The more he dug into the person called Park Shinui, the more full of questions it became. Even though the news that he’d formed a pair bond with Kang Taejun had been widely reported throughout the entire country, there hadn’t been a single contact from family or friends until now. Even his agency only had his manager mechanically coming and going, with no contact at the company level at all.
If it was according to his SNS image, it would be normal for dozens of contacts to pour in every day, but reality was far too different from what he’d braced himself for. Unlike his history that was so splendid it was debauched, his revealed daily life was surprisingly monotonous and flat. In short, it was like an incomplete character that had been roughly drawn without any clear substance.
At this point, he became curious about what intention the author had in making Park Shinui appear. Why did they purposely bind a hedonist with a gorgeous appearance and shitty personality, living intoxicated by sex and drugs with not even an ant’s tear worth of spirit of sacrifice, to Kang Taejun, humanity’s savior, with the powerful device of ‘pair bonding’? The appearance of a character who wasn’t even given a narrative felt more and more out of place the more he looked.
“The atmosphere inside the house is… quite different from what I thought.”
Park Shinui, who finished training, came to find the house where he’d lived alone until the pair bonding. Since he couldn’t guess the reason for entering this world with just superficial information, his plan was to directly search through traces and see if he could find even a clue.
The luxury villa with strict access control had few units and was exclusive. It was fitting for a place where only those who were obsessively thorough about protecting privacy lived. Park Shinui could only cross the threshold after passing through the individually designated entrance, fingerprint authentication, and even facial recognition system.
However, the interior scenery of the house he entered after much trouble completely missed his expectations. Park Shinui tilted his head while looking around the living room that was excessively clean to the point where not a speck of dust could be seen.
Just from seeing the state of the room decorated in Kang Taejun’s mansion, he thought it would be a space full of decadent tastes, but the house before his eyes was unexpectedly ordinary and neat.
Unlike his expectation that strange fabrics would be draped all over, the furniture inside the house was antique. A mat in a modest color was laid on the floor, and books of all kinds were neatly inserted in the bookshelf packed densely along the walls.
“Did Park Shinui like books too?”
At the scenery that didn’t match at all with the image he knew, even doubt flashed through his mind that he might have come to the wrong house. If he hadn’t seen the photos placed on the table, he probably would have turned around convinced of that.
The photo in the frame contained only Park Shinui in neat attire. As if emphasizing who the owner of this house was, there was no family or friends in the photo, only him alone.
Though the size and content were different, his own home in the original world was like this too. A space with no one, no sounds, and no one waiting.
Back then it was natural so it wasn’t uncomfortable, but now this place was strangely difficult to endure. Park Shinui shook his head as if shaking off his thoughts and turned his gaze inside the house.
“Is someone separately managing this?”
Given that ‘Park Shinui’s’ personality, he would have had strong attachment to his belongings and wouldn’t have allowed others’ touch. The house that would have been left empty for quite a while was maintaining an obsessively clean state without a speck of dust.
Park Shinui thoroughly searched inside the house like a detective looking for important clues. It was natural to feel unfamiliar and awkward since it wasn’t a place he’d lived, but the space where no warmth could be felt at all was only full of a heterogeneous feeling as if time had stopped.
Then, as Park Shinui was shifting his gaze toward the bookshelf, he discovered one familiar title and froze as he was. He approached the bookshelf as if possessed.
“This can’t be……”
《When That Day Comes》
The novel he’d read countless times, the one that ultimately dragged him into this world, was stuck right before his eyes.
“What, this is……”
Why does the book that should contain everything he read in reality, and all the events Kang Taejun is actually experiencing here and now, exist here? Park Shinui, who pulled out the book with trembling hands, hurriedly turned the first page. And soon, he hardened with a blank expression.
“……”
Park Shinui closed the book and checked the title again. It was definitely that novel he remembered. The title and binding were the same. But why, why wasn’t there a single line of content?
There were no words anywhere on the opened pages. Only paper so white it was pale continued endlessly.
Park Shinui stared blankly at that white surface. He tried sweeping down the pages with his fingers and checking if there were hidden words by holding it up to the light. But there was nothing. As if nothing had been written from the beginning, the paper was just clean and quiet. Strangely, that white page felt much heavier than a book full of words.
What does it mean that this book is here?
Park Shinui’s mind spun rapidly. If the novel exists within this world too, is that just a coincidence? Or did someone intentionally place it here? And why is the content empty? He couldn’t even tell if the words had disappeared or if they were never written in the first place.
Park Shinui roughly flipped through the pages with eyes mixed with doubt and anxiety, then gasped anxiously. While holding the book to his chest, he began pulling out and opening other books stuck in the bookshelf indiscriminately.
The results were all the same. Every book he grabbed was completely empty without a trace of words. All of them were nothing but smooth blank sheets of paper.
Park Shinui began searching through the house again, wondering if something else might be hidden. He scanned the bookshelf, opened the dresser drawers indiscriminately, and rummaged through the pile of documents on the desk. But nowhere was there any warmth or trace of human use. Bizarrely, everything was just clean as if preserved.
“This is strange.”
Nothing had been normal from the moment he possessed into the book, but this time was different. ‘Park Shinui’s house’ was giving off a strange sense of dissonance, like a model house that hadn’t expected visitors at all and had hastily arranged only its outer appearance.
Thud.
Park Shinui, who put down the book he was holding onto the table, leaned his body deep into the sofa. There was no way to get answers right away even if he had doubts anyway.
The very fact that he had entered into the novel as the person ‘Park Shinui’ was already something beyond common sense, so even if the scenery before his eyes looked like hastily set up fakes, there was nothing particularly surprising about it.
“Haah……”
Park Shinui, who let out several sighs, tousled his hair. He’d hoped he might be able to find clues, but he’d only increased his doubts.
Park Shinui picked up the remote as if resigned and turned on the TV. It seemed more productive to scrape together information while watching what was happening in the world. On the screen, the incident that occurred this afternoon was flowing urgently with breaking news subtitles.
『Breaking News: A-grade gate occurrence in southeastern metropolitan area. Suppression complete.』
『The A-grade gate incident that occurred this afternoon was completely sealed about an hour ago through the efforts of high-grade Espers including Esper Kang Taejun. Fortunately, civilian evacuation was carried out swiftly and it has been confirmed that there were no major casualties.』
The scene on the screen seemed to be the place where monsters had been pouring out until just an hour ago. The military and relief personnel were busily coming and going cleaning up the debris, and faint smoke was still rising between the collapsed buildings.
『Esper Kang Taejun, who commanded this operation, is known to have played a decisive role in preventing the large-scale spread of monsters. Currently, it has been confirmed that Esper Kang Taejun is attending a follow-up response meeting in consultation with the military.』
As the camera zoomed out to show the entire scene, the collapsed building debris, roughly cracked roads, and people who had jumped into emergency rescue activities passed by in turn. Amid dozens of ambulances lined up on standby, soldiers with hardened expressions were busily loading injured people.
In the crevices of the blackened debris, traces of abilities remained rippling like afterglow. As if proving how fierce the battle that had continued there until just moments ago was, they were emitting a chilling light.
Park Shinui couldn’t take his eyes off the screen and pressed his lips tightly shut. Kang Taejun must have been in the middle of those ruins. Deeper than anyone, longer than anyone. He must have endured alone in a place the cameras couldn’t capture. The news just smoothly summarized everything with the four words ‘suppression complete,’ but no one spoke of how desperate the time hidden behind that was.
Bold subtitles flowed along the bottom of the screen.
『Current death toll 0. Injured 32. Civilian evacuation complete』
『Government to hold briefing on A-grade gate incident response』
“It’s fortunate that it was suppressed but……”
Park Shinui recalled Kang Taejun, who had disappeared like a mirage before his eyes, along with the news of the gate occurrence. An A-grade gate would be a battle where multiple high-grade Espers had to be deployed.
