The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low

Chapter 149

**The Reflection in the Mirror**

Drip, drip, drip... Water droplets fell from the stalactites and pooled on the ground. The puddle slowly spread until it met a red liquid, turning the once-clear water crimson. The air inside the cave was damp and carried a foul stench. Blood was oozing from the piled-up corpses of monsters in one corner.

Cha Uijae sat hunched over on a wide rock, a cigarette dangling from his lips, unlit. He listened quietly to the sounds outside. Whoosh…

"It seems to follow a cycle, doesn’t it?"

Mingi, who stood like a shadow in the farthest corner of the cave, responded.

"Yes. It appears to alternate between sudden bursts and lulls at regular intervals."

Outside the cave, white ash swirled like a blizzard, making it impossible to move freely. If it had been only Cha Uijae, he would have easily pierced through the ash and finished the investigation by now. However, thanks to Mingi’s excuse that he didn’t want his suit to get covered in ash, they both waited inside the cave. Uijae grumbled.

"How dangerous can ash really be…"

"It may not be dangerous to you, sir, but it could pose a threat to the next investigation team. We have to check for all hazards."

That shut Uijae up. He knew well the importance of a thorough investigation. Hadn’t he once compiled a monster compendium himself? After smacking his lips, Uijae glanced at the shadowy figure. Mingi was checking the time with an analog stopwatch.

Click. Mingi pressed the button and, without looking at Uijae, asked,

"How is the guild leader's condition? For the record, this is not my question. It’s from Deputy Guild Leader Baewonwoo."

"…"

Uijae propped his chin on his hand and replied indifferently.

"The same as usual."

"No changes?"

"None. He’s still sleeping, no change in his complexion either."

"Usually, these situations require a kiss filled with love to wake them up."

Uijae couldn’t believe what he had just heard. Did he understand that correctly? Had he overworked Mingi to the point of madness? Sitting upright in shock, Uijae stared at Mingi, who continued seriously.

"And for the record, that is also not my opinion. It’s from Deputy Guild Leader Baewonwoo. If you have something to say, feel free to address him directly."

"You seem perfectly fine relaying everyone else’s messages. Why not relay mine?"

"Conveying insults goes against my principles."

"It’s not an insult, so just pass it on."

"I’ll consider it."

"Tell him that if he has time to watch Disney movies, he should spend that time working harder instead."

"That’s a reasonable suggestion, and I agree with it, so I will relay it."

Uijae glared at Mingi, biting down on the cigarette.

"A kiss to wake him up?"

You think I haven’t tried that? You think I wouldn’t have tried that already?

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. Cha Uijae had once been an ordinary teenager in South Korea before the Day of Change. He had been exposed to countless stories and media where a sleeping princess wakes up with a prince’s kiss filled with love. Naturally, he had thought about it when seeing the sleeping Lee Sayoung.

It’s not like anything changed after the kiss!

Looking back, Uijae wasn’t in his right mind back then, having stayed up for days. Of course, the person not in their right mind never realizes it. Uijae had sat by Lee Sayoung’s bed, almost in a trance, leaned over, and kissed him.

Naturally, Lee Sayoung hadn’t woken up.

"Sh*t."

For the next two days, Cha Uijae didn’t enter Lee Sayoung’s room. Uijae snapped the cigarette in half, then tapped his foot on the floor in frustration. But Mingi seemed to interpret his agitation differently.

"Are you anxious?"

Anxious?

Uijae stopped tapping his foot.

"…"

Maybe.

The kiss he had given to the sleeping Sayoung, the uneasy feeling in his chest—maybe it was all because of his anxiety. How had Sayoung endured all these years? Eight years. And yet, Uijae felt restless even during this fleeting moment in comparison.

Lee Sayoung was asleep, but he was alive. Breathing, under Uijae’s watch. That was what kept Uijae going. Each time he saw him, it reassured him.

But Lee Sayoung had endured those eight years not knowing if Uijae was dead or alive. He had held on to nothing but faith, faith in the uncertain return of someone who wasn’t even sure he would make it back alive.

"…"

Uijae understood. Safety was the priority, but the anxiety in his chest couldn’t be ignored. What if something happened to Sayoung while Uijae was wasting time like this? What if another problem arose? What if something happened that Sayoung couldn’t handle?

What if he lost him again?

Crack. Uijae’s fingers clenched so tightly that they bent.

He set the broken cigarette aside and put on his mask. The black mask concealed all emotion, and the turmoil in his heart settled. His fevered thoughts cooled.

"But worrying like this won’t change anything."

Now was the time to move forward. Above all, Uijae wasn’t alone this time. He lifted his head. Mingi was still watching him with an indifferent expression, which, surprisingly, brought some comfort.

"Have you finished timing it?"

"Yes. The sample size is small, but it seems to attack for five minutes, followed by a twenty-minute rest period. We’ll need to confirm whether the ash accumulates outside."

"Sounds like a Pomodoro."

"You know about that?"

"I saw it on YouTube. So, it should stop soon…"

As Uijae started to rise, he hesitated. Mingi, who was tiptoeing out of the shadowy area to avoid the blood puddle, looked at him curiously.

"Is there a problem, sir?"

"No…"

Uijae rubbed his left wrist. Something felt missing—he hadn’t even realized he wasn’t wearing his watch. He had been so focused on the words "Erosion Dungeon" that he had immediately grabbed Mingi by the back of the neck and used Hong Yeseong’s scroll to rush to Mokpo.

"…"

He must have left the watch at Lee Sayoung’s house. Since it was a place no one could easily enter, no one would have taken it, but still…

"Now I’m getting anxious over everything…"

Uijae clicked his tongue and tapped his boot against the ground.

"We should hurry. I’ll deal with the dungeon boss, so investigate the rest of the dungeon in the meantime."

"Hmm, understood. Please provide your target."

An Erosion Dungeon was a dungeon that had been corrupted by the ruined world. This meant that parts of the dungeon were connected to that world they had once visited. In that case...

"First, the point where it connects to the West Sea Rift. And second…"

*Tracker's Eye!*

"Any traces of ‘Lee Sayoung’ left from his time spent in the ruined world."

Surely, after wandering that world for so long, traces of Lee Sayoung must still be somewhere. If Uijae could follow those traces, he might find the key to resolving Sayoung’s current situation.

"Letting it be may have been the best course, but…"

He couldn’t just sit idly by. Uijae wouldn’t allow that.

Mingi put away the stopwatch and pushed his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Understood. I’ll summon you as soon as I find something with my shadow."

The swirling ashstorm gradually subsided. J gripped a massive spear in his hand and stepped forward, facing the creeping white silence.

---

Lee Sayoung opened his eyes.

"…"

A vast ocean stretched out before him. The sea was not blue. It was a world of only black and white. Each time a black wave crashed, white foam scattered. Lee Sayoung looked up at the sky. There was no hole where there should have been. This wasn’t reality.

He began walking slowly along the line where the waves met the sand. His footprints left no marks on the soft, white beach. He walked endlessly, feeling as though every step washed away the thoughts in his head. His mind was unraveling and rebuilding.

Lee Sayoung absentmindedly thought,

"I need to go back."

Why?

"They’ll wait for me."

Who?

"Hyung will…"

Who’s your hyung?

"…"

I don’t know.

Splat.

At that moment, a wave touched his bare feet. Strangely, it wasn’t cold. It felt gentle, like skin brushing against skin. So gentle that he almost regretted the wave pulling away. Sayoung shifted his gaze toward the sea as the wave receded. In the middle of the black ocean, a massive hole had opened.

"…Ah."

Lee Sayoung’s eyes widened. That hole resembled the one left behind after the West Sea Rift disappeared. There was no mistaking it. He had watched it for eight long years. That endless sea.

Waiting for Cha Uijae.

"So, you’ve finally come here, too. With your mind intact."

An all-too-familiar voice echoed. Of course, it was familiar.

"For reasons I don’t understand…"

It was his own voice, after all.

Through the mess of his tangled black hair, a

 pair of glowing lavender eyes stared back at him. 'Lee Sayoung' stood on the other side. Both of them stood on the line between the waves and the sand.

Sayoung asked in a low, calm voice,

"Where is this?"

The other 'Lee Sayoung' tilted his head slightly, a gesture so familiar that it irritated Sayoung.

"This is where the things you've lost and forgotten come together."

The lavender eyes glanced out at the sea, focusing on the hole. As he had said, the black ocean was pouring into the hole like a waterfall.

A moment later, the other Sayoung chuckled softly.

"We should have merged into one, without even knowing the other existed…"

"…"

"But something went wrong. The fact that we’re standing here, facing each other, proves that."

"…"

"Where did it go wrong, I wonder…"

"You don’t know?"

"…"

"I know very well."

Sayoung’s voice drawled as his lips twisted into a smirk. The lavender eyes glimmered with amusement.

In the white sky, a massive clock appeared. Inside the clock were three smaller ones. Of the four dials, only one was ticking.

"The one who ruined my plans, the one who’s coming to get me…"

Sayoung laughed.

"There's only one person like that in this world."

"…"

The other Sayoung sighed deeply and closed his eyes.

"That must be it…"

As the second hand of the clock ticked busily, the ocean began to stir. Soon, a towering black wave rose high above them. A shadow loomed over the two.

"But you won’t be happy for long."

The lavender eyes disappeared behind closed lids. The black wave crashed down over them.

*Swoosh—*

The voice was swept away in the tide.

"…because it’ll be coming after you…"

---

In a dark room.

"…"

Long, closed lashes slowly lifted.