Chapter 7. The Chosen One of Wrath
Do-yoon forgot to breathe as he stared at the Tree of Desire before his eyes.
Only a few days ago, when he had seen it in his dream, the Fruit of Wrath had definitely still been hanging from the tree.
Beside the purple Fruit of Envy.
Glowing red like blood.
Swaying ominously.
But now...
Nothing remained there.
Only an empty branch moved through the darkness.
Then a new message appeared.
[The Chosen One of Wrath exists.]
[Be cautious.]
[He may kill you.]
Cold sweat ran down Do-yoon's back as the final message disappeared.
No one else in the principal's office noticed anything.
Tae-seong's parents were staring warily at the Office of Education investigator.
The principal had gone pale while checking the investigation documents.
The head of student discipline repeatedly wiped sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.
Only Do-yoon understood what had just happened.
There were other Chosen Ones.
And one of them had already obtained the Fruit of Wrath.
Do-yoon studied the investigator again.
The man calmly turned through pages as if nothing had happened.
But the red symbol Do-yoon had seen behind his ear had been far too clear to dismiss as imagination.
Then the man looked up.
Their eyes met briefly.
For only an instant...
An unreadable smile appeared on the man's lips before vanishing.
"Kim Do-yoon."
The investigator called his name.
The principal's office became quiet.
"Could I speak with you privately?"
The principal immediately stood.
"Of course. We'll prepare a separate room."
A few minutes later, Do-yoon sat across from the investigator inside a small meeting room in the school.
There were no windows.
A recorder sat on the table.
The old fluorescent light above them flickered faintly at regular intervals.
The man spoke first.
"Nervous?"
Do-yoon answered honestly.
"A little."
The man chuckled.
"Good."
"People who know how to feel nervous tend to live longer."
Liana's words immediately came to mind.
People who know they're scared live longer.
The wording was different.
The meaning was almost identical.
Do-yoon's caution toward the man increased.
The investigator watched his expression for a moment.
Then he reached out and switched off the recorder.
The red light disappeared.
The atmosphere in the room changed instantly.
"Now let's get to the real subject."
"What real subject?"
The man looked directly at Do-yoon.
"The Dimensional Gate."
Do-yoon's heart seemed to stop.
He could only stare.
The man leaned back comfortably, as though Do-yoon's reaction had been exactly what he expected.
"You seem surprised."
Do-yoon remained silent before asking quietly,
"Who are you?"
"My name is Kang Min-hyeok."
The man lightly waved the Office of Education identification card between his fingers.
"And this identity is fake."
Do-yoon's gaze turned cold.
"Then who do you actually work for?"
"A government agency."
The answer was short.
But the pressure behind those words was heavy.
Do-yoon instinctively felt that Kang Min-hyeok might be more dangerous than Han Myeong-jae.
A chaebol could move people through money.
A government could erase a person from official records.
Do-yoon had no idea which organization Kang Min-hyeok belonged to or how much authority he had.
But he was definitely not an ordinary civil servant.
Kang Min-hyeok folded his hands on the table.
"Kim Do-yoon."
"Yes."
"When did you discover the Dimensional Gate?"
Do-yoon did not answer.
Kang Min-hyeok did not immediately press him.
Instead, he took a photograph from inside his jacket and placed it on the table.
Do-yoon's eyes widened.
The photograph showed a monster that could not possibly exist in reality.
It was several times larger than the Mutated Rats.
Twisted horns.
Claws like blades.
But what shocked Do-yoon even more was the scenery behind it.
High-rise buildings.
Road signs.
Familiar city lights.
The photograph had been taken in Seoul.
"Surprised?"
Kang Min-hyeok asked.
"Rifts exist in reality too."
Do-yoon unconsciously swallowed.
"Since when?"
"Several decades ago."
"Then I'm not the only person with a Dimensional Gate?"
Kang Min-hyeok slowly nodded.
"We've been managing rifts and the creatures that cross through them for a very long time."
The other world.
The fruits.
The Chosen Ones.
Everything was connected to something far larger than Do-yoon had imagined.
He had thought this strange event had happened only to him.
But the government had known about it for decades.
Kang Min-hyeok spoke.
"Kim Do-yoon."
"You are not special."
Do-yoon's eyebrow moved slightly.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you're not the first Chosen One."
"Then which number am I?"
Kang Min-hyeok lightly tapped the table with one finger.
"According to our records..."
"You're the thirty-seventh."
Do-yoon's mind went blank.
Thirty-seventh.
That meant thirty-six people like him had existed before.
"That's impossible."
Kang Min-hyeok answered calmly.
"Most of them are dead."
"How?"
"They became monsters."
"Killed each other."
