Chapter 142

“…. Brother, I think it’s better for you to meet him in person first.”

“… What?”

Hyeon-jin’s words made my vision go white.

Well, Hyeon-jin’s reaction was clearly indicating that something had happened to Yoo Ju.

Wi Ho-yeon, who was listening nearby, also asked Hyeon-jin with a serious expression.

“Is something wrong with the Master?”

“… Well, it’s not that she’s hurt. It seems to be a problem related to Yoon Seong.”

I sighed in relief at the fact that she wasn’t hurt, but I couldn’t help but feel puzzled by the following words.

“A problem related to me?”

******

When I moved to the base, the clan members greeted me.

“Oppa, nothing happened, right?”

“Bro!”

Even though it hadn’t been long since I last saw them, the clan members, who had been living like a family, all seemed happy to see me.

I was also glad to see the kids and other clan members, but that wasn’t the important thing right now.

I ruffled Yoo Hyun’s head as he ran over and opened my mouth.

“Nothing happened. I’m glad you’re all safe. But… where’s Yoo Ju?”

Yoo Ju was nowhere to be seen.

If it were any other time, she would have definitely come out to greet me with the other clan members.

“Ah… Oppa, you should go see Yoo Ju unnie in her tent…”

‘Damn it.’

I had no idea what was going on.

With a sense of tension, I headed to where Yoo Ju was and announced my presence before entering.

“…. Yoo Ju, I’m coming in.”

When I entered, I saw Yoo Ju cleaning her spear.

“… Yoo Ju?”

‘What? She looks fine.’

The clan members had said that Yoo Ju wasn’t hurt, but given their reactions, I had been worried.

However, it didn’t take long for me to notice something was off.

She looked at me with eyes that were different from usual, as if she was looking at a stranger.

There was even a strange sense of wariness in her gaze.

“Are you Lee Yun-seong…?”

“… What?”

For a moment, I couldn’t understand what Yoo Ju was saying.

“Yoo Ju? What are you talking about…”

“… Oh, I’m sorry. Are you someone else?”

‘What the hell is she saying…’

I couldn’t help but realize it, even though I didn’t want to.

Yoo Ju had lost her memories of me.

“… You’ve lost your memories of me.”

“I’m sorry. Well, Hyeon-jin and Yoo Rim said… that we were close…”

It felt like the first time I met Yoo Ju during the tutorial.

‘Sigh…’

“… I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

“… I’m fine.”

“But your expression…”

At Yoo Ju’s words, I unconsciously touched my face.

Only Yoo Ju would know what expression I was making right now.

‘First… I need to figure out the details of the situation.’

My feelings weren’t important right now.

I needed to know what memories Yoo Ju had lost, how much she remembered about me, and the details of the situation.

“Do you remember anything about me?”

“No. It’s just… you feel like a stranger. Honestly, even talking to you like this feels awkward to me.”

“I understand. Then what about your memories of the other clan members…”

“I remember all of them.”

‘… So she only lost her memories of me.’

My head started to hurt. Yoon Yeon had been seriously injured, and now Yoo Ju had lost her memories of me.

On top of that, since I hadn’t experienced the first round, I had no information about the Swamp of Oblivion.

I had to proceed with exploration while testing Yoo Ju’s reactions or picking up on any hints or signals she might give me.

But since Yoo Ju had lost her memories of me, it was uncertain whether she would subtly leak that information to me.

‘Of all people, why just me…’

Even now, I could feel Yoo Ju subtly feeling uncomfortable around me.

Well, since I was a complete stranger to her now, it was a natural result.

Just as I was biting my lip slightly, Yoo Ju spoke up.

“… So, you said your name is Lee Yun-seong?”

“Yes…”

“What exactly was our relationship? The other clan members said we were very close, but were we… dating or something…”

“… No, we weren’t. Yoo Ju and I…”

I suddenly found myself at a loss for words.

‘Damn it, now that I think about it, what exactly is my relationship with Yoo Ju?’

On a basic level, we were fellow clan members. But we were closer than just ordinary comrades.

‘… What should I say? That you followed me around? How should I phrase this…’

I suddenly realized that I couldn’t succinctly describe the relationship between Yoo Ju and me.

Yoo Ju and I were more than just ordinary comrades, but we weren’t lovers or in a deep relationship either. It was a complicatedly intertwined relationship.

“… We weren’t lovers, but we were precious comrades… I guess.”

That was the only way I could think to describe it.

At the answer that we weren’t lovers, Yoo Ju let out a sigh of relief.

‘… Well, if she lost her memories, that reaction makes sense.’

Right now, she has no feelings of affection or liking for me.

But regardless of whether it made sense or not, I felt a strange emotion at her attitude of not even looking at me, which was different from the usual Yoo Ju.

‘Sigh…’

I think I understand how the guys who were coldly treated by Yoo Ju in the past must have felt.

Anyway, I pushed aside unnecessary thoughts and focused on the situation at hand, which was figuring out the principle behind her memory loss.

“… Yoo Ju, was I present in your memories during the tutorial?”

The fact that Yoo Ju and I passed the tutorial of the second round was a ‘fact’ beyond the realm of memory.

I needed to know whether she had lost all the memories she had with me up until now, or if only my existence had disappeared from those memories.

Yoo Ju fell into thought after hearing my words. She seemed to be recalling her memories up until now.

“…….”

“… Yoo Ju?”





Yoo Ju grabbed her head with one hand and frowned.

“Ah… no. The tutorial was definitely… without you…”

“…Was I there when you joined the Eternity Clan?”

“No. In my memory… there was Hyeon-jin, Yoo Rim, Yoo Hyun, Ha Eun, Lee Seo, Ho-won, Tae-woo… like this…”

‘I think I get the gist of it.’

It seemed that the mechanism wasn’t about deleting all memories of me, but rather about erasing my existence from their memories.

“Alright… I understand. You must be confused too, Yoo Ju, so I’ll take my leave for now. If anything comes up, feel free to let me know.”

“…Okay.”

“……”

I left the tent, leaving behind the unfamiliar expression Yoo Ju had shown me.

“…Ha.”

‘…Is this how it feels?’

Just one day. No, not even a full day, just a brief moment.

It felt as if my relationship with Yoo Ju had been completely wiped away.

‘How did Yoo Ju endure this? Not just from one person, but from multiple people…’

A Returner loses all the memories and bonds they’ve built over years when they reverse time.

After experiencing something similar, even briefly, it didn’t feel good.

******

The next day, something unexpected happened.

The key figures of the 2nd region exploration team had gathered.

Ha Yu-ri brought up the main issue.

“…Priest Komer has disappeared.”

Priest Komer had suddenly vanished.

Whether he went up to the sky or down to the ground, people had been searching for him since this morning, but there was no trace of him.

“…Does that make sense? No one found any trace of him, and why would the priest disappear in the first place?”

“I don’t know the reason. And the reason no trace was found is probably because of this white substance falling like snow, erasing any footprints.”

“…Then what do you plan to do, Ha Yu-ri? Should we return to the village?”

“No. We’ll continue moving forward.”

We couldn’t turn back just because Priest Komer had disappeared.

While they were talking, I was lost in thought. The reason was none other than Priest Komer.

‘…Is he up to something?’

At the initial fork in the road, we kept moving left, and no more forks appeared.

I don’t know what lies ahead, but considering Priest Komer didn’t want us to go left, there must be something there.

As I was organizing my thoughts, Ha Yu-ri brought up some important news.

“Putting aside the issue of Priest Komer’s disappearance, there’s more important news.”

‘More important news?’

“The Clan Master of Veritas, who’s exploring the 3rd region, contacted us this morning. They said they encountered residents of the Swamp of Oblivion in the 3rd region.”

Of course, the Swamp of Oblivion is a vast area, so it’s not like the residents are only in the 2nd region.

“Here’s the key information. The residents there said that in the Swamp of Oblivion, there are monsters called the White Devourer and the Black Devourer.”

Everyone except me and Yoo Ju was in an uproar.

Even I felt somewhat startled, and the reason was the existence of the Black Devourer.

‘I thought we only had to deal with the White Devourer… what’s this Black Devourer?’

“According to the residents, the White Devourer takes memories, and the Black Devourer takes the five senses.”

“…They take memories and the five senses? Those monsters?”

“Yes, the residents and now we are losing memories or senses because of these monsters.”

A strange desire flickered in Ha Yu-ri’s eyes.

“If we defeat those monsters, we can recover the memories we’ve lost.”

“…So if we kill those two monsters, does that mean the exploration is complete?”

“I can’t say for sure. But to normalize the Swamp of Oblivion and succeed in the exploration, we must eliminate those monsters.”

That’s true. I don’t know if those two monsters are the end of the exploration, but they are definitely key.

The fact that Yoo Ju is listening without objection also makes it clear.

However…

I briefly made eye contact with Yoo Ju.

If it were usual, Yoo Ju would have been smiling or making a light-hearted expression in such a situation, but now her face was expressionless.

She briefly met my gaze and then looked away.

‘……’

I asked Ha Yu-ri a question.

“Then do we know what the monsters look like?”

“…In the 3rd region, they encountered a monster called the Black Devourer, and its appearance is described as a huge, black, four-legged monster.”

Judging by the four-legged description, it seems to be a beast-like monster.

“Did they manage to kill the Black Devourer?”

“No. They fought it but couldn’t kill it. They took quite a bit of damage, but the Black Devourer was also heavily injured and fled.”

“Then…”

“It means it’s possible to defeat it. At least it’s not a Myth Grade monster.”

If it were a Myth Grade monster, the exploration team would have been wiped out the moment they faced it.

In other words, the White Devourer and the Black Devourer are at most Legend Grade monsters, possibly at the lower end of Legend Grade.