Chapter 159

The dispatch was to remove a rift that had appeared 5 cm in front of a third-floor window of an apartment building. Unfortunately, its grade was high enough to fluctuate between 1st and 2nd grade, so attacking from outside towards the building would obviously shatter the window and interior with the impact. To avoid that, they needed to enter the house and attack through the window.

The problem was that currently, only two sisters, in 5th and 1st grade of elementary school, were inside the house at that location. Their parents were both working and rushing back after hearing the news, but the rift wouldn't wait and was rapidly growing.

He tended to remember such unusual incidents clearly. This dispatch wasn't assigned to Soram and Tae-un together because they were inexperienced, but because two people were absolutely necessary. One had to go inside the house, while the other had to prevent the attack from bouncing to other apartments from outside.

In the previous life, this case had also been assigned to the Flight Team, and Soram and Tae-un had come together.

The process of how the situation unfolded at the scene was also the same. The female police officer carefully suggested that Soram should go inside rather than Tae-un, whose build exceeded 190cm. They both agreed with that opinion.

"Yes, ma'am. Please call and ask the children to open the front door. We'll go in together and reassure the children, so don't worry."

After the police officer's call ended, soon the two children nervously opened the door. The older sister, who had been constantly on the phone with her parents, looked at Soram. And her eyes widened.

"Mom, he doesn't look scary at all. He's like an idol."

"Um... thanks?"

Fortunately, they were able to enter the house smoothly without any wariness from the homeowners.

"Hunter-nim, the rift occurrence location is the small room, they say."

"Yes. I know. This way."

Soram went straight to the room right next to the living room, where a small desk and bed faced each other. The pink interior contrasted with the pitch-black outside the window, despite it being midday. He separated the window and screen from the frame.

"Gasp..."

The police officer who had followed Soram in rubbed her goosebump-covered arms at the sight of the rift stretching like a ghost's shadow from a horror movie.

Tae-un flew up behind the rift.

"Han Tae-un, take this and put it down on the first floor."

Ttuduk. Ttuk.

Soram pushed from the inside with force and removed even the railing. When was it? Three lives ago, or four? Back then, he had attacked while leaving the railing and ended up with the disaster of it being pierced through the middle.

"Give it here."

"Okay."

As they carefully passed the railing over so it wouldn't be swept up by the rift, their eyes met. Soram felt a moment of dissonance and soon understood the cause.

In the past life, they had come here together. That meant this rift had occurred at least after Han Tae-un's original awakening time, so when they were at least 23 years old. They were now only twenty.

And, he had had similar thoughts this morning.

"Jin Soram? What's wrong?"

"...Oh, ah. I spaced out for a moment. Anyway, I'm attacking now. You need to block well."

"Got it."

Ssssss―

Blue mist gathered to form a crescent moon shape with a sharp end. The mist flew in that form and collided with the rift.

Shiiik―!

Kadeudeudeudeuk! Kadeudeudeuk!

The rift, attacked at the precise point, rapidly narrowed its width. The crackling resistance was meaningless against the next powerful strike. The attack that had squeezed out was removed by Tae-un's ability to erase force fields. He remembered that in the past, Tae-un had countered it by opposing it with his sword.

Seeing this made it even clearer. The Han Tae-un of that time was much more mature than now. The current innocence had disappeared during his social life, making him adept at hiding his emotions and also more taciturn.

Changes could happen. In this life, various things had changed centered around Han Tae-un due to his impulsive action. Soram realized that he quite... enjoyed it, and ultimately decided not to run away from this life's anomaly but to stay together as much as possible within the allowed time.

But why did he keep feeling an inexplicable anxiety?

Kadeudeudeudeuk!

"Ugh...!"

"Ah, sorry. Han Tae-un, are you okay?"

"Yeah..., I blocked it."

His ability had surged as it was when he lost concentration for a moment. But because of that, the rift had shrunk even more. The window that had been more than half pitch-black now only had a crack about a hand span high left.

Soram gathered his strength again and struck at it.

Kadeudeudeudeuk!

Deudeuk, deuk deudeudeudeuk―...

Finally, the rift closed completely, and even the remaining crack disappeared. Tae-un, who had been blurry beyond the rift, now faced him with nothing in between. Floating outside the window, he put his hands in his pockets and grinned.

"Good job. Why are you so good at everything?"

"..."

Soram turned his head to the police officer for a moment.

"Confirmed complete removal of the rift. I'll be going first."

"Ah, thank you so much for your hard work."

"Yes."

Soram came out through the window and moved to Tae-un's side. As they flew side by side towards the headquarters, it felt like his mind, which had been constantly comparing with the past life, was finally clearing.

"Did something happen inside?"

"...It's nothing."

Just, the order of events had changed accordingly as the major event of 'Han Tae-un's awakening' had changed. Being sensitive to that was because he had repeated the same time too many times and was steeped in inertia.

And even if things changed, what could he do? He had learned to the point of boredom that there was nothing he himself could do.

Soram looked to the side. Soon, with a smile, he placed his hand on top of the head of this life's anomaly. It was possible because their height difference disappeared while they were flying.

"Han Tae-un, shall I buy you something delicious?"

"I earn money too."

"Let's go eat something delicious with my money, not your pocket change."

Tae-un scrunched up his face sulkily. It was truly an expression he had never seen except in this life.

There was still about 6 to 7 years left of time to remain in this world.

There was still time left.

Still...?

Soram tilted his head, mulling over the word he had thought of.

On a night when he had finally fallen into a deep sleep, a vibration sound rang out. If it had ended after once or twice, it would have passed, but the vibration continued endlessly, and eventually woke him up. Soram snatched up his phone irritably but smoothed his furrowed brow when he saw the screen. It wasn't someone he could just hang up on.

"Team Leader, why...?"

―Soram-ah, wake up. Wake up and open the door.

"What? The door... at this hour?"

―It's urgent. I'm in front of your dormitory now.

Knock knock knock knock.

After Park Jae-seon's words, there was a knocking sound at the front door.

"Soram-ah, it's me. Open the door. It's urgent."

"...?"

Hearing the same sound simultaneously from the phone and outside the door confirmed it was him. Soram walked to the entrance, still half-asleep. And, Tae-un, who had heard the commotion, appeared opening the door connected to the next room. His face was also full of drowsiness.

"Jin Soram, what is it? Who's knocking at the door?"

"The team leader came, he says. Seems something happened."

When he opened the door, Park Jae-seon was standing in the corridor, looking like he had prepared more hurriedly than usual.

"Sorry for the late hour. Tae-un woke up too. That's good. Soram-ah, Tae-un-ah, both of you change clothes and put on combat gear."

"At, this hour? What happened?"

"A 1st-grade dungeon has broken out. Teams 1, 2, and 7 are to go to the scene immediately. The other teams are on emergency standby."

...What?

"A dungeon has occurred along with a large fire on Bukhansan."

Director Park Jae-seon's words came like being pushed off a cliff. What he had desperately tried to look away from and hold onto earlier was a very thin fishing line, and with its breaking, suspicion could become certainty.

Everything was approaching too quickly.

***

―Last night, the 1st-grade dungeon that occurred on Bukhansan, coupled with a large-scale fire, caused numerous casualties. Hunters from the Rift Phenomenon Management Headquarters were urgently dispatched to the scene at dawn that day, and they have now removed all rifts and mutants.

―That's really fortunate. But I hear there was a conflict between the Seoul Headquarters and the Busan Branch in this process, what happened there?

―Yes. The headquarters judged that the teleportation ability of Hunter Seo Min-ki from Busan was absolutely necessary for breaking this dungeon and requested his dispatch. However, the Busan Branch firmly refused...

This shouldn't have happened for at least 5 years. This has nothing to do with Han Tae-un's early awakening.

When he opened his eyes in the hospital room, this was the first thing Soram thought.

The Bukhansan dungeon was indeed the one he had faced in all his repeated lives. After more than ten times, he had even developed a knack for it. He used to plant devices about a year in advance to avoid conflicts with the Busan Branch and resolve it safely.

But this time it had burst much earlier than expected, so he couldn't do that. There were casualties at the headquarters, and an emotional rift formed with the Busan Branch.

Why on earth.

The 1st-grade dungeon on Bukhansan was a major event firmly embedded as a large dot on the timeline Soram was repeating. It served as a signal for the start of the 3rd and 4th Great Rifts that would come at short intervals after that.

So does this mean this world will end within 2 years at most from now?

Even knowing it would be painful, he had accepted it and grasped it. But it felt like it had been roughly snatched away as soon as he grasped it, enough to wound his palm.

If it was going to end like this, he wouldn't have started. He would have turned a blind eye to everything and shut himself away like in past lives. He thought the time to sort out his feelings would come more slowly.

"..."

Where Soram suddenly lifted his head, the special news was still flowing. The strengthened 1st-grade dungeon had exerted tremendous power, but himself fighting inside it, Tae-un, Ga-eul, Director Park Jae-seon, and other people were all stronger than in his memory.

...The intensity of rifts varies in proportion to the power of hunters.

Could it be that all hunters have become stronger, and because of that, strong rifts are approaching earlier?

Whatever the reason, the major events in his memory were striking right in front of Soram's nose. The shoulders wrapped in the patient gown began to tremble.

"Why, how..."

He didn't know when his daily life had stopped being boring, when he had stopped wishing for his life to end quickly. Sometimes he even thought the remaining 5 years were regrettable.

Was this the price for harboring such luxurious thoughts?

The remaining time was being butchered, and ultimately, the same ending was rushing right up to his nose.