Summons

"Annoyingly accurate."

Lee Sa-young slowly stood up and moved toward the fish tank. Leaning forward, he brought his face close to the glass, where violet eyes stared back at him from the blue and red surface. As he clenched his hands behind his back, his fingers moved with his grip. He still had control over his body.

Lee Sa-young, whom he had faced on the desolate shoreline. Those faded, pale violet eyes were unsettling, stained with a deep hue of loss. Lee Sa-young straightened up after staring idly at the goldfish in the tank.

"About Matthew, you asked J to pass it on to me, didn't you?"

"Huh? Yeah."

"Did you tell him in person?"

"Well… yeah? I didn't have his contact info. I heard J had entered our guild's dungeon."

"…"

Lee Sa-young felt his mind searching as he leaned on the tank. A few goldfish swam close to his hand, their fins fluttering.

Everything had been a mess since he woke up. When he opened his eyes, three months had passed, the world had drastically changed, and an unwelcome, powerful guest had taken residence in his body. Was it because they shared the same soul? Because they were both Lee Sa-young? If he let his guard down even a little, the control would be taken away.

The only thing keeping him sane was…

"Are you okay?"

Cha Eui-jae being by his side.

He tapped the tank with his fingers. The goldfish opened and closed their mouths.

His memories were all jumbled up. It took quite an effort to separate his memories from "Lee Sa-young's" memories.

They thought alike, as if proving they were the same person. There were even similar memories, and the people in them were often the same. To distinguish between them, he had to play a tedious game of spot-the-difference each time, identifying the dissonance in their near-identical memories.

Yet, amidst the mess, there were memories that were distinctly his own.

In his blurry vision, the white lab coats coming and going, the endless injections of unknown substances into his body, the awful sweetness in taste and smell, the restraints that held him down, the disgusting sensation of his skin and organs slowly melting away, the headache that felt like his skull was splitting, and the metallic taste of blood that lingered with every breath.

The nights spent wandering by the massive hollow in the middle of the ocean, where the remains of the rift had left a deep depression. The smell of the sea, which had been so ingrained in him that it now made him nauseous. The endless days of waiting for someone who would never return, holding on to a flimsy promise made only with fingers intertwined. And…

"Even twins born a minute apart can distinguish between who's older and younger!"

The old-fashioned, grumpy tone that didn't match the handsome face.

"I'm sorry for breaking my promise."

The pale, guilt-ridden face that couldn't even breathe properly, let alone meet his eyes.

'…'

The smile he flashed, even when facing monsters, baring his teeth.

The playful grin and the pout that accompanied every grumble, the eyes that darted around as he made excuses that didn't hold up.

The eyelids that slowly closed when they kissed, the warm, straight neck, the ears turning red with heat. The two hands and arms that wrapped around his neck.

All those memories of Cha Eui-jae and the memories given by Cha Eui-jae belonged solely to Lee Sa-young.

They were the only things that kept Lee Sa-young as Lee Sa-young.

"Why do you ask?"

Lee Sa-young turned his head. Honeybee was looking at him with an uneasy expression.

Should he ask? Yes. For some reason, the unwelcome guest had lost Cha Eui-jae. In that guy's world, Cha Eui-jae was dead. Afraid of losing control, he clung to Cha Eui-jae and searched through the scattered fragments of memories, but he couldn't find that particular memory.

The memory of Cha Eui-jae's death.

'If I knew how he died…'

At least he could try to prevent it. There was no guarantee that a death that had occurred once wouldn't happen again. Worse still, there were ominous signs in this world too. Bae Won-woo, who had lost an arm in the previous world, felt pain in his still-intact arm, and Honeybee saw the faces of those who had died in the previous world superimposed on others.

The influence of the destroyed world that had lost its warden was growing stronger.

The fear of losing him again.

Lee Sa-young gritted his teeth and turned completely to face Honeybee. He leaned against the tank. Whatever he was about to hear, he had to brace himself and accept it. It was all in the past world. He wouldn't be as helpless as the unwelcome guest. Lee Sa-young took a small breath and tilted his head.

"When you saw J, did you notice… anything?"

"Like what, something like the Mark of Cain?"

"Yeah."

"Now that you mention it…"

"…"

"Oh, that's strange. There wasn't anything."

"…What?"

The response was unexpected. Lee Sa-young frowned as Honeybee seemed lost in thought, her eyes rolling toward the ceiling. After staring at the ceiling for a while, she murmured.

"Yeah, nothing at all. If I had seen something, I would've remembered. It's J, after all."

"…"

"Maybe it was because of the mask? But that can't be… We've had masked hunters in our guild before, and I could still see it on them. Hmm… Could it be that he's not dead? I mean, it's J."

"No."

The firm words slipped out before he knew it. Honeybee widened her eyes and frowned.

"What? How can you be so sure?"

"…"

Lee Sa-young didn't answer. To be more precise, he didn't have the time to. In the previous world, Cha Eui-jae had died. But how? Why did he die?

No one had pursued J's trail as relentlessly as Lee Sa-young. He knew every grueling mission J had undertaken during his three years as a hunter. He had even seen glimpses of the horrific events in the West Sea rift. He had seen the piles of bones stacked high. Even in that hellish place, Cha Eui-jae had somehow made it out alive.

And yet.

'Why did he die?'

Why did he die?

What killed him?

Lee Sa-young glanced back down at the tank. Strangely enough, even without Cha Eui-jae by his side, the unwelcome guest was quiet. Only at times like this was it silent. Lee Sa-young twisted his lips. Not even a single fragment of a useful memory surfaced. There was no sensation, no emotion trickling through, as if a door had been locked.

'How convenient…'

He sneered at the unwelcome guest. Yet it remained silent. But he understood its mentality. If he were in the guest's situation, he would lock his memories too. So that no one else could see them. So that they would remain his and his alone.

At that moment, a chuckle broke the silence.

"Ha."

Honeybee, with a sarcastic tone, snapped.

"See, you do know something. Come on, spill it. I'm about to lose it right now."

"Do you think I'm any different?"

"Oh, right. Congratulations!"

Bang! The table rattled as Honeybee slammed her hands down on it, gritting her teeth.

"For a while now, I've been seeing Matthew die, bleeding out."

"…"

"God… I thought I was losing my mind. So I went to the doctor and got checked out. They said there was nothing wrong. No curses or anything!"

She roughly ran her hand through her hair. Even through the makeup, the dark circles under her eyes were visible.

"But then I hear his life is in danger. Because he's hooked on some stupid drug. Does that make any sense? What the hell."

A rough hand suddenly reached out and grabbed Lee Sa-young by the collar. He looked down at the hand gripping his collar with indifferent eyes. The calloused hand was trembling uncontrollably.

After a moment, the grip loosened, and Honeybee muttered.

"So… whatever it is, just give me the information."

"…"

"Please."

Sigh… Lee Sa-young let out a long breath. He knew all too well what she was feeling right now. And that made it all the more unpleasant. He placed his gloved hand over the one clutching his collar.

"Okay."

"…"

"I'll tell you that and the drug info. Just wait."

"…Really?"

Honeybee lifted her head quickly, then looked at him with skeptical eyes. Lee Sa-young removed her hand and nodded.

"I'm good at keeping promises…"

The comment had a bit of a sting to it.

"I've got a bit of a trauma with promises."

***

The sound of hurried footsteps was layered with various voices and noisy clamor. In the midst of the bustling fish market, a young man in a black coat and gas mask walked, his coat flaring behind him. People's curious glances followed him, but he paid them no mind.

Lee Sa-young took out his phone to check the time. It had been quite a while since he last exchanged messages. Was he okay? Judging by the mood of the merchants, it didn't seem like anything unusual had happened.

His gaze soon shifted forward. The one guiding Lee Sa-young wasn't a person, but a bright red goldfish floating in the air. Its fins lazily drifted.

"…"

Lee Sa-young tilted his head as he followed it. The goldfish wasn't leading him towards Jangmi Fisheries but was guiding him in a different, more secluded direction.

Where has he wandered off to now? Hopefully, he isn't waiting at a lost-and-found. Imagining Cha Eui-jae sitting there, pouting, almost made him feel better. His mood lightened slightly as a small smile crept onto his face.

The goldfish stopped in front of a door with bead curtains, resembling a visitor's room. A small sign was attached next to the door; "Video Room". Despite having visited the fish market several times before, he had never known this place existed until now.

'What are you up to now…'

Lee Sa-young frowned as he stared at the sign. A faint voice leaked out from inside. It was hard to make out anything but the voices from the Mackerels. Grasping the handle, he pushed the door open, and the first thing that greeted him was a large screen filling one wall. The second was…

"Ah, you're here."

It was Cha Eui-jae's voice, altered by the mask.