Chapter 324
The moment I fell into his arms, the familiar scent at his collar brushed the tip of my nose. And the warmth, too.
It had been... so long. A feeling I could barely catch now and then, only in dreams.
Realizing that, something hot surged up my throat again. It could have been grief, or joy, or resentment toward “Ryu Sunghyun,” who had gone and died before me.
A hand patted my back. The emotions tossing like a ship in a storm heaved even harder, aching deeper inside my chest at that touch.
Then—
“...Hyung.”
A low voice rang clear. Cha Sahyeon’s voice.
“Please, get a hold of yourself. Look at me.”
What did he mean by that?
I was perfectly in my right mind already.
Sahyeon didn’t know what relationship I had with this man, so of course he was rattled. Fine—explanations first.
I lifted my head from “Ryu Sunghyun’s” shoulder. Just as I was about to speak, my eyes met Sahyeon’s.
Cold green eyes, complicated and heavy.
The moment I saw them, a chill ran down my spine, and reality crashed over me like shattering glass.
“......”
I’d opened my mouth to explain what “Ryu Sunghyun” was, but no sound came out; I shut it again. My throat was bone-dry.
'Explain... to Sahyeon? About Hyung?'
Cha Seohu, you crazy bastard.
Knowing exactly how Hyung ended—
'...No. Wait.'
That wasn’t the point.
How was “Ryu Sunghyun” even here? Where was this place? Where were the others?
I—I... what was I doing?
Once the question surfaced, my head tangled into knots. Countless doubts and guesses rose like bubbles.
The worst of them: that the man holding me right now wasn’t the “Ryu Sunghyun” I thought he was.
That, like before, I’d been fooled by a well-made fake—or a hallucination.
I hurried backward through my memories.
Right before the hypnosis—when I entered the Unidentified Rift, I was alone. I wandered a wide meadow and found a suspicious house. I met the homeowner there.
His face... it had faintly resembled Ryu Sunghyun’s.
Goosebumps crawled up my arms. Why hadn’t I felt it then?
After I met the man, my memories cut unnaturally. I’d been caught by the monster’s hypnosis, my mind trapped inside a space.
“......”
As the pieces clicked, cold sweat traced down my jaw.
The arms that had felt warm and safe a moment ago turned chilling and creepy in an instant.
And of course “Ryu Sunghyun” would notice the change in me.
The hand on his shoulder trembled faintly. I swallowed and slowly turned my head.
My eyes met the man’s—the one clutching my waist.
Where they had been gentle before, now something about his eyes was twisted. A golden shimmer wavered from his body, tinting his irises gold.
“Seohu.”
“...Hyung.”
“Ryu Sunghyun” smiled faintly.
“If you’ve got the situation straight enough, shall we try again?”
“What?”
Before I could even ask what he meant to try, “Ryu Sunghyun” moved with me still in his arms.
Rough wind scraped through my hair. Only then did I /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ realize we were high—very high—in the air.
“Ryu Sunghyun” climbed higher, forming footholds with his skill, and the wind grew harsher. I looked down.
A thick haze of dust billowed upward. Whatever had happened down there, the heavy dust kept me from seeing anything beyond it.
'Don’t tell me—the team is down there?'
A bad premonition knifed up my spine.
I gritted my teeth and tried to wrench free of “Ryu Sunghyun”—when a pitch-black shadow cut across my vision. In the blink of an eye, Cha Sahyeon had caught up to us, beating his wings wide as he raised his sword.
His green eyes flashed cold between the strands of his wind-tossed black hair.
I could clearly trace his blade’s path—what he was aiming for.
The thing holding me wasn’t Hyung. Most likely a clone-type that had hypnotized me.
I knew that with my head. But my body moved first, driven by instinct.
“Don’t, Sahyeon!”
“......!”
A sharp shout burst from me before I knew it. Sahyeon stopped at once.
By the time I realized I’d made a mistake, it was already too late. “Ryu Sunghyun” smiled in satisfaction, rose even higher, and flicked his hand.
“That. The more I see it, the better the idea. I’ll use it too.”
The moment he finished, brilliant light gathered behind his back. As if blooming, a great pair of golden wings unfolded from “Ryu Sunghyun’s” back.
Sahyeon’s eyes tightened at the sight of “Ryu Sunghyun” copying his wings—and mine.
His green irises blazed hotter with anger and hate. He looked ready to swing immediately, but with me here, he couldn’t move recklessly.
I felt sorry for Sahyeon, but there were too many details to ignore to just have him cut this thing down.
'A mere clone copying Hyung’s skills to this extent?'
And hopping through the air on self-made footholds looked simple, but anyone who’d tried to run a skill like that knew it was anything but easy.
Especially this “light” skill of Ryu Sunghyun’s—formless by nature.
You had to consider, down to the last detail, where to manifest it, how big, how rigid. Every single parameter.
Strolling through the sky on conjured steps was never simple. And the current Ryu Sunghyun I’d met after regression could never operate it this fast.
'I have to confirm it.'
If—if he really was Hyung... then I would never let him go to a meaningless end again.
Biting my lip, I looked back at “Ryu Sunghyun.”
“Talk. Explain this—to me.”
Clutching the fabric at my waist, I spoke with hope and fear tangled together.
“What the hell are you? Am I... right about you? Or are you just—”
“Just what?”
“Ryu Sunghyun” cut me off with a chilly smile.
“Just a fake that imitates well. Is that what you’re wondering?”
“......”
“Hard to say. What do you want the answer to be, Seohu?”
He beat the wings at his back in a wide sweep and whispered with intimate gentleness, like sharing a secret.
“Let’s go with your first line: just a fake. If you say so, I’ll do whatever you want, show you whatever you want to see.”
“......”
“Or, the second: the real thing. A clone-type that got stronger by chance found me in your head, dragged me out to rattle you—and then, using too much power, got swallowed whole.”
The more he spoke, the tighter my chest grew. Thud, thud. My heart pounded hard enough to hurt.
“But the real one,” “Ryu Sunghyun” smiled, “isn’t like the fake.”
“The real one attacks—you, and the people around you.”
“What?”
I blinked, uncomprehending—just as it happened.
Dozens of massive golden spears flew up from below and punched clean through “Ryu Sunghyun’s” wings.
He staggered as holes tore through them—but only for an instant. He repaired them at once and lowered his gaze.
Following it, I looked down—and my eyes flew wide.
Through the thinning dust, the real Ryu Sunghyun—covered in blood—was forcing himself unsteadily to his feet. Beside him, other S-ranks knelt, coughing blood as they barely held on.
Blood streamed down his brow, yet he kept his eyes open. He formed more spears of light and aimed them precisely at me and “Ryu Sunghyun.”
The sight made my heart plummet. My whole body went cold.
While I’d been clinging to and obsessing over “Ryu Sunghyun,” my teammates had been suffering below. Now I understood why Sahyeon had begged me to come to my senses.
I had to go—now. I had to heal them. In my current state, I could.
Just then, the arm around my waist tightened.
“Where do you think you’re going? There’s more to see, Seohu.”
“Hyung.”
“Once you see this, you won’t be confused anymore.”
“Ryu Sunghyun” flicked his hand again.
In less than three seconds, a forest of golden spears filled the sky behind him—so many they blotted out the heavens. Hundreds of them, identical to the ones the real Ryu Sunghyun had just conjured—as if to mock that other self.
“Why—why? Hyung, wait. Why...”
It felt like hands were closing around my throat—I couldn’t breathe right.
Watching me stumble over the question, “Ryu Sunghyun” answered, gently, without a shred of hesitation:
“Because I’m the real one.”
That was the signal.
The moment the words ended, hundreds of spears fell.
At the same time, I shoved “Ryu Sunghyun” away with all my strength and hurled myself downward.