Kwon Jae-jin held his breath and looked at Seo Eui-woo.
His pale face, the smooth expanse of his forehead, the slight hollow of his eyelids, and those beautifully drawn eyes—just looking at him made Jae-jin’s chest ache with a loud, relentless pain. Every single delicate eyelash, saturated with yearning, clung to him. The sharp line of his nose, like a ray of light, and the strong curve of his jaw, like towering waves, seemed to be begging for forgiveness.
“You don’t want this.”
Kwon Jae-jin had spent so much time drawing a line between the Seo Eui-woo of the first timeline and the Seo Eui-woo of the second timeline. But the truth was, they were the same person.
Time had passed. That was all. Seo Eui-woo had always been one. From start to finish.
Neither version of him could ever not be his Seo Eui-woo.
The first timeline. The second timeline. They had always been the same.
Even when he had tried to distinguish them by the way he parted his hair—it had been meaningless.
Even when he had tried to tear them apart as if they were separate people—they had always been one.
“You don’t want to let me go.”
“…….”
“And I don’t want to let you go, either.”
“……But…”
“Let’s go together. Let’s just do that.”
“That’s insane… That’s not like you at all, Jae-jin.”
“I know.”
“What about the other me? The twenty-year-old me?”
“I have to go back to him, too.”
“What…?”
“That’s why I’m saying we should go. Together.”
Kwon Jae-jin took Seo Eui-woo’s hand and started walking back the way they had come. Seo Eui-woo stood frozen for a moment before finally, slowly, following after him. His face was blank, like he was trapped in a dream he couldn’t wake from.
“I’m sick of choosing between two paths. Every time I thought I had the right answer, it turned out it wasn’t. You and I… we’ve always failed. We’ve always been left with regrets. So this time, I just want to do what I want.”
“But… how…”
“Don’t worry. I’ve already gone through regression once, so I know. Kwon Jae-jin has always been just one person. All that changed was regaining four years of lost memories. He was always the same person, from the very beginning.”
“…….”
“Even if you go, Seo Eui-woo is still Seo Eui-woo. He doesn’t turn into someone else—his memories just return. Worrying about it is pointless.”
Leaving the Seo Eui-woo of the first timeline behind and returning to the Seo Eui-woo of the second timeline alone.
Leaving the Seo Eui-woo of the second timeline behind and dying here with the Seo Eui-woo of the first timeline.
Choosing between one Seo Eui-woo and the other—he couldn’t do it.
Because they were both Seo Eui-woo.
“But if I go back, I’ll lose control.”
The twenty-year-old Seo Eui-woo was still unstable. He wouldn’t be able to handle the abilities of his twenty-four-year-old self.
“Probably.”
Kwon Jae-jin answered carelessly, as if it didn’t matter.
“There’s no guarantee that both of us will make it back! Maybe one person could, but two… it’s too—”
“Yeah, sounds really dangerous.”
Time travel had always been a gamble.
Even when Kwon Jae-jin had first regressed, there had been no guarantee it would work.
And yet, Seo Eui-woo had done it. In the end, he had succeeded.
“Why… why are you like this, Jae-jin? Are you giving up?”
“No…”
Kwon Jae-jin dragged Seo Eui-woo to the very end of the path they had taken.
Seo Eui-woo was still staring at him like he couldn’t believe this was happening. His dark eyes were filled with doubt, with disbelief. Kwon Jae-jin reached out, cupped his cheek, then slowly brushed his fingers through his hair, pushing it back from his forehead.
The strands of hair that slipped through his fingertips were as soft as always.
“But why do we have to choose, Eui-woo?”
“…….”
“You want to live with me. And I want to live with you. I love you.”
“…….”
“Then that’s all that matters.”
“…….”
“Last time, I couldn’t even think about saving you. But this time, I think I can.”
Kwon Jae-jin focused.
Strangely enough, he could feel something.
His core had been shattered twice—once four years ago, and again now. The fragments, broken across time, connected within the passage between past and future.
Even if each piece was small and incomplete, together, they formed something whole.
With the massive core that had now settled inside him, Kwon Jae-jin could feel Seo Eui-woo’s energy pulsing through him.
He instinctively understood how his core and Seo Eui-woo’s core were resonating with each other.
Finally, they could synchronize.
“Even if you lose control, I’ll bring you back.”
“…….”
“Just like you brought me back from the dead.”
“That shouldn’t even be possible…”
“Losing control just means an Esper can’t regulate their unbalanced abilities. If all I have to do is restore that distorted energy, then it should work. I really think it will.”
“…….”
“Trust me. I know I can do it now.”
“……I do. I’ve always trusted you, Jae-jin.”
“I’ll guide you.”
“……Okay.”
“I swear I’ll bring you back. Let’s go together.”
“Yeah… I want that, too. I really do.”
“Good…”
“I want to be with you. Just once—please, just this once…”
“Yeah…”
“I really—Jae-jin, I just—ugh—I just want to be with you. I don’t care about anything else anymore. Just you. That’s all I want…!”
“We’ll make it. Everything will be okay. We’ll go back together.”
Kwon Jae-jin nodded.
And finally, Seo Eui-woo’s expression crumbled.
For the first time, his composure broke. The detachment, the numbness—all of it collapsed. He let himself fall.
Seo Eui-woo had endured so much. He had done everything right. He had waited.
And someone who could wait this long, this well, deserved to be rewarded.
“Let’s go now.”
“Yeah, Jae-jin… Let’s go together.”
Light erupted, exploding outward.
The universe, the galaxy, Saturn itself shattered, and the creature legions plummeted.
The long, stretched-out passage connecting time coordinates began to collapse from the farthest end, devouring four years of history in its wake.
Seo Eui-woo and Kwon Jae-jin held hands and gently closed their eyes.
No one had to be left behind.
There was nothing to regret.
The moment they had been waiting for was now. Kwon Jae-jin and Seo Eui-woo already had each other—completely, wholly, without anything missing, without the need for further longing.
Drops of light, brighter than ever, bloomed like fireworks, and time, once frozen, began to flow again.
Kwon Jae-jin returned.
To Seo Eui-woo.
With Seo Eui-woo.
***
A cold, lifeless gaze flickered back to life.
Color returned to Kwon Jae-jin’s pallid skin, and his stiff, hardened muscles slowly loosened. His first breath seeped warmly into his lungs, and by the second, sensation spread to his fingertips and toes.
A corpse that had once stopped breathing… was now alive again. A miracle in its purest form.
Time had reversed, restoring his core to its original, unbroken state, just as it had been in that black void. Whole, complete—just as if it had been that way from the very beginning.
And Kwon Jae-jin could wield it effortlessly.
He didn’t need anyone to teach him.
Just as naturally as seeing with his eyes, breathing through his nose, and speaking with his lips—he could feel the pulse of his core.
At its raging center was Seo Eui-woo.
The deafening resonance pounded against his chest, shaking him to his core. His fully healed body, restored by an outpour of healing factors, moved on its own, feet pressing against the ground, pushing him upright. There wasn’t a trace of exhaustion in his legs—they felt steady, strong, reliable.
Ahead of him, an inverted waterfall surged upward.
Uncontrolled, black energy erupted from Seo Eui-woo, spilling out like a flood. He had passed his limit—half of his face was now consumed by darkness. Even the whites of his eyes had turned completely black.
“Emergency! Emergency! Captain Seo Eui-woo has lost control! Contact the center immediately!”
“We don’t have time to wait! We have to stop him now!”
“Deploy substitute guiding agents! All available personnel—break his core at the same time!”
The awakened soldiers who had survived the creature wave closed in around Seo Eui-woo and engaged.
They fired their remaining bullets at him, but not a single shot left a scratch on his raging abilities. Instead, they were caught in the storm and torn apart like dust. Just getting close to him was impossible.
“It’s no use! We don’t have nearly enough manpower to contain him!”
“Colonel Jang! You have to make a decision! We need to order an evacuation—!”
“If this continues, not just the frontier district, but the civilian residential zones will be caught in the destruction!”
Amid the chaos of frantic communications, Kwon Jae-jin walked forward.
The closer he got to the epicenter of Seo Eui-woo’s rampage, the harder his chest throbbed, as if it were about to shatter from the resonance. He could feel Seo Eui-woo—his presence, his being—achingly, desperately.
“Lieutenant Colonel Jang.”
Kwon Jae-jin called out to Lieutenant Colonel Jang Tae-san, who stood at the frontlines.
The man, bloodied and battered, with a trickle of blood running from his ear, turned to look at Kwon Jae-jin—and his expression twisted in utter disbelief, as if he had just seen a ghost.
Which made sense. A Guide whose core had shattered—a man who had already died—was now standing right in front of him.
But there was no time to explain.
Kwon Jae-jin extended his right hand.
Lieutenant Colonel Jang, his face contorted like a stone statue, glanced between Kwon Jae-jin and his outstretched hand. And then—understanding dawned. Without hesitation, he tore off his gloves and grasped Kwon Jae-jin’s hand.
“I need to get close to Seo Eui-woo. I need to reach him.”
As soon as Kwon Jae-jin began guiding him, the lieutenant colonel, still caught in the overwhelming surge of power, rasped out a hoarse reply.
“Reach him? What the hell are you talking about?”
“There’s no time to explain. Just help me get to him. That’s all I need.”
“What…?”
“Is it impossible? Breaking through that concentrated storm of energy?”
Lieutenant Colonel Jang’s expression twisted further. But even he knew now wasn’t the time for logic or debate.
Kwon Jae-jin, who had died, was alive.
And Seo Eui-woo had become the greatest disaster this world had ever seen.
Just by holding Kwon Jae-jin’s hand, the lieutenant colonel felt his depleted abilities surge back, overflowing like an unending well. What reason was there to hesitate?
With renewed determination, Lieutenant Colonel Jang finally responded, his voice firm.
“No. I can’t do it alone.”
“Then it doesn’t matter how many we need. I’ll guide as many as it takes. Until we make it through.”
“You’re going to guide Espers?”
“Yes. There’s no time. As long as I can make contact with Seo Eui-woo—”
“…You’re planning to guide him? An Esper who’s already lost control?”
Lieutenant Colonel Jang narrowed his eyes. If it had been before the rampage started, maybe. But once an Esper had already gone berserk, guiding was pointless. A meaningless struggle.
Worse—if they failed, the consequences could be irreversible. Instead of wasting time on something uncertain, it might be better to call for a full-scale evacuation.
“Start with me, then. I’m a Defense-type—I’ll be useful.”
Just then, Major Mateo stepped forward, thrusting out his hand.
