“What… are we?”
The moment I heard those words, only one thought came to mind.
It’s finally here.
It was a question we’d have to confront sooner or later.
Our relationship existed on so many blurred lines that it was impossible to define.
Too passionate to be just friends, yet not quite enough to be lovers.
But our feelings for each other ran too deep to dismiss ourselves as mere sex friends.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know…?”
Shin Yujeong’s face went cold at my ambiguous reply.
She looked as if she’d never dreamed I would answer that way.
Or perhaps she knew, but had hoped she’d never have to hear it.
She asked me, her expression hollow.
“Do you… do you not like me?”
I could feel the desperation in her question.
“I do like you.”
“Then… if you like me, why would you say something like that?”
That’s the problem.
If I didn’t like you, I could just cut you off coldly, even if it meant taking a few slaps to the face. But with you, I can’t do that.
“I’m certain that I like you. It’s just…”
Our relationship didn’t belong fully to any one category, instead straddling multiple boundaries.
This all started with Shin Yujeong.
With my worldly desire to use a rare resource like her, someone with a talent for magic.
But that feeling, that emotion, began to transform into something genuinely pure, and it brought us to this point.
However, she wasn't the only one at fault.
She may have started it, but I was the one who maintained this relationship and dragged it out this long.
Shin Yujeong might not have had the chance, but I did.
I had opportunities to redefine our relationship.
The reason I let this unstable connection continue was…
“My feelings for you aren’t at one hundred percent.”
…because I thought it would be easier to mold an unstable form into what I wanted than to shatter a solid one and start over.
At least, that’s what I thought.
“So what you’re saying… is that you like me, but you like some other bitch too? Is that it?”
Seeing Shin Yujeong’s face, her voice chillingly sharp and streaks of red mana leaking out from her fury, I had a premonition.
We might be spending a long time apart.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I was heading to the university for the first time in almost two weeks.
As I walked down the stairs, I saw Jeong-hee waiting for me on the landing just below.
It looked like she had something to say.
“Um, Do-jin.”
“Yes.”
“Did you… happen to have a fight with Yujeong?”
So that was it.
After my answer, Shin Yujeong, cold with fury, had questioned me over and over.
She demanded to know who the other woman was.
Of course, I didn’t tell her.
It didn’t take much to imagine what would happen if I did.
In the end, unable to get anything out of me, Yujeong had stormed past and left.
She’d left with a parting shot: if I wouldn’t tell her, she’d find out herself.
“…We had a little argument.”
“I see. She’s been so sullen since yesterday, refusing to say a word. I was wondering what happened, haha.”
Jeong-hee laughed awkwardly, but her pretty smile couldn’t completely hide the worry scattered across her face.
I gave her the brightest smile I could muster and replied.
“We’ll make up soon, so you don’t have to worry too much.”
“Worry? What’s there to worry about? Yujeong and you are both adults. I’m sure you’ll work it out just fine.”
Jeong-hee waved her hands dismissively as she spoke, still smiling.
For someone who thought that, she had an awful lot of worry written on her face.
“You’ll be late. You should get going.”
“I’ll be off, then.”
“Okay.”
I started to walk again, but Jeong-hee, who had stepped aside, suddenly grabbed my arm, stopping me.
“Ah, wait a moment.”
“……?”
When I turned my head, she wrapped her arms around my neck.
Then came a kiss.
Mwah!
No, it was more of a peck.
Maybe she was a little flustered, or maybe just shy.
She waved, her face flushed.
“Do your best.”
“……”
I pointed downward with my finger.
“I think the energy went to a different part of me.”
“Oh, my.”
My morning class… I’d have to skip it, right?
At the barracks for the members of the Haenam Surveillance Battalion.
The night before, Shin Hyo-seop had gotten blackout drunk at the only bar in the area, just like any other night. He’d stumbled back, fallen asleep, and only just woken up late in the morning.
“Ugh, my stomach hurts…”
He’d been sipping soju when, during a lull, the madam of the bar had joined him. He’d hastily ordered a bottle of whiskey and started mixing his drinks. That was his mistake.
“Wasted my money, wrecked my stomach… What am I even doing?”
He gave a bitter smile as he watched himself brushing his teeth in the mirror.
His stomach was killing him, but his face looked like he was enjoying life.
That’s all that matters.
He liked this life.
A free life where nothing and no one held him down.
As long as he showed up for his shifts, his salary came in on time, he had colleagues to hang out with, and there was a place with good booze.
His twenties may have passed by in a flash, but he didn’t regret it.
Well, to be precise, he used to beat himself up with regret, but now, he was slowly letting it go.
I’m being rewarded now.
He considered his current freedom a reward for the hard life he’d lived. A reward for the difficult days he’d spent in his early twenties, trying to take responsibility for a child that had come unexpectedly.
Of course, it was largely his own fault for ignoring the importance of contraception, but still.
Occasionally, thoughts of his wife would prick his conscience, but it was always fleeting.
It’s not like I’m out gambling or having an affair.
He was out here because of work, wasn’t he?
He was sending half his salary straight home, so he was fulfilling his duties as the head of the household.
Yujeong is all grown up now, and Jeong-hee is probably living comfortably.
In fact, ever since his daughter turned twenty, she hadn’t been calling as often.
To be exact, it was a little after she turned twenty, but that wasn’t important.
Any guilt that crept up was quickly suppressed with a bit of rationalization like this.
The only thought left in his head was who he should drink with tonight.
After a quick wash, he changed into his uniform and left the barracks.
“Hey, keep up the good work.”
“Looks like you’re on the afternoon shift today, Officer Shin.”
“Yep, that’s right.”
He passed through security with a simple greeting to the familiar faces on guard duty, took the elevator to the top floor of the surveillance building, and arrived at his post.
The handover was the same as always—a few jokes and a confirmation that all was quiet. Then, his shift began.
The Haenam Surveillance Battalion had only one job.
To watch over the vast, open sea before them.
It was to detect and stop any rifts that might form over the water, however unlikely that was.
“So boring…”
The duty was mind-numbingly dull; no matter where he looked, all he saw was the dark blue sea.
In all the time since he’d started working here, there hadn’t been a single incident. The heavy sense of responsibility and tension he’d felt when he was first assigned had long since vanished.
“Officer Yoon.”
“Yes, Officer Shin.”
“You’re up for a drink after work, right? Huh?”
Yoon Daewon, who was on the afternoon shift with him, looked troubled.
“Ah, please give me a break today. We’ve been drinking every day, and my bank account is completely empty.”
Shin Hyo-seop grinned, nudging Yoon Daewon’s side with his elbow.
“It’s on me tonight, so just come keep me company. You’ll come, right? Huh?”
“Well, if you’re paying, I’m grateful, but… I feel bad for always letting you treat me…”
“Hey, come on! As long as we’re drinking together, that’s all that matters.”
“Haha! Well then, I’ll take you up on your offer just for tonight!”
While the two men were chatting cheerfully, an ominous wind began to blow over the dark blue sea, not far from the shore.
At the same time, the various instruments filling the desk in front of them began to blare.
BEEEEEP!
BEEEEEEEP!
“Wh-what the…?”
A piercing alarm.
It was coming from the device that measured the ambient mana concentration.
There was only one reason for the mana density to rise in this peaceful place.
“N-No way…?”
“Ch-Check the radar, quick!”
“Huh? Ah, yes!”
A single dot that should never have appeared was now visible on the radar, their other eye on the sea.
It was at a point not far from them, a distance easily visible to the naked eye of an Awakened One.
Yoon Daewon’s trembling gaze turned toward the wide-open sea.
An unbelievable sight was unfolding there.
CRACK!
CRAAACK!
“The, the sky is…”
It was splitting apart.
The unmistakable precursor to a rift forming was appearing right before their eyes.
As Shin Hyo-seop stood there, stunned by the surreal situation, Yoon Daewon shouted.
“O-Officer Shin! The, the alarm!”
“Ah, r-right, yeah!”
Snapping back to his senses, Shin Hyo-seop slammed the emergency button in front of him.
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEE—!
A siren echoed throughout the entire region.
Hearing it, other battalion members came rushing in.
“Wh-What’s going on?”
“Why the sudden emergency alarm?!”
“Everyone, look over there!”
One of the members who had run in pointed toward the open sea.
There, a rift was in the process of forming, gradually consuming the sky.
“A-A rift…!”
One of the members who had managed to keep his wits about him screamed desperately.
“Raise the protective barrier, now!”
At his shout, Yoon Daewon slammed a button located at the far end of the room.
RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE!
The ground around them shook, and from beneath the water’s surface near the coast, something enormous began to rise.
CHWAAAAA—!
What shot up, parting the sea, was a wall.
A colossal wall that completely separated the nearby sea from the land.
It was a protective barrier, installed at an astronomical cost, to prepare for the day monsters might pour out of a rift.
Perhaps it was the thought that the massive wall would keep them safe.
The members’ senses slowly began to return.
After some time had passed…
“Switch to the cameras, hurry!” one of the members shouted.
Yoon Daewon pressed a button.
Micro-cameras installed on the barrier began to broadcast the situation at sea onto the screen in real-time.
What greeted them was a gigantic rift.
A rift of unbelievable size, easily 100 meters in diameter.
The jaws of the battalion members dropped.
“Wh-What in the world is that…?”
“Are rifts supposed to be that big?”
“Of course not!”
Just as fear began to grip them once more, something started to emerge from the massive rift.
Ten enormous, constantly writhing tentacles… no, legs.
Following them, a giant, triangular body came into view. One of the members stared at it and muttered in a trembling voice.
“Kra-Kraken…”
The monstrous calamity that had once laid Japan to waste had appeared once more.