The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low - Chap 139
“The hangover soup restaurant? All of a sudden?”
Lee Sa-young looked at Cha Eui-jae with a bewildered expression. Yoon Ga-eul was also staring at him with a puzzled face. But Cha Eui-jae wasn’t in the right mind to respond. He was holding his head in his hands.
‘Damn it, how could I forget that?’
One thing was certain— it was the watch he had since the very first moment he awakened. After all, it was a gift from the system, given to the first awakened individual!
But at the time, it didn’t seem special, so he just thought the system handed out souvenirs.
‘Shit, I thought it was just for showing off.’
Moreover, for someone like Cha Eui-jae, who lived a rough life, an accessory that wasn’t even a high-performance item was a luxury. That’s why he had shoved it into his inventory and…
Forgot about its existence entirely. Life has been too hectic!
So why, after escaping from the West Sea rift, was Cha Eui-jae wearing the watch he had buried in his inventory?
‘Why did you do that?’
I don’t know.
Even when he asked himself, he couldn’t come up with an answer. When he solved one question, another would arise, one after another. It was driving him crazy. Cha Eui-jae let out a low scream.
Meanwhile, the only person who knew why they had to go to the hangover soup restaurant was too busy pulling his hair out, so the other two had no idea what to do. They could only watch. But they couldn’t stand watching him torment himself.
Lee Sa-young clicked his tongue softly and clapped his hands loudly on purpose.
“Alright, let’s just assume we need to go to the hangover soup restaurant. Either way, we have to go back.”
“Huh?”
“Is there a way to return to the original world?”
Cha Eui-jae froze in place, still clutching his head. Lee Sa-young’s gaze sharpened.
“…Ah, did you come here without figuring that out? Just like that?”
“…”
“Isn’t it a bit too careless to not have any plan? Securing an escape route is the bare minimum—”
“…I’m sorry.”
Cha Eui-jae mumbled an apology. Lee Sa-young, who had been scolding him sharply, hesitated. Cha Eui-jae, whose hair was now disheveled from his own pulling, lowered his head deeply.
“It’s my fault. I didn’t expect you to get involved.”
“…”
“If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have let you get dragged into this…”
Seeing him with his head bowed stirred something in Lee Sa-young. It felt like a dull ache near his heart. This was the second time he felt this way, the first being when Cha Eui-jae showed up in that miserable state at Incheon Port.
Lee Sa-young clenched his teeth and suddenly grabbed Cha Eui-jae’s arm. Cha Eui-jae looked at him with wide eyes. In his bright blue eyes, Lee Sa-young was fully reflected.
Lee Sa-young muttered through gritted teeth.
“Don’t apologize.”
“What?”
“Don’t apologize.”
Cha Eui-jae hadn’t wronged Lee Sa-young. Not at all.
“But, still…”
Lee Sa-young reached out and tousled Cha Eui-jae’s messy hair roughly, just enough to provoke him. As expected, Cha Eui-jae reacted like the old man he was and grabbed Lee Sa-young’s hand.
“Hey, what are you—”
“Yoon Ga-eul.”
“Yes?!”
Ignoring Cha Eui-jae’s attempts to brush off his hand, Lee Sa-young nodded towards Yoon Ga-eul.
“Do you know anything?”
“Uh, can I take a moment to think?”
“Is that all you’re gonna do?”
“You’d better think quickly.”
Ignoring Cha Eui-jae’s fingers trying to push his hand away, Lee Sa-young started to tidy up the messy hair.
“It seems like only our souls have crossed over here… It wouldn’t be good to remain separated from our bodies for too long.”
“…Ah, right. Jung Bin also said that. We need to move quickly.”
“Hmmm… Ah! Then, maybe… J, in that eroded dungeon…”
“Huh?”
Soon, Cha Eui-jae’s hair was back to its original neat appearance. No, it was a bit different. Lee Sa-young narrowed his eyes. The color of Cha Eui-jae’s hair was slightly lighter. Like black hair with white paint splashed on it.
Or as if the color had faded.
“…”
“You mentioned to Hong Ye-seong-ssi that the dungeon’s reconstruction was caused by J.”
“That’s right.”
“What made you so sure of that?”
“There is something, but…”
Cha Eui-jae trailed off. A strand of pale gray hair fell across his face.
“When you and I saw the fragment, the reconstructed dungeon resembled a world that had faced destruction. Just like this place.”
“…”
“I had a feeling that something was connected. If you know anything, please tell me. It might be the key, J.”
An uneasy gaze brushed against his cheek. What made him so anxious? It was hard to know. Lee Sa-young wanted to dig up the root of Cha Eui-jae’s anxiety. To thoroughly expose, lick, and devour it. So that he would never feel anxious again. So that he could live a somewhat carefree life, only doing what he wanted.
Lee Sa-young smiled deliberately at Cha Eui-jae, who was staring at him. Then he gently coaxed him.
“Why don’t you tell me?”
“…”
Cha Eui-jae scratched his head and finally spoke.
“…Ever since Yoon Ga-eul first showed me the fragment, I thought that this… world that faced destruction and the eroded dungeon… they’re incredibly similar to the West Sea rift. No, I could even say they’re identical.”
“…”
“When Yoon Ga-eul mentioned the eroded dungeon, I didn’t refuse because… just hearing about it reminded me so much of the West Sea rift.”
Cha Eui-jae muttered in a low voice.
“They’re so similar… It can’t be a coincidence. I thought there must be a reason.”
“…”
Cha Eui-jae had clenched his fists tightly without realizing it. His fists were trembling slightly.
“So you’re saying the West Sea rift, the eroded dungeon, and further… this world that has faced destruction could all be connected?”
“…Yeah. It’s just a hypothesis, though.”
“If we go by that hypothesis.”
Cha Eui-jae raised his head. Lee Sa-young glanced around.
“Then the cause of the erosion might be here.”
The gray-haired man nodded silently. His once vibrant face had turned pale. Did he realize it? That all his emotions were showing on his face. Lee Sa-young turned his head to look outside the wall.
In the world that has faced destruction, the sun never sets. There is only endless daylight. If you stay in such a place for too long, only seeing white, your eyes would burn out. Like Nam Woo-jin’s. If the West Sea rift had been like this, it was a miracle that Cha Eui-jae’s eyes hadn’t burned out. Lee Sa-young folded his arms and gestured towards the outside with his chin.
“Then let’s move, assuming that hypothesis is true.”
“…You believe me?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
Lee Sa-young tilted his head in confusion.
“After all, the world’s been a mess since the Day of the Rift, and my soul got dragged here by some Memorial Dungeon or whatever.”
“Oh, right. I also needed to talk to you about the Memorial Dungeon…”
“Another thing?”
At that moment, a hand shot up from out of Lee Sa-young’s sight. Finally, Lee Sa-young looked down. Yoon Ga-eul was looking up at them with a determined expression.
“Excuse me… I’m really, really sorry to ask, but…”
“Yes?”
“…What is a Memorial Dungeon?”
“…”
“…”
The three exchanged glances in the air. It was a moment when they needed to sort out and share information. Cha Eui-jae was a really good person, but the problem was that he would bounce around unpredictably like a rubber ball. It was hard to tell if he could even manage the restaurant work. Lee Sa-young irritably rolled up his white sleeves to his elbows.
“Everyone, come out.”
A moment later, the three of them were standing on a flat plain covered in soft white ash. To be precise, two of them were standing, while Lee Sa-young was squatting on the ground, scribbling something. After a while, Lee Sa-young blew the ash off his black fingertips and stood up.
“…To summarize.”
The ground, covered in white ash, was filled with letters written by Lee Sa-young’s finger.
“We didn’t know, but apparently the world has faced the end twice. Not just once.”
“Yeah.”
“Yoon Ga-eul has only seen one fragment so far. And that’s…”
The world where Cha Eui-jae died. Lee Sa-young swallowed his words. Why did the Lee Sa-young of that world let Cha Eui-jae die? What was he doing while someone as strong as Cha Eui-jae died? He couldn’t understand.
And what Lee Sa-young couldn’t bring himself to say, Cha Eui-jae spoke too easily.
“The world where J died first. Right?”
It sounded horrifying. Lee Sa-young twisted his lips. A light touch nudged his side, but he ignored it, folding his arms and closing his eyes.
“Yes… that’s right. I’ve seen countless fragments, but I’ve never seen a world where Hong Ye-seong-ssi and J exist together. Every one of them was a world where only Lee Sa-young survived. But there’s something odd about it.”
“What’s odd?”
“Why is it that… let’s call it the first world for now. Why didn’t anyone know about it? In both worlds, J turned back time using the watch, right? So why is there a difference?”
“I’m curious about that too, but that bastard Hong Ye-seong just spouted strange words and disappeared.”
“The watch is at the hangover soup restaurant, right?”
“Yeah? Yeah.”
“So we have to move after all.”
If the mysterious figure in the cloak is indeed the Lee Sa-young who lost Cha Eui-jae, would that version of him do something to harm the living one?
In that case, it isn’t Lee Sa-young.
That much was certain.
There must be a reason Yoon Ga-eul was brought to this place. Lee Sa-young opened his eyes. It must be to guide Cha Eui-jae’s actions. He would definitely search for Yoon Ga-eul as soon as he came to his senses. There’s something nearby.
“Follow me.”
“Did you figure something out?”
“Maybe.”
The sound of two sets of footsteps followed. With his keenly developed sense of smell, it didn’t take long to detect a strange scent. Soon, instead of a flat surface, the ground became uneven. The difference in height was too extreme. That’s when a scream came from behind.
“Are you okay?”
Cha Eui-jae caught Yoon Ga-eul’s arm as she almost stumbled forward. Yoon Ga-eul bit her lip and nodded. She bent down and pulled out what had tripped her.
It was a bone.
“…”
Lee Sa-young brushed away the ashes on the ground with his foot. Eventually, beneath the ash, a skull with a cracked forehead appeared, as if opening its mouth wide.
“This is… No, this place… Wait, wait a minute.”
“J? What’s wrong?”
The muttering voice was trembling uncontrollably. A dull thud was heard as someone collapsed to the ground. Lee Sa-young quickly turned his head.
Cha Eui-jae was crawling on all fours, sweeping the ash off the ground. Wherever his hand moved, countless bones were revealed.
“Oh, oh…”
A drop of water fell onto the bones.
Cha Eui-jae was crying.
