Bang!
The center of the mountain of junk piled up suddenly collapsed. Damn it. Cha Eui-jae grumbled softly as he opened his eyes. Then, his gaze met wide, purple pupils.
"…"
"…"
It was close enough for their noses to touch and their breaths to mingle. A deep, sweet scent, which he hadn't smelled in a very long time, enveloped all his senses. This was Lee Sa-young. Cha Eui-jae was certain of it.
However, the situation was not good enough to welcome this reunion. Thanks to his body being too sturdy to simply shatter upon hitting the hill, Lee Sa-young pierced right through it, creating a hole the size of himself. And Cha Eui-jae, who had tried to catch him, was buried in the hole along with him.
Furthermore, since Lee Sa-young had landed on top of Cha Eui-jae, he was practically lying face down on him. He was in a situation where he couldn't move freely. In the midst of this, Lee Sa-young was staring intently at Cha Eui-jae, his eyes piercing through his mask. The black plastic bag in his hand rustled. It was as if a feline beast was glaring at him.
This was the same pattern of staring intently when he was in a bad mood. It had been quite a while since he'd done this, too. And Cha Eui-jae knew how to handle it.
'I don't know what's making him in a bad mood, but I'll just get out of the way for now.'
Cha Eui-jae averted his gaze, avoiding those unsettling purple eyes.
"Uh, um. Sa-young, it's you. Long time no see. Are you glad to see me? I'm glad to see you too."
"…"
"But shall we get out of here for a bit? This is… you know, where the food the Big Mouths eat falls. So it's piled up with all sorts of junk…"
A black hand grabbed the bottom of the black mask. Then, with a click, it snatched the mask off. Blackened fingers grabbed his chin and forcibly turned his head. Their eyes met. In those purple eyes, the flustered face of Cha Eui-jae was reflected.
"…"
"…Sa-young-ah? Why? What's wrong?"
"You ask why?"
There was no emotion in Lee Sa-young's voice. That was precisely the problem. Soon, a radiant smile appeared on his glamorous face. Red warning lights flashed loudly in his head. Cha Eui-jae swallowed hard.
'I'm fucked.'
"Aha… I see. You know quite a bit about this place, don't you, Hyung?"
"…"
"I'd guess you've lived here for quite a while. Huh?"
"No, well, I came here before you, and there was someone who explained things to me."
"Ah… You came before me and looked for someone else to live here? That's impressive, you really have a knack for taking action. Right."
His face drew a little closer. Cha Eui-jae tried to look away again, but the hand holding his chin turned his head back toward him. His gleaming violet eyes narrowed.
"I've been hearing a lot of things, Hyung."
"…W-what could our Sa-young have heard?"
"Ah… it's nothing special, but I heard you dove into Big Mouth's mouth without any explanation? I heard Bae Won-woo was sobbing."
That's right. He had jumped into the monster's mouth, which Bae Won-woo had personally held in place. The sight of Bae Won-woo's gaping mouth and his Adam's apple shaking from screaming at the end was still vivid in his mind. Lee Sa-young folded a second finger.
"Yeah… and you practically said goodbye to Jung Bin, didn't you? You entrusted Prometheus to him, the people to him, and held out until I arrived? I heard you even showed him what was underneath the mask?"
"No… I didn't show him my face, just the bottom."
"Aha… you did exactly what you did to me? You only showed me the bottom, too."
Cha Eui-jae gritted his teeth. Damn it, why did that guy just blurt all that out? Wasn't their bond of loyalty supposed to be a secret, Jung Bin? Lee Sa-young's eyes were already going wild. Lee Sa-young leaned in close enough for their noses to touch and whispered.
"Why… are you tired of being a hunter? Are you going to quit being a hunter and become a national diving team member or something? Or are you going to live here forever?"
"No, that's not it. There's this thing—"
"Shall I guess? What you were thinking?"
Hot breath poured out. Cha Eui-jae recoiled slightly. Lee Sa-young opened his mouth with a face that smiled like an angel.
"Everything is doomed when the apocalypse comes anyway. I'm going to go alone and kill that apocalypse bastard. I don't even know how I figured out how to reach the source of the apocalypse, but now that I know, just leave everything to me."
"…"
"He probably dived in saying, 'I'll go handle this.' Without even thinking about his own life."
"…"
"Go ahead, if you have anything to say in rebuttal, say it."
Was this guy a mind reader? Lee Sa-young spat out exactly what Cha Eui-jae had been thinking. Unable to turn his head because of the hand gripping his chin, Cha Eui-jae eventually closed his eyes. It was a declaration of defeat. Ha, Lee Sa-young let out a short laugh.
"Your thinking is obvious. I told you you're simple. You've always been like that."
"I'm not that simple, punk… I've thought through various methods in my own way before coming to this conclusion."
"Ah, I suppose so. Fine, let's just assume that is the case."
Lee Sa-young shrugged his shoulders. Their eyes met at a distance close enough for their lips to almost touch. Lee Sa-young whispered.
"Why didn't you wait for me?"
Thump. His heart sank. It was exactly the point Hong Ye-seong had pointed out. Cha Eui-jae's lips twitched, but he ultimately couldn't bring himself to speak. Instead, he lowered his gaze. Lee Sa-young asked again.
"Why?"
He seemed determined to press him until he heard an answer. It felt awkward being practically crushed by Lee Sa-young in this cramped space. If it were outside, he would have at least been able to run away. But he couldn't lie when their faces were pressed together like this. Because the moment he did, Lee Sa-young would have noticed instantly.
In the end, Cha Eui-jae stammered his words.
"First off, the situation is urgent because of the apocalypse… and I didn't know when you would come out of that dungeon…"
Ha, Lee Sa-young snorted. Gritting his teeth, he asked back.
"Then do I have to hear about you from someone else again? While searching for you when you aren't there? Do I have to endure another endless wait?"
It was a remark that struck Cha Eui-jae precisely at his sore spot. The image of the test subject struggling in a poison-filled test tube flickered before his eyes. It was an incident that had occurred because he wasn't by his side. Cha Eui-jae gritted his teeth. Something welled up inside him.
"…But wait, you didn't come out with me last time when I went to get you!"
Unable to contain his surging anger, he finally let out a loud yell. Lee Sa-young's eyes widened for a moment, then narrowed. Cha Eui-jae somehow managed to rummage through his pockets, pulled out a single black glove, and thrust it at him.
"You said you wouldn't come out after throwing away just one glove! What, should I go back in and drag you out? Even if I had dragged you out, you wouldn't have come out anyway!"
Lee Sa-young retorted, not backing down.
"Of course! That's the only way to speed up vaccine development!"
"That's none of my business! I just…!"
Cha Eui-jae barely managed to hold back the words that were about to burst out. The narrow cave was filled only with the sound of heavy breathing. Cha Eui-jae roughly rubbed his face with both hands to wipe it dry. He no longer had the strength to hide his true feelings. A weak voice escaped his lips.
"I just… wanted you to come out with me. You wouldn't have been alone in such a lonely place."
"…"
"That, the Tomato Market magic stone. I even used that to go in to get you."
"Ah, I see. I wondered how the passage had opened."
Lee Sa-young muttered. He carefully examined Cha Eui-jae's face, then whispered in a low voice.
"I wasn't lonely."
"…Don't lie."
"It's true. I wasn't lonely. Just…"
Lee Sa-young lowered his head and pressed his forehead against Cha Eui-jae's. His long, curly hair cascaded down, tickling his cheek and forehead. Warmth radiated from their touching foreheads.
"It was just… a bit, hard to wait."
"…"
"So… I was thinking about how… difficult it must have been for you, Hyung, in the West Sea rift. Because you had to endure eight years inside it."
Lee Sa-young lowered the arm he had been using to brace himself and collapsed into Cha Eui-jae's arms. Cha Eui-jae tightly embraced Lee Sa-young's back, holding him close, as if he would never let him go again. The vision that Lee Sa-young's body had been obscuring brightened. A pure white light poured down from above the hole.
Lee Sa-young's low whisper pierced his ears.
"You get lonely easily, Hyung…"
Cha Eui-jae stared blankly at the round sky. Strangely, he felt like he was about to cry. Foolishly, for it. Because he felt comforted. Lee Sa-young must have had a hard time, too.
"…If you knew."
His throat was constricted, and words wouldn't come out easily. Cha Eui-jae cleared his throat a few times before muttering.
"If you knew… don't pull your hand away from me next time. Don't think about leaving just one glove behind."
"…Yeah."
"Just stay by my side, quietly."
"That's what I should be saying. You're the one who shouldn't jump into things alone. You only have one life."
"…Right."
Cha Eui-jae tightly embraced Lee Sa-young, who had collapsed on top of him. They had each lost one of them. And they knew what awaited them at the end. The apocalypse.
Even if one of them survived, life would be meaningless without each other's only.
'I hope Lee Sa-young survives until the very end.'
If he couldn't, then just…
Cha Eui-jae muttered softly.
"Let's just… stay by each other's side. Whether the world collapses, the apocalypse comes, or whatever happens."
"…"
"That… seems like it would be a nice idea."
Wouldn't it be okay to die together? Cha Eui-jae suddenly had that thought.