No Way Out Alone

“The newly forming rifts are showing multiple anomalous phenomena.

There have been quite a few cases where it’s absolutely impossible to come back out alone.”

“A rift you can’t escape alone?”

I narrowed my brows and asked again. The answer came from Won-gyeong.

“We’ve found quite a few cases where you can only exit if specific conditions are met.

And those conditions usually require two or more people.”

Won-gyeong spoke in a calm tone.

Because his voice was so gentle, if you didn’t listen to the content, it almost sounded like he was reading a fairy tale to a child.

Speaking in that unusually kind voice, Won-gyeong continued.

“We didn’t used to move in groups like this.

But after the rifts started showing anomalies, we’ve been operating in teams of three or more.”

Hearing that, I felt a bit cornered.

If what he said was true, then if I got caught up in a rift, there might be no way to escape.

Inside a rift, monsters swarm everywhere. I wouldn’t last long.

Sensing that my resistance had weakened slightly, Won-gyeong softened his tone even more.

“No matter what ability you have, as long as you’re an ability user, you’ll be guaranteed sufficient safety if you come with us.
And most importantly, this.”

“The most important thing?”

“Why we came to this bunker in the first place. We came because we knew a rift would form nearby.”

“You can predict where a rift will appear? How?”

“We can’t. But Jaeyul can. If you’re friends, you’d know about his ability, right?”

He gestured with his chin toward Hyeon Jaeyul, still lying down.

‘We’re not friends, so I don’t know his ability either.’

I hid that fact and shook my head.

Even though I’d dropped most of my act, I still felt the need to hide that I didn’t actually know Jaeyul.

Recalling the conversations from the dream, I said,

“I don’t know. Jaeyul doesn’t really talk about himself.”

Won-gyeong furrowed his brows briefly, then nodded.

“Rifts form from the contamination of specific objects.

Jaeyul can see that contamination with his eyes.

We’ve verified it multiple times, so it’s a reliable ability.

It’s vague, but he can roughly tell the location and scale.”

“So.”

“So that’s why we came here. If we destroy the object or the contamination disappears, we can prevent the rift from forming.”

Listening to the explanation, I pressed a hand to my throbbing head.

Massaging my temples, I spoke with irritation.

“By that logic, if you remove the object, the rift won’t form, right?”

“You could see it that way, but….”

“If you know, then just say it clearly. Why do you keep dodging the point?”

As Won-gyeong was about to continue, Ju Noeul—who’d been stomping in frustration—cut in.

He strode toward me.

He wasn’t as big as Jaeyul, but his build was still imposing enough to feel threatening.

Strangely, though, his approach didn’t scare me.

Despite Won-gyeong’s efforts to calm things from a distance, Ju Noeul didn’t stop.

As he closed in on me, a deep sigh escaped from behind us.

I looked up at Ju Noeul’s face looming over me.

Sharp features, but his handsome face was twisted into a deep scowl.

“With Jaeyul laid out like that, we couldn’t find the object causing the rift.

Within three days, the rift will definitely form. This entire area will fall within its range. So what do you think happens to you then, huh?”

Compared to Won-gyeong’s gentle explanation, Ju Noeul’s irritation-filled tone felt more sincere.

Calming down as I looked at him, I tilted my head up and replied,

“Then I’ll run away before that.”

I didn’t have the stamina to run, but I bluffed anyway.

Ju Noeul ran a hand roughly through his hair, looking exasperated.

It was the look you gave someone completely hopeless.

“If this were a normal rift, sure! But this one isn’t.

Do you know how long it took us to get here? A whole week.

It was detected from that far away. That means the concentrated energy is insane. Got it?”

I see.

Ju Noeul’s face reddened as he launched into his rant.

Loud voices mess with me badly, and honestly my ears felt like they might burst, but I couldn’t bring myself to cover them.

When I faltered under his momentum, he leaned closer, his large hand landing on my shoulder.

He wasn’t applying any force, just resting it there, so I didn’t need to pull away.

My ears still felt like they were ringing, though.

“So come with us. This place is dangerous!”

Even after being pushed like that, I still didn’t answer.

Ju Noeul spoke again, his neck veins bulging.

“I’ll protect you, so just follow us! Live together for a while, then decide if you want to join!

If you hate it, we’ll let you go midway! I don’t plan on holding onto someone who doesn’t want to stay!”

When his shouting ended, applause echoed from behind us.

It was Jeong Iheon.

In the suddenly quiet bunker, he muttered loud enough to hear,

“Wow. Sounded like a confession.”

Yeah. Same thought.

It felt like I’d just received a passionate love confession.

The one person who’d kept his distance from me the entire time was suddenly making such a fervent offer.

Hearing the nonstop, overexcited clapping, Ju Noeul spun around, seething.

He rushed straight up to Jeong Iheon and grabbed him by the collar.

I was about to speak when my body reacted before my ears did.

A chilling premonition ran through me.

The bunker began to shake violently, like an earthquake.

Won-gyeong, still in front of me, reached out.

The moment he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his chest, the world flipped.

The rift had formed.

“…Are you okay?”

“Ugh….”

“It’s your first time being caught in a rift.”

Just as I felt the world invert, a sharp, electric sensation stabbed through my nerves.

As soon as everything flipped, Won-gyeong—who’d been holding me—checked the surroundings first, then my condition.

He was asking if I was okay, but I didn’t have the presence of mind to answer.

My vision felt unnaturally sharp, like I was wearing high-prescription glasses, and my muscles were moving faster than my intent.

“Try to breathe slowly. Most people throw up the first time they’re caught in a rift.”

It didn’t feel like motion sickness.

My condition didn’t quite match what Won-gyeong was describing.

I couldn’t be certain since it was my first time inside a rift, but it felt similar to the sensation I’d experienced inside Jaeyul’s dream.

Unlike reality, where it always felt like I was carrying sandbags, my body felt light and responsive.

[TIP! The player’s current location is ‘Inside a Rift’. Within a rift, physical abilities increase by 500% based on real-world training.]

As if to confirm my suspicion, the system displayed a message similar to ones I’d seen before.

While I adjusted to the unfamiliar sensation, Won-gyeong gently patted my back.

His soft voice kept telling me it was okay to throw up if I felt sick.

From the few days I’d observed him, Won-gyeong wasn’t actually the kind type.

He just looked gentle and spoke calmly. That was all.

Even now, he probably wasn’t being especially kind.

I pushed his hand away and lifted my head.

I was getting used to the sensation.

The overly sharp vision felt awkward, so I blinked a few times before speaking.

We were in a maze-like space, and no one else was in sight.

“Where are the others?”

“When a rift forms, people who are in physical contact are guaranteed to be sent to the same location.”

“So people who weren’t touching could be dropped somewhere else.”

“Yeah.”

Before I could fully process being dragged into a rift, another worry surfaced.

“Was Jaeyul caught in it too? He was still recovering….”

“He was.”

Won-gyeong nodded firmly.

Wasn’t he worried at all?

It felt like I—who’d only met Jaeyul a few days ago—was more concerned than he was.

When I frowned slightly at his indifference, Won-gyeong noticed and added, almost defensively,

“If he’d still been unconscious, I would’ve gone to him first. I saw him open his eyes earlier, so Jaeyul’s fine.

You were more of a concern, so I grabbed you first.”

It made sense.

But that explanation let me reassess Won-gyeong more clearly.

People usually favor their own.

Someone you barely know versus an injured acquaintance.

Most people would choose the acquaintance.

This man didn’t.

Put generously, he was rational. Put bluntly, he was cold.

From my perspective—someone with no combat experience and no rift experience—I was grateful he protected me, but….

“If you’re feeling better, let’s move. Staying in one place too long is bad. Monsters will gather.”

If he’d kept this attitude in front of others too, he must’ve had a hard time of it.

‘At least it doesn’t look like he cares much. Is that a good thing?’

I took his hand and stood, then nodded once.

“Thanks for coming with me. If I’d been alone, I wouldn’t have known what to do.”

“I just happened to be the one in front of you. If Jeong Iheon had been there, I would’ve done the same.”

…Would he, though?

I looked at Won-gyeong with faint pity and slowly shook my head.