The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low - Chap 149 whats reflected in the mirror

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Drip, drip, drip… Water droplets fell from the stalactites and pooled on the ground. The puddle gradually spread and met a red liquid. The clear water quickly turned crimson. The air inside the cave was damp and reeked of blood. Blood was dripping from the stacked bodies of monsters in the corner.

Cha Eui-jae was sitting on a flat rock, hunched over, with an unlit cigarette in his mouth. He quietly listened to the sounds outside. Whooosh…

“It seems to have a cycle, doesn’t it?”

Seo Min-gi, who was standing like a shadow in a secluded corner of the cave, responded.

“Yes. It seems to come in bursts and then stop, following a certain pattern.”

Outside the cave, white ash was swirling like a blizzard, making it impossible to move freely. To be precise, if Cha Eui-jae were alone, he would have already braved the ash and finished the investigation. However, thanks to Seo Min-gi’s excuse of not wanting to dirty his suit with white ash, they were waiting together inside the cave. Cha Eui-jae grumbled.

“How dangerous can ash be…”

“It may not be dangerous to you, but it could be to the next investigation team. We need to check all potential hazards.”

That left him with little to argue. Cha Eui-jae also knew well the importance of investigation. Didn’t he once make something akin to a monster encyclopedia? After smacking his lips, he glanced at the shadow. Seo Min-gi was timing something with an analog stopwatch.

Click. Seo Min-gi, pressing the button, asked without looking at Cha Eui-jae.

“How is the guild leader? Just to clarify, this question is not from me, but from Vice-Guild Leader Bae Won-woo.”

“…”

Cha Eui-jae propped up his chin and answered indifferently.

“Same as usual.”

“No changes at all?”

“None. He just keeps sleeping. No change in his complexion either.”

“Usually, in these cases, a kiss filled with love is what wakes them up.”

Cha Eui-jae doubted his ears. Did he really understand that correctly? Have I pushed Seo Min-gi too far? Has he finally gone mad? Cha Eui-jae straightened up from his hunched position, looking at Seo Min-gi with a shocked expression. Seo Min-gi, still serious, added.

“Just to clarify again, that was Vice-Guild Leader Bae Won-woo’s opinion, not mine. If you have anything to say, please address it directly to him.”

“You relay other people’s words just fine, but why not mine?”

“Relaying curses goes against my principles.”

“It’s not a curse, so relay it.”

“I’ll listen.”

“Tell him if he has time to watch a Disney movie, he should be working hard instead.”

“That’s a reasonable opinion, and I agree with it, so I’ll relay it.”

Cha Eui-jae, glaring at Seo Min-gi, chewed on his cigarette.

‘A kiss to wake him up?’

Does he think I haven’t tried it? Does he think I haven’t done it?

Now that he thinks about it, anger rises. Before the Day of the Rift, Cha Eui-jae was just an ordinary teenager in South Korea, exposed to countless stories and visual media about sleeping princesses waking up from a prince’s kiss filled with love. Having grown up watching and listening to such stories, it was impossible not to think of it when he saw Lee Sa-young sleeping.

But, nothing changed just by kissing!

Looking back now, Cha Eui-jae must have been out of his mind, staying up for days on end. Of course, the person out of their mind never realizes it themselves. Cha Eui-jae had sat by the sleeping Lee Sa-young’s bed, leaned over as if mesmerized, and kissed him…

Naturally, Lee Sa-young did not wake up.

‘Fuck.’

For the next two days, Cha Eui-jae didn’t enter Lee Sa-young’s room. Cha Eui-jae squeezed the cigarette so hard it broke in two, then tapped the floor with his foot. However, Seo Min-gi seemed to interpret his embarrassment differently.

“Are you anxious?”

Am I anxious?

Cha Eui-jae stopped his foot, which had been tapping like a metronome.

“…”

Probably.

The kiss he gave to the sleeping Lee Sa-young, and the uneasy feeling in his chest, all stemmed from anxiety. How did Lee Sa-young wait, for eight years? Even this fleeting time compared to eight years makes him so anxious.

Lee Sa-young may be asleep, but he’s still breathing, alive. In a place where Cha Eui-jae can see him. That’s why Cha Eui-jae could hold on. Seeing him made him sure.

But Lee Sa-young endured all this time, not even knowing whether Cha Eui-jae was alive, holding on solely to faith. Faith in Cha Eui-jae’s return, something even Cha Eui-jae himself was unsure of, believing that he was still alive.

“…”

I know. I know that safety is the most important thing. But the anxiety that makes my heart stir is something I can’t control. What if something happens to Lee Sa-young while I’m wasting time like this? What if another problem arises? What if something happens that I can’t handle?

What if I lose him again?

Crack. His fingers, gripping tightly, bent.

Cha Eui-jae put down the cigarette and put on his mask. Behind the black mask, all expression vanished, and the emotions that had been stirring settled down. His fevered head cooled down.

‘But nothing changes by doing this.’

Now was the time to move forward. More than anything, Cha Eui-jae wasn’t alone now. Cha Eui-jae lifted his head. Seo Min-gi was still looking at him with an indifferent expression. Surprisingly, that was quite comforting.

“Have you timed it all?”

“Yes. Although the sample size is small, it seems that after five minutes of the storm, there’s a twenty-minute break. We’ll have to check if the ash is still accumulating outside.”

“It’s like a Pomodoro.”

“You know about that?”

“I saw it on YouTube. Then it should stop soon…”

Cha Eui-jae, who was getting up, hesitated. Seo Min-gi, who had been tiptoeing to avoid the pool of blood as he moved out of the shadows, looked at him curiously.

“Is there a problem, sir?”

“No…”

Cha Eui-jae rubbed his left wrist. He thought something felt off, but he didn’t even realize his watch was missing. He had been so focused on the word “eroded dungeon” that he grabbed Seo Min-gi by the back of the neck and used Hong Ye-seong’s scroll to rush straight to Mokpo.

“…”

I must have left it at Lee Sa-young’s house. No one else could enter there, so no one would take it, but…

‘I’m worried about every little thing now…’

Cha Eui-jae tapped the floor with the tip of his boot and clicked his tongue.

“I need to hurry. I’ll handle the dungeon’s master, so please investigate the dungeon in the meantime.”

“Hmm, understood. Please specify the targets.”

An eroded dungeon is a dungeon that has been corrupted by a ruined world. It also means that the dungeon is partially connected to that world they once visited. If that’s the case…

“First, the point connected to the West Sea rift. And second…”

“Traces of ‘Lee Sa-young,’ who stayed in that ruined world.”

There must be traces left somewhere of the time Lee Sa-young spent wandering that place. If he follows those traces, he might eventually find a key to solving Lee Sa-young’s situation.

‘They say leaving it alone is the best course of action…’

But he couldn’t just stand by and do nothing. Cha Eui-jae himself couldn’t allow that.

Seo Min-gi put away the stopwatch and pushed his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose.

“Understood. I’ll summon you through the shadow as soon as I find it.”

The swirling ash gradually subsided. Cha Eui-jae gripped a massive spear and stepped forward, ready to face the encroaching, stark silence.

***

…Lee Sa-young opened his eyes.

“…”

A vast sea stretched out before him. The sea wasn’t blue; only black and white existed there. As black waves surged, white foam shattered. Lee Sa-young looked up at the sky. There was no hole where it should have been. So, this place wasn’t reality.

He began to walk slowly along the boundary where the waves met the sand. No footprints were left on the fine white sand. He walked endlessly. With each step, it felt as though his mind was being washed away. All thoughts crumbled and reformed.

Lee Sa-young thought absently.

‘I need to go back.’

Why?

‘They’ll be waiting.’

Who?

‘Hyung…’

Who is Hyung?

‘…’

I don’t know.

Splash…

At that moment, a wave touched his bare feet. Strangely, it wasn’t cold. Instead, it felt soft, like the touch of human skin. So much so that he regretted the wave retreating. Lee Sa-young shifted his gaze toward the sea, where the wave was returning. In the middle of the black sea, there was a massive hole.

“…Ah.”

Lee Sa-young’s eyes widened. That hole looked exactly like the spot where the West Sea rift had disappeared. He couldn’t not know. He had watched it for eight years, endlessly. That sea, while waiting for Cha Eui-jae.

“You finally came here. With your mind intact.”

Then, a familiar voice echoed. It was familiar, of course.

“Though I don’t know why…”

Because it was his own voice.

Through the disheveled black hair, lavender eyes glowed brightly. ‘Lee Sa-young’ was standing opposite him. They were both standing on the boundary between the waves and the sand.

In a low voice, Lee Sa-young asked.

“Where is this place?”

‘Lee Sa-young’ tilted his chin slightly upward in a way that was eerily similar to his own mannerisms, causing Lee Sa-young to frown.

“A place where lost and forgotten things gather.”

The lavender eyes looked far out at sea, toward the hole. Just as he said, the black sea water was pouring into the hole like a waterfall.

After a moment, ‘Lee Sa-young’ laughed softly.

“We should’ve merged into one, not knowing of each other’s existence…”

“…”

“That means something went wrong. The fact that we’re facing each other like this.”

“…”

“Where did it go wrong, I wonder…”

“You don’t know?”