Lia's hands tightened on the staff that had just appeared in her grip.
"Dammit, it's those cult guys!"
Carlen's uniform flared in a burst of light as heavy plates of armor materialized on his chest, shoulders and arms, layering over his combat suit with a loud metallic clang.
Across from them, the SDR agent's helmet was gone, and his uniform had turned into a black robe trimmed with glowing purple runes that covered his face with a deep hood. A smile stretched unnaturally wide from the shadows beneath it.
Lia let out a curse.
"Of course it's another infiltrator. Carlen!"
Carlen grinned.
"On it!"
He swung his sword before Lia finished speaking, and a shockwave from the blow cracked the ground as the cultist slid backward, raising one arm to block the force.
A violent gust erupted from the impact, ripping the tent's fabric from its poles and sending the entire structure flying away into the darkness, leaving them all exposed under the night sky.
Huh?
The air crackled with cold wind while Yuzen just sat in the same folding chair, his body completely still as he stared forward.
Carlen's sword sparked with lightning.
"STORM BRINGER!"
Lia threw her hands up.
"Stop naming your moves!"
Her shout was drowned out by the crash of steel and energy as the cultist twisted his hands to counter Carlen's overhead swing while Lia fired a blast of light from her staff, turning the plaza into a blur of movement.
Yuzen remained in his chair right in the middle of it all, his hands gripping the metal legs so hard his knuckles ached. The wind howled around him as magic bolts whizzed past, and one got so close that he felt the heat.
Lia twirled her staff and sent a chain of light that wrapped around the cultist's arm, but the man hissed and cut the chain with a gesture before conjuring three glowing orbs that streaked toward her.
Carlen intercepted them with a shout as he swung his sword through all three, and the ground exploded nearby, sending a crate flying straight over Yuzen's head.
The folding chair tilted back and balanced for a second before its legs hit the ground again with a thud.
The cultist slammed a grimoire shut, and the motion created a pulse that sent waves of shadow in all directions.
The man opened his arms wide, his voice a low rasp.
"Creeper of the Abyss, answer my call."
A sharp, ripping sound cut through the air as five glowing cracks shot out from the cultist's feet, and the ground trembled while thick smoke poured from each one.
Five identical hooded figures rose together from the smoke, their movements out of sync like broken reflections, and long claws slid from their sleeves to scrape against the dirt with a shrill sound.
The cultist pointed a finger at the group.
"Feast, Creepers."
The five figures shot forward and became a blur of shadows and claws. Lia spun her staff and planted her heel into the ground, causing a ring of golden light to erupt around her that one Creeper slammed into, bursting into smoke only to reform a second later.
Carlen charged forward as lightning exploded from his sword, and he swung once to cleave through two of the creatures whose bodies split apart before each half twisted and stretched back into its original shape.
Bolts of light, blasts of shadow and arcs of lightning collided midair, filling Yuzen's vision with blinding flashes and a deafening roar that made his ears ring.
He stood up from the chair and took a single step back into the shadows just as a bolt of lightning struck the spot where he'd been sitting, turning the chair into a smoking pile of twisted metal.
He blinked once at the wreckage.
"…Yeah, no. I'm done."
He bolted, running from the plaza with his lungs burning while the night sky flashed with explosions. Behind him, Carlen's laughter shook the ground and Lia's spells cracked the air, but he didn't care because an image had surfaced in his mind of the small, tattered ice cream shop he'd seen from the car window when Hyejin drove them into Yonsa.
He remembered the half-burned sign and the cracked freezer inside, the same corner his MC used to visit, and now it was his destination.
Yuzen slipped through an alley between collapsed walls where the air was thick with smoke, and the sounds of the battlefield faded to a distant thunder behind him. The river wasn't far, so he followed the curve of the street and scanned the ruins until he finally saw the shop.
He slowed his pace as he approached, the scene so familiar he could almost see his MC walking out with two cones of ice cream, but he shook the thought away and turned toward the riverbank.
Rows of ruined apartment buildings with shattered windows lined the water, their structures still standing.
Yuzen moved faster, searching for the one that matched the old view from the stream until he finally found it.
Building B.
Yuzen climbed the cracked steps with a trembling hand gripping the rail as light from the fires across the city flickered up the walls.
His lungs ached when he was halfway up, but he didn't stop until he reached the familiar door number and pushed the door open, stepping carefully over broken things that littered the floor inside.
Then he saw him. Seo Jaein sat slumped on an old sofa with his head bowed, and beside him, the silver-haired woman lay half on the floor with her upper body propped against the cushions.
Her breaths came in sharp gasps while blood ran in thin lines down the torn fabric of her bodysuit.
Yuzen swallowed and took a hesitant step closer.
"Seo Jaein…"
The word barely left his mouth before a strange pressure pulsed through the air, and a wave of nausea hit him so suddenly that he stumbled back.
The walls seemed to spin around him as his vision narrowed into a black spot, and then everything was gone.
A bright, high-pitched voice burst out of his mouth before he could think.
"Daddy's here!"
The joyful voice didn't belong to him. Yuzen blinked, and the world that came into focus was not the dark ruin but a warm, living space.
A narrow hallway stretched ahead with wallpaper patterned with clouds and suns, and the lower walls were covered in crayon drawings taped up with paper.
From the living room, he could hear the faint sound of a children's show playing on a television. He tried to move, but his body didn't respond, and his arms, which were now stubby and small, lifted on their own.
His feet pattered forward across a wooden floor that shined under a soft yellow light, but he didn't decide to do any of it because the body simply moved.
A man stepped through an open door, his blue police uniform dotted with raindrops that glittered under the porch light.
"Hahaha! What's this? A little soldier costume? Aren't you supposed to be asleep, soldier?"
The boy's body, his body, bounced with excitement.
"Because Dad's going away for a seven-sleep long after this!"
The words left his mouth without his permission, and Yuzen heard them echo as if they had come from somewhere else.
A woman's voice came from behind him, and the warm, amused sound sent an unfamiliar comfort through his chest.
"He insisted on staying up just to show it to you."
She appeared in the doorway wiping her hands on a towel, her hair tied back in a loose bun while the smell of rice and sesame oil followed her into the hallway.
The man laughed again and crouched low until his knees touched the floorboards.
"Right, right. Then staying up's a must!"
He reached forward, and Yuzen saw a large hand ruffle the boy's hair, but he felt no physical touch, only a strange disconnect as he watched it happen.
The man stood and lifted him high into the air, and the walls spun in a blur of soft light while laughter filled the room.
Yuzen wanted to look away from the woman smiling in the doorway, but his gaze stayed fixed where the boy's would, and he couldn't stop the happy sound coming from his borrowed mouth.
The smell of wet rain on uniform fabric mixed with the faint sweetness of soap and the warmth of a dinner waiting in the next room.
Then, without warning, the father's face began to stretch at the edges, and the ceiling darkened while the sound of laughter cracked and distorted.
The air grew cold as the broken sounds scattered into the growing darkness.
When the world formed again, the light was dimmer and gray, and a single lamp flickered over a small table. The smell of rain seeped through a half-open window, mixing with the scent of boiled broth and detergent.
"Mom, I already slept eight times. When's Dad coming home? I wanna show him this."
The boy's throat vibrated with a sound that wasn't his, the tone higher and softer with an impatience that felt alien. Yuzen was forced to look down at a cheap medal glinting in tiny, round fingers as it swung on its ribbon, catching the dim lamplight in flashes.
Across the table, a woman with dark circles under her eyes sat with slumped shoulders, but her lips curved into a patient smile when she looked at the boy.
"It's raining, so maybe the traffic's bad. You can show him tomorrow, right? Let's go to sleep."
The small head shook violently in a jarring motion that Yuzen was forced to endure.
"No! I want to show Dad first!"
The pleading words burst out, and Yuzen had no say in them, trapped inside a body that moved with its own desperate rhythm.
The woman's shoulders fell in a soft sigh.
"Oh, you… fine. One more hour, okay?"
The rain tapped against the windowpane, and the minute hand on the wall clock moved forward with a heavy tick… tick… tick… Then a doorbell cut through the quiet.
Ding-dong.
The body he was in jerked forward so suddenly that the chair toppled over, its crash echoing in the hallway.
"It's Daddy!"
The woman started to warn him, but it was too late.
"Careful, don't run like that—"
The boy's legs were already moving, carrying Yuzen down the hallway as the floorboards groaned with each step. He saw the front door, the small mat, and the shoes lined up next to it just as the door swung open.
A man in a blue police uniform stood under the porch light with rain soaking his sleeves, and a warm feeling that wasn't Yuzen's spread through the boy's chest.
The boy's body stopped moving, and a sudden, cold feeling spread through Yuzen's stomach while the small lungs he was in seemed to stop working. He heard the mother's soft, hurried footsteps approach from behind them.
"What is it? Why are you two just—"
The man at the door lifted his face fully into the light, and Yuzen saw that his eyes were puffy and bloodshot. Rain rolled down his pale cheeks and dripped from his jaw.
The woman's voice was a trembling whisper.
"Eh? Jean? What are you doing here at this hour?"
The man named Jean swallowed, and the sound that came out was a choked rasp.
"Mrs. Seo… I… I'm so sorry."
He took a heavy step inside, bringing the smell of wet asphalt and cold wind with him.
"There was a hostage situation. Mr. Seo… he…"
He couldn't finish the sentence, and a tear mixed with the rain on his cheek.
Yuzen watched the woman's hand rise to her mouth as her eyes grew wide and filled with tears. Her legs gave out, and her body slid down the doorframe to the floor with a soft sound. Shuddering sobs came from her in gasps.
"No… no, no… this isn't true…"
The medal slipped from the boy's numb fingers and hit the floor with a dull clink. The sound stretched and echoed as the hallway seemed to bend and the light overhead flickered and died. The woman's sobs faded into a high-pitched ringing noise, and then everything went black.
Yuzen felt nothing for a moment, and then new sensations appeared. He heard the hum of old fluorescent lights and smelled instant coffee and fried oil. The counter beneath the hands of his new body was sticky.
A cruel, laughing voice cut through the air.
"What is this? Pfft—why are you working here, Seo Jaein?"
A group of boys in wrinkled school uniforms stood across the counter, acting like they owned the place. Yuzen was trapped inside a taller body, forced to stand there without moving. He wanted to speak, but his throat and arms were not his to control.
One of the boys leaned forward with a grin.
"Haha, look at him! The prince of our school, working in a convenience store. Aren't you scared people will find out?"
More laughter filled the small store. The body Yuzen was in stayed completely still.
A guy with messy brown hair took another step closer, his voice dropping to a low whisper.
"Come on, why are you doing this? We know your family got money when your father died. Are you trying to get sympathy, or did your family already spend it all?"
A loud slap cracked through the quiet store. The head Yuzen was snapped to the side, and a faint ringing started in his ears, but the body didn't even stumble. Yuzen felt a faint sting on the cheek but was powerless to do anything.
The laughter grew louder.
A sharp female voice cut through the jeering from outside the store.
"Hey! Over here! Officer! They're trying to shoplift!"
The bullies' confident smirks vanished, replaced by panic.
"F*ck! Police?! Who called them?"
"Damn it, that nosy b*tch again! Run!"
"Sh*t, I'm still on probation!"
They ran for the door, shoving snacks into their pockets as they went. One of them looked back over his shoulder.
"Just you wait, Jaein! You and that girl! F*cking losers!"
The bell above the door rang loudly as they rushed out into the night. The store was quiet again.
Slowly, the hands on the counter unclenched. Yuzen watched the boy's reflection in the dark glass of a refrigerator. The face was pale, with a bright red mark on one cheek.
The hum of the lights seemed to grow louder, and then the colors in the room started to change. The edges of the store folded inward and the shelves bent like paper while the hum became a high, sharp sound.
The smell of the store was replaced by the sweet smell of a cake.
A cake with flickering candles sat on a small table. A girl in a pink sweater laughed beside him, brushing crumbs from her sleeve.
Across from them, the mother smiled, her eyes wet but proud.
"Congratulations for being accepted!"
The girl leaned closer to him and grinned.
"Hehe, now we can finally be a campus couple."
Her voice was soft and teasing. The boy's hand moved on its own, reaching for hers. Yuzen felt the motion, but he couldn't feel the warmth of her skin.
The mother laughed.
"Oh my! Look at you two."
The girl covered her face with both hands, giggling, and the sound was strangely familiar to Yuzen.
The light in the room grew brighter, and the cake started to look blurry. The warm light on their faces began to fade. Yuzen tried to blink, but the body still wouldn't respond.
The candlelight turned into a blinding white light, and then the world disappeared.
"SEO JAEIN! WAKE UP!"
The warmth disappeared, and a sudden cold washed over him. Yuzen's vision changed, and he saw a bloodied body pressed against his chest.
It was the same girl, but only her upper half was left. Her left hand was limp but still wore a ring with a gem that shined in the rain. His eyes, Jaein's eyes, were stuck looking at it.
"Seo Jaein! What are you doing here?!"
He saw silver hair at the edge of his vision. A woman was kneeling beside him with rain and tears on her face. Her eyes were wide with fear.
"Please… please come to your senses!"
Her voice cracked with a plea that felt terrifyingly real. A wave of profound wrongness rolled through him—no, through them.
Yuzen couldn't tell where Jaein's horror ended and his own began.
His stomach churned. He wasn't supposed to be here. Something had been torn from its proper place.
Wake up.
The words sounded closer this time, and then he heard a sharp crack. Pain exploded on his own cheek.
He gasped, and the shaky sound was finally his.
"Hah… haaa… ha… what—what just…"
Yuzen blinked fast, and the feeling of real rain on his own face pulled him back into his body. Hyejin's pale, wet face filled his view.
Behind her, Seo Jaein was sitting up, his body shaking, but his eyes looked sharp and careful. The silver-haired woman was next to him with her blades out.
He looked around, and his head was spinning. The nice living room was gone. Half of the apartment had been torn away, and the walls were split open. Rain poured through a big hole where the roof used to be.
Hyejin stood up and pushed wet hair from her face.
"Sorry about that. I tried nullification on you, but it didn't work. Who knew a slap would do the trick?"
Her polite, normal smile returned like she hadn't just hit him. Yuzen couldn't think of what to say. His head was full of memories that weren't his. He didn't think it was the slap that had pulled him out.
He felt like he'd been so close to something important—an answer—before being violently dragged back.
An answer to what?
The question slipped away before he could grasp it.
A wave of nausea hit him hard. His knees buckled, but Hyejin's hand shot out to steady him.
"Let's get out of here now, shall we?"