LTTH C64

Chapter 64

Maybe it was the glow of the orange streetlamps.

After passing through several alleys bathed in their warm light, Hansol finally spotted the restaurant they were looking for.

“Oh—it’s already started!”

Unlike before, when the place had been quiet, the street in front of the restaurant was now packed with tables. People moved between them, raising glasses, shouting, laughing. No one looked like they’d come just to eat.

This feels more like a reunion than a dinner.

The easy laughter, the way everyone mingled without restraint—it stirred memories Hansol hadn’t realized he still carried.

“You’re not planning to join that, are you?”

“Of course we are. You’re the guest of honor, Hansol.”

“…Guest of honor?”

“The star of the night.”

Kassie beamed, but just hearing it made Hansol feel tired. Guest of honor—those words hadn’t applied to him since childhood birthdays.

“Oh! It’s the Saint!”

“Shouldn’t we call him God now?”

“Saint sounds better, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah!”

“Right! Once a Saint, always a Saint!”

What began as awkward greetings quickly turned into loud cheers, as if alcohol had flipped a switch in everyone at once. Their flushed faces and unfocused eyes said it all.

“It’s their first celebration like this. They’re a bit overexcited. Forgive them,” Kassie said gently.

Forgive them? Hansol had never been anything but a guest here.

“You’re thinking something weird again, aren’t you, Hansol?”

“No…?”

“Something like, ‘I’ll be leaving soon, so I shouldn’t get too close.’ Right?”

Not exactly.

But close enough.

“This scene exists because of you. Without you, this wouldn’t be a party—it would be a mass funeral.”

Kassie said it casually, but the people around them nodded without hesitation. Drunk or not, they all understood.

“So tonight is yours. Enjoy it. Okay?”

…Maybe just for tonight.

“…Okay.”

He would leave soon. But eating and drinking with them—just once—couldn’t be wrong.

“This way.”

Kassie wove through the crowd, Hansol following behind. When they reached the table, Hansol stopped short.

Golden hair. Blue eyes. A face usually carved from stone.

Isaac.

…He’s drunk too, isn’t he?

Hunters were known for high alcohol tolerance. Just how much had he had?

“Hansol, sit here.”

Kassie dropped into the seat beside Isaac and motioned for Hansol to join them. With a sigh, Hansol sat—half willing, half pushed.

The moment he did, Isaac stared at him with unfocused eyes.

Yeah. Completely drunk.

“How much did he drink?”

“Who knows? He’s always been terrible with alcohol, despite his size.”

Kassie teased him, but Isaac didn’t respond. Normally, he would have snapped back instantly.

“As I mentioned before, the meat here is good. I’d recommend these.”

Kassie slid over a menu—just words scrawled in marker on thin wooden boards. Hansol glanced at it, then sighed. The translation magic wasn’t working.

He handed it back. “Order whatever you think is good.”

“Oh? Perfect. I’ll choose things you’ll like.”

Kassie looked oddly pleased. Hansol let his gaze drift instead.

The atmosphere was bright, warm—half festival, half chaos. Without monsters. Without Gate Breaks. Maybe this was what their daily lives could have been like.

The thought that he had helped protect this—even a little—filled him with quiet pride. A smile crept onto his face before he noticed.

“Hansol.”

Kassie’s voice cut in suddenly.

“Yes?”

“…Do you really have to go back to Korea?”

The question froze him mid-smile.

Hic.

A loud hiccup echoed nearby. Normally it would have drawn laughter—but now every gaze turned toward their table.

“…Can’t you stay?”

Kassie’s eyes held his, earnest and desperate. Hansol couldn’t look away.

“……”

He had to return.

Even if Korea held no warmth, no attachments—he still had to go.

“We’ll take care of you better. Please… don’t leave.”

When Hansol didn’t answer, Kassie reached out and grabbed his hand, gripping it tightly.

Hansol understood. He really did. A healer who could come here freely—of course they would want him to stay. Kassie’s desperation made sense.

But it wasn’t about dislike. Or dissatisfaction.

“…Kassie. Do you remember the Day of Catastrophe?”

“…Why bring that up now?”

The sudden shift made Kassie look up, thinking. A long pause followed.

“…If you mean the Catastrophe, it happened around the time Britain was drowning in Gate Breaks. But details? I don’t really remember.”

That made sense.

“I think society was barely holding together back then. But no—I don’t remember much.”

Kassie rubbed his chin, then glanced at Isaac. Isaac didn’t speak, but he nodded slowly.

“We were all too busy trying to keep our towns alive.”

Of course.

Who had the luxury of pondering history when survival demanded everything?

Hansol turned his glass slowly, fingers rubbing the rim as he gathered his courage. The foam had nearly faded by the time he finally spoke.

“Three years after Britain’s Gate Breaks, the Catastrophe happened. If Gate Breaks unleashed countless kinds of monsters—each unfamiliar, endless in number…”

He paused, breathing in deeply.

“…then the Catastrophe brought only one kind. And that single kind nearly wiped out humanity.”

“…What kind?”

Kassie’s voice had dropped, careful.

“Gods.”

The sky had been blue that day. Just like now.

They took forms beyond description—shapes no human mind should have witnessed. Some had writhing tentacles. Others resembled massive plants, mouths opening and closing. None were alike, yet they shared one truth.

Servant of the Outer God, Shumas, has been summoned.

The message had echoed across the city—heard by hunters and civilians alike. That was the moment Hansol lost his family.

He hadn’t awakened yet. He wasn’t special. And still, the system had spoken.

And then the world burned.

There was no time to resist. No time to wait for hunters. Everything was erased in an instant.

The only mystery was why he survived.

Why, out of everyone in that city, had the gods overlooked him?

“…Gods? The kind we worship?”

“I don’t know which gods you believe in. But these were outer gods.”

“Outer gods… then not our gods.”

“Probably not.”

Kassie laughed bitterly.

Hunters. Gates. Gods.

This world had stopped being normal the moment the Gates appeared. Still, humanity had adapted. Endured. Survived.

But for thirty years now, the world had never stopped changing.

“So… you’re looking for that god?”

“…Yes.”

After the Catastrophe, nations scoured the world. They probed Gates, searched ruins, hunted for traces of the same beings.

Years passed. Battles, experiments, failures.

Nothing.

The gods never appeared again—as if that day had been a dream.

But Hansol knew better.

The screams.
The smell of blood.
The moment his family was torn away.

None of it had faded.

None of it was a dream.