TTOA Chapter 113

After showering, I took the emergency elevator down to the relatively intact underground bunker.

It was the very emergency shelter that could only be opened and closed with registered biometric authentication.

I never got to see this place even after setting the mansion on fire twice, and now I’m finally coming here. I felt like I was making up for all the experiences I missed in my past life in this one.

Seo Eui-woo laid down new sheets in the inner area of the bunker for Kwon Jae-jin, whose eyes were drooping with sleep. As soon as Kwon Jae-jin lay down on them, he fell asleep as if a switch had been turned off, and immediately plunged into a black universe.

As if he had been waiting for Jae-jin to fall asleep, the dream began.

As always, Saturn and its satellites were visible, and a horde of creatures approaching beyond the Milky Way could be seen.

As soon as I frowned at the clearly closer monster army, my hands grew heavy.

Looking down, I found the assault rifle in my grasp, as if it were natural.

Even gloves were on my hands, and my attire had changed.

I saw a stiff, black combat uniform with multiple pockets and a black leather harness tightly fastened across my chest. Goggles were perfectly fitted on my head.

Kwon Jae-jin was wearing the combat uniform of an Esper that Seo Eui-woo always wore.

Startled, Jae-jin groped his neck.

There was nothing on his bare neck.

“It’s late.”

Seo Eui-woo’s voice came from behind. I could tell even without turning around. It was Seo Eui-woo, who had shed his boyishness and grown into a mature man. He was taller than he was now, and his rough, wild eyes were calmer, more collected. His part was always on the left, as usual.

He was the 24-year-old Seo Eui-woo, an existence that remained only in Kwon Jae-jin’s memory.

“Look, Jae-jin. There are still so many left.”

Seo Eui-woo pointed a finger at the creatures. I was watching them closely even without him pointing.

“…I know. I won’t run away anymore.”

Jae-jin cocked his gun. He took a firing stance and quickly shot down the creatures one by one.

Perhaps because this was Kwon Jae-jin’s dream, his accuracy had improved considerably. He fearlessly and continuously hit the heads of two or three creatures at a time.

“You’re doing well. You’ve improved a lot.”

“Is it because of this? Because of the Creature Wave?”

Jae-jin asked in a calm tone. Even as he spoke, his gun barrel didn’t waver. He wasn’t aiming with his eyes, but with his instincts, so he never missed.

“Did you think it was pathetic that I tried to run away even after knowing about the future four years ahead? Are you stubbornly appearing in my dreams to tell me to come out and fight instead of hiding and having an affair… or something like that?”

Even though I was only looking ahead and firing, I could feel Seo Eui-woo’s gaze from the side. His intense eyes were piercing Kwon Jae-jin’s face.

“Hmm… we haven’t even met that many times. Is that all it takes for you to call me persistent? And I told you to be patient.”

“What?”

“It’s not time for you to resent me yet. That’s far off.”

Seo Eui-woo mumbled languidly and reached out his arm. I thought he was going to correct my shooting posture, but that wasn’t it.

His dry hand touched my cheek. His fingertips pressed against my skin and stroked my face. Carefully, along the side of my jaw.

As if outlining half of Kwon Jae-jin’s face, he brushed away the fallen hair behind my ear. Strand after strand of black hair slid over the round curve of my ear.

“Later.”

“…”

“After everything is over, later…”

Jae-jin inhaled sharply. He swallowed the bitter aftertaste left on the tip of his tongue and replied coldly.

“…There is no later. By then, I’ll have forgotten all about you.”

Suddenly, he clenched his fist.

He grasped Jae-jin’s jet-black, straight hair tightly in his large palm. The way he held my hair looked as if he wanted to hold onto Kwon Jae-jin.

But that was only for a moment. Soon, the restraint was released.

As if he had done nothing, Seo Eui-woo took his hand away and instead tapped the goggles resting on Jae-jin’s head.

“Try wearing them.”

“….?”

“No. I’ll put them on for you.”

He held the angular frame of the goggles and placed them on Jae-jin’s face. The touch of carefully fitting them snugly against the bridge of my nose felt even more disconcerting than when he had grabbed my hair.

“What is it? No thanks. I don’t even know how to use these.”

Jae-jin fired blanks in succession.

“I know. Just try it for now. It’ll be helpful once you get used to it.”

“No…”

What exactly was I supposed to do?

Wasn’t this goggle a device operated by eye movements?

What was the point of wearing equipment in a dream that I had never even experienced in reality…?

Regardless of my refusal, the goggles were fitted perfectly on Kwon Jae-jin’s face. Seo Eui-woo carefully checked whether my ears were caught or if any hair was stuck, and then pressed the side of the goggles to turn on the screen. Immediately, creatures and blue holograms appeared before my eyes.

“I’ll leave it in automatic mode for now since it’s your first time.”

“What…”

I didn’t understand at all.

Was this also a dream, Kwon Jae-jin’s subconscious?

Was I having this dream to escape reality…?

No, when I first started having dreams about the universe and Saturn, it was definitely an escape from reality, but at some point, it seemed to have deviated from that. The content of the dreams was becoming more and more suspicious, and now I wasn’t even sure if this dream really originated from Kwon Jae-jin’s subconscious.

Before I could even question it, holograms unfolded frantically on the goggle screen. Various information, such as the number, type, and distance of the creatures, appeared in succession.

It was dizzying and unfamiliar.

“Ugh, this is distracting. What is this?”

“Haha.”

“…Don’t laugh with that face. It’s disgusting to look at.”

Jae-jin became a little irritable and wildly fired his gun. Even though he was shooting recklessly as he pleased, his posture, reflexes, and concentration were all flawless and skillful. He might still be lacking compared to elite combatants, but he certainly wasn’t a civilian.

The black blood spilled by the creatures flowed like a river in the jet-black universe. Creatures leaped over the fallen corpses, and then other creatures leaped over them again, and there was no end to it no matter how many he shot and killed.

At some point, Kwon Jae-jin was completely absorbed in shooting, sweating profusely and engrossed in it.

He couldn’t hear the surrounding sounds, and the 24-year-old Seo Eui-woo was no longer visible. The resentment towards him, the forgotten family, the Center, Chief Choi Yul, and the various problems that had been weighing heavily on his mind gradually evaporated and flew away.

His mind became clear.

He was panting, but he didn’t feel tired.

The goal in front of him became clear and distinct.

*

I slept on and off for almost a full day.

Perhaps because I had slept so soundly, my physical condition was much better. I still had a slight fever and my throat was a little scratchy, but I felt refreshed.

Jae-jin turned his head and checked his surroundings, and saw an unfamiliar landscape, unlike usual. It wasn’t a bed, but a sheet spread out on the floor that he was lying on. The walls weren’t covered in wallpaper, but looked like thick iron plates.

Only then did the memories of the past few days come back to him.

“Ah, right… the mansion was destroyed. I came down to the basement and slept.”

Seo Eui-woo called out to Kwon Jae-jin, who was calmly recalling the situation.

“Jae-jin.”

Seo Eui-woo was clinging to Kwon Jae-jin as always. However, it wasn’t the usual position of lying side by side and holding him around the waist.

He was leaning against the wall, sitting diagonally, with Kwon Jae-jin lying between his legs. He was offering his chest as a pillow, ready to get up and counterattack at any moment in case of an attack.

Jae-jin raised his head and examined his face. His focused gray eyes, which didn’t seem to have a trace of sleepiness, met his gaze. Come to think of it, his voice sounded too clear.

Unlike Kwon Jae-jin, who had woken up after a good night’s sleep, Seo Eui-woo didn’t seem to have slept at all.

“…Eui-woo, have you been like this the whole time?”

“Huh? Ah, yes.”

“Sleep? You didn’t sleep?”

“I’m used to insomnia. More importantly, were you comfortable sleeping, Jae-jin? You kept tossing and turning.”

Seo Eui-woo put his arm under Jae-jin’s armpit and pulled him closer. Kwon Jae-jin’s body, still wrapped in the blanket, was lifted heavily and slipped into his arms.

Seo Eui-woo’s strength, which easily handled the weight of an adult man, was something I couldn’t get used to no matter how many times I experienced it.

“The floor was hard, wasn’t it? It must have been cold too… Do you have any muscle pain? Are you numb? Should I massage your back?”

“Ah… I’m okay. I slept well.”

“Really? Then, are you not hungry? You haven’t eaten anything since yesterday.”

At Seo Eui-woo’s glance, the emergency food and bottled water stored in another area of the underground bunker flew over. The packaging was automatically opened and the water cap was twisted off.

“The kitchen is wrecked. Eat this for now. We have to go out after eating.”

Go out…

‘Go out’…!

That simple verb struck my ear. My hair stood on end and I woke up completely. That’s right. We were going outside.

The ranking test was scheduled.

We had to go back to the Center we went to yesterday.

But today it was official. In other words… through the main gate.