Chapter 13 …
“Grandpa, Grandma, don’t you really remember us? You gave us milk and bread yesterday!”
“What’re you talkin’ about…? We never did such a thing…?”
Kim Yeoul, flustered, blurted out her words without any order.
But the elderly couple looked completely clueless, as if they had no idea what she was talking about.
Just as the situation was starting to feel strange, I quietly tapped Kim Yeoul on the shoulder.
“That must’ve been a different bakery. Don’t be rude.”
“Ah… r-right…?”
“I’m sorry. I must’ve been so distracted by the smell of bread when I woke up that I lost my senses.”
“A young lady ought to keep her head on straight. What are you going to do if you’re already like this!”
Even so, the grandmother once again tried to hand us free bread.
This time, I pressed cash into her hand for the bread and led us outside.
Kim Yeoul took a bite of the freshly baked red bean bun and asked me,
“Hyunsoo… I’m not the weird one, right?”
“Of course not.”
“Then… are the bakery grandparents the strange ones? Like, dementia… or something?”
“Hmm, I don’t know… They both looked perfectly healthy.”
We stood there in the same place as yesterday, eating bread with complicated feelings, when a familiar face passed by.
“Huh? Yeoul, that guy…?”
He was the man who had approached Kim Yeoul yesterday with the “Do you know the Dao?” line.
Curious, Kim Yeoul set down her bread and hurried after him.
“Excuse me….”
“…Yes?”
The man’s eyes widened when he saw her, and he quickly removed his earphones.
“Um… didn’t you see me yesterday near the downtown plaza?”
“……Pardon?”
The man, who had probably imagined a dozen romantic futures at the sight of Kim Yeoul’s beauty, tilted his head.
“I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else.”
“Ah… I-Is that so?”
“Yes. Have a good day.”
“O-Oh, I’m sorry….”
After that, we approached several other people we had encountered yesterday, but nothing changed.
Every single one of them acted as though they were seeing us for the first time, as if yesterday’s memories had vanished.
It wasn’t just one or two people. Everyone we met was like this.
At this point, we had no choice but to accept it.
The people of Sejong City were losing their memories every single day.
And it probably wasn’t just today. Tomorrow and the day after would be the same.
“Was this what ‘Memory Devourer’ meant…?”
The system message that had appeared when we pushed through the fog resurfaced in my mind.
A monster that literally eats memories.
If that was the case, then it must grow stronger from consuming human memories.
And considering that its scale covered all of Sejong City, its power must already be at a considerable level.
“But if it’s building strength like this, what’s its goal?”
It didn’t infect people like vampires or suck their blood.
It simply ate their memories.
The people here didn’t even know what a Gate was.
It had recreated a peaceful South Korea from before the Gates opened—
A life where people went to work to earn money and struggled to get to school.
The most common life had become the rarest of all.
Even I found myself intoxicated by that nostalgia, reminiscing about the past.
For a fleeting moment, I even questioned—
Is it really right for me to destroy this everyday life?
“Of course I should destroy it.”
The doubt lasted about three seconds.
If only the target weren’t a monster.
The creatures that tear through the Gates possess nothing but murderous intent and hostility toward humanity.
No matter how differently those vile emotions manifest, the result is the same—harm to humans.
The Memory Devourer ruling Sejong City would be no different.
Which meant my objective was clear: find it and eliminate it.
“Then first, we need to figure out where it is….”
As I sank into thought, Kim Yeoul nudged me.
In her arms, she held Seo Iram like a favorite stuffed doll.
“So what do we do now, Captain?”
“Captain!”
“First… we find that so-called Memory Devourer somewhere in Sejong City.”
“We wandered around all day yesterday and found nothing. Do you think today will be any different?”
“So you’re giving up?”
“That’s not it.”
Truthfully, Kim Yeoul and Seo Iram probably felt it too.
Whether it was truly right to destroy such a peaceful daily life.
“Oppa, I want pork belly today!”
…She probably was feeling it.
That must be why she had such a complicated expression…
“Hyunsoo, I want grilled meat too. It’s been a while….”
Ah, seriously.
* * *
After thoroughly oiling our stomachs from lunch onward, we finally began exploring Sejong City.
With our tanks fully fueled, Kim Yeoul and Seo Iram were more energetic than usual.
“This is the second happiest I’ve been in almost a year….”
“Second?”
“First was being resurrected.”
“Ah.”
Well… fair enough.
“Anyway, let’s slowly go around again and investigate.”
“Okay!”
“If you sense anything strange, let me know.”
“Of course.”
Thus began our exploration of Sejong City—me and my two summons.
“Oppa! I want a hot dog!”
“Hyunsoo, churros!”
“…….”
“What? Why are you looking at us like that?”
“O-Oppa, I’ll give you a bite too…!”
* * *
To sum it up—despite roaming Sejong City all day, we couldn’t detect a single unusual presence.
An S-rank Hunter and an EX-rank Hunter, both at the top tier of mana detection, couldn’t find anything. It was downright absurd.
“I seriously don’t get it. Where the hell is it?”
“Could it be hiding in the fog outside the city?”
“We checked the fog too.”
“Even farther out…? Or maybe it’s not even in Sejong at all?”
“If it’s controlling things from outside the city, we’re probably screwed.”
In the end, with no gains to show for it, we returned to the inn we’d stayed at yesterday.
The innkeeper was nodding off again.
“One room, please.”
“Mm… huh… oh, a guest?”
Should an innkeeper really be sleeping this blatantly on the job?
Still half-asleep, he rubbed his eyes and handed us the same room key as yesterday.
“The same room as yesterday, right?”
“Yes… huh?”
“…Huh?”
“Wait… you guys… don’t tell me…!”
Kim Yeoul, Seo Iram, and I all stared at him in shock as his eyes gleamed.
Apparently, he’d left that line hanging on purpose.
“Everyone, quiet! From now on, not a single word!”
“…!”
We nodded as instructed.
The fatigue had completely vanished from his face.
The innkeeper jumped up, rushed out, and locked the inn’s front door.
We didn’t know what was going on, but it seemed he knew something, so we waited.
After confirming the door was securely locked, he returned and felt along the floor.
Then he inserted a key into a narrow crack and twisted it.
A hidden passage leading underground revealed itself.
He gestured for silence and motioned us to follow.
We did so without a word.
A long tunnel stretched ahead.
At the end of it was a room lined on all sides with soundproofing material.
He turned on the lights, waited until we were inside, then locked the door tightly.
After switching on speakers that emitted white noise, he finally spoke.
“Whew… okay. You can talk now.”
“…I have a lot of questions.”
Despite my suspicious tone, he smiled faintly.
“Ask anything. It’s been a while since I’ve met someone who remembers ‘yesterday.’”
“Let’s start with introductions. I’m Cha Hyunsoo. That’s Kim Yeoul, and she’s Seo Iram.”
“Park Minjae. Call me hyung if you don’t want to be formal.”
“Then… how long have you been living in Sejong?”
When we descended before, we hadn’t passed through Sejong. Kim Yeoul had only been A-rank back then, so we’d avoided major cities and traveled through sparsely populated outskirts.
Information about Sejong was desperately needed now.
“Call me hyung…” Park Minjae muttered before explaining.
“I first came here about a month ago.”
“I was on my way to Busan. I may not look it, but I’m a B-rank Hunter.”
I gave him a polite nod.
“High-level manpower.”
“High-level, my ass… barely immigration-tier.”
“Anyway?”
“When I first arrived, it wasn’t like this.”
Back then, there hadn’t been this artificial fog.
It had looked like natural mist, so exhausted from forced marches, he hadn’t thought much of it.
After spending one night at the inn, the problem began.
When he tried to leave the next day, the fog was twice as thick.
It was like a barrier had been erected.
He tried forcing his way through, but even breathing it in for a minute made his consciousness fade.
Trapped in Sejong, he asked around—but no one understood what he was talking about.
Some couldn’t see the fog at all.
Others treated him like a lunatic.
Within days, people even forgot about Gates entirely.
For over a month, Park Minjae had endured alone in Sejong—like a two-eyed man in a village of the blind.
“…I see.”
But something bothered me.
Why hadn’t he been devoured?
“Then how are you retaining your memories?”
He closed his mouth.
“Isn’t it unfair that you’re the only one asking questions? Why aren’t you being devoured?”
Kim Yeoul glanced at me.
I shrugged.
“We have a supporting skill. We’re immune to most mental interference.”
“What!? That’s possible?”
“You’ve seen that we remember yesterday.”
“…True.”
He nodded reluctantly.
“The reason I keep my memories is simple. I stay awake during the time it devours memories.”
“There’s a specific time?”
“Not exact, but usually at night—when people are asleep.”
“So… you sleep during the day and stay awake at night?”
“Exactly.”
A monster that targets sleeping humans…
Nothing came to mind.
A city-wide mental domination like this—I’d never heard of it.
“Do you know where it is?”
“No. I’ve searched the entire city for a month and found nothing.”
“…I see.”
If S-rank and EX-rank Hunters couldn’t find it, expecting a B-rank to do so was a stretch.
“This just got complicated.”
“Let’s go back up. If I’m gone too long, it might suspect something.”
“Understood.”
Still, finding another survivor was a major gain.
Worst case, I revive Hunter Baek Dohyun in Seoul and come back.
When we returned to the inn—
“…Huh?”
“There are… quite… a lot of guests?”
“Do those look like guests to you?”
The first floor was packed with dozens of people, eyes closed.
The entrance was smashed in.
“Is this a horror movie…?”
Though their eyes were shut, they were clearly facing us.
Their movements were erratic, like sleepwalkers.
“They’re not monsters, right?”
“No. Just ordinary humans.”
Unawakened civilians.
If we rampaged here, it would be a massacre.
“…Run!”
“Yeoul! Don’t kill civilians!”
“I know!”
Kim Yeoul smashed through a wall to create an escape route.
“My inn! I haven’t even finished paying off the loan!”
“You took out a loan!?”
“I wasn’t planning to stay long anyway—I was gonna bolt eventually!”
“Wow, trash!”
And under the moonlight, the chase began.
