The mont I fell into his arms, the familiar scent at his collar brushed the tip of my nose. And the warmth, too.
It had been... so long. A feeling I could barely catch now and then, only in dreams.
Realizing that, sothing hot surged up my throat again. It could have been grief, or joy, or resentnt toward “Ryu Sunghyun,” who had gone and died before .
A hand patted my back. The emotions tossing like a ship in a storm heaved even harder, aching deeper inside my chest at that touch.
Then—
“...Hyung.”
A low voice rang clear. Cha Sahyeon’s voice.
“Please, get a hold of yourself. Look at .”
What did he an by that?
I was perfectly in my right mind already.
Sahyeon didn’t know what relationship I had with this man, so of course he was rattled. Fine—explanations first.
I lifted my head from “Ryu Sunghyun’s” shoulder. Just as I was about to speak, my eyes t Sahyeon’s.
Cold green eyes, complicated and heavy.
The mont I saw them, a chill ran down my spine, and reality crashed over like shattering glass.
“......”
I’d opened my mouth to explain what “Ryu Sunghyun” was, but no sound ca out; I shut it again. My throat was bone-dry.
'Explain... to Sahyeon? About Hyung?'
Cha Seohu, you crazy bastard.
Knowing exactly how Hyung ended—
'...No. Wait.'
That wasn’t the point.
How was “Ryu Sunghyun” even here? Where was this place? Where were the others?
I—I... what was I doing?
Once the question surfaced, my head tangled into knots. Countless doubts and guesses rose like bubbles.
The worst of them: that the man holding right now wasn’t the “Ryu Sunghyun” I thought he was.
That, like before, I’d been fooled by a well-made fake—or a hallucination.
I hurried backward through my mories.
Right before the hypnosis—when I entered the Unidentified Rift, I was alone. I wandered a wide adow and found a suspicious house. I t the hoowner there.
His face... it had faintly resembled Ryu Sunghyun’s.
Goosebumps crawled up my arms. Why hadn’t I felt it then?
After I t the man, my mories cut unnaturally. I’d been caught by the monster’s hypnosis, my mind trapped inside a space.
“......”
As the pieces clicked, cold sweat traced down my jaw.
The arms that had felt warm and safe a mont ago turned chilling and creepy in an instant.
And of course “Ryu Sunghyun” would notice the change in .
The hand on his shoulder trembled faintly. I swallowed and slowly turned my head.
My eyes t the man’s—the one clutching my waist.
Where they had been gentle before, now sothing about his eyes was twisted. A golden shimr wavered from his body, tinting his irises gold.
“Seohu.”
“...Hyung.”
“Ryu Sunghyun” smiled faintly.
“If you’ve got the situation straight enough, shall we try again?”
“What?”
Before I could even ask what he ant to try, “Ryu Sunghyun” moved with still in his arms.
Rough wind scraped through my hair. Only then did I /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ realize we were high—very high—in the air.
“Ryu Sunghyun” climbed higher, forming footholds with his skill, and the wind grew harsher. I looked down.
A thick haze of dust billowed upward. Whatever had happened down there, the heavy dust kept from seeing anything beyond it.
'Don’t tell —the team is down there?'
A bad premonition knifed up my spine.
I gritted my teeth and tried to wrench free of “Ryu Sunghyun”—when a pitch-black shadow cut across my vision. In the blink of an eye, Cha Sahyeon had caught up to us, beating his wings wide as he raised his sword.
His green eyes flashed cold between the strands of his wind-tossed black hair.
I could clearly trace his blade’s path—what he was aiming for.
The thing holding wasn’t Hyung. Most likely a clone-type that had hypnotized .
I knew that with my head. But my body moved first, driven by instinct.
“Don’t, Sahyeon!”
“......!”
A sharp shout burst from before I knew it. Sahyeon stopped at once.
By the ti I realized I’d made a mistake, it was already too late. “Ryu Sunghyun” smiled in satisfaction, rose even higher, and flicked his hand.
“That. The more I see it, the better the idea. I’ll use it too.”
The mont he finished, brilliant light gathered behind his back. As if blooming, a great pair of golden wings unfolded from “Ryu Sunghyun’s” back.
Sahyeon’s eyes tightened at the sight of “Ryu Sunghyun” copying his wings—and mine.
His green irises blazed hotter with anger and hate. He looked ready to swing imdiately, but with here, he couldn’t move recklessly.
I felt sorry for Sahyeon, but there were too many details to ignore to just have him cut this thing down.
'A re clone copying Hyung’s skills to this extent?'
And hopping through the air on self-made footholds looked simple, but anyone who’d tried to run a skill like that knew it was anything but easy.
Especially this “light” skill of Ryu Sunghyun’s—formless by nature.
You had to consider, down to the last detail, where to manifest it, how big, how rigid. Every single parater.
Strolling through the sky on conjured steps was never simple. And the current Ryu Sunghyun I’d t after regression could never operate it this fast.
'I have to confirm it.'
If—if he really was Hyung... then I would never let him go to a aningless end again.
Biting my lip, I looked back at “Ryu Sunghyun.”
“Talk. Explain this—to .”
Clutching the fabric at my waist, I spoke with hope and fear tangled together.
“What the hell are you? Am I... right about you? Or are you just—”
“Just what?”
“Ryu Sunghyun” cut off with a chilly smile.
“Just a fake that imitates well. Is that what you’re wondering?”
“......”
“Hard to say. What do you want the answer to be, Seohu?”
He beat the wings at his back in a wide sweep and whispered with intimate gentleness, like sharing a secret.
“Let’s go with your first line: just a fake. If you say so, I’ll do whatever you want, show you whatever you want to see.”
“......”
“Or, the second: the real thing. A clone-type that got stronger by chance found in your head, dragged out to rattle you—and then, using too much power, got swallowed whole.”
The more he spoke, the tighter my chest grew. Thud, thud. My heart pounded hard enough to hurt.
“But the real one,” “Ryu Sunghyun” smiled, “isn’t like the fake.”
“The real one attacks—you, and the people around you.”
“What?”
I blinked, uncomprehending—just as it happened.
Dozens of massive golden spears flew up from below and punched clean through “Ryu Sunghyun’s” wings.
He staggered as holes tore through them—but only for an instant. He repaired them at once and lowered his gaze.
Following it, I looked down—and my eyes flew wide.
Through the thinning dust, the real Ryu Sunghyun—covered in blood—was forcing himself unsteadily to his feet. Beside him, other S-ranks knelt, coughing blood as they barely held on.
Blood stread down his brow, yet he kept his eyes open. He ford more spears of light and aid them precisely at and “Ryu Sunghyun.”
The sight made my heart plumt. My whole body went cold.
While I’d been clinging to and obsessing over “Ryu Sunghyun,” my teammates had been suffering below. Now I understood why Sahyeon had begged to co to my senses.
I had to go—now. I had to heal them. In my current state, I could.
Just then, the arm around my waist tightened.
“Where do you think you’re going? There’s more to see, Seohu.”
“Hyung.”
“Once you see this, you won’t be confused anymore.”
“Ryu Sunghyun” flicked his hand again.
In less than three seconds, a forest of golden spears filled the sky behind him—so many they blotted out the heavens. Hundreds of them, identical to the ones the real Ryu Sunghyun had just conjured—as if to mock that other self.
“Why—why? Hyung, wait. Why...”
It felt like hands were closing around my throat—I couldn’t breathe right.
Watching stumble over the question, “Ryu Sunghyun” answered, gently, without a shred of hesitation:
“Because I’m the real one.”
That was the signal.
The mont the words ended, hundreds of spears fell.
At the sa ti, I shoved “Ryu Sunghyun” away with all my strength and hurled myself downward.
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