The cry became even more fierce, directed precisely at the galaxy. The galaxy raised its eyes sharply without backing away. As she clenched the torn cloth, tears of rain or blood poured down.

“……Monster bastard.”

It felt like the blood was rushing back.

Once, or just an hour ago, looking at those pieces of debris that must have had a form.

Thinking that her mother, who only had one dangling arm left, might have been corroded in their stomachs in that way.

Thinking about taking this torn piece of clothing to the man who begged to save his daughter even with a hole in his stomach,

She really couldn’t be sane.

Shiiiiiek!

Bang!

Boom!

She honestly couldn’t remember well from that point on.

Countless charred corpses. And it seemed that she came to her senses among other hunters staring at her with bright blue eyes and a disgusting stench.

After that day, the galaxy became a squad leader. It was a ridiculous thing. That someone who had only experienced real combat once was immediately promoted to squad leader.

The reason was simple. The previous squad leader had died. And that the galaxy had exterminated the most monsters.

Many people died, and many monsters were killed. The reason the galaxy became a squad leader was as simple as that.

Not only the position of squad leader, but a bonus worth more than the galaxy’s college tuition returned to the galaxy.

With dreams and life shaved off, stepping on the corpses of comrades and slashing monsters, the money she finally managed to get her hands on. The galaxy used that money to move her mother’s grave to a better place.

Finally, facing her mother’s grave properly, the galaxy tried to reach out to the cold, cooled gravestone.

“…….”

Hardened scabs.

Scars that hadn’t all disappeared.

Dirt stuck between her fingernails.

The galaxy stared at the hand that almost touched her mother’s gravestone.

─She couldn’t.

The radio rang out at that moment.

「In Paju, Gyeonggido, red lightning occurred at Hunter Training Center 601. Expected difficulty unknown. All members of the 17th Battalion, 1st and 2nd Company, deploy promptly. Repeating. In Paju, Gyeonggido, 601 Hunter Training Center…….」

The galaxy turned around.

A suddenly blowing dry wind forcefully parted her and her mother and passed by.

Facing the sunset, the finally cooled graveyard seemed to scold her for some reason.

(This is a time delimiter.)

More than 30 years have passed since then.

“…….”

Black eyelashes cast a faint shadow on her cheeks. The galaxy looked down at her mother’s gravestone, standing like a scarecrow.

After hesitating for so long, the galaxy slowly bent over.

She carefully placed down the bouquet in her hand. The flowers she bought on the way were made up of only the flowers her mother liked, but the wrapping paper was wrinkled from holding them for so long.

“Mom, I’m here.”

There was no answer in return. Instead, a breeze with a faint hint of moisture brushed past the galaxy’s cheek. The smell of earth and wood, and it seemed like there was a faint smell of soybean paste stew from somewhere.

For a moment, the galaxy sniffed her sleeve. She did it just in case the smell of blood might linger.

She thought she didn’t smell anything herself, but the galaxy stealthily took a step back.
Standing a step away and gazing at the tombstone, she suddenly felt a sense of dissonance.

“……?”

The area around the tombstone felt strangely clean. The wild weeds that used to grow thickly seemed orderly……

‘This is.’

She saw the trace of someone having burnt incense, just like before. Eun Ha swiped the gray ash with her finger. The incense hadn’t been burning for long.

‘Who in the world.’

Eun Ha carefully recalled her memories, but no one who would visit her mother’s grave came to mind.

Standing in silence, guarding the tombstone, dusk came before she knew it.

Eun Ha tidied up the surroundings and slowly rose to her feet. She couldn’t deduce who had visited her mother’s grave until the end.

“I’ll come again.”

There were many words she couldn’t say today, and many words she couldn’t hear. Leaving all of that behind, she moved slowly.

Brrrr─

Her cell phone vibrated.

It was a message from Shi Woo. Eun Ha, who was looking at the screen absentmindedly, put her phone away. Soon after, the bell began to ring.

Rrrrr…….

010[Dash]XXXX[Dash]XXXX

After a moment’s hesitation, Eun Ha slowly swiped the screen.

“Hello.”

「Senior, you’re not at home, are you?」

“Yes. I had some business.”

「Are you alright?」

“What is.”

「You haven’t been caught by the police station again, have you?」

What does he think of me? Eun Ha faintly scowled.

“No. I just came out nearby.”

Her vision caught a glimpse of her mother’s tombstone as she spoke.

“……Did you, by any chance, stop by my mom’s grave?”

「No. Why?」

It wasn’t Shi Woo.

Even when she first visited the grave with him, there were signs that someone had visited. Then, a friend of her mother? But how would they know the location of the grave?

Lost in deep thought, Shi Woo’s voice came through the handset again.

「Anyway, senior. You haven’t had dinner yet, have you?」

“Not yet, but I don’t have much of an appetite.”

Speaking in an indifferent tone, she was interrupted.

「You remember the ‘Kim Yoonrye Grandma’s Gukbap’ that you said you wanted to eat last time?」

Stop.

「I just came into the store.」

Eun Ha, who had stopped in her tracks, licked her lips with a rather serious face.

“……How?”

Kim Yoonrye Grandma’s Sundae Gukbap was a small gukbap shop located behind the high school Eun Ha used to attend. It was also a place she often went with her mother.

Now, the grandmother had passed away, and her son had inherited the 2nd generation. Thanks to remodeling the interior and appearing on TV, it has become a very famous restaurant today.

To eat there, one had to wait at least two hours… Wait a minute.

“You didn’t wait, did you?”

「Yes.」

Oh my God.

He didn’t seem to have that much free time.

No, more importantly, if he was really waiting at the gukbap shop, now was not the time to be talking.

“I’m coming now.”

Eun Ha immediately hung up. It seemed like she heard a faint laugh on the other end.

She hurried towards the restaurant of memories, but thinking back, it was strange. She could have asked Manager Park, but why did Shi Woo personally go to the gukbap shop?

As she turned the corner with these unsolved questions, it was then.

─A foul smell came from somewhere.

‘……Fire?’

Turning her head, she saw black smoke rising not far away. Loud siren sounds and urgent cries of people followed.

“What? Is there a fire?”

“Wow. Look at that smoke.”

“It must be pretty big. Let’s go check it out!”

The pedestrians who were walking on the road began to murmur. Eun Ha had to pass that way to go home, so she also headed in that direction.

The closer she got to the scene, the denser the air seemed to become. Turning the corner, a tall hotel building came into view.

“Wow, that’s a hotel.”

“This is crazy. This will make the news, right?”

Click, click.

The pedestrians stopped one after the other, flashing their cameras.

The hotel, engulfed in a fierce fire, was spewing black smoke from the windows of each floor.
Eun Ha frowned and covered her mouth and nose. The smog was so severe that her eyes and nose were stinging.

A gas explosion accident? Or an arson case?

‘No.’

Eun Ha stopped moving abruptly. And she slightly lifted her index finger, starting to count the hotel floors.

One, two, three…….

Precisely from the 3rd floor, that thing that sparked and sizzled.

‘It’s a crack.’

In other words, this was not a fire scene but a gate appearance scene.