The End of the Path We’ve Walked (3)
“Hae-geon, are you okay? Why aren’t you answering? You’re making me worry.”
Sa Hae-geon, who had been blankly staring at the mirror, finally began to move like a wound-up doll with creaking motions. He turned his head, stared at me with somewhat anxious eyes, and then urged me in a quite serious tone.
“No matter what, we can’t do it now, hyung.”
“…Huh?”
“It’s no use trying to rush me. This time it’s really not possible.”
What on earth was he talking about? Unlike me, who was bewildered, he seemed to have made some kind of decision and walked purposefully toward me, declaring his intentions in a clear voice. Then he grabbed my wrist and headed out of the bathroom. After taking me to my bedroom, he told me to wash up there, then returned to his room as if escaping and locked the door tight.
“…What’s going on?”
Left alone, I stood there with wide eyes, feeling like a child who had their candy taken away, before belatedly heading to the bathroom. Perhaps because I was washing alone after a long time, the bathroom felt particularly spacious and empty today.
Sa Hae-geon and I had planned to go shopping at a large supermarket near our home, but most places had temporarily closed as people were excessively buying necessities and food items, probably due to the fear caused by the S-class dungeon. It seemed pointless that I had pulled my hat down low to avoid attracting attention. The situation was similar at neighborhood markets and convenience stores. The doors were open, but most of the items remaining on the shelves were wines or liquors.
Compared to civilians, we had a relatively higher threshold for fear, but faced with this bewildering situation, we could only exchange glances before quietly returning home.
Hearing the sound of the door opening, Cream, who had come out to the entrance to greet us, looked at us with a contemptuous gaze as we returned empty-handed, then turned around sharply and walked to the living room. In the end, we had to abandon our ambitious initial plan to buy and grill meat, and instead make do with ingredients from the refrigerator for dinner.
* * *
Only one day remained until the outbreak of the S-class dungeon. The area in front of the Special Abilities Department headquarters was bustling with broadcasting company staff who had set up with cameras and people who had rushed out to the streets in extreme anxiety.
“Oh my… You all are working hard from early morning.”
As Lee Cheol-min the Esper muttered these words while checking the outside situation through the window, the gazes of those who had gathered in small groups after the first meeting naturally turned in that direction. But it was only for a moment. They soon lost interest and focused on their conversations again.
“Did you see the post that went up on the community yesterday?”
“Ah, the one with lots of comments? It was ridiculous. I don’t understand why people fight even in places like that. Why do they live like that?”
“Really? I just found it funny. It’s just like the end of an era. When will we ever experience something like this again?”
“We’ll probably be doing this again in 10 years anyway. We’ll have to go through this at least four more times in our lifetime.”
“I’m already sick of it. Can’t they just get rid of it completely? It’s only a 10-year cycle in our country, right?”
“Hey, we’ve got it better. At least we stick to a regular cycle. Places with larger territories have irregular cycles and random numbers of dungeons emerging, which is really tough. I heard some countries have five dungeons appearing every 10 years?”
“…That’s insane. How do they handle that?”
I sat among Field Team 1, listening to the conversations of others while swallowing a yawn. Hwang Ji-hyun the Esper, sitting next to me, also seemed tired, repeatedly yawning so widely that teardrops formed at the corners of her eyes.
Lee Seong-rok the Esper, who was directly across from her and had a full view of her uvula, frowned.
“Ugh, cover your mouth when you yawn. I can see all the way to your uvula.”
“It’s fine, I have a beautiful uvula.”
“No, I’m saying I’m not fine with it! And what does ‘beautiful uvula’ even mean? Did such a word ever exist in this world?”
“Shut up, Lee Seong-rok. Stop whining and go get some snacks. Maybe my blood sugar is dropping from the meeting, I’m starting to get hungry.”
When Hwang Ji-hyun the Esper pointed her index finger at the long table where snacks were placed, Lee Seong-rok the Esper grumbled but still got up and headed that way. Sa Hae-geon, who had been watching this scene from the side, asked me quietly.
“What about you, hyung?”
“I’m fine. I’ll get something myself if I get hungry.”
“It’s inconvenient for you to go from your seat to the snack table. Be sure to tell me if you get hungry.”
“Um… okay. Got it.”
I reluctantly nodded, and only then did Sa Hae-geon smile with satisfaction. Soon, preparations for the second meeting began, and the noisy conference room quieted down again.
While the first meeting had outlined and established the general strategy and routes, the second meeting dealt with the monsters likely to appear in the S-class dungeon and their characteristics. Most of the data included monsters that could be seen in domestic dungeons, but occasionally there were also man-eating plant-type monsters and humanoid monsters that were known to be encountered only in overseas dungeons.
One Esper who had been scanning the materials raised his hand and asked.
“Humanoid monsters… even if they’re monsters, it feels uncomfortable to kill them. Do we absolutely have to dispose of them?”
Voices expressing agreement and concern were heard from various parts of the room in response to his question. Deputy Minister Han Yoon-jung, who had been scanning the somewhat noisy room, opened her mouth.
“Yes, that’s correct. Humanoid monsters are still monsters. They merely mimic human appearance, which means they aren’t real humans.”
“But according to one of the claims made by dungeon researchers…”
“Are you referring to the hypothesis that dungeons emerge in specific regions of Earth?”
“Yes. We can’t exclude the possibility that this hypothesis might be true.”
“Even if that were true, and humans had transformed into monsters under the influence of dungeon energy, our conclusion that we must eliminate them and conquer the dungeon remains unchanged. And can we really consider humans who have become monsters as humans?”
The room stirred at this cold response.
“No matter how monstrous they’ve become, aren’t they still human at their core? Isn’t killing them just because they’ve become monsters no different from murder? Are you asking us to become murderers?”
“That’s right! We should be thinking about how to treat people who have undergone monsterization, not just eliminating them without consideration. It seems too extreme.”
“Is there research being done on methods to revert humans who have become monsters? Can’t we capture them alive?”
Deputy Minister Han Yoon-jung looked around the conference room with a chilly gaze before speaking.
“It seems everyone is focusing only on the unproven hypothesis that humanoid monsters might have once been human. Don’t forget. Our goal is to conquer the S-class dungeon. And what if the boss of the S-class dungeon is a humanoid monster? Would you still maintain that you don’t want to be murderers as you’re doing now?”
Deputy Minister Han Yoon-jung was not wrong. The Espers, who had been too fixated on the possibility that ‘humanoid monsters’ might actually be ‘humans,’ closed their mouths at her words. Deputy Minister Han Yoon-jung, who had reminded them of the obvious fact that if we don’t kill humanoid monsters, we would be the ones to die, shook her head.
To have such conflicts even before the S-class dungeon conquest had officially begun. If it was like this outside, I was already getting a headache thinking about how much conflict there would be once we entered the dungeon.
Jong-hyeok hyung, who had been listening seriously to the conversation between Deputy Minister Han Yoon-jung and the other Espers, also didn’t look happy. Perhaps he also felt repulsed by the idea of dealing with humanoid monsters.
Afterward, the heavy atmosphere lifted slightly and various conversations took place, but Jong-hyeok hyung didn’t seem to be particularly focused on the meeting. The deep melancholy that had settled on his face was noticeable, and my gaze kept being drawn in his direction.
When I kept glancing toward where Jong-hyeok hyung was sitting, Sa Hae-geon, who couldn’t bear it anymore, asked in a whisper.
“Is something wrong? Are you hungry? Or are you feeling unwell?”
“No, it’s not that…”
There were too many ears listening to speak aloud. Since most people could keenly hear even quietly whispered sounds, I took advantage of the break time to open the memo app on my phone and explain the situation to Sa Hae-geon.
[Jong-hyeok hyung looks rly bd… wondring if smthng happnd…]
Sa Hae-geon, who had been reading the text I wrote without even blinking, soon swallowed a small laugh and took my phone. Then he typed words below the memo I had left and showed it to me.
[Your typos are cute, hyung]
It seemed that the numerous typos I had made in my haste looked cute to Sa Hae-geon. I didn’t mind him finding me cute, but since my attention was focused on Jong-hyeok hyung, I was feeling a bit urgent. When I gestured hurriedly with my eyes, Sa Hae-geon shrugged and started typing into the memo app again.
Soon, Sa Hae-geon handed the phone back to me.
[How about asking him after the meeting ends?]
It wasn’t decided yet when the meeting would end, but yes. It seemed best to ask him directly as Sa Hae-geon suggested. Given that he couldn’t focus on the meeting, it didn’t seem like he had a serious face because of what was being discussed in the meeting.
As I was about to put my phone in my pocket, Sa Hae-geon suddenly took my phone. Then he took out his own and took a picture of my phone screen. As I stared at him in bewilderment, wondering what on earth he was doing, Sa Hae-geon calmly replied.
“I just took a picture of something cute you did.”
His excessively honest words, which didn’t care about others’ eyes and ears at all, made me feel like my heart had dropped. I had never been more grateful for a noisy conference room like today’s.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
