Prologue
Even after the door had closed, Baek Harin kept staring at it for a long while.
The seat where Kang Hyunwoo had sat was clean. He'd never been the type to scatter his belongings around, and he'd taken his bag with him when he left, so there was nothing left behind. And yet, why did the space look so empty?
It was a table for four. One empty chair didn't make the table any bigger.
"Harin."
When she didn't answer, Yoon Seoa called again.
"Baek Harin."
"Yeah."
"What are you looking at?"
Only then did Harin turn her head away.
"Nothing."
"If you're going to follow him, go now. He can't have gotten far."
"That's not it."
Once she'd said it, there was nothing more to add. She had no intention of chasing after him. She was the one who'd insisted on bringing Hyunwoo along in the first place, and she was the one who had failed to stop him from walking out in the end. And the reasons had been sound enough.
From second year on, practical evaluations carried far more weight. A four-person party couldn't afford to keep an E-rank with no combat ability in its lineup. The support-track student joining them this time was B-rank. Her mock-battle records were excellent, and her role in combat was clearly defined.
Unlike Hyunwoo.
So wasn't this a good outcome?
Harin looked down at the party roster on the table. Signatures sat beside Seoa's and Serin's names. Only her own box was blank. When Seoa had passed her the pen a few minutes ago, she'd pushed it aside, saying she'd do it later.
Why had she done that?
If she'd meant to object, she should have done it while Hyunwoo was still in the room. Refusing to sign now wouldn't bring back someone who had already walked out.
"We're meeting her tomorrow, right?"
Lee Serin asked.
Seoa picked up the terminal on the table.
"Four in the afternoon. We're scheduled to run drills at the Training Ground. I already sent her the basic tactics, and she said she's fine with it."
"That was fast."
"No reason to drag it out. If we want to make the party registration deadline, we need to sync up at least twice this week."
Harin nodded.
And yet the empty seat kept gnawing at the edge of her vision.
Hyunwoo had stood up without a word earlier. You're cutting me? That was all he'd said. He'd looked at the three of them in turn, said he understood, hadn't questioned the reasoning, hadn't gotten angry. He'd just grabbed his bag and walked out.
And that was it.
Was it supposed to end this easily?
Harin pressed a fingertip against the corner of the roster.
"Hey."
Seoa didn't look up from the terminal.
"What."
"Why did we keep him around, anyway? Seriously."
Seoa's fingers stopped moving. Serin looked at Harin too.
"Where's that coming from all of a sudden?"
"I don't know, I was just thinking, and it struck me as weird. We've been in the same party since enrollment. We knew from day one that Hyunwoo couldn't contribute anything in combat."
"We were together before the academy, too."
"I know that."
"Then that's your answer. We were together before, so we formed the same party when we enrolled. Now the rank gap's gotten too wide, so we're restructuring. That's all it is."
"...I guess."
Harin tilted her head. The explanation held up. And yet something felt missing, like a single piece had been pulled out of the picture.
She had always known Hyunwoo was weak. He'd been E-rank from the day he enrolled, always at the bottom of combat evaluations. He memorized routes, managed equipment, booked the treatment rooms — but any other support-track student could have done the same.
And yet, up until today, she had never once thought about removing him from the party.
Why not?
Harin searched her memory.
Hyunwoo always walked half a step ahead of her. Before they entered a dungeon, he checked her equipment first. When Hyunwoo said a situation was dangerous, Harin stopped without asking why.
The scenes came back to her clearly. The reason did not.
Because he'd been good to her?
That wasn't enough. Other people had been good to her too. And if years of being together meant anything, then throwing him out like this should have been unthinkable. And yet she hadn't stopped it in the end.
"Stop thinking about it."
Seoa set the terminal down.
"It's not like we threw him out. Hyunwoo said he understood."
"I know."
"Once you run drills with the new girl a few times, it'll feel normal fast. Our records will get better than they are now, too."
The moment Harin parted her lips to answer, letters bloomed in the air before her eyes.
The Fate Community has been terminated.
Harin blinked. It was still there.
A translucent sentence hung in midair. It wasn't a terminal screen, and it wasn't a projection on the wall.
"...What is that?"
Across the table, Serin was staring at empty air too. Seoa wasn't moving either — only her hand, still gripping the terminal, had gone rigid above the table.
"Can you all see this?"
New sentences surfaced.
Final Settlement conditions have been met.
Initiating settlement.
"Settlement?"
Harin reached out. Her fingers passed straight through the letters.
"Hold on."
Seoa's voice dropped low.
The text changed.
Subject: Baek Harin
— Lethal Wound Evasion
— Curse Erosion Block
— Fate Line Correction
It was her own name. Below it, entries she had never seen before stacked up one by one. And beneath every single entry, the same name appeared.
Paid by: Kang Hyunwoo
Harin's brow furrowed. The next entry was the same.
Paid by: Kang Hyunwoo
And the one after that.
Paid by: Kang Hyunwoo
"Why is Hyunwoo's name on here?"
Serin was reading something that hung in the air in front of her own eyes. Her face, so ordinary moments ago, had gone stiff.
"Seoa."
"Wait."
"Do you see his name too?"
The text floating before Seoa scrolled to the next line. Then the final line appeared.
Harin read it. Then she read it again from the very top.
Fifty-seven years and four months. The numbers didn't change.
"...What is this?"
Serin lifted her head.
"What's what?"
"Mine says fifty-seven years."
"What?"
"Life force."
Harin pointed at the empty air.
"It says the payer was Hyunwoo."
Then a scene that had no business existing forced its way into her mind.
Cold floor. Air that wouldn't come.
Someone was holding her hand. It was Hyunwoo. He was kneeling beside her, his face far paler than usual, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
One drop.
Then another.
Harin tried to pull her hand free. Her strength wouldn't come.
"Don't."
Even her voice barely worked.
Hyunwoo gripped her hand tighter.
"Close your eyes."
"Kang Hyunwoo."
"It'll be over soon."
"I told you not to."
Hyunwoo smiled.
And there the memory cut off.
Harin's eyes snapped open. She was in the party room. Her heart was slamming against her ribs, and when she shot to her feet, her chair skidded backward.
"Harin?"
Serin called out to her.
Harin looked at the seat where Kang Hyunwoo had been sitting just minutes ago. Nothing there. Then her gaze swung to the door he had walked through.
"...Where did Hyunwoo go?"