DL Episode 128
by Brie#128
It was strange. Until just a short while ago, the thought of entering the hole had made his stomach drop again and again.
But now, facing the real thing and seeing Baek Seung-woo so calm right beside him, the fear gradually faded. Maybe because he wasn’t alone, but with him.
‘Promise me. Even now. Promise you won’t ever abandon me again.’
‘I promise.’
Maybe that clear answer from last night, faint as it was, had become a small source of hope. Saying he wouldn’t abandon him meant he would never give up on him again, in any moment.
So Ha-gyeom chose not to be swallowed by tension and anxiety, but to focus on the mission placed in front of him.
To protect him.
Beneath their feet, the sea was calm, but still as dark as the monster’s hole. Soon, Baek Seung-woo glanced back and signaled with his hand, then finally reached for Ha-gyeom’s hand.
“I protect you, and you protect me.”
As if their hearts were aligned, the words matched perfectly with Ha-gyeom’s own mission. Suddenly, Ha-gyeom wondered if those words might be the very definition that ran through both their destinies.
An esper and a guide with a match rate of ninety-nine percent. A savior and the one saved. A certainty they shared even in the midst of chaos.
I protect him, and he protects me.
Ha-gyeom nodded. Unlike during the first training, he rose into the air without needing any extra momentum. The moment he stepped off the stern and followed Baek Seung-woo slicing through the air with immense force, he didn’t look back again.
As they plunged into the hole ahead, his vision and consciousness distorted like a broken television. Crushing pressure, pain slamming into him, noise sharp enough to tear his ears. The familiar sensation resurfaced, and his blood rushed hotly, his heart pounding like it was beating right next to his ear.
Ha-gyeom tightened his grip, refusing to let go of the hand he held. Even in the deep darkness where nothing could be seen, he could feel Baek Seung-woo’s warmth vividly. And he felt the firm strength of the hand gripping back, refusing to release him.
“……”
They were pulled into a place with no end in sight. Soon after, his fading consciousness went completely dark.
* * *
His vision wavered like rising heat. Having experienced this before, Ha-gyeom opened his eyes and felt chills crawl over his skin at the vivid sensation.
His wavelength had been overtaken by a red glow, yet its shape held firmly. As sensation slowly returned to his body, he turned his gaze toward the heat radiating beside him.
Even through the blur clouding everything else, Baek Seung-woo’s presence was unmistakably clear, which was why he hadn’t panicked.
“……”
Baek Seung-woo stood beside him, breathing hard. Clear sweat streamed down from his temples along his jaw without stopping. His combat uniform was dirtied but intact, and he didn’t seem injured or affected by the radiation.
His tense eyes were as sharp and focused as they had been outside. His rough breathing, the heaving of his chest—more than anything, those proved he was alive.
Thank goodness…
With the purifying wavelength, even an esper like him could apparently survive in here.
How long has it been?
Since Baek Seung-woo wasn’t looking at him, only staring straight ahead with a killing gaze, Ha-gyeom pushed himself up from the ground and shook the arm holding the light machine gun.
Hyung.
He wanted to call him, but the sound didn’t leave his throat. As if something blocked the signal before it could reach his nerves. Ha-gyeom glanced up at Baek Seung-woo’s sweat-slick neck, then followed the man’s fixed gaze into the air.
“……”
Piles of monster remains were stacked like mountains. Beyond them, several monsters still moved swiftly. The anomaly was massive, and the number of monsters entering and leaving matched its scale. Even so, nothing else could be seen yet.
Hot smoke rose endlessly from the magazine of Baek Seung-woo’s machine gun. How long had he been fighting?
Holding his splitting head, Ha-gyeom shook his arm again.
“……”
Baek Seung-woo brought a finger to his lips, signaling him to calm down. Knowing monsters were faster here than outside, Ha-gyeom immediately held his breath.
In the blink of an eye, a monster lunged toward them with its jaws open wide.
“Screeeeeee—!”
A monstrous shriek echoed out. But Baek Seung-woo moved even faster, firing into its mouth before it could close.
Blinding flashes erupted from the muzzle. Bullets tore through the monster’s throat and tongue or burst through the back of its head.
Scalding casings rained down near Baek Seung-woo’s boots. The smell of gunpowder hung thick.
The wavering smoke stung his eyes and blurred his vision. Ha-gyeom’s consciousness grew so faint he could barely stand. If his wavelength weakened from this, anything could happen. Even if he could maintain the wavelength while unconscious, he didn’t want the situation to reach a point where he couldn’t protect Baek Seung-woo.
But the space kept twisting, pain rippled through his body, and his mind grew muddled. Was it the air here, or the energy this place held? Ha-gyeom couldn’t regain clarity for even a moment.
After taking down two or three more monsters, Baek Seung-woo pulled the staggering Ha-gyeom closer, holding him upright. And the clearer Baek Seung-woo’s presence became, the more Ha-gyeom could perceive the reality around them—the wet, slippery ground like the insides of a beast, the walls faintly outlined in the darkness, even the stench. This was a physically existing place.
Soon, Baek Seung-woo sheathed the machine gun on his back and started walking. Ha-gyeom leaned on the arm supporting him and forced himself to move. Overwhelmed by everything he felt, he could do nothing, while Baek Seung-woo calmly surveyed the surroundings as if exploring. His steps were sure, not a trace of confusion in his movements.
His awareness was sharp, eyes alive, senses intact. Was an esper unaffected here in a way a guide wasn’t?
“……”
Ha-gyeom studied Baek Seung-woo’s vitality with difficulty. His combat ability still worked. Even monsters far quicker than those outside posed no threat. That meant his energy control and physical abilities weren’t hindered at all.
It was clearly different from Ha-gyeom, whose senses and consciousness were being overwhelmed by unknown influences. Since he believed the issue was closer to consciousness than body, he didn’t jump to the conclusion that he was simply weak.
Maybe this was the difference between a guide and an esper.
Even though both were ability users, their powers were fundamentally different. Espers used physical force; guides produced purifying wavelengths. Maybe whoever created ability users in the first place designed them for entirely different purposes.
Like Ah-rang, this confusion affected guides alone. Even as his vision blurred and his focus slipped, his mind kept racing. But then his strength failed, and he stumbled. Baek Seung-woo, who had been monitoring him closely, stopped immediately.
He lowered his posture, guarding their surroundings. Ha-gyeom followed his lead and knelt on one knee, looking up worriedly at him. Baek Seung-woo pressed his dirty knuckles gently to Ha-gyeom’s cheek, checking his temperature.
I’m okay.
Unable to make a sound, Ha-gyeom mouthed the words. Baek Seung-woo nodded, but his expression was far from reassured.
Looking into Baek Seung-woo’s oddly sharp, clear eyes, Ha-gyeom had a thought. Without him, Baek Seung-woo could never have entered this place. Without a purifying wavelength, he wouldn’t survive the radiation. Only guides were given resistance to radiation.
If, as Baek Seung-woo guessed, someone engineered ability users because they needed intermediaries, then espers—unable to endure radiation—could never qualify. They needed protection. Now that they had thrown themselves inside together, everything that used to be only speculation began to make sense.
Espers could not be intermediaries. Ha-gyeom realized this carefully, even if knowing he didn’t share the same fate as Baek Seung-woo made him feel unbearably alone.
Ha-gyeom took a few steadying breaths and stood again. Baek Seung-woo immediately rose and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Every direction looked the same, but they couldn’t stay in one place forever, even without knowing the destination.
Ha-gyeom leaned on Baek Seung-woo’s strength and took a slow step forward.
He didn’t know how long they walked, following the darkness stretching endlessly like a vanishing point.
The monster remains thinned out, and then, suddenly, a strange sensation washed over him—like walking through the middle of space itself.
Their surroundings were finally changing. The monster cries faded, then grew distant, then vanished entirely. Feeling a sudden, ominous chill, Ha-gyeom froze in place. Baek Seung-woo, sensing the same shift in the atmosphere, stopped just as fast.