Chapter 132: Eyes in the Crowd

“There are no empty tables, so you’ll have to wait. There are twenty groups ahead of you.”

Wow… this is bad.

If we wait for a table to open up, we’ll probably be sitting around for at least an hour.

“What do we do?

Looks like we won’t be able to eat here either.”

With an unidentified villain and monsters attacking cities day after day, people had grown desperate to find safer places.

In particular, areas around special ability centers were packed so tightly you could barely take a step.

At the very least, you wouldn’t get killed by monsters near a center.

Our Seoul Second Center was no exception.

At lunchtime, every place was completely full, to the point where you couldn’t even sit down to eat.

Convenience-store lunch boxes had become sold-out items you couldn’t get your hands on at all.

“Nothing we can do.

Let’s just go back in and wait for the boxed meals the center hands out.”

“Ugh… my tongue already feels like it’s rotting.

I mean, the Seoul Center must have plenty of money, so why is the food worse than Busan’s?”

Song Jihan made an exaggerated face, rejecting the center’s boxed meals with his whole body.

Honestly, I wondered if that stuff was even meant for humans to eat.

We’re all doing this to survive—shouldn’t they at least make sure we eat properly?

Seriously, those bastards don’t even get the basics right.

“I never imagined I’d live a life where I couldn’t eat what I wanted.”

Back when I worked at Seoul First Center, it wasn’t this bad.

There was never a time when I couldn’t eat what I wanted, or when food was such a headache.

Even after ‘X’ appeared, there weren’t that many refugees.

Well… back then, ‘X’ had started by killing half of Seoul’s population, so maybe there hadn’t been anyone left to flee.

“Sounds like you lived like a prince.

I’m worried sick from eating so much cheap monster meat.”

I knew.

The reason Song Jihan had suffered so severely from gate sickness was because he’d consumed too much monster meat and entered gates far too often.

So he’d already been worried about it back then….

At least in this life, I wasn’t going to let him suffer from that horrible illness again.

“You’re taking the Petra I gave you properly, right?

Don’t sell it all off to take care of your siblings—make sure you eat it yourself.”

Song Jihan’s life was a rough one too.

A string of younger siblings, sick parents.

No matter how much money he earned, it was never enough.

That was why he kept working as an agent until gate sickness spread through his entire body and he couldn’t move anymore.

“…How do you know that?

I never told you.”

“Huh?

Ah… well….”

Damn it.

Why didn’t you tell me any of this until now, you idiot!

Who could I say I’d heard it from without causing misunderstandings….

“Don’t tell me Bomyeong told you?”

Why is Park Bomyeong coming up here…?

Either way, it didn’t seem like a secret he was hiding from everyone.

Still, I couldn’t just throw poor Bomyeong under the bus.

What do I do…?

“Well, you see….”

“Yeah, figures—it was Bomyeong.

I’m taking the Petra properly, so don’t worry unnecessarily.

My family matters, but I want to live as long as I can too.

I need to stay healthy to take care of my siblings.

Anyway, I won’t let Park Bomyeong get away with this.

See you later.”

Song Jihan grumbled and vanished in an instant using his special ability.

He was probably heading for Bomyeong…

What if Bomyeong got beaten up because of me?

I felt oddly guilty.

And besides, why had he told Bomyeong something like that?

Had they gotten that close already?

“Ugh….”

Maybe it was because I hadn’t eaten, but I felt drained.

As I walked back to the center along the crowded sidewalk, a strange sensation made me stop in my tracks.

I could feel someone’s gaze on me from somewhere.

It was too vivid to dismiss as imagination.

Yet when I looked around, there wasn’t a single person standing still.

Even as I scanned my surroundings, that persistent gaze refused to leave.

Even when I tried to ignore it and kept walking, even when I picked up the pace, the unseen gaze matched my speed and clung to me.

All the way until I entered the center.

“Jaeyul, are you busy?”

“Mm, mm!”

Seeing Jaeyul, his face looking half its usual size after just a few days, made my chest ache.

I’d even threatened Bbobbi into giving me some beef and fed Jaeyul a proper, high-quality dinner for once, but his complexion still hadn’t returned to normal.

Since he couldn’t even go home and was living in the center’s dorms, the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements must’ve been adding to his fatigue.

“No, I’m fine.

There won’t be any more deployments today, so I can rest comfortably.”

“Ah… that’s a relief.

I don’t even remember how many days it’s been since I properly saw your face.

Is Na Dongchan giving you trouble?”

“At first, he made a fuss every day about me saving ‘unnecessary’ people, but once public opinion started shifting positively, he stopped saying anything.”

That probably meant it was helping with the support office director election.

There was no way a narrow-minded bastard like him would let someone who ignored his orders off the hook otherwise.

“Still, don’t push yourself too hard.

You must be exhausted, fighting every day.”

“Don’t worry.

Honestly, no matter how many monsters rush me, I don’t feel any sense of danger.

Ah—more importantly, I saw that guy today.”

“…The one with the Light Bomb?”

“Yeah.

I saw him firing a Light Bomb from afar while I was returning.

I went after him, but he disappeared like a ghost.

Still, I definitely saw him.”

I’d had something to say, but Jaeyul’s story caught my attention even more.

Everyone was desperate to find out who this lunatic was.

No one had actually seen the culprit committing the acts, which only fueled curiosity.

I leaned closer to Jaeyul, eager to hear more.

“How was it?

Was it a person?”

“Yeah… definitely human.

But he was strange.”

“Strange how?”

“He was wearing a full combat suit, so I couldn’t make out any physical features at all.

I could only tell that he wasn’t extremely skinny or overly fat.

I’m not completely sure, but I think he might be a big guy.

And more than anything else—he was wearing a mask.”

“A mask?”

“Yeah.

Pitch black like the suit, with a big white X drawn on it.”

“An… X…?”

X.

X.

The moment I heard that, I was certain he was the culprit.

I felt like I was getting closer to the truth of who the enemy was.

It could be a coincidence, but out of countless symbols, the villain had chosen an X for his mask.

He used Light Bomb, and like ‘X,’ he controlled monsters to slaughter humans.

He didn’t seem as strong as the ‘X’ I knew—but still.

If that was the case, then the most likely explanation was that the villain known as ‘X’ would inevitably appear in the world.

If Jaeyul didn’t walk that path, someone else would become ‘X’ and bring ruin to the world.

With the power to manipulate light and control monsters.

If my hypothesis was correct, that would also explain why this new ‘X’ was relatively weaker.

“What’s wrong, hyung?

Do you have someone in mind?”

It was too early to tell Jaeyul.

There was hardly any evidence, and even if I told him, it wouldn’t help in a fight.

“No.

It’s just weird that he’d show up wearing an X mask.

You need to be careful at all times, okay?”

“Of course.

So what were you going to tell me earlier?”

Ah, right.

What was I going to say?

Was I about to complain about why we still hadn’t clearly defined our relationship…?

That was important and urgent too, but the real reason I’d come was something else.

“I keep feeling like someone’s watching me lately.”

“…Huh?”

Jaeyul’s expression said it all.

‘You? Who would do something like that?’

I know.

I’m aware I’m not that amazing—don’t look at me like that.

I guess I’d explained it too simply.

Today wasn’t the first time I’d felt that gaze.

I’d sensed it while walking around outside, and even inside the center, like I was being monitored.

Since it kept happening, I had no choice but to ask Jaeyul for help.

If I couldn’t even see them, there was nothing I could do.

So I told him everything that had been happening.

“What kind of lunatic is it?

If you can’t even find him, hyung, that means he’s incredibly skilled.

And he’s been just watching you for days?”

“Uh… yeah.

Ever since the day we got hit by the Light Bomb.

It doesn’t feel particularly malicious…

Maybe I’m just imagining things…?”

“No.

If you felt it that clearly, it’s not your imagination.

Haah… I knew it’d come to this.”

Had Jaeyul expected something like this to happen?

The way he let out a deep sigh made it seem that way.

“I was worried you’d attract weird guys like that because you’re too pretty.

And here we are.

This won’t do.

From now on, only go outside when I’m with you.

The world’s too dangerous—I can’t let you go alone.”

What the hell….

Did he think hearing something like that would make me happy?

I know it’s all nonsense.

So why is the corner of my mouth twitching like this?

“W-well… maybe.

Yeah, that might be better.”

If that’s the case, I’ll get to stay close to Jaeyul a little longer, right?

I boldly grabbed his hand.

Yeah—what’s the point of clearly defining a relationship with words?

As long as our feelings match, that’s enough.

His hand was warm like a heater.

It felt really nice.

“Hyung.”

Huh…?

Wait—why is one of Jaeyul’s hands inside my clothes…?

His large hand gently traced my waist.

At some point, his eyes were burning with a heated desire.

Every time his soft fingertips brushed my skin, fireworks crackled in my head.

It was a place that should’ve felt ticklish, but strangely, it felt like something else entirely.

I couldn’t even remember what we’d been talking about before.

What I did know was that I didn’t dislike this sudden action.

No—

I liked it.

Pulling me closer against his chest, he whispered.

“Shall we?”

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