Director Ham Seok-jeong of the Awakened Management Bureau sat in the center of the monitor room, surrounded by screens. Beside her, A Small Miracle Seo Min-gi created a chair from shadow and offered it to Eui-jae. To anyone else, it looked natural enough that they might have mistaken him for a Bureau hunter.
Eui-jae leaned in and whispered
"Why are you here, Seo Min-gi?"
The reply came from right beside him.
"Team Leader Jung is out in the field directing operations. So I roped this one into playing secretary. Not like he can fight anyway."
"What a hurtful remark. I am skilled in combat, Director."
"And who was it that said if you got hurt fighting, someone else would have to patch you up?"
"Doctor will treat me responsibly, of course."
"Ha. And the guy who faints like a weakling is going to treat you?"
"...Faints?"
The image of Nam Woo-jin, gaunt like a mummy, suddenly flashed through Eui-jae's mind. He shook his head to ward off the ominous thought, when Seo Min-gi pushed up his sunglasses and answered
"It's nothing serious. Apparently he fainted after healing too many hunters. Seems all the injured ones went straight to the Seowon Guild. Not surprising. Potion supplies have been drying up."
"In times like this, a missing healer is a major blow. Tell him to limit direct treatments as much as possible."
"Yes, ma'am."
Seo Min-gi swiftly pulled out a tablet and took notes, like someone long used to serving at her side. For all his complaining, the two worked together seamlessly. Eui-jae turned his gaze to the screens: mostly CCTV footage of broken roads being cleared, wounded being carried off, civilians evacuated. Hunters moved everywhere, and among them, familiar faces. Regulars from the hangover soup restaurant.
Everyone was busy.
The Director finally spoke.
"I've heard about Matthew. Team Leader Han reported while you were on your way here."
Ham Seok-jeong let out a dry laugh.
"Don't know if it was genuine repentance or just covering his own hide."
"..."
"That's not why I called you. Relax. You're the perfect third party in this mess."
Honeybee had vanished somewhere while Eui-jae was replying to a message. Perhaps she'd gone to look for Matthew. Or maybe she'd stepped out to get a grip on herself. No way to know.
Truth was, ever since Matthew vanished before his eyes, Eui-jae had been wondering.
If he hadn't been trapped in the West Sea Rift, could Matthew have forgiven himself? Could he have found a way to atone?
Ham Seok-jeong's cold voice cut through his thoughts.
"If you're wasting time on sentimentality, discard it. We don't have that luxury. Nor do we need it."
"...Yes, ma'am."
After a pause, as though choosing her words, she cleared her throat.
"With Hong Ye-seong out of contact, you and Yoon Ga-eul probably understand doomsday best. That's why you're here. We need to prepare for the next one."
The next one.
Eui-jae looked at the white ash piling on roads across the screens. The black hole turning into a white hole. It had wreaked immense damage just by opening its eyes to observe the world. If it opened its eyes once, what guarantee was there it wouldn't do so again? The remaining time was a ticking bomb above their heads, the timer invisible.
And bombs, eventually, explode.
"Thirty-one minutes. Long, if you want it to be. Short, if you want it to be. What matters is that thirty minutes was all it took for catastrophic damage. We've lost most overseas connections too. That leads to one inescapable thought."
Ham Seok-jeong tapped the handle of her cane with a finger.
"If it happened once, it'll happen again. And what if, next time, it lasts an hour? Two? Longer? We'll all meet the end without being able to do a thing."
"..."
"That's why I've been thinking. We must avoid that scenario at all costs."
Which meant only one thing.
"Most problems vanish when the root cause does. Easiest solution, and hardest."
"Mmh, J's specialty, in other words," Seo Min-gi chimed in. Not that it helped much.
The central screen now displayed the black hole in the sky.
"Well then."
Ham Seok-jeong pointed at it with the tip of her cane.
"Can we destroy that?"
Disarm the bomb before it detonates.
Her gaze sharpened, piercing into Eui-jae.
"Answer as objectively as you can. If it's impossible, we'll have to find another way."
A faint memory rose: the first world, the first failure. When J faced the apocalypse alone after losing everyone, and fled, rewinding time itself. Even with his overwhelming power, he couldn't erase it alone.
And yet,
Eui-jae clenched his right hand. His body remembered. His soul remembered. The moment his spear pierced his eternal foe, when he had fused two eyes into one. The rush of it, the triumphant cry of the enemy.
That thing was still showing only one eye. Which meant the wound he had struck remained. His blow had mattered. Still mattered. Even now.
'But how?'
How had he stood face-to-face with the apocalypse itself?
He raked through blurred memory, but the answer wouldn't come. Best to let it go and seek another path, someone who might know.
Slowly, he spoke.
"It's possible. Probably. But my memory isn't clear. I need to meet someone who can help."
"Hmm?"
"Is Hong Ye-seong still missing?"
Ham Seok-jeong nodded.
"Yes. We've kept searching, but the entire space collapsed. No luck so far."
"What about Kkokko? Wouldn't it know?"
"Of course we tried. But the moment it sees anything porcelain-like, it bursts into tears. We had to isolate it. Even its reflection in water makes it cry. And that voice…endless."
Seo Min-gi shook his head, exhausted. Ham Seok-jeong looked equally worn, leaning back with a sigh.
"Thought I'd seen it all in this life. Never imagined I'd witness a porcelain chicken with depression."
"Thanks to that, we're depressed too. Can't even hear a rooster's crow without shivering anymore."
The mood sagged heavily. Clearly they'd been tormented by Kkokko. Eui-jae quickly struck Hong Ye-seong from the list. Only one option left.
"I want to meet Yoon Ga-eul."
***
All he had to do was say it once. Seo Ming-gi snapped his fingers like he'd been waiting for it. Shadows rose from beneath Eui-jae's feet and swallowed him whole. The sensation of being dragged into some place else lasted only a moment, and then he arrived in pitch darkness.
He shook his head, clearing the dizziness. Then he noticed a pair of pink pajama pants in his view.
"Oh? J?"
It was Yoon Ga-eul, dressed in comfortable sleepwear. Her eyes widened and she hurried over.
"What are you doing here? Did Seo Min-gi-ssi lock you up?"
"Huh?"
"Oh, no? He told me this place was sometimes used as a temporary prison."
"And where exactly is here?"
Eui-jae glanced around. Ga-eul chuckled sheepishly.
"Inside Seo Ming-gi-ssi's shadow. He's my security detail now. Usually I stay in a safehouse, but when he's out, I come here instead. He said I could get kidnapped if I was left alone."
"...In a place like this?"
Even in this endless blackness, odd shapes bulged up now and then, resembling chairs or tables.
"It's not so bad, really. I can manage short stays. Any longer, and Seo Min-gi-ssi can't handle it. He gets bloated from holding too much in his shadows, so he has to spit me back out."
Just then, Eui-jae noticed something white at his feet. Against the darkness, it stood out starkly. A smooth, round body.
Kkokko.
The porcelain chicken circled him mournfully, crying out.
"Kkoooooook...."
"Kkokko, no!"
Ga-eul scooped it up into her arms. It buried its face in her neck and let out another sorrowful wail.
"Kkok.... Kkoook...."
"Ever since it showed up alone, it's been like this. Looks like depression."
'A porcelain chicken with depression?'
Eui-jae bit back the words. Ga-eul tilted her head curiously.
"So, what brings you here? You really came to see me, right?"
"Ah, right. I need your help."
Eui-jae met her gaze squarely.
"Show me the Fragment. For as long as you can."