I was terrified.
So terrified that I couldn’t even think about running away. All I could do was nod and pray this conversation wouldn’t turn into something difficult.
What on earth did he want to talk about?
Was he going to ask why I’d called him in the middle of fighting that pathetic Creature?
My whole body trembled in dread as I braced myself.
But the next words shattered that resolve to pieces.
“Let’s go to my place first~?”
My jaw dropped.
That was... the last thing I’d expected.
Why...
Why all of a sudden?
I stared dumbly at the senior’s calm smile. Tall, composed, dressed in a short-sleeved shirt with an ivory overshirt, and wearing semi-transparent rimmed glasses. He looked off-duty.
In a certain way, he was sometimes even scarier than Yun.
My reflexes betrayed me.
“Wouldn’t a café be fine instead?”
“Nope~. Not fine....”
“A restaurant with private rooms?”
“Nope~. That won’t do either~.”
My heart clenched tight with dread and despair.
Ricardo saw my reaction and curved his long eyes into a smile.
“My car’s cleaned, so we’ll take mine....”
“Right... right now?”
“Unless you’ve got plans~.”
I wanted to say yes, I did.
But lying and getting caught would probably end worse.
Failing miserably to control my expression, I nodded.
The green-eyed senior smiled faintly.
Without hesitation, he started walking. The hospital lobby bathed in warm summer sunlight suddenly felt eerie. Had it really been such a grave sin to call him during a mission? Well... it wasn’t exactly forgivable, and I had poured fuel on that fire.
If only I still had my phone, I’d have sent an SOS to Ami or Yun.
I missed Choi Yun, of all people.
Head down, lips sealed, I heard his voice again.
“I was gonna invite the two-tone kid too, but she’s starting a long-term mission today~.”
“Shu?”
“She said she’d call you herself once she’s back~...”
For what?
I couldn’t follow the context at all. Ricardo wasn’t the type to care about games, and Shu wasn’t on the same task force as him, so it wasn’t about old operations either.
What business could he possibly have with her at his house?
But I didn’t ask, and Ricardo didn’t explain.
As we walked toward the underground parking lot, the green-eyed senior murmured to himself,
“That kid’s really something else....”
She certainly had a unique aura.
When she comes back, I should take her to that game center Colton built.
Thinking that, I forced my reluctant legs to move.
***
The green car was spotless.
When I started to bring up cleaning costs, Ricardo silenced me with a flick of his hand. I sat in the passenger seat like a condemned man headed for execution.
The midday sun poured through the windows.
I stared blankly out the window when he asked a question.
“Lunch—?”
My answer came out disciplined and rigid.
“I haven’t eaten, sir. But I’m fine.”
“Well... I see.... Might be better on an empty stomach~.”
“Sorry? What?”
What was that supposed to mean?
Why was he suddenly talking like John Mühlen?
Surely he wasn’t taking me home to sell my organs or something...
I showed pure horror all over my face, but he didn’t even glance at me.
He didn’t say anything else either. Ricardo just focused on driving, completely silent. Sitting there with my mouth half-open, I hurriedly composed my face and looked away.
I had no courage to start a conversation, so I sat in silence until we reached the destination.
A quiet residential neighborhood, about forty minutes from HQ.
He pulled into a garage — impeccably maintained, like the house itself.
It was neat and beautiful.
The lower walls were built of red basalt, the upper of white lime and plaster.
So clean and tasteful. Just like him.
“...Excuse me.”
I muttered as I followed behind.
“Your house is... really beautiful.”
He tossed his car key toward a wall rack where it landed perfectly.
While I copied him and slipped into slippers, my eyes caught something that didn’t fit the modern interior.
A gaming console, sitting in front of a gray sofa.
On the low marble table — the kind that should only have an ashtray — stood a monitor and a console.
I blinked.
“Is that Shu’s game console?”
“Yeah.... You’ll be the one using it soon~.”
Me?
Wait. That’s From E.
I stepped closer, picked up the controller. The screen flickered from sleep mode to life, displaying the familiar title. The BGM hit my ears — and I forgot how to speak.
Ricardo came back holding a cup of water.
“You can at least drink some water, right~...”
“Ah, thank you.”
“You heard the Easter Egg was discovered, didn’t you~?”
“Yes. But they said it still wasn’t fully solved.”
“Sit down....”
He pointed to the sofa.
“Watch it first, then we’ll talk....”
What is happening?
I had a mountain of questions, but didn’t ask a single one.
I was used to obeying orders without explanation — Yun had never been one for words either. A year under him had trained that reflex in well.
I sat down and picked up the controller.
Ricardo sat beside me.
“Load the most recent save file~.”
I did as told.
At the castle, I picked up the broken royal bow and approached the statue.
When I placed the item and prayed, a basement appeared.
Up to that point, I was simply excited — not thinking much.
Even when I found the line of statues in that eerie temple, I was just intrigued.
But when I pressed the book on the altar, I forgot how to breathe.
[When your successor points your own blood at you]
Ricardo took the controller from my hands.
“I’ll enter the answer~.”
He typed in a date.
Eight digits — the same date that had burned into my mind ever since I’d looked it up online.
When he finished, words began appearing across the once-blank pages.
I read them without breathing.
Everything else vanished.
I drowned in the words of Eve echoing in my ears.
***
The sentence stopped there.
I stared at the unmoving screen.
Then realized I wasn’t breathing properly.
Short, ragged breaths.
I bent forward to pull in air — it didn’t help.
My breathing grew harsher, tinnitus roared in my ears.
Can’t breathe—
“Here, hold this and breathe.”
Someone grabbed my shoulder roughly and pushed me back.
Through my narrowing vision, I saw a brown paper bag.
“In through your nose, out through your mouth.”
My trembling hands clutched it.
The other person kept a hand on me — maybe on my shoulder, maybe my back.
Or was he holding the bag?
Why was he holding the bag?
My brain stopped working.
Breathing gradually steadied. I just kept inhaling and exhaling, forgetting how to move otherwise. The tunnel vision widened again.
And memories came flooding back.
I’d failed to persuade Rei. I’d thought there was still a chance to reach him — that maybe I could stop the catastrophe.
But history hadn’t gone that way.
What had I tried to say to him?
That, I still couldn’t remember.
What I could recall was standing in that vast research hall, facing my own kind.
Weapons aimed at one another. Blood staining the hems of their coats. Kyle and his followers had surely killed many researchers on their way here. Those who supported me had been powerless to stop it.
But it wasn’t too late yet.
Not yet...
“Please.”
The plea was rejected.
And that was how the war began.
I remembered gritting my teeth and swinging my blade at my kin.
A memory even the “voice of the dream” hadn’t been able to dig up.
Fragments that had only flickered back to me on the subway.
“Bathroom.”
Muffling my mouth, I muttered the word — someone hauled me up.
Urgh.
The sight of the toilet bowl made me retch. Thankfully, there was nothing in my stomach. The nausea was so violent I thought I might vomit out my entire insides.
I vomited watery bile for a long while.
My eyes blurred with tears ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) born of pure physical strain.
Struggling for breath, I muttered,
“I’m sorry.”
“Just keep puking~.”
A firm hand patted my back.
“Knew this would happen, that’s why I dragged you here....”
Clutching the toilet, I emptied my stomach a few more times.
Enough. I had to stop — I was being a burden. I needed to pull myself together. But the instant I remembered the sensation of killing my own kind, my stomach twisted again. The white laboratory covered in muscle, organs, shreds of flesh.
Where did I go wrong?
I’d managed balance for decades.
“What should I have done differently...”
“Well. Maybe it couldn’t have been stopped~.”
No.
“If only I’d handled it better...”
“If you’d handled it better?”
“Then the war...”
“You think it wouldn’t have happened?”
The voice beside me asked sharply.
Anger, quietly laced through his tone.
“You think you alone could’ve stopped a war? That your actions alone would’ve changed everything?”
Who could possibly know the right answer?
If I could turn back time — go back with all my memories and choose only the “correct” paths — maybe the tragedy wouldn’t repeat. Maybe my decisions could’ve stopped the slaughter, the war.
It had been my choice to raise a blade against my own species.
Eve.
A scientist who wanted neither fame nor fortune.
A genius who truly believed our meeting with humanity was a blessing.
With that faith, she’d abandoned her name, her home, and every tie — and spent long years with me. Just as I’d watched Colton grow old, I’d watched Eve age too. The genius known only within a sealed research facility had no fame or wealth, yet she was always content.
Nol had admired her pure passion deeply....
“I have to go.”
I muttered as I pushed myself up by the sink.
“I have to do K....”
“Bullshit.”
Someone grabbed me roughly.
Then dragged me to the sink. My whole body trembled — I couldn’t resist.
Cold water splashed over my face.
Huge hands scrubbed at me relentlessly. Drenched and disoriented, I couldn’t even think straight.
He didn’t stop until I was clean, and then hauled me out of the bathroom.
My body hit the bed with a thud.
“Go to sleep~.”
A blanket dropped over my head; I couldn’t see him anymore.
“If you crawl out, I’ll knock you out for real, so stay put~...”
As soon as he finished, the lights went out and he left the room.
Lying there drained, I listened to the fading sounds — the door closing, footsteps receding, faint clatter of tidying up.
The sound of glass shards being gathered...
Those sounds blurred away, and at some point, consciousness faded.
***
When I woke, the room was dark.
I stared up at the ceiling washed in faint bluish shadow.
Then slowly sat up and stepped outside.
Stumbling a little, I followed the sounds that led me easily enough.
Ricardo was in the kitchen, lazily shaking a frying pan.
“Senior...”
“Awake~?”
He answered without turning around.
“Then stop dawdling and set the table....”
