Chapter 782: Waves and Waves (2)
The signs lit up.
Bright light spilled from shop windows and row after row of glass panes. It was a city where only the faint outlines of dreaming people drifted around like ghosts, but the brilliant nightscape was indistinguishable from the real thing. Music floated in from somewhere. A white, clothlike being of another species swayed and danced along to the tune.
– This fish food is quite good.
A long fingernail stabbed into a fish-shaped pastry from a street stall and lifted it up. The dreaming person, unable to see the dependent, skillfully poured batter into the mold. Drawn in by the delicious smell, another dependent crept closer. Out on the wide-open road, a humanoid dependent was tugging an abandoned motorcycle this way and that.
“I think you put a key in here to start it.”
– We had something similar back in my homeland.
“Wheels are used in most civilizations, after all.”
– How long has it been since I’ve seen a world that feels this real?
The dependents were Awakened Ones brought by transcendents from all sorts of worlds. People usually said that when a world had become too difficult to save from destruction, transcendents made contracts with those who had talents too valuable to let the source swallow them, then pulled them out.
The reality was a little different.
Very few dependents were truly useful. Unless they possessed a special skill valuable enough even to a transcendent, it was difficult for them to become anything more than servants. For transcendents who had left their own worlds behind, they were something like substitute kin, meant to ease their loneliness.
For most of them, that was all the meaning they had.
– The place I live in is far too small. One little village, a forest, and a river. That’s everything.
“Dungeons have all traces of civilization erased, so even when you go in, it just feels empty.”
“Worlds whose protection has collapsed enough for us to enter aren’t much different from dungeons.”
Most dependents spent their everyday lives assisting the transcendents who owned them or training themselves. Then, once in a while, they were sent into worlds so close to destruction that their power to reject outsiders had weakened, where they fought hostile forces.
To them, this dream world was a thrill they had not tasted in a very long time. The entire world was like one enormous amusement park.
– I heard those on the level of system creators can turn past worlds into dungeons so realistic they may as well be real.
“I should’ve signed based on the transcendent’s abilities. Back when I signed my dependent contract, I was just a clueless little sprout.”
“You talk as though you ever had a choice.”
– Kiririk, kiik.
– Still, at least they’re not the kind of transcendent who can’t even build a proper domain of their own. That’s no different from being thrown into prison with your life barely intact.
“They say the Gardener’s garden is bigger than most nations.”
Fitting for one of the very old transcendents. Even so, no one had ever heard of the Gardener keeping dependents. Not until the unfamiliar one who had suddenly appeared.
Then, with a flutter of wings, a dragonkin with black wings flew up onto a streetlight. His gaze turned downward. The other dependents also turned their heads in the same direction. In the sudden silence that fell over them, soundless footsteps advanced. With each step, the blue feather ornament swayed faintly.
One of the eyes fixed on Han Yuhyun narrowed.
A human who belonged to this world. Yet also a being nearly identical to the Gardener’s dependent.
A few butterflies fluttered around Han Yuhyun. The light from a shop window washed over him, stretching his shadow long across the ground.
Grurrr. Someone let out a low sound from deep in their throat. As the dependents also began to fall under the system’s influence, their skills were returning one by one. The weakest among them were S-rank. Most were SS-rank or higher. Their stats, too, were either close to SS-rank or already met that standard.
Compared to them, that thing was still only S-rank.
Even so, none of them approached Han Yuhyun lightly. It was not only because of the Gardener’s dependent, whose status every dependent here had acknowledged. That thing was dangerous too. Some instinctive certainty pricked at their skin. There was no need to reach out and burn themselves for no reason.
[Message from Han Yujin]
Letters blinked in the corner of Han Yuhyun’s vision. It was a message blocked before it could be delivered. Even after learning the messages were not getting through, Han Yujin still sent them every now and then. Han Yuhyun could not read the contents, but he could guess. This one was probably.
‘…Dinner.’
Words full of worry, telling him to make sure he ate. Even though Han Yuhyun had left him and was trying to stand in his way, Han Yujin remained unchanged. If it grew any later, he would certainly send a message telling him to sleep well too.
Han Yuhyun kept walking. Light fell over him in patches, vanished, then fell over him again. Then, suddenly, he stopped.
He was in front of a shop that had set tables and chairs outside. Han Yuhyun sat down. Iryn scurried out, climbed onto the table, and smacked his tail against it.
Rustle. A convenience meal was taken from his inventory. He had no desire to eat anything. The one moving Han Yuhyun was Han Yujin. He broke off a piece of the bar-shaped meal and put it in his mouth. Seeing that, Iryn startled and leapt onto Han Yuhyun’s hand.
Then, with a soft thud, a bottle of water was placed on the table.
Han Yuhyun slowly lifted his head. A face nearly identical to his own entered his sight.
“…”
“You have to look after hyung,” Han Yuhyun said.
One living person was necessary. And that person had to remain unharmed. For Han Yujin.
“Go farther away. Somewhere near City Hall or Gwanghwamun.”
Two cold gazes, nearly devoid of emotion, met. Han Yuhyun was telling Han Yuhyun to step back. Han Yuhyun did not answer. But he understood. Without waiting for a response, Han Yuhyun turned around. Soon, he disappeared from sight. The red lizard circled over a white hand.
‘What I have to do is.’
Take hyung home safely.
There was no need to think about anything beyond that.
And yet a faint unease lingered in Han Yuhyun’s eyes. His gaze moved toward the water bottle. The bottle was full, the still water quietly holding the glow of the streetlight.
He had a clear goal, but he felt as though he had lost his way.
A black butterfly settled on top of the water bottle. Its delicate wings folded and unfolded again and again.
[Your place is disappearing.]
The butterfly whispered.
[You’ve been pushed out of the position of protecting your precious person.]
The tips of the fingers resting on the table twitched. Iryn, holding flame in his mouth, bit down on the butterfly’s wing. The black butterfly shattered and scattered, then fluttered up again.
[Even if you die and vanish, you’ll remain in his heart. As his eternal first.]
Because that was what people were like.
Han Yuhyun closed his eyes.
Light sparkled both above and below the water’s surface. Even though the city was submerged, the electricity had not gone out, and every building was lit. The nightscape swaying together with the water was beautiful beyond words.
At the same time, it made something bitter rise in my chest.
“Aren’t all of those people working overtime?”
I could let it slide for the residential areas, sure, but that commercial district over there was lit up like it was broad daylight too. The dream world was based on reality. In other words, even in the real world, those lights were probably still burning bright.
“Sesung Guild is lit up too.”
“Dungeons do not distinguish between day and night. Any large guild operates twenty-four hours a day.”
So said the Sesung guild leader, dressed in nothing but a thin shirt as if he did not feel the cold at all. Haeyeon worked in shifts too, of course. In truth, part of it was probably that civilians grew anxious when the lights went out in large guild buildings. They could only feel at ease when they thought, There are plenty of high-ranking Hunters awake and on duty.
“Chief Song, go inside and sleep.”
Chief Song, who had been sitting at a table checking his equipment, shook his head briefly.
“I’m fine. You should sleep, Han Yujin. There’s no need for you to be out here.”
“Just because you’re S-rank doesn’t mean you should be staying up all night. I already got a little nap.”
Yerim was young, and she had to use the most strength out of all of us, so I had told her to sleep properly without taking a watch shift.
“I doubt I could sleep.”
“Do you have something on your mind?”
I perched on the table where his equipment was laid out and stared straight at Chief Song. His lowered black eyes quietly avoided mine.
“We’ll probably have to clash with the Gardener eventually. I have to get Yuhyun back too.”
“…I don’t know.”
Chief Song spoke as though he were sighing.
“Even if I hear the details about myself from the Gardener, what good would it do?”
“Hmm. Maybe it’s just… a journey where you find what you want, Chief Song.”
“I want Hunter Seong Hyunjae to be safe.”
“Should I be making a deeply moved expression?”
Chief Song ignored Seong Hyunjae’s remark.
“And I want him not to cause any problems.”
“Right. Seong Hyunjae really does need to behave himself.”
“I also want Hunter Han Yujin to be safe and not cause any problems.”
I was not flustered. I had seen that coming.
“Don’t worry. Once this is over, I really do intend to live quietly. I’ll live so quietly that Yuhyun will have to come to me and say, Hyung, it’s been a while, why don’t we go to a dungeon?”
Chief Song did not believe me. But I meant it. I liked playing around too. I could have a perfectly good time doing that for the rest of my life.
“The same goes for the others. …That is all.”
Chief Song pressed his lips tightly together. It seemed as though there was something deeper on his mind, but he would not tell me. It was not something I could pry into either, so I just stretched for no real reason.
“By the time morning comes, most of the dependents will have gotten their skills back. Originally, we were going to fight while protecting Sigma, but now that’s no longer necessary.”
Hyunah would take care of Sigma.
“And there’s no need to worry even if Seong Hyunjae dies.”
“How cold. Why not worry about me the way you do for Chief Song Taewon?”
“Ask for something reasonable.”
“Young master Han Yujin seems especially weak to Chief Song Taewon.”
“Well, of course I am. For one thing, how do I put this? He’s kind of like the teacher looking after the troublemaking kids I dropped off at school…”
Yerim did not cause as many accidents, but when I thought of Yuhyun, I could not lift my head in front of Chief Song. Chief Song had probably played a major role in helping Haeyeon establish itself safely too. Thanks to the presence of a government-affiliated S-rank, Yuhyun, who had lacked a solid foundation, could go into dungeons without worrying and build up results.
And then my kid apparently caused a few… well, a lot of accidents. How could I not become weak in front of him? Oh, sir, you’ve suffered so much because of our children — my head had no choice but to lower on its own.
“I’ve also caused a few incidents myself. But Seong Hyunjae, you’re really not in a position to talk either. How many stickers from Soyeong did you say you had again?”
“Fortunately, Soyeong has never cut off someone else’s arm. Nor has she ever trampled another guild without permission.”
Chief Song looked at Seong Hyunjae with an expression that suggested he had a great deal to say, then only let out a sigh. As if that man had not caused three times as many incidents as Yuhyun.
“Anyway, Yuhyun is going to try to capture me again. To the other dependents, he’ll probably say the target is the pseudo-source.”
I looked out at the water glittering with lights.
“There probably aren’t many dependents who can manipulate water, and it would be best to hold out here, but.”
“We can’t use our skills in that water either.”
Only those with the same attribute, or someone acknowledged by the Mermaid Queen like Yerim, could move freely in water that swallowed even skills. Even with my support, it was a little much to dump all of that onto Yerim.
“Rookie still hasn’t contacted us… Hayul.”
[Yes, hyung!]
“No new information, right?”
[I don’t think so. The weather’s clear, so I can’t even send down lightning. But Breaker’s guild leader did make contact!]
“Hyunah? About what?”
[She said I had to keep it secret. What should I do? Wouldn’t it be okay to tell you, hyung?]
I thought it over for a moment, then answered.
“Then don’t tell me. For now, we should keep what needs to be kept.”
If I learned it, there was a chance the information might make its way to Yuhyun as well, and behind Yuhyun was the Gardener. It was not that I had a particularly loose tongue, but my opponent was Yuhyun.
“For now, let’s focus only on defeating the dependents.”
Once their hands and feet were cut off, the transcendents would make a new move. The Gardener, too, would probably contact us directly. I stared at the message window that still could not reach Yuhyun. Would both of them come together?
The night passed quietly.
The moon pushed the sun back, so the sun never appeared, but the day still grew bright. White clouds drifted slowly across the vivid blue sky and over the water. It really was a beautiful day, but.
“It would’ve been better if it rained.”
I said it as I set down slices of bread toasted in the employee lounge toaster. Not only for Yerim, but because Hayul could have helped by striking with lightning, and it would have made Yuhyun’s skills harder to use too. Three birds with one stone.
“Hayul oppa can’t change the weather?”
“He says he doesn’t have that much power. He can only piggyback on the weather that’s already there.”
[Even that is incredibly difficult, you know!]
“Even Yerim eats the crusts cleanly, but someone turning forty the day after tomorrow is still being picky.”
Seong Hyunjae did not even pretend to hear me and tore off a piece of toast with elegant motions. Look at him. Look at him. In the past, he would have at least offered one excuse, but now he was just flat-out ignoring me.
“Liette, you still have nothing to say?”
“Nope, nothing. There isn’t enough meat here.”
Liette grumbled as she took ham from the refrigerator and piled it up. Chief Song moved the tenth fried egg onto a plate. There would have been all sorts of things in the cafeteria, but it was full of water. Still, it was something that this place had this many cooking tools and ingredients. There was even a small separate kitchen and several sleeping rooms. We could practically live here.
“Mister, wouldn’t it be better for you to eat a cookie and hide? Han Yuhyun… said he was going to erase your memories, right?”
Yerim still had not decided what to call the Yuhyun from before the regression.
“I need to be ready to use all my buff skills on you in a pinch. And since you’re here, Yerim, Yuhyun won’t be able to capture me that easily.”
How many dependents were there? I wondered if I would even be able to apply a double buff.
We ate breakfast properly, then went back out to the rooftop garden. The view was still beautiful. And it was still quiet. It was so quiet it made me needlessly nervous.
“They’re kind of late.”
Yerim said it while sitting on the railing. True. It was about time for them to come–
Gugugung–
As if it had been waiting, the air rumbled. Then the sky shook. Yerim sprang to her feet. Peace also bristled and transformed into his adult form.
“Mister, something feels seriously wrong!”
I could feel the mana flowing through the area moving violently. This was not the level of a dependent’s skill. Before I could even come up with any kind of countermeasure–
Kwakwakwakwakwa!
Far in the distance, water surged upward. It rose high into the sky, becoming a distant, towering wall, then slowly began to fall.
–TL Notes–
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