The silence that followed was heavier than the battle.
Ji-Wan’s blood still stead against Sang-Ho’s chest. The basketball was gone. So was the killer. And for a mont, no one moved. The world felt hollow.
Then—
[System ssage: Level Up]
The cold voice broke through the grief like a crack of thunder in a funeral.
All party mbers have gained 1 Level.
Sang-woo: Level 10
Ye-Jun: Level 18
Seo-Yeon: Level 16
Mi-Sun: Level 18
Ye-Rin: Level 18
In-Ji: Level 15
It continued, uncaring:
[Alert: Goblins now hold 2 of 3 mory Anchors. ][Condition: Their confidence is rising.]
[Result: They have issued a challenge to all survivors in the region.]
[You now have 3 days to stop the goblins from acquiring the final mory Anchor:
mory 3 – The Sword of Kim Joon-Shik]
Suddenly a map appeared in front of us.
A flashing red dot—moving. Not static like the others. The sword was being transported, in real-ti.The sword was moving through Buk-gu, ulson.
But no one looked at the screen.
Because Sang-woo was still kneeling, clutching Ji-Wan’s body.
We gave him space.
Even Volt, still hovering with flickering thunderous-light wings, kept his heads bowed and turned away.
I looked down at Ji-Wan’s blank eyes, still frozen in shock. Still warm.
That made it worse.
Sang-woo’s voice cracked. "He didn’t even scream."
His hands trembled, tightening around his friend’s jacket.
"He was just holding it. Holding the damn basketball."
Ye-Rin slowly stepped beside him, blood sared down her temple. "Sang-woo... we’re gonna—"
"Don’t," he snapped. His voice was rough. Shredded. "Don’t say we’re gonna be okay. Don’t say he died a hero. He died holding sothing that was already gone."
"I wasn’t....." Ye-Rin clenched her jaws, wanting to say sothing but the words didn’t ca out. It wasn’t her first ti seeing soone die but it was still painful to watch.
He finally looked up, eyes blazing with grief.
"I promised his sister I’d bring him back. I promised."
No one spoke.
Seo-Yeon stood frozen. Her eyes weren’t on Sang-woo or Ji-Wan—but sothing behind them. Sowhere else entirely. Her body was trembling.
"In-Ji," she whispered, voice hollow.
He turned quickly. "What? What’s wrong?"
"I can’t... breathe."
She sank to her knees, gripping her chest. "I— I can’t— I sll it again. The blood. The tal. The burning hair—" Her words tumbled out, cracked and rapid, like a child recalling a nightmare.
In-Ji dropped beside her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. "It’s not him. You’re safe. Seo-Yeon, it’s not Sang-Woo. You’re not there anymore."
But she didn’t hear him.
She was trapped.
In the mory.
Watching her manager get eaten alive again.
Those mories were flowing through her mind.
Mother walked forward slowly, her movents sluggish with fatigue, and placed a single hand on Seo-Yeon’s forehead.
Her voice was quiet and steady. "Curse of senseless". Except for her vision, everything else numbed.
A soft spell, like a sedative wind, rippled out from her fingertips. Seo-Yeon’s breathing began to slow. Her fingers loosened from her jacket. Her tears still fell—but now in silence.
Mother turned back to the group. Her eyes, usually gentle, were tight with resolve.
"We have ti," she said softly. "We need to bury him."
The group moved in somber coordination.
They carried Ji-Wan back across the broken cityscape, back to the outer neighborhoods where Ji-Wan had once ntioned his family’s ho.
It took hours.
The house was ruined—its door ripped off, windows shattered, and claw marks streaked the walls. Inside, blood had dried to a brown crust across the floor.
But the backyard... the backyard still held peace.
Two graves were already there. Old, marked with weather-faded wood. Ji-Wan’s parents.
Sang-woo stepped forward, picked up a broken shovel, and began to dig.
He did not speak. His arms trembled with exhaustion, but he didn’t stop. Not once. Not until the earth opened enough for a resting place.
They placed Ji-Wan between his mother and father.
Suddenly a mory rushed in his mind. The mory of the first day when reality of Earth changed. Ji-wan’s sister Ryu So-Eun lost her life saving him.
[ Flashback ]
It was chaos.
Sang-Woo was pinned behind a collapsed wall, blood leaking from a wound in his leg. He could barely see through the smoke. Ji-Wan was already up ahead, shouting sothing—too far, too loud, too late.
Then a growl behind him.
The monster was fast—too fast for him to get up in ti.
But soone else did.
A blur.
So-Eun.
She threw herself between him and the beast, a knife in one hand, her other arm shielding him.
The monster’s claws ripped into her side. But she shoved the knives right in the wolves head, killing it in the instant.
"No—So-Eun!" Sang-woo scread.
She gasped, eyes wide with pain but steady. "You’re okay...?"
He nodded, shaking. "I—I didn’t.....w-why— you Stu stupid "
She smiled faintly, blood already soaking her shirt. "Good."
Her hand gripped his.
"Keep yourself alive... and keep my brother safe. He is the only one left"
She leaned close, breath shivering.
"I love you."
Then she collapsed in his arms.
"That was so an. No. So-Eun. You can’t do this to . Please."
[End of flashback]
"I’m sorry." He falls down on his knees and just starts crying his eyes out.
Mi-Sun whispered a prayer.
Ye-Rin pressed one of Ji-Wan’s old lenses onto the headstone.
Seo-Yeon remained quiet, sitting on a sofa inside the hall, her fingers dug into In-ji’s sleeve like she was holding onto herself.
In-ji is trying his best to hold on to seo-yeon.
I stepped back, looking at the freshly packed grave.
My hand clenched around the Junior’s hands— it could feel my sadness and was trying to comfort . It runs its face around mine.
"This is the third," I whispered.
Ye-Rin turned to . "What?"
"The third ti I’ve watched soone die right in front of ." my voice was flat. "First was Sang-Woo. Then those three in the parking lot during the rabbit fight. Now Ji-Wan."
Ye-Rin opened her mouth. Closed it.
I kept speaking.
"He was the reason we didn’t lose more. He was tracking targets. Saving Mi-Sun. Calling plays. And in the end, he was the one holding the damn objective. Of course he’d die."
I looked up, jaw clenched.
"And the worst part?"
I looked at Graves in front of .
"I’m not even surprised anymore."
We left Ji-Wan there.
Beside his family. In the only part of Seoul that still held a hint of peace.
I ca outside the house. To catch so breadth. The sun was about to fall as well. When suddenly,
A sound. Small. Soft.
Footsteps.
I turned.
Across the street, under a falling signpost and beside a shattered swing set, a little girl walked barefoot along the pavent.
She couldn’t have been more than eight.
Her hair was matted. Her clothes are torn. Her legs bruised and scraped. But it was her eyes that struck still.
There was nothing in them.
No light. No fear. No curiosity. Just blank survival.
Her arms dangled by her sides like she didn’t even rember what they were for.
She kept walking.
Straight toward Ji-Wan’s house.
Straight toward .
I felt sothing freeze in my chest.
"Hey," I said quietly. "Little one?". I hid Junior in my hoodie again. Not trying to scare her away.
She stopped.
But she didn’t reply.
Her lip trembled.
Then her knees buckled—and she collapsed forward, into my arms.
I caught her. Slowly, gently.
I looked down, my hands still trembling, my clothes matted with blood and this tiny thing curled against like she belonged there.
She was shaking.
But she didn’t cry.
Not even once.
She only muttered one thing.
"Grandpa.....Grandpa is .....they ...."
Then I realized that she is the sa girl in the picture that was assigned as the first mory.
Realizing this, I held her tighter.
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