Ham Seok-jeong, Director of the Awakened Management Bureau, sat in the middle of a room filled with monitors. Seo Min-gi, standing beside her, conjured a chair from his shadow and offered it to Cha Eui-jae. His demeanor was so natural that anyone unfamiliar would mistake him for a hunter within the Bureau. Cha Eui-jae whispered a question.
"Seo Min-gi-ssi, why are you here?"
The answer came from the other side instead.
"Team Leader Jung Bin is in command on the field. So I put this man here to act as his secretary. Besides, he can't even fight."
"What hurtful words. I'm an expert in combat too, Director."
"If you fight and your wounds reopen, who would treat you?"
"The Doctor would take responsibility and treat it, of course."
"As if that guy who fainted from exhaustion can possibly treat you."
"Fainted?"
For a moment, the image of Nam Woo-jin, gaunt as a mummy, crossed Cha Eui-jae's mind. As he shook his head to dispel the negative thoughts, Seo Min-gi pushed up his sunglasses and replied.
"There's no serious health problem. But I heard he fainted while treating the hunters. It seems all the injured hunters have gone to the Seowon Guild. Well, it can't be helped since the supply of potions is limited."
"Losing a healer in a situation like this is a huge blow. Tell them to minimize the number of cases where the Doctor has to treat people personally."
"Understood."
Seo Min-gi quickly took out his tablet and began taking notes, as if he had been working alongside her for a long time. Despite his grumbling, they got along quite well. Cha Eui-jae watched the footage appearing on the screens. Most of it was CCTV footage of the streets. Hunters were clearing damaged roads, transporting injured people, and evacuating civilians… Familiar faces were mixed among them. They were regulars at the hangover soup restaurant.
Everyone was moving around busily.
The Director opened her mouth.
"I heard about Matthew. While you were on your way here, Team Leader Han handled the reporting himself."
Ham Seok-jeong sneered.
"I don't know if that was some kind of self-reflection or just an attempt to save himself."
"…"
"I didn't call you here for that, so relax. You're completely a third party, after all."
Honeybee disappeared without a trace while Cha Eui-jae was replying to Jung Bin's message. Did she go to find Matthew, or did she just want to calm down? There was no way to know.
Honestly, Cha Eui-jae had been on edge ever since Matthew vanished from his sight. If Cha Eui-jae hadn't been trapped in the West Sea rift, would Matthew have been able to forgive himself?
Would he have had a chance to atone for himself?
Ham Seok-jeong's cold voice interrupted those thoughts.
"If you have any useless sentiments, discard them. There's no time for them, nor is there any need."
"…Yes."
Ham Seok-jeong paused as if choosing her words, then cleared her throat and spoke.
"Now that Hong Ye-seong is unreachable, I called you because I thought you and Yoon Ga-eul would know best about the apocalypse. We need to prepare for the next step."
Next step.
Cha Eui-jae had watched as white ash piled up on the road offscreen. The Black Hole had turned into the White Hole. It had caused immense damage simply by observing the world. Now that it had looked once, there was no guarantee it wouldn't happen again. They were living with an invisible time bomb hanging over their heads, with an unknown amount of time left.
That bomb would explode someday.
"Thirty minutes. That's a long time from one perspective, and a short time from another. What is certain is that massive damage occurred in just 30 minutes. Most communication networks with overseas countries were also cut off. So, I couldn't help but think about this."
Ham Seok-jeong tapped the handle of her cane with her finger.
"If it happened once, it's bound to happen twice. What if the next one comes and lasts for an hour, two hours, or even longer? Wouldn't we be facing annihilation without being able to do anything?"
"…"
"That's what I think. Let's try to avoid that situation at all costs."
Then, in that case.
"Most problems are solved by eliminating the cause. That's the simplest method, but also the most difficult."
"That's also your area of expertise, J-nim."
Seo Min-gi chimed in, unhelpfully.
The screen in front of them displayed the Black Hole in the sky.
"So then."
As if she had been waiting for this moment, Ham Seok-jeong pointed the tip of her cane at the screen.
"Can we get rid of that?"
They just needed to dismantle it before it exploded.
Ham Seok-jeong fixed Cha Eui-jae with a sharp gaze.
"I want you to speak as objectively as possible. Because if that's not possible, we need to find another way."
A vague memory surfaced. The first world, the first failure. In a world where everyone was lost, J faced the apocalypse alone. And he escaped by turning back time. Even with his incredible powers, he couldn't stop the apocalypse alone.
However,
He tightened his grip on his right hand. His body, his soul, remembered. The moment he thrust his spear into his mortal enemy, his opponent. The thrilling moment when the two eyes merged into one. The satisfaction of hearing its howl.
It still only showed one eye. That meant it hadn't yet healed the one Cha Eui-jae had injured.
His attacks were effective, and remain effective. Even to this day.
But how?
How could he face the apocalypse alone?
Even as he searched through his hazy memories and tried to remember, he couldn't find the answer. In times like these, he had to give up and look for another answer. Someone who knew how to face the apocalypse.
Cha Eui-jae slowly opened his mouth.
"It might be possible. But my memory isn't entirely clear."
"Hmm?"
"I think I need to find someone who can help. Is Hong Ye-seong still missing?"
Ham Seok-jeong nodded.
"That's right. We kept searching, but the space itself was completely gone, so we didn't get much."
"What about Kkokko? Won't Kkokko know?"
"Of course, we tried. But it cries whenever it sees anything resembling ceramic, so I isolated it. It even cries when it sees its reflection in a mirror or water. Its voice was so loud."
Seo Min-gi shook his head. Even Ham Seok-jeong looked exhausted. She sighed softly and leaned back in her chair.
"I thought I'd seen all sorts of strange things, but I never expected to see a ceramic chicken suffering from depression."
"Thanks to that, we're depressed too. We're sad, and get goosebumps just hearing a rooster crow."
The atmosphere grew somber. It seemed they had been thoroughly tortured by Kkokko. Cha Eui-jae quickly crossed Hong Ye-seong off the list. Besides him, there was only one person left.
"I want to see student Ga-eul."
***
I want to see Student Ga-eul. He had barely uttered those words, but Seo Min-gi snapped his fingers as if he had been waiting for it, and instantly, a shadow appeared beneath his feet and swallowed Cha Eui-jae. The sensation of being sucked somewhere lasted only a moment before Cha Eui-jae arrived in a pitch-black room. He shook his head to clear the dizziness. Just then, pink pajama pants came into Cha Eui-jae's view.
"Oh? J?"
It was Yoon Ga-eul, dressed in comfortable pajamas. She hurried over, her eyes wide.
"What brings you here? Are you being held captive by Seo Min-gi-ssi?"
"Huh?"
"Oh, I guess not? I heard this place is being used as a temporary prison."
"Where is this place?"
Cha Eui-jae glanced around. Yoon Ga-eul giggled.
"We're in Seo Min-gi-ssi's shadow. He's become my security guard. I'm usually in the safe house, but we agreed that when Seo Min-gi-ssi is away on business, I'd come here and accompany him. He said I could be kidnapped if he wasn't careful."
"…In a place like this?"
Even in the pitch-black room, black objects kept appearing here and there. Judging by their shapes, they looked like chairs and tables. Yoon Ga-eul replied awkwardly.
"It's actually more tolerable than I thought… and it's okay since it's only for a short time. If I stay here too long, Seo Min-gi-ssi can't stand it and ends up throwing up. He says his stomach gets bloated if anything is placed in the shadowy space."
Just then, something white appeared at his feet. It stood out even more because it was a white object appearing in the pitch-black room. It had a round, smooth body. It was Kkokko. Kkokko circled around Cha Eui-jae's feet and wailed in anguish.
"Baaaawk…"
"Kkokko, no!"
Yoon Ga-eul picked Kkokko up and hugged it tightly. Kkokko buried its face in Yoon Ga-eul's neck and sobbed once more.
"Bawk, baawk…"
"It's been acting like this ever since it showed up alone. They say it's depressed."
A depressed ceramic chicken?
There were many things he wanted to say, but he swallowed his words. Yoon Ga-eul tilted her head.
"By the way, what brings you here? You came to see me, right?"
"Ah, right. I have a favor to ask."
Cha Eui-jae looked Yoon Ga-eul directly in the eye.
"Show me the fragment. For as long as you can."