…….
Dark. I couldn’t see anything. …Did the building collapse?
“Haah… cough.”
My throat itched.
I tried to push myself up while lying face-down, but smacked the back of my head against something. Fine powder rained down from above.
It seemed like propping myself up on my elbows was the best I could manage in this space.
Anyway—
There seems to be something underneath me…
I managed to dig through my pocket and turn on my phone’s flashlight.
“…!”
I thought my heart would drop. Right beneath me was a person’s face. After calming my racing heart, I checked the corpse in front of me.
“What…”
I blinked a few times and looked again—it was Yeom Hajae.
Yeom Hajae was lying between my arms. It seemed like I’d fallen on top of him and we’d gone down together. Maybe the reason I had no injuries was because Yeom Hajae had acted as a cushion.
…Is he dead?
I brought my finger under the motionless Yeom Hajae’s nose. I could feel breathing.
“Phew…”
Thankfully, he was alive.
Looking around, it seemed like we were trapped in a small space formed between the collapsed ceiling and a gap in the doorway.
Seeing the debris piled up on all sides, the scene from right before I lost consciousness came back to me.
…….
I’d thought my face was about to get skewered by the Griffin… Since I was fine, the Griffin must not have made it through the door.
Instead, while charging, it must have smashed through the wall and ceiling near the door. That was my guess.
I shifted my position very carefully. If I disturbed even one wrong thing in a collapse site and it all came tumbling down, I’d be buried alive. For now, I decided not to move recklessly and to assess the situation first.
With difficulty, I operated my phone with one hand. No signal.
While staring at the “out of service area” message, I felt movement below me.
“Cheolsu… nim?”
The now-awake Yeom Hajae called out my fake name. It was only after seeing his bare face that I remembered what I’d forgotten.
Feeling my own face, I realized my mask was gone too, just like Yeom Hajae’s. Must have flown off when we fell. Yeom Hajae, opening his eyes with difficulty, stared straight at my face.
“I knew it… you were alive…”
There was no hiding my face now. With no other choice, I just grinned.
“…Long time no see. Have you been well?”
“You saved me again.”
No. I just happened to fall. Unaware of what I was actually thinking, Yeom Hajae spoke, looking faintly moved and a little flushed.
“I was worried… Haegang kept saying you were dead.”
“Really? You really managed to figure out I was alive, Hajae.”
“Well, because the escape Gate opened. Ah… you’re really here, in one piece…”
Yeom Hajae raised his hand and touched my cheek. But this guy’s complexion was bad. His words kept cutting off, and his breathing was ragged. Was he injured somewhere?
“Cheolsu-nim. If we met again… there’s something I really wanted to, say…”
Yeom Hajae, his eyes hazy, stammered in a fading voice.
“Sorry… for not recognizing you, at first sight…”
I checked Yeom Hajae over with my phone’s light.
Looking closely, his legs were completely pinned under debris. It was about the size of a person, too big for me to move on my own.
His legs must be crushed.
We should get out before shock sets in. I made my decision.
“Looks like you can’t move, Hajae. I’ll go take a look around.”
“Don’t…”
He muttered something to himself that I couldn’t make out.
“I’ll be back.”
“No, no…….”
Yeom Hajae shook his head. I ignored him and moved, but he grabbed the hem of my clothes.
“Don’t go, just stay like this.”
“What?”
Yeom Hajae stubbornly refused to let go. Wondering if he had something to say, I stayed still for the moment.
At that, Yeom Hajae closed his eyes as if relieved.
Time passed like that for a while. Yeom Hajae’s color kept getting worse. Now he was sweating profusely. It was questionable whether he even still had his wits about him.
…What if I end up getting blamed for killing him like this?
I couldn’t just wait around for Yeom Hajae to die like this. Unable to bear it any longer, I moved to the space beside us and got off of him. The moment I moved off, Yeom Hajae’s closed eyes shot open like he had a sixth sense.
“Stay still…”
“Stay still. I’ll go find something that might help.”
I quickly pulled back before he could grab me again. While shining the flashlight around to check the debris, I heard sniffling from behind me.
“Don’t go.”
“?”
I turned around to see Yeom Hajae bawling like a little kid.
“Don’t go. I said don’t go…”
This guy, seriously.
“Hack, cough, cough…”
“Hajae. Calm down for now… rescue will come soon.”
“Waaah…”
He clearly wasn’t listening to a word.
“Save the crying for when they get here, okay? Got it?”
“Hic.”
I soothed him roughly and tried to crawl off to another spot. It seemed better to move to a slightly wider corner.
But then—
Boom.
A sudden, ominous tremor.
“!”
Driven by survival instinct, I rolled. I quickly climbed back on top of Yeom Hajae.
Crash!
The spot I’d just been in collapsed.
“…….”
“Hic, hiic…”
Shit.
If I’d been even a second slower, I’d be dead.
After that, there was no choice. I had to stay in this position.
It was probably a chilly autumn outside, but trapped in this cramped space, I was sweating from the heat. My elbows, supporting my weight, were starting to ache.
“Waaah…”
It was hard enough as it was, and having to listen to this lunatic’s crying on top of it made things even worse.
“Don’t go. Hyung, no, Cheolsu-nim…”
Did I really have to wait like this until rescue arrived?
While I was racking my brain, Yeom Hajae, who had stopped crying at some point, mumbled hazily.
“Being like this brings back old memories.”
“Old memories?”
“My brother…”
Yeom Hajae, recalling something, placed his hand on my back.
“Ugh.”
The strength suddenly drained from my arms and I collapsed completely on top of Yeom Hajae. Yeom Hajae, using his strength to pull me in tighter, murmured softly.
“You used to hold me like this.”
…Whoever this “brother” is, I’ve never held you before. And this is less of a hug and more me crushing Yeom Hajae under my weight. A detail from the background check on Yeom Hajae suddenly came to mind.
He had one older brother on his family register.
It seemed like he was mistaking me for that real older brother.
“Hunter Yeom Hajae, do you know who I am?”
“Hyung.”
Yeom Hajae’s eyes were unfocused as he said that. Not even recognizing the person right in front of him—his condition was worse than I thought.
Though, I’ve seen plenty of people calling out for their mothers before they die. “Brother” is a new one.
I wanted to slap him, but Yeom Hajae was still gripping me tightly. With no strength left in my arms, I couldn’t pull away even if I wanted to. It was quite a struggle to push him off, considering how much strength this “patient” was using to cling to me with his whole body.
Since it had come to this, I decided to keep the conversation going for now, to keep him conscious.
“What’s your brother like, Hunter?”
“Hyung, hyung is…”
Yeom Hajae’s eyes grew dim.
“Hyung is?”
“Kind, and sacrifices himself for others…”
“Sounds like an idiot— I mean, sounds like a good person.”
“But he’s weak and pitiful, so…”
“Is your brother an Awakener too? Or non-Awakened?”
“…….”
“What does he do for work right now?”
His eyes were open, but he didn’t answer. Should I change the subject?
“By the way, I’m not that wonderful brother of yours, I’m Kim Cheolsu. Kim Cheolsu. From the Dungeon last time… remember?”
“? Yes… I know.”
Yeom Hajae nodded as if it were obvious. Then he added,
“Cheolsu-nim is my hyung.”
“Ha-ha, but your real brother should be outside somewhere.”
“No, he’s here…”
Yeom Hajae’s voice grew fainter and fainter. Was he reaching his limit?
“Hunter?”
“Please be my hyung.”
“…Alright. Let’s do that. I’ll be your hyung.”
Seems like he likes “hyung.” If so, he’ll listen well to his hyung.
As we talked, a good idea came to me. I put on a gentle expression.
“Hajae-ya.”
I pushed firmly at the forehead of Yeom Hajae, who kept clinging to me like a cicada.
“Can you let go of hyung for a bit? There’s something I want to check.”
“You can’t go…”
“I won’t go, okay?”
Yeom Hajae loosened his grip, though his eyes were still suspicious. I raised myself up slightly and rummaged through Yeom Hajae’s pocket.
“!”
Just as I thought. A Hunter’s radio.
“Little brother. What number was the Special Ability Squad’s disaster channel again?”
“Channel 9…”
I turned the dial to channel 9.
I didn’t know the proper communication protocol, but I couldn’t exactly leave it to this out-of-his-mind guy either.
For now, I pressed the transmit button and tried.
Crackle—
“This is the 30th floor banquet hall. Do you hear me?”
I released the button. Before long, a voice burst out of the radio.
—Y-yes, I hear you!
But then—
—Please, please help us… sob.
This didn’t seem like the rescue team.
Hmm…
To extract information, I changed my voice and pretended to be a rescue worker. If I said we were trapped and needed help, they’d obviously ignore it.
The gullible person on the other end fell for my clumsy acting. After a brief exchange, I managed to gather some information about them.
The conclusion I came to was—
Useless.
The other party was trapped just like us. It seemed the Griffin had collapsed part of a corridor, leaving them stuck in a space somewhat larger than ours.
More than ten people. Of those, two were Awakeners.
Meeting a lot of people isn’t going to do me any good…
“You say you can see a pile of rubble?”
—Y-yes…
That was probably the location where we were trapped.
“Understood. In case of further collapse, please stay away from the rubble.”
—Yes. O-okay… uh, huh…? Wait…!
Crackle—
? What’s this.
The transmission cut off. Something seemed to have happened on the other end.
What should I do about this…
While I was deliberating—
A vibration came from nearby. Different from the tremor when the side collapsed earlier.
Soon, faint light began seeping in from above.
“!”
The debris pressing down on us was lifted away.
Jang Ijung, appearing along with the light, said,
“There’s someone here?”
