Chapter 371
A wave of shadow rising high enough to block out the sky.
The last thing Ryu Sunghyun saw before he was swallowed by the surging shadow along with the others was Kwon Taehyuk urgently grabbing Cha Seohu.
Maybe because he had already experienced injuring one of his arms when he saved Kwon Taehyuk just moments ago, the instant he realized he was being swallowed, a ghastly fear spread through him along with phantom pain.
But that only lasted for a moment.
What came to Ryu Sunghyun was not pain melting his body, but a certain scene unfolding before his eyes.
A dark sky thick with storm clouds flashing with thunder, and a field full of vivid red flowers swaying in the harsh wind.
Ryu Sunghyun recognized this place immediately.
It reminded him of the last unidentified rift. The place where he had met a man who was exactly like him, and yet unmistakably different.
But a great deal was different from that day.
The “Ryu Sunghyun” who had looked exactly like him was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there were bodies lying collapsed among the flower field.
Starting with Kwon Taehyuk and Song Jiwoon, who had been with him just moments ago, to the Circle Guild members whose faces he saw every day, to Cha Seohu’s acquaintances he’d run into now and then.
And the place closest to where he stood alone.
The very familiar person lying right in front of him.
“...Hunter Cha Seohu.”
The voice that slipped out of him unconsciously came out cracked and trembling.
Ryu Sunghyun hurriedly dropped to his knees beside Cha Seohu and bent over him. The hand he reached {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} out trembled faintly.
“Hunter Cha Seohu.”
His heart pounded violently. He swallowed dryly and called to him.
His hand grabbed Cha Seohu’s shoulder roughly, then the strength drained from it on its own. A frightened thought had hit him—that if he shook him too hard, he might somehow make things worse.
“Cha Seohu, please....”
He couldn’t tell whether this was reality or not.
The fact that this was another unidentified rift, and the fact that the enemy he had just been facing was an existence beyond common sense—those two things shook Ryu Sunghyun’s reason.
No. It can’t be. It can’t be... but what if it’s real?
After that terrifying shadow—one even his own light couldn’t pierce—had swallowed everyone, what if they had really died? What if the bodies in front of him weren’t an illusion, but real?
Forcing down the trembling in his body, he carefully pulled Cha Seohu by the shoulder.
He lifted Cha Seohu’s upper body, his eyes closed as if asleep, onto his thigh and gathered him into his arms. When he raised his head, it slumped limply and leaned against his shoulder.
The body heat touching him was cold. He couldn’t feel the warmth he normally did.
Despair slowly rose from the tips of his toes.
His lips kept murmuring that it couldn’t be true, but he couldn’t tell whether he was trying to judge rationally or simply escaping reality.
It was then, while Ryu Sunghyun sat there holding Cha Seohu in a hollow daze—
Cough. A harsh cough sounded from his arms.
“......!”
Ryu Sunghyun flinched and lowered his gaze.
Cha Seohu, lying in his arms, was coughing up blood. His complexion was pale and cold sweat covered him, but he was definitely alive.
Relief reddened the corners of Ryu Sunghyun’s eyes, and he asked hurriedly,
“Hunter Cha Seohu, are you all right?”
He had to save him no matter what. He didn’t know what had happened or how, but if he could save Cha Seohu, even if it was only Cha Seohu. If he could just live...
“Just hold on a little longer. I’ll—”
“Vice-Guildmaster.”
Cha Seohu cut him off and grabbed his arm.
The grip was so strong it was hard to believe it belonged to someone dying. Ryu Sunghyun’s eyes shook.
“Why....”
Cha Seohu opened his eyes with difficulty. In the black eyes revealed beneath his long lashes, there was pain—but also another emotion.
It was resentment. Hatred.
It was so vivid that it stabbed deep into Ryu Sunghyun’s chest.
Blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, Cha Seohu spoke haltingly.
“Why... did you give up on us....”
“.......”
“The reason we died... was because of you....”
Ryu Sunghyun’s eyes shook violently as he stared blankly at Cha Seohu.
You should have tried harder. Why didn’t you do everything you could?
The look in Cha Seohu’s eyes—blaming Ryu Sunghyun to the very end—went empty. The pale hand gripping his arm dropped limply.
“.......”
Cold sweat ran down Ryu Sunghyun’s cheek.
As he sat there speechless, staring at Cha Seohu’s corpse in his arms, someone approached from behind him. Then whispered into his ear.
“So this is as far as you get, fake.”
It was another “Ryu Sunghyun.”
Listening to that mocking voice, Ryu Sunghyun looked out at the scene spread before him. Red flowers, blooming on the blood of the corpses as their nourishment, swayed beautifully.
***
“Teacher. I’m back.”
Song Jiwoon, who had once again wandered the snow-covered mountain all day checking for any possible lost travelers, returned home.
But no answer came back.
“Teacher?”
Startled, Song Jiwoon hurried inside and checked every room, but the place was empty.
“...What?”
That didn’t make sense.
Song Jiwoon thought of the “guests” he had brought in yesterday.
The kind black-haired Supporter, and the S-rank Dealer who never left his side, as if guarding him.
And the cat that he and his teacher were raising together.
None of them were the kind of people who would leave the temple without a word. Especially not his teacher, who always stayed here and waited for him to return.
Confused, Song Jiwoon paced around the empty house, then finally headed back toward the entrance.
If they weren’t inside, then he’d have to go out and look for them. Thinking that, he opened the front door—
“Ah...!”
The moment he opened it, he collided with someone.
Thunk—a body fell, and Song Jiwoon looked down in surprise to see Cha Seohu sitting on the ground.
“Ah, damn. Are you okay?”
Even in his surprise, relief came first. So he hadn’t gone far.
If Cha Seohu was here, then the S-rank man protecting him would be nearby too, and his teacher must be close as well.
“I’m fine. I was just a little startled.”
“That’s a relief.”
Song Jiwoon held out his hand to the smiling Cha Seohu.
Cha Seohu took it without hesitation. Happy at that, Song Jiwoon smiled back and gently pulled him up.
Or tried to.
“Huh?”
A startled sound slipped out of Song Jiwoon’s mouth.
The cold that started where their hands were clasped spread quickly through Cha Seohu’s body.
Before either of them could react, Cha Seohu’s arm froze solid. Then, belatedly struck by the pain of his whole body freezing, Cha Seohu’s face twisted in shock and agony.
“Ugh, Mountain Keeper...!”
“Ah, ah? Wait, why is this—”
Song Jiwoon, gone pale, hurriedly tried to pull his hand away, but it was already too late.
Cha Seohu froze solid all over, his face still rigid with fear. The face that had been so full of life turned white with frost.
“Ah....”
Jerking his hand away in horror, Song Jiwoon staggered backward, trembling all over.
“Ah, ah....”
Even when he opened his mouth, no sound came out. He could only stare at the frozen Cha Seohu, gasping harshly for breath.
And then, Cha Seohu’s body collapsed.
Still frozen, it shattered into pieces and spilled across the ground. At that horrifying sight, Song Jiwoon stopped breathing.
“Hunter Cha Seohu!”
From far away, Ryu Sunghyun appeared.
Seeing Cha Seohu collapsed and dead, Ryu Sunghyun rushed over and dropped to his knees. Crying in despair, he glared at Song Jiwoon and shouted.
“What did you do? Why—why would you...!”
“N-no. I, no....”
Unsteady, unformed words burst out of Song Jiwoon.
That’s not what I meant to do. I didn’t want to kill him.
Song Jiwoon raised both hands. Cold began pouring out of his trembling palms again. A dreadful premonition hit him.
“I-if you come any closer....”
He couldn’t control the skill. By the time he realized that, it was already too late.
Still glaring at Song Jiwoon, Ryu Sunghyun froze solid from head to toe. And just like Cha Seohu, his whole body cracked apart and collapsed.
Beyond the corpses of Cha Seohu and Ryu Sunghyun, now dead, the cold kept spreading. The cat he had been raising, the trees, innocent civilians—everything froze and died.
A horrific power that froze everything and killed it all. The curse that had been given to him.
“...Teacher.”
Crying like a wounded animal, Song Jiwoon called for King Seohwa.
But King Seohwa did not appear. In this world, Song Jiwoon was alone.
Once everything had frozen white, pitch-black darkness came. Song Jiwoon sank down into the shadow.