chapter 1
1 – Hayeon Baek-1
“Then let’s go home from work today!”
“Go in carefully. Don’t run behind the monsters and avoid the gate as much as possible before entering.”
The eyes of the president who said that were perfect and sincere.
This is an era where the gate bursts dozens of times a day. If the gate explodes unluckyly around you, you’ll follow that path.
“Don’t worry because you’ll never die. Be careful with the boss. If a gate explodes around you, leave the store and everything and run away.”
“Heung! It’s enough to catch monsters with this!”
The boss pulled out a large gun and showed it. The gun specially designed for monsters gave off a heavy atmosphere.
“And this is the downtown area, even if the gate explodes, the Awoken will come soon, so you can hold out for that amount of time.”
“But be careful. If you die, it’s the end.”
“There are no big regrets in life.”
Anyway, that old man doesn’t even pretend to listen to people talking.
“Anyway, I’m really going.”
As I walked out of the store, I saw a sign that said our gunslinger.
‘Have you been working here for 10 years already?’
I thought I had been working for a long time. I started working when I was 15, and now I am 25, so I have been with this store for two-fifths of my life.
It reminded me of the big and small incidents that had happened in the meantime.
It was really trivial memories, from the time I came without anything and begged to do chores, to the Awakened people messing around, to drinking alcohol while eating meat with the boss.
‘Now that I’m thinking like this, I feel like a person who’s leaving somewhere.’
I’m actually going back to work tomorrow morning.
As I walked away from my thoughts, I saw the boundary between the downtown area and the slums.
A familiar face could be seen between the two districts separated by a single building.
“Myunghwan hyung, is hyung on duty today?”
“That’s it.”
He knew the faces of the people who had been commuting to and from the slums and the downtown district for 10 years and had been monitoring the boundary area.
Myunghwan hyung is especially close,
“I can’t even look at you today. I have to go after a body search.”
“You don’t usually do that? Is there something going on?”
At my question, Myung-hwan sighed deeply.
“You know Baek Ha-yeon, right?”
“Aren’t you an Awakener who has been assigned to the city as the captain of the guard this time?”
“That’s right, he went directly to the slums to find his brother, as if he still couldn’t give up.”
“Are you still doing that?”
Baek Ha-yeon is quite a famous Awakener. No, it may not be enough to express it in words, but it is said that he is a great Awakener who achieved the achievement of being an S-Class Awakener at the age of 23, so he is attracting attention from within the Sun Guild as a leader who will lead the next generation.
At least those in the city within the Sun Guild’s sphere of influence couldn’t have known her, but it was common knowledge shared by all citizens that she had done all sorts of things to find her brother, whom she had separated from when she was young. Once in our city, the city where I lived when I was young, whenever I had a chance, I would come and search for it, and I would publicize it extensively through the news.
“Of course it’s not right to think he’s dead, right? They said they’ve been apart for over 15 years?”
I heard that my brother wasn’t even an awakened person, but if he didn’t come out to this extent, of course he was dead. If he were still alive, he would have visited him long ago and lived happily under the protection of an S-class Awakener.
‘… is not it.’
I don’t think so, but if Baek Ha-yeon’s true identity is that child I know… .
‘No, I can’t.’
Baek Ha-yeon, the Awakened, said that what she was looking for was her brother. He and I are not related by blood and have not been together for very long.
Baek Ha-yeon said that she is a person she is so grateful that she would not be where she is today if it were not for her brother.
But the child in my memory was brilliant from the first time I met him. Unlike me who couldn’t even wake up, I had a strong awakening ability and was very strong even at a young age. He must have grown up well without me.
“That’s why. If it doesn’t come out at this point, I’ll have to give up. I heard that impersonators don’t appear these days?”
“If you come out, I’ll kill you right away.”
She, who was an A-class awakener five years ago, is looking for her brother for the first time. Just when she opened her mouth, countless people claiming to be Baek Ha-yeon’s older brother visited her. I can’t remember exactly, but I think there were about 10 people, but now no one has been confirmed alive or dead. No one is talking about it, but everyone is guessing. That she had killed them for daring to impersonate her brother, or at least pressured them to the point of preventing them from appearing in society.
“Anyway, so I have to search myself and pass.”
“How can a petit bourgeois like me harm an S-class Awakener with anything?”
It was clear that even if I fired the gun the boss had earlier from within 1 meter, it wouldn’t leave a single scratch on my body.
“I think so too, but since it’s from above, I have to.”
After a light body search, we entered the slums.
The slums looked completely different from the downtown. Most of the ground was pitted or broken, and not a single building was still standing.
‘The atmosphere is cluttered.’
It was different from the usual quiet slums. I often saw older brothers who looked like they were going to use strength, and I could see that everyone was anxious.
In fact, the head of the guard, Naeuri, said that he searched the slums, and there must have been more than one or two places where fire fell on his feet.
‘I don’t have anything special’
In the first place, even though I had citizenship, I was living in a slum just to save money, so there was nothing legally disturbing unless I was beaten to death by an Awakener who was in a bad mood.
I moved slowly and walked home.
‘Where did this man go?’
The mute man who usually sat and begged was nowhere to be seen. No, to be precise, no one was standing in the alley leading to our house.
It felt like a chill went down my spine. Shouldn’t it be time to turn around and get out of the alley?
Couldn’t I be walking into the tiger’s mouth?
‘Okay, let’s sleep downtown tonight.’
It’s late at night, but if you pay extra, you’ll have a place to sleep.
If you have nowhere else to go, ask the boss for your understanding and sleep in the store.
As I made up my mind and turned around, I heard a sound from behind.
“Wait a minute, can you stop?”
It was a beautiful voice. It was an insubstantial voice, but it was a clean, white voice.
With that kind of voice and coercive tone, I even felt that he was noble.
slowly turned around My body was so tense that I could hear it creaking in my throat.
“Are you this Suhyeon who lives around here?”
Was it slightly taller than me? He wasn’t that tall for an Awakener.
White hair that shines so flawlessly that you wonder how it can be so clean, golden eyes that shine brightly that seem to contain everything in the world, skin as smooth as porcelain,
Although I had never seen a picture of Baek Ha-yeon, I was the woman Baek Ha-yeon described in the article was.
But to me, her appearance came first as a crying girl who barely survived in the monster field rather than an S-class awakened person named Baek Ha-yeon.
“Yes, why did you look for me?”
His voice trembled with tension. I hope you don’t understand? It’s already been over 15 years since we broke up. You won’t be able to understand the voice of a person you’ve been with for just a year, or even a voice that has gone through puberty.
“This is where I lived when I was young, and when I asked the people around me, they said that this man named Suhyeon had been living there for over 10 years.”
She slowly came towards me.
The momentum of the S class was very heavy. Even though it was clear that he was not trying to pressure me, I felt a strong pressure on my shoulders with every step he took.
I struggled to keep my legs from loosening from the tension.
“I ask straight forward, do you know the whereabouts of my brother?”
‘What should I do?’
i am the person you are looking for and clarify?
Then it will be convenient. It is different from many impersonations that have appeared so far. I am sharing memories with her. With just a few words, she would know that I was the person she had been looking for, and I didn’t know if I would be able to live happily for the rest of my life thanks to my sister who grew up as an S-class.
“I do not know.”
I don’t know why that word came out. It was a word that came out of my mouth first without processing it in my brain, but maybe this is my sincerity, I don’t want to be uncomfortable with being involved with a high awakener.
“Hmm, then there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Baek Ha-yeon walked past me. The refreshing scent of mint crossed his nose as she passed right by.
“If you recall any memories of a man I met here as a child, please let me know.”
After saying those words, Baek Ha-yeon disappeared from the alleyway.
Baek Ha-yeon, who had a huge influence on the entire alley by herself, disappeared, and the alleyway seemed even more empty.
-dump…
The tension was relieved and he sat down on the floor. I hit my knee on the stone floor and it hurt a little, but I didn’t feel much.