It was another ordinary day. After lunch, Yonghoon looked at his reflection in the mirror in the company bathroom.
His body, easily over 100 kilograms, combined with his tall height, made him look like a bear. His face had also become rounder, giving him a gentle appearance.
Yonghoon let out a sigh.
Just ten years ago, he had a lean figure, but it had changed due to work life.
He had tried signing up for a gym a few times, but never lasted more than a few days.
[Link Start]
Yonghoon heard a hallucinated voice near his ear. Then a strange sensation began to set in. It felt as if he were looking at himself from outside.
The reflection in the mirror was his younger self from ten years ago, staring back with a sharp figure.
He rubbed his eyes with his hand. When he looked back at the mirror, his original face was there again. He let out a sigh of relief.
For years now, he had occasionally experienced hallucinations and visual distortions.
Sometimes it lasted just a few minutes, other times it went on for nearly half a day.
He had asked people around him and even visited hospitals, but every time he was treated like a weirdo, so he stopped asking.
Since it didn’t interfere with daily life, he had given up and just lived with it.
But things had started to change recently.
He flinched and snapped out of it when someone passed by him. It was time to get back to work.
Yonghoon left the bathroom and headed toward the office. In front of him were single-story buildings that looked decades old.
It was a small factory inside the Gunpo industrial complex with only about 40 employees. He entered the single-story office in front of him.
In the small office with about six desks, people were working. Yonghoon quickly went to his seat and sat down.
“If you’re done eating, you should come straight to the office. It’s been over an hour!”
“I’m sorry.”
Yonghoon apologized to the manager who was speaking while holding a newspaper.
But inwardly, Yonghoon sneered at him.
The man was nearly sixty and had no real skills, but he was seated as a manager just because he was related to the company president. He was a leech in the office.
It was ridiculous to Yonghoon that such a man was trying to enforce discipline in the office.
Yonghoon sat down and looked around.
Chief Kim, who handled accounting, was chatting with someone on the computer, and across from him, Manager Park was still dozing off. It was the aftereffect of getting drunk during sales the night before.
It was a sight he had seen for two years now.
“Assistant Manager Kang, let’s go deliver!”
Manager Jang, having finished his meal, shouted toward Yonghoon as he entered.
Yonghoon sighed softly and stood up from his seat.
It seemed he had to go on a delivery again today.
Yonghoon and Manager Jang stepped outside.
Outside, car parts stacked in boxes were visible. Yonghoon drove the forklift and loaded the boxes one by one onto the large truck.
Manager Jang received the boxes from atop the truck and stacked them in the cargo hold.
Yonghoon sighed at his own skilled forklift operation. The only thing he had improved since joining this company was his forklift driving.
A moment later, a luxury midsize car pulled up next to them.
The car stopped, and a man with graying hair got out from the driver’s seat. It was the company president.
Then a young woman stepped out from the passenger seat.
She had a pretty face and a slender figure. Her long hair flowed in the breeze. But her face showed a hint of stubbornness.
She was the president’s eldest daughter, currently in college.
After receiving greetings from Yonghoon and Manager Jang, the president went into his office.
His daughter ignored Yonghoon and Manager Jang and followed behind him. She was yelling at the president.
“I told you Heeyoung is hanging out with bad kids! Dad, you need to pay more attention to her!”
Seeing that, Yonghoon and Manager Jang shook their heads.
It seemed even being a father wasn’t easy for the president.
It was another day of overtime.
Yonghoon was heading home after finishing work.
It was nearly midnight, and the alley was desolate.
Only the convenience store lights were on, and some local delinquents were smoking in a small playground nearby.
More than half of them looked like high schoolers, but Yonghoon ignored them. Nothing good would come from making eye contact.
He lowered his head and quickened his pace.
After walking for about ten minutes, he arrived at his home-a semi-basement unit in a three-story multi-family building.
Yonghoon went inside.
Just a kitchen and a room. It was a modest home, his one and only space.
He washed up roughly and sat at his desk.
On the desk were an outdated computer and monitor, and a tablet used for drawing on the computer.
Yonghoon turned on the computer and began drawing with the tablet.
Though he worked at a small company, he had a dream-to become a great comic artist or illustrator. So he kept drawing little by little every day.
On the screen was the face of a young woman. She had a bob cut and a beautiful, expressionless face.
Yonghoon tilted his head and put down the pen. It was a face he had never seen before. But looking at the woman’s face made him feel nostalgic.
It had started not long ago. He began doing unfamiliar things like this.
A chill ran down his spine, and he erased the woman’s face. Then he began drawing something else.
But soon he saved the drawing and turned off the computer. He was too tired to make progress.
Lying on the bed, he gave a bitter smile. This was the reason he had ended up working at such a small, ordinary company.
Unlike other people, he lacked willpower.
[Pathetic loser.]
He fell asleep to the sound of a quiet sneer.
Feeling that the other-dimensional version of himself had fallen asleep, Yonghoon removed the Dimensional Connector from his head.
Looking to the side, he saw that Sunhee was still sleeping.
The outside was shrouded in darkness, and only the light from the Dimensional Connector in his hand illuminated the surroundings.
He sat down and stared at the headphone-shaped Dimensional Connector. It was the final version of the banned Dimensional Connector device.
It had been over five years since the Dimensional Connector was first created. After repeated failures, it finally succeeded by using the Dimensional Power of an Awakened. The ecstatic developers immediately tried connecting to another world.
But that place wasn’t the world of monsters.
The Dimensional Connector connected the user to a parallel version of themselves in another dimension.
The Dimensional Connector was a failure.
It had been a problematic project from the start. Many Awakened who participated in the experiments ended up in a vegetative state, and eventually, even the lead developer became one. In the end, the Dimensional Connector was scrapped.
But Yonghoon was able to inherit the Dimensional Connector used by an Awakened he had been close to as a keepsake.
Fortunately, this new version of the Dimensional Connector had no major issues. That’s why Yonghoon had remained fine until now.
But he was starting to get worried. The face Yonghoon had been drawing in that other world was Sunhee’s face.
It seemed that the increasing number of connections was starting to influence the other-dimensional Yonghoon. He thought he should reduce the frequency of use.
Yonghoon had been using the Dimensional Connector to heal his mind.
It gave rest to a soul weary from war. Thanks to it, he had been able to hold on.
He put the connector away and lit a candle. The government no longer had the capacity to supply electricity to the front lines.
Yonghoon took out a piece of wood and a small carving knife from his bag.
While connected to the Dimensional Connector, the body remained asleep. Having slept enough, he needed something to do until Sunhee woke up.
Scritch, scritch.
He began carving. It was something he had picked up after the war started and he could no longer draw. The carving gradually took the shape of Sunhee.
Time passed. Feeling a tickle on his face, he turned his head and saw Sunhee staring at him.
Just as Yonghoon smiled at her, their pager went off. It was an emergency.
Yonghoon sighed. He wouldn’t even get to finish a single day of leave.
They hurriedly left the motel. A siren wailed across the early morning sky.
The entire unit was placed on emergency alert. Yonghoon learned the reason from the soldiers.
It was a sudden invasion by a monster.
The military was calling the monster Yonghoon’s team had dealt with a Scout-type Monster.
The reason was that when these Scout-type Monsters survived and settled in one place, there was a certain chance that a Dimensional Beast would appear, and they seemed to be scouting the area for such a beast.
The Dimensional Beast first appeared two years after the Scout-type Monsters began showing up. And it turned the world into hell.
The monster was given many names after its appearance, but now it was commonly referred to as the Dimensional Fixed Beast, or simply “the Larva.”
It looked like a massive larva with a hard shell, and once it appeared, humanity was completely overwhelmed.
Even now, humanity had yet to find a proper solution to this monster.
All strike team members except Team 2 were gathered in the division commander’s office.
With the numbers from Team 1 and Team 3 combined, there were only nine people. Not even enough for a platoon.
Team 1 must have been woken from sleep, as they looked visibly tired, and only Lieutenant Ganghyuk seemed somewhat refreshed, as if he had managed to relieve some stress.
Once everyone had gathered, the division commander explained the situation. His expression was grim.
“Two hours ago, there was an attack by Scout-type Monsters across the entire front. Our division’s 2nd platoon was hit, and two people died, including an Assassin-type Awakened.”
The division commander didn’t even mention the deaths of the other soldiers.
“Less than half of the monsters were repelled. What’s more, all the monsters stopped after advancing a certain distance from where they appeared.”
Everyone’s expression stiffened at the division commander’s words. If the Scout-type Monsters had stopped without rampaging, there was only one possible outcome.
“It’s certain that the Dimensional Fixed Beast will appear. A little while ago, the Unified Command sent an order to retreat from all fronts. A month ago, the last line of defense in South America was destroyed by the enemy, and unfortunately, it seems we’re next.”
It seemed the stagnant period of half a year of small-scale battles had come to an end.
The Korean military, lacking the capability to defend against the enemy’s massive forces, had reached the time to leave the Korean Peninsula.
“An A-rank Awakened Spatial Mover is said to be coming here shortly. It seems he’s personally stepping in to evacuate all the Assassin-type Awakened to Jeju Island.”
Surprised, Sunhee turned to look at Yonghoon. Yonghoon gave a bitter smile.
It seemed the higher-ups had decided to abandon the frontline divisions. Otherwise, there would be no reason to separately evacuate the most important personnel, the Assassin-type Awakened.
“You’ve probably all realized it already, but aside from you, it’ll likely be impossible to escape. The higher-ups believe the Dimensional Beast will appear sooner than expected. Well, I suppose the time has come.”
The division commander’s expression was calm as he spoke. He was a soldier who had witnessed the annihilation of countless frontline units. He had always kept situations like this in mind.
But the strike team members’ faces were grave.
From now on, they had to escape this place alive. And without the Assassin-type Awakened, their chances of surviving would drop even further.
The squad members grabbed their weapons and headed for the parking lot.
The division commander moved back to the command and control room. Even if the higher-ups had given up, he had to do everything he could to save even one person.
In the parking lot, the generators were still roaring as they powered the Dimensional Movement Blocking Device.
Soldiers were running in all directions.
Soldiers jumping into vehicles and speeding off, others running with just a rifle in hand, and one young soldier crying against a wall-clearly, everyone understood the situation.
A moment later, the surviving members of Team 2 appeared, wrapped in bandages here and there.
Their expressions were dark, having just lost teammates, but no one brought it up.
Amidst the surrounding chaos, the nine of them looked isolated. They quietly stared at the empty parking lot.
Soon, the space in front of them began to ripple. It was the sign of Dimensional Movement.
Crack!
A thin line split the air before their eyes, and a man appeared. The space behind him was still rippling.
Like the others here, the man was wearing a combat suit reinforced with metal plating.
Yonghoon checked his shoulder. He was a colonel.
The man, an ordinary-looking male in his 30s, was the Spatial Mover with the codename Jumper.
He was the last Spatial Mover remaining in Korea, capable of transporting up to two people besides himself up to 400 kilometers.
He was one of the four remaining A-rank Awakened in Korea.
The man stopped those who were about to salute him and began to speak.
“There’s no time. The two Assassin-type Awakened, step forward.”
The Assassin-type Awakened from Team 1 stepped forward. Sunhee glanced briefly at Yonghoon before stepping up.
Yonghoon handed Sunhee a handkerchief.
It was the Dimensional Core he had obtained yesterday.
Sunhee looked at the handkerchief, then at Yonghoon, and Yonghoon smiled at her.
The Spatial Mover confirmed the two and had them stand on either side of him. He spoke to the others.
“Unified Command believes there’s no time left. Move out right after I leave. Good luck.”
As everyone had expected, the higher-ups had abandoned all frontline divisions.
Yonghoon gave Sunhee a bitter smile. Sunhee tightly gripped the handkerchief and kept looking at Yonghoon.
The soldiers of this era-or rather, the Awakened-had experienced countless farewells. With the living now fewer than a tenth of the dead, they had said goodbye to many.
Yonghoon and Sunhee were both preparing to say goodbye.
If Yonghoon survived, they would be together again in joy, but even if he didn’t, Sunhee would carry him in her heart and go on living.
Yonghoon gave a bitter smile to himself.
He wasn’t sure if he could go on living after losing Sunhee.
Yonghoon still didn’t know whether Sunhee stayed with him because she loved him or because she needed comfort in the battlefield.
But in this pit of despair, such things didn’t matter much.
The Spatial Mover placed his hands on the shoulders of the Awakened standing beside him. He released his Dimensional Power.
Instead of slicing through dimensions, his Dimensional Power created a rift between spaces, linking this place to a point on Jeju Island.
He threw himself into the rift. The Spatial Mover and the two Assassin-type Awakened teleported to Jeju Island.
All that remained before the strike team was the rippling space.
As soon as they left via Dimensional Movement, everyone began moving busily. The rest also had to escape this place.
Yonghoon quietly looked at the spot where Sunhee had left. In her final moment, Sunhee had moved her lips toward him.
‘Don’t be too late.’
Yonghoon now had a reason to survive.
“I’ll make sure to set aside your share.”
“When have I ever skipped my turn? Don’t worry.”
Yonghoon apologized to Ganghyuk for giving the Dimensional Core to Sunhee, but Ganghyuk waved it off, saying he didn’t mind.
Yonghoon and the strike team members climbed into the military trucks. They had to head south as quickly as possible.