Chapter 40

Looking up, his gaze tangled with Hae-gun’s, whose sharp eyes had been watching him intently. Blinking against the cold air, Eui-rim released the corpse’s fleece and stood up.

Right. I need to tell him before it’s too late.

Hoarding this secret in silence was a fatal mistake in the long run. If this was a truth he was doomed to confess eventually, laying it bare now so they could prepare contingencies was infinitely better.

Of course, there was no guarantee Hae-gun would take his impossible confession at face value. Even so, providing the pieces to solve this crisis was the only responsible choice.

“Seo Hae-gun-ssi.”

“Yes.”

Swallowing the tremor in his throat, Eui-rim called his name, and Hae-gun responded immediately, as if he had been waiting for him to speak. Forcing down his churning anxiety, Eui-rim parted his lips.

“There is something I must tell you before we leave this place.”

“…Should I tell Moonhyuk to step aside for a moment?”

Sensing the grave resolve in Eui-rim’s eyes, Hae-gun lowered his voice. Eui-rim shook his head firmly.

“No. It would be better if he hears this as well.”

It wasn’t just Moonhyuk. If they were to conquer the Tower of Time together as intended, the other Cheongho Guild members would need to understand the stakes as well.

Without a single objection, Hae-gun signaled Moonhyuk over. The taut stillness settling across Hae-gun’s face was palpable; he had keenly grasped that whatever Eui-rim was about to disclose was of paramount importance.

Cold sweat slicked Eui-rim’s palms as he rubbed his stiff thumb against his fingertips. He drew in a shuddering breath to steady his racing pulse. He lacked the eloquence to explain it smoothly, but if he unraveled the truth step by step, he could at least convey how he had traveled back from the future.

“…”

Yet no matter how fiercely he strained, no sound crossed his lips. As if his vocal cords were completely paralyzed from the tip of his tongue down to his throat, only shallow, choked gasps escaped him.

It was terrifyingly identical to the past—when Shim Woo-joo had examined him in an attempt to diagnose his condition.

He could not utter a single word.

Then, a shimmering distortion rose like heat haze, warping the air of the chamber. The movements of the two hunters slowed to a glacial crawl, until the light faded from their eyes and their bodies froze completely solid in time.

Staring at the two men frozen like marble statues, Eui-rim staggered backward, cold dread seizing his chest.

…Did I cast a skill without realizing it?

No, that’s impossible. If the skill had triggered normally, there was no way Seo Hae-gun would be frozen. My skill doesn’t work on him. Moonhyuk should have been the only one immobilized.

Then what is happening?

[I stopped it,] an unfamiliar yet hauntingly recognizable voice murmured.

Eui-rim whirled toward the sound, only to see the ram head, which had been lying limp on the floor, jerk upward. It was a bizarre, unnatural movement, as though invisible puppet strings had yanked it into the air.

The severed head wrenched itself upright, twisting its neck toward him. Crrk Bone ground sickeningly against bone in the quiet chamber. The moment the ram’s snout pointed straight at him, its closed eyelids snapped open.

And what met his gaze was an all too familiar pair of eyes.

Hues resembling a sky overcast with storm clouds, or the dusky gray just before dawn.

Those distinct blue-gray eyes were staring right at him.

At that sight, Eui-rim’s trapped breath flooded back all at once. His voice, finally breaking free of the paralysis, uttered the name buried at the bedrock of his memories.

“…Hunter Seo Hae-gun?” Eui-rim whispered.

[Mm,] the severed head replied, the sound low and familiar.

A strange warmth emanated from the beast’s spreading smile. Despite the pitch-black void gaping inside its severed maw, a familiar presence lingered—as though Eui-rim were standing before someone he knew intimately.

[It’s been a while,] the voice said with quiet fondness.

“Is it really you, Hunter Seo Hae-gun?” Eui-rim asked, his voice trembling.

When Eui-rim repeated the title from their previous life, the entity gave a soft chuckle and nodded. The movement remained stiff, like a marionette forced into motion, but knowing the soul behind it stripped away all terror.

“What on earth happened?” Eui-rim asked.

[I managed to intervene briefly while the balance of the Scales was tilted,] 〈Seo Hae-gun〉 explained. [Anything beyond this would be difficult, though.]

“Intervene…?” Eui-rim pressed. “Then did you summon me here, Hunter Seo Hae-gun?”

[More accurately, the possibility opened the moment Healer Kang Eui-rim chose this place as your destination,] the thoughtform answered calmly.

Hearing the familiar voice call him ‘Healer,’ something hot surged deep in Eui-rim’s chest. He caught his breath several times before asking his next question.

“But by what means could you intervene?” Eui-rim stammered. “You clearly…”

[Died,] 〈Seo Hae-gun〉 finished for him evenly. [In the previous life.]

The unflinching answer left Eui-rim speechless. Faced with an entity acknowledging its own demise with utter certainty, profound confusion gripped him.

[Right now, I’m merely a sort of thoughtform,] 〈Seo Hae-gun〉 added.

“…A thoughtform?” Eui-rim echoed.

[Yes. Turns out I wasn’t in any position to cross over to the afterlife.] 〈Seo Hae-gun〉 curved the beast’s eyes into a faint smile.

[Either be absorbed by my brothers and return to the Origin,] he continued, [or be hunted down by them for eternity.]

“…” Eui-rim couldn’t find his voice.

[Those turned out to be the only two choices I had,] 〈Seo Hae-gun〉 said casually.

Eui-rim’s throat tightened. The crushing pressure that had gagged him earlier had dissipated, yet his lips merely opened and closed without a sound.

Yet he could not stand frozen indefinitely. The mention of a brief intervention meant their allotted time was fleeting; indulging in futile sentimentality would only squander this precious window.

Right on cue, grains of dark light began filling the emblem etched across the ram’s throat. As if marking an approaching deadline, the accumulating particles gradually coated its neck.

[A time limit,] 〈Seo Hae-gun〉 murmured.

Noticing Eui-rim staring at the sigil, 〈Seo Hae-gun〉 smiled wryly. His demeanor remained completely nonchalant, as though none of this concerned him in the least.

“Is there any way I can help?” Eui-rim asked urgently.

When Eui-rim brought up the most urgent matter first, the beast’s eyes widened slightly. The corners of its mouth twitched, and after letting out a low chuckle, the entity spoke.

[Still peculiar as ever,] 〈Seo Hae-gun〉 murmured with an amused lilt. [Is that really the first thing you ask?]

The tone was identical to his confession in the previous life about ‘liking good people,’ drawing a faint, wry breath from Eui-rim. Though what stood before him was a grotesque chimera of a ram’s head and human robes, the tension dissolved as if he were truly facing Seo Hae-gun in the flesh.

[Not right now,] the thoughtform answered. [It’s not like those things are after only me anyway. You just focus on holding onto your own life, Healer Kang Eui-rim.]

“Are you saying they’re targeting me too?” Eui-rim asked, alarmed.

[Yes,] 〈Seo Hae-gun〉 replied without hesitation.

The unhesitating confirmation stunned Eui-rim. The only entities that referred to 〈Seo Hae-gun〉 as their brother were the one-eyed shadows. He couldn’t comprehend why they would target him as well.

Could it be because I crossed the timeline?

“‘Tearing apart the soul that took a piece of you—’” Eui-rim started, the recollection spilling out of him.

What surfaced at the end of that memory was a voice that had boomed like thunder. The scene of the one-eyed shadows gathering like dark storm clouds and roaring in fury over 〈Seo Hae-gun〉’s bloodstains spun wildly in his head.

[Don’t worry too much,] 〈Seo Hae-gun〉 said in a soothing cadence. [They won’t be able to do anything right away. That side needs proper preparation before they can manifest a physical form, too.]

As Eui-rim turned over the memory of the one-eyed shadows’ roaring fury, the calming words grounded him. He raised his head reflexively.

“Preparation?” Eui-rim echoed.

[It works on a similar principle to how I appeared before you, Healer Kang Eui-rim,] 〈Seo Hae-gun〉 explained. [Several conditions have to align, and the possibility of intervention has to open up before a physical form can be revealed.]

The explanation was oddly direct yet enigmatic. Just as in the past when Hae-gun avoided mentioning detailed skill parameters to skirt penalties, his way of speaking now was equally evasive and roundabout.

Is there a restriction placed on him this time too? Is there something he’s forbidden to disclose, forcing him to desperately circumvent it when explaining?

A cold dread seized Eui-rim at the sudden memory of Seo Hae-gun’s body being torn to shreds and exploding in the previous life. Even knowing the entity before him could no longer die in that manner, the fear that a similar agony might repeat silenced the healer.

[Still, we ought to talk,] 〈Seo Hae-gun〉 urged gently. [We don’t know when our next chance will come.]

When the silence stretched, 〈Seo Hae-gun〉 coaxed him forward. His tone clearly conveyed a resolve to do his best, even if he couldn’t explain everything directly.

After a brief hesitation, Eui-rim asked, “When you say brothers, are you referring to the shadows that appeared in the previous life?”

[That’s right,] 〈Seo Hae-gun〉 confirmed. [Though to be precise, they should be called the ninety-eight fragments.]

“Ninety-eight…” Eui-rim echoed.

Come to think of it, a related phrase had been written in the deceased 〈Seo Hae-gun〉’s status window as well.

The 99th fragment retrieval has failed due to the forced casting of the skill.