Chapter 106: Rematch

“Suddenly, home?

What are you talking about, hyung.”

It seems Jaeyul really doesn’t know that the gate has a back door.

Suddenly, I remember the room I passed through when I was trapped in a gate in the past.

The notebooks with the name Seon Jaeyul written in them and the shabby household goods that looked like they had been picked up from here and there.

It’s a story I haven’t even told Jaeyul because I couldn’t understand the space myself.

If he’s never been there, how on earth was Jaeyul’s name there?

It was a question that still remained.

I don’t know if that space will appear again, but would it be okay to show it to Jaeyul?

I’ll have to think about it on the way.

“We can get out.

Even if the gate entrance is closed, there’s another way out.”

What a reckless and foolish kid.

Why would he jump into a collapsing gate when he doesn’t even know this fact?

“…There’s something like that?”

“I didn’t tell you because I was worried you’d worry, but I’ve been trapped like this once before and got out.”

Jaeyul’s face, which had been dumbfounded at the story of another exit, gradually turned displeased.

It’s a familiar face.

That’s the face he makes before he starts a long nagging… no, a lecture.

I know everything he’s going to say without even hearing it.

Things like, why didn’t you tell me, and what kind of dangerous things are you doing when I told you to be so careful.

My eardrums might burst if I have to listen to that long story again, so I struck first.

“Did you really jump in here, even though you could have collapsed with the gate?”

“Where’s the time to think about that?

I just jumped in first.”

Fortunately, I succeeded in changing the subject.

But that answer is also very reckless.

The Jaeyul I know wouldn’t court danger so recklessly, but to think he just jumped in.

“How can I just stand by when you’re in here, hyung.

If we die, we die together; if we live, we live together.”

I don’t know if I’m supposed to be moved by this part.

Why do you think of dying together first, when you should be thinking of a way to live?

“Have you forgotten already, hyung?”

Jaeyul came closer to me and asked a strange question.

“…What?”

He took my arm, which was on the floor, and pulled me up.

We had been talking until now, but it felt a little awkward to be talking face to face at such a close distance.

…Strange thoughts keep floating around in my head.

The tongue that had rummaged through my mouth, the arms that had held my body tightly, and even hotter and harder than that… stop!

Just thinking about it for a moment makes my face flush with heat.

“We promised to live together forever.

So if we die, we have to die together.”

That story, which he said while holding my two shoulders, was something Jaeyul often said.

It’s not the first time I’ve heard it, but it sounds different to my ears.

As if… he’s confessing in a roundabout way.

No, that’s just what I want to happen.

Even though I had promised myself not to have any more lingering feelings other than helping Jaeyul with his rut, I might have been hoping for a ‘just in case’ to happen.

I pushed away the delusions and opened my mouth.

“But Jaeyul-ah… when did I even make a promise…?”

I don’t think I ever made a promise.

I just listened to what the kid said.

“We agreed to it.”

Seeing him answer without hesitation, it seems Jaeyul is right….

Me of the past, why did you make such a promise…?

Forever?

You must have been crazy.

With Jaeyul, I followed Poppy, who was leading the way, and went deep into the gate.

There was a reason why Poppy, who had gone out to investigate, hadn’t returned for a long time.

Even after wandering through the complex, maze-like paths and repeatedly going down and up cliffs, we couldn’t reach the passage.

It seems to be quite long.

“How did you know I was here?”

Strangely, once I knew there was a path, I didn’t feel the need to get out quickly.

So I’m moving forward slowly, talking with Jaeyul.

I’m finally asking what I should have asked a long time ago.

Because so many things had happened all at once.

“…Do you really have to know?”

Huh…?

Unlike when I asked other questions, why is he hesitating?

What is it.

Is there some secret I’m not supposed to know?

Now that he says that, I want to know even more.

“If you’re okay with it, tell me.”

Jaeyul let out a sigh, haa, and opened his mouth.

“Just as you can talk to Poppy, I can feel Poppy’s energy.”

“Huh…?

Energy?”

“I don’t know how to explain it.

I can’t know the exact location, but I can feel the general location and emotions to some extent.

I just know vaguely.

Whether he’s in a good mood or a bad mood.

Whether he’s alive or not.”

I don’t know what this is about either.

Is he saying he can use something like mind reading?

Or emotional sharing.

“Is something like that possible…?

Does that make sense…?”

I can’t believe it.

To be able to feel the state of an animal… no, a monster.

“Does it make sense for you to talk to a monster dog, hyung?”

Now that he puts it that way, it’s somewhat convincing.

“Anyway, I just started feeling it at some point.

It’s not like I can see it clearly.

It’s just a vague feeling.

This time, after finishing the subjugation and getting a pheromone stabilizer at the hospital, Poppy’s presence headed towards the gate and then suddenly disappeared, so I came running right away.

Because there’s no way Poppy would come into a gate by himself.

And Poppy’s emotions were something….”

“Something…?”

Jaeyul stopped in the middle of his sentence.

What were Poppy’s emotions like, heading for the gate…?

I’m dying of curiosity, but it seems he has no intention of talking.

“No, it’s nothing.

Anyway, that’s what happened.”

Hmm.

Maybe… this is the secret of how ‘X’ became the king of monsters?

Controlling countless monsters with an incredible emotional sharing skill.

If you think of it that way, the question of how he controls the monsters is resolved.

It’s not certain, but I have a feeling it has something to do with that ability.

“But that’s strange, isn’t it?”

“What is?”

“Poppy couldn’t find you…?

If he knew your general location, he wouldn’t have had to go through all that trouble in here, would he?”

It’s not that I don’t believe Jaeyul, but considering that I was wandering around in here with Poppy, it was a bit hard to understand.

“I think he’s a bit of a dummy, he doesn’t seem to feel it.”

For a moment, Poppy, who had been leading the way, stopped.

Even from behind, he was exuding the feeling that he was angry.

It seems he doesn’t want to be called a dummy.

“S-still, thanks to Poppy, we can escape like this!

Right?”

I quickly praised the sulky Poppy before he could get mad.

“If he had just been able to sense my location in the first place, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“……”

Poppy finally plopped down on the floor.

As if he wouldn’t show us the way anymore.

Haah… how do I appease him again….

These guys are bickering without understanding the mood.

“…What is this place…?”

I don’t even know how much time had passed.

Just as the suspicion that Poppy might be leading us to our doom was blooming, we arrived in front of a large, black, ominous-looking hole.

Even though I had seen it before, it was as eerie as if I were seeing it for the first time.

Jaeyul also seemed to feel a similar sentiment, as a furrow appeared between his eyebrows.

“That’s right.

You and Poppy wait here for a moment.”

“What are you talking about.

It’s right for me to go in first and check.

Move aside.”

For some reason, I didn’t want to show the inside to Jaeyul properly.

It was a space that had been confusing even for me, so how surprised would the person himself be?

Anyone would be, if there was something with their name written on it in a place they had never been.

“No!”

I pulled back Jaeyul, who was about to go into the hole without hesitation.

I don’t know why this kid is so fearless.

On the other hand, Poppy was trembling with fear, transformed into his puppy form.

What on earth is this space, to make him act like that.

“Hyung, what’s wrong?”

A thought flashed through my mind.

Maybe… the trigger for Jaeyul to turn into ‘X’ is the space beyond this darkness?

It was just a baseless guess, but I had a feeling it might be.

The Jaeyul I know now is by no means the same person as the past ‘X’.

He could be seen as a different person with the same face.

Although he has a selfish side at times, he tends to live an exemplary life within the set rules.

At least, it can be said that he lives a much more upright life than I do.

“Jaeyul-ah.

Just this once, can’t you do as I say?

Without asking any questions.”

Haven’t I always been curious?

Why Jaeyul has become so different from ‘X’.

But now, I might be able to awaken the Jaeyul of now as ‘X’…?

It also aligns with my goal when I first decided to raise Jaeyul.

I had hoped that the child would grow stronger under my care and destroy this world that was only cruel to me.

And I would watch the crumbling world from his side.

That old wish might come true.

But is that really… the right thing to do?

Can it be said that being reborn as ‘X’ is what Jaeyul truly wants?

A villain who massacres countless people, without a trace of mercy.

Do I really have to make Jaeyul take on that role again?

“Okay.

I’m fine with anything if it’s what you want, hyung.”

My guess might be wrong, but I have to make a decision.

A choice that might really change Jaeyul’s future.

Whether to lead him on the path to awaken as ‘X’, or to let him live his current life and choose his own future.