Chapter Text
‘Can he know that I am J?’
….
The revelation reverberated across the dungeon, causing all hunters to freeze in silence. After a moment spent in disbelief, they started to look at each other with a dumbfounded expression.
Maybe I heard wrong.
What did that man just say?
They all had similar thoughts running through their heads, but nobody dared to break the silence first. Bae Won-woo, with a similar expression as the others, stood stiffly and had his eyes wide open. He immediately looked towards the older awakeners, hoping to them to address what just happened.
“…did he just?”
“The man…is he?”
The more the silence grew, the more he became restless. Fortunately, someone stepped in and helped getting his question across with more coherence.
“We weren’t awakeners yet during the time hunter J was active. If anyone would be in the know, it should be people who were close to him at the time, right? For example, Director Ham Seok-Jeong or Hunter Jung-bin, have any of you ever seen his face?” One of the mackerel brothers stated.
Every pair of eyes jumped to these two, burning with curiosity. Being put on the spot, Jung-bin, felt uncomfortable for the first time in a while. He fixed his posture, standing straighter, with his hands resting stiffly on his sides, and hesitantly responded.
“…we were not that close. Back then, I only had the opportunity to converse with J just once or twice. And even then, all we talked about were related to rifts and dungeons… he always had his mask on.”
The second victim, director Ham Seok-Jeon, felt compelled to add in.
“I never saw his face either… But given his young age when he entered the rift, it’s possible that this man…”
This ensued whispers all over the place, with everyone being extremely excited about possibly finally seeing the number 1 ranked hunter’s face for the first time.
Among the chatters, Gyu-Gyu suddenly snickered loudly and zeroed in on the one person being suspiciously quiet.
“So, Lee Sa-young-ssi. What do you think? Being the person who is, no will be, the closest to Mr. Possibly hunter J on the screen, what is your opinion?”
Meanwhile, Lee Sa-Young stood frozen on the spot. His gaze was still transfixed on the now dim screen, as if he was still waiting for the man to appear on the screen. When he first heard the young man confessing to being J, a sort of unexplainable and indescribable emotion suddenly burgeoned inside him.
‘So, do I succeed? Do I finally bring him out? When? How? Is that really him?’
“Hello, Lee Sa-Young-ssi? Can you hear me?”
Seo Min-Gi, who was standing the closest to Lee Sa-young, was the first to examine the man near to him. He fully expected the man to snap back at hunter Ban Gyu-min, so hearing the guild leader being so quiet, he directly looked at him in the eyes. However, one look and he was startled. From head to toe, Lee Sa-young radiated an oppressive aura. While his face was half-hidden with a gas mask, Seo Min-Gi noticed that that his eyes were tinged with red.
“Oi, Pado Guild Leader, are you listening to me?”
“No.”
Lee Sa-young’s answer was too blunt, and Gyu-Gyu choked for a second before he repeated.
“Do you think that’s hunter J?”
Without looking towards his, Lee Sa-young sneered, with a strange glint in his eyes.
“Do I?”
“that’s what I am asking?”
“Oh.”
“Are you looking for a fight?”
“Hmm. Am I?”
“…you…this little shit...” Gyu-Gyu clenched his fist and started walking at a brisk pace, aggravated with how annoying Lee Sa-Young was. He made it about halfway when there was a bright light behind him. Without turning around, he already knew what was happening. The previous scene had concluded and now a new one was starting. Feeling troubled whether to go fight or watch, he hesitated for a few seconds before deciding that the memories were more of a priority. He mumbled a few curses, clearly directed to Sa-Young, before returning to where he was standing before.
The screen flashed and the young man’s face peeked from a half-open door. J was in some sort of monitoring room with multiple large monitors. The place was in disarray, with the floor and walls disturbed by researchers struggling in pain.
J picked up a blue file. The file was labelled:
[#707 Experiment Record]
He carefully opened the file and began reading through it page by page. The subject of the file, 707, was a survivor who had been rescued after being caught in a rift. Researchers injected his body with enhancement drugs, transfused him with the blood of Awakeners, transplanted monster flesh, and conducted numerous experiments. And,
[Failed.]
[Failed.]
[Failed.]
[Failed.]
[Failed.]
“Wow, what is this place?”
“That is the young man, right? He is wearing a mask right now.”
Despite the black mask, it was evident that the young man was the one whose face they have been seeing before. Given that they had now seen him across multiple memories, they could distinguish him based on his height and the way he walked.
The hunters grimaced when suddenly shown the carnage. The extreme violence was apparent, making people shudder at the sight of it. Not expecting a bloody scene, the excitement of the previous revelation was temporarily forgotten.
“#707? Is he in a laboratory?”
The last page stated that it was decided to dispose of him as there was no longer any value in continuing the experiments. The final phrase of the record was:
[Let us hold gratitude in our hearts for all those who sacrifice to prevent the end.]
Cha Eui-jae clenched his fist instinctively. He gritted his teeth. Crack, the plastic file crumpled in his grasp like paper. Kidnapping a survivor who barely escaped from a rift, using them as a test subject, and then disposing of them when the experiments failed. Anxiety surged within him. He picked up another file and quickly skimmed through it.
Failure, failure, failure, disposal, let us hold gratitude in our hearts for all those who sacrifice to prevent the end. Failure, failure, failure, disposal, let us hold gratitude in our hearts for all those who sacrifice to prevent the end. Failure, failure, failure… end. Gratitude. End.
Bang!
The desk split in half from his punch. His shoulders, which had been heaving up and down, gradually settled. Cha Eui-jae stopped himself from slapping his cheek, halting at the cold touch of his mask.
He had questioned it from the beginning. Why was Prometheus trying to artificially create Awakeners? Were they resentful for not being chosen by the system?
“Oh what the hell?”
“Artificially create Awakeners? The hell is wrong with people?”
“Prometheus? Is that some sort of organisation?”
Confused at what is being shown, nobody noticed how stiff some hunters became the moment the name Prometheus was said.
Suddenly, a faint groan was heard. J lifted his head sharply. The human voice came from beyond a door on one side of the monitoring room. There had been no sign of any survivors. J hurriedly opened the door.
“Ugh, aah!”
Inside, a man in a white lab coat was crouching and trembling. He began banging his head against the wall, covering his mouth.
“Please save me, please save me, please save me…”
‘Where did he suddenly come from?’
There were countless questions, but J’s body moved instinctively to help the survivor. He quickly scanned the man’s condition to check if he could communicate…
But only for a moment, J withdrew the hand he had extended towards the man. The card key around the man’s neck indicated he was part of the research facility.
‘He’s from Prometheus…’
Failure, failure, failure, let us hold gratitude in our hearts for all those who sacrifice to prevent the end.
J, with his hands in his jeans pockets, leaned forward slightly to look down at the researcher. The man, noticing that the presence before him wasn’t a threat, gradually stopped banging his head against the wall. Squinting his eyes, the man saw the black mask filling his view.
The man’s eyes filled with a strange sense of joy.
“Th-that mask, you’re J, right? J, it is you, isn’t it? I heard stories that you were alive. How did you get here, no, no!”
The man crawled on his knees and clung to J’s leg. His hands were trembling pathetically.
“Please, please save me. A madman wrecked the research facility and killed innocent people…!”
“…”
J did not respond. The man bit his lips anxiously and then suddenly looked up. The eyes that had been filled with joy now shone oddly.
“I-I had so much I wanted to say to you, J. I-I’m a big fan of yours. I wanted to ask about the inside of the West Sea Rift. We received a revelation that it was touching the end, and everyone, everyone…”
“What? What are you talking about…”
It was the moment when J’s eyes widened.
“Aaagh! Ugh!”
The researcher clutched his throat and screamed, then vomited blood. Dark red blood. The researcher reached out with a trembling hand.
“Please, J, save, save me…!”
“No.”
Thud, thud, the sound of footsteps approached from the darkness. A languid voice whispered.
“You got the words wrong.”
“Save, save…”
“At the very least, you should say sorry, I was wrong…”
“Sorry, so… Ugh…”
The researcher, who had been writhing and scratching the floor, gradually stopped moving. Coughing up blood instead of uttering last words, his body slumped down. From the darkness, the languid voice murmured.
“I killed them all, but there was still someone alive.”
“…”
“Sorry about that… Are you okay?”
From the darkness, a hand appeared with only the fingertips stained black. As the hand touched the researcher’s head, a chilling sound ensued, and the corpse began to melt into a black liquid.
“It looks like Hong Ye-seong put a gas mask function into your mask. Lucky.”
The corpse had already turned into a black puddle, which soon disappeared into the hand. The hand, having completed its task, vanished back into the darkness.
J gave a short reply.
“Get your facts straight. You left him alive on purpose. Just him.”
“…”
A short laugh echoed from the darkness. The voice, mixed with laughter, whispered.
“You’re so quick with this kind of insight. No other insight though.”
“…”
“Well, yes. I thought you might be curious, Hyung.”
“…”
“Though, in hindsight, it was a mistake to keep him alive. He just spouted nonsense until the end.”
From the darkness, black boots emerged.
“So… after coming all this way.”
A long black coat reached halfway down long legs and calves. A hand in the coat pocket, disheveled curly hair, and shining eyes underneath. Long eyelashes blinked slowly. Full lips parted.
“Did you find what you were looking for?”
Purple eyes narrowed slightly.
“J.”
As if smiling.
There wasn’t a trace of surprise on his delicate face, as if he knew he would meet J here. A hint of mischief flickered in his narrow, violet eyes. Lee Sa-young muttered as he put on black gloves. The black fingertips disappeared into the gloves.
The room collectively gasped. They have been holding their breath since they heard the reveal but could not confirm the authenticity. As soon as they heard Lee Sa-Young address the young man as J, their eyes opened wider and shone with excitement. Some even shuddered and trembled with the sudden confirmation. This was the #1 hunter, a hidden face behind a black mask who always stood first to save the world. Some even felt somewhat guilty, feeling as though they did not deserve to see the young man’s face when he always tried to stay in the shadows.
No matter the feeling, the one thing everybody agreed upon was that the man was young, too young to shoulder all the world’s trouble on his own. Especially now, since they have seen his face, they had no way but to accept the cruelty this man had to burden himself with.
Honey-bee, with a heavy heart with the realisation as well, turned in Lee Sa-young’s direction and grumbled.
“Hey, Lee Sa-young, the hell’s wrong with you? Why would you show such a gruesome scene to hunter J?”
Lee Sa-young, still silent since earlier, did not bother replying to her, instead transfixing his gaze on the young man and his interaction on the screen. Honestly, he couldn’t help but internally be jealous of the him on the screen, the one who could see, talk and touch J. Even more annoying was the fact that the entire interaction was about Prometheus. As much as possible, he did not want J to find out about the experiments he was subjected to during his time there.
‘How annoying!’
As if on cue, the him on the screen continued to irritate him by approaching J.
“Did you read it?”
J responded in a strongly altered voice.
“Yeah. I read it. Records from this facility?”
“Well, just a tiny part of the records.”
“…”
“I filtered it out. I didn’t leave too much, since I’m afraid it might not reach me.”
“Seo Min-gi must have told you. That I would come here.”
Lee Sa-young smiled instead of answering. J continued in place of the silent Lee Sa-young.
“That must be it, seeing as you weren’t surprised by my sudden visit. And you had the materials prepared.”
“Oh, I was surprised. I didn’t expect J’s first activity after returning after eight years…”
Lee Sa-young looked around and shrugged.
“I didn’t expect it would be raiding the Prometheus research facility.”
“Eight years!”
“It’s been seven years since hunter J was proclaimed dead. Does that mean he is coming back next year?”
“J is coming back?”
“Oh my god! Hunter J will be back next year!!”
In contrast to the positive attitude in the room, hunter J had a troubled face.
“…”
“Though I didn’t ask you to…”
Lee Sa-young approached soundlessly with a few steps. His black hand reached out and gently removed the black cap J was wearing. J did not resist. Lee Sa-young whispered as he tidied up J’s slightly tousled hair.
“I remember when we made the contract. I only mentioned that I was chasing a group luring people with drugs.”
“…”
“And then, you suddenly mentioned the name Prometheus…”
Lee Sa-younf lightly flicked the brim of the cap with his finger. His long eyelashes blinked slowly. The corners of his mouth remain lifted.
“Where did you hear it…and why did you come here?”
“…why is that a bit intimate?”
One by one, the hunters mumbled similar remarks. Now that they figured out J’s identity, they instinctively felt that they had to protect him from the Pado Guild leader.
“Yes, with all due respect, please keep your distance from h..”
Bae Won-woo exclaimed in a loud voice which instantly came to a stop once he saw Lee Sa-young’s face.
Lee Sa-young looked at the hunters around him with emotionless eyes, but one could clearly sense the anger behind these violet eyes.
As if they never said anything, they continued watching the Lee Sa-young on the screen’s actions with rapt attention.
“You’re good at coming up with new secrets each time.”
“…”
“Liar.”
“Shall we have a Q&A after a long time? Asking each other questions, answering, and trying to guess what’s hidden.”
J clenched his fist, pressing his nails into his palm inside his pocket. It was fortunate that his mask hid his expression.
“I have no questions.”
“Well, actually, you don’t have a choice.”
The voice responded with a hint of laughter. Lee Sa-young tilted his head slightly. His curly hair swayed gently.
“I have a lot of questions for you… about you.”
“…”
“Then… shall I start first?”
A large hand wrapped in leather grabbed J’s nape. A soft voice spoke.
“You know, don’t you? That I am a product of Prometheus experiments.”
J instinctively tensed his fingers. Lee Sa-young muttered, tilting his head.
“Who told you is obvious… very few people know that fact. They’re all dead.”
“…”
“The ones still alive are Ham Seok-jeong, Jung Bin, Nam Woo-jin, and Bae Won-woo. Since you avoided Jung Bin and Ham Seok-jeong, it couldn’t be them. Bae Won-woo isn’t sharp enough to know that you’re J. That leaves…”
The thumb gently rubbed behind the ear.
“Nam Woo-jin. That bastard.”
J admitted honestly.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Product of Prometheus experiments…the Pado Guild Leader?”
“The awakened management bureau knew?”
Faced with the sudden call-out, Bae Won-woo jolted in nervousness. Given the seriousness of the conversation, he did not even retort Lee Sa-young’s insult directed at him.
Jung-bin, feeling responsible in calming the peoples’ inquisition and Lee Sa-young’s visible irritation, came forward and addressed the hunters with a calm but authoritative tone.
“Please calm down! This matter was indeed known to only a couple of hunters. But we assure you that we have been investigating Prometheus for a long time. However, it is not convenient to report the findings at the moment. Given the sensitivity of this information, I trust that you will not let this information out.”
Glancing at Lee Sa-young who nearly merged in the darkness with his black attire and sported an incredibly pissed off face, the hunters had no choice but reluctantly quiet down and accept hunter Jung-bin’s statement.
Contrary to the hunters, what pissed Sa-young more than the fact that his past with Prometheus was revealed was
“Nam Woo-jin! You damn bastard.”
He sneered in Nam Woo-jin’s direction and with a low voice, rumbled.
“Why is it always you?”
Being put of the spot, Nam Woo-jin could do nothing but respond with a troubled expression.
“I wouldn’t know. It’s the Nam Woo-jin of the future. Don’t blame me for something I didn’t do yet.”
“Whatever. Stay out of our business in the future.”
Albeit the conversation about Prometheus in the dungeon concluded, it had yet to in the memories.
Lee Sa-young gritted his teeth and then let out a small sigh. He removed his hand from J’s nape.
“Now it’s your turn.”
“…”
J, who had been silent, asked.
“I heard there were no successful cases of Prometheus experiments. That everyone died.”
“Ah-ha…”
Lee Sa-young drew out his words leisurely, lifting his head with a slight smirk on his lips, as if mocking.
“Seo Min-gi said that? Well… he’s not wrong. Prometheus never succeeded in their experiments. Not once. They all couldn’t withstand the experiments, their bodies collapsed, or they became something worse than a monster.”
“…”
“You’re curious about this, right? How I, a test subject, am still alive…”
Lee Sa-young slowly placed his hand on the center of his chest.
“It’s simple. I awakened.”
He whispered in a languid voice.
“I didn’t artificially awaken because of their experiments; I was chosen by the system.”
He recalled the conversation they had at the hangover soup restaurant after finishing their messy contract, when the small black humans moved according to Lee Sa-young’s finger movements.
“So, what criteria does the system use to choose the awakened?”
A languid voice asked.
“The system,”
The finger that was rubbing against the broken glass,
“Respond to a desperate wish.”
It had become a commonly accepted fact since the Day of the Rift.
“When a human has a desperate wish, the system is drawn to that energy and finds the human.”
Appearing out of nowhere, the white, burnt-out eyes stared at J. Suddenly, the surroundings transformed into a forest. The conversation he had with Nam Woo-jin at the Seowon Guild came to mind bit by bit. Nam Woo-jin, fluttering his white coat as he walked ahead, whispered,
“Whether he awakened because of their experiment, or the system answered Lee Sa-young’s desperate prayers.”
The surroundings shifted once more. In the midst of the wreckage and ruin, J was huddled in the rubble, clutching the bodies of his parents. The stench of burnt and bloody flesh was overwhelmingly strong. The cold bodies. Thud, thud, the sound of monsters rummaging through the path echoed in his ears.
At that moment, what did J think in the face of death?
‘I want to live.’
He wanted to live.
‘I don’t want to die.’
He didn’t want to die.
And then a bright white light burst out before his eyes. It was the moment he encountered the system.
J lifted his head. In the dark and narrow room, the only light came from the half-open door. Lee Sa-young was quietly watching J. Suddenly, a question arose. What was Lee Sa-young’s desperate prayer? What was so desperate that it led to his awakening?
As if J knew the answer, His heart raced. Emotions swirled— excitement, anticipation, or perhaps anxiety and confusion. J slowly opened his mouth.
“You…”
It felt like something was stuck in his throat, making it hard to speak. He wasn’t sure.
A boy dying from poison, Lee Sa-young who used poison. A boy whose records were erased by Prometheus or some other hand, Lee Sa-young who escaped after being a test subject of Prometheus. A boy who tried to smile with narrowed eyes, Lee Sa-young who smiled with narrowed eyes.
‘It can’t be.’
J looked at Lee Sa-young with confused eyes. At that moment, Lee Sa-young smiled. His eyes narrowed, shining like a child’s, waiting for the moment to open his prepared gift.
‘This is strange.’
J swallowed countless words.
‘This is too convenient…’
Miracles like this don’t happen to J. He knew that. He had given up expecting miracles long ago. Yet, even though he kept telling himself it wasn’t possible, he barely managed to utter a single word. His voice cracked.
“…Is it you?”
A step closer came the black boots. Only a very narrow space remained between them. Lee Sa-young extended his hand. J, as if entranced, took that hand, just like he always did eight years ago.
The black hand gently pulled his hand to Lee Sa-young’s cheek. The warmth radiating from his cheek was soft. It was starkly different from the rough texture of bandages.
Lee Sa-young slowly rubbed his cheek against the palm. The gloved hand covered the hand resting on his cheek. A low voice whispered.
“Yes, Hyung.”
It was a soft, soothing voice. Even as he rubbed his cheek against J’s hand, Lee Sa-young’s eyes were fixed on him. In Lee Sa-young’s dark pupils, J’s black mask was reflected perfectly. Lee Sa-young, who had been gazing at him in silence, sealed the moment with a gentle voice.
“It’s me.”
“… Is it really you?”
J stuttered. For the first words he managed to get out, they were pitiful. Lee Sa-young blinked and then smiled.
“Yeah, I’ve grown up pretty well, haven’t I? Are you surprised?”
Unlike himself, Lee Sa-young was being playful. J could only open and close his mouth soundlessly.
‘How?’
‘You were an experiment subject?’
‘Why?’
‘Why were you taken there?’
‘Did you know I was J?’
‘If you knew, since when?’
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
Lee Sa-young stopped rubbing his cheek against J’s palm and muttered.
“What, don’t you believe it?”
“…”
Lee Sa-young twisted his lips.
“I’m your only success, aren’t I?”
As if it clicked, the entire room was shocked into silence. Hunter Lee Sa-young was the boy in the bandages.
Hunter Lee Sa-young was hunter J’s only success.
And with that, the screen once again turned black, as if giving everyone time to process the memories.