Lee Sa-young knocked on the door just as Cha Eui-jae finished washing dishes and cleaning up, and even got ready for tomorrow’s business. It was such perfect timing that he wondered if Lee Sa-young had been watching him. Cha Eui-jae peeked out from the kitchen to check the door and widened his eyes when he saw the black gas mask floating on the glass. “What’s going on? All of a sudden.” “I have something to say.” A whisper-like reply came back. Was he going to ask for a favor again? Cha Eui-jae untied his tightly knotted apron strings and headed toward the door. Lee Sa-young stood quietly in front of the door, waiting to be let in. As soon as Cha Eui-jae slid open the door, the dark figure took a step inside. Without sitting down, Lee Sa-young said, “Have you ever been to Songdo?” That was it. With a reluctant face, Cha Eui-jae alternated his gaze between the glossy black ticket and the black glove holding it, and the black gas mask. Every time he thought he could welcome this guy with a bit of affection from their accumulated acquaintance, Lee Sa-young would pull out a bomb from his pocket. Besides, ‘Why are these black tickets so common?’ Weren’t these supposed to be rare and extremely coveted tickets worth tens of billions? Regulars at the soup restaurant would go to great lengths to get just one of these pieces of paper, but somehow, three of them had fallen into his lap for no reason. on his opponent until he felt better. But now, the Lee Sa-young in front of him… “You’re good at coming up with new secrets each time.” “…” “Liar.” In his two eyes… “Shall we have a Q&A after a long time? Asking each other questions, answering, and trying to guess what’s hidden.” A gaze pretending to be indifferent, with something unknown stirring violently beneath the calm surface. Cha Eui-jae instinctively realized that this would never let him go. If he made a wrong move, he would be caught in the raging current. Catching a rampaging monster or dealing with an annoyed Lee Sa-young would have been easier. At least, there was a clear strategy for those. But the calm Lee Sa-young needed a new strategy. Facing the violet gaze made his insides itch. Cha Eui-jae clenched his fist, pressing his nails into his palm inside his pocket. It was fortunate that his mask hid his expression. “I have no questions.” “Well, actually, you don’t have a choice.” The voice responded with a hint of laughter. Lee Sa-young tilted his head slightly. His curly hair swayed gently. “I have a lot of questions for you… about you.” “…” “Then… shall I start first?” A large hand wrapped in leather grabbed Cha Eui-jae’s nape. A soft voice spoke. “You know, don’t you? That I am a product of Prometheus experiments.” It was an unexpected question. Cha Eui-jae instinctively tensed his fingers. Lee Sa-young muttered, tilting his head. “Who told you is obvious… very few people know that fact. They’re all dead.” “…” “The ones still alive are Ham Seok-jeong, Jung Bin, Nam Woo-jin, and Bae Won-woo. Since you avoided Jung Bin and Ham Seok-jeong, it couldn’t be them. Bae Won-woo isn’t sharp enough to know that you’re J. That leaves…” The thumb gently rubbed behind the ear. “Nam Woo-jin. That bastard.” Lee Sa-young was keen and had excellent information-gathering skills. In fact, there was no reason to hide anything anymore. He had revealed the secrets he tried to keep hidden. Cha Eui-jae admitted honestly. “Yes, that’s right.” “And you heard that when you took your grandmother, right? You heard about Prometheus then.” “Accurate.” Lee Sa-young gritted his teeth and then let out a small sigh. He removed his hand from Cha Eui-jae’s nape. The lukewarm warmth vanished. “Now it’s your turn.” “…” Cha Eui-jae, who had been silent, asked. “I heard there were no successful cases of Prometheus experiments. That everyone died.” “Ah-ha…” Lee Sa-young drew out his words leisurely, lifting his head with a slight smirk on his lips, as if mocking. “Seo Min-gi said that? Well… he’s not wrong. Prometheus never succeeded in their experiments. Not once. They all couldn’t withstand the experiments, their bodies collapsed, or they became something worse than a monster.” “…” “You’re curious about this, right? How I, a test subject, am still alive…” Lee Sa-young slowly placed his hand on the center of his chest. “It’s simple. I awakened.” He whispered in a languid voice. “I didn’t artificially awaken because of their experiments; I was chosen by the system.” He recalled the conversation they had at the hangover soup restaurant after finishing their messy contract, when the small black humans moved according to Lee Sa-young’s finger movements. “So, what criteria does the system use to choose the awakened?” A languid voice asked. “The system,” The finger that was rubbing against the broken glass, “Respond to a desperate wish.” It had become a commonly accepted fact since the Day of the Rift. “When a human has a desperate wish, the system is drawn to that energy and finds the human.” Appearing out of nowhere, the white, burnt-out eyes stared at Cha Eui-jae. Suddenly, the surroundings transformed into a forest. The conversation he had with Nam Woo-jin at the Seowon Guild came to mind bit by bit. Nam Woo-jin, fluttering his white coat as he walked ahead, whispered, “Whether he awakened because of their experiment, or the system answered Lee Sa-young’s desperate prayers.” The surroundings shifted once more. In the midst of the wreckage and ruin, Cha Eui-jae was huddled in the rubble, clutching the bodies of his parents. The stench of burnt and bloody flesh was overwhelmingly strong. The cold bodies. Thud, thud, the sound of monsters rummaging through the path echoed in his ears. At that moment, what did Cha Eui-jae think in the face of death? ‘I want to live.’ He wanted to live. ‘I don’t want to die.’ He didn’t want to die. And then a bright white light burst out before his eyes. It was the moment he encountered the system. Cha Eui-jae lifted his head. In the dark and narrow room, the only light came from the half-open door. Lee Sa-young was quietly watching Cha Eui-jae. Suddenly, a question arose. What was Lee Sa-young’s desperate prayer? What was so desperate that it led to his awakening? Strangely, Cha Eui-jae felt like he knew the answer. As if someone were teaching him. His heart raced. Emotions swirled— excitement, anticipation, or perhaps anxiety and confusion. Cha Eui-jae slowly opened his mouth. “You…” It felt like something was stuck in his throat, making it hard to speak. He wasn’t sure. Even though he thought it was impossible, he still harbored a faint hope, a conflict of feelings. A boy dying from poison, Lee Sa-young who used poison. A boy whose records were erased by Prometheus or some other hand, Lee Sa-young who escaped after being a test subject of Prometheus. A boy who tried to smile with narrowed eyes, Lee Sa-young who smiled with narrowed eyes. ‘It can’t be.’ Cha Eui-jae looked at Lee Sa-young with confused eyes. At that moment, Lee Sa-young smiled. His eyes narrowed, shining like a child’s, waiting for the moment to open his prepared gift. ‘This is strange.’ Cha Eui-jae swallowed countless words. ‘This is too convenient…’ Miracles like this don’t happen to Cha Eui-jae. He knew that. He had given up expecting miracles long ago. Yet, even though he kept telling himself it wasn’t possible, he barely managed to utter a single word. His voice cracked. “…Is it you?” A step closer came the black boots. Only a very narrow space remained between them. Lee Sa-young extended his hand. Cha Eui-jae, as if entranced, took that hand, just like he always did eight years ago. The black hand gently pulled his hand to Lee Sa-young’s cheek. The warmth radiating from his cheek was soft. It was starkly different from the rough texture of bandages. Lee Sa-young slowly rubbed his cheek against the palm. The gloved hand covered the hand resting on his cheek. A low voice whispered. “Yes, Hyung.”
Lemme drop this here and dip
[SPOILER]
Lee Sa-young knocked on the door just as Cha Eui-jae finished washing dishes and cleaning up, and even got ready for tomorrow’s business. It was such perfect timing that he wondered if Lee Sa-young had been watching him.
Cha Eui-jae peeked out from the kitchen to check the door and widened his eyes when he saw the black gas mask floating on the glass.
“What’s going on? All of a sudden.”
“I have something to say.”
A whisper-like reply came back. Was he going to ask for a favor again? Cha Eui-jae untied his tightly knotted apron strings and headed toward the door. Lee Sa-young stood quietly in front of the door, waiting to be let in.
As soon as Cha Eui-jae slid open the door, the dark figure took a step inside. Without sitting down, Lee Sa-young said,
“Have you ever been to Songdo?”
That was it.
With a reluctant face, Cha Eui-jae alternated his gaze between the glossy black ticket and the black glove holding it, and the black gas mask. Every time he thought he could welcome this guy with a bit of affection from their accumulated acquaintance, Lee Sa-young would pull out a bomb from his pocket. Besides,
‘Why are these black tickets so common?’
Weren’t these supposed to be rare and extremely coveted tickets worth tens of billions? Regulars at the soup restaurant would go to great lengths to get just one of these pieces of paper, but somehow, three of them had fallen into his lap for no reason.
on his opponent until he felt better. But now, the Lee Sa-young in front of him…
“You’re good at coming up with new secrets each time.”
“…”
“Liar.”
In his two eyes…
“Shall we have a Q&A after a long time? Asking each other questions, answering, and trying to guess what’s hidden.”
A gaze pretending to be indifferent, with something unknown stirring violently beneath the calm surface.
Cha Eui-jae instinctively realized that this would never let him go. If he made a wrong move, he would be caught in the raging current.
Catching a rampaging monster or dealing with an annoyed Lee Sa-young would have been easier. At least, there was a clear strategy for those. But the calm Lee Sa-young needed a new strategy. Facing the violet gaze made his insides itch.
Cha Eui-jae clenched his fist, pressing his nails into his palm inside his pocket. It was fortunate that his mask hid his expression.
“I have no questions.”
“Well, actually, you don’t have a choice.”
The voice responded with a hint of laughter. Lee Sa-young tilted his head slightly. His curly hair swayed gently.
“I have a lot of questions for you… about you.”
“…”
“Then… shall I start first?”
A large hand wrapped in leather grabbed Cha Eui-jae’s nape. A soft voice spoke.
“You know, don’t you? That I am a product of Prometheus experiments.”
It was an unexpected question. Cha Eui-jae instinctively tensed his fingers. Lee Sa-young muttered, tilting his head.
“Who told you is obvious… very few people know that fact. They’re all dead.”
“…”
“The ones still alive are Ham Seok-jeong, Jung Bin, Nam Woo-jin, and Bae Won-woo. Since you avoided Jung Bin and Ham Seok-jeong, it couldn’t be them. Bae Won-woo isn’t sharp enough to know that you’re J. That leaves…”
The thumb gently rubbed behind the ear.
“Nam Woo-jin. That bastard.”
Lee Sa-young was keen and had excellent information-gathering skills. In fact, there was no reason to hide anything anymore. He had revealed the secrets he tried to keep hidden. Cha Eui-jae admitted honestly.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“And you heard that when you took your grandmother, right? You heard about Prometheus then.”
“Accurate.”
Lee Sa-young gritted his teeth and then let out a small sigh. He removed his hand from Cha Eui-jae’s nape. The lukewarm warmth vanished.
“Now it’s your turn.”
“…”
Cha Eui-jae, who had been silent, asked.
“I heard there were no successful cases of Prometheus experiments. That everyone died.”
“Ah-ha…”
Lee Sa-young drew out his words leisurely, lifting his head with a slight smirk on his lips, as if mocking.
“Seo Min-gi said that? Well… he’s not wrong. Prometheus never succeeded in their experiments. Not once. They all couldn’t withstand the experiments, their bodies collapsed, or they became something worse than a monster.”
“…”
“You’re curious about this, right? How I, a test subject, am still alive…”
Lee Sa-young slowly placed his hand on the center of his chest.
“It’s simple. I awakened.”
He whispered in a languid voice.
“I didn’t artificially awaken because of their experiments; I was chosen by the system.”
He recalled the conversation they had at the hangover soup restaurant after finishing their messy contract, when the small black humans moved according to Lee Sa-young’s finger movements.
“So, what criteria does the system use to choose the awakened?”
A languid voice asked.
“The system,”
The finger that was rubbing against the broken glass,
“Respond to a desperate wish.”
It had become a commonly accepted fact since the Day of the Rift.
“When a human has a desperate wish, the system is drawn to that energy and finds the human.”
Appearing out of nowhere, the white, burnt-out eyes stared at Cha Eui-jae. Suddenly, the surroundings transformed into a forest. The conversation he had with Nam Woo-jin at the Seowon Guild came to mind bit by bit. Nam Woo-jin, fluttering his white coat as he walked ahead, whispered,
“Whether he awakened because of their experiment, or the system answered Lee Sa-young’s desperate prayers.”
The surroundings shifted once more. In the midst of the wreckage and ruin, Cha Eui-jae was huddled in the rubble, clutching the bodies of his parents. The stench of burnt and bloody flesh was overwhelmingly strong. The cold bodies. Thud, thud, the sound of monsters rummaging through the path echoed in his ears.
At that moment, what did Cha Eui-jae think in the face of death?
‘I want to live.’
He wanted to live.
‘I don’t want to die.’
He didn’t want to die.
And then a bright white light burst out before his eyes. It was the moment he encountered the system.
Cha Eui-jae lifted his head. In the dark and narrow room, the only light came from the half-open door. Lee Sa-young was quietly watching Cha Eui-jae. Suddenly, a question arose. What was Lee Sa-young’s desperate prayer? What was so desperate that it led to his awakening?
Strangely, Cha Eui-jae felt like he knew the answer.
As if someone were teaching him. His heart raced. Emotions swirled— excitement, anticipation, or perhaps anxiety and confusion. Cha Eui-jae slowly opened his mouth.
“You…”
It felt like something was stuck in his throat, making it hard to speak. He wasn’t sure. Even though he thought it was impossible, he still harbored a faint hope, a conflict of feelings.
A boy dying from poison, Lee Sa-young who used poison. A boy whose records were erased by Prometheus or some other hand, Lee Sa-young who escaped after being a test subject of Prometheus. A boy who tried to smile with narrowed eyes, Lee Sa-young who smiled with narrowed eyes.
‘It can’t be.’
Cha Eui-jae looked at Lee Sa-young with confused eyes. At that moment, Lee Sa-young smiled. His eyes narrowed, shining like a child’s, waiting for the moment to open his prepared gift.
‘This is strange.’
Cha Eui-jae swallowed countless words.
‘This is too convenient…’
Miracles like this don’t happen to Cha Eui-jae. He knew that. He had given up expecting miracles long ago. Yet, even though he kept telling himself it wasn’t possible, he barely managed to utter a single word. His voice cracked.
“…Is it you?”
A step closer came the black boots. Only a very narrow space remained between them. Lee Sa-young extended his hand. Cha Eui-jae, as if entranced, took that hand, just like he always did eight years ago.
The black hand gently pulled his hand to Lee Sa-young’s cheek. The warmth radiating from his cheek was soft. It was starkly different from the rough texture of bandages.
Lee Sa-young slowly rubbed his cheek against the palm. The gloved hand covered the hand resting on his cheek. A low voice whispered.
“Yes, Hyung.”