“I don’t care if it’s myself I’m up against—I have no intention of sharing your heart.”
“…….”
“The me from four years later… that bastard should just stay pitiful and miserable forever. He shouldn’t get to have a proper relationship with you, shouldn’t even know what love is before it all ends. Got it?”
“…….”
“He got to have the first meeting, the first beginning… So it’s only fair that the last belongs to me.”
Through the thick, acrid smoke, the surviving creatures charged forward. Their numbers weren’t dwindling—in fact, an endless horde still stretched far into the distance. A sea of black writhed and surged, reaching the outskirts of the uncharted zone.
“Three kilometers ahead!”
“Two kilometers!”
“As soon as they enter effective rifle range, front line—open fire!”
“One kilometer!”
Gunfire erupted like a war cry.
Blinding bursts of Awakened abilities crushed the creatures, shattering their cores into dust.
Kwon Jae-jin had no chance to respond to Seo Eui-woo. He could do nothing but throw himself into battle. Raising his rifle, he took aim and shot down every creature that came into view.
The dying screams of monsters, the thick stench of their blackened blood—it all clawed at the edges of his mind, tearing through the fragile barriers of human sanity.
The relentless gunfire rang so loud it burned his ears. The painful noise, the metallic tang of blood in the air, the ragged gasps tearing through his throat—it was all dizzying, overwhelming.
A sudden wave of emotion surged up, sharp and unsteady.
Ugh…
Even as he shot down one monster after another, not missing a single target, his throat felt tight. It was as if a stone had lodged itself in his chest, his mind slipping into a strange haze.
This was the creature wave.
The very thing that had gnawed away at him for so long.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say he had fought countless battles with this day in mind. He had counted down to this moment, prepared for it with everything he had.
And yet, now that he was here, his thoughts were a mess.
“Once the creature wave passes, then…”
“It’s only a temporary ceasefire. It won’t last long.”
“No more, no less—just hold out until the creature wave is over. Until then, at least…”
“It hasn’t ended—no, it hasn’t even begun.”
“Just wait. I told you, it’s not time yet.”
What has ended? And what is supposed to begin…?
“It’s not time to resent me yet. That’s still far off.”
“From now on, you will only love me. Only me. I won’t compromise on this.”
How much longer…?
His stomach churned, burning with frustration. All Kwon Jae-jin wanted was to live peacefully with Seo Eui-woo.
Freely. Happily. Like a real person.
Properly.
That was all he wanted. It was the sole reason he had fought his way here. He had chosen not to run, believing himself to be on the right path. He had faced every obstacle without turning away, clearing them one by one until he had finally arrived at this point.
And now, at long last, he was here.
For the first time, he felt like he had done something—like he could stand tall without shame. And it was true.
But the Seo Eui-woo from the first timeline was still weighing on his heart.
Whenever he thought of him, something deep in his chest—a place buried beneath countless layers—twisted in pain.
Resentment. Longing. Fear. Regret. Frustration. Guilt. Annoyance. Concern.
Love and hate. Yes, it was love and hate.
But there was nothing Jae-jin could do about it.
He wanted to ignore it—to pretend he didn’t see it, didn’t feel it.
What more am I supposed to do…?
“I don’t care if it’s myself I’m up against—I have no intention of sharing your heart.”
Was he supposed to do as Seo Eui-woo said?
“The me from four years later… that bastard should just stay pitiful and miserable forever.”
So the first timeline’s Seo Eui-woo was nothing but a pitiful, tragic figure. Since he was dead, was Jae-jin supposed to just abandon him, forget him, and move on?
“He shouldn’t get to have a proper relationship with you. He shouldn’t even know what love is before it all ends. Got it?”
The bastard who erased memories. The son of a bitch who stole his family and childhood.
Was he supposed to blame the first timeline’s Seo Eui-woo for everything, say his final goodbye, and then move forward with the “pure” second timeline—start over, as if that would make everything right?
A second chance. A miracle. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Was he really supposed to just… accept it like this?
To cut out the first timeline’s Seo Eui-woo like slicing flesh with a blade, severing all ties?
The first timeline was a bad ending. The second timeline was meant to be a happy one.
But it was the same person, fundamentally the same Seo Eui-woo.
And that was how it was supposed to end?
Why…? Why am I even hesitating?
Even I told myself the first timeline was the past, that it was buried now, that all that was left was to forget him completely…
Am I suddenly feeling pity for him? Or is it something worse—some ridiculous thought that I can’t let go of either one?
There was nothing he could do right now. He didn’t even know what the first timeline’s Seo Eui-woo was planning.
Jae-jin had no idea what had happened to Seo Eui-woo after his death in the first timeline, no idea how he was appearing in his dreams, no idea what he was supposed to be waiting for…
I don’t know anything. I have no plan.
How pathetic.
Kwon Jae-jin grit his teeth and fired in rapid succession. He kept shooting until the magazine ran empty, then yanked out a fresh one from his harness, slamming it into place with rough, practiced movements.
At that moment, beyond the crumbling horde of creatures, something massive emerged.
A monster unlike the rest.
A single α-creature, its grotesque form towering over the battlefield, lumbered forward. It was as if dozens of β-creatures had fused into one colossal abomination.
Kruuuuuuuuaaaaar!
Its roar ripped through the sky, shaking the very air.
There was no mistaking the difference.
Unlike β-creatures, which mimicked the forms of existing animals, α-creatures were completely original species—things that had never before existed on Earth. No familiar shape, no reference point. Only nightmares given flesh.
It was as long as a warship, its form resembling something straight out of mythology.
Its massive underbelly, crawling along the ground, was densely layered with jointed chitin and overlapping scales. Its tail split into three thick appendages, lashing violently. It had eight legs like writhing tentacles, four arms ending in cloven hooves.
And its head—no, heads.
Five of them, arranged like the petals of a grotesque flower, surrounding a single, massive, unblinking eye in the center.
A row of jagged, spiked horns ran from its brow, across its skulls, and down its back. Its body was riddled with deep, gaping holes—mouth-like cavities that stretched open to reveal either blunt, hippo-like teeth or exposed, jagged bone.
An unholy being.
No—a true monster.
The sheer horror of its presence momentarily paralyzed all thought.
They had to fight that thing.
No—more than that, they had to kill it.
Bullets rained down from all directions, striking its back and abdomen. Dozens of rounds embedded into its thick hide, but the α-creature didn’t even flinch. None had managed to penetrate deep enough to reach its core.
“Fall back! Rotate formation!”
“Prioritize eliminating the α-creature!”
It was time for the most elite special operations units—those tasked with gate destruction—to take the lead.
The 1st Special Operations Unit advanced first, followed closely by the 2nd and 3rd Units. Firearms alone were useless—only Awakened abilities could pierce an α-creature’s core.
One by one, the special forces soldiers unleashed their abilities, forming a coordinated assault. The defensive Espers moved into formation, restricting the creature’s movements, while the offensive Espers targeted its vulnerabilities, aiming for the core.
Under normal circumstances, this would have turned into a drawn-out battle. But this time, there was someone on the field who defied all common sense.
Seo Eui-woo.
He let out a sharp breath, his expression twisting with irritation—annoyance.
Then, as if swatting away a nuisance, he raised his hand and unleashed a crushing wave of psychokinetic force.
The α-creature’s massive body crumpled from the top down, bones and joints snapping like brittle twigs.
It was like watching a soda can being crushed in someone’s grip.
The monstrous beast thrashed wildly, lashing its split tail across the ground, tearing through the earth. The force of the impact sent nearby β-creatures flying, their bodies flung like ragdolls. Others were pulverized instantly, crushed beneath its own flailing limbs.
Hiiiiiikiiiiiieeek!
The α-creature’s piercing shriek sent shockwaves through the battlefield, its sheer intensity fracturing the ground beneath them, leaving behind deep, gaping craters.
Black blood spurted through the cracks of its crushed shell. Then, with a sickening pop!, the massive, moon-like single eye between its five heads burst. From within, the creature’s deeply embedded core was finally exposed.
Now defenseless, its core could be shattered with nothing more than a precise, spear-like thrust of psychic force. The pitch-black organ, soaked in blood, cracked apart into dust. The moment it was destroyed, the creature’s massive body collapsed, its movements ceasing entirely.
He had just killed an α-creature single-handedly.
The special forces soldiers, stunned into silence, stood slack-jawed.
An α-creature was something that even the most elite units needed anywhere from two to forty-eight hours of relentless combat to subdue. And yet, Seo Eui-woo had ended it in mere seconds.
“Focus! The battle isn’t over yet!”
“Hold the line! Keep them from scaling the perimeter wall!”
Kwon Jae-jin flinched, snapping back to reality as he raised his rifle.
There was no time to be distracted.
From deep within the gate, four or five more original α-creatures emerged in succession.
Even among α-creatures, these were each uniquely grotesque in appearance.
One resembled a monstrous wheel with limbs protruding from its spinning mass. Another took the form of a towering giant, its back burdened with moss-covered boulders. One had skin like polished brass, with visible flames raging beneath its metallic shell, while another was covered in thousands of gleaming, sapphire-like eyes blinking beneath a thick carapace.
But despite their varying forms, they all shared one common trait—their entire bodies were pitch black.
Monstrous beings tainted with an ominous, otherworldly presence.
Seo Eui-woo, along with the elite 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Special Operations Units, moved in to engage the α-creatures, while the relentless swarm of β-creatures fell to Kwon Jae-jin and the remaining soldiers.
Jae-jin fired ceaselessly at every enemy marked on his goggle display. His bullets never stopped.
Sweat poured down his face like rain.
Every Awakened soldier on the field was giving it everything they had.
