Kwon Jae-jin had once resolved to spend four years of his life with Seo Eui-woo, and he had even accepted that such a life might not be so bad.
He had thought that even becoming lovers wouldn’t be so bad. Even if it wasn’t a proper romance—even if it was twisted and broken—he had been willing to accept it.
With Seo Eui-woo, he had thought he could live as a mutant Guide, neither an ordinary person nor an Awakened, but a half-breed caught in between.
But in the end, that was all in the past.
A past swept away and long gone.
A past that was shattered, splintered like a broken stick, an irretrievable dead-end.
‘You already know the truth, don’t you? You know exactly what your target is. Where your gun should be aimed.’
‘…….’
‘If Kwon Jae-jin truly wants to live a new life, he knows what he must do…’
Kwon Jae-jin was the only one who remembered the Seo Eui-woo from the first timeline.
And so, he was the only one who could forget him.
In exchange for stealing Jae-jin’s memories, Seo Eui-woo had been sentenced to a punishment of oblivion—left alone in the depths of Jae-jin’s fading recollections, slowly disappearing into nothingness.
Kwon Jae-jin would leave him behind and live a different life with the Seo Eui-woo of the second timeline.
A life that was the complete opposite of what had been before.
Bright, dazzling, and new…
A proper life…
Yes, a proper life…
A realization struck him. It was as if a great bell had rung. The sound reverberated, deep and resonant, spreading in waves across his mind. From the edge of a black universe, white sunlight slowly began to seep in.
‘Are you still planning to run away?’
‘…….’
‘Are you going to choose to run until the very end?’
‘…….’
‘Don’t make a mistake at the crossroads. Don’t do what I did.’
Jae-jin, who had remained silent all this time, fired his gun with fierce determination. The hesitation in his eyes was gone.
The deafening gunfire rang out, tearing through the endless swarm of creatures, exploding like fireworks in celebration of his revelation.
Bang! Bang, bang!
It was a gunshot that encompassed the past, present, and future all at once.
Bang! Bang!
Bang!
Bang!!
***
With a sharp gasp, Kwon Jae-jin opened his eyes.
He broke free from the dream as if he had been thrown out of it, breathing slightly unevenly. Instead of the vast expanse of space, he found himself back in his bedroom, wrapped in the warmth of soft blankets and lingering body heat. A familiar tranquility filled the dimly lit room.
Silently, Jae-jin turned his head and looked at Seo Eui-woo sleeping beside him. His eyes took in the pale, youthful face, delicate and serene. He was fast asleep, showing no signs of waking. He looked content, like a well-fed lion.
Jae-jin held his breath for a moment, watching him.
Soft curls of black hair spread across the pillow, and his gently closed eyes rested in peaceful slumber. His lips, slightly parted, looked both alluring and defenseless.
Without thinking, Jae-jin reached out, pressing his palm against Eui-woo’s flawless cheek before brushing his thumb over the corner of his lips. As his lips stretched slightly, the faintly moist inner flesh peeked through.
“…Hn.”
Eui-woo let out a sleepy murmur. Jae-jin traced his fingertips up, playfully tapping the tip of his straight nose. His touch wandered along the bridge, trailing toward his eyes, where he lightly tickled his eyelashes.
No matter how many times he saw them, those long, delicate lashes were mesmerizing. He could probably spend all day toying with them and never tire of it.
After lingering around his lashes for a while, Jae-jin moved his hand up to Eui-woo’s hair. Forming a makeshift comb with his fingers, he ran them through the soft, glossy black strands.
He smoothed the part in one direction, then playfully reversed it, shifting the hair the other way. It reminded him of the Seo Eui-woo he had seen in his dream—twenty-four years old, different yet the same.
Jae-jin repeated the motion pointlessly, parting and re-parting his hair, before finally exhaling a quiet chuckle.
There was no need to make a distinction anymore.
He could tell at a glance which Seo Eui-woo this was. The part in his hair had long since lost its meaning.
“Mm… ugh, Jae-jin…?”
Eui-woo groggily woke, his gray eyes still unfocused as he gazed at Jae-jin in a dazed stupor.
As their eyes met at such close range, Eui-woo smiled—warm and sweet, like someone lost in a dream made of happiness. The gentle curve of his eyes and the way his lips curled painted a picture as serene and vivid as a field in full bloom. Today, he seemed even rosier than usual—though, as always, he was tinged with pink.
“Why are you up so early…? The sun isn’t even fully up yet.”
“…No reason. Just had a bit of a loud dream.”
“Ah… What kind of dream?”
“…….”
“Was it a dream about me?”
Seo Eui-woo pulled Kwon Jae-jin’s face toward him and pressed a light kiss to his cheek. Their shared warmth overlapped, and he could feel the steady pulse beneath his lips—slow and rhythmic. Rustling under the blankets, Eui-woo tugged the covers up to Jae-jin’s neck, wrapping him snugly before closing his eyes again.
“Guess it wasn’t about me… Aren’t lovers supposed to dream about each other? Like… couple dreams? Dream dates? Don’t normal people have customs like that?”
“Of course not. No, those don’t exist.”
“Why not? Someone should propose it immediately. I want to see you even in my dreams…”
Eui-woo mumbled drowsily before falling silent again, as if drifting back to sleep.
Jae-jin took a deep breath and gazed at him intently. The gunfire, like celebratory fireworks, still echoed in his mind. The rapid bursts of gunshots had ignited something in him, a heat that spread slowly before consuming him entirely.
Kwon Jae-jin stood at a crossroads.
There was a direction he had to face, a target he had to shoot.
A choice he had to make without error…
Even after the sunrise had painted the sky crimson and the morning sun had fully risen, Jae-jin remained lost in thought, replaying the dream over and over. He recalled the creatures swarming toward him, the bullets sinking into them, the familiar weight of his beloved rifle, and the sharp scent of gunpowder.
Then—
Just as he let out a heavy sigh,
A deafening alarm blared, mercilessly drilling into his ears.
‘What the hell…?’
Jae-jin snapped his head up. The mansion’s security system had gone off all at once.
‘The security system… no way.’
Before he could even process it—
BOOM!
An explosion shook the entire house.
Seo Eui-woo, jolted awake in an instant, grabbed Jae-jin roughly, yanking him toward him with no time to be gentle.
“Jae-jin! Come here!”
Without hesitating, he pulled Jae-jin into his arms and summoned his abilities. A protective barrier instantly enveloped them, ensuring their safety.
When Jae-jin turned to look at him, Eui-woo’s expression was ice-cold. A deep furrow marred the bridge of his nose, and his dark brows sharpened with tension.
The peaceful bedroom was now filled with a chilling, suffocating air.
The scent of fear lingered.
His instincts bristled, sensing danger.
“Seo… Eui-woo, this is—”
“Shh.”
The next moment—
Another explosion shattered the walls and windows. Through the broken gaps, smoke grenades were hurled inside.
Acrid smoke began to rise from the floor, spreading fast.
‘This can’t be… Have we been discovered?’
Kwon Jae-jin’s face turned pale. Seo Eui-woo, who had still been half-asleep moments ago, suddenly transformed. His gray eyes sharpened in an instant, radiating a vicious, murderous aura.
“Stay right next to me. Don’t move away.”
The warning came out in a low, biting tone just as the heavy sound of military boots thundered through the mansion. Squads of armed soldiers poured inside in formation. The elite special operations forces had stormed the estate.
The search unit had finally tracked down Kwon Jae-jin’s traces.
Even after triggering a landslide to bury the villa under earth and rock, they had persistently dug through the debris, extracting clues and using tracking abilities to relentlessly pursue him to this very place.
Seo Eui-woo’s eyes darkened with rage, and from deep within, he unleashed the immense power he had long suppressed in the abyss of his mind. His overwhelming energy, impossible to measure, mixed with a savage killing intent and erupted outward in every direction.
The mansion trembled violently, starting from the bedroom and shaking the living room, the corridors, the entire structure, down to its very foundation. Bloodcurdling screams rang out from all corners of the house.
Spring had yet to arrive; it wasn’t the time for complacency.
They hadn’t even had the chance to put a ring on his finger—yet the fragile peace they had barely grasped was being torn apart without warning.
***
Northwest Sector of the Special Residential District. The Infamous Gorge.
“There’s something buried here, underneath.”
After days of relentless excavation, they had finally unearthed the buried structure beneath the layers of dirt and rubble.
The moment the discovery was confirmed, Major Mateo ordered the search unit to comb through every inch of the site.
After an exhaustive search using enhanced abilities, they found tiny flecks of blood spattered on a wall and several strands of hair. From there, everything fell into place.
A pursuit team of specialized trackers quickly mobilized, followed by the First Special Operations Unit and additional Army SpecOps reinforcements. Their target: the S-Class Mutant Guide.
Chasing across half of the Special Residential District, they finally arrived at the coastline.
At the very edge of the cliffs stood a picturesque mansion.
The moment Brigadier General Oh received the report, the order was issued—immediate assault and capture.
And so, the operation began.
The objective: an S-Class Mutant Guide. The mission: capture alive.
With Major Mateo overseeing the entire mission and Lieutenant Colonel Jang Tae-san, the highest-ranking officer of the First Special Operations Unit, leading the charge, they established a tight perimeter around the seaside mansion.
The encirclement was flawless—airtight.
Not even a rat could escape.
With all preparations complete, they fired the red signal flare.
Bang!
From the four cardinal directions—east, west, north, and south—explosives were detonated, blowing open the walls of the 10,000-square-foot estate.
As the walls crumbled, waves of smoke grenades were deployed, and the SpecOps soldiers, their goggles switched to thermal vision mode, stormed inside in tight formations.
The operation was overwhelming.
Even a seasoned Awakened warrior trained in high-level combat would have no escape in such a hopeless scenario.
For a mere Mutant, one who had lived as a civilian in an ordinary district just four months ago—escape was impossible.
Capturing him was only a matter of time.
The notorious S-Class Mutant Guide was doomed to be dragged out in shackles.
Once Kwon Jae-jin was in custody, everything else would be simple.
All that remained was to dig into his mind and extract every last memory.
