Chapter 152: The Calm Before Ruin

Ziiip.

The sound of a zipper being pulled down reached my ears.

Before I knew it, Jaeyul had climbed all the way up to my chest.

Just as I was about to give up and accept it, it happened.

“Hey, traitor!”

The office door flew open noisily, and a loud voice cut in.

It was a bright, carefree tone, completely different from the atmosphere we’d been in until now.

“I’m bored. Let’s hang o— hang out— huh?

What the hell…?

Shit… sorry!

I didn’t see anything!”

Park Bomyung, who had been walking into the office, met my eyes.

He looked back and forth between Jaeyul and me, his face flushing in panic, before bolting out of the office like the wind.

The situation was so sudden that I even forgot to be surprised.

Thankfully, the desk had blocked his view, so he probably didn’t see our lower halves properly.

“Haa… that guy is seriously no help at all.”

With a heavy sigh, Jaeyul climbed off me.

Thanks to Park Bomyung’s innocent interruption, the soft, heated mood shattered completely.

The pheromones disappeared as if they’d never existed.

Thinking about how abruptly our little game had ended made a hollow laugh threaten to escape.

Judging by Jaeyul’s expression, he looked ready to beat Park Bomyung to death on the spot.

After hastily fixing our clothes, I sat facing Jaeyul.

With our faces close, I opened my mouth.

“Let’s have more fun next time.

We’ve got plenty of time, right?”

“Next time…?”

I pressed a quick kiss to Jaeyul’s sulking lips.

This is your consolation prize for now, so endure it.

I never imagined I’d be doing something like that at work, but ever since being with Jaeyul, I’ve tried all sorts of ridiculous things.

…Not that I hate it.

“That fake ‘Son Jaeyul bastard!’ must’ve been seriously injured.

It’s been days and we haven’t even seen a single hair of him, right?”

For some reason, it sounded like he put extra emphasis on the Son Jaeyul bastard part…

I must’ve misheard.

Anyway, I agreed with what Song Jihan said.

Either he was badly injured or he’d taken an even greater hit.

We hadn’t seen ‘X’ for nearly a week, and the monster attacks had noticeably decreased as well.

In fact, many people believed ‘X’ was dead.

Everywhere you looked, people were trying to return to their normal lives, as if the crisis had passed.

“That may be true… but there’s something that’s been bothering me.”

Jaeyul didn’t seem to be thinking optimistically.

He spoke with a troubled expression.

“What is it?

Doesn’t it feel like everything’s over now?”

“When I fought that guy, I felt something was off.

It shouldn’t be possible, but it felt like he allowed us to approach him.”

“Allowed you…?

Why would he do that?”

“That’s why I didn’t mention it until now, but no matter how I think about it, it feels like he deliberately let me get close.

If he wanted to block or dodge, he could’ve done so easily, but it was like he intentionally endured everything up to the final attack.

Even the light bombs he fired when we approached were much weaker than expected.”

“Well… that part is true.

I never imagined the barrier would still be that intact.”

Even though the idea sounded far-fetched, everyone seemed to agree that there were suspicious points.

And honestly, I thought Jaeyul might not be wrong either.

“I actually felt that way too.”

When I spoke up, everyone turned to look at me.

“The attacks carried out by the monster hordes and X-mask were strange.

If he really wanted to cause the most damage, targeting densely populated metropolitan areas would’ve been the best choice, right?

But most of the places X-mask attacked were outside the city centers.

The monster hordes appeared more frequently in large cities, but they were taken down without causing serious damage.”

Since Jaeyul had felt uneasy too, I gained the confidence to voice what I’d found suspicious.

The two of us were focused on the same issue.

That despite everything, ‘X’ didn’t seem to be using his full power.

He plunged the world into fear, yet never made a truly decisive move.

“That does sound strange now that you mention it.”

The team members didn’t brush off my words as pointless speculation.

“Um… but what’s the problem with that…?”

Except for one person.

Park Bomyung.

He looked completely lost, as if he’d missed the entire flow of the conversation, cutting in with innocent confusion.

Where were we even supposed to start explaining this to him…?

Like passing around a bomb, we just stared at one another, silently pushing the responsibility onto someone else.

“If the fake Son Jaeyul is just playing with us, isn’t that something to be thankful for?

Wouldn’t that give us way more chances to kill him properly when he lets his guard down?”

Well… that wasn’t exactly wrong either.

As expected, Park Bomyung’s simple way of thinking wasn’t half bad when it came to combat.

“Exactly!

Either way, that fake ‘Son Jaeyul son of a b*tch’ isn’t showing up anymore, so who cares?

And we’ve got the savior of the world on our side—what is there to be afraid of?”

Is Song Jihan deliberately insulting Jaeyul?

The swearing keeps getting worse.

And now he’s even sounding sarcastic.

Looks like it’s time for Jihan to get a proper lesson after a long while.

– He was exceptional from a young age.

He was bright and sociable, always at the center of his peers.

He’s the most memorable student I’ve ever taught.

“What’s that…?”

Jaeyul came in while I was watching TV.

Since there wasn’t proper lodging available, we were temporarily staying at the Seoul First Special Ability Center.

“Huh?

This broadcast?”

“Yeah…”

Jaeyul stared at the television with blazing eyes, like he was facing his sworn enemy.

Damn, at this rate, the TV’s going to get holes burned through it.

“Can’t you see the title?

‘The Savior of the World, Son Jaeyul.

Following the Path He Walked!’

I don’t even know how many of these programs have aired already.

And isn’t that teacher shameless?”

The teacher who had sided with the bullies and looked down on us when Jaeyul was being harassed as a child was now giving that interview.

Anyone watching would think she’d raised him with love and care.

“Haa… this is driving me insane.

This is exactly why I didn’t want my face to be known….”

Since this was all new to him, the flood of attention clearly made Jaeyul uncomfortable and flustered.

And it was understandable.

So many people had gathered near the Seoul First Center that tall barricades had to be installed.

Everyone just wanted to catch a glimpse of Jaeyul’s face.

On top of that, every time you turned on the TV, news and special features about him were airing nonstop.

“What’s done is done.

Just do well from here on out, so don’t worry.

Try to enjoy the moment.”

Maybe because I’d experienced it myself, I could easily understand how Jaeyul felt.

Though unlike me back then, he didn’t seem to welcome this situation at all.

“Enjoy what?

That stuff?

I’d rather be ignored.”

“I get it.

It’s easier to just ignore everything and act like nothing happened.

You don’t need to go out of your way to be kind or play the role of reassuring people.

No matter how well you do, the moment you make a single mistake, they’ll swarm you like dogs and tear you apart.”

“Don’t worry.

That kind of thing, I’m actually pretty good at handling.

From now on, the moment my face shows up on a broadcast, I’ll just threaten to stop cooperating.

Besides, ‘X’ hasn’t been active at all lately, so I was wondering if we really need to stay here.”

“Yeah.

I don’t get why ‘X’ has gone so quiet either.

If he really took a fatal blow, or maybe…”

…Died?

If ‘X’ were truly dead, it should’ve been something to celebrate.

Yet my mood didn’t feel light at all.

It felt like a story that had been abruptly cut off halfway through, sliced clean with a blade.

That was probably why the thought that ‘X’ was still alive outweighed the idea that he was dead.

“I guess we’ll find out if we keep watching.

Since Poppy hasn’t shown up, it doesn’t feel like it’s time to let our guard down yet.”

“Poppy….”

The moment Poppy was mentioned, my mood sank.

Even though she’d saved ‘X’ right in front of us and escaped, without knowing we’d risked our lives to rescue her, I couldn’t help but worry.

We hadn’t been able to find any trace of her anywhere, and the unease kept growing.

“She’ll be fine.

I’ll make sure to bring her back safely.”

Jaeyul sat beside me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder as he spoke.

Thanks to the steady warmth of his embrace and his calm voice, my thoughts didn’t spiral into despair.

“I just thought of her all of a sudden.

I know she’ll be fine, but I still end up like this.”

Even though my doubts remained, I didn’t want to dampen the mood during this rare stretch of peace, so I spoke as brightly as I could.

If ‘X’ really was dead, things would settle soon enough.

And if not, we’d just wait for another chance and bring her back.

I intertwined my fingers with Jaeyul’s large hand.

Just having him by my side was comforting.

Maybe it was because he was waiting for Poppy with the same feelings I had.

Bzzzt…!

While resting comfortably against Jaeyul, noise suddenly erupted from the television we’d left on.

The broadcast cut out, leaving only static on the screen.

“What is it?

Is the signal unstable again…?”

Just as I was about to turn off the TV to stop the noise, a video began to play.

It looked like crude footage, not something filmed with a broadcast camera.

– Please evacuate immediately to the nearest air-raid shelter……

The frantic voice of an announcer overlapped with sirens blaring from all directions.

We didn’t need long to understand what was happening once we saw the screen.

“All of that… are monsters?”

“Looks like it.

There’s no end to them.”

Monsters covered the ground like a flood of black water, while flying types filled the sky like heavy storm clouds.

Endless lines advanced across both land and sky.

The sight was so shocking that fear itself felt distant.

Was it even possible for that many monsters to move as one…?

“Where are we even supposed to run…?”

There were simply too many.

They seemed to outnumber even the people living in Seoul’s residential zones.

No matter how safe a place one fled to, it didn’t seem possible to escape that horde.

This was a full-scale assault by the monsters.

It seemed the reason monster activity had been quiet was for this very moment.

Rather than attacking here and there with small numbers, they must’ve decided it was better to wipe everything out at once with overwhelming force.

How could the monsters even conceive such a strategy?

For that to be possible…

“Hyung, look.”

The camera slowly zoomed in on a single point.

Toward the man standing at the very front of the massive horde.

‘X,’ riding atop Poppy’s back, her silver-gray fur streaming in the wind.

He looked completely unscathed, as if he’d never been injured at all, leading the monsters forward.

His face was hidden behind a mask, but it felt as if he were saying this.

‘Today, I decided to end the world.’

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