Survive! Gwanggong! – Chapter 81

Upon hearing Seung-hyeon’s words, Seon-woo glanced at the rearview mirror with a stiff expression.

Just as he said, he didn’t move his head. If someone really was tailing them, it wouldn’t help to let them know they’d been spotted.

In the mirror, the silhouette of a black car following right behind them came into view. That alone wasn’t enough to conclude they were being pursued, but if Seung-hyeon suspected it, there must have been a reason.

“That car, you mean?”

Seon-woo asked quietly, and Seung-hyeon nodded calmly. Judging by the slight tension in his face, he wasn’t completely composed, but he was doing his best not to show it.

“I’m not a hundred percent sure, but…”

Muttering that, Seung-hyeon gently turned the wheel, changing lanes. The black car behind them followed suit, switching lanes as well. It was hard to call that a coincidence, and whoever was behind the wheel didn’t seem to care about hiding the fact they were tailing them.

Seung-hyeon looked conflicted. Seon-woo was lost in thought, too.

There was still no definitive proof, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that the person driving that car was the same one who attacked Seung-hyeon’s mother in his dream—or at least someone connected.

It wasn’t just baseless anxiety. Right now, for some unknown reason, Seung-hyeon’s mother was with Eun-jae, which meant she couldn’t be attacked like she was in the dream.

Did they change their target to us instead? Or…

From the beginning, it was entirely possible that what put Seung-hyeon’s mother in critical condition had been either Gwak Seon-woo or Gwak Seung-hyeon.

Seon-woo raised his head and turned to look at Seung-hyeon’s face.

“You seem like a decent driver.”

The sudden comment left Seung-hyeon looking puzzled. He seemed a little baffled, but replied without hesitation.

“I don’t think I’m bad at it.”

He wasn’t the type to boast in a situation like this, and considering how comfortable the ride had been until now, it didn’t seem like unfounded confidence either. Seon-woo gave a small nod, deep in thought.

In action movies, car chases always involved all sorts of flashy driving stunts. This wasn’t a movie—but it was a game—so maybe they could pull off something similar, at least to a certain extent.

It was a recklessness his usual self would never have entertained.

He could tell there was something strange about how calm he felt—but still, he spoke right away.

“Change lanes when I give the signal.”

“Understood.”

Without any questions or objections, Seung-hyeon nodded smoothly. Seon-woo had grown used to that kind of response from him.

“First, let’s pick up the pace a bit.”

He saw Seung-hyeon crack a small smile. Was it because of how serious Seon-woo looked, like some action movie protagonist?

In a quiet voice, he muttered, “This is all kind of surreal…” then pressed down on the accelerator, just as Seon-woo had instructed.

“Right… yeah. Just a bit farther…”

Hearing Seon-woo’s murmur, Seung-hyeon seemed to grasp his intention and smoothly veered right, intentionally wedging a car between them and the black one. The driver of that car, which had been cruising along just fine, was probably annoyed at having someone suddenly cut in front—but to Seon-woo, Seung-hyeon’s maneuver was praiseworthy.

With a cautious expression, Seon-woo glanced at the rearview mirror, then eventually rolled down the window. He stared intently at the black car reflected in the side mirror, and at the right moment, he gave the signal.

“…Now!”

Without hesitation, Seung-hyeon jerked the wheel to the left. Even as he obeyed, he seemed unsure—his muttered voice audible beside him.

“Not sure this is the right move…”

He wasn’t wrong. It was a dangerous situation. But there was no stopping now that the chase had begun.

This time, as he turned the wheel, Seung-hyeon deliberately cut in front of another car, keeping the black one from tailing them too closely. A sharp honk burst from the startled driver behind them, shrill enough to pierce their ears.

Still, things were going according to plan. The black car visibly faltered, trapped and unable to move freely. With another vehicle directly ahead, they couldn’t recklessly ram into Seon-woo and Seung-hyeon’s car.

For a moment, Seon-woo worried that the driver might be unhinged enough to crash through anyway—but luckily, whoever they were, they didn’t seem to be a complete lunatic.

Losing control, the black car swerved off to the right and smashed head first into the shoulder. Watching through the side mirror, Seon-woo calmly observed the scene, then rolled the window back up and nodded.

“Let’s keep going.”

Seung-hyeon shot a sidelong glance at him, his expression quietly amazed.

They were trying to act like it had all gone smoothly, but in truth, they’d maneuvered through multiple cars and nearly caused a serious accident.

Considering how the black car had been tailing them without fail, and had now rammed into the shoulder, there was little doubt they would’ve slammed into them had they gotten the chance. No—chances were, that had been the point of the chase from the beginning.

Thinking about the dream, it was entirely plausible.

“Got something to say?”

But Seon-woo asked boldly, as if none of it fazed him.

Seung-hyeon looked like he had plenty to say—but in the end, he just smirked mysteriously and shook his head. They stayed on high alert the rest of the drive, bracing for another car to come after them—but nothing happened.

Surprisingly, everything remained calm, and they made it without issue to the place where Seo Eun-jae and Jo Jeong-hee were together.

“Want to come in with me?”

As Seung-hyeon parked the car and asked, Seon-woo shook his head. He was definitely curious about what was going on—but seeing Jo Jeong-hee and Seo Eun-jae together could trigger the system again in unpredictable ways.

Instead, the plan was to have Seung-hyeon bring Jo Jeong-hee out. Once that was done, Seon-woo would go see Seo Eun-jae and get a grasp on the situation himself.

Left alone in the car, Seon-woo crossed his arms and sank into thought.

A strange sense of dissonance gnawed at the back of his mind.

Back during the car chase, it had really felt like he’d lost his mind.

He hadn’t cared what kind of accident the black car might get into. Even worse, he’d had this chillingly reckless thought that it couldn’t be helped if the other cars—completely uninvolved and just caught in the crossfire—ended up crashing too.

Thinking back on it now, a wave of unease crept over him.

The realization that they could’ve died hit him only belatedly, and guilt surged when he thought of the other drivers who’d nearly gotten dragged into the chaos.

“…It’s a relief things ended well, at least.”

Murmuring to himself, Seon-woo rubbed his forehead.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that something inside him was slowly warping. Was he truly being assimilated—completely—into Gwanggong’s body? But the thought didn’t last long. Seung-hyeon returned sooner than expected.

He walked up to the car and knocked on the passenger side window. Seon-woo opened the door without hesitation.

Seung-hyeon leaned in and muttered quietly, “I brought my mother like we planned, but… Assistant Manager Seo already left a little while ago.”

That part hadn’t been in the script.

They had assumed Seo Eun-jae would still be there while Seung-hyeon escorted Jo Jeong-hee out—giving Seon-woo a chance to talk to him one-on-one. But now that plan has fallen apart.

Seon-woo straightened up, preparing to get out of the car. He was determined to call Seo Eun-jae directly if he had to and arrange to meet him.

He needed to talk to him—about something, anything. That was the only thing driving his thoughts.

But just then, Seung-hyeon gently pressed a hand to Seon-woo’s shoulder and asked,

“Where are you going?”

Seon-woo furrowed his brow. Wasn’t it obvious where he was headed in a situation like this?

But then, locking eyes with Seung-hyeon, he suddenly understood what was really being asked.

“You don’t want me to go?”

So he just came out with it.

Seung-hyeon didn’t respond right away. It looked like he was debating whether to say what was on his mind—or maybe even trying to swallow back something he shouldn’t say.

“…You’re going to see Assistant Manager Seo?”

The question came after a brief silence.

That had been the plan, yes—but the way Seung-hyeon asked it made it feel like Seon-woo had done something wrong.

He instinctively looked away, flustered.

It wasn’t like he had some ulterior motive for seeing Seo Eun-jae. He wasn’t choosing Seo Eun-jae over Gwak Seung-hyeon either. So why did the question feel so heavy?

Seung-hyeon, still unreadable, added quietly,

“…I don’t know how this is going to sound, but…”

Whatever else he might have been unsure of, Seon-woo could at least tell this much: he himself was flustered.

Far in the distance, Seung-hyeon’s mother stood waiting, but Seung-hyeon—unashamed, completely composed—continued speaking seriously.

“Don’t go. Stay here with me.”

Just then, a familiar chime rang in Seon-woo’s ears.

It was a sound he knew well—but it had been silent for so long that it now felt strangely foreign.

▶ Ignore Gwak Seung-hyeon and go to Seo Eun-jae.

▶ Give up on going to Seo Eun-jae and stay by Gwak Seung-hyeon’s side.

And the moment he saw the prompt, he understood.

This was a branching point.

Author: Levia