In Yoo-shin squatted down in front of the white flames that had been slit open so that only one person could pass through, and looked up at the sky. Hyeon Gyu-ha was still absent. I was worried, and I also wanted to see him.
Hyeon Gyu-ha was always the one who got restless when we couldn’t see each other, but this time, our positions seemed to have changed.
In Yoo-shin, who was fiddling with the poison essence in his pocket, made up his mind.
‘Let’s go find it first. Since I have the poison essence I got from Team Leader Choi, I’ll be able to escape even if I run into the demons.’
In Yoo-shin waited for Lee Hye-yeon, who had gone out to look around, to return, and then got up from his seat.
“Are you going to the bathroom?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
“You just came back from dealing with the monsters. I'll be back soon."
As the time spent staying became longer, it was impossible to not go to the bathroom at all. That's why the hunters calculated the timing of the monster's respawn and were clearing the path to the portable bathroom on one side of the playground. He pretended to go to the bathroom and slipped away.
Since all the hunters were guarding the playground, it was easy to find Hyeon Gyu-ha's whereabouts.
Even if the monsters within the erosion gate are hunted, their bodies are not left behind. The monsters’ remains are slowly absorbed and disappear. So In Yoo-shin only had to follow the remains of the monsters outside the stadium that had not yet been absorbed.
Since he had been killing time sitting in the stands, there were a lot of demons’ remains nearby. The remains were connected again. Along the stairs of the stands. Past the hallway on the first floor. Past the parking lot. Outside, outside, into a cross-section of the world dominated by darkness.
Hyeon Gyu-ha’s back was visible, facing complete darkness. Hyeon Gyu-ha’s hand, which had pulled something out of the inventory, glowed with blood as he took a big step forward.
“Gyu……………!”
Before he could even call out, Gyu-ha’s tall back disappeared into the darkness.
“Gyu-ha-ssi!”
He called out late and chased after him, but there was not even a trace of Hyeon Gyu-ha. Had he been sucked into that darkness? I panicked and felt the cross-section of the darkness.
There was nothing. In Yoo-shin, who existed in a world without color, could not even touch the darkness. This boundary was not simply a standard for dividing black and white, but a severance of the world.
'Huh, what should I do? Should I tell my Nunim(older sister)?'
In Yoo-shin's eyes widened as he turned away in confusion. Before he knew it, a monster had been created.
"Ugck!"
He took out the poison essence and threw it. The essence shattered, and a harmless poisonous mist spread out, and the demonic beast twisted and melted the amorphous body.
Luckily, he defeated one, but another one extended its sharp tentacles on the car beyond the reach of the poisonous mist. He rolled reflexively and avoided being impaled by the tentacles, but he couldn't stop his cheeks from getting cut. His back hit the cross-section of the darkness.
Blood flowed from the tentacles that cut his skin.
A drop of blood splashed onto the border of the world.
The darkness swallowed Inyushin.
Where is this place?
In Yoo-shin groaned and pressed his forehead. The feeling of dizziness that was unique to passing through the gate was like a hundred times overlapping, and it rang in his ears. In Yoo-shin, who barely managed to suppress his groan and opened his eyes, was greatly surprised.
It was all dark.
Absolute darkness, neither right nor left, up nor down, enveloped him. No. Am I really seeing darkness? Am I really opening my eyes? Is my dead brain making an illusion? I can’t see darkness. I can’t feel darkness. I can’t sense darkness. Am I in darkness? Am I in darkness?
Before his lost five senses were crushed by darkness.
【Don’t be too surprised.】
With a soft woman’s voice, he gradually regained his senses. I could see my fingers wandering, my feet pacing anxiously, and eventually darkness appeared in my eyes.
In the strange darkness where there was a light source without shade, like a black and white world, there was a woman smiling at me.
【It’s been a while, little baby. I didn’t know I’d see you again.】
A woman wearing long clothes that had become one with darkness greeted him with a kind expression. The moment his eyes met hers, the sense of foreboding that had been whispering in his head suddenly popped up.
I knew this woman, no, not exactly the same, but similar…………….
【Aah, it wasn’t these clothes back then.】
As the woman stuttered slightly, the clothes that had blended into the darkness turned into half a gorgeous gown that shone like jewels, and half a tattered, worn-out rag.
In Yoo-shin groaned and sank down.
I had met this woman before. It had been so long since that memory had easily worn away and been erased from the immature cognition of a child.
The woman greeted him as if it were the first time.
【Little child. It has only been 19 years in your world’s time.】
“………………Who are you?”
【I am one of the three gods of Urshitoare who govern fate. Please call me the third Urshitoare.】
“A-a god?”
Although it was only a mere false image, In Yoo-shin had witnessed a fragment of a god. Even if it was only a fragment, that false image felt an overwhelming sense of incomparable power to a human. However, I could not feel anything from this woman, the third Urshitoare. Even though she was right before my eyes, her presence was transparent, like seeing a shadow reflected on a lake.
'Did I go crazy because of that darkness?'
The third Ursitoare, who reached out her hand toward the head of the even more confused Inyushin, narrowed his eyes.
【Little baby, you have met the false god. Poor Atabeyra. This body is not the true body either, so it is natural for you to misunderstand. I am not a manifestation of the human world, but a projection of a shadow from your long-standing memory.】
"My memory…………..?"
【That's right. Didn't you meet me once in this space?】
We met before. We have met.
Gate. Black and white. Darkness. Darkness. Darkness. Beyond that. A noble king's clothes and a woman in shabby rags. Holding the boy's hand tightly with her trembling hands. The boy. That boy.
"Ah!"
In Yoo-shin looked around urgently.
"Was there anyone else here besides me? A man much taller than me, wearing black clothes..……………! His hair is light golden brown."
【Are you looking for the king's son?】
"Yes? The King's Son?"
The third Ursitoare quietly winked at a corner of the empty space. In contrast, it was a static movement.
Where her gaze was directed, the darkness opened transparently as if it had been wiped away, and Hyeon Gyu-ha's figure was revealed.
“Gyu-ha-ssi!”
He ran in a hurry, but that was it. Just like the image on TV, Hyeon Gyu-ha couldn’t hear his voice, and he couldn’t reach Hyeon Gyu-ha either.
【Gyu-ha (奎霞), La.】
The third Ursitoare muttered slowly, recalling the name.
【That was the name the child’s mother gave him. A star so far away. A longing for a world that can’t be reached. It’s such a cruel name for a child.】
“………………Do you know Gyu-ha-ssi?”
In Yoo-shin carefully asked, and her words, “the son of the king,” lingered in his mind. At the same time, he remembered. Another hidden trait of Hyeon Gyu-ha that had been obscured by the strong image of his “vampire traits.”
The illegitimate child of the king.
When I had asked about that trait before,I had only heard a joke that his father was the king. That’s why I couldn’t ask more.
【Then, I know. I knew before that child was born? The moment the child was conceived in the mother's womb, all the gods of our world saw that place.】
The third Ursitoare murmured sadly, like a fairy's hum.
【The last cornerstone supporting the ending world. He is the only child of the last king of our world, 'Iard'.】
Gyu-ha-ssi.
Hyeon Gyu-ha suddenly turned around at the sound of a voice that seemed to come from somewhere. However, there was still darkness, indistinguishable in front and behind.
'There's no way you could follow me this far...……………. Am I hallucinating?'
Hyeon Gyu-ha scoffed, feeling ashamed that he was now hearing hallucinations. Still, just in case, he tried to raise the coordinates. He couldn't see In Yoo-shin's location.
'Well, it's only natural that the connection would be cut off if you enter here.'
Just as the radio waves outside the gate don't reach the inside of the gate, this darkness is also a boundary that divides the world.
'Iard………………. As expected, the pronunciation doesn't break here.'
A fragment of a world that was quietly destroyed. The leader of the unprepared gate. All of these are the gates he had experienced 19 years ago.
So this darkness was also a boundary that could not be entered without ®ÀÇ, or the pendant containing Iard's blood. It is impossible for a human being to enter. In the first place, he would not have been able to pass through the gaps of the monsters and come here alone.
Hyeon Gyu-ha closed his eyes for a while and then opened them. His vision brightened, and before his eyes, a strange creature that was half dog and half human was dancing around, laughing.
------
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Translator: Hoshi Miya
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