I Lost the Time Traveler's Memories
My name was Yoon Siwoo.
A normal university student who mingled appropriately when everyone else was having fun, barely managed to avoid failing my grades, and spent my days worrying about finding a job.
But the world refused to let my peaceful future continue uninterrupted.
Suddenly, gates opened across every corner of the planet, and monsters poured out from inside them.
The entire world was plunged into chaos, a literal hell on earth.
That horrific disaster had begun one year ago.
I sucked on the cigarette still clenched between my teeth and slowly circled the massive outer wall of the Superpower Research Institute, where I had started my new job only recently.
Through the acrid smoke brushing the tip of my nose, my thoughts naturally drifted back to the days before I worked here.
Even now, gates remained open in countless places worldwide, and countless awakeners were sweating blood to stop the monsters flooding out from them.
Yeah, awakeners.
When the gates first opened and monsters burst through, humanity's modern weapons had been utterly powerless.
The rain of bullets left not so much as a scratch on the mana barriers that monsters carried around with them.
Only missiles, high explosives, or even nuclear-level firepower could land a meaningful hit.
The fact that firearms were basically useless sent the terror of extinction deep into every human heart.
But when heaven fell, there was always a hole to rise through.
Humans weren't doomed to be helpless, after all.
Special abilities began to appear from all over the world.
Unknown powers capable of killing monsters that modern weapons couldn't even wound.
People called that power mana.
And strangely enough, I became one of those awakeners.
The problem was my awakened ability.
Just a short while ago, I had been called to the front lines because I was an awakener and forced to hunt monsters for the state.
If the government hadn't offered to exempt me from military service in exchange for my cooperation, I would have escaped that hell long ago.
Hunting monsters felt like walking a tightrope over a pit of death with every single step.
My ability was reading the emotions of others, and tossing someone like me—useless in direct combat—into the absolute front lines had almost gotten me killed more times than I could count.
I had survived every time through nothing but thin wits and survival instincts.
But inside that ticking time bomb of days with no clear expiration, a reckoning eventually came anyway.
In a massive gate-cleansing operation, I had been caught in a monster wave and nearly torn apart limb from limb.
The moment I opened my eyes in the hospital, I started digging through my connections and information to find a way out of that insane frontline hell.
And a certain civil servant who handled my case extended the lifeline.
He strongly recommended me for the security and surveillance role at the Superpower Research Institute, a facility that specialized in awakeners and mana stones.
Even now, transferring here felt like the luckiest break of my life.
If I ever ran into that civil servant again, I'd bend over backwards, plant my forehead on the floor, and bow until I broke my nose just to apologize.
Hoo.
I dropped the cigarette whose tip had burned all the way down until my fingers were scorching hot, grinding it out on the ground.
Then, with both arms spread wide, I gazed again at the huge gate of my new safe and peaceful job, the Superpower Research Institute.
Welcome to my home!
That was the exact moment I expressed my heartfelt joy with an overly dramatic gesture.
The institute's main gate swung open, and a thick voice slammed into my ears.
Hey you! Stop dilly-dallying and put out that cigarette—time's up, get your ass in here right now!
It was my new boss and the leader of the institute's security team, Park Cheoljin.
The physically enhanced awakener boasted a bodybuilder's rock-hard physique even from a distance.
Yay, yay~ I'm coming!
I answered cheerfully and strode toward the interior of the Superpower Research Institute with light steps.
Inside, I swallowed some light curses at him for stealing away my precious one-minute break, but on the outside I wore the brightest, most diligent junior-employee smile there was.
Never start a fight you know you'll lose.
That had been my only way to survive this crazy world.
I followed the broad back of Park Cheoljin, who was walking ahead, down the corridor of the Superpower Research Institute.
On the surface it looked like we were just doing routine patrols, but my eyes kept scanning the surroundings, reading the expressions and subtle emotional currents of everyone who passed.
My officially known ability—reading emotions—had been rated perfectly suited for security work.
Cheoljin himself had praised it highly and kept me as the team's most important monitoring asset.
The institute interior never stopped moving.
Behind transparent reinforced glass, experiments on how awakeners manifested their abilities were in full swing.
On the other side, they were testing expensive mana stones excavated from dungeons, extracting their internal energy, and creating various items from them.
Outside as well, several security team members besides me and Cheoljin stood on alert.
While walking, I stole a glance at him and spoke up casually.
Cheoljin-hyung, I've only been here a little while so I'm not sure yet, but there seem to be quite a few people trying to sneak in here, right?
The security feels a lot tighter than I thought.
Cheoljin, who had been walking while humming, slowed his steps in reply.
Well, it's not that there are mice sticking around every single day.
About a month before you came here, there was one intruder who tried to leak our core research data outside while working on behalf of some Chinese guys.
Oh, really? So what happened to that intruder?
I widened my eyes in feigned surprise as I asked, and Cheoljin grinned, slicing his thick thumb across his throat in a clear gesture.
What do you think? Does the Superpower Research Institute look like a place where someone could just get away?
He didn't leave alive.
The blunt answer made me give a small snort of laughter.
Wow, that's harsh.
Yeah, with your level of skill, there's no way anyone could break in here anyway, right?
Hyung's keeping both eyes wide open and guarding it like that.
With my perfectly timed flattery, Cheoljin felt good and burst out laughing.
That's true, but don't get careless.
If you slack off on your duties and I notice, I'll give you a good whack on the head right away, so keep your guard up properly.
Aigoo, I know how hot-headed you are, hyung, so of course I won't try to slack here.
To make sure I earn my salary properly in this place, I have to stay sharp.
I answered without any real seriousness, still wearing the same empty smile.
Then I turned my eyes back to the movement inside the institute.
White institute coats rushed back and forth down the corridor in all directions.
Most were ordinary researchers with no abilities, so no threatening aura was felt, but occasionally I could sense the unique mana waves that awakeners carried.
I walked the corridor at a leisurely pace, lightly whistling.
Right then.
From the crowd walking toward me, a woman in a loose institute coat and thick-rimmed glasses caught my eye.
She was walking quickly, head down, clutching a stack of documents in one hand.
At first glance she was just another tired researcher who had worked all night, no different from the others.
But my eyes saw something else.
My awakened ability read the faint emotions hidden in the flow of mana floating in the air.
What I felt from the ordinary researchers—fatigue and boredom—was completely different from the cold, sharp emotion coming from inside this woman.
It was like an extremely taut bowstring that might snap at any moment, paired with a sharp vigilance as if she might draw a knife the instant anyone touched her.
Something was definitely off.
I turned my body to pass her, brushing her shoulder with the document binder I was carrying.
Excuse me, just a second.
Her sudden call made the Cheoljin walking beside me stop and look at me with a puzzled expression.
Huh? Why are you calling me, Siwoo?
Is she someone you know?
I ignored Cheoljin's question and stared at the woman who had stopped walking.
She slowly raised her head and looked back at me.
The cheap glasses hid half her face and she had tied her hair up tight to hide her features, but up close she didn't look much older than her late teens to early twenties.
Her face still carried the air of someone barely out of childhood.
But her eyes were calm and solid like a deep abyss.
The moment I blocked her path, the heavy tension swirling around her vanished and was replaced by a cool, guarded wariness that I saw clearly.
What is it?
The woman's voice came out flat, with no emotional fluctuation at all.
Oh, it's nothing special.
I'm a new member of the security team here, so I don't know everyone's faces yet.
Sorry to bother you, but could I check your entrance ID?
I asked politely with my usual warm, easygoing smile.
That smile was the most useful weapon for loosening someone's guard.
The woman hesitated for just a split second at my words, and I felt the conflict raging inside her clearly.
But soon she pulled out a plastic institute entrance ID from her coat pocket and held it out toward me and Cheoljin.
Here it is.
Just as Cheoljin leaned over to check the ID, I reached out first.
Thank you very much.
Let me see.
I pretended to take the ID and naturally, almost deliberately, brushed my fingers against hers.
In that instant, accompanied by a tingling sensation of mana, my true ability activated.
It was a completely different power from the officially known shallow emotion-reading ability.
It manifested when I physically touched someone directly, letting me steal the shallow thoughts and intentions from their mind.
As I skimmed her thoughts, they flooded into my head like waves.
Lies.
No time.
Fragment of the Abyss.
Stealing.
Corruption.
The short, fragmented thoughts were more than enough to figure out the situation.
This woman was no ordinary researcher.
Her goal was to steal something hidden somewhere in this institute.
She was clearly an intruder.
I twisted the hand holding the ID and suddenly clamped her wrist in a tight grip.
Cheoljin-hyung.
My voice was low and calm, the opposite of my usual tone.
This woman looks like an intruder to me.
Her sudden action and bomb of a statement left Cheoljin blinking in surprise.
He looked back and forth between the ID in my hand and the woman's face, tilting his head in confusion.
Eh? Hey, Yoon Siwoo, this ID's hologram looks perfect and the barcode looks real too...
Did your ability miss this time?
It was exactly the moment Cheoljin was voicing his doubt.
The woman whose wrist I was holding suddenly moved.
Her free hand shot with lightning speed into the pocket of her researcher coat, as if it were invisible.
And a chilling silver flash sliced toward my neck.
A fast, lethal dagger strike.
The speed of a normal person who wouldn't even have time to react and would lose their head instantly.
But I had been through too many dangerous situations to miss an attack like this.
Ugh!
I reflexively jerked my upper body back hard.
I felt the cool blade graze past my chin.
But in trying to dodge, my weight shifted, and I had no choice but to release the wrist I was gripping tightly.
The moment my wrist was freed, the woman kicked off the ground and leaped backward without hesitation.
The mana wave exploding from her legs was clear proof of physical enhancement awakening—she was an awakener too.
She quickly turned her body and vanished into the crowd in the corridor, fleeing at breakneck speed away from me and Cheoljin.
The woman's face twisted harshly as Cheoljin saw her dagger and the attack aimed at me clearly.
This crazy person! It's an intruder!
Cheoljin's voice boomed down the corridor.
He immediately pulled out the walkie-talkie clipped to his waist and pressed the emergency button.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
A sharp emergency alarm blared across the entire institute.
The peaceful corridor instantly turned into pandemonium, with researchers screaming and running for cover.
Siwoo! Don't let her get away, chase her!
Aigoo, really.
I only joined a month ago and already this mess?
I ran after Cheoljin, who had already dashed ahead, swallowing my irritation inside.
Down the corridor where red emergency lights flashed, I clenched my teeth and started chasing the intruder's retreating figure, which had already gotten far ahead after pushing through the crowd.