Chapter Text
The first thing that greeted Cha Eui-jae when he woke up was a horrible stench, followed by an urge to throw up. The world was spinning, and he had no idea where he was. The last thing he remembered was stabbing the head of the basilisk. And then… everything went white.
Through his blurry vision, he noticed a familiar giant black hole in the middle of the night sky. Not a pure white sky, which meant he had returned to reality, since black holes were not visible within rifts.
But just in case, Cha Eui-jae decided to activate his ability by closing his eyes.
<Tracker’s Eye!>
When he opened them again, his eyes emitted an ethereal blue glow. With the moonlight enhancing his ash-like hair, many would mistake him for an angel fallen from the sky.
It was a skill that let him see the unique light of living beings, very useful for locating survivors and dangerous threats. Cha Eui-jae scanned his surroundings and suddenly—wham!
A blazing violet flame caught his attention. It was the largest flame he had ever seen, seemingly devouring everything in sight.
Danger!
Cha Eui-jae’s hunter instinct kicked in and he quickly climbed out of the trash bins. Forgetting his body’s condition, he nearly doubled over, but he hurriedly regained his composure and rushed toward the source of the flame.
The blaze was unusual; sharp and intense, like a monster’s. He had to check it himself. Was it a powerful hunter or a monster lurking in the dark? Cha Eui-jae judged it was likely the latter; as far as he knew, no hunter produced flames like this. If it was a monster, he had to take care of it before it could harm any civilians. His grip on the basilisk’s fang tightened.
As he got closer, he heard thuds and muffled groans. What he didn’t expect was to see a figure beating up another person. At the center of the purple flame, a large figure in black was mercilessly kicking someone curled up on the ground.
The overwhelming aura coming from the figure prickled at his skin. In that instant, he understood: the person before him was the same grade as him: S-grade.
“Umm…”
Like the dutiful hunter he was, Cha Eui-jae decided to step in. The figure snapped his head toward him. Cha Eui-jae deactivated his skill to get a clear look. It was a man wearing a gas mask that covered his entire face, dressed in black tactical gear and shiny leather shoes stained with something red. Blood. He looked unmistakably like a hunter, but his actions suggested otherwise.
Beating up people was not okay!
After a long silence of both parties observing each other, the man in the gas mask finally spoke.
“J?”
“… Yeah?”
Cha Eui-jae replied casually, completely forgetting the absence of his signature mask.
“Are you a hunter?”
Cha Eui-jae chose to ask the question that had been nagging at him. Just then, the man on the ground twitched, and the gas-masked man kicked him in the stomach, his eyes never leaving Cha Eui-jae.
“It is not what it looks like, Hyung!”
Cha Eui-jae raised his eyebrow in disbelief at the man’s exclamatory claim.
“Then, explain.”
“This guy is high on drugs, and I’m stopping him before he can harm anyone. Right?”
He proceeded to kick again, earning a groan in response. Then he looked at Cha Eui-jae again, as if to say, ‘See? He agreed’.
“Sorry, it seems I misunderstood. I’ll be going then.”
“Wait.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t you feel like you’ve seen me before or something?”
“Hmmm, not really. Have we met before?”
“…”
Cha Eui-jae stared at the gas mask, but there was no hint of recognition. He might be wrong, since the other party’s face was covered. He guessed this guy must have awakened recently while he was inside the West Sea rift. Just as he was about to ask him to take off the mask, a strange sound interrupted them.
Creak… creak…
Screeeeeeech!
Sharp spikes burst from the back of the man on the ground, shooting toward Cha Eui-jae. He didn’t panic instead he simply adjusted his grip on his sword and then—
Kaaang!
With a precise swing, he deflected all the spikes. Feeling proud, he flexed his fingers a few times, noticing the gas-masked man holding one of the deflected spikes in his hand.
“I totally understand now.”
“What?”
“The reason why you were beating this guy earlier.”
Cha Eui-jae nodded as if he had just discovered the fruit of knowledge. There was no one he could tell anyway, so it was easier to pretend he hadn’t seen anything. As the masked man was about to say something, a loud grumble cut him off.
“…”
“…”
It came from Cha Eui-jae’s stomach. The gas-masked man quickly typed something on his phone and turned back to him.
“I’ll treat you to something, Hyung.”
“What about this guy?”
Cha Eui-jae gestured to the unconscious man on the ground.
“Don’t worry, Hyung. My subordinates will handle him. Let’s go.”
Without waiting for an answer, the man grabbed Cha Eui-jae’s hand and with his free hand, he tore a crumpled piece of paper. The surroundings faded away like wet oil paintings. A moment later, they were standing at the entrance of a house.
“Where are we?”
“My place.”
The house owner walked inside as if nothing unusual had happened and fetched him a bottle of water. He pointed at a chair, indicating that Cha Eui-jae should sit.
“Thanks.”
Cha Eui-jae looked around. The interior was large, but despite being lived in, it felt strange. There was no warmth–only emptiness.
He suddenly realized he had never asked for the man’s name, yet here he was inside his house.
“I’ll ask him later.”
As he thought to himself, the man returned with a delivery bag full of food.
When did he order?
_____
While Cha Eui-jae was eating like a starved animal, the house owner simply watched him. He claimed he was ‘already full just watching him eat’.
“Oh, I nearly forgot to ask. What’s your name?”
“It’s Lee Sa-young.”
Cha Eui-jae thanked him politely, despite still being unsure about the man behind the gas mask. Once his hunger faded, his thoughts finally had room to resurface. Time… how long has it been?
He squinted at the calendar on the wall.
And almost choked on nothing.
Lee Sa-young rushed over and handed him a bottle of water. Even with the mask on, concern was obvious in the tilt of his head and the urgency in his movements.
Cha Eui-jae took a sip, trying to steady the storm rising in his chest.
But before he could breathe properly, the large TV across the room flickered to life.
“Eight years ago, a Grade-5 rift occurred at the West Sea…”
His blood ran cold.
The broadcast showed familiar faces of hunters he had fought beside, hunters he had failed to save. People who had laughed with him, joked with him. They were names written as casualties now.
The rest of the report blurred into meaningless noise.
The air felt too thin. His pulse pounded in his ears. His fingers numbed. Sweat rolled down his temples and his vision narrowed. Lee Sa-young’s voice reached him, but it was muffled, like he was underwater.
Eight years. Eight years. Eight–
‘Eight years have passed?’
His mind rejected it. This couldn’t be real. This had to be a nightmare.
Desperate, he grabbed Lee Sa-young’s wrist.
“Hey—Is it true? Eight years have passed?”
Lee Sa-young hesitated for only a moment.
“…Yes.”
Cha Eui-jae’s knees buckled and he dropped back into the chair. His hands trembled violently; he hadn’t even noticed he was standing.
Did I time travel? Die? Get resurrected?
Why am I here? Why now?
His breath came out shallow and rapid, refusing to calm no matter how hard he tried. Then–
A cold touch pressed gently against his cheek. Lee Sa-young had placed a chilled water bottle against his skin, grounding him.
“Hyung.”
His voice was calm, steady. Almost soft.
“Don’t think too much all at once, Hyung”
Those purple eyes. Those strange, unwavering eyes seemed to see through the chaos in his mind.
Cha Eui-jae blinked, the world slowly returning to focus.
Wait–
“I don’t have my mask…?”
He reached up to his bare face in shock. His expression wrinkled as panic turned into embarrassment.
“I’ll keep it a secret,” Lee Sa-young assured him lightly. “Just between us.”
Cha Eui-jae let out a shaky breath and thanked him again, completely missing the smiling curve in Lee Sa-young’s eyes behind the gas mask.