Retire 270
by Cristae270 The Prophet (1)
“Hmmm.”
His hair, still damp and not properly dried, clung unpleasantly to his face and the back of his neck.
Alex Hope blinked as he looked at the phone screen. The world really was something these days. You could see and talk to someone face-to-face, even if they were all the way across the Pacific.
“Hmmm…”
Alex tilted his head from side to side, lost in thought.
The longer he hesitated, the more he could see the face on the phone screen hardening.
Well, if this weren’t a call and they were face-to-face, maybe he’d have gotten flustered and started babbling about all sorts of things… But there was the Pacific between them, wasn’t there? It’s not like anyone could cross it in an instant.
Alex even leaned back comfortably in his chair, drawing things out.
‘If I were looking at them in person, I could just blame it on the interference and make something up.’
But then Alex saw the man sitting next to Hong Seokyoung and changed his mind. Wasn’t he the one who’d been the first to notice the interference? He wouldn’t have been able to bluff his way out—he’d have been torn apart, just like last time.
—Alex Hope?
“Wait a second. I’m thinking.”
—About what?
“This and that.”
…Was there any need to make excuses?
“……”
If Sandra knew, she’d say, What’s there to think about? Of course you need to.
Last time, she’d scolded him for ages.
‘Listen, Shanshan! You always keep your best cards in your hand until the very end! That’s what saves your life later!’
But if you thought about it in terms of dungeon raiding, if someone only shared crucial information at the last minute, even someone as good-natured as himself wouldn’t be able to resist killing them on the spot…
Alex knew exactly how important the information he hadn’t shared yet was. That’s why he’d listened to Sandra’s request to keep it quiet.
But now, after coming this far? Even if he didn’t say anything, there were already plenty of things that would make Noah clutch his neck and collapse.
Sandra wanted Alex Hope to survive, no matter how all this turned out. She believed he could.
He knew Sandra was smart, but she seemed to have little understanding of people. No matter how much Noah Michel thrashed about, in the end, he was still human.
From the moment Alex revealed his true nature and asked the young Sandra for help, he’d never considered going back. How could he? The fate of an entire world was at stake. If you could just switch sides whenever it suited you, it wouldn’t add up.
When he’d squeezed himself into that tiny @$%^* to survive, he’d never imagined things would turn out like this.
But… yes. From the moment Alex Hope discovered a kind of affection he’d never known existed, there was only one path left for him.
Trying to gauge the other side by matching Sandra’s mood, or meddling with human perception—once he’d been caught at that, there was no going back. No, to be honest, he was the one at a disadvantage now, and if he had to get down on his knees and beg for cooperation, so be it. That was why, last time, he’d answered all Sandra’s questions under her sharp gaze.
Even the list of dungeons he’d organized and handed over, saying it would be good to check them out…
“Hmph.”
And now, of all things, they were asking about that dungeon—the one crawling with centipedes?
He’d talked to Sandra about it not long ago, and maybe, just maybe, they…
Alex made up his mind.
There was only one way to turn suspicion into certainty.
Yes,
He had to say it.
“……”
Alex opened his mouth with resolve—then stopped.
Ah, Sandra always said this…
‘Don’t ever act on impulse. Especially if it seems important! You have to tell me first, no matter what! Got it?’
Alex tilted his head to the side again.
The longer he hesitated, the more the person on the other end of the line looked utterly crushed.
Of course, Alex Hope didn’t care.
“Hey, Sandra’s there, right?”
—Dr. Gamble?
Hong Seokyoung subtly turned the camera. There was Sandra, dozing off, her head bent at an odd angle.
Right. I’d wondered why she was even awake at this hour.
In the early days in Korea, she’d grumbled endlessly about having nothing to do, so she forced herself to get up at sunrise and go to bed at sunset. Sandra had been so annoyed that Alex hadn’t dared say it, but he thought that lifestyle was actually healthier. The human body was frail—it needed regular sleep and meals.
Now… if you took Sandra’s word for it, she had plenty to do. She’d even bought all sorts of expensive equipment on a whim, so Alex, who knew her well, could easily picture Sandra’s future.
At least the time difference between Korea and Australia wasn’t too bad, so keeping in touch wasn’t hard…
‘Wait a second. Wasn’t it actually easier to reach Sandra when she was in America?’
She’d be awake until dawn, so even if he called at night from Australia, she’d always answer.
Now that they were in similar time zones, it might actually be harder to call her. He lived a proper life, waking at sunrise and sleeping at sunset, while Sandra slept at sunrise and woke at sunset—so…
—Did you have something to say to Dr. Gamble?
“Hm? Uh. I’m thinking.”
Seeing her nodding off, he felt oddly guilty about waking her.
His mother had said the same thing earlier.
‘Shanshan, stop bothering Sandra. How long are you going to ask her for help like a child? Sandra’s working now, so you need to do what you can on your own.’
Alex steeled himself.
Right. He was over twenty in human years. It was time to take responsibility for his own actions as an adult.
Sandra had told him not to get carried away and do anything reckless. But Alex had thought it through enough. He hadn’t planned to hide what he was about to say, and whichever way he looked at it, it was right to say it.
‘There’s no way these people could join hands with Noah now…’
Even if he died, it was much better for Sandra’s safety if they knew about this.
If Sandra Gamble had known, she’d probably have slapped herself awake, but unfortunately, she couldn’t.
If the people at Guild Mimi had known both sides’ circumstances, they would have snorted.
Woo Heejae would have clicked his tongue at Sandra, saying that people who only studied had no sense of the world.
He would have added that it was impossible to find middle ground between two groups that could never coexist.
Maybe Sandra Gamble of the distant future would learn that fact the hard way, paying a bitter price.
Perhaps by having the friend she cherished like a younger brother murdered in some horrific way.
But the Sandra Gamble of now was still a lively engineer, full of ambition and utterly convinced she could have it all.
And Alex Hope wanted to help his friend—who was like an older sister to him—achieve everything she wanted.
“Hey, listen.”
Alex finally began to speak.
“In your dungeon… have you ever run into any strange people?”
—…Strange?
“You know, the kind I bet you’ve run into a lot.”
Alex gestured toward the man with his chin.
Unkempt, tousled hair. A body heavy with muscle, but not in a way that seemed sluggish—rather, it was well-trained.
The human most likely to save this world.
Hong Seokyoung.
“People who say they’ve come from the future… to kill you.”
—……
Really, it was a relief this was just a phone call.
If he’d said this last time, it wouldn’t have ended with just having his collar grabbed and being tied up with magic.
“They…”
Pop.
“…Huh?”
Alex stared blankly at his phone.
The call had been cut off. Did he press something by mistake? These fragile human inventions were always breaking if you handled them roughly.
He tapped the screen, but Alex’s phone was working fine.
“…What the hell?”
Alex, unable to understand why the call had dropped, carefully tried calling Sandra again.
“What the hell…”
It rang, but no one picked up.
“What the hell…”
“What was that.”
I couldn’t hide my exasperation as I glared at Hong Seokyoung.
“No, I mean…”
“What was that.”
“It’s just…”
“What, seriously.”
“……”
Hong Seokyoung stared in dismay at the shattered phone in his hand.
No point making that face when he was the one who did it.
“I was just so shocked by what he said.”
“……”
“But you heard it too, right?”
“I heard it, which is exactly why I’m reacting like this. Are you out of your mind? You smash the phone at a time like that?”
“……”
I knew all too well how much Hong Seokyoung hated those monsters from the future. Honestly, if I’d been holding the phone, I can’t say I wouldn’t have smashed it myself.
But I wasn’t the one who did it.
I let out a sigh. Now that Hong Seokyoung had made a mess of things, I actually felt calmer.
If I thought about it, it wasn’t all that surprising. It was something we could have guessed.
The watch I’d picked up—the one my sister had originally planned to use with me—was also found at the spot where the centipede’s corpse had been in the Bangi-dong dungeon. Since there were monsters Hong Seokyoung had encountered, it was likely some kind of item they’d used.
And if those things had any brains, they wouldn’t have come all the way to the past just to go after Hong Seokyoung’s life.
Even if they couldn’t get out of the dungeon, just knowing there were beings from the future gave us plenty of ways to use that information. Besides, they had Noah Michel as a trump card…
I started to pull out my phone to dial Alex Hope’s number, then hesitated. Why had I always gone through Gamble until now? To give Noah Michel the impression that we didn’t know Hope’s true nature.
I didn’t think Noah Michel would be bold enough to investigate Hong Seokyoung and those around him, but it never hurt to be careful.
Maybe not before, but by now, he was probably much more wary of us.
“…Dr. Gamble.”
“……”
“Doctor?”
Unable to withstand my stare, Hong Seokyoung woke Gamble.
“…Yes? I wasn’t asleep!”
“Hm.”
Gamble startled upright.
With an awkward look, Hong Seokyoung held out the shattered phone.
“Sorry, but do you have another way to contact Hope?”
“…Is this my phone?”
Gamble’s face grew even more haggard.
Gamble looked back and forth between Hong Seokyoung and the ruined phone, not sure how to react, then let out a long sigh. I thought I heard a curse, but pretended not to.
“Here… take this.”
Gamble sat down in front of the computer, sighing repeatedly.
Alex Hope’s face appeared again on the webcam.
—Ah! What was that just now? Why did the call drop?
“…Something happened, Shanshan.”
—Sandra! You’re awake?
Hope’s voice was cheerful, but his eyes rolled in discomfort.
At first, I wondered what he was doing, but then it hit me. That information Hope had been about to reveal—Gamble had opposed him saying it.
—Well… nothing to be done about it now!
He wasn’t going to clam up just because Gamble was watching, was he?
Fortunately, Hope wasn’t the type to care about such things.
—Let me finish what I was saying earlier.
Hope smiled brightly as he spoke.
—We call those people prophets.