"..."
Once again, the ground began to swallow his feet. Eui-jae forced his legs to move, passing by that fragment of memory. He couldn't stop there. He wanted to know everything about Lee Sa-young.
The memories that followed were mostly the same: a white room, a blackened vision, white again, then black again. During that time, most of Lee Sa-young's memories existed only in shades of gray, with only small differences in sound.
Footsteps echoed, sometimes heels, sometimes rubber soles. After the sound of someone reciting experimental data came the noises of struggling, choking, air escaping, ragged breathing, all tangled together.
Eui-jae clenched his jaw. But he couldn't stop. He had to keep moving. If he stopped, he'd be dragged into the swamp.
As he passed through more and more fragments of black and white, color finally began to bleed into his vision. Eui-jae stopped in front of it.
Lee Sa-young stood in the middle of a forest at night. He was stepping on white ground, and the white building that had contained him was slowly dissolving in the poison. Before long, the outside world revealed itself. Slowly, he turned his head, looking around.
A violet night sky. Trees and grass swaying with the wind. The faint rustling of birds perched on branches. The scurrying of squirrels running along the limbs.
He could feel everything.
His long, tangled hair fluttered across his face, brushing his cheeks.
"Can you hear me?"
A familiar voice, Jung Bin's, came from nearby, but Sa-young ignored it. Eui-jae narrowed his eyes.
'So he's been ignoring people since back then.'
Sa-young slowly raised both hands, flexing his fingers. He rubbed the white ground with his foot.
Instead of pain, there was only a cool, refreshing sensation. Sa-young sat down, stretching his legs out on the white floor.
There was no pain.
In fact, his entire body felt weightless, as if he could float away. His short clothes revealed his wrists and ankles with every movement, and he stared blankly at his own clean, unblemished skin. No scars. Nothing.
Then, again, a voice reached him.
"I'm Jung Bin from the Awakened Management Bureau. I'm here to rescue you."
The Awakened Management Bureau.
A faint voice passed through Sa-young's mind.
"I'm J."
"It's not my real name, but that's what people call me. I'm a hunter, ranked pretty high, I guess. I work under the Awakened Management Bureau... That's about it. Ah, damn... now that I say it out loud, there's not much else to add."
The organization J belonged to. Sa-young turned to look at Jung Bin. The man stood tensely, gripping a black chain in his hand as if ready to act at any moment. Sa-young opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He raised both hands, touching his own throat to check.
His fingers traced along his neck, chin, and cheeks. No bandages. No scars. Smooth. Sa-young tried to make a sound again.
"...Ah."
"..."
"Mm... eh."
His speech was clumsy, broken. Sa-young clenched his hand in irritation. Damn it. His tongue had stiffened.
For a long moment, he forced his stiff tongue to move, trying to form words.
Finally, the first word that came out of his mouth was:
"Je... i."
The hunter name of Cha Eui-jae, the name Eui-jae had once told him.
"..."
Eui-jae stared blankly at Sa-young in his white clothes. His hunter's regenerative power had healed his wounds. He had escaped hell on his own, and the very first thing he did after escaping was to call out J.
For some reason, Eui-jae's nose stung. He clenched his teeth and took another step forward. Then he began to run again. Dozens of Lee Sa-youngs flashed past him.
"You don't have to cut my hair. Seriously, if you screw it up, I'll kill you."
One Sa-young glared at Bae Won-woo, who was holding scissors.
"Don't need it. Get lost."
Another flipped off Director Ham Seok-jeong.
"Interview? What the hell, let go of me! I said let go!"
Another struggled as Bae Won-woo and Jung Bin forced him into a suit.
"Pay whatever they want. Just get the research done."
Another barked orders at the Wave Guild's research team.
"..."
And another stood silently before the West Sea Rift memorial.
Eui-jae quickened his pace. The scene flickered, then changed. Now, different versions of Sa-young flashed before him.
Sa-young hugging Eui-jae and crying. Sa-young locking himself in a dark room.
Memories from the ruined world.
Then, something seemed to drop away. His steps felt lighter. Eui-jae turned back.
There, standing behind him, was another Cha Eui-jae, with black hair.
That version of him was gazing quietly at the memory of the crying Sa-young, one hand in his pocket, posture lazy but calm.
The ash-haired Eui-jae stopped. Their eyes met. The black-haired Cha Eui-jae smiled.
"Thanks for bringing me this far."
"You…"
A memory flashed through his mind, the time when he had been pulled into the world of the other Lee Sa-young and exchanged words with him.
The words that had slipped from his mouth, words that hadn't felt like his own.
Thoughts about dinner.
A stray cat on the street being cute.
A song from the convenience store.
Jung Bin's nagging.
Honeybee's scolding.
And then, those words that had spilled out before he even realized.
"Lee Sa-young."
"I'm sorry. I think I've put too heavy a burden on you. But… it wasn't all meaningless."
"We're standing here, face to face like this, aren't we?
"Thank you."
Those words...
"So it was you who said them."
The black-haired Cha Eui-jae crossed his arms and shrugged.
"Yeah. I really wanted to say it back then."
"When did you start existing inside me?"
"From the moment you turned back time with the watch, when this world was created."
"..."
"Don't get me wrong. I only woke up when you were talking to that troublemaker. Everything else, every step up to here, was all you."
The black-haired Eui-jae waved his hand, like he was saying goodbye.
"Go. Don't get lost. Don't think about anything else. Just remember one thing: who's waiting for you."
He smirked.
"I've got someone I need to calm down."
As he gestured, wind pushed from behind, nudging the ash-haired Cha Eui-jae forward. Behind him, the other's voice faded with a laugh.
"See you, Cha Eui-jae!"
Eui-jae ran as if bewitched. His ashen hair streamed behind him.
When he finally looked back, the other was gone.
A strange mix of emptiness and fulfillment filled his chest, like part of him had disappeared, but another had finally clicked into place.
Then his vision flipped.
Before him stretched a familiar alleyway.
"...Ah."
***
The hem of a black coat fluttered. Sa-young ran, and countless versions of Cha Eui-jae poured out around him, Eui-jae lying in a hospital bed, coughing blood, pale and cold, all Eui-jaes from past worlds.
Sa-young tried to pass them, but something caught his foot.
"..."
With a sigh, he muttered in annoyance,
"What are you, some kind of pervert? Didn't know you were into reliving trauma for fun..."
He forced his stuck foot free and stepped back twice.
Standing where he had been was an uninvited guest, eyes glowing faint lavender, gazing quietly at the bleeding Eui-jae.
Sa-young crossed his arms.
"Not going? I'm busy here."
"Go."
The intruder's mirrored, violet eyes locked on him.
"This place gathers the memories of those killed by the Apocalypse. I was meant to come here too."
"This is where you're supposed to die?"
"Yes."
"Hah."
Sa-young snorted.
"Then you should've stayed buried here from the start. Why cling to my body all this time?"
"Because you were alive, my other self, born from the same soul. I was just pulled toward you."
The voice was hollow, almost gentle. Sa-young clicked his tongue and began walking again. Without turning back, he asked,
"...You're really not coming?"
"I'm not. This is where I belong."
"...Fine. Suit yourself."
"One thing."
Sa-young turned. The other version of him stood there, a perfect reflection in violet eyes.
"Don't lose your way. Remember who's waiting for you. Keep moving forward, just like now."
"..."
"Go. Before it's too late."
Sa-young didn't answer. He turned and ran ahead.
Left alone before the fading memories, Lee Sa-young, the other, simply watched, trying desperately to etch that beloved face into his fading sight.
Then,
"You've been locking yourself in your room without me around."
That beloved voice came from behind him. Sa-young froze.
Had he misheard?
No, it was too real.
His violet eyes trembled.
"...Hyung?"
His voice quivered. He didn't dare turn around. If he did, what if the voice disappeared?
But the voice continued, vivid and alive.
"Yeah. It's me."
Warm hands gently clasped his own hands as dark as night. Sa-young held his breath. His heart thundered.
Soft footsteps approached. Black combat boots appeared before his lowered gaze. He couldn't look up, afraid it was all an illusion.
Then, warm arms wrapped around his shoulders and back.
"You've done well."
Tears streamed from his violet eyes. Sa-young finally lifted his head.
Black hair. A mischievous smile. The face he had missed so desperately was right there.
Sa-young trembled, clutching Cha Eui-jae as tightly as he could.
He had missed him so, so much.
He had resented him. He had yearned for him.
All the emotions that hadn't been able to become words spilled out as tears.
Eui-jae patted his back gently, closing his eyes.
"Sa-young, what you did... it wasn't meaningless. It took time, but see? We finally met again."
"Hhh... ngh..."
"It's okay. From now on, let's stay together."
Sa-young leaned into that kind, familiar voice, and finally collapsed in his arms. It was the embrace he had longed for all this time.
The moment when his long, lonely wait finally came to an end.