***
I never thought things would turn out this way from the beginning.
The moment I saw Kane dashing towards the students as if he couldn’t see the swamp, my body reacted before my mind could even process it. So, I suppose it wouldn’t be wrong to say that.
But still, I never expected things to turn out like this.
“Haah, could you please stop reminding me that you’re an Emblem in this way?”
“…Hey, Enoch.”
“I don’t know whether I should say you’ve become even more reckless since I last saw you, or if you haven’t changed at all.”
“Wait a second, Enoch, can you shut up for a moment and just—”
“That’s a swamp where monsters crawl out of! Do you even know what’s inside before jumping in? And right in front of me, no less!”
“Hey!”
Enoch kept rambling on without giving me a chance to speak, and I finally lost patience and shouted at him.
“First of all, let go of my arm!”
Only after I turned red and yelled did Enoch seem to realize what he was doing.
“You’re too close. Let’s step back a little and talk.”
One of Enoch’s arms was wrapped around my waist, and the other was holding the back of my neck, pulling me into his embrace.
I found myself pressing my cheek against his firm chest.
Even when we sparred, we had never been this close before.
I could feel my breath touching the exposed part of Enoch’s chest beneath his slightly open shirt.
He must have felt it too.
“……….!”
Enoch quickly let go of me.
As I finally escaped from his arms, I saw his face turn bright red, as if it were about to explode.
Seeing Enoch this flustered felt unfamiliar.
I even wondered if I’d ever get to see him lose his composure like this again.
“Why am I… No, I…”
Even his speech was faltering—so unlike him.
In the end, he raised a hand to cover his burning face.
‘Wow, look at that. His face fits in just one hand. Is his face small, or are his hands just big?’
I should have been the one feeling flustered after being pulled into his arms so suddenly.
But maybe it’s true that when you see someone even more panicked than you, it actually calms you down.
Seeing Enoch in such a state of confusion actually made me feel calmer.
“Don’t nag at me. In the end, you recklessly jumped in too, which is why we’re both rolling around like this now.”
“……..…”
‘I’ve been to the Carmedan Jungle before. If you ever find a swamp where monsters crawl out, you must destroy the land completely. Otherwise, you’ll have to fight an endless wave of monsters.’
‘Grandfather, you cleaned up the Carmedan Jungle before, right? But the swamp is still there?’
‘No matter how many times I blew that land away, for some reason, the swamp kept refilling itself. But at least when you destroy it, it takes some time to regenerate.’
Following my grandfather’s teachings, I compressed my sword aura and detonated it instantly, obliterating the swamp’s ground entirely.
But in that very moment, I saw something pitch black appear before my eyes.
Something with a sinister aura, reminiscent of a black hole from my past life, swallowed me whole.
Was I… about to die?
The sensation was so unfamiliar that I couldn’t even scream.
‘Cherrya Emblem!’
Enoch, who saw me being pulled in, grabbed me and pulled me into his arms.
“Just by looking at it, you could tell something abnormal was sucking me in! Why did you jump in too? Are you the Crazy Emblem or something? You should’ve stayed behind to help others or at least contacted my family!”
Before Enoch could even compose himself, I bombarded him with scolding.
When else would I get the chance to lecture Enoch Gray?
It was always him scolding me, so I wasn’t going to waste this opportunity.
“You always criticize the Emblem’s reckless tendencies, yet…”
“This is about you.”
“What?”
“How could I think about anything else when you were in danger right in front of me?”
I froze with my mouth slightly open at Enoch’s words.
His face was still flushed red, but his eyes were unwavering and firm.
“I didn’t just rush in recklessly. I had only one thought—to save you.”
“Hey, that’s basically the same thing—”
“No, it’s not.”
Enoch stood up from where he had been crouching and extended a hand to me, who was still blinking in shock.
“You put that damned sense of justice first. But I chose you over all of that.”
I had no words.
Enoch gritted his teeth as if he wanted to bite something, and beyond his words, I could feel layers of something deeply buried.
Something beyond just the current situation.
He extended his hand again, urging me to take it, as I stood frozen, unable to move.
“So don’t lump me in with the same category. Just like you said, I’m a shady Gray. I prioritize what I want over some sense of justice.”
Without waiting for me to react, he grabbed my hand and pulled me up forcefully.
I couldn’t hide the complicated emotions on my face as I looked at him.
“…You still resent Aunt Diana, don’t you?”
“……..…”
“Aunt Diana sacrificed herself for Lutinas. And because she chose justice over waiting for you, you still blame her, don’t you?”
Enoch didn’t answer, but the deep, abyss-like look in his dark eyes was enough to confirm it.
I was right.
“If you already know that…”
Realizing I had caught on, Enoch clenched his teeth, his voice dropping into a growl filled with frustration.
“Then stop throwing yourself away in front of me.”
“…Alright.”
I nodded without hesitation.
If I had tried to argue—saying I couldn’t help it or that my body just moved on its own—I had no idea how Enoch would react.
“…Good.”
Seeing that I wasn’t resisting, Enoch let out a deep sigh and finally eased the sharp tension in his expression.
Only then could I take a breath and finally look around.
“By the way… where are we?”
Earlier, I had been too shocked by waking up in Enoch’s arms to notice.
But now, I realized that the space we were in was completely dark.
It felt like we were in an unlit basement, where not even a sliver of sunlight could reach.
Yet, Enoch Gray’s annoyingly handsome face was still perfectly visible in front of me.
The darkness wasn’t just darkness—it was strange.
“…There’s nothing here except us.”
It was as if Enoch and I were left completely alone in a void.
“Where the hell did we fall into? Is this beneath the swamp?”
“No. If that were the case, the hole we fell through should be above us. Look.”
Enoch raised his hand and pointed upward.
“There’s nothing there.”
Since we had clearly fallen from above, if we looked up, we should have seen some light.
But the space above was as dark as a starless night sky.
The eerie malice and unsettling presence of the monsters we had felt in the swamp were completely absent.
The only thing I could sense in this space was the presence of Enoch Gray.
“Enoch.”
“What?”
“I think we’re in serious trouble.”
“…Hah.”
Enoch let out a deep sigh, as if he had a headache.
“Of all people, I had to get stuck in this wretched place with Cherrya Emblem.”
“Don’t sound so disgusted. I’m more annoyed than you are.”
“I didn’t say I was disgusted.”
“But it was pretty close, wasn’t it?”
“…Maybe.”
Enoch shrugged and started walking forward without hesitation.
“Hey, wait! I’m coming too!”
I quickly followed after him, grabbing onto the hem of his clothes just in case.
Enoch glanced down at my hand with a look of irritation, but I ignored him shamelessly.
“First, we need to figure out where we are. How about we split up?”
“There’s nothing to see, so what exactly are we trying to figure out? And what if we get separated?”
“Are you scared, Emblem?”
“Wouldn’t it be smarter to avoid the worst-case scenario, Gray?”
Somehow, we ended up bickering as usual.
But deep down, we both knew.
We were doing this to keep our tension from escalating.
Even in this strange, unnatural space, we were trying our best to act like we always did.
As Enoch and I continued our usual back-and-forth, I suddenly heard something—faint voices in the distance.
“Hey, Enoch. Hold on a second. Do you hear that?”
“What sound?”
I stopped speaking and focused my hearing.
[… Why …]
[… Once again … am I in debt …]
A voice.
A voice I had heard before.
The language was strangely familiar.
Enoch furrowed his brows, as if he couldn’t hear anything.
But to me, the voice was crystal clear.
A man’s voice.
[……tor.]
The more I concentrated, the clearer the voice became.
[Inspec, tor……!]
