it if he was with him.
Swish—
Splash, splash.
Squeak, squeak.
Unidentifiable noises tormented his ears. Eui-jae frowned and opened his hazy eyes. Right in front of him, a stupid-looking seagull was walking around fussily.
…Seagull?
Come to think of it, his pants and shoes were wet. Eui-jae moved his head, which had no strength, and looked down. Splash, a pure white wave crashed against his pants and shattered.
“…Sea?”
Eui-jae sat up, staggering. A bright blue sea was spread out before his eyes.
“Are you awake?”
Then, chap, chap, the sound of wet footsteps approached. It was Lee Sa-young. He had woken up first and looked around. Eui-jae tried to hide his relief and deliberately threw a mischievous joke.
“Seeing you, I guess this isn’t heaven.”
“Looks like you’ve come to your senses properly. Seeing you talking nonsense.”
“…Where is this?”
“The sea. To be exact, the West Sea.”
“……”
“It’s a bit far from the Rift you went into…. It’s a remote place though.”
The tension in his body completely disappeared. Eui-jae supported himself on the floor with both hands and tilted his head back.
“…Ha, somehow I survived.”
“We both have long lifespans.”
“Yeah. Ah, I finally came to the sea. Just the two of us.”
“…I didn’t want to come like this.”
“What does it matter, we kept our promise in the end. Will you raise it by 0.1% more?”
“Well… I’ll think about it.”
A hand reached out in front of Eui-jae’s eyes, who was blankly staring at the sea.
“Get up. Your pants will get all wet.”
Under the blue sky, pure white waves crashed. Sa-young, standing on the fine sandy beach, was reaching out his hand.
Eui-jae stared silently at the hand reaching out to him. He raised his head. Because of the pouring sunlight, his face was not clearly visible due to the shadows. Suddenly, a question arose.
Did the old Lee Sa-young look at me with this kind of gaze too?
A playful smile appeared on Eui-jae’s face. He grabbed his hand with a snap and stood up. And he grabbed it tightly, as a friend, as a family would hold hands. The two slowly walked along the beach. Two sets of footprints were left side by side on the sand.
Eui-jae shook the hand he was holding back and forth and opened his mouth.
“Sa-young.”
“Yeah.”
“How about looking for a house? If possible, a house with a sea view.”
“……”
“Wouldn’t it be nice if you could see the sea just by looking at the window?”
Sa-young’s steps stopped. Eui-jae also stopped in response. Sa-young was glaring at Eui-jae with suspicious eyes.
“Is that a cohabitation request?”
“…Is this something that deserves such a grand expression as a request?”
“Well, is it easy to live with someone else?”
“No, well. I was planning to take you with me and live together when I came back in the first place, me.”
“……”
“It’s just that it’s been a bit delayed.”
Sa-young didn’t answer right away. He just grabbed Eui-jae’s hand a little more, with more strength. He retorted in a blunt tone.
“…If you build it right in front of the sea, it will corrode quickly because of the salt. You’ll have to do repairs several times, and there will be sea fog too.”
“Really? I didn’t know that.”
The corners of Sa-young’s mouth, visible from the side, drew an arc.
“Idiot.”
“What’s with the idiot to your Hyung, idiot.”
“Well, let’s talk about that slowly….”
Purple eyes stared intently at Eui-jae’s face.
“Can you not cover your face? You don’t have a mask. Should I buy you a muffler or something?”
“Huh? Ah, this.”
Eui-jae rubbed his cheek. The salty sea breeze brushed against his cheek as it was. The wind he felt without a mask was refreshing. The blue eyes were filled with the sea.
“Well, wouldn’t it be okay? Now. There’s no need to hide my face. Anyway, the System has disappeared, so my ability must have disappeared too. I’m just a normal person too.”
“……”
“The reason I started covering my face in the first place was because of my aunt. She said it would be better to cover my face.”
Gray hair fluttered. Eui-jae swept back his hair, which was ruffled by the wind, and looked at the blue sea.
“The reason my aunt told me to cover my face…. It must have been because I was too young.”
“……”
“She was worried that I would get caught up in things around me and not be able to protect myself. Because if my face was revealed, I really wouldn’t be able to escape. She must have created a last corner for me to escape to.”
“…Then, what about now?”
“Well, I’ve escaped enough….”
A faint smile appeared on Eui-jae’s face.
“Wouldn’t it be okay to live as I am now?”
“……”
“Revealing my face seems fun in its own way, and there’s no need to live quietly anymore. And…”
Their eyes met. Eui-jae grinned.
“If any problems arise, you’ll take care of them, right?”
A smile also appeared on Sa-young’s face.
“Ah…. You’re going to use me?”
“It’s not using you, it’s asking for help.”
“Shameless.”
“How much have I done for you!”
“That’s true. You even saved my life.”
His lips lightly touched his cheek. Sa-young leaned in a little.
“I have to live while repaying your kindness, me.”
“How much are you going to repay? Let’s hear your plan.”
“Well, my life is expensive. To repay it all….”
Purple eyes sparkled. A low voice whispered in his ear.
“For life.”
Thick lips brushed against his cheek.
“…And even the life after that.”
Their foreheads touched. Purple eyes filled with affectionate warmth stared silently at Eui-jae. Eui-jae did not avoid his gaze. Soft lips met. As if stamping a seal, as if exchanging body temperature. It was a light kiss, just touching lips.
Sa-young parted his lips and pulled his hand slightly.
“Let’s go.”
Eui-jae looked at Sa-young’s back as he walked ahead. A clean blue sky, a transparent sea, and crashing white waves that he was seeing for the first time in a long time.
Where Cha Eui-jae will return to.
That place was…,
Eui-jae followed behind him. Black fingers wrapped around the back of Eui-jae’s hand.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
It was by Lee Sa-young’s side.