The next day was Saturday.
He woke up without an alarm. 7:12 a.m. Later than usual, but his body felt light. He hadn't dreamed last night. The stone floor, footsteps, and darkness that had continued for days hadn't come. Instead, he had slept deeply. Deeply, for the first time in a long while.
He washed his face and made coffee. Hand-dripped. A luxury he indulged in only on weekend mornings. He ground the beans, poured in the water, and looked out the window while he waited. Saturday morning in Mapo-gu was quiet. There was little traffic, few people, and only the sunlight slanting in.
He took his coffee and sat down at the desk.
He opened his notebook. The list of phenomena he'd been recording for the past few days. Ten items. Beneath them were the things he'd added last night.
Eleventh. Met Seo Kyung. Seo Kyung was feeling the same sensation. The only difference was the direction.
Twelfth. Met Han Si-a. Han Si-a felt it too. The three of them shared a sensation rooted in the same source.
Thirteenth. What he felt from Seo Kyung was 'the sensation of walking behind him.' What he felt from Han Si-a was 'the sensation of sitting across from each other and looking at the same map.' They were different types.
Kang Woo-joo picked up his pen and drew lines in the margins of the notebook, grouping the items together.
First through third. The ability to see. Fourth through sixth. Something like memories. Seventh through tenth. The prelude to awakening and awakening. Eleventh through thirteenth. Companions.
Four branches.
His ability to see was growing stronger, his memories were waking up, his awakening had come, and companions had appeared. The fact that these four branches were progressing simultaneously was not a coincidence. There was a structure. A direction. Something was creating this flow—or the flow itself was one continuous process.
He took a sip of coffee. It had gone cold. Time had passed while he was lost in thought.
The lawyer's mind began to move.
Separate fact from inference. The facts were these. He had awakened, he was E-rank, and his unique ability was Insight. Seo Kyung was a C-rank physical-enhancement Awakened, and he was feeling the sensation of someone walking behind him in the dungeon. Han Si-a was a non-Awakened civilian consultant for the Hunter Administration, and yesterday, the moment she sensed Woo-joo's gaze at the café, she had felt, "I think I know this person."
The inferences were these. There was something shared among the three of them. Whether it was a memory, a connection, or something he still couldn't name. And there had been four people walking in his dream. If one was Seo Kyung and one was Han Si-a, then the remaining person was somewhere out there.
Up to this point, he could organize things logically.
The problem came after that.
How could he verify it?
Lawyers spoke through evidence. Sensations were not evidence. The feeling that he "thought he knew" someone wouldn't be worth a single line in court. But what he was dealing with now was not a lawsuit. It was outside the realm of law. It was the realm of the Awakened, and in that realm, sensations could come before facts.
Insight was proving that. When he interviewed Jung Tae-ho, the assessment that he was a fire type had surfaced without any basis—and it had been correct. When he saw Seo Kyung, the assessment that he was a physical-enhancement type had surfaced—and it had been correct. The sensation came first, and the facts followed.
If that was the case, then there was a possibility that the facts would follow this sensation he was feeling now as well.
Kang Woo-joo closed the notebook and leaned back in his chair.
Seo Kyung had said it yesterday. He had a C-rank rift raid tomorrow and wanted Woo-joo to come along. Even though he was E-rank. Just watch from behind. He'd protect him.
It was a reckless proposal. An E-rank Awakened entering a C-rank rift was not recommended by regulations. It was dangerous. Common sense said he should refuse.
But Insight was telling him something else.
Go. You'll see something there.
Kang Woo-joo looked at the ceiling. The white ceiling of his two-room apartment. The shadow of the monstera leaves fell across the wall. The quiet light of Saturday morning.
If he was the lawyer Kang Woo-joo, he would refuse. He would calculate the risks, weigh the benefits, and make a rational decision. That was how he'd lived until now, and that way had never been wrong.
But the Awakened Kang Woo-joo was different. Since his awakening, the direction Insight pointed him toward had never once been wrong. When he read Jung Tae-ho's ability, when he found Seo Kyung, and when he discovered Han Si-a. There had been an answer wherever Insight pointed.
Now, Insight was pointing inside the rift.
Kang Woo-joo stood up and picked up his phone. The number Seo Kyung had saved for him yesterday. It was labeled simply, 'Seo Kyung.'
He called.
It rang three times before Seo Kyung answered.
"Oh, bro. Thought about it?"
His voice sounded perfectly fine for this early in the morning. Was he a morning person?
"What time tomorrow?"
"Ten a.m. The rift's around Eunpyeong-gu. The Administration classified it as C-rank, and our guild got the raid rights."
"What's the party composition?"
"Four, including me. One tank, two damage dealers, and one support. But the support twisted an ankle yesterday, so they might have to drop out."
"If the support drops out, there'll be three, not four."
"That's why I asked you to come along." Seo Kyung laughed. "Kidding. I'm not asking you to fill the support slot. Just watch from behind. Your ability is Insight, right? Aren't you curious what you'll see inside the dungeon?"
He was curious. Honestly, he was curious. If Insight worked this well in everyday life, how would it work inside a rift? And the sensation of walking behind Seo Kyung. If the source of that sensation was inside the dungeon…
"I'll go."
"Really? Huh, you're full of surprises, bro. I thought you'd take longer to decide."
"There was no reason to delay."
Seo Kyung laughed again. His laughter came through the phone, rough and refreshing.
"Great. Be in front of Exit 2 of Bulgwang Station in Eunpyeong-gu at nine tomorrow. I'll bring the equipment. Just bring yourself."
"Understood."
He ended the call.
Kang Woo-joo set down his phone and looked out the window. The sunlight had risen a little higher. It was past nine in the morning.
He knew the weight of the decision he'd just made. An E-rank Awakened was going into a C-rank rift. It was dangerous. But he had a reason worth taking the risk for.
There were two reasons.
One. Insight was pointing him there. He would see something inside the rift.
Two. The sensation of walking behind Seo Kyung. If that sensation was a memory rather than a dream, then the location of that memory was the dungeon.
Kang Woo-joo opened his notebook again and added one final line.
Fourteenth. Entering a C-rank rift tomorrow.
He set down his pen. The coffee had gone completely cold. He drank it. Cold coffee wasn't bad either.
He contacted Han Si-a in the afternoon.
He texted the number on the business card she'd given him yesterday. Briefly.
[This is Kang Woo-joo. We met at the café yesterday. Tomorrow, I plan to accompany Seo Kyung on a C-rank rift raid. If you're interested, please contact me.]
It took forty-seven minutes to receive a reply.
[I am interested. However, I am non-Awakened. Entering the rift would be difficult, so I will wait outside. Please let me know the time and place.]
Kang Woo-joo forwarded her the information he'd received from Seo Kyung. Nine tomorrow morning, Exit 2 of Bulgwang Station.
Han Si-a's reply was concise.
[Understood.]
Kang Woo-joo set down his phone.
The three of them were meeting again. This time, not at a café but in front of a rift. Not by coincidence, but by choice.
He spent the rest of the day as usual. He ran the laundry, organized the refrigerator, and skimmed through the case materials for the following week. He made notes on how to respond to the Taegang Guild legal team's proposal for negotiations. The lawyer's daily life continued turning. Becoming an Awakened didn't make the washing machine stop.
After dinner, he sat on the couch. He turned on the TV, then turned it off. He opened a book, then closed it. He couldn't concentrate. Tomorrow was on his mind.
A rift. A dungeon. A place he would enter for the first time.
He had read about them hundreds of times in lawsuit materials. He had seen descriptions of dungeon interiors in Awakened hunters' statements. Dark, damp, full of magical beasts, with the difficulty varying according to rank. He knew it as words. But words and experience were different.
Kang Woo-joo closed his eyes.
A dark, spacious area. A stone floor. Damp air. The back of the person walking ahead.
If the place he'd seen in his dream was a dungeon, then he already knew it. Knowing a place he'd never visited. If it was a memory.
He opened his eyes.
He would confirm it tomorrow.
He lay down in bed. This time, sleep came quickly. It was the calm that followed a decision. Lawyer Kang Woo-joo did not put off decisions. Once he decided, he acted. He did not waver in between.
Just before falling asleep, one final thought came to him.
The sensation of walking behind Seo Kyung. Tomorrow, he could confirm it for himself.
For real, he would walk behind Seo Kyung.