Baek Yi Hyun turned his gaze to the sky. My eyes remained fixed on the ground.

“Do you still regret not being able to save those people back then?”

“…What are you talking about?”

“What do you mean ‘what’? It’s only been 7 years.”

“It’s been 7 years already. And, there’s nothing to regret. I didn’t have the ability to begin with.”

It felt like chewing on sand in my mouth.

Actually, I didn’t dislike Baek Yi Hyun from the start. As fellow returnees and peers, he was the only one I could rely on. Despite endless comparisons, there was a time when I simply liked him.

That is, in the past.

“Shin A.”

Baek Yi Hyun called me in the heavy atmosphere. When I turned my head, clear blue eyes greeted me.

“…Why are you creating this mood again?”

“Do you want to awaken?”

He brought up the topic he had raised before. I felt as if time had stopped. I had recently heard those words from someone else too, but who was it…

“Do you still want to awaken now?”

When I didn’t answer, Baek Yi Hyun asked again as if urging me. I felt suffocated by that atmosphere, that gaze, that emotion.

Although it surely wasn’t his intention, why does that question feel like it’s criticizing me? As if asking if I think I could have saved people if I had awakened.

As if asking how dare I have such a delusion.

Is this too just my inferiority complex?

“…You.”

As I forced my unmoving lips to speak, I felt his emotions directed at me. I also felt all my senses acutely focused on Baek Yi Hyun.

“Why ask such a question? And you know I was joking when I said I didn’t like you, right? You know you’re my only friend.”

“…”

Though I answered lightly on purpose, Baek Yi Hyun returned silence. No, his gaze had already left me.

Come to think of it, when did this park become so deserted?

“Shin A.”

“Yes?”

“Duck!”

As he grabbed and pushed my body down, something passed over my head. A stench that made me wonder why I hadn’t noticed it until now assaulted me.

Baek Yi Hyun embraced me and rolled. With a thud, a rough sensation and pain arose.

Screech, screech screech.

In that place…

“Don’t look.”

There was a giant skeleton wielding a scythe.

A large hand covered my view. I felt nauseous. I could quickly realize that this stench was coming from corpses.

The sky fixed in red, a huge skeleton emitting the stench of death, a deserted park street.

Why didn’t I notice until now?

“Ugh!”

An intense headache pounded my head. Baek Yi Hyun lowered his hand to cover my mouth and held his breath.

“Kyaaaaaah-!”

“It’s a monster!”

Desperate screams were heard from all around. My breathing quickened.

Fresh red blood dripped from the scythe the skeleton was holding, as if it had just been stained.

Where did that blood come from?

“Ugh!”

My head rang again. At the same time, I heard someone’s voice.

‘Do you really think you can save them?’

It wasn’t like someone was speaking in my head like before. It was just that memories I had tried hard not to remember were surfacing like a nightmare…

“Shin A, Shin A! Wake up!”

Once again, I…

My vision went dark.

An alien space, unfamiliar coldness brushing against my skin. Terrible screams coming from a place a few steps away.

Why was I there again?

‘Do you really think you can save those people?’

A boy with a white face smiled. Still unable to escape a child’s way of thinking, I wondered. Why are you saying such things?

‘Let’s go. This is not where you should be.’

The boy said. My mouth moved on its own. Ah, what did I answer back then? A youthful voice burst out. His face contorted at my response.

The conversation I had with ‘that’ in that alien space.

…Was it simply a nightmare I had as a child, or a memory I forgot because I had to grow up?

My vision was red. There was a terrible headache pounding my head, an acrid smell, and the scent of blood that I just couldn’t get used to.

“Are you awake?”

“Where is…”

“For now, I brought you to a place that seemed safe. Though I’m not sure if there’s any safe place in an erosion gate…”

At his words, I looked around and saw debris everywhere. Among them was also a human arm with bones protruding from where it was broken.

“Ugh!”

Nausea welled up. It was surely a beautiful park before, but the scene engulfed in flames was unbearably horrific.

Someone once said that the gate most resembling doomsday would be the erosion gate.

Everything visible was only red. Was it because of the flames, or because of the red sky?

My throat felt tight. When I coughed lightly, Baek Yi Hyun patted my back.

To think we’d get caught up in an erosion gate, how unlucky. And on the day we went out, in the brief moment we stepped out.

Could this be karma?

“Shh.”

Baek Yi Hyun, who was patting my back, raised his index finger to signal me to be quiet. Beyond his gaze was a person running away screaming and…

“Oh, don’t come. Don’t come, don’t come-!”

“…Don’t look at such things.”

My view was blocked again.

But the horrible sounds still came through. Vivid screams, the sound of flesh being torn, thud. Even the sound of something falling to the ground.

“Ah, aah…”

“It’s okay, it’s okay.”

Traces of destruction faintly remaining everywhere suffocated me. I feel like throwing up. Baek Yi Hyun embraced me like that.

“On the way here, we briefly encountered a monster… You got a bit hurt too. I treated the wound right away, but you lost a lot of blood, so you might become anemic. …So don’t get excited.”

To think such a thing happened while I was unconscious. I should respond, but no sound came out of my mouth. Yi Hyun struggled alone…

“It’s an erosion type, so I realized it late. Does anywhere else hurt?”

“…No.”

When I answered calmly after taking a deep breath, Baek Yi Hyun smiled as if relieved. He spoke with his usual face, just in an ordinary tone.

“I was about to tell you earlier, but I think you should know too. The grade is unknown, we’ll need to properly appraise it to know. The attributes are death and darkness, looking at the skeletons, it seems to be a gate where undead-type monsters appear.”

“…The grade is unknown?”

“This happens sometimes. Detailed information only comes out with appraisal skills or items… We encountered monsters, so the attributes seem to have come out.”

“…Yeah.”

My head felt dull. Baek Yi Hyun added more explanations, but they didn’t reach my ears. The horrible scent of death coming from everywhere felt like it was numbing my senses.

A scream was heard from somewhere. Ah. Not just the park, but part of the apartment residential area was eroded too. The thoughts that came in my dazed state were utterly fragmentary.

“…Yi Hyun, Yi Hyun.”

“Yeah?”

“Over there, …there’s a particularly strong stench coming from over there. The smell of corpses and death. …I think there’s something there. So it would be better not to go in that direction. It seems monsters have gathered where people have gathered.”

“Huh? Ah… Okay. Got it.”

My head hurts. I don’t even know what I’m saying right now. It would be reasonable to dismiss it as nonsense from an unawakened person, but Baek Yi Hyun accepted my words as they were.

The people over there will soon meet a terrible death. If they’re lucky, they’ll fall into eternal sleep as they are, and if they’re unlucky, their souls will be bound to the gate, unable to properly meet death and wander inside.

Someone in my head asked me.

Aren’t you going to save those people?

I answered.

There’s nothing I can do, what am I supposed to do?

Amidst thoughts bordering on obstinacy, Baek Yi Hyun’s gentle voice was heard.

“I see. According to what you’re saying, there’s a boss monster near the lake, and monsters have gathered around the apartments, right?”

“…Yeah.”

“Okay. Then let’s escape to the back.”

Baek Yi Hyun took my hand and started walking somewhere. One step, then another. With each step, my vision became clearer. At the same time, emotions I had tried to suppress burst out.

“Ugh, uh…”

Even though I know it’s not my fault, I feel sorry, so sorry. Because I can’t save them, because I’m resentful of why I have to be in a place like this. Because it feels like I’m cowardly surviving alone. Because it feels like if I hadn’t been here, this erosion wouldn’t have happened. Because it feels like everything is my fault.

Because of all that, I feel miserable.

Baek Yi Hyun said nothing and just held my hand as we ran. Even in those moments, a chilling sensation brushed against my back. Due to the black aura of death, it felt so clear how living beings were dying out moment by moment.

“This area should be fine for a while.”

The place we had fled to was a corner of the park where the fire hadn’t spread yet. Baek Yi Hyun caught his breath and handed me a bottle of red liquid and a small hammer as I shed tears.

“…What’s this?”

“A low-grade potion and a weapon with no special functions but sturdy. Just in case, keep them.”

“…Wouldn’t it be better for you to have them than me.”

“I have plenty of other things, so it’s fine. You never know. Put them away.”

“…Okay.”

After that, until I calmed down, Baek Yi Hyun silently stood by my side.

“…Yi Hyun, I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“You got caught up in this because of me. If only I hadn’t come here with you… If it wasn’t today, if only I hadn’t wanted to go outside…”

“Shin A.”

“Yes?”

Clap, a loud clap rang out. What if you make a loud noise? Monsters might come. Before I could even speak those words.

“How is this your fault?”

Baek Yi Hyun looked at me with a stern expression.

“If we’re going to talk about fault, I’m the one who recklessly brought you along. I’m also the one who said it wasn’t right to just stay cooped up.”

“…But.”

“Rather, you got caught up in this because of me. And, I think I’m fortunate that I can protect you like this.”

“…”

As if he had never acted otherwise, he once again showed his usual gentle expression.

Why does that sight make me feel relieved?