Under Creature Chapter 2.3

“…….”

Seo Dohyun pondered.

Close his eyes in the middle of a battle? Test it now? The sprinklers had gone off. The first time, the second time—both times they activated, but the second time, they were faster. Why? How? Was it Yigeom’s doing?

Thousands of questions flashed through his mind in a fleeting moment. But he didn’t bother seeking answers. Analyzing everything wasn’t important right now. The most crucial thing was just one.

“Will it help in battle?”

He asked, questioning whether it was worth focusing on a second awakening in this life-or-death situation.

Yigeom chewed his lip, seemingly unsure.

He lowered his head and calculated for a moment.

The clear view from earlier. If he could just grasp that sensation, he could advise others in Dohyun’s stead, and in a situation where every second counted, he could more accurately grasp the enemy’s path and the trajectory of their attacks.

And that wasn’t all.

It would also be possible to locate those on the brink of death. Discovery would lead to rescue, and nothing was more important in battle than the strength of survivors.

There was no need to weigh the options. Awakening would help in any way. Increasing the number of survivors could even change the tide of the situation. But….

Yigeom raised a hand and rubbed his stiff neck. The hairs on his body stood on end, warning of danger. Could he… close his eyes?

Deep-set eyes, skin seemingly rotting in places, the stench of breath still lingering in his nose. His throat tightened, choking him.

“Yoon Yigeom. Will it be helpful in battle?”

At Seo Dohyun’s urging, Yigeom jerked his head up. His pupils trembled. A trickle of cold sweat ran down his cheek.

He clenched his jaw.

It wasn’t a question of could he or couldn’t he.

If two people remembered, they had to do the work of two. Lessen Seo Dohyun’s burden. Increase the chances of victory.

It was something he had to do.

Yigeom tilted his face upward and exhaled a hollow breath towards the ceiling. Then he closed his eyes. His heart pounded. It wasn’t a beat that would easily calm.

Around them, shouts erupted, urging them to go out and fight.

Was it too late?

Dohyun said, “Wait…” and then, a few minutes of silence followed. These were the empty moments he created to make room for giving instructions.

He couldn’t use up all that time.

Yigeom opened his eyes. Fuck it, just do it. What’s the big deal about dying? He’d died countless times already. This would just be one more added to the list. It’s not like he really dies anyway, right?

Unlike his still-trembling body, Yigeom’s eyes shone with unprecedented clarity. He looked directly at Dohyun.

“Yeah, it’ll help. It will.”

He waited for a reply. The answer was quite simple.

“Okay.”

“……?”

“I’ll give up on this round.”

Dohyun’s eyes reflected Yigeom’s bewildered expression. He calmly explained.

“Twice during the Hunter test, and including the previous battle, that’s six times already today.”

He could use the ability ten times a day. Only four times remained. He had to accomplish something within those remaining uses.

Dohyun pointed to the creature, which was hunched over, preparing to shoot its spines. He needed to figure out how to defeat it within those remaining uses.

“Yoon Yigeom. I’ll give you just one chance. Do it within that one chance.”

“…What if I can’t?”

At Yigeom’s question, Dohyun leaned back and smiled faintly. The time to give instructions had already passed.

This round was ruined anyway. It was good to immerse himself in battle and rack his brains, but sometimes it wasn’t bad to have a round like this to catch his breath.

And Yoon Yigeom was an irregular existence who remembered even his virtual world. He didn’t particularly think he would fail.

“Why? Are you not confident? Do you think you can’t do it?”

His head tilted slightly, forming a smile.

Yigeom, with a determined look in his eyes, nodded at him.

“I’ll try.”

Praising his good attitude, Dohyun placed a hand on Yigeom’s head and patted it lightly. He picked up Yigeom’s scarf, which had fallen on the side of the stairs.

Because it hadn’t been tied properly, it had kept falling off while climbing the stairs, and he’d only just noticed it in this round.

Ignoring Yigeom’s grumpy look that seemed to ask who he was to pat his head, Dohyun wrapped the scarf around Yigeom’s neck. He didn’t forget to tuck the ends in so they wouldn’t flap during battle. Then, he muttered with satisfaction.

“There.”

“What are you doing? It’s hot.”

He stopped Yigeom’s hand as he tried to pull it off.

“No. It’s a cushion.”

“…….”

Yigeom hesitated at Dohyun’s intervention. This level of cushioning wouldn’t even make a dent against the creature. Moreover, it was useless when his body was dulled.

Nevertheless, Yigeom couldn’t bring himself to remove the scarf.

‘…Well, it’s better than a bare neck.’

Just then, black thorns shot out from all directions, and the head of security, piercing through the thorns, lunged and plunged his sword into the creature’s neck.

Taewoong had been trying to understand the conversation between Yigeom and Dohyun, who seemed unconcerned with the battle and were whispering amongst themselves, but it was filled with words he couldn’t grasp. Lost in the flow of the conversation, Taewoong’s eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the head of security rushing towards the creature like a bee.

“KIIEEEEEEK—!”

Just then, the sound of reinforcements coming down the emergency stairs from the upper floor could be heard.

Along with the grotesque noise of the creature writhing in pain, Seo Dohyun murmured,

“Deploy.”

🦅࿐

The fight had begun.

Seo Dohyun didn’t speak to the reinforcements from the 3rd floor, nor did he give instructions to those who had come up from the basement with him. He also informed Choi Taewoong of the head of security’s death.

He simply looked at the sprinkler where Yigeom’s gaze was directed, grabbed someone, and told them to throw fire in that direction.

Water soaked his hair, and he stood beside Yigeom, who had his eyes closed.

Perhaps due to its habit of attacking the weakest in sight first, even when attacked from all sides, the creature would lunge at Yigeom whenever he entered its field of vision.

Therefore, in this round, Dohyun decided to stand by Yigeom’s side and block any potential attacks so that he could focus solely on his second awakening.

Just then, a man with blood all over his face, dragging one leg, approached them. Judging by his suit, he was one of the security guards. He shouted,

“Don’t just stand there! Attack!!!”

Seo Dohyun, chewing on his lip in concentration even amidst the chaos, checked on Yigeom and then blocked him. He quietly placed his index finger over his own lips.

The security guard let out a ragged breath and strode towards him, grabbing him by the collar.

“What are you doing! Right now… right now we! The Chief…!”

The water dripping from the ceiling washed away the blood flowing down his face. Along with it flowed a liquid that was either tears or water.

Dohyun grabbed the hand gripping his collar and pulled it down, saying,

“Don’t be noisy.”

Dohyun struck the back of the security guard’s neck. Since he was already exhausted from confronting the creature on the first floor until the reinforcements arrived, knocking him unconscious was incredibly easy.

Yigeom’s closed eyes twitched, and he quietly called Dohyun’s name to assess the suddenly quiet situation.

“Seo Dohyun?”

Suddenly, he felt a hand wiping the moisture from his cheek. Startled, he flinched back, but his hand was gripped tightly. A familiar voice reached his ears.

“Stay by my side.”

Ironically, those words brought him a sense of relief.

Yigeom focused again. But as time passed, his anxiety only grew. Even with his eyes closed, he didn’t see the same scene as before, only darkness.

Why, why wasn’t it working? How? If it was a repeating situation, he should be able to see it by now…. Unlike the first round where everything was clearly visible, he couldn’t see anything in the second or third.

What was different? What was the difference between the first time and now? Was it because he remembered what happened then? Was that why it wasn’t working?

“Focus.”

As if sensing Yigeom’s wandering thoughts, Dohyun called out to him. Yigeom’s trembling hand could be felt by Dohyun as well.

“Haa….”

He deliberately took a deep breath to focus again. The hand he held was warm. He hypnotized himself.

If you can’t see it, then at least imagine it. Aren’t you curious about what’s happening right now? Where the creature is located. What Choi Taewoong, who swallowed his grief at the death of his acquaintance, is doing now. What everyone else is doing.

If you can’t grasp it, start with what’s close.

Yigeom tightened his grip on the hand he held. He felt Dohyun’s body heat. He was positioned to his left, and judging by the way their hands were clasped, Dohyun was probably facing the same direction.

What was he wearing? A black turtleneck and black slacks, his coat removed. It would be wet from the sprinklers now.

His expression? What kind of face was he making right now? Imagine all of that. Imagine it so deeply that you can’t tell if it’s reality or not. Yes. As if, as if….

‘You must feel suffocated too, living in a dream you never know when you’ll wake from, right?’

Think of it as a dream.

Flash! Yigeom’s eyes opened.

With the water from the sprinklers scattering everywhere, all the scenes shattered like puzzle pieces, and Yigeom was confident he could piece them all together in an instant.

Since he was young, he was confident he could solve puzzles faster than anyone else. He had an enviable memory.

The position of everything and every direction, the broken edges of the frame and the other pieces that connected to them, the perspective from this side and the perspective from that side.

He understood everything and put it all together.

He saw the creature, its arm reaching out towards him. Dohyun drew a dagger. The falling water splashed against the dagger, and even Dohyun’s face, reflected in the shining blade, was clearly visible.

Along with the arm reaching towards him, the creature approaching, kicking up the water pooled in the floor, dented from the battle.

An opening. The opening and the trajectory of the attack they had been desperately searching for.

The creature lunged at him. For some reason, he didn’t feel like he was going to be hit. He saw thorns sprout from the creature’s back, which shouldn’t have been visible, and he saw its right shoulder muscle move.

Yigeom, with his eyes still closed, pulled Dohyun and ducked to the left. The creature’s arm grazed over their heads by a hair’s breadth. His head was facing the floor, yet he could see the back of the creature’s hand above him.

“Yoon Yigeom?”

“Ah….”

At Seo Dohyun’s call, Yigeom let out a short exclamation.

There were no blind spots in his vision.

The space where humans lived, commonly known as 3D. Forward and backward, left and right, up and down—they could move and see in three directions. To elaborate, they could only see in three directions.

But Yigeom was different. At this moment, he was different. From where he stood, he could see beyond. Or beyond that beyond. Even though his spatial movement was limited, he could see in multiple directions and combine those perspectives. He could even see himself from the perspective of another, becoming a third person.

Humans living in a fleeting moment, in 3D, couldn’t perceive the flow of time. Even the present eventually becomes the past. Primitive beings living in fleeting moments that simply pass by.

The present is the past? Moments just pass by? Fleeting? Yigeom was special in this regard too. With Dohyun’s ability, he could repeat, repeat, and repeat time, making simulations possible.

Schrödinger’s cat. Is the cat in the box dead? Or alive? Until the box is opened, it is both dead and alive.

Like a coin, when one side is perceived, the other side cannot be perceived, a distant concept called observation.

As long as there was water, Yigeom could see both sides.

If he transcended both time and space, what was commonly called 4D space—wouldn’t that resemble Yigeom’s current field of vision?

Yigeom suddenly became curious. It was pure greed. What would it be like if he gained one more perspective? That was the reason why, even in the midst of a tense standoff where every second counted, he opened his eyes, which he had gently closed.

At that moment, the puzzle pieces, which had become one, scattered, and the sensation that had been floating around him became distorted.

The feeling of waking from a dream. His mind quickly returned, and he saw the creature’s hand approaching before his eyes.

Beep beep beep—.

Dohyun’s alarm clock went off.

🦅࿐

“When are we deploying…?”

Ignoring Taewoong’s urging, Dohyun turned his head sharply towards Yigeom.

“Did you succeed?”

Yigeom also ignored Taewoong. Taewoong had only asked the question once, but for them, it was a tedious question repeated countless times. It was natural to feel fatigued by the question.

Yigeom answered him in a trembling voice.

“Yeah. But it disappeared when I opened my eyes.”

“I’m asking this now, but what is your ability? Is it related to water?”

“It’s just… I can see well. It’s like I have multiple eyes.”

Multiple?

Judging by the fact that he had just avoided the creature’s attack with his eyes closed, there must be something to it. Did multiple eyes mean he could see from multiple angles? He reached a conclusion close to the correct answer in a short amount of time.

He wanted to ask more about the ability, but Seo Dohyun, checking the remaining time, added,

“Can you do it again?”

Yigeom answered without hesitation. He had roughly grasped the feeling. Hold on to what you’ve grasped. Don’t forget the feeling of success.

“Yeah. I can do it.”

“Good. If the result is good, I’ll solidify this round.”

“…….”

Dohyun had only three simulations left. It was too precious to pour it all into this current battle. He had to look further into the future.

Solidify. If he liked the outcome of a battle fought in the virtual world, he would choose that option and move forward. The choice would become the past and couldn’t be reversed.

“So don’t die.”

Dohyun gave a chilling smile as he watched the creature begin to emit its thorns.

Because this time, there would be no turning back.

Based on Dohyun’s words, this current battle wouldn’t be used to improve a similar situation in the next repetition.

Reality. This moment was reality.

It meant a real-life situation. Of course, if Seo Dohyun himself or Yigeom suffered major injuries, he would retract his statement about solidifying, but at least the others… Yigeom had a feeling that Dohyun would tolerate and ignore the injuries of others to some extent.

After all, he was someone who valued efficiency more than anyone else.

Yigeom felt inwardly relieved that he had entered Latter and become Dohyun’s ally. At least he didn’t have to worry about death more than others. It was ironic. He would experience more deaths than others, but he wouldn’t die.

But because of that, he knew the fear of death better than anyone else.

Yigeom’s eyes shone brightly as he watched Dohyun giving various commands to the others.

“I’m ready.”

Finally, all preparations were complete. He was ready to be more selfish than anyone else. So that he wouldn’t die. And so that the deaths of others wouldn’t be in vain. The foundation for victory had finally been laid. Dohyun curled his lips in satisfaction at Yigeom’s determination.

“Impressive.”

Finally, at the sound of footsteps coming from upstairs, he shouted, “Deploy!”

🦅࿐

As if Seo Dohyun, who was quick to act, had given prior instructions, someone with the ability to manipulate fire activated the sprinklers.

Immediately afterward, he began to imagine.

Yigeom started by imagining very small and trivial things. The water falling on him, his body temperature dropping and his movements slowing down when wet. But for Hunters, whose physical abilities far surpassed those of ordinary people, that wouldn’t even be considered an inconvenience. Yigeom knew this well because he didn’t feel any discomfort from it.

Puddles of water on the ground, the battle sounds similar to explosions, rolling ice shards. Raindrops seeped into his eyelashes.

After a while, fragmented scenes came into view, and Yigeom pieced together the puzzle pieces around him.

He grasped everything at a glance and captured the most crucial point.

There wasn’t enough time to run.

Then…. Scattered at his feet were broken weapons. He quickly picked up whatever he could get his hands on and threw it with all his might.

“Ack…!”

With a thud, the man hit in the head by the object Yigeom threw collapsed forward. The creature’s thorns grazed past his head by a hair’s breadth.

‘…Maybe I put in too much force.’

The man flinched but showed no sign of getting up. Still, it was better to be unconscious than dead.

And next.

He spotted a person floating in the air, unable to avoid the creature’s sudden attack. He picked up another object and threw it. This time, it wasn’t a vital point, and the person in the air could see the object Yigeom threw and was able to block it.

The object, thrown faster than the creature’s attack, flew towards him, and as he raised his arm to defend himself, he was flung far away, out of the creature’s attack trajectory. However, it seemed like he misjudged his strength again, as he heard a cracking sound.

‘…It’s better to break an arm than to lose a life.’

More than anything, if his other arm was intact, he could still participate in the battle.

After that, Yigeom continued to move with graceful movements without hesitation. Humans were creatures of adaptation, and after repeating the same five minutes over and over, the trembling in his body had stopped.

Then next. Next, and the next. Perhaps a side effect of the continuous use of his ability, his eyes felt gritty as if sand had gotten into them, and sometimes they stung.

Suddenly, he felt the creature’s gaze on him. Someone near the creature who could block its movements….

“Choi Taewoong!”

Who cared about age? Lives were at stake.

As Taewoong, moving quickly, changed the attribute, the floor around the creature bulged. It was the same as what had happened in the second round. Then what would happen after that….

Those who knew the future could prepare. Whether it was an hour into the future, ten minutes, one minute, or even a single second, it was all the same.

Even a slightly faster reaction than others was a spark of hope.

Dohyun intentionally approached the same position as in the second round. With a cool grin, he picked up the weapon of a person lying on the floor.

Finally, all the annotations were complete.

As the creature reached out towards him, Dohyun grabbed its arm, plunged the knife into the back of its hand, and pressed down firmly. Since Yigeom had called out once, there was no need to call again.

As mentioned before, even though they had never coordinated their attacks, they had countless battle experiences.

The floor around Dohyun softened like water due to Taewoong’s ability, and he pressed the creature’s hand, with the knife still embedded, down towards the floor.

As the floor returned to its original, solid form, the creature’s hands and feet were pinned, unable to move.

Dohyun stepped onto the creature’s immobilized arm. Without stumbling, he stepped onto the thin and slender arm and ran along it.

Thorns had flown from the right side earlier, and back then, he hadn’t been able to react properly, resulting in a pierced palm.

But now…! He switched the sword to his left hand and lightly deflected the attack.

The next attack—realizing its arm was pinned to the floor, the creature had struck the surrounding floor with its other arm to pull it free. As a result, the arm came loose, and Dohyun lost his balance and fell. Immediately, the creature broke free from its pinned feet and lunged at Yigeom, who had his eyes closed, breaking his neck.

Having experienced this in the previous round, Dohyun jumped off the arm beforehand and stood in the creature’s path, crouching and waiting. As the creature lunged, kicking off the ground, Dohyun swung his cold blade.

‘Was it too shallow?’

The creature’s speed was fast, and due to the short length of the sword, he couldn’t plunge it in deeply.

‘I think I could do better next time.’

The five-minute alarm hadn’t gone off yet. The current situation wasn’t so bad, so he decided to observe a little longer.

Yigeom saw the creature, wounded by Dohyun’s attack, running towards him.

It had grabbed him with its right arm then. Even though the situation was slightly different from before, habits didn’t change easily. Still, confirmation was essential. Fortunately, just as before, the creature momentarily contracted its right shoulder muscle and reached out to Yigeom.

Confirming this, Yigeom, with his eyes closed, slightly turned his body to the left. Then, using the floor as an axis, he rotated half a turn and pulled the man next to him towards himself.

“Uh… uh?”

He didn’t know the man’s name, but he knew his ability like the back of his hand through repeated rounds.

Seeing the creature’s left leg muscle contract, he rolled downwards with the man and positioned themselves behind the creature. New thorns were sprouting on its back, and there were also hollowed-out parts where thorns had been dislodged.

It was an unfamiliar and strange sight.

The water seeping into the gaps between those parts gave him a hint.

Thorns that had never been dislodged before. Information that an ordinary person wouldn’t know. Yigeom had always been watching. Watching through the water. He perceived not only the front, but the front and back, left and right, up and down, all sides, just like 3D.

Without regard for what might happen to his hand, he grabbed and pulled out the black thorn embedded in the creature’s neck, the part closest to the cervical vertebrae.

Because all sides of the thorn were sharp like blades, his hand filled with blood. It felt like grabbing a knife with his bare hands. Red blood splattered. Unfazed, Yigeom simply pointed to the creature’s cervical vertebrae, where the thorn had been removed, and calmly instructed the man,

“Attack.”

It was the creature’s weak point.

Corrosion.

The man next to Yigeom had the ability of corrosion.

The back of the creature’s neck quickly rotted, but unfortunately, it wasn’t deep enough. Yigeom furrowed his brow. It needed to go in deeper….

Ah. Having noticed something behind him, Yigeom abruptly grabbed and pulled away the person attacking the creature’s cervical vertebrae.

“Move.”

Dohyun, who had arrived unexpectedly, with a short command and a single leap, mounted the creature’s back. Simultaneously, the alarm signaling the end of the five minutes rang, and the current present was chosen, became the past, and was solidified.

Without hesitation, Dohyun raised his sword towards the creature’s neck. Because the area around the neck was corroded and rotting, the sword slid in smoothly up to a certain point, like cutting through a ripe peach. But it needed to go deeper.

“KIIEEEEEEK—!!”

Seo Dohyun, perched on the creature’s shoulder, suddenly noticed the unhealed wound from when the head of security had plunged his longsword into its neck.

‘A weak point.’

Having quickly made up his mind, Seo Dohyun put more force into the sword he held.

However, the creature thrashed about in a final struggle, making it difficult for Dohyun to maintain his balance on its back. To make matters worse, it stopped all other attacks and reached back with its arm, striking at Dohyun.

‘First, step back a little….’

Since the newly started present was running as a simulation, there was no need to rush. Just as Dohyun was about to get off the creature to calmly assess the situation and try another attack—

Suddenly, Yigeom, despite the blood pooling in his hand, gripped his sword tightly. As if this was the last time. He squeezed his stinging eyes shut and charged forward.

Left, diagonal, back, right, right, left again.

It was the privilege of having a field of vision that didn’t miss anything. If he could see, he could react, and if he could react, he wouldn’t be hit.

There was no hesitation. As soon as Dohyun confirmed that Yigeom was deflecting the attacks coming towards him, he plunged his sword deeper into the creature’s cervical vertebrae. He heard a choking sound, as if its breath was being cut off. He regretted the short length of his sword, a thought he’d had since earlier.

It was then.

Seo Dohyun, still on the creature’s back, was struck by something invisible. He gracefully rolled in the air and landed softly on the ground. When he looked up, the creature was gone.

The others were just as bewildered.

“Huh…. What? Where did it go?”

“Does it have cloaking too?”

“It suddenly disappeared?”

The creature had vanished without a trace. As if the opponent they had been fighting was an illusion, it disappeared without a trace. At the same time, the entrance to the Hunter Association building, which had been blocked by a black curtain, opened.

As everyone looked around in bewilderment, Yigeom kept wondering. If it really was an attack, as Seo Dohyun had said, what was the Blood Hunter’s objective? Why attack the Hunter Association? And more than anything… was there really only one enemy?

Look for what’s different. What’s different from before. Don’t miss even the smallest clue. He deconstructed and reassembled all the puzzle pieces.

Tadadadack—!

Amidst the chaotic situation, only Yigeom moved quickly, his feet pounding the ground. He shouted forcefully,

“Seo Dohyun!!! Your left!”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Dohyun forcefully extended his arm to the left.

“……?”

Something invisible grazed past the blade he held.

Yigeom furrowed his brow. The faint sound of splashing in the puddles on the floor, the water scattering as feet landed. The shattering puzzle pieces. Even if he couldn’t see it, someone definitely existed. But….

‘…I don’t know their name.’

Something passed by the people and escaped, but because he didn’t know the names of anyone other than Dohyun and Taewoong, he couldn’t give precise instructions.

Just then, Seo Dohyun shouted,

“Chessboard! Got it!?”

Yigeom, who had been chasing after the invisible something, paused. Chessboard? Horizontally, a through h, vertically, 1 through 8. Sixty-four squares.

Because the Hunter Association building was large, even if it was divided into 64 squares, each square would be quite big. Precise location tracking would be impossible. Then all he had to do was divide it further.

“f5! b4 within that!”

Choi Taewoong made the floor in that area ripple, and the ice user quickly sealed off the building entrance. The sword Dohyun threw flew in a precise trajectory and thudded—, embedding itself in something.

Presumably someone’s leg. The blood dripping into the puddle blurred his vision. Yigeom, his closed eyes twitching, spoke again.

“f8 and d7!”

There happened to be someone nearby who understood the chessboard. He counted the squares and reached out to his right, but only grazed clothing, narrowly missing.

Then, with a loud crash—, the ice barrier blocking the entrance was easily breached, allowing the enemy to escape. It was like having something stolen right from under their noses. As everyone looked around, trying to grasp the situation after the sudden turn of events—

In that gap, Dohyun sent a quiet signal to Yigeom.

“I’ll reset.”

Dohyun, without hesitation, raised his sword toward the creature’s neck. He could see the area around the neck corroding and rotting. It was frustrating that his sword was so short.

Then… all he had to do was lengthen it. As if impervious to pain, he gripped the blade tightly with his hand and separated it from the hilt. With his blood-dripping hand, he plunged the blade into the creature’s cervical vertebrae without a moment’s hesitation.

“KIIEEEEEEK—!!”

However, the creature thrashed about in a final struggle, so Dohyun lowered his body to minimize resistance and prevent himself from falling. There was no need to look back and assess the situation. His trusted Yigeom would be blocking all incoming attacks.

If the situation had progressed this far, the creature’s whereabouts would soon become unclear.

He couldn’t let that happen. He would finish it before then.

Seo Dohyun pressed the back edge of the hilt against the blade embedded in the creature’s cervical vertebrae. A different sound erupted than before. The clear sound of a vital point being struck. The creature’s movements ceased.

With a resounding thud, the creature collapsed to the ground, and Dohyun quickly moved back. It was the spot where he had been hit earlier. That meant something had been there. He reached out and grabbed it.

It felt like a human leg. Then, an invisible blade pierced the back of his hand. But that wouldn’t deter Dohyun. This level of pain was familiar.

As if deliberately injuring himself, he pushed the blade in deeper. The blade pierced through his palm and also lodged itself in the leg of the transparent something that Dohyun held.

‘Got it!’

But that was where the failure began. Even if his mind was used to the pain, his pierced hand became numb, and his grip weakened.

The leg slipped out from between his fingers, followed by the sound of running footsteps.

Seo Dohyun expressed a subtle anger toward the person slipping away like a loach. As if annoyed, he pulled the blade out of the back of his right hand. And he stood still.

‘Seo Dohyun!!! Your left!’

First, the left. A thick frost formed in his eyes as he plunged the blade downwards.

Correct.

He wasn’t sure exactly where he stabbed, but he felt the impact. The opponent seemed to have a cloaking ability. Even the blade Dohyun plunged disappeared, becoming transparent. A chameleon-like ability.

Where next? Was it f5 and b4 again? The situation had changed quite a bit.

Yigeom was truly dependable in battle. Once he experienced something, he never hesitated the second time.

“c6 and a1.”

Yigeom calmly announced the location.

“c8 and f6.”

“Block the entrance!”

At Dohyun’s shout, the ice user firmly sealed the building entrance, and the sword Dohyun picked up and threw flew in a precise trajectory, thudding—and embedding itself.

“g8 and c4.”

Despite the injury to its leg, it ran around like a rat.

Yigeom, his eyes still closed, spoke again. There was no need to mention the chessboard.

“In front of the entrance!”

Simultaneously, a loud crashing sound echoed as the ice barrier blocking the entrance was easily breached, allowing the enemy to escape.

Dohyun exhaled and caught his breath. He remembered the situation just now, and if he moved exactly the same way again, the enemy’s escape route would be the same.

Two resets remaining. He was breathing harder than usual due to the frequent use of his ability, but it wasn’t impossible.

“Gyeom-ah, again….”

He was about to reset again, but stopped when he saw Yoon Yigeom open his eyes. Yigeom pressed the back of his hand against his stinging eyes.

“Yeah, reset.”

“…Yoon Yigeom.”

Dohyun reached out, pulled Yigeom’s face closer, and checked his eyes. All the blood vessels in his eyes had burst, turning the whites of his eyes almost red. Even with Dohyun right in front of him, Yigeom’s black pupils trembled, unable to focus.

“Your eyes.”

Yigeom pushed Dohyun’s chest, looking uncomfortable.

“They’ll go back to normal after the reset. I’ll brief you better next time….”

“Let’s stop.”

“…What?”

“Let’s stop.”

Dohyun covered Yigeom’s eyes with his large hand.

“Don’t look anymore.”

“What are you talking about? We almost had them! Next time, for sure…!”

“It’s okay. Don’t look anymore. You don’t have to.”

It wasn’t an easy decision for Dohyun either. It was like letting a fish he’d almost caught slip away. Despite having a few reset chances left, he made up his mind.

It was the first decision of its kind. He would never have done it if he were alone.

If Yigeom were someone else, not Latter, he would have caught the enemy even if it meant Yigeom going blind. Dohyun might be missing a huge opportunity.

But there was something more important than that.

He leaned his forehead against Yigeom’s shoulder as Yigeom tried to use his ability again. Taking a languid breath, he spoke softly,

“Gyeom-ah.”

Perhaps he saw a reflection of his past self in Yigeom. Striving for perfection through repetition, and achieving it. The emptiness that followed.

“Shall we rest now?”

It was a kind of comfort, something he hadn’t been able to give his younger self.

The unprecedented attack on the Hunter Association ended just like that.

🦅࿐

Haa….

Yigeom leaned against a wall and slumped down wherever he could. He didn’t have the strength to stand any longer.

Perhaps there were guidelines for Hunters, because even though there were many casualties, no one called 119 or 112 (Korean emergency numbers).

Yigeom checked the corpse of the mutant creature lying to one side. Dohyun had finished it off. But they had ultimately let the other one escape.

It was a bitter battle and an unsettling victory.

After the battle, some people covered themselves with white sheets, while others received healing from Healers.

Yigeom and Dohyun also received simple treatment from a Healer. The cuts on his hand from the thorns healed remarkably. They were wounds that would have required stitches at a hospital, but after a few minutes of the Healer’s energy infusion, they disappeared without a trace. Dohyun, however, was diagnosed with a hand injury that required a few days of observation, as it had been completely pierced through.

Due to the aftereffects of his ability, Yigeom’s eyes stung, so he kept them closed. With his vision gone, all his senses focused on his hearing.

Now that the battle was over, people seemed to be loosening up, and those who had been frozen in fear were now busy bragging about their skills. Just then, he heard the whispers of other Hunters from afar.

“Hey, that Latter newbie… Didn’t they say he just had his first awakening?”

“Yeah. I heard he took the Hunter test today. Did he have a second awakening during the fight? But what’s his ability? He had his eyes closed… Clairvoyance? Something like that?”

“Why are even the newbies from Latter so good at fighting…?”

“I know, right? But his personality is a bit…, I got hit by something he threw and fell.”

“You would have died to the creature if you hadn’t fallen.”

“No… I know that, but couldn’t he have just told me?”

Technically, from their perspective, as soon as the battle began, Yigeom activated his ability, rescued those in danger with graceful movements, helped Dohyun block the creature’s attacks at the end, and even pursued the enemy, presumed to have cloaking abilities, to the very end.

At the words “monster newbie,” a hollow smile formed on Yigeom’s lips. Good at fighting, even as a newbie? Let them experience the same situation multiple times. They would inevitably become the same.

After receiving treatment and getting his hand bandaged, Dohyun had a brief conversation with Taewoong. Then he approached Yigeom and asked playfully,

“How does it feel to have survived?”

“Are you joking right now? We survived, but someone else died….”

As Yigeom, ignoring the stinging sensation, slightly opened his eyes, Dohyun’s large hand immediately covered his face as if telling him to close them. Yigeom, ticklish from the touch, grumbled without reason.

Ignoring him, Dohyun took Yigeom’s arm, helped him up, and draped his coat around him. As Yigeom leaned against the wall with his eyes closed, Dohyun buttoned his coat like a mother bird caring for her chick.

Soaked, torn, and stained with blood from the battle, Yigeom’s clothes were in tatters.

On the other hand, Dohyun’s clothes, made from some special creature byproduct or something, were pristine, without a single trace of the battle. Yigeom thought that if he were to continue fighting like this, clothes like Seo Dohyun’s were a necessity.

“How much do clothes like those cost?”

“This? Want me to buy you one?”

“Sure, why not.”

There was no reason to refuse a free offer. Seo Dohyun added,

“Let’s go buy one together next time.”

Yigeom, frustrated by his inability to see, carefully opened his eyes again and stared at Dohyun. His lips were curved into a slightly wider smile than usual.

“Whatever.”

Exhausted, Yigeom nodded obediently. Though his body had only fought for a little over 10 minutes, the mental fatigue was immense. He fought to keep his heavy eyelids open and looked down.

Suddenly, Seo Dohyun’s face filled his vision.

“I told you to close your eyes.”

Yigeom pushed Dohyun’s face away, muttering for him to get off, and pressed his own eyes shut.

“It’s frustrating not being able to see.”

Dohyun smiled brightly.

“Don’t worry. I’m here.”

“Haah, what does you being here have to do with anything?”

“I’ll guide you. If there are stairs, I’ll tell you. If there are people, I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you everything.”

At that, Yigeom closed his eyes, resigned to the situation. Dohyun meticulously buttoned his coat all the way up and helped Yigeom up.

“Are you leaving?”

After personally covering the head of the security team with a white cloth, Taewoong, unable to hide his reddened eyes, called out to them.

“The Association President will be here soon… I’ve also sent a message to A. They said they’re coming.”

“Then we have to leave all the more.”

Choi Taewoong’s mouth twitched at Seo Dohyun’s sarcastic remark. The Blood Hunter attack, Seo Dohyun, the vigilante group, and the vigilante leader, A.

“Do you have any clues about this incident?”

Dohyun abruptly turned his back and started walking, supporting Yigeom. Taewoong shouted at Dohyun’s back.

“If you have any clues! Please contact us. Even the smallest detail will be helpful.”

Dohyun stopped at Choi Taewoong’s persistent cry. Yigeom, who had been pressing his eyes with the back of his hand, opened his eyes blearily and looked at him. He seemed no different than usual, but for some reason, his expression felt particularly cold. He muttered quietly.

“It’s been a while since I’ve washed my hands of that.”

“…Why aren’t you taking me home?”

The place Dohyun’s car arrived at was Latter’s office. Yigeom, who had naturally assumed he would be taken to his own apartment, rubbed his eyes, stiff from sleeping the whole way. Of course, after a nap, the stinging pain in his eyes had subsided.

Dohyun smiled at Yigeom.

“It would be scary to be alone on a day like this.”

“…I want to wash up and go straight to sleep.”

“There’s a bed here. And a shower, albeit a makeshift one.”

“…….”

“I’m scared. So let’s stay together.”

Yigeom reluctantly went inside at Seo Dohyun’s coaxing, as he pulled on his shoulder, leading him into the office. He continued to grumble.

“I want to wash up.”

“Yes, wash up.”

“I don’t have a towel.”

“There’s one here.”

“I don’t have any clothes.”

“I’ll give you mine.”

…What about underwear? He decided not to ask.

Fortunately, when he came out of the shower, Seo Dohyun had apparently gone to a nearby convenience store and bought him underwear, as a towel, clothes, and a set of underwear, still with the tags on, were laid out in front of him.

Yigeom, dressed, came out drying his hair with a towel. Dohyun, who was looking over the areas designated as CA Areas for this month, spoke.

“You must be tired. Get some sleep.”

Yigeom went to Doa’s bed, which had a cute character blanket, and lay down. Dohyun quietly watched her for a moment before adding,

“Aren’t you going to dry your hair?”

“I’m tired. Sleeping comes first.”

It’ll be dry when I wake up. Muttering so, Yigeom gently closed his eyes.

How many times did I die today? Technically, twice. Nevertheless, the fear of death felt bitterly close. It felt like his head was going to explode from repeating the same situation over and over. Does Seo Dohyun feel like this every time he fights? More importantly, doesn’t he sleep? Even after fighting like that?

Then, thud, thud. He heard the sound of someone walking towards him. At the rough hand that shook him awake, he reluctantly sat up and opened his eyes blearily.

“Why… I’m tired.”

“I’ll dry your hair. Doa will get mad if you sleep with wet hair. That’s Doa’s pillow.”

“…Aren’t you sleeping?”

“Do you want me to sleep?”

“No. The bed is small.”

He doesn’t think I’ll sleep on the sofa, huh? He replied with a laugh and found the hairdryer, plugged it in, and began to dry Yigeom’s hair. Yigeom lowered his head and closed his eyes, enjoying the warm air.

It had been an eventful day, going to take a test and accidentally getting caught up in an incident. In the midst of all that, he had even undergone his second awakening. It had been a truly spectacular day.

As if he knew, Dohyun said playfully,

“Our Gyeom caught a boss monster.”

“I didn’t catch it. You caught one and the other ran away.”

“You killed one though.”

“Still feels unsettling.”

As they talked, Dohyun looked at Yigeom’s nodding head from drowsiness and the white nape of his neck revealed between his hair and the collar of his shirt. Yigeom, who would normally flinch or growl at the slightest touch, was now comfortably entrusting his wet hair to him.

It felt like a cat that always arched its back and hissed whenever it saw him was finally, if not purring, at least relaxing in his presence.

Suddenly, Dohyun’s gaze shifted, landing on the Latter ring on Yigeom’s finger. He pretended to dislike it, but it was both cute and amusing that he consistently wore it without taking it off.

The minimal sound of the hairdryer filled the air, and black hair fluttered, revealing a cute ear peeking out.

“Gyeom-ah.”

The sound of the glass door rattling, the steam rising from the hot shower, the electric blanket warming the bed, and the blanket pulled up to his neck like a salon cape.

Once Yigeom’s hair was mostly dry, Dohyun turned off the hairdryer, leaned his head against the wall, and fiddled with Yigeom’s ear, specifically rubbing the same spot where he had his own piercing.

Breaking the silence, his voice resonated softly like a lullaby. He himself didn’t know exactly why he said it.

“It would look nice if you got a piercing here.”

He just felt like saying it.