Chapter 191

The black shadow that had wrapped around his waist, arms, and shoulders rose up to his mouth and nose. In front of dozens of mutants charging with bared teeth, Tae-un became unable to move at all.

Soram screamed again. He poured blue mist indiscriminately towards the mutants rushing at Tae-un. The shock hitting his head made nausea rise, causing his shoulders to heave continuously.

While Soram was blocking the mutants, Tae-un's body was quickly dragged towards the crack.

"No, no...!"

Soram reached out his hand towards Tae-un covered in black shadow. His hand swept through the air meaninglessly, not even grazing him.

"Aaaak! Han Tae-un! Han Tae-un!!!"

Before the black shadow obscured his view, the last face of Soram that Tae-un saw was a mess.

He was a strong person. He didn't realize himself how amazing it was that he still had reason left even when 20 memories returned. But now Soram collapsed in an instant. He seemed much more shocked than Tae-un had expected. Though he had asked him not to get angry, he might not forgive him easily.

"No, Han Tae-un!!!"

I'm sorry.

His body passed through the crack. Before he knew it, he had been completely dragged into the black interior, and the crevice that had sucked him in narrowed.

"Han Tae-un!!!"

The last moment he heard Soram's cry.

Tae-un's vision went completely dark.

***

Han Tae-un was dragged into the crack.

"Han Tae-un, Han Tae-un! Aaaak! Han Tae-un!"

Soram blindly thrust his hand into the crevice where he had disappeared. No other thoughts entered his mind. He just moved his body in the direction Tae-un had gone.

Tak―!

But the crack pushed Soram away. A bruise remained on the back of his hand. Disregarding it, he tried to dig into the crack again, but the pitch-black crevice became untouchable inside as if some wall had formed.

"Give him back! Open! Return him!!"

Only after striking the crack with all his might and splitting open the edge of his hand did Soram grab his sword again.

"Keup..."

The moment blue mist wrapped around the sword, he suddenly vomited blood. The attacks poured out from the start of the Great Rift, the sudden bird assault, and the ability he had just used while losing his reason. There was no way he had any strength left.

He shouldn't have used his power on that. If he had known this would happen...

Nothing was more important to Jin Soram than Han Tae-un. Even the world he had tried so hard to protect was incomparable to Han Tae-un. His hand, dripping with blood, raised the sword.

Kadeuk! Kadeuk! Kadeudeudeuk!!!

"Aaaak!"

The crack didn't budge at all. His arm, drained of energy, dropped the sword, and his knees collapsed to the ground.

"Han Tae-un, please, heu, Tae-un-ah, Han Tae-un!"

While Soram pounded on the crack and banged his head like a madman, his in-ear fell to the ground. The sounds transmitted from it didn't reach his ears either.

―The mutants' movement speed has suddenly slowed down!

―Director-nim, the mutants' defense seems to have lowered too.

―What's going on? Did something happen to the crack? Didn't Chief Jin and Team Leader Han go there earlier?

"Ah, ah..., ah..."

―What's this, catching these beast bastards has become easier, but isn't the dungeon getting higher now?

―Soram-ah, what happened? Chief Jin Soram! Answer!

―Soram oppa! Tae-un oppa!

Why did this happen?

"Han Tae-un, what, what should I do...?"

In his mind, Tae-un's last appearance before being sucked in kept repeating. Han Tae-un had been smiling at him at that moment.

And his words.

'You have to live.'

"Heu..."

Why, why did you do that to me?

This was different from when he took the bullet for him during the kidnapping incident. He had clearly seen with his own eyes that... Tae-un's will had played some part in this choice. He wished his reason had flown away to the point where he couldn't even make such a judgment.

Why?

Soram felt his own arms. He tightly gripped the places that had hurt when Tae-un had hugged him tightly earlier. Though blood burst and the same places hurt, he didn't feel even a bit of the same feeling as before.

"Jin Soram!"

Hunters arrived, breaking through the suddenly weakened mutants. Someone grabbed his shoulder and shook him, but Soram showed no reaction.

"What is it? Jin Soram, what happened? Hey, what's going on?"

"..."

"...Jin Soram?"

"Soram-ah, where did Tae-un go!"

Hearing that name, Soram barely regained his darkened vision. But he was still consumed by fear.

Han Tae-un.

His whole body trembled as if thrown onto a field in the dead of winter.

"I'm scared. I'm saying I'm scared."

Deudeuk―...

Along with Soram's words, the crack vibrated slightly.

"I'm scared, Han Tae-un..."

Deuk, deudeuk―...

"What should I do now..."

Deudeudeudeuk―...

The crack kept heaving as if answering his dazed mutterings.

The beast sounds shaking everything around, the black crack piercing the blue sky, and Han Tae-un who had saved him and disappeared. All of these were things Soram feared extremely. The events that had unfolded, the current situation, the invisible future, all of it was so scary that he couldn't even straighten his trembling body.

The moment he recognized that fear.

Suddenly, a white light like cotton fluff flashed in his blackened mind.

"...! Ah, ugh...!"

His body, which had been kneeling, completely collapsed to the ground. In his hazy vision, the white light became even clearer. Looking closely, it was a very familiar shape and sensation. In his previous life, at the small annex, the moment his memories were being erased, it had dug into his mind...

"Chief Jin! Why are you…”

"...Ha..., Han Tae-un, that..."

Soram, with his cheek against the ground, gritted his teeth.

"Bastard..."

With that, Soram lost consciousness.

***

As he was dragged into the pitch-black interior of the crack, Tae-un recalled the collapsed Seoul of this life and the giant mutants that had occupied it.

Along with that, he recalled the appearance of the 4th Great Rift he had seen in the last moment of his previous life. The scene he had witnessed while holding the breathless Soram.

At that time, he thought he hadn't seen it properly because the scene had passed by too quickly. So he didn't place much significance on the blurry appearance of the Great Rift mutants that would occur after Soram's death.

Thinking about it now, that too was a puzzle piece drawing the same picture.

'Why weren't the mutants in the world where Soram had disappeared clearly defined?'

It wasn't difficult to draw the conclusion that Soram's existence played some role in determining the appearance of the mutants.

After being dragged deep into the crack for a long time, suddenly nothing was visible before his eyes. There was only the pitch-black abyss he had felt when looking at the crack from outside. Even the shadow that had dragged him here gradually lost its strength.

Even though the force binding and pulling his body had disappeared, there seemed to be no way to escape from here. Now he didn't even know which direction he had come from, and he couldn't even confirm his own hands and feet without feeling them.

So this must be the deep interior of the crack.

Tae-un folded his hands together. Between his palms, the power he had left behind was gathered.

From deep inside the crack, Tae-un brought out his ability to its maximum.

The ability to remove force fields that he had brought from his previous life. He increased its intensity by adding the attraction and repulsion of this life.

His black eyes, reflecting the light clusters, wavered. The light clusters that had been the size of beads grew to the size of Soram's small fist. And they absorbed and erased some kind of power.

With this method, he had erased the most troublesome 20th memory. Perhaps because he had used it at the cost of his life before, the memory was clear even though he was using it after a long time. It seemed that desperately bringing his special ability from the previous life and adapting it to this life was for this moment.

Tae-un added even more power to the light clusters in his hands. Though no visible effect could be seen, he continued to remove something while consuming his physical strength. The humming light clusters grew brighter as time passed.

The advantage of the pitch-black space was that it dulled the senses. Even the pain that had clearly started to overload again spread very slowly.

Uung―

"...?"

At that moment, the light clusters began to pull Tae-un somewhere. As he stood still, not knowing what was happening, attraction and repulsion alternately moved his body. Tae-un followed in that direction, puzzled.

The more he followed the guidance, the more vigorously the white light clusters shone. The amount of power the light clusters eliminated also increased. As if this path was the correct answer.

Tae-un's ability, which had not been awakened for long in either his previous or current life, was immature. There were only two cases where he felt certain that this method was correct while using his ability. When adding strength to Soram's skills, and when erasing power related to Soram while thinking of him.

He suddenly felt how real it was that he had awakened to get closer to Jin Soram. Perhaps all the abilities from previous lives he couldn't remember were the same.

Rather than feeling proud or having such sentiments, he first thought that he should hide and package it well. He knew best himself that he had advanced a few more steps in a different direction than just tender emotions.

It was rather Soram who harbored tender, loving, and purely beautiful feelings.

He knew how difficult it had been for Soram to learn love. So he had seen the whole process of Soram being wary of the feelings that first arose towards Tae-un. Mistaking it for guilt, and even expressing it as annoyance.

Nevertheless, he had created the emotion of love and given that precious thing to him.

Clumsy, full of wounds and hesitant. It was a precious thing given by such a person. So there was no way he could give up the world where he could smile happily and harbor only romantic feelings for him.

Geugeu― geugeugeu―...

From the inside, faint vibration sounds were heard intermittently. It seemed like a long time had passed, or as if he had only moved a few steps. He advanced a bit further into the darkness where nothing could be known. Judging by the light clusters on his hand growing to the size of a soccer ball and absorbing more and more power, he could only guess that he was getting closer to the source of the crack.

At some point, the pitch-black space began to brighten little by little. A hard floor was felt under his feet that had been floating in the air. Tae-un walked steadily along that path.

The hazy view gradually took shape.

Suddenly, as if emerging from water, bright light and loud noise rushed in. A spacious and noisy outdoor area, cloudless bright blue weather, high fences installed at intervals all around.

"..."

Tae-un stopped for a moment seeing the zoo scene unfolding before his eyes, then moved forward.

Numerous people passed by. People in clothes that might have been fashionable about 20 years ago glanced suspiciously at Tae-un, who had come to such a place wearing a black suit. Most visitors were families, followed by couples.

The white light clusters, which had now hidden their form, still absorbed power while leading Tae-un somewhere. He passed by spaces with small animals like rabbits, meerkats, and raccoons, and brushed past enclosures with leisurely peaceful herbivores like deer and giraffes.

People crowded every space. It seemed like an especially nice weekend or holiday. The commotion was so loud that even broadcasts searching for lost children could hardly be heard. Tae-un continued walking through the crowd.

Finally, the place where the light clusters led Tae-un was a themed zone gathering carnivorous predators. From the entrance, there were decorations imitating a safari savanna. The quality was very crude.

Geueoeo―!!!

"Uwah!"

"Hueoeoeng!"

At that moment, a lion's roar echoed through the space. The roar let out by the lion in the largest enclosure spread heavily in all directions. Adults marveled at the real lion, and some young children cried in surprise but soon calmed down in their parents' arms.

"...Heu..."

Among them, there was one child who couldn't even cry, curled up with both hands covering his head. The child was sitting alone on a bench next to a large pillar.

Found him.

Tae-un fixed his gaze on the trembling brown head. His ability sensed some power coming from there and moved even more strongly.

Even if it was his childhood appearance, there was no way he wouldn't recognize who it was.