Chapter 145: The Poppi Rescue Team

“You don’t need to worry too much about Poppi.
I can feel her emotions, at least.
She’s not in a situation where her life is in danger.”

My mind keeps drifting off without me realizing it.

I’m not sure whether I was thinking about something specific, or if I was simply spacing out.

It feels like recalling a dream from the night before after waking up.

“O-oh…
Then I guess we can relax a little, for now.”

“You can keep relaxing.
At least from what I sense, that… ‘X’ doesn’t seem like he’s going to hurt Poppi.”

Maybe he says that because he doesn’t really know how cruel that bastard is.

There’s no way X would feel sympathy for a single monster.

To him, all living beings are probably cockroaches, pests, viruses.

Tumors that need to be exterminated.

Even if he doesn’t plan to kill Poppi right now, he’s impulsive enough to change his mind at any moment.

“More importantly, shouldn’t we deal with our problem first, hyung?”

Ah.

So this moment finally came.

After the three-way confrontation between X, Jaeyul, and me, there’s no way we can just let this pass without talking.

Maybe Jaeyul already knew all my secrets, but I still feel uneasy, like I’ve committed some huge crime.

Still, I can’t hide it anymore, so I decide to confess on my own.

“Everything X said earlier was true.
I lived as an esper until I was thirty-two in that world, then died by his hand.
When I opened my eyes, I was back as my seventeen-year-old self.
And if what X says is right, I didn’t return so much as cross over into a different dimension.”

“Hey, wait.”

Damn it.

The story is just getting started, and Jaeyul cuts me off.

With a deep, heavy sigh, no less.

For some reason, this feels like it’s going to be an even harder conversation than the one with X.

“Why…?”

“You lived as an esper until you were thirty-two?”

Is he that shocked that I was an esper…?

I might not look it, but I was pretty capable back then.

“Yeah.
I know it’s hard to believe, but I was actually pretty skilled—”

“No, that’s not the important part.”

Jaeyul waves his hand, stopping me.

“Then what is?”

“Then how old are you now…?
You lived thirty-two years there, then eight years here…
So forty?”

It feels like lightning strikes right in front of me.

Forty.
Forty…?

I never even considered that.

So I’ve already lived forty years of my life.

I can’t even protest about why that is what he’s focusing on.

When I think about the age gap between us, cold sweat runs down my neck.

This is a crime.

A crime no human being should even dare to imagine.

“How can a forty-year-old man be this cute?”

“…Huh?”

“That’s a relief.
It means I get to see everything—from seventeen-year-old hyung I’d normally never see, all the way to forty, fifty-year-old hyung.”

How can a kid say something like that so calmly?

It’s like he’d rehearsed it.

But… my body is melting.

Melting like liquid, about to spill apart.

That’s exactly the reaction I’d hoped for.

Jaeyul steps closer and wraps his arms around my back.

“I don’t care what kind of person you were, or what circumstances you had.
What matters most is the hyung you are right now.
But what I worry about is…”

Ah…

Jaeyul really has become a complete adult.

He might even be more emotionally mature than me.

How can he be so good at comforting someone?

My chest tightens.

“What you’re worried about?”

“I’m worried that the me from that world hurt you badly.
That I made you hate people, that I drove you into a brutal fight and eventual death.
That everything you suffered was because of me.
You must’ve been in pain every time you looked at me.”

That’s such a pointless worry.

It’s completely wrong.

“I actually thought I’d traveled back in time.
I suddenly became seventeen again, and things I’d already experienced started repeating.”

I hug Jaeyul back as I speak.

“Not long after, I realized that the younger you would eventually become X.
Even so, my choice was… you.
At first, I did wish you’d destroy the world.
But as time passed, I completely separated you, Jaeyul, from X.
Whatever I went through in the past was never your fault.
And the ones who truly hurt me weren’t X, but people.”

Meeting both X and Jaeyul like this makes it clearer than ever.

They may look the same, but they’re absolutely not the same person.

“Thank you, hyung.
Thanks to you, I didn’t turn into such a twisted, pathetic human being.
I almost ruined my entire life.”

…Yeah.

If X had just one person like me back then, would all this really have happened?

Strangely, X feels a little… pitiful.

Even though he’s the worst bastard imaginable.

Boom!
Craaaash!

“GRAAAAH!”

This is really bad.

“Wow…
I’ve never seen chaos like this before….”

“What?
Wasn’t it this bad back then?”

We stand in the ruins that used to be our home, watching buildings collapse and ferocious monsters rage in the distance.

Aerial bombardments unlike anything I experienced in my previous life continue without pause.

“Back then, they didn’t swarm in like this.
It was more like savoring candy slowly, tightening the noose bit by bit.”

As if everything before had been a joke, X unleashed massive light bomb attacks and an uncountable army of monsters onto the world.

“Our hyung is amazing.”

“Huh?
What is?”

Jaeyul suddenly pats the back of my head.

“You fought someone that strong every day.
As expected of my hyung.”

Ha…

That’s embarrassing.

I don’t say it out loud, but I was kind of amazing.

I was the only one who could actually land attacks on X when no one else could even scratch him.

Even praise for something from nearly ten years ago makes my cheeks itch.

It finally feels like my efforts are being recognized.

“Ahem… amazing, my ass.
So what do we do now?”

“Hmm….”

The situation is bad.

No, it’s terrible.

At this rate, it wouldn’t be strange if the world ended tomorrow.

Even special ability users are being overwhelmed.

There’s nothing to rely on.

“Do you still want to hide out in some quiet countryside and wait this crisis out, hyung?”

“Huh?
Well….”

I did want that.

I wanted to hide somewhere X and the monsters couldn’t find us, and wait it out with Jaeyul.

There was no real need to suffer just to save humanity.

But now, that thought wavers violently.

“…That would be the safest option for us….”

“Liar.”

Jaeyul looks at me with certainty.

“You actually want to go fight X.
You want to save Poppi, no matter what.
Am I wrong?”

He’s right.

I haven’t even dared to urge Jaeyul to go rescue Poppi, but I desperately want to bring her back.

Even if it costs me half of myself.

A gluttonous dog full of secrets.

Annoying at times, always causing trouble, yet bringing far more happiness in return.

My life became colorful because Poppi was in it.

I can’t give up someone who gave me so many smiles.

“…I’m fickle, huh?
One moment I want to hide quietly, and the next I want to go fight.”

“Don’t say it like that, hyung.
That dog—no, Poppi—is my family too.
Of course we’re going to get her back.
Let’s think about how.”

Facing X head-on just for a single monster…?

God… this is exactly why I can’t help loving Jaeyul.

Even while fighting with Poppi every day, he still thought of her as family.

I’m grateful, but my heart feels heavy.

What if this choice costs us everything again?

“You’re surprisingly hard to kill.”

“What, did you set out water and pray for me to die means or something?”

I don’t know why they start bickering the moment they see each other.

Jaeyul greets the suddenly appearing Team Leader Oh Seonggyu with open hostility.

“You’re safe too…
That’s a relief…
I was really worried—”

Unlike how he spoke to Jaeyul, Oh Seonggyu asks about me in a voice like he’s half-dead.

Why are his ears red?

He’s a hard man to read.

“Let’s sit down and talk first.
Team Leader Oh, how did you know Jaeyul and I were here?”

Oh Seonggyu really did appear out of nowhere.

Right at the shelter Jaeyul and I were using as a temporary hideout.

It’s not even a neighborhood we lived in, so it shouldn’t have been easy to find.

“This brat didn’t tell you?
I built this shelter.
Just in case something like this happened, so everyone could gather here.
That’s probably why he came here too.”

“I came here assuming everyone was already dead, so don’t misunderstand.”

I don’t know how far ahead Jaeyul planned, but seeing Oh Seonggyu alive eases my heart a little.

“Anyway, it’s good we met.
More importantly, you know what’s happening outside, right?”

“Of course.
You can’t turn your head anywhere without monsters swarming.”

“It’s really bad.
The center took massive damage too.
The support bureau is basically paralyzed.”

No one can feel safe anymore.

Everyone lives fearing whether they’ll die today or tomorrow.

Just like how Jaeyul and I keep hopping between so-called safe zones.

“So what’s the point of this visit?”

“What do you think?
It’s time to go back to the center.
Everyone’s been waiting for you two.
This time, we’re forming a joint suppression force with other countries.”

In a crisis, SS-class agents must feel invaluable.

A large-scale suppression force…

It failed in the past, but maybe this time could be different…?

“A suppression force….”

Jaeyul thinks for a moment, then answers.

“No.
I refuse.
Why should I care if everyone dies?”

Did X’s bad influence rub off on him or something…?

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