VSP 153

The sirens announcing an emergency began to wail, and the surroundings became as noisy as a marketplace again. The broadcasts stopped playing. Only then did the homeroom teachers arrive; they hurried the students along and told them to go home immediately.

Girl A quickly returned to her classroom to pack her things. Her friend did the same.

“What is this? What’s going on? What are you going to do?”

“I have to go home! To my mom and dad…”

Wait, her dad should be at work. What should she do? A message on her phone screen said there was no signal. It meant she couldn’t contact her family.

What if she missed her mother? What about her father? They told everyone to go to a shelter right away, but was that the right choice? Shouldn’t she stop by the house first? Could her mother take the dog and cat to the shelter alone? Their house was on the 12th floor, and the elevator probably stopped working. She felt like she had to tell her mother not to take the elevator.

Her mind was racing with thoughts, but she didn’t know what to do first.

“…Hey…”

She was just putting on her bag after packing with a cluttered mind when she saw her friend staring at her with a pale face. No, to be exact, the friend wasn’t looking at her, but out the window behind her.

Girl A froze. If this was a mean prank, she decided she’d tell her friend never to scare people like this again. However, when she turned her head, she blinked at the sight of something that dyed her vision black.

Why was it so dark? It wasn’t just dark; it was pitch black.

The window was entirely stained with a deep black color. It was still daytime, so the outside shouldn’t be this dark even with a power outage. While she thought that, she felt that the darkness was moving.

A massive black shadow was passing by the window. Something huge enough to cover the entire window of the third floor was moving past.

Girl A instinctively held her breath. If she screamed, she’d die.

But in a place crowded with people, an individual’s will doesn’t have much power.

“Aaahhhhh!”

One of her classmates let out a piercing scream. At that moment, she saw the moving black mass come to a sudden halt.

Girl A grabbed her friend’s hand and ran toward the hallway. She chose to get as far away from the monster as possible.

Behind her, the sound of breaking windows rang out, and screams and shouts began to fly everywhere.

It was the first moment when what should have been an ordinary day fell apart.

***

News of the ominous dark-red egg and the overflowing dungeons began to hit the news. The hunters, who had been on the alert every day, immediately rushed to the location where the eggs had appeared upon hearing the artifact’s summons.

The egg stood in the middle of the city like a landmark and was easy to see from anywhere, making it a simple focal point for the gathering. The problem was that most hunters couldn’t even get close to it.

The Association had to issue an urgent order for everyone to stay as far away as possible because hunters scattered in pain as if they hit an interference signal.

“Do not approach the egg if you are below S-rank.”

Sejun dryly conveyed that fact through the artifact and took a step closer to the egg.

Since even A-rank hunters couldn’t approach, they had to listen to Sejun’s words. Only S-ranks or higher could get close.

In the end, the other high-ranking hunters scattered to deal with the monsters coming out of the overflowed dungeons, while the low-ranking hunters helped with the evacuation.

The situation was similar to the incident in Busan, but the scale was different this time.

Unlike the Busan incident where only one dungeon overflowed, these simultaneous overflows were nothing short of a disaster.

Sejun arrived near the egg first.

[It was Incheon in our time.]

Sejun nodded to what Ruya, who had been summoned to Sejun’s side and flying around without paying attention to his surroundings, said.

Minor but significant differences continued to appear.

He hoped Asura wouldn’t be too different.

[If that thing hatches, a disaster incomparable to anything so far will come.]

“I know.”

He knew very well.

Sejun stood still near the egg that emitted an ominous aura and turned around when he heard someone’s presence behind him.

The person who arrived after Sejun was Lee Dohun.

“What is this?”

It looked ominous from a distance, but the egg looked even worse up close. He let out a sigh.

He looked around and spotted Sejun. Startled when their eyes met, he flinched and stepped back. He then frowned. He looked embarrassed by his own behavior.

As if trying to make up for backing away, he approached Sejun.

Sejun squinted as he watched him.

“You arrived first?”

“Yeah.”

Lee Dohun shut his mouth at the dry voice that made it difficult to add more words.

…It was strange. He felt it during the last meeting too, but Sejun had changed a little…no, a lot.

It was as if he were a different person…

Dohun was thinking that when Sejun approached him.

It wasn’t just a slight approach; Sejun put his face right in front of him. Even the great Lee Dohun couldn’t help but flinch and step back.

“What?”

“Hmm.”

Sejun looked Dohun up and down as if he found him interesting and gave a meaningful smile.

“Poor Dohun.”

“What?”

“You can’t even be a sub here.”

He even clicked his tongue as if he really felt sorry.

…What did that mean? He couldn’t even be a sub?

Did it mean he was a loser who couldn’t even play a supporting role? That wasn’t a comment that should come out of nowhere at a time like this.

Just as Dohun was about to ask what he meant, Choi Yerin and Choi Hangyeol arrived. Feeling it was awkward to argue in front of them, Dohun clicked his tongue and remained quiet.

Choi Yerin, who had tied back her usually loose hair, didn’t seem to have any intention of playing a healer today. Choi Hangyeol had his usual gloomy face.

The two immediately stood beside Sejun and Dohun.

“Ugh, what is this?”

Choi Yerin clicked her tongue at the sight of the giant egg. It was a very bad omen.

“Choi Hangyeol, did you analyze that thing?”

Hangyeol nodded. The fact that he stayed silent after an analysis meant the results were terrible or the analysis failed.

Since they were twins, Yerin could catch what Hangyeol didn’t say, and she knew it was the latter.

How could Choi Hangyeol fail an analysis? What on earth is that thing? Yerin clicked her tongue again.

She wondered why the guy who usually ran to Sejun like a golden retriever was so quiet; she thought it was because the situation was so serious.

Hangyeol usually hid his presence with a gloomy face, but he’d get unusually clingy and talkative only around Sejun. Now, he was silent even after seeing Sejun.

“I guess even you can read the room.”

Yerin seemed to misunderstand his attitude as being serious because of the situation, but Hangyeol didn’t bother to deny it.

It wasn’t because the situation was serious. Hangyeol was actually the type who could laugh in a moment of crisis.

Normally, Hangyeol would have clung to Sejun regardless of the situation.

If that person were Sejun.

Hangyeol was certain.

That wasn’t Sejun.

He didn’t try to read his thoughts the first time because it felt creepy. He failed to read them the second time during the meeting. Now, meeting him for the third time, he couldn’t read Sejun’s thoughts, proving his previous failure wasn’t a mistake.

He couldn’t read his thoughts.

That meant the Sejun in front of him was stronger than Hangyeol.

It wasn’t that he wanted to look down on Sejun, but a hunter’s growth isn’t that easy. There were very rare cases of re-awakening, but those only happened among low-ranking hunters.

Sejun’s recent activities, the unfamiliar summon, and the strangeness coming from him were all screaming that the being in front of him wasn’t Sejun.

But he was Sejun. Hangyeol couldn’t understand that.

Hangyeol stared at Sejun and met his eyes.

The confident face that didn’t avoid his gaze smirked. He looked as if he didn’t feel a hint of danger in the current situation.

What exactly is that being? Hangyeol couldn’t tell.

After that, Na Yookyung and Ryu Sehyun arrived one after another, and finally, Cha Dogyeong appeared.

He looked much colder than the version Sejun remembered.