Chapter 116: Through Rings and Roots
Jin dusted his palms off on his pants as the golden shimmer of the portal flickered behind him, slowly fading. The building they’d landed in was quiet, low echoes of distant fire crackling through the blown-out windows, the skyline tinted red by the still-burning horizon. For the first time in what felt like hours, the air wasn’t choked with spores or thrumming with tension.
Just heat. Just the pulse of aftershock in his legs.
Across the room, Echo rotated his shoulder with a grunt. Joon leaned against a half-cracked beam, one of his orbs hovering near his head like a tiny sun. Seul stood near the edge of the blown-out wall, eyes locked on the direction they’d come from.
"He’s not here yet," she murmured.
Jin turned to her. "You mean Chul?"
Seul nodded, not looking away. "Yeah. Remember I laid him down on a rooftop. Two streets back. He was so tired after saving us. I didn’t want to risk pulling him through unless I had to."
"He’ll make it," Jin said quietly.
Beside him, Seo Yewon stepped forward, the black earpiece embedded at her temple catching a glint of light as she tapped it. "This is Yewon. I need a pinpoint check, rooftop, near the area you got your last set of people. Sweep high. Confirm target and pull him in clean if you see him."
A brief crackle answered back. She nodded once, then turned to Seul. "Don’t worry. He’ll be here."
Seul hesitated, then stepped back. "Thanks."
Jin exhaled, then looked to Seo. "So... it’s called Gugwe-mok."