Professor Jang stroked his fluffy beard and chuckled.
"Wow, I never imagined I’d hear sothing like this. They built a morial, completely forgot about the West Sea Rift, and got caught up debating whether the new rank one could replace J… That’s all they ever talked about."
"……."
"The West Sea Rift was a space beyond my understanding. And yet… I wanted to start researching it again. I went straight to Director Ham and told him—I’m following that guy. I’m going to try opening the rift. Packed my bags and left."
Uijae flipped through the newspaper clippings one by one.
All of this… Lee Sa-young collected it.
All this effort, just for the sake of one person—soone whose life he had saved, soone who had promised to return. Just in case they were lost and couldn’t find their way back. Just to search for soone who might already be dead.
"He’s trying to bring back soone he’s never even t, doesn’t even know the na of…"
Uijae brushed his fingers over the faded newspaper clipping featuring his own photo.
A young man in a black mask and white scarf, captured from a distance. The resolution was poor, likely zood in from far away.
Lee Sa-young’s obsession was, at tis, incomprehensible.
Yet, Uijae stood here now.
A small smirk ford on his lips.
"Well… I guess like-minded people end up finding each other."
If this was fate, then so be it.
Uijae suppressed the strange sensation creeping up his chest.
"Professor, can you tell more?"
"Oh-ho? About what?"
"About Lee Sa-young. Anything, really."
Just then, Minggijeok, who had been standing outside the door unnoticed, cut in.
"The Director nags at the Guild Master a lot. It's a love-hate relationship."
"Why?"
Minggijeok adjusted his sunglasses.
"Would you like soone who keeps poaching your most important personnel? The Guild Master even tried to recruit Team Leader Jeong Bin."
"Hahaha… Knowing Director Ham’s temper, if all he did was nag, then he really held back. If Jeong had actually left, he definitely would’ve retaliated sohow."
"…Against whom?"
"Obviously, against the Guild Master. Even I would’ve punched him."
Professor Jang let out a hearty laugh as he casually threw out his remark.
Well.
Uijae glanced sideways at Minggijeok.
In a world without Pado Guild, Minggijeok had been part of the Awakened Administration Bureau.
hh.
The little lamb that had been nestled in Uijae’s arm let out a quiet bleat. He gently placed it on the floor, watching its fluffy form trot away.
"Maybe I should go watch so of Lee Sa-young’s old footage again."
The Mackerels’ video archive had been so warm and cozy.
Then, suddenly, Uijae’s head shot up.
Right—Mackerels!
He needed to check in on the Mackerel Brothers. There was no guarantee that whiteout was happening in the sa locations as the morial Dungeon…
"But I can’t rule it out, either."
Professor Jang clicked his tongue, surveying the room.
"I’ve worked with both of them, and honestly, Director Ham and the Guild Master are the sa. They bicker like they hate each other, but it’s just self-loathing. Two sides of the sa coin. And Ham keeps bullying the kid, too."
"You’re absolutely right."
Uijae had achieved his objective. He needed to get to the fish market as soon as possible.
But…
Unable to hold back, he joined the suddenly opened debate.
"…But, wait."
"Yes? Speak your mind."
"Isn’t Director Ham the better one, personality-wise?"
"Oh-ho?"
This was sothing he had to assess objectively.
No matter how precious Lee Sa-young was.
***
A pale light flickered.
Tension filled the vast laboratory.
Beyond the transparent wall, sothing bound at the limbs thrashed violently—a boy, his hair and patches of his skin turning stark white. His right leg had already mutated, resembling that of a carnivorous beast.
With a sudden bang, the lab door swung open.
Wearing slippers and holding a steaming cup, Ga-yeong strode in with ease. She greeted them cheerfully.
"Hey~ Sorry I’m late~ Looks like everything’s ready? Can we start right away?"
"Y-yes! All that’s left is the injection!"
"Great? Mmm, mmm. Let’s see… Since the day has changed, I should give a proper greeting."
Ga-yeong adjusted the microphone on the desk positioned in front of the transparent wall and pressed a red button.
"Ah, ah… Can you hear ? Well, you probably can. Did you sleep well, my friend?"
Beyond the speaker, a voice sobbed and pleaded.
"Help . Let go…."
Ga-yeong bead.
"Oh, co on, you know I’m not letting you out just because you say that~ But this ti, it’s a new drug. If it works, I’ll let you go. I’ll even let you see your mom. Sounds good? It might hurt, so be strong, okay?"
A trembling whimper ca through.
Ga-yeong pressed the button again, cutting off the sound entirely.
Taking a sip of her coffee, she tilted her head. Her previously lively voice turned cold.
"Start."
"Y-yes, understood."
Beyond the glass, a thick white vapor began to spread.
Then ca the ear-splitting screams.
"It hurts! It hurts! It hurts…!"
Several researchers paled.
Ga-yeong, however, remained expressionless, sipping her coffee.
Monts later, the screams subsided, and the mist dissipated.
Ga-yeong tapped a researcher on the shoulder.
"Zoom in."
On the large monitor, an enlarged image of the boy appeared.
Ga-yeong manually adjusted the angles, carefully inspecting various parts of his body.
Then, soone shouted.
"It's working! Look at his lower body!"
The monstrous, distorted right leg—once like that of a beast—had begun returning to its original form.
The massive animal-like foot was now human again.
Ga-yeong’s eyes widened briefly before she let out a small chuckle.
With light steps, she walked toward the corner of the lab.
There, a man sat slumped in a chair, tightly bound. His head drooped forward.
Ga-yeong spoke sweetly.
"So it was real? Thanks for your help, Min-jun. Old friendships really are sothing, huh?"
"……."
"You're quite capable, too~ Not only did you manage to get into Seowon Guild, but you even landed in the Guild Master's direct unit. And now, you’re delivering valuable information."
Over his disheveled and tattered white coat, Min-jun still wore the uniform of a Seowon Guild archivist.
Slowly, he forced his eyes open and muttered weakly.
"...You’ve seen… the results… Now… let go…."
"Jeez, why are you in such a hurry? A few more tests won’t hurt."
"I—I don’t care about . My family… Let my family go! Please!"
Min-jun thrashed, causing the chair to rattle.
Ga-yeong, indifferent, took a tablet from another researcher.
"Relax~ Who said we were killing anyone? Your wife and son are still perfectly fine, so don’t get so worked up~ They’re peacefully singing hymns together."
"Let them go. Please…"
"Aigoo, fine, fine. But how about answering just one question first?"
Ga-yeong bent down, eting Min-jun’s trembling, bloodshot eyes.
She smirked.
"That oh-so-amazing doctor, Nam Woo-jin. Where exactly is he getting his information…?"
"……."
"There’s no way he made this much progress in such a short ti. He’s not using mutants the way we do, and he’s conducting way fewer trials… So, where’s he getting ahead of us?"
Min-jun clenched his mouth shut.
Ga-yeong let out an exaggerated sigh and pulled out her phone.
She dialed a number.
Through the speaker, distant noises of chatter and music played.
"…Yeah, it’s . No, nothing big. Just checking if Lee Ji-hyun is at today’s gathering. Can you confirm?"
"W-wait. Wait!"
"And… did she bring her kid again today? A little boy, five years old. Check for , will you? Oh, he’s there? Then…"
"…The notebook!"
Min-jun shut his eyes tightly and scread.
Ga-yeong’s lips curled into a grin.
"Hmm~ Hold off for now. Min-jun, did you say notebook?"
"Y-yeah. It’s a notebook. It ca from a dungeon… At first, we couldn’t decipher it. But lately… we’ve been able to read parts of it…"
"And inside, there are hints for developing a cure?"
"Y-yeah. It has multiple thods written down. We’re just… following them…"
"Aha…."
Ga-yeong smiled brightly, removing the phone from her ear.
She then grabbed Min-jun by the shoulders.
"Well then… looks like we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other, huh? You’ll have to keep updated every ti sothing changes~"
Min-jun squeezed his eyes shut in despair.
Ga-yeong’s laughter echoed through the lab.
***
A rusty truck screeched to a stop in the seafood market parking lot.
Uijae stared grimly at the lot packed with vehicles. In the uncovered areas, white ash had piled up like snow.
"I wasted too much ti."
The debate comparing Ham Seokjeong and Lee Sa-young’s similarities—especially their personalities—had dragged on endlessly. With so many people eager to vent, it was bound to take a while.
Particularly, Professor Jang had participated with fervor.
Having worked under both of them, he was practically foaming at the mouth. In the end, they failed to reach a conclusion.
"Professor Jang really talks too much."
Now Uijae fully understood why Minggijeok had warned him against listening to the professor’s explanations.
Just then, the truck door swung open.
Blue-gray hair swayed in the air. A confident young man greeted him.
"It’s been a while, so I ca to et you in person, hyung. I heard you were back, but now that you’ve actually co to see us, I’m deeply honored—mmpf!"
Uijae grabbed Little Mackerel’s cheeks in one hand, squeezing them like a fish.
Then, tilting his transford face left and right, he scrutinized him closely.
Skin tone, unchanged. Hair color, the sa. No scales or anything.
Little Mackerel flailed his hands.
"Uh, hyung? What are you—hello? What exactly are you doing right now?"
Good. No signs of mutation.
His face was just as annoyingly shaless as ever.
Relieved, Uijae exhaled and let go.
Little Mackerel rubbed his now-reddened cheeks, looking at him with disbelief.
"Jeez, I thought my face was gonna cave in. What the hell was that about?"
"I had to check sothing."
"Check what? That my face is still as handso as ever?"
"Let’s go with that. What about your brother? Is he healthy?"
"Hyung? He’s fine. Probably watching us right now."
"And nothing strange happening around here?"
"Strange? Why? Did sothing happen?"
"Any Erosion Dungeons nearby? Or places where erosion is spreading?"
"That’s oddly specific. There is one nearby. It belongs to Samra Guild, but they’ve pretty much abandoned it… not much they can do with Song Jo-heon in custody. So we reported it to the Rift Managent Bureau. They haven’t co yet, though."
An Erosion Dungeon was close.
The Erosion Zones were expanding.
If a dungeon remained unmanaged for too long, it would reach monster oversaturation, leading to a dungeon break. That ant monsters would burst out into the real world.
Uijae pressed further.
"Where? How close?"
"About an eight-minute walk? Seriously, hyung, what’s going on?"
"Point in the direction."
"Wow, you’re just drilling for information without giving anything. You sure you’re not ex-NIS?"
"It’s urgent—just tell !"
Uijae snapped, his voice sharp.
For a brief mont, Little Mackerel’s face tensed.
From the driver’s seat, Minggijeok interjected.
"He’s soone who knows a lot. Just follow his lead."
"What, did you guys have a vision of the future or sothing? It’s straight ahead, past the convenience store alley."
Uijae leapt out of the truck, imdiately breaking into a sprint.
Like a shadow, Minggijeok followed close behind.
Left alone, Little Mackerel stared at their retreating figures, dumbfounded.
Clicking his tongue, he called out toward the empty air.
"I’m following them. Stay cautious, just in case!"
A strong gust of wind blew past.
The white ash scattered into the air like a blizzard.
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