SOG Ch 174

“Requesting support.”

Woo-jin immediately grabbed the radio. As he repeatedly requested the necessary support from Han Tae-hoon, despite the vibrating smell of blood in the air, Jae-chan came and grabbed him.

“Aunt… My aunt is in the submarine.”

Though it felt presumptuous, Jae-chan spoke hoping for help. After finishing the radio transmission, Woo-jin firmly grasped his hand and nodded.

“…And we need to catch him. The terrorist boss…”

Was he talking about the old man? Just as Woo-jin was about to say he had already been killed, Jae-chan suddenly tightened his grip on the held hand and widened his uninjured eye.

“He has the ability to self-duplicate.”

Cough, Seon Jae-chan suppressed a cough and spoke up. The technician was a Physical-Special Esper hybrid. Although no one had known about his special-type ability, it was revealed when their assassination attempt failed.

A clone.

He could divide his body. Though he wasn’t some benevolent Buddha bringing salvation to the masses; he acted arrogantly, as if he were an all-powerful god.

This ability reached its peak when he worked with Angel. Living up to his nickname as the immortal leader, the Technician, under Angel’s wide-area guiding, would revive infinitely like branches splitting into thousands and tens of thousands of paths, no matter how many times he was killed. His secret password known as ‘fractal’ was also a metaphorical symbol of his own ability.

The fortunate thing was that now without Angel, infinite revival was impossible.

In other words, if they eliminated the last remaining clone, the Technician would truly be finished.

“He’s still alive. He must have… a backup body somewhere.”

Jae-chan forced out his voice with the determination to definitely kill the Technician. His undamaged eye, free from blood, shone with stubborn resolve. The thought flashed through his mind that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he had regressed for this moment.

The Technician had to be eliminated no matter what.

“In the submarine or somewhere… before he gets guiding and, ugh, creates another clone, we need to kill-“

“I understand.”

Woo-jin cut in, his voice firm. He maintained a facade of calmness while hiding his inner turmoil, a dark mix of desperate anxiety, anger questioning if this was important right now, and various other emotions.

“I understand, so stop talking. I’ll find and kill him somehow, so stop talking.”

Woo-jin, speaking with what appeared to be cold determination, relayed updates to his team members. He reported the location of Esper Gu Ji-eun and also conveyed information about the terrorist boss’s unique ability, whom they thought had been killed.

Then he returned to standby beside Jae-chan with an expressionless face. Looking up at Woo-jin’s pale face as he stood by without leaving, Jae-chan suddenly realized there was something he should have said first.

“…I’m okay.”

At those words, Woo-jin, who had been suppressing his churning emotions, took a short breath. He shot down approaching terrorists with the pistol in his left hand and replaced the magazine. After a brief pause, he quietly responded.

“I know. I know you’re okay.”

Jae-chan slowly blinked his eyelashes that were clotted with blood. He looked up at Woo-jin, who smelled faintly of gunpowder.

At first glance, he appeared as expressionless as the thick darkness surrounding them. But now he felt he could read behind that calm expression.

So this is the face you make when you’re worried.

Now he understood why too. It was because he knew Woo-jin so well. Woo-jin was trying to put him at ease, setting aside his own concerns and sorrow to comfort Jae-chan.

And whether it was an illusion or not… he felt like the Woo-jin he had seen just before regressing had made a similar face. It was probably because the situation of holding his hand tightly was similar. That must be why he felt this way now.

“I’m really okay.”

Jae-chan emphasized repeatedly, swallowing the groan rising in his throat.

“I know. I understand… Don’t speak.”

Hiding his anxious feelings, Woo-jin gently patted Jae-chan’s rapidly rising and falling chest with his large palm. He took the remote control device that Jae-chan had been clutching tightly and put it away, then carefully lifted Jae-chan’s hand and pressed his lips to the back of it. As he lowered his gaze, trying somehow to hide his uneasiness, the next moment, Woo-jin’s expression that he had been holding together finally crumbled.

It was because Jae-chan had guiding him despite being told not to speak. ‘I’m okay. Really.’ At the transmitted feelings, Go Woo-jin’s face, which had barely maintained its expressionlessness, twisted miserably.

Woo-jin couldn’t even tell Jae-chan to stop guiding him. At this point, he just wanted to let Jae-chan do whatever he wanted. “I know you’re okay. Everything’s okay. It’ll be alright…” Until the healing-type Esper arrived, all Woo-jin could do was hold Jae-chan’s hand tightly and whisper to him continuously.

Meanwhile, Jae-chan, blinking his hazy vision from blood loss, still looked at Woo-jin with concern.

I’m really fine, so why are you making that face? They’d managed all right, hadn’t they? He’d tried so hard not to get hurt; he’d never focused so intensely, dodging the technician’s knife with every ounce of concentration he could muster.

If he’d known Woo-jin would make a face like this, he would have changed the plan. Maybe tried to provoke the technician less. But—

‘It really was the best I could do.’

What if the less provoked Technician had again forced Woo-jin to harm himself? What if Woo-jin had gotten hurt again like in the past? The mere thought was horrifying. No matter how he looked at it, he felt he had done the right thing.

Finally, the healing-type Esper and Guide arrived. As a portable amplifier was set up beside him, Jae-chan looked at Woo-jin’s crumbled face beyond it and suddenly wondered how exactly he had been before the regression. In that situation where he had lost his hearing and couldn’t hear anything, he hadn’t even been able to look at him properly, afraid that he would despise him to the end. All he remembered was the large warmth of the hand that held his own, with its dulled sense of touch. And that face that seemed to be silently mourning…

You didn’t make a face like this before the regression, did you?

Did you?

Please, don’t let it be so. Looking at Woo-jin’s eyes twisted as if about to cry, Jae-chan tried to forcibly lift the corners of his stiffened mouth into a smile. He thought it would have been better if the Woo-jin of the past had looked at him with contempt. Because he hated so much to see Go Woo-jin upset, whether in the past or now.

I’m really okay.

So, both before and now, he hoped Woo-jin wouldn’t feel sad or hurt.

However, in reality, Seon Jae-chan’s condition was not very good. Unable to overcome the darkness that finally overtook him, he closed his heavy eyelids.

SECTION 12. Long epilogue

Jae-chan vaguely regained consciousness. Glimpsing the IV line flowing across his blurry vision, he recognized he was in a hospital.

His head swam as if the rhythmic dripping of the IV fluid was directly hitting his consciousness. Seon Jae-chan followed that meaningless, repetitive movement with one eye before closing it like shutting a window. Belatedly, as if a doctor had rushed in, sudden urgent voices fluttered by his ears, but he couldn’t hear them clearly. Overwhelmed by a sharp ringing in his ears, Seon Jae-chan sank into a deep sleep as if escaping.

Even when he regained consciousness again, his head remained just as foggy.

It felt like he was barely managing to wade through deep water. He could sense where the light-filled surface was, but couldn’t move a finger. In the end, the thought he arrived at was again ‘I want to sleep’. I want to sleep. Thinking only that, Jae-chan relaxed his limbs comfortably. He chose to fall into a deep slumber.

Afterward, he continued to briefly regain consciousness before falling asleep again. Each time he woke, the location seemed to change slightly. Sometimes he was in the hospital, other times he breathed fresh, cold air as if he was being moved.

At one point when he briefly opened his eyes, he saw a ceiling bathed in soft light. Where was this? It looked familiar.

As he drifted back to sleep, Jae-chan suddenly thought that now he wanted to wake up.

It was thanks to a familiar scent that brushed his nose. A very pleasant, refreshing, nostalgic fragrance. He felt his limbs comfortably buried in bedding with a faint pleasant smell. Next time, he must wake up. It seemed like only then did he make that resolution.

And so, when he woke again, it was like any other morning.

Feeling refreshed like someone who had slept well, Seon Jae-chan became aware of a sound reaching his ears.

-…They’re saying they absolutely won’t enter the country. Should we meet? Should we charter a jet with the five-nation union right away?”

The buzzing voice coming through the phone call sounded familiar. It was Chae Seong-hwan’s voice.

“No. Later.”

And the voice that followed immediately awakened Jae-chan’s consciousness even more clearly.

A low voice vibrating the air. Following the sound, Jae-chan lifted his unnaturally stiff neck. His eyes met with Woo-jin’s, who was wearing comfortable knitwear. Jae-chan’s round eyes, which had been blinking slowly, widened. A brief ripple also appeared in Woo-jin’s eyes, which were always pitch-black and calm.

“…I’ll call you back.”

Then Woo-jin hung up the phone.

Seeing Woo-jin, all sorts of emotions began to sprout wildly in Jae-chan’s heart, like dry land being moistened. Seon Jae-chan tried to greet the approaching guy cheerfully, pulling at his stiff lips. But what escaped his open mouth was only a rasping sound.

“…Water.”

In the end, looking somewhat troubled, Jae-chan gave up trying to speak, managing only to mumble a single word: water.