This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 216

Yoonseo’s Perspective

It was literally by chance that Yoonseo got wind of the news about the rift.

Sometimes, the network that exists between people can be faster than formal channels.

“Hey, didn’t they say a rift opened on the other side?”

“No way, what… Stop joking around, there’s been no disaster text, so what rift are you talking about?”

“I’m serious! My dad saw it.”

“…Did he misinterpret something?”

“So you’re saying my dad would go through the trouble of making a fake video just to mess with me right now?”

“There’s a video too…?”

“I told you so!”

While she was pondering how to approach Dogun and what to do next, that conversation reached her ears.

Maybe they were trying to keep it super secretive, aware of the other students training around them, whispering like it was some intense secret, which grabbed Yoonseo’s attention.

It goes without saying that she didn’t believe it at first.

If it were true, there would be chaos right now from all the disaster texts coming in.

But what about the current scene at the training ground?

Everyone was focused on their assigned training, not pacing around with their mobile phones in hand, anxious and riled up.

So of course, she thought it was a lie and tried to ignore it… But then, she heard it.

That there was indeed a video.

If there was a video?

Then the possibility that it was a lie became drastically low.

Especially if the one who sent the video wasn’t a friend, but a parent.

In a way, it could’ve been about the safety of his daughter, so would they lie about something like that?

At least, in Yoonseo’s common sense, such things couldn’t happen.

That’s why she approached them.

Anyway, Dogun would be at home, and with ‘that person’ around Dogun’s house, even if Another went on the attack, they wouldn’t be able to touch a hair on Dogun.

But still, she felt the need to find out what was going on.

So, she went up to those still whispering and ‘asked’ if they could show her this video of theirs.

Of course, she was ready to leave peacefully if they refused.

She just wanted to confirm what was happening; it wasn’t like she had a sense of obligation to confirm anything.

However, it might be good luck, but… they didn’t refuse.

Though they looked a bit reluctant, they sent the video to her phone without much fuss.

“Got it?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

And as soon as she watched the disputed video… the common sense she had was starting to crumble.

What happens when a rift occurs?

A message is sent to the people nearby, warning them of the rift and instructing them to head to the nearest shelter, and while they evacuate, heroes come out to clean up the Anothers that crawl out of the rift.

That whole process is something a hero candidate would know, practically ‘common sense’.

She had even learned it in class.

But… that wasn’t what she was seeing in the video.

It was far too familiar a scene.

So as soon as she saw it, she realized.

The location in the video was the large shopping building near the station.

Why wouldn’t she know it?

There were too many times Dogun and she had gone there together to even count.

In fact, it was where she had gone, just because he had given her the scarf that was now hanging in her closet, sleeping until the right season came around.

Of course, they’d bought it somewhere else, but still.

Anyway, in that ever-familiar place… monsters were roaming around.

They might have looked slightly different from those in textbooks, but still, they all had hideous appearances, trampling on people’s daily lives in such a familiar setting.

The sight was so unreal.

‘W-what’s happening…?’

At the same time, she couldn’t believe it.

The place in the video was quite close to the school they were at now.

Which meant, if Anothers were rampaging like that, the disaster texts should have arrived long ago.

But… her mobile phone was silent.

As if it had broken down completely.

‘Could it be…’

Could it be that the rift alert devices designated for this area had malfunctioned all together?

When that thought crossed her mind, the feeling of ‘anxiety’ began to spread.

And at that moment, as her heart started to beat in a strange rhythm… she spotted something.

A familiar face that had accidentally appeared in the video…

‘Why is she here…?’

Initially, she couldn’t believe it.

She thought she had seen it wrong.

Yeah, it must be a mistake.

She thought she had misinterpreted the shaky camera footage.

But the more she viewed that crucial moment… the blonde girl captured in the corner of the video was indeed Bora.

If that was true… who was the person dragging Bora away while showing clear signs of panic?

It was hard to identify the figure; because unlike Bora, whose face was visible, this other person only had parts of their body shown due to the camera shake.

And even that wasn’t visible clearly due to the shaking.

So she felt anxious.

Her heart was already beating erratically, and now it was pounding with a sense of dread.

‘No, it can’t be.’

It can’t be.

The owner of the hand pulling Bora off-screen couldn’t be Dogun.

Yeah, logically, Dogun wouldn’t be there.

He had been reluctant to go out since that incident.

To be more precise, he had avoided crowded places… but anyway, the place in the video was known for being crowded even on weekdays.

So it couldn’t be Dogun.

But… why did she feel so anxious?

Why was her heart racing like crazy?

She needed confirmation.

She needed to be sure that the person with Bora wasn’t Dogun.

So, she trembled, moving her fingers to rewind the video to that crucial moment.

And then she paused it.

After pausing it… she focused so hard on the screen, expanding it to the limit.

Only then did she realize.

The hand pulling Bora off-screen was… something strange.

What was strange was… the color of the hand.

It was way too white.

A normal person wouldn’t have skin that color.

Unless something white had been smeared onto it… such a hand would be impossible.

And she knew someone with hands similar to that.

‘…No way.’

But still, it couldn’t be.

That wasn’t Dogun.

But why did her fingers keep moving on their own?

Those fingers moved freely and stopped the video.

Then, they opened an app that she had forced Dogun to install after he came back that day, looking uncomfortable.

When the app launched, a simplified map of the surrounding area appeared on her phone screen.

And right after that, her and Dogun’s names popped up.

The moment she confirmed Dogun’s location—

‘…!’

Her body moved on its own, rushing to the ground.

Dogun… Dogun was in danger.