The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low - Chap 148
For two and a half months, Cha Eui-jae did his best, with Seo Min-gi at his feet, the Pado Guild at his back, and the support of top civil servant Jung Bin. He tackled dungeons, rifts, and monsters without discrimination.
During this time, he also witnessed how Jung Bin skillfully manipulated public opinion using his well-known face. There was indeed a reason he monopolized all the public service advertisements. Eight years was more than enough time to turn a diligent colleague into a sly fox.
However, it seemed that the makeshift solutions like “A hero who reappeared after 8 years to save the country again!” were starting to lose their effect. Especially with articles beginning to question Lee Sa-young.
‘I wish a giant monster would show up.’
The public, who had once cheered J’s return, was gradually starting to take J’s efforts for granted. After all, he was a hero. If a problem arose, they assumed he would naturally come to the rescue. Bae Won-woo, whom Cha Eui-jae occasionally ran into, often muttered with a displeased expression.
“It’s absolutely not something to be taken for granted. Everyone is just too complacent about safety.”
Cha Eui-jae would just shrug his shoulders. He had experienced it too many times to be surprised anymore.
His thumb busily swiped across the screen. Cha Eui-jae mechanically skimmed through the news headlines until he suddenly stopped. On the screen was a photo of a middle-aged man with a tiger-like face and streaks of white in his hair. Song Jo-heon. The title of the article featuring his photo read;
[Why is the Hero Silent? The Mystery of the West Sea Rift]
“…”
He tossed his phone into the drawer next to the sofa.
“This is such a headache…”
Tap, tap, tap… The sound of his fingers drumming on the leather sofa ceased.
Lee Sa-young’s house was silent. According to Seo Min-gi, Lee Sa-young was a light sleeper who would be disturbed by even the slightest noise at night. That’s why they had installed thorough noise-canceling equipment.
In truth, it wasn’t something Cha Eui-jae was particularly happy about. He needed noise to sleep soundly. Ever since he escaped from the West Sea rift.
Cha Eui-jae rolled up the loose sleeve of his shirt. On his left wrist was a badly broken silver watch. Among the three pairs of small clock hands, only one was crawling along slowly.
‘The last chance.’
When all the clock hands stopped, had he succeeded or failed?
Cha Eui-jae took off the watch and placed it on the sofa’s armrest, then played an eight-hour rain sound video on his phone before using a cushion as a pillow and closing his eyes. Perhaps it was the knowledge that Lee Sa-young was just beyond the wall that made him feel not so lonely.
His consciousness slowly began to sink.
Eventually, Cha Eui-jae opened his eyes. The surroundings were familiar. It was the hallway of the former Awakened Management Bureau building, which he had frequented more often than his own home. The murmuring sounds were clear.
His feet carried him across the hallway without hesitation. The faces of the people he passed were mostly blurry. If he tried to focus on them, they would quickly blur into black smudges. Then, the only person with a clear face appeared— a woman sitting with her legs crossed, looking prim. It was Honeybee. She rested her chin on her hand when she saw Cha Eui-jae.
‘What are you doing here?’
“It’s not strange for me to be here. What’s strange is you being here.”
‘I’m here to meet Jung Bin, so don’t give me a hard time.’
Honeybee added curtly.
‘I heard you were out in the mountains of Gangwon-do.’
“That was yesterday. You’re behind on the news.”
‘Tsk.’
She turned her head sharply, her long, tied-up blonde hair swaying. Cha Eui-jae stubbornly asked.
“How have you been lately?”
‘Same as usual. By the way…’
Honeybee nodded towards the end of the hallway and stood up. It was the direction of the emergency stairs. Cha Eui-jae followed her, pretending not to notice as he pulled out a cigarette pack from his pocket. Bang, the door closed. Honeybee glanced around, lowering her voice to a whisper.
‘So, I talked to Matthew like you said. It’s true that the frequency of rift occurrences has increased recently. There are also several rifts where the existence of the rift has been concealed to alleviate public anxiety, and Matthew found it strange too.’
“…”
‘The frequency of monsters bursting out of the rifts has also increased. I contacted Gyu-Gyu, and he said it’s the same overseas. The situation is looking ominous.’
“Got it.”
Honeybee frowned and crossed her arms.
‘If you find out anything, share it, okay? You’re not doing this just to save yourself.’
“…Sorry. I don’t have anything certain yet.”
‘Hey, J.’
Her bright brown eyes gleamed sharply.
‘Please don’t… try to… do it alone…’
Honeybee’s voice and face began to blur as they stared at each other. Soon, the entire scene around him started to distort. Cha Eui-jae muttered.
“Another dead end today.”
And shortly after, Cha Eui-jae opened his eyes again. The familiar, dark ceiling greeted him.
The sound of rain continued endlessly. Cha Eui-jae reached for the watch and phone beside his bed. Only 30 minutes had passed. He slowly got up and started walking. He opened the firmly closed door.
Finding the chair next to the bed in the darkness, he sat down and looked at the faintly visible profile next to him. Cha Eui-jae then lay down, resting his head on the bed.
***
After Lee Sa-young fell asleep, Cha Eui-jae occasionally saw things in his dreams. In these dreams, he became “Cha Eui-jae,” moving, traveling, and conversing with people— some familiar, some unfamiliar. He met Lee Sa-young multiple times.
‘Hyung.’
In that place, Lee Sa-young had black eyes, was good at cooking, and was kind. It wasn’t until after Cha Eui-jae had eaten the meal that Lee Sa-young had prepared for him that he realized.
‘This isn’t a dream.’
After all, it’s impossible to taste something in a dream, right?
What Cha Eui-jae was seeing was a vivid memory, likely the memory of the first Cha Eui-jae, judging by the black eyes and the layout of the house.
The phenomenon of seeing something every time he slept was something only Yoon Ga-eul, a specialist in such matters, could understand. So he sought her out first for advice. They met on the rooftop of the high school she attended. Cha Eui-jae chose to break the lock on the rooftop door to ensure a quiet conversation.
Sniffling as she listened, Yoon Ga-eul tilted her head.
“You say this never happened before, but it started after the Day of Change?”
“Yes.”
“Is there anything different from before? If it appeared suddenly, there must be a cause.”
Cha Eui-jae, who had been pondering for a while, mumbled.
“There’s too much.”
“Can you pick just a few really important ones?”
Cha Eui-jae began folding his fingers one by one.
“First, I quit my part-time job at the hangover soup restaurant. Instead, I started working as J.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Lee Sa-young fell asleep…”
By the time Cha Eui-jae had folded about five fingers, Yoon Ga-eul, who had been quietly listening, spoke.
“Everything you’ve mentioned so far is mostly changes in your environment, right? What about changes that happened to you personally?”
“Me?”
“Yes. For example…”
Yoon Ga-eul fiddled with her hair.
“Your hair turning ashen gray… or that watch on your wrist. Come to think of it, we were so focused on Guild Leader Lee Sa-young collapsing that we haven’t investigated the watch yet, have we?”
“Ah.”
Cha Eui-jae hurriedly rolled up his jacket sleeve, revealing the worn-out watch that looked like it could break at any moment. Yoon Ga-eul spoke with concern.
“This seems like it could be the cause. Why not try sleeping with the watch far away from you first?”
It was quite a reasonable suggestion. Cha Eui-jae had Seo Min-gi leave the watch at the hangover soup restaurant before going to bed. That night, instead of dreaming of a kind Lee Sa-young, he dreamt of the West Sea rift. The moment it became clear the watch was the cause.
There was another expert when it came to items— Hong Ye-seong, the self-proclaimed and widely recognized world’s greatest artisan.
His latest secret hideout was at the end of Inwangsan. With Jung Bin’s help, Cha Eui-jae entered the quiet house where the artisan was staying, only for Hong Ye-seong to come running out on all fours, clinging to Cha Eui-jae’s pants.
“I was bored to death! You didn’t even text me! I hate you!”
Jung Bin, who had been watching with his hands behind his back, smiled warmly.
“You wouldn’t have seen it even if he sent one.”
“But still!”
Apparently, every time he was confined to a remote location, Lee Sa-young would restore the internet for him, but this time, Lee Sa-young had fallen asleep, leaving him truly disconnected from the world. As Hong Ye-seong recounted this while grilling seaweed with the fire emitted by Kkokko, he suddenly spoke up.
“You said that watch was used to turn the world, right? That… first version of you.”
“Yeah.”
“Then it must have gathered a tremendous amount of energy. And you said you became the pivot.”
“I did.”
“When something needs a pivot, it means that the item alone can’t do anything. The pivot and the item have to come together and become one for it to finally work.”
“Become one?”
“Yeah.”
Kkokko, who had just spat out a small ember, began to busily scurry around Cha Eui-jae. As he cut the seaweed with scissors, Hong Ye-seong mumbled.
“Maybe that watch has fused with part of the ‘Cha Eui-jae’ who became the pivot? It didn’t suck in your body, but… hmm, maybe your memories or… strong desires were embedded in it.”
“…”
“And now, meeting with the same Cha Eui-jae is causing some sort of reaction. If it’s not harmful to your body, wouldn’t it be good to keep experiencing it? You might find some clue.”
“…”
“…Of course, I didn’t make it, so I can’t say for sure!”
Once again, a hint of wisdom began to creep into Hong Ye-seong’s words. It was too frequent to be just an intermittent occurrence. Cha Eui-jae, eyeing Hong Ye-seong suspiciously, suddenly smacked him on the back.
“Ow!”
“Squawk!”
Both Hong Ye-seong and Kkokko screamed simultaneously…
***
Beep beep beep beep beep—
Cha Eui-jae woke up again. His phone was flashing red and ringing loudly. Cha Eui-jae quickly sat up. It was an emergency call from Jung Bin.
—An eroded dungeon has appeared in Mokpo. It’s larger in scale than before.
An eroded dungeon. It might be connected to the West Sea rift. He was instantly wide awake. Without further thought, Cha Eui-jae urgently got up and dashed out of the room. As the door shut behind him, silence returned to the large house.
The silver watch left in the darkness gleamed.
