BCGWR Chapter 21 Part 1

Broken Jar 9

At the command to follow, Kim Hyun-ah first closed her eyes. As she waited calmly, Lim Se-ju slightly tightened her grip on Kim Hyun-ah’s hand.

“You can open your eyes now.”

“……!!”

Kim Hyun-ah slowly opened her eyes and looked around with a surprised expression.

“……It’s the Taejongdae, Busan Gate.”

“Yes. It’s… a kind of illusion, but you can think of it as an illusion that actually existed.”

She lowered her gaze and saw Han Ji-su lying prostrate near where she stood.

And to protect Han Ji-su, who was about to crawl forward, Esper Jin Bo-ra was lying behind him, embracing Han Ji-su’s body, and Toto was clinging to his pant leg.

The scene, vivid as if it were right next to them, was completely still, like a video paused.

“……I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

“Oh, really? I tried to make it as easy as possible to show… Then… I’ll show you the scene again. Please look at the sparking part over there.”

“Okay.”

As soon as Kim Hyun-ah replied, the space, which had seemed paused, suddenly began to move.

Toto ran out in front of Ji-su, who was shouting for Esper Jin Bo-ra to let go, and used his shield skill. The spherical core gradually shrank, and the sparks also diminished.

But, at that moment.

Kim Hyun-ah distinctly felt a completely different aspect of the core she was seeing in this place compared to the video she had watched.

As if sensing Kim Hyun-ah had noticed the difference, the surrounding space again froze.

In the quiet space, once again like a paused video, where nothing moved, Lim Se-ju walked forward briskly and pointed with her finger at the fist-sized spherical core.

“Do you see this here?”

“……It’s definitely a light I haven’t seen in the video…”

Kim Hyun-ah approached the light gathered around the spherical core Lim Se-ju was pointing at, leaned her head in, and examined it.

It wasn’t sparks, but slightly elongated light droplets, like leaves, floating around. It was a light that had not appeared at all in the general video.

“This is the wave pattern my eyes perceive. There are so many different wave patterns in the world. Many wave patterns just float in the air, and the energy emitted by each person or animal is also different, so their colors, shapes, and Auras are all unique. Although research isn’t complete yet, at least from what I’ve seen since awakening, absolutely identical wave patterns do not exist in different individuals.”

“……”

“I’d never seen such a beautiful wave pattern before. Until a few days ago, that is…”

“……”

In other words, she had seen the exact same wave pattern a few days ago. Kim Hyun-ah had a premonition that she needed to know what that meant, even if she didn’t understand it. Lim Se-ju, without delay, took Kim Hyun-ah’s hand again.

“Please close your eyes for a moment. I’ll take us to the location of the video I wanted to show you.”

Kim Hyun-ah obediently closed her eyes and waited. Then, the distinct city noise of cars passing by was heard.

“You can open them now.”

“……”

Kim Hyun-ah opened her eyes and instantly recognized where she was. Not just the place, but the date and time too.

Thanks to this, she almost tightened her grip instinctively, but keeping in mind that the other person was a Mental-element Esper, not a Physical-element one, the great disaster of breaking Lim Se-ju’s hand did not occur.

“……”

It was rush hour, with cars passing on the road.

Someone was seen coming out of the building where the two stood.

It was a boy wearing a hoodie, who looked like he had just entered high school.

“……!!”

Kim Hyun-ah knew exactly who he was. So, letting go of Lim Se-ju’s hand, she followed, staring endlessly at the boy’s profile as if entranced.

The boy came out of the building, looked around, then slipped into an alley next to the building, not the main street in front. In the far distance, in the direction the boy was walking, a convenience store was visible.

Kim Hyun-ah pressed her lips together and followed the boy, continuously gazing at his face. According to Kim Hyun-ah’s memory, this boy was expected to turn into another, narrower alley, not the convenience store.

And that memory was accurate.

The boy stopped walking and turned toward an even narrower alley than the one he was in, tilting his head.

A faint light shimmered deep within another narrow alley inside that alley.

It wasn’t a typical light; it was a cluster of light droplets floating at a single point, maintaining a small circular shape, which seemed enough to provoke curiosity.

Kim Hyun-ah watched the boy stare blankly at the cluster of light and take a few steps forward.

This was a scene she had never witnessed before. Because all the CCTV footage she had seen so far had shown nothing after he entered this narrow alley.

“……”

The moment the boy tilted his head while looking at the round cluster of light, the entire world froze. Kim Hyun-ah, who had been immersed without realizing it, flinched, and Lim Se-ju pointed at the light with a calm voice.

“It’s identical.”

“……”

It was identical to the light not visible in the video when the Taejongdae, Busan Dungeon Gate vanished.

Elongated, leaf-like light droplets were floating. As if to confirm this, Lim Se-ju swished her hand in the air. Then, a chunk of light appeared in the air, like a cut-out picture, with a glimpse of clear sky and sea in the background.

“You see, this is the light taken from Taejongdae… If I place it here…”

Lim Se-ju combined the light she had created, as if cut out with Photoshop, with the light above the head of the boy standing in front of Kim Hyun-ah.

The light droplets, which merged with 100% accuracy, were perfectly identical to each other.

“……It’s the same light.”

“Yes. Perfectly identical, right? Even if the size might be different, the form is the same, so if you match the size, they become 100% identical.”

“……”

“…Um, then… can we leave now?”

Lim Se-ju tentatively extended her hand and asked cautiously. Kim Hyun-ah didn’t even look at Lim Se-ju’s outstretched hand, her gaze fixed endlessly on the boy in front of her.

After a moment of silence, as Lim Se-ju’s lips parted and she subtly lowered her hand, Kim Hyun-ah spoke in a low voice.

“Esper Lim Se-ju.”

“……!! Yes, yes?”

“……I want to see what happens next.”

“……”

“If possible, I ask of you.”

Although she knew it was possible, it was a polite request.