Chapter 1
“If Baek Mujin dies, our country’s safety rating will drop.”
Eunseong’s steps toward the rift came to an abrupt halt. The moment he whipped his head toward where the voice came from, exclamations burst out from the crowd beyond the barricade as if they had been waiting for it. At the same time, camera shutter sounds rolled in like waves. Everyone was waiting for that one glance, hoping to capture the hunter’s face.
“Yoo Eunseong, what are you doing?”
Mujin, who had been three steps ahead, came back and grabbed Eunseong’s arm.
“Huh? Oh… it’s nothing, let’s go.”
To hide his shaken expression, Eunseong pretended to smooth his hair.
Since overly sensitive senses became poison when not subjugating rifts, hunters consciously blocked out sounds in their daily lives. Eunseong was no exception.
‘But there are always sounds that manage to pierce through your ears.’
It was probably because the subject of their careless chatter was Baek Mujin’s life, because it was painful content that was completely tearing up Eunseong’s heart. Eunseong turned his head to look at the owner of the hand gripping his arm.
Under hair so black it seemed to swallow all light, vividly shining eyes were staring directly at Eunseong alone.
“Mujin-ah, it hurts.”
“Don’t pay attention to it.”
Eunseong’s round eyes widened greatly before he immediately hung his head low.
“You heard it too.”
Mujin loosened his grip on Eunseong’s arm. Then he reached out and roughly ruffled Eunseong’s round head. His light brown hair scattered softly.
“Let’s go.”
Completely ignoring the sounds of people chattering, Mujin gently pulled Eunseong’s shoulder to make him walk beside him. Eunseong looked up at his old friend’s face. Mujin was simply looking toward where the rift was.
He definitely knew the end. Yet his straight, thick eyebrows, smooth cheeks, and deep eyes showed no signs of disillusionment or wavering. He was so solid that it made Eunseong sad instead. It only made his wish to never lose Mujin more desperate.
It was his last selfish desire, having no right to possess anything. If only Mujin could be safe. If he could live on unharmed, he could hide his feelings forever.
* * *
Just before entering the rift, hunters gathered at the assembly point to check their weapons and items. Since it was a matter directly connected to survival, their eyes were uniformly serious, with no trace of playfulness visible.
At the center was Eunseong’s guild, ‘Yuseong.’ Hunters lined up in front of Yuseong’s symbolic white bird flag to receive items and buffs.
“Thank you, Guild Leader of Yuseong. Because you take care of us like this every time, we return safely.”
“What? No, not at all. What thanks…”
Eunseong, who had been standing to one side giving buffs, quickly looked up. He repeatedly declined modestly and stepped back. His face easily reddened at the unwanted praise. For a half-wit hunter who couldn’t even enter rifts with them to receive thanks was completely inappropriate.
Mujin seemed to find it equally ridiculous as he leaned in close and whispered in his ear.
“At least that guy seems to know how much the items and buff value you’re giving out for free today is worth. He doesn’t seem completely shameless, so instead of just talking, tell him to at least kneel.”
“……”
“It’d be even better if you stopped handing them out.”
Even as Mujin clicked his tongue teasingly, Eunseong didn’t drop his smiling expression.
Hunters who inherited abilities through bloodlines moved in guild units, bound by blood relations and interests.
Eunseong’s guild, specialized in weapon and item creation, was the same. The reason he rushed over whenever rifts opened these past few years, giving buffs to every hunter he met and bestowing weapons and items, was definitely not because Eunseong had a benevolent nature. Eunseong’s guild, Yuseong, was even less of a charity organization.
It was simply because he hoped they would be of even a little help to Mujin.
“Don’t do that, Mujin-ah, can you look at me for a moment?”
Eunseong grabbed Mujin’s elbow and gently pulled him. Mujin, who had been glaring at the rift slowly spreading across the distant ground, looked back at Eunseong and relaxed his stern expression. Eunseong led him into an empty barracks set up to one side.
In the dim barracks, now that only the two of them remained, a question appeared on Mujin’s face. This was because Eunseong had used a small barrier stone to block entry.
“No one can come in for about 10 minutes.”
“So?”
“Just lean down for a moment.”
At Eunseong’s request, Mujin obediently bent his waist. Though Mujin was someone who absolutely never smiled, even suspected of being closer to a monster than human, he was different in front of Eunseong, his childhood friend. Excluding the flames burning inside him, Yoo Eunseong would be the only human who could kill Mujin. Because he was so defenseless like this.
‘This much…’
Eunseong gently held both of Mujin’s cheeks. After quietly looking into his black eyes, he suddenly kissed him. He parted his plump lips to gently hold the tender flesh, then licked with the tip of his tongue.
The energy circling around Eunseong’s body gathered like condensing water droplets and seeped into Mujin. A buff that refined the recipient’s power was instantly inscribed. It was Eunseong’s embarrassing and secret skill that he couldn’t use on anyone else in the world because of its activation conditions.
“……Are you insane?”
Mujin’s eyes flashed with a fierce light as he stepped back in shock. His thick eyebrows furrowed deeply as he glared, so Eunseong slightly averted his eyes. He hid his flustered state and tried to maintain a calm expression.
“Even if others don’t know, you know. This may look a bit… but the effect is good.”
“I don’t need it.”
“Mujin-ah.”
Eunseong approached Mujin again as he stepped back.
“……If I do it one more time, it can stack too.”
Though Mujin’s face was deeply furrowed, he didn’t step back any further. However, he also didn’t lower his head to let Eunseong kiss him again.
“Do you rub lips with just anyone if the effect is good?”
“It’s not just anyone.”
“……”
“I’m sorry if it made you feel bad.”
“Hey.”
Mujin raised his hand and roughly wiped his lips. Because of that, his complexion seemed to redden faintly.
“If I gave you a slightly better buff, I thought you might hurt a little less.”
“I told you not to worry about it.”
“But……”
“I’ll say it again, it’s not your fault. Yoo Eunseong.”
Mujin, who had been glaring at Eunseong while breathing roughly, soon turned his body sharply. He easily destroyed the barrier Eunseong had set up with an A-grade item with his hand and left the barracks. Eunseong, who had been quietly watching his retreating figure, finally let out the sigh he had been holding back.
It wasn’t just because of guilt.
Eunseong stood at the barracks entrance and followed the departing Mujin with his gaze. His nose stung as he watched him join the team and converse as if nothing had happened.
Thoom— A heavy siren resembling a ship’s horn shook the earth’s axis as it rang long. It was the sound announcing the hunters’ entry into the rift, reaching from the collapse zones on the ground to the residential areas in the sky.
Purple rifts were like sinkholes—ordinary people who fell in would disappear from this world without a trace. Only hunters who harbored the power of otherworldly monsters in their bodies could enter beyond them and return safely. When they entered the rifts, destroyed the energy source, and came out, the large holes that had spread would gradually shrink and disappear.
In the darkness that had swallowed all light, a place thick only with the smell of death. Eunseong shrank his body as he recalled the interior of the rift he had entered for the first and last time.
The entry preparations were complete with the activation of items that would help them remember return coordinates. Pillars of light announcing departure shot up from the bodies of the hunters arranged in formation.
Among all those simultaneously rising light beams, Mujin’s was by far the most intense and beautiful. The crowd beyond the barricade let out cheers. Eunseong watched Mujin’s light trail disappear as if being sucked into the black hole without even being able to breathe.
The spectacle was over. From Mujin, a mythical-grade ability user, down to D-grade hunters, after everyone had jumped into the rift, the scene quickly entered a lull. The reporters and onlookers who had flocked to take photos began boarding transportation to return to the residential areas.
“If Baek Mujin dies, what happens to Yoo Eunseong? Will he be punished?”
“How can they punish him? They say he doesn’t have the ability to save Baek Mujin.”
“Even without punishment, won’t he fall into ruin? Would he even be able to live with his feet planted in our country?”
“Is it true that he doesn’t have the ability? Isn’t that bullshit?”
“Honestly, Yuseong Guild going crazy because of Yoo Eunseong is true. It’s amazing that someone so worthless has lasted this long in District 1.”
“Just wish it would be sorted out quickly.”
“Fuck, might as well hold a ritual for the country to be completely destroyed.”
“I’m stating facts, facts. What changes if you just hold onto hope for something that won’t work?”
“Bastards whose social skills have hit rock bottom always love facts. If the residential areas shrink, you move to the collapse zone first. That’s a promise.”
“Fucking hell, why doesn’t there seem to be anyone next to Yoo Eunseong who gives him a reality check? Do they all just suck up to him?”
“He is pretty suckable-looking.”
“Crazy bastard.”
The mockery and criticism directed at him ended, as usual, in vulgar jokes and raucous laughter. Even while hearing all of it, Eunseong didn’t get angry. It was all true, so only sadness was added.
Furthermore, he also agreed with their resentment blaming him for why he couldn’t save Baek Mujin. Because he too hated his incapable self. He thought he was no different from those people who consumed misfortune as gossip material.
If Mujin had been beside him, he would have gotten angry on his behalf, telling him not to listen to such nonsense, but he didn’t know. He didn’t know that getting angry for him made his heart hurt more.
Like the irresponsible whispering of the countless crowds beyond the barricade who came to watch the departure.
Baek Mujin will soon perish. No, he will be destroyed.
Because of me.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
