LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 201
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“…!”
Someone felt like they were choking me, and my chest was tight.
The being beyond the light only gazed at me with its gigantic eye.
It didn’t perform any other actions.
However.
Under its gaze, I couldn’t even twitch a finger.
“Keheuk….”
After holding out and holding out, a tiny breath finally slipped out.
As the breath escaped, I hastily inhaled air, as if it were my only lifeline.
I made a ridiculously pathetic sound, even I thought so, but I didn’t have the mental space to care about that now.
Like a fly sitting in front of a frog.
Like a frog standing before a snake.
In the presence of the predator that weighed down on my soul, I could do nothing.
“….”
In what felt like an eternity, I wished for this moment to pass.
Before I knew it, the rain that had been pelting me had stopped, and the intense light that was blinding me had vanished without a trace.
Also, the overwhelming presence that had restrained me was gone.
Only the moonlight spilled down to the earth as if nothing had happened.
Swoosh.
Receiving the descending moonlight, I flopped down quietly.
It felt like I had dreamed in broad daylight, but I knew well that none of this was a dream.
The sense of lethargy coursing through my body, the cube that had lost its light and turned into a lump of scrap metal.
All of it was telling me that everything I experienced was real.
“…Not without harvest.”
I muttered helplessly while looking at the solitary cube that remained.
There were many questions, and even more problems remained….
‘….’
What was occupying my mind right now was just the thought that I wanted to rest.
* * *
“…Phew.”
A man trembled as he stepped outside.
A subtle chill enveloped him right after he exited his home.
“The weather seems to have suddenly gotten colder.”
This is all due to global warming.
Looking up at the sky while muttering, the man quickly stopped complaining and hurried his steps.
It was a promise he made with the guys after all.
Even if the man arrived on time, it was obvious that the others would show up sluggishly; still, he couldn’t be late.
He was the one who would be disappointed at today’s gathering.
As expected, when he arrived exactly at the promised time, his friends were nowhere to be seen.
Normally, he would’ve sent a bunch of messages filled with love and concern, but he brushed off the goosebumps on his arms and waited quietly.
About five minutes passed.
Finally, one by one, the man’s friends began to show their faces.
“Hey.”
“Hey, what’s going on? What time is it right now?”
“Oh, the traffic was bad.”
“Aren’t you taking the subway?”
“The subway was jammed.”
“The only thing jammed is your head.”
As they exchanged affectionate jabs, they entered the store, and a warm atmosphere wrapped around them.
When the food they ordered came out and drinks began to flow, the mood heated up.
At a certain point, once the atmosphere had mellowed a bit.
“So, why did we meet today?”
One friend casually broke the ice.
“Did we ever gather with a reason? If we want to see each other, we just do.”
“What’s the point of seeing the guys?”
“Your face means girls won’t be able to see you, so I’d rather see the guys.”
“Yeah, my face is better than yours.”
“So, still single?”
“You jerk.”
Before he even had a chance to respond, the friends began to bicker amongst themselves while the man sipped his drink.
It was the same scene as always, so nothing new there.
Wasn’t this just WWE?
It wasn’t like they were genuinely fighting, so there was no reason to intervene.
Setting down his empty glass, the man spoke.
“I’m getting married.”
“….”
“….”
In an instant, the table fell silent.
Whether it’s a feeling or not, it seemed like the entire store became quiet.
However, the silence didn’t last long.
Pausing their quarrels, his friends each tossed out a comment.
“After all the talk about living and dying, you’re finally doing it?”
“Wow…. I never thought any of us would end up with a spouse.”
“Have you looked into the venue?”
“I’ll have to start looking from now.”
“But.”
One friend poked the man in the side.
“When I asked last time, you said you weren’t sure yet. What suddenly happened? Any special trigger?”
“…Trigger, you say?”
The man forced a smile.
“Remember when I went to Jeju Island with my girlfriend the other time?”
“Oh, that day….”
Even after a week, people still casually brought up that day.
“The roads got flooded, and it was a total disaster or something?”
“It rained so much that communication was lost. I never thought I’d experience a blackout because of rain…”
“But the facilities were fine, right?”
“If they were fine, why would it be cut off?”
“Hey, hey.”
Tap.
With the sound of the table being struck, a derailed train returned to its tracks.
“So? Was there something that happened then?”
“…Did I not mention it?”
“You didn’t.”
As he thought about it, he realized it was true.
The man scratched his head.
“I happened to go to Hallasan that day.”
Then there was silence once again.
Unlike before, this time his friends looked at him as if he were the biggest fool in the world.
“If you’re going to die, just leave your computer to me.”
“I want the shoes.”
“I want a kidney.”
“…Are you guys crazy? Do you think I’d do that knowing it would rain like that?”
“You’re the kind of guy who would.”
“Agreed.”
“…Anyway.”
Just saying that one line got this response, so it wasn’t hard to imagine what kind of reaction he’d get if he told the whole truth.
So the man decided to conceal the details moderately.
“I was isolated due to a road collapse but managed to get out, and after that, I thought I couldn’t postpone any longer.”
“…Isn’t that like the Stockholm syndrome or something?”
“That’d be the bridge effect, you ignorant fool.”
While he didn’t want to experience that again, the man thought it was good to have gained some courage because of it.
“But you said you were isolated. How did you get out?”
“Rescue workers saved me.”
“On a day like that? Is that even possible?”
“That’s why I’m saying they must be rescue workers?”
“Rescue workers aren’t superheroes.”
“What? Are you insulting the people who risk their lives for others?”
They were already an unruly bunch, but a few drinks in, they became even wilder.
Keeping his distance from the foolish conversation, the man reminisced about that day.
The day the rain poured down… no, it was more like it was being dumped from the sky.
In front of the man and his girlfriend, who couldn’t go in or out because they were blocked by mudslides and fallen trees, a little child appeared.
The child, clad in a yellow chick-shaped raincoat and wearing dark sunglasses, said a few words to the man before disappearing.
Along with all the obstacles that had hindered their way.
Was it a dream, or was it a ghost?
As the two debated the child’s identity, they reached a consensus.
‘Wasn’t it a hallucination? They say when body temperature drops, you can see things that aren’t there. It was probably the sudden drop in temperature that made us think the road was blocked.’
‘…Is that so?’
They concluded it was a hallucination due to body temperature dropping.
However.
Even after agreeing like that, the man couldn’t shake the image of the girl in the yellow raincoat.
‘What on earth was that girl?’
Due to the oversized sunglasses that covered half of her tiny face, he couldn’t see what she looked like.
But for some reason.
The child’s stature and voice felt oddly familiar.
“…Sigh.”
The man sighed.
No matter how much he racked his brain, he realized he wouldn’t find an answer.
So, he simply sipped his drink.
‘…This is all because of global warming.’
He complained absurdly, out of place.
Despite desperately pretending otherwise, the drunken haze couldn’t be hidden from his face.
* * *
A week has passed since the invasion of the Dimensional Beings.
I thought it wouldn’t be surprising if all kinds of chaos erupted.
[The government continues to support the disaster victims…]
[Help for the disaster victims continues to pour in…]
[Some say that responsibilities should be held…]
Surprisingly, the world continued to turn without significant changes.
Even though an unprecedented climate anomaly hit Jeju Island, and communication was paralyzed, and traffic was completely cut off.
I wondered if perhaps the manager or Edel had intervened, so I asked.
“What? No. I thought about stepping in, but seeing how things were, it seemed fine.”
While it was true that ordinary people couldn’t comprehend, still.
Wasn’t it too easy to move on from that?
It made my previous worries seem foolish.
As I grumbled, Da-eun, who was sitting in the driver’s seat, shouted.
“Kana’s such a fool! You were told to come back safe, and you ended up dripping wet and turned blue! You came back and were sick for days!”
“…That wasn’t because of the rain…”
But I stopped myself before finishing my sentence.
I had already made that clarification several times; saying it again wouldn’t change anything.
Once I said that, Da-eun became even more frantic, so I gave up.
Of course, if you fell into a lake in chilly weather, you’d catch a cold! But logically, would anyone catch a cold from just a little rain and falling into a lake…?
‘Eventually, Da-eun will find out anyway.’
Instead of discussing that topic, I changed the subject.
“Da-eun. Are you busy? Can I go with you?”
“Since Kana asked nicely to go together, why should it matter how busy I am? We’ll put everything aside and go!”
“…Is that really right?”
When I made a dumbfounded expression, Da-eun stuck out her pink tongue.
“Just kidding. There’s nothing special today. I gotta do a broadcast at night, but Kana said it shouldn’t take long, so it should be fine!”
“Got it. It won’t take long.”
I nodded and added one more comment.
“Probably.”
“…Didn’t you just say you wouldn’t say ‘probably’?”
“That’s why I’m saying it now.”
“Wow, how irritating. Can I just pinch you once?”
“…No.”
“Sorry, but Kana’s opinion doesn’t matter!”
“…Eeeh.”
With a glinting gaze, Da-eun tugged at my cheek.
If there hadn’t been an autonomous driving system, she wouldn’t have been able to do such a thing.
…Realizing that the advancement of civilization isn’t all that great.
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