Even knowing it was an illusion created by the dungeon, Jaehwi was drawn in. Even knowing there wasn’t much time left until the dungeon outbreak, he had to keep using his power to save Raon in the continuing illusions.
Even knowing it was straining his body, Jaehwi tried to save Raon in the illusions, but he couldn’t grasp those blood-stained hands. As if signaling his limit, Jaehwi was forcibly ejected from the illusion in terrible pain.
The dungeon, which constantly changed, generated, and disappeared like a truly living being, must have also made that choice because it wanted to live. It must have instinctively known that if it went into an outbreak, everything would end. He had known for a long time that stabilizers didn’t work on him. And he knew that his body, which had already passed its limit, couldn’t be restored.
Whether he went into an outbreak this way or that way, the result would be the same. But he couldn’t let go of his consciousness either. Because he didn’t know what consequences his outbreak would bring. The safest and most certain treatment method was the final room that was mandatory in all centers.
But…
Did he really go into an outbreak that day? What he remembered clearly was entering with his own feet into the empty space deep underground. Perfect darkness with not a bit of light wrapped around him. That place was a perfect world of nothingness.
Why did the last sound he heard seem like Raon’s voice calling “Hwi-ya-“?
Because he didn’t want to disturb Raon, who had fallen into a deep sleep, he had arranged things so that unless he opened the door and came out on his own, no one could forcibly enter from outside. He had turned off his phone too, so it would be difficult to contact him, and of course he had also blocked the methods the hotel could use to contact him.
It didn’t make sense for Raon, who would sleep as much as he wanted and rest as much as he wanted, to come to the site. Without the help of an Esper with special abilities, it wasn’t a distance he could come in such a short time either.
When he opened his eyes in the world of nothingness, a huge flame was blazing before him. He instinctively moved to avoid the flames, but his situation assessment was delayed and he injured his right arm a bit.
A familiar space, familiar faces. To assess the situation in a short time, Jaehwi had to release all his senses.
The first thing his senses found was Raon. Team A? Jaehwi’s breathing became disheveled as he found traces of Raon while avoiding attacks directed at him. His flustered appearance, unable to wait for the elevator, staggering yet starting to run down the stairs.
He had always only shown him a neat and perfectly composed clean appearance. But the moment he actually saw Raon’s face covered in tears and sweat, unable to even breathe properly, Jaehwi could understand the entire situation that had happened to him.
Whether it was a damn destiny or a curse created by a bizarre phenomenon that had twisted arbitrarily.
Raon and he had returned to the same time period and were having what could be called a reunion.
His eyes reddened to the fullest and his nose tip flushed. Raon’s pupils, looking at him through thoroughly soaked eyelashes, trembled. He couldn’t smile at him as his plump lips moved and greeted him with “Hello.” He couldn’t say it was hard, that he was lonely, that he wanted to be by his side. He couldn’t ask him to cover his ears with those cold hands and embrace him with his small body.
If it was a relationship that had started again, they could start over from the beginning.
Whatever he remembered, whatever he left behind. If they didn’t get entangled with each other… At least Raon could be definitively safe.
So he changed his mind. Contact with anyone other than Raon was painful just to imagine, so Jaehwi decided to live selfishly. Couldn’t he just receive as much radiative guiding as he wanted? He could endure the guiding of Guides who each had different feelings, colors, and scents.
He refused things like measuring devices that had to be worn like shackles. Because he knew his own condition better than anyone.
He shouldn’t fall into the sweetness coming over from the small hand that grasped his wrist. He shouldn’t be shaken by those large eyes brimming with tears either. The expression that appeared on Raon’s face the moment he passed by him—he still couldn’t forget it even now.
Had Raon seen him in the midst of an outbreak? Otherwise, there was no way he would show such a wrecked appearance. The moment he felt Raon, who no longer spoke or acted, stagger and turn around and move away from him, all his senses ran wild.
They screamed at him to grab him right now and to put himself, who was going into an outbreak like this, to sleep. He punished himself with pain that was familiar but never became familiar.
Even though he knew perfectly well where he was staying, he headed to a different hotel. Even though he wasn’t picky about sleeping arrangements like Raon, choosing an expensive suite room with a good night view was because of a small hope of “just maybe.” And late at night. The moment he saw Raon who had come to find him, Jaehwi could clearly understand what it meant for one’s heart to collapse.
Even though he was right there, he couldn’t touch him, and at the words that he had come to sleep together, he was preoccupied with suppressing his body that wanted to react faster than he thought. If nothing else, Raon was definitely clumsy at acting. He couldn’t hide the expression that colored both cheeks and looked like tears would drip down at any moment.
Jaehwi couldn’t miss a single thing, even how his flinching hands were trying to hold back from reaching toward him. Because even that was the Raon he liked.
When he heard the bold words that he would become his Guide, his heart sank. It was the moment suspicion became certainty. So Raon had seen him in the midst of an outbreak. Even Raon’s voice he heard then was real. Now the situation had reversed.
He, who had wished for him to be by his side, learned that he had to keep his distance from him.
Conversely, he who had told him to find a Guide and find stability… was trying to become his Guide.
Late at night. The car driven by Jaehwi, lost in thought, gradually moved away from the city center. Should he really sign a contract with another place? He didn’t think he could endure that. Just seeing Raon passing by fleetingly made his heart comfortable.
At the words that he wanted to keep an appropriate distance, Raon seemed to barely hear those words while hesitating. His gentle voice remained the same, but his way of speaking had changed. The moment he heard the words “Esper Min” from his mouth that used to call him “Hwi-ya,” pain came again.
Even though it was what he wanted… And even though Raon was reluctantly doing so too, regret kept washing over him. Jaehwi gripped the steering wheel tightly in case he turned the wheel like this and headed to the hotel where he was.
Quite amusingly, the car he was driving now was the same car as the one he had bought for him before. Since he couldn’t live in a hotel forever, he now had to look for a house. He hadn’t considered the dormitory inside the center from the start. Although it was difficult to escape noise no matter what he did, the noise was worse the closer to the city center. That’s why Jaehwi preferred quiet residential complexes a bit away from the city center.
Jaehwi, who had been heading to the residential complex recommended today, glanced at the rearview mirror at the place he had just passed. It was only for a moment that he kept driving without reducing speed, then Jaehwi’s car gradually slowed down. Following the sound of clicking his tongue, the steering wheel turned quickly in Jaehwi’s hands.
Heading back to the place he had passed, Jaehwi loosened his neck lightly, and after parking the car in a suitable spot, his actions were clean without any excess. The military jackknife in his pants pocket spun flashily in his left hand.
Jaehwi, who had easily found the entrance to a low-grade dungeon where no danger could be felt at all, narrowed his eyes. Looking at the car in front of the low-grade dungeon that would naturally dissolve, he loosened his shoulders lightly after his neck.
It wasn’t NCSC, and it wasn’t an official car with center markings either.
Whoever it was, it seemed like an ordinary civilian interested in dungeons had entered. Since even he couldn’t know the situation inside the dungeon without special equipment, the jackknife moved faster and faster in Jaehwi’s hands as he stood in a crooked posture.
The clicking sound spread around.
“……”
He could just ignore it and pass by. He had nothing to do, had plenty of time, and sleep was out of the question anyway. Clicking his tongue, Jaehwi stepped into the squelchy dungeon entrance.
Jaehwi, who had entered the dungeon with nothing special, put the jackknife he’d been playing with back in his pocket. Walking along the narrow path of the cave at neither a fast nor slow pace, there was no expression on his face.
Did they come in thinking there would be something profitable since it’s called a dungeon? Although there were some weeds that could be used for potions, they were so common that even dungeon collection teams wouldn’t pay much attention to them. Having confirmed that this was a dungeon where there would be no major problems even if an ordinary civilian who knew nothing entered out of curiosity, he could just leave.
Generally, just before a dungeon dissolved, the entire dungeon shook and showed unstable energy, so whoever had entered would definitely instinctively run to the exit and escape.
Had he come about halfway in? Jaehwi, who had stopped walking for a moment, closed his eyes and concentrated on his hearing. He should check to the end… It was only for a moment that he filtered out and combined sounds one by one with his hearing, then the moment he opened his eyes, Jaehwi’s body shot inside the dungeon as if fired.
