Chapter 168 : Avengers
Chapter 168: Avengers
Perhaps it was because the other side had proposed to meet first.
Baek Woohyun and Kim Youngjun’s wait wasn’t particularly long. Contact came again around the time they had finished tidying up.
Upon receiving the message from ‘Captain’ that he had reached the ground floor of the building, they stopped rummaging through the research facility—which was small in scale with few items—and headed outside.
“You’ve come up.”
“···!”
And thus, finally.
Baek Woohyun was able to face ‘Captain’ for the first time in ‘Reverse Planet.’
“So you’re the newcomer who just joined?”
‘Captain’ looked exactly the same as ‘that side,’ just as Kim Youngjun and the others had.
The burn scar covering half his face from the research facility’s experiments, pupils emitting a transparent blue light, and hair neatly slicked back—all of it matched.
Even the pure white suit he always wore was identical, causing Baek Woohyun’s lips to twist slightly as he suppressed the surging killing intent.
‘Not yet··· not yet.’
Killing the opponent could be done anytime. It was possible right now if he just made up his mind.
If he launched a surprise attack with all the power of a ‘Superhuman,’ even ‘Captain’ would have no choice but to be caught defenseless at least once.
So there was no need to rush. Slowly, he could verify whether his thoughts were correct before deciding to kill. He relaxed his strength with this reasoning.
“···?”
‘Captain,’ who had been face-to-face with him right in front, couldn’t have failed to notice the change in Baek Woohyun’s expression. He tilted his head slightly, looking somewhat puzzled.
He thought he’d felt intense killing intent from the newcomer for a brief moment, but it had disappeared before he could even respond.
It seemed as though the man had mistaken the person he suddenly encountered as an enemy, released such emotion, then withdrew it.
“······.”
“······.”
A chilling silence flowed between Baek Woohyun and ‘Captain’ as they stared at each other. Along with a precarious tension that seemed ready to explode at any moment.
It was a natural situation—one side had unilaterally revealed killing intent, and the target was someone who always lived under the threat of death.
The fortunate thing was that there was one other person present besides the two of them.
“That’s right, Captain. This is our newcomer.”
Kim Youngjun interjected between Baek Woohyun and ‘Captain.’ His tone suggested he was completely oblivious to the cold atmosphere they were creating.
Of course, there was no way he truly knew nothing. He was a scout whose duty was to sensitively observe enemy signs and extract information.
He was simply acting this way because he judged it better to pretend ignorance for now.
“Pleased to meet you, newcomer. I’m Jeong Beomu. I’m called Captain within the organization.”
‘Captain’ Jeong Beomu naturally went along with Kim Youngjun’s intervention and introduced himself.
He too had no intention of prolonging a meaningless confrontation with a newcomer who had just joined the organization.
The fact that receiving killing intent a few times was hardly significant when leading an organization composed entirely of test subjects also played a part.
At worst, it didn’t end with just killing intent—there were times when he was actually attacked.
“···I’m Lee Jun.”
After a brief silence, Baek Woohyun spoke the name ‘Lee Jun.’ It was an alias he had frequently used whenever he needed to disguise himself from ‘that side.’
From now on, he would proceed through ‘Reverse Planet’ with two identities: ‘Baek Woohyun,’ an agent of the Otherworld Management Bureau, and ‘Lee Jun,’ a test subject out for revenge.
“Oh! Come to think of it, I haven’t introduced myself either. I’m Kim Youngjun! Nice to meet you!”
Additionally, Kim Youngjun slipped in with his own introduction. It was truly a belated exchange of names—so much so that an “Only now?” reaction wouldn’t have been strange.
Baek Woohyun had already known his name and unconsciously let it pass, but if he hadn’t known, he would have found it absurd.
It meant they had raided the research facility together without even properly greeting each other.
“You bastard, don’t tell me you just went off to raid the research facility with the newcomer without even introducing yourself?”
“Ahahat!”
Watching Kim Youngjun laugh it off, Jeong Beomu held his forehead and sighed.
All the mystique created by external features—like the transparent blue glow in his eyes or the spotless white suit—vanished with that one action.
Stripping away the seemingly distinguished atmosphere, what remained was just a superior hassled by his unruly subordinates.
According to what Baek Woohyun had observed from ‘that side,’ his actual image wasn’t much different from this.
“That’s possible, Captain.”
Kim Youngjun shrugged.
“Rather than bothering with greetings and being cautious, just fighting together once is a better way to get to know each other.”
“Hmm.”
“You know, what was it. There’s even a saying that seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times, right? Maybe that’s not the right saying to use here? Anyway. The newcomer and I are already comrades who’ve shared life and death.”
“Right?” Kim Youngjun asked, but Baek Woohyun couldn’t return an answer. He simply bit his lips invisibly, restraining the emotions that seemed ready to overflow.
Kim Youngjun probably spoke with exaggeration without much thought, but the expression “comrades who’ve shared life and death” struck precisely deep into Baek Woohyun’s heart.
He didn’t have a callous enough personality to remain calm after hearing such words from a friend who had truly saved each other’s lives at the boundary between life and death.
“You only fought together once?”
“Once is enough!”
“···Alright. What more can I say. If you say so, Youngjun, then I suppose that’s how it is.”
“That’s the Captain I know! I believed in you!”
“Shut up, you bastard.”
Jeong Beomu let out a deep sigh and looked at Baek Woohyun with a much more relaxed expression.
Even though he had clearly seen Baek Woohyun display killing intent upon their first meeting, he seemed to trust Kim Youngjun’s assessment more.
While not quite at the level of completely opening his heart, it was enough to easily overlook minor mistakes.
“I don’t know what kind of suffering you went through, newcomer.”
Jeong Beomu continued, abandoning even the pretentiously crafted tone he had adopted to match the mysterious persona of ‘Captain.’
“You probably went through terrible pain. That’s why you set out for revenge.”
“······.”
“We’re the same. Everyone belonging to the organization is like that. Youngjun over there, and me too.”
As Baek Woohyun and Kim Youngjun remained silent, only Jeong Beomu’s voice resonated. It carried a persuasiveness that compelled one to listen as if entranced.
Surely it was because the burn scar on his face clearly remained, proving more solidly than anything else that he had suffered the same pain.
The deep scars covering half his face and the entire area around his eyes obviously accompanied no small amount of agony.
“So let’s work together.”
Jeong Beomu extended his hand to Baek Woohyun.
“The research facility can’t be destroyed by one person. Because it’s very large and strong. But we can do it. We who’ve united for revenge, who share the same pain.”
“······.”
Baek Woohyun stared at the hand extended to him with wavering eyes. He realized that the worst-case scenario he had envisioned before coming here had occurred.
Horrifyingly, ‘Captain’ Jeong Beomu of ‘Reverse Planet’ was still the ‘Captain’ from the time before he had even considered betrayal.
The ‘Captain’ who had perfectly proven his abilities while fighting the research facility with all his might, who was outstanding enough in character to receive the trust of all organization members.
Before him stood Jeong Beomu, whom even Baek Woohyun—who had kept his guard up against everyone except those who escaped the research facility with him—couldn’t help but admire and follow.
‘I have to··· kill him.’
He could still vividly see those who died from Jeong Beomu’s betrayal. Because they existed even in the shadows cast inside this building right now.
Thinking of them, who suffered in the research facility and then were betrayed and killed by the ‘Captain’ they trusted, he had to kill Jeong Beomu right in front of him.
Anyone who knew of Jeong Beomu’s betrayal from ‘that side’ and the resulting destruction of the organization couldn’t call his actions unjust.
Suddenly shouting “This guy betrays us and our organization gets destroyed!” about someone who was leading the organization well would be nothing but the ravings of a madman.
Moreover, Baek Woohyun wouldn’t even speak about ‘that side,’ so from the organization’s perspective, his actions would simply be a bolt from the blue.
‘Damn it.’
Some might say this: Events from ‘that side’ are just events from ‘that side,’ so isn’t it strange to drag them here?
But if Baek Woohyun had been cold-hearted enough to make such clean distinctions, he wouldn’t have come this far in the first place.
He would have buried ‘that side’ in a corner of his heart as merely past events, spent peaceful days while completely ignoring ‘Reverse Planet.’
The moment he couldn’t do that, he was already too late. For him, only the path of suffering from the differences between ‘that side’ and ‘Reverse Planet’ remained.
“······.”
“Oh dear.”
As Baek Woohyun’s silence lengthened, Jeong Beomu, who had extended his hand, smiled bitterly.
However, even though it had become an awkward situation, he didn’t withdraw his hand. To persuade someone who would become a comrade, he could endure this much.
Moreover, if Kim Youngjun’s assessment sent during the research facility raid was true, Baek Woohyun was a talent he absolutely couldn’t let go.
“Maybe I should have persuaded you with that distinguished tone.”
“I think that would’ve been better too, Captain.”
“You bastard, whose fault is it that the atmosphere got ruined, and you’re saying that now?”
“Uh···. Mine?”
Watching Kim Youngjun and Jeong Beomu bicker among themselves, Baek Woohyun’s expression darkened. Because a scene from the past overlapped with it.
There was the scenery from before everything became distorted, when everyone was together—a scene he thought could never be reclaimed.
Even the image of his naive self being teased or teasing alongside them.
‘─!’
It was precisely that moment when a lightning-like realization flashed through Baek Woohyun’s mind.
‘If it’s still this point in time··· it’s possible.’
The current timeline of ‘Reverse Planet’ was not long after Baek Woohyun and his comrades escaped from the research facility.
Although many things had changed—his comrades had disappeared and he had become an agent of the Otherworld Management Bureau—it was still the past of the same world.
Then changing the future should also be possible. In fact, hadn’t he already changed many things up to now?
‘I just need to prevent Captain’s betrayal from happening.’
If the problem was Jeong Beomu’s future betrayal, then he just needed to prevent the betrayal from happening in the first place.
Baek Woohyun’s ash-gray pupils blazed with strong determination.
He firmly grasped Jeong Beomu’s hand that was still extended toward him.
‘I’ll change everything. Into a better future.’
“Let’s work together.”
“Oh···!”
“Excellent!”
After that, things truly proceeded smoothly.
The smartphone received from Manmulsang was loaded with organization members’ contacts, and discussions about the welcoming party to be held soon were concluded.
For Baek Woohyun, it was a process he had gone through once before, plus Kim Youngjun and Jeong Beomu, who had brought numerous comrades into the organization, were exceptionally skilled.
“Welcome.”
At the end of the swiftly proceeded organization initiation, Jeong Beomu and Kim Youngjun grinned at Baek Woohyun.
“To the Avengers.”
‘The name is still···.’
Having become a member of the Avengers—the organization created by gathered test subjects—once again, Baek Woohyun shook his head.
Still, perhaps because he had been so deeply impressed by Cha Seongcheol’s naming sense since returning here, he thought it was better than when he first heard it on ‘that side.’