# Chapter 196
Iyeon had harmed everyone he loved. The guilt and remorse toward people who had been dragged in like a disaster had sunk beneath his heart like a stone that would never erode. It would have been better if they had never met. He had thought he should live alone forever.
The person who said that wasn’t true was right in front of him.
With trembling hands, Iyeon touched Sano’s cheek. Sano neither avoided his touch nor his gaze. He simply looked back at him as if to prove his words. Iyeon opened his mouth. His voice had become hoarse and sounded like a whisper mixed with too much air.
“I want you to never die.”
He knew it was unreasonable. He also knew it was an issue that couldn’t be certain. Still, the reason Iyeon had admitted in his heart that he liked him was because he was strong. Because he seemed like he wouldn’t die, so Iyeon felt reassured.
A response came as if sensing those thoughts.
“If you stay by my side, I won’t die.”
“Is that a threat?”
“It’s a fact.”
The absurd promise sounded so wonderful that Iyeon ended up laughing even as his eyes welled up.
After that, the two talked about many things. The circumstances of Iyeon’s parents’ death, changing his name, and what he did after moving to Chohosi. Throughout his telling, Iyeon paused frequently and spent a very long time trying to choose his words carefully.
Bringing up stories he had kept inside and never told anyone had great significance for Iyeon in itself. The fear that had swelled without substance turned out to be as small as a fist when actually confronted. Even though fear was still fear, and there were still moments when he panicked, each time Iyeon would close his eyes tightly and then open them again. It helped a little.
Contrary to expectations that he would click his tongue in contempt at any moment, Sano surprisingly neither interrupted nor rushed Iyeon’s words. So Iyeon was able to finish his story safely.
“That’s talent-level power wasting if I’ve ever seen it.”
Of course, his assessment was merciless.
“Hey, I came to my senses eventually…”
Ignoring Iyeon’s embarrassed rebuttal, Sano asked:
“Did you ever make a clone of me too?”
This question wasn’t even close to any of the numerous expected answers. Caught off guard, Iyeon answered honestly.
“Uh, no?”
“…”
Even as Sano’s gaze grew cold, Iyeon had the intuition that he had given a wrong answer, but it was already too late. Sano muttered coldly.
“And you said you liked me.”
“No, that’s…”
“So you’re saying I wasn’t worth enough to make a clone of me to keep by your side.”
“That’s not it…”
You weren’t dead, and we were only separated for a day… But looking at Sano’s face, it didn’t seem like such an explanation would work.
“Spare me your excuses.”
“…Should I make one now? Create one?”
“Get lost.”
Sano walked away briskly. No, this wasn’t right. Iyeon followed him in confusion. They had clearly been having a serious conversation, but somehow it had turned into this.
Iyeon promised him that next time they were separated, he would definitely make a clone, only to receive consecutive cold rebukes—first being accused of declaring that they would be separated, then being told not to replace a person with such a thing. It was correct, so he couldn’t argue back. It was a fight he would definitely lose if he continued, but there was no escape route in sight. As Iyeon was breaking into a cold sweat, a matter-of-fact voice was thrown at him.
“You didn’t kill them.”
“Huh?”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
‘It’s okay. You didn’t know. It’s not your fault, D.S-ssi.’
Iyeon’s eyes widened. Those words were what Iyeon had once said to D.S. He belatedly remembered that Sano had been there with them too.
But that was an incident from several weeks ago.
Sano, who had stopped walking by now, turned his head toward Iyeon who was following behind. The usual blunt and indifferent face. Smooth expressionlessness.
“You saved three people from that damned research facility. Your parents and me.”
It was the most familiar expression, but it felt strangely kind.
“That’s all you did.”
Among Sano’s many unexpected actions, that was truly something Iyeon hadn’t anticipated at all.
The corners of Iyeon’s eyes burned without having a chance to hold back. He couldn’t control the emotions that surged up suddenly. Something hot formed beneath his throat.
“…Really?”
His voice, desperately seeking an answer from anywhere, trembled helplessly.
Even with the ability to actually create anything, he couldn’t reverse causality and events. It had clearly been an attempt to save them, but when he came to his senses, he was alone. No matter how hard he tried to deny the clearly visible result, nothing changed.
“They died be-because of me…”
Tears suddenly streamed down. His soaked face crumbled.
It was something he had wanted to hear so badly but thought he would never hear. Words he hadn’t expected anyone to say to him.
Warm fingers brushed his cheek.
“You keep crying.”
The softly muttered voice revealed a very slight hint of awkwardness, but he didn’t withdraw his touch. A large warmth enveloped Iyeon’s body. The palm stroking the back of his head moved like a robot that had never done such a thing in its life.
Nevertheless, it was overwhelmingly warm, so Iyeon received that clumsy touch and sobbed loudly.
It was a very belated reassurance.
“…But is it okay for us to be doing this here?”
It was some time later when the crying stopped. After the intense emotions had passed, Iyeon, feeling somewhat embarrassed, cautiously raised his head and asked. It was so quiet around that he had forgotten, but they were inside a mutant. It was incredibly fortunate that no tentacles had appeared despite all his sniffling.
“Dumugwi won’t react unless you attack the walls with superpowers.”
Sano answered while poking Iyeon’s disheveled face. His cheeks, a bit dry where tears had dried up, caved in when pressed. Feeling the touch as if Sano was gently stroking him, Iyeon felt embarrassed and subtly pulled away, and Sano let him go without much resistance. …It was inexplicable why this felt disappointing. Iyeon unnecessarily cleared his throat.
“How long have you been in here?”
“About five hours now.”
It had been a little over two hours since Iyeon had entered, so the timing roughly matched up. It seemed the reason Sano’s tracker hadn’t worked was because communications with the outside were cut off due to the thick skin after entering the Dumugwi.
“Did you look around? The gem core?”
“It’s not here.”
“What do you mean it’s not here?”
“The end part looks exactly the same as here.”
Sano had fought with the tentacles as soon as he entered and then immediately headed to the end of the path. And he confirmed that there was nothing there. Since Dumugwi, which doesn’t engage in digestive activities, wouldn’t have anything like an excretory duct, it was a complete dead end.
In other words, this inside was an empty bone grave.
Even someone like Sano couldn’t find and destroy something from nothing. While pondering what to do, he discovered the ivy vines that Iyeon had created and returned here.
“What about the tentacles? They could be holding it.”
“A Level 2 variant isn’t stupid enough to display its weakness and source to intruders through its attack methods. It won’t be there.”
“Then…”
Iyeon looked around with a blank expression. If he had known it would be like this, he should have asked Jaekyung-ssi or Dr. Kwon more about gem core variants. Well, how could he have known this would happen…
“When we entered the Dabalsin before, Jaekyung-ssi said the gem core would be in the safest place.”
It wouldn’t be different for Dumugwi. Protecting one’s energy source is a natural instinct as a living being.
However, the inside of Dumugwi was literally an empty space. The terrain wasn’t complex enough to hide anything, nor was there any device that could deceive the eye. When illuminated, everything was clearly visible. The problem was simply that nothing was there. And since this was a place to bring prey, they wouldn’t have conspicuously placed the gem core in an easily accessible location.
Iyeon frowned as he glared at the deep darkness inside the corridor. Since Sano said he had already gone to the end, the result wouldn’t be much different if Iyeon went again. But besides here, there was no other place…
Oh.
“Hey, which way did you come in?”
“What?”
Despite asking such an unexpected question, Iyeon urged for an answer with a serious face.
“Dumugwi has two heads, right? Which one did you enter through?”
