# Chapter 120
A destroyed city, concrete ground filled with common bloodstains and stench. With each step, despair bloomed more than hope, but Lee Hwan wasn’t easily consumed by the tragedy.
Rather than feeling overwhelmed by the repeated battles, he simply pondered ways to survive. He thought about better food and shelter. Because he had someone to fight through it with.
Having someone to share emotions and fight alongside—that’s what it was like. That sensation somewhat resembled happiness. Especially since it might shatter and disappear at any moment, it felt even more intense.
While walking around with his body creaking in pain, Lee Hwan gradually noticed the sky was collapsing. He realized it naturally, without a chance to deny it. He was dreaming of the battlefield again.
It wasn’t unfamiliar. Seeing seas of blood in dreams was something that happened occasionally even before the regression. He also quite frequently dreamed of Taesung getting hurt or disappearing.
But seeing the past unfiltered in dreams had started after the regression.
Perhaps specific past events kept appearing in his dreams because he had many regrets. Too many things he wanted to fix.
As if seeing the future, in the dream of the past, Lee Hwan recalled what would happen next like a picture.
Taesung, who had said he was fine, later coughed up blood repeatedly while fighting the oncoming monsters. Gradually collapsing until he finally could barely move.
The fact that he kept spitting blood was more frightening than the endlessly attacking monsters. When the battle ended and Taesung fell asleep from exhaustion, he would be too scared to check his breathing or pulse. Too terrified.
‘Damn it.’
He really was a bastard. From that time onward, not a single word he said was true. Even after regressing, he never came to find Lee Hwan.
Lying bastard. As he swallowed his resentment, the bridge of his nose stung. This kind of fear wasn’t easy to endure even in dreams. Lee Hwan kept rubbing his dry eyes.
Then he looked up. The sky in the dream, which seemed clear just a moment ago, had somehow darkened.
When did the time change like this? Lee Hwan momentarily forgot this was a dream and urgently tried to turn back, but suddenly slipped on a stone.
With a jolt, the floor gave way, and Lee Hwan opened his eyes in the motel bed.
* * *
When he turned on the light, the room became blindingly bright. The time was 4 AM. The loud partying that had continued until he fell asleep was now gone without a trace, leaving only silence.
Lee Hwan repeatedly rubbed his face dry before entering the bathroom. The sensation of the cool hands from his dream wouldn’t leave him. Nor the anxiety from that time.
Standing under the shower with cold water running, he felt refreshed from head to toe. His mind, which had been racing, gradually cooled and organized. By the time he finished showering, all complex thoughts had ceased.
Right. He just needed to proceed as planned. That was the way to help everyone. If he kept wavering and feeling anxious, he would end up ruining even what could be done.
Steadying his resolve and wiping away the moisture, the mirror reflected a thin body with only lean muscles remaining. The muscles he had worked hard to build had visibly decreased. He had gone through so much hardship right after the regression to build them up, but it was all for nothing.
‘You should have left these behind. That’s too much, damn it.’
Lee Hwan grumbled as he exited the bathroom and began gathering his meager belongings. Originally, he had planned to move during broad daylight, blending in with crowds, but to check if anyone was following him, this early dawn didn’t seem bad either.
The autumn air before dawn was cool and salty. Lee Hwan left the motel early, walking through alleys without taxis or buses. There was no one following, no suspicious people. Just an endless, quiet, dark path stretching out.
‘Is this it?’
The safe house was located in a residential area deep inside, away from the bustling seaside. Lee Hwan entered the passcode he had heard from Jade into the door lock of the ordinary-looking fence gate.
The interior also appeared no different from other houses at first glance. However, with a little attention, one could discover that the path to the narrow backyard was blocked by another fence. That path was probably connected to the back door of the house.
The alley wasn’t very wide, so there weren’t many cars or people. Through the second-floor window, slightly higher than neighboring houses, one could easily spot any unusual signs. In many ways, it was a structure good for surveillance and escape.
Lee Hwan felt oddly proud despite it not being his house as he opened the front door and entered.
Through the softly opened door gap, he could see the interior, which appeared neat despite a little dust.
‘Is he not here yet?’
Taesung didn’t seem to have arrived, as the house was empty. Although he had heard that contact had been cut off for quite some time, he had expected Taesung to arrive before him. Could something more have happened?
Lee Hwan, knowing no one was there, still looked around the house a few more times and then, with a sense of disappointment, moved the drug to the freezer.
From then on, a full-scale exploration of the house began. Although food was limited to canned goods and dried foods, it was essentially a space equipped with everything else.
Most items were prepared in advance. Towels not even taken out of boxes and clothes with tags still attached were piled up.
There was even a laptop sitting on the dining table. Curious, he turned it on and found that it was perfectly connected to Wi-Fi, though he didn’t know how.
‘Can I… use this?’
As expected, through a separate door in the kitchen, he could enter the small yard that had been blocked by walls. There was another door in that fence, allowing one to slip away into a different alley at any time.
Though there were no parked cars, two car keys hung at the entrance. The cars were probably hidden in locations easy to drive out from.
‘If we have to escape from here, is overseas flight really the only option next?’
If so, it was inconvenient for now. He hadn’t yet met Praxis. Lee Hwan chewed on a chocolate-coated energy bar and mentally counted the days.
Although there were still a few days left until the appointment, they would likely be in Korea at least a day or two beforehand. If he contacted them then, his anxiety might be somewhat reduced.
After that, crossing the sea seemed beneficial for his well-being even if nothing happened. If he found the last piece while blowing up the Naru gate, Taesung would finish the rest, but…
If he couldn’t find it, he would have to return and start searching again after the situation was resolved.
Lee Hwan went up to the second floor and carefully examined the windows of the rooms. The windows opened wide and were a decent size, so if necessary, jumping down from there and escaping didn’t seem like a bad idea. That would mean having several exits, making escape a bit easier.
Crunch. Tasting the sweet chocolate, Lee Hwan sat in the living room and turned on the TV. Just the day before, he had physically revealed himself as an unregistered Awakened in front of everyone. He might have been immediately put on the wanted list.
However, the midday news was completely peaceful. There was no news about an unregistered Awakened infiltrating Naru, nor any stories about Awakened people chasing or being chased.
‘Everyone who was there couldn’t have kept quiet…’
Even if they had, Naru wouldn’t be unable to deduce the situation from the traces left in the gate. Using that as a pretext, they could enlist the help of the association and the management bureau to put out a wanted notice, making him easily detected.
It seemed they didn’t want to alert government officials about people who knew the inside story of the secret experiments.
‘That’s fortunate for me.’
Lee Hwan also scanned internet news on the laptop he had brought from the dining table. There wasn’t anything particularly noticeable about Taesung. He sighed in relief and habitually reached for his back pocket, only to remember again that he had discarded his phone.
‘I guess I’ll have to do most things with this for now.’
While wandering through various portal sites, Lee Hwan suddenly recalled a person he had forgotten about for several days.
‘Yeom…hwa, was it?’
The administrator of Taesung’s fan site. Come to think of it, he had said he would help as much as possible if needed.
Though he didn’t have high expectations, he might receive some minor assistance. After all, topics other than Taesung, like sightings or stories about other hunters, were also occasionally posted on the bulletin board.
Moreover, wasn’t there a separate board for special members?
Just in case, Lee Hwan accessed the fan site and first entered the board he used to visit.
‘Already got an F confirmed after just a month this semester… not this. Mega Choco Ball Autumn Edition Fig Review… not this either.’
There was so much random chatter that stories about Taesung were as rare as hen’s teeth. Well, it was the same when he first discovered this site. Amidst everyone talking about their own things, occasional posts about Taesung appeared.
Lee Hwan, focusing his eyes and examining five or six pages of posts, finally found a plausible one.
Title: No news of Eseong-ie this month?
No sightings all month, and he hasn’t shown his face anywhere
What’s keeping him busy… Anyone live near him?
Comments 8 ▼
[Songsal] What would you do even if there was someone? ㅋㅋㅋ Will there be another article if you go find him?
└ [Seongseongjara] Just debut in the mass media once for me
[EH-seongLOVER] Bought another lens, but there’s no one to photograph, so I’m just taking pictures of wild birds now
[Ejong] Maybe he’s on vacation? Originally, Eseong-ie doesn’t go out much except for work
└ [Seongseongjara] Eseong-ie is a homebody, but not a hikikomori
[Hinki] Special board
└ (This is a secret comment.)
└ (This is a secret comment.)
‘What is this?’
After repeatedly clicking on comments that weren’t visible, Lee Hwan hurriedly went to the special members-only bulletin board and found stories about Taesung that had been pushed back just two pages.
[Not saying that guy did something wrong, but such uncertain stories…] 18
[Didn’t Eseong-ie only do gates originally?] 11
[I think I saw Eseong-ie in the park…?] 29
