The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low - Chap 137
“Sniff, sorry. Just a moment… Wh-what is it?”
Yoon Ga-eul roughly wiped her eyes with her sleeve and then looked over the coat. Though she still occasionally shuddered as if holding back tears, she seemed much calmer.
Cha Eui-jae lightly tapped the surface of the coat with his fingertip. Their eyes met. Without making a sound, he mouthed the words,
“Fragment, Lee Sa-young.”
“…Ah, gasp!”
Yoon Ga-eul’s eyes widened. She scrambled to her feet and asked hurriedly,
“Could you spread it out a bit more?”
“Just a moment.”
Cha Eui-jae stood up, spread the coat out on the floor like laying down a blanket, and squatted in front of it. Upon closer inspection, the coat was even more tattered than it had appeared at first glance. There were scratches and tears all over, and the left sleeve was more worn out than the right.
But what was certain was…
Cha Eui-jae glanced back. Lee Sa-young was narrowing his eyes as he looked down at the coat.
‘It looks like the coat Lee Sa-young was wearing in the Fragment…’
The Lee Sa-young in the Fragment had worn a black leather coat that reached his knees. The design was similar, and even the size looked about the same. Considering Cha Eui-jae was taller than the average man, the coat was only slightly roomy on him.
Yoon Ga-eul, who had been sitting quietly against the wall to avoid getting in the way, tilted her head with a puzzled expression.
“Um, J seems to be right… but.”
She looked uncertainly between Cha Eui-jae and Lee Sa-young, who stood behind him. She silently mouthed,
“He’s right here.”
Cha Eui-jae gave a small nod. Yes, the Lee Sa-young he knew had been brought here by the system and was right beside him. But…
Cha Eui-jae bit down on the inside of his cheek. The black coat Yoon Ga-eul had been covered with was the same one Lee Sa-young had worn in the Fragment. And perhaps, the original owner of the “Basilisk Fang” they had found in the West Sea rift was that Lee Sa-young as well.
A ruined world is silent and familiar. Like the West Sea rift.
If that ‘Lee Sa-young’ were here… if the West Sea rift and this world were somehow connected…
Cha Eui-jae asked quietly,
“Do you remember who gave you this?”
“Huh? I never got anything like this…”
Yoon Ga-eul answered, still looking bewildered. Lee Sa-young chimed in from beside her.
“You were covered with it, though.”
“Huh? I was?”
“Like a cocoon.”
“Sa-young.”
“What…”
Lee Sa-young shrugged. Yoon Ga-eul fidgeted with the coat. Tilting her head, she muttered,
“Was I alone?”
“Yes. You were lying down with the coat over you, alone.”
“…I didn’t receive it from anyone, but… I think I might know who left it. I’m not certain, though.”
Someone. Cha Eui-jae frowned slightly. When Yoon Ga-eul had asked for help…
“Ga-eul, didn’t you say there was nothing here when you appeared in my dream?”
“I wasn’t lying! There really was nothing. Really. But…”
“Then explain properly.”
A cold voice cut in. Lee Sa-young was glaring at Yoon Ga-eul, arms crossed.
“You probably know more than we do.”
Yoon Ga-eul, who had been hesitating, hung her head low.
“You’re right… I’m sorry.”
“Hey, she must have been scared. She was all alone in this place… You should give her time to calm down.”
“Oh, right…”
Lee Sa-young smirked.
“It’s just that you two were having your little secret conversation… It annoyed me a bit. Sorry?”
Cha Eui-jae lightly punched Lee Sa-young’s thigh, not hard enough to hurt. Lee Sa-young leaned down and whispered in his ear.
“You have a lot of secrets, don’t you, Hyung?”
“…”
“Well… I trust you’ll tell me everything now.”
One long finger brushed the back of Cha Eui-jae’s neck lightly, like pressing a piano key, then rubbed the hidden part of his ear between his hair before withdrawing. The ticklish and lukewarm sensation sent shivers down his spine. Cha Eui-jae grabbed his ear and clenched his teeth.
‘This bastard, now that he knows his poison doesn’t work on me, he’s just touching me freely.’
Low laughter tickled his ear. Lee Sa-young tilted his head toward Yoon Ga-eul.
“Explain everything in detail. Including whatever you were whispering about.”
“…”
“The one who brought me here didn’t bother to explain much…”
The fingers that had left returned, tickling the back of Cha Eui-jae’s neck. He shivered involuntarily.
Yoon Ga-eul looked at Cha Eui-jae with anxious eyes. ‘Did you bring him here?’ was roughly the meaning he understood. Cha Eui-jae lowered his head. He hadn’t meant to bring him here, but it had happened that way. And…
‘Damn it.’
Cha Eui-jae rubbed his lips with the back of his hand and spoke up.
“Right, it would be helpful if you could tell us everything in detail. From the beginning, when you first got here… step by step.”
As if praising him for doing well, the fingers behind his neck lightly scratched at his skin. The feeling was unsettling, strange, and made him stutter his words, but fortunately, Yoon Ga-eul seemed to have remembered something, as her gaze dropped.
“When I came to, I was here. I walked for a long time, but there was nothing. Really… everything was silent… everything was destroyed, broken, I felt like I was the only living thing, I couldn’t even see any monsters, and the more I thought about the Fragment, the more anxious I got, I missed my mom and my friends… It was like that.”
Yoon Ga-eul sniffled and continued quickly.
“I didn’t know why I was here or how to get back… But I couldn’t live here forever. That’s when I thought of contacting Jung Bin-nim and J. Since I can see the Fragments through dreams, I thought I could find my way if I tried hard enough…”
“So that’s why you came into my dream.”
“Yes. I didn’t actually think it would work. I couldn’t even find the path to Jung Bin-nim’s dream…”
“…”
“After finding J’s dream… I just walked for a long time. I thought maybe I’d find something if I kept walking. Ah, I-I know you’re supposed to stay put when you’re lost…”
She fidgeted with her fingers and muttered.
“But if I didn’t do anything, well, I felt like I’d go crazy…”
He understood.
Cha Eui-jae knew the fear of the silence that comes when all life has vanished. There was probably no one who knew it better.
The dread that comes when all you can hear is your own heartbeat and breathing. When no matter how much you shout, there’s no reply. When, despite your heightened senses, you can’t detect any trace of life… the encroaching helplessness. The loneliness.
Isolation.
“I understand.”
“…”
“You did well.”
And so he could offer comfort sincerely. The fingers on the back of his neck weaved through his hair and moved as if stroking him.
Cha Eui-jae didn’t swat the hand away. He simply welcomed the warmth. Yoon Ga-eul seemed to be holding back tears again, but this time she didn’t break down crying like before. Instead, she roughly wiped her eyes and continued speaking.
“…After walking for so long, my legs started to hurt. So I looked for a place to sit down.”
***
Crunch, crunch, crunch… Her footsteps cutting through the silence gradually slowed. Her breaths grew ragged and heavy. Strangely, she wasn’t hungry, but her legs hurt as if they were about to give out. Yoon Ga-eul kicked at the ground out of frustration. Ash scattered in the air.
“If I’d known it’d be like this, I would’ve worn my gym pants, damn it…”
Words she would usually keep to herself slipped out. It made her feel a little less lonely.
It would be nice to find something, anything. Even if it were just a monster’s corpse. But then she shook her head vigorously. What a terrible thought! Eventually, she came to a halt. Her legs hurt so much she couldn’t take another step. Yoon Ga-eul began muttering whatever came to mind.
“…I miss Mom.”
I shouldn’t have been so annoyed when she tried to wake me up in the morning. Yoon Ga-eul sniffled. By now, she missed not only her mom but even her “Study Guide” book. She never thought she’d long for that dreadful thing.
“I wonder if the others are okay…”
They must’ve been really scared. I wonder if they found out I’m an Awakened? Well, nothing I can do about that. Actually, it would be pretty cool if people found out an ordinary high school girl was an Awakened. I want to go to karaoke with my friends. I want to eat tteokbokki
. And…
Her idle thoughts suddenly cut off. Yoon Ga-eul tightly gripped her school skirt. Her hands were drenched in cold sweat. She couldn’t hear the rustling of grass, the leaves swaying in the wind, or the murmurs of people.
The end of the world is silent.
Cold sweat trickled down her temples, and her face turned pale. Her body trembled uncontrollably.
“I’m so fucking scared…”
There was no response. That made it even scarier, even more frightening.
And then.
Plod, plod… Her sharp ears picked up the sound of someone’s footsteps. Yoon Ga-eul jerked her head up and looked around frantically. But the presence soon vanished. Silence settled over her again. Have I finally lost it? Am I hearing things? Yoon Ga-eul was idly rubbing her ears when—
Plod, plod, plod…
The footsteps were getting closer. For real? Yoon Ga-eul spun around toward the sound.
“…”
“…Gasp.”
Yoon Ga-eul gasped. In the middle of the desolate white ruins stood something large and black. Normally, she would’ve run away immediately, but after wandering alone in the silence for so long, she was no longer afraid.
On closer inspection, it looked human. A person wearing a black cloak that obscured their form entirely. The black fabric fluttered. Yoon Ga-eul cautiously asked,
“…A-are you a person?”
“…”
Under the deep hood, she glimpsed a pale, sharp jaw. Cracked, dry lips moved.
“Follow me.”
The voice was hoarse and rough, as if it hadn’t been used in a long time.
Tteokbokki, or simmered rice cake, is a popular Korean food made from small-sized garae-tteok called tteokmyeon or commonly tteokbokki-tteok. Eomuk, boiled eggs, and scallions are some common ingredients paired with tteokbokki in dishes.
