SOG Ch 194 

A booby trap.

It’s unclear how long it had been there, but hidden under a thick layer of dust, it had been revealing faint lines as people passed by, until it finally caught Nam Hae-sol’s foot.

As soon as he realized the situation, Go Woo-jin rushed to the spot as fast as he could, but…

Bang! Just before he could reach it, the bomb connected to the trap exploded with a short, powerful blast. The moment he heard the sound, Go Woo-jin realized it had been a partially defective bomb. Otherwise, the explosive power would have been much greater. As he fell backwards onto the concrete floor from the blast’s impact, he became aware of something flying into his outstretched arms. It was Nam Hae-sol. Nam Hae-sol, who had been pushed by Seon Jae-chan…

So where was Seon Jae-chan?

Go Woo-jin’s gaze darted upward. The air that had momentarily heated up was slowly cooling down. The dust was settling. Strangely, under the dust particles falling slowly like snowflakes, he spotted him lying in a bloody mess.

Go Woo-jin’s anxiously trembling heart froze.

His vision blurred. Was it because he had heard the explosion too close? His mind wasn’t working properly. The sight of the battered Seon Jae-chan and the approaching Intelligence Agency team members was perceived in slow motion, like a shaky video played back slowly.

Team leader…!

The wails and cries of the Intelligence Agency team members reached his muffled ears, sounding like stretched-out tape. Go Woo-jin just blankly stood there, letting the dust fall on him like snow. He felt no sensation, as if his limbs had been severed. In a state where his soul was half-detached from his body, he mechanically repeated to himself, ‘It’ll be okay. Seon Jae-chan will be fine.’ Then he realized something.

Ah, they needed an Esper with healing abilities. For that guy to be okay, they needed Kim Ju-yeop.

…But this was a Windless Zone.

Woo-jin, who had been in a daze, briefly caught Seon Jae-chan’s eye through the crowd. Under the dark brown hair dusted with snowflake-like particles, those clear eyes wet with blood…

After a moment that felt like either an instant or an eternity, as Seon Jae-chan turned his gaze away, Go Woo-jin moved. Until then, he hadn’t even realized that Nam Hae-sol, whom Seon Jae-chan had saved, was still in his arms. Although Seon Jae-chan’s team members didn’t make way, Kang Eun-ho, whose face was soaked with tears, hesitantly stepped aside, allowing Go Woo-jin to approach Seon Jae-chan.

“This is my fault… Earlier, he got shot trying to save me…”

Through his dulled senses, Woo-jin faintly registered Kang Eun-ho’s anguished confession.

That’s when Go Woo-jin realized that Seon Jae-chan was trying to say something.

By the time he noticed that the voice, coming out fragmented like shallow breaths, was repeating the words “ceiling, surveillance camera, lens,” he was already grasping Seon Jae-chan’s bloodied hand.

It was their first contact.

It was the first time he had touched him since his injury—nearly a year had passed.

The severely burned hand. The hand, in a mess as if red paint had been spilled on it, was too cold. Why was it so cold? It’s okay. It’ll be okay. Woo-jin whispered to himself, as though chanting a prayer amidst the wailing people. Even though he knew that Seon Jae-chan, with his damaged eardrums, couldn’t hear him, he simply couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

Then, from the tip of that charred hand, a very faint and soft sensation spread.

Seon Jae-chan was guiding. He had been someone who could control his thoughts quite well during guiding for some time now, but it seemed he couldn’t control it now. His feelings poured in like a flood.

I’m sorry.

I’m sorry, Woo-jin…

Go Woo-jin’s hand, receiving these feelings, trembled violently. His black eyes, which had always maintained composure, wavered.

No. Why? You have nothing to be sorry for. Unable to firmly grasp Jae-chan’s hand, which felt like its fingers might fall off, and only cradling the fingertips, Woo-jin muttered like a madman. If the Intelligence Agency team members, who were equally out of their minds, had any sense left, they would have looked at him as if he were crazy.

At last, Woo-jin moved his numbed limbs as if he were cursed. He pushed away the cumbersome people still clinging to Seon Jae-chan. He thought he should embrace him. It felt like that would make the guy understand that he didn’t need to be sorry. That he would understand his feelings.

Without even knowing what feelings he needed to convey, Go Woo-jin stretched out his arms and legs, flailing like a drowning person. Not wanting to hurt Jae-chan’s bloodied body further, he lowered his upper body as if begging. He desperately pressed his body against him.

But Jae-chan was already so cold.

When had he grown this cold?

Now that he looked, he wasn’t even breathing. Below the tracks where tears had streamed down, only a very faint smile remained on Jae-chan’s blood-covered lips.

Suddenly, Woo-jin realized it had been far too long since he had seen Jae-chan’s smiling face.

“…”

I wish you’d smile again.

I wish you’d breathe again.

I wish your cold body would warm up and move. It would be fine even if you acted selfishly, even if you treated me like a possession. Even if you stepped back from me and never held my hand again, I just wish you would breathe.

I wish you would smile just once more. Please. Even if it’s not a smile directed at me…

But these were all impossible dreams.

And so, the foolish love that even Go Woo-jin himself hadn’t realized ended the moment he became aware of it. Like a delicate snowflake landing on his fingertip.

Woo-jin just blankly held the limp body. It felt as if his heart and head were being torn out. Even if his entire body were ripped to shreds, it couldn’t be more painful than this. The pain was so intense that Go Woo-jin didn’t even realize that a wind was whirling around him.

He was only retracing the last thoughts Seon Jae-chan had left behind. I should have let you go earlier. I should have wished for your happiness. Those were Jae-chan’s last words. But I, without you…

“Esper Go Woo-jin, calm down.”

“…”

“The windless zone… is disappearing.”

Kang Eun-ho, with reddened eyes, whispered in a voice suppressing sobs. Despite the gusting wind, only a gentle breeze blew here where Seon Jae-chan was, which was why everyone could remain somewhat intact.

“Jae-chan Sunbae would want us to escape safely. …That was his last wish, wasn’t it?”

Kang Eun-ho finally broke down in tears. Go Woo-jin, who had been in a daze, remembered Jae-chan repeating “ceiling, surveillance camera, lens” and immediately drew his pistol. With just a few shots, he took out the surveillance cameras between the ceiling beams, then called for Kim Ju-yeop.

“Please heal him.” 

Though he pleaded with a voice drenched in despair, everyone present knew it was futile. Seon Jae-chan had already been dead for some time. Go Woo-jin had to accept that his first love, once soft as a feather, was now nothing more than a cold corpse.

*

Fine rain scattered in the gray sky.

Like many others who met untimely deaths during that period, Seon Jae-chan’s memorial was held within the Center in District 1. The portrait with a black ribbon was replaced by the ID card photo. Mourners who came to pay their respects bowed before the youthful face captured in his twenties, offering incense and silent prayers.

Go Woo-jin stopped by a flower shop and personally selected the largest and whitest chrysanthemums. He kept adding more beautiful and lush flowers until the shop owner hesitantly asked, “You want even more?”

Thus, when Woo-jin left the flower shop, he was cradling an excessively large bouquet. In the early dawn, unable to face the portrait, he watched from afar. After letting the fleeting rain soak his shoulders for a long time, he quietly leaned the chrysanthemum bouquet against the entrance of the funeral hall and left. Only the tiny water droplets on the clear wrapping silently trickled down.

Afterwards, Go Woo-jin obsessively tracked down Black Swan.

He faced countless life-threatening situations, but as always, he survived. With offensives that could destroy an entire unit single-handedly even in Windless Zones as if born a war machine, Black Swan began to crumble bit by bit. Finally, in 587, Go Woo-jin succeeded in capturing the Technician.

And the Angel he encountered after three years since Seon Jae-chan’s death was, as expected, the person he had anticipated.

“Long time no see.”

Gyeong Hye-in, separated from the hideous metal mass of the capsule-type guiding machine with wires tangled like blood vessels, sneered. Until she was dragged away in restraints, Gyeong Hye-in kept flicking her red tongue, trying to provoke Go Woo-jin somehow. “Remember three years ago? That was the first time I saw you in such a state.” She struggled to the end, but Go Woo-jin didn’t give her even a glance or a cold retort. There was only one thing he was waiting for.

-Woo-jin, we’ve found research data on the Windless Zone.

A message came from Chae Seong-hwan, who was carrying out a diversionary operation.

It was as he had suspected since that day three years ago when Seon Jae-chan died. Black Swan knew how to artificially create Windless Zones. The materials they were ordered to retrieve from the higher-ups that day were related to this, and Black Swan had used him in reverse to set a trap.

Go Woo-jin joined Chae Seong-hwan and called in the researchers waiting in the back. He had them examine the acquired data.

The results were surprising.

“As we suspected, Black Swan has now gone beyond simply creating Windless Zones and was researching ‘the miracle of the Windless Zone’… but the content of the ability they sought to acquire is very specific. First, look at Noah Airy’s records here.”

Gu Ji-eun, a researcher who joined the anti-Black Swan operation despite her illness, driven by anger over losing her niece, explained enthusiastically.

“These are her diaries provided to Black Swan by the American Union.”

As suspected, Black Swan was allied with the American Union.

The Windless Zone research data seemed to be the main medium of exchange. And to further research this Windless Zone, Angel and the Technician received Noah Airy’s diary from the American Union.

“In fact, it seems Noah Airy wanted to bring the dead back to life. What’s interesting is that she made a secret prediction in her diary that ‘it might also be possible to turn back time.’ It appears that Angel particularly focused on this part and directed the Windless Zone research accordingly.”

Gu Ji-eun explained that they also found circumstantial records indicating that Angel had originally accepted the Technician’s recruitment offer with the intention of pursuing the miracle of the Windless Zone.

“If we could really go back in time…”

Her pale, dry lips quivered.

“It might sound impious, but perhaps… perhaps we could save all those who died unjustly. By reversing time to before Black Swan.”