Cha Eui-jae lay on his back on the shadowy floor. Yoon Ga-eul sat cross-legged beside him and placed her hand on his chest. Soon, her hand began to stain with countless colors. Cha Eui-jae closed his eyes. Even with his eyes closed, the backs of his eyelids were dyed with various colors. Just as his consciousness began to fade,
Something heavy landed on his solar plexus.
"Hng?"
"Huh? Kkokko, no!"
Cha Eui-jae opened his blurry eyes with incredible strength. A round Kkokko curled up right in the pit of his stomach. Get away from me, you bastard… Before he could say those words,
Tak.
His vision went dark.
…
He didn't know how much time passed, but suddenly his vision brightened. A pure white ocean stretched out before him. Standing in front of the waves, where white ash floated, was a man in a black coat. He looked like a drop of ink falling onto the pure white landscape. With his tall stature and black coat, he was certain of it even without seeing his face.
It was Lee Sa-young.
Cha Eui-jae couldn't contain his excitement and was about to call out loudly.
But…
"Auckh…!"
The pressure on his solar plexus grew stronger, and instead of a voice, only a choking sound could be heard. Kkokko, you damn punk! Cha Eui-jae swung his hand over his solar plexus and stomach. Even so, seeing as his vision turned blurry, it didn't have much of an effect. Kkokko was still pressing on his solar plexus.
'Damn it…!'
His consciousness was fading once again. Like ink that becomes blurry when wet, Lee Sa-young's figure also grew hazy. Cha Eui-jae desperately tried to see Lee Sa-young's retreating figure. The black dot remained in his vision for a long time.
***
"…Huh?"
Lee Sa-young suddenly looked up. A gentle breeze blew from somewhere, ruffling his hair. He thought he heard someone's voice. The voice of someone who shouldn't be here.
"…"
It must be another hallucination, he quickly concluded. Thinking too deeply would only deepen the longing.
He roughly combed back his disheveled hair. The sea, dimmed by white ash, couldn't even wet his boots standing right in front of it.
The ash dampened the light of the sea and even muffled the sound of the waves. No matter how hard he tried to listen, he couldn't hear the sound of the waves, the sound of water lapping against the sand, or the sound of sand being swept away. He heard nothing.
He hated the ocean.
He'd felt this way since he was little.
Lee Sa-young put his hands in his coat pockets and closed his eyes.
…His ears felt stuffy.
Patting his clogged ears with his small palms, he turned his head and saw the vast expanse of mountains and sea outside the airplane window. His mother, sitting next to him, whispered. We'll be there soon. What will we do if Sa-young-i is disappointed? We have to stay in Korea for a while. He remembered what he was thinking at that moment with clear clarity.
'There's no way I'll be disappointed.'
His parents were entrepreneurs. He didn't know what kind of business they run. Looking back now, they were quite wealthy.
He might've found something about them if he'd looked, but he didn't bother. He wasn't particularly interested in their legacy, and besides, they were dead. Had he not met J, he might have wondered what traces his family had left behind. But after meeting him, the past no longer mattered. Because when he held his hand, the world seemed to be rewritten.
His parents frequently travel abroad for business, and always took their young child with them. They said experience needed to be built up from a young age.
The duration of their business trips varies each time. Sometimes they'd stay for a week, three weeks, a month, or even longer. Lee Sa-young hated that. He just wanted to stay in one place for a long time. That was why he hated the ocean. Because when he saw the ocean, that meant he was leaving home.
So when he heard that they wouldn't be leaving the country for a while, he was secretly delighted.
His father, with a face covered in blur, said as he put the suitcase into the overhead bin.
"…It'll be safer in Korea than abroad for a while. Every country protects its own citizens first. Even the embassy is useless. Monsters don't differentiate and avoid attacking embassies."
"Yes, and I heard there's an S-class awakener in Korea."
"Yes, so it'll be much safer."
"For Sa-young's sake too…"
They never imagined that their beloved home, and themselves, would be caught in a rift.
The floor of the house, submerged in the poisonous swamp, melted in an instant. Shouts and screams rang out from all around. His parents hugged Lee Sa-young and climbed onto the marble dining table. However, even the table's thick pillars were unable to withstand the poison and slowly melted. The marble itself was no exception. The skin that touched the poison burned and ached. As the grips on both sides slowly faded, a single thought took precedence over the pain.
'I'll never see my parents again.'
Meeting J was a miracle.
Truth be told, Lee Sa-young had known J for quite some time. After all, every time he turned on the TV, there was always news about him. The announcers talked about the monsters he had captured and the dungeons and rifts he had sealed. On TV, J seemed less like a human and more like a 'God' created from the collective will of humanity. A God capable of anything and bound by nothing.
That God took his hand and pulled him out of hell. And it was a warm, human hand.
…It turned out J was a talkative person. He talked a lot by himself in front of a mummy who couldn't answer or express his opinion. Thinking about it now, he must have been lonely. At the time, he was around twenty years old. It was the age when he should have met and socialized with people. But he was a hero, one that couldn't take off the mask. Maybe that was why he talked so animatedly in front of a mummy who couldn't see anything. It was like talking to a doll.
Well, it didn't matter if that were the case. He loved his chatty voice. Because in the midst of boring suffering, listening to his voice, imagining his expressions, and observing his actions through his blurred vision was his only joy.
One day, J asked.
"Have you ever seen the sea?"
It was a ridiculous question. Who did he think he was, a naive city boy? Lee Sa-young raised his barely visible eyes and grumbled. Sensing his displeasure, J hastily added.
"I'm not mocking you. I was thinking we could go to the sea when you get better."
After that, J started rambling on about various things. He went to Gangneung to catch a Kraken, or squid, and he said their suckers were huge… J, who had been chattering like a child, was now whispering affectionately.
"The sea was beautiful there. Let's go together when you've recovered."
"…"
"If you like the idea, blink."
It was fortunate that he wasn't deaf. Lee Sa-young blinked immediately. A clear, crisp laugh rang out.
"It's a promise. Even if you don't want to go later, I'll carry you there."
They had interlocked their little pinkies together. Their thumbs touching one another. The warmth was priceless.
…Since that day, Lee Sa-young had fallen asleep dreaming of going to the sea. Someone had treated him like a child who had never been to the sea, but instead, Lee Sa-young smiled when he remembered that moment. Did Cha Eui-jae know? That Lee Sa-young had traveled abroad more often than Cha Eui-jae ever did, and seen far more of the sea?
He probably wouldn't know. Because Lee Sa-young wouldn't say anything.
He probably wouldn't know in the future either. Because Lee Sa-young wouldn't say anything.
It would be his first time going to the sea with Cha Eui-jae.
And that was enough.
At that moment, he loved the sea…
Crunch, crunch, the sound of footsteps crunching against the sand was heard. Lee Sa-young opened his closed eyes. Hong Ye-seong, dressed in a green tracksuit, was walking slowly toward him.
"Are you meditating?"
"…"
"No, no, that position's a bit odd for meditating. You're daydreaming."
Lee Sa-young sighed softly and looked up at the sky. The heartwarming feeling flew away in an instant. It had been so long since he'd seen the blue sky. The world, teetering on the brink of destruction, had lost all its color. Hong Ye-seong shrugged.
"So, how did it go? Was it worth the wait?"
"It was quicker than I remembered. Maybe it's because of Mackerel…"
Mackerel, who was caught from the sea by Cha Eui-jae, have now grown scales all the way to his cheeks and webbing had formed between his fingers. Fine cracks resembling gills have appeared on the nape of his neck. Despite this, the reason he remained human was most likely because he was in charge of the clinical trials. Mackerel not only cooperated faithfully but also filled the void left by the puppet. It even carried Nam Woo-jin, who had been unable to walk for extended periods, on his back.
Whatever the case, it was a good thing. The more cooperative Mackerel was, the faster the development of vaccines and treatments.
"…"
Lee Sa-young searched through the tangled memories in his head. During his time here, memories that weren't his, one by one, gradually became his. Hong Ye-seong began to retrace his steps. Lee Sa-young followed him, leaving the sea behind. Lee Sa-young murmured in a low voice.
"It'll be over soon here, too."