Chapter 31 Into The Predators’ Layers Part 8

Hajime used Chun's body to dive into the depths of the pitch-black pond, and Hajime couldn't see everything clearly, probably because he was using Chun's body. He looks around but doesn't see Yul. He wondered what happened to Yul, it was a small pond, not the ocean, so Yul had nowhere to go, and unless there was a tunnel in the pond, Yul might get lost; that thought scared Hajime all at once.

Hajime hated dark places the most. In his previous life, he spent many nights alone. When he awoke from his nightmare, he hoped that someone would assuage his fear with a hug, but when he woke up, the darkroom was empty. As he peers into the darkened room, the shadows of his clothes and toys inexplicably transform into monsters lurking on the walls and around him. He thought he sometimes heard their voices and breathing behind his ears.

Just when Hajime was immersed in the memory of the past, a soft but male's voice suddenly came from his ear. "Ahh..."

Hajime's heart started beating wildly, and he turned quickly to feel who could make that sound underwater, but he couldn't touch anything. He thought that the sudden groan might be his own mind playing tricks on him, at this moment he suddenly felt that there were many pairs of eyes watching his every move. He turned quickly to the left when he felt a caressing sensation from his shoulder to his hand.

Hajime heard another soft moan, and he turned quickly to investigate more, when a pale corpse floated past him. He flicked his tail in fright and slammed into the corpse aggressively. The corpse was pushed away and fell into the seamount not far from him.

When the unknown corpse hit the seamount, it made the seamount sink even further into the mud. Hajime begins to swim upward away from the corpse when he finds what he thinks is Yul. He had no choice but to swim back to the seamount. In this pitch-black pond, the only thing he can see clearly is the shiny thing Yul is holding in his left hand. The dim light from the object allowed him to see Yul struggling to free his feet from what held Yul's feet in place. Hajime opened his mouth and called Yul's name, but only hollow sounds and bubbles came out of his mouth. Hajime swam quickly to Yul.

Yul knows that no one can hear or see him in this dark underground pond, so if he wants to escape, he must save himself. Suddenly, the many hands that were holding him loosened their grasp around his feet. Yul sees the pale, macerated corpses that once surrounded him snap back and hide under the seamount. He took the opportunity to break free from the restraints of the others, and when he shone the stone to the left, he saw Chun swimming towards him quickly. He finally understood why the corpses in this pond finally letting him go. They were not afraid of him, but Chun. Frightened and exhausted, he swam desperately to the surface of the water, and Chun also swam quickly behind him.

Hajime grabbed one of Yul's feet, but Yul quickly kicked it away with the other foot. Pulling out the knife from his waist, Yul began to stab Chun with the knife. Yul stabbed Chun in the abdomen several times, but Chun still refused to die.

Hajime thought to himself, Yul must be crazy, he didn't understand why Yul kept fighting with him when he was on the same team. Hajime is happy to see Yul alive and well, but Yul is acting so cold towards him. He then races upward in pursuit of Yul, unaware that he's still possessing Chun's snakelike body.

Yul surfaced almost out of breath. He looked around, only to see Hajime standing tightly by the pond, with a wolf guarding him. Yul swims and shouts, "Hajime!"

No matter how loudly and how hard Yul yelled at Hajime, Hajime didn't turn around to look at him, but stood motionless on the spot, guarded by his magic wolf.

"Hajime," Yul yelled again and again. Then the water behind Yul suddenly moves, and Yul knows that Chun will be next to emerge from the pond. He hurriedly stuffed the stone into his inner robe, put the knife rest in the attack position, and made up his mind that he would attack Chun as soon as Chun's head came out of the water.

As expected, Chun's head slowly emerged from the water, so Yul rushed forward and stabbed Chun in the middle of the head with the knife.

"Ah...what the hell are you doing," Hajime screamed, but the voice coming from him was Chun's voice.

Yul backed away from Hajime quickly.

"Do you want to dig out her brain too?" Hajime frowned and pulled the knife from Chun's head with his left hand. "While it didn't cause me any physical pain, it still felt uncomfortable."

"How could you still be alive?" Yul asked. "I killed you with my own hands."

Hajime said, "That's because I use her body to find you. I can't hold my breath underwater, and you haven't come back, so this is the only way for me to make sure that you are not in danger." He returned the knife to Yul.

Yul took the knife and asked suspiciously, "Hajime?"

"What!" Chun's head jumped up in front of Yul. Yul quickly raised his right hand to attack Chun. "Hey...hey...don't stab me again, it's me."

Yul asked, "How do I know this is the real you?"

Hajime said, "I married you into my family."

Yul said, "No, I married you into my family."

Hajime asked angrily, "What's the difference between you marrying me and me marrying you?"

Yul said, "The difference is that I married you."

Hajime said, "I see, you want to save face. You want others to call you the husband and me the wife…" He stared at Yul. "Is that right?"

Yul said, "You also want to save your own face."

Hajime scoffed shaking his head, "No, I didn't."

Yul said, "Well, if you don't, then why are you arguing?" He thought about it. "Chun can know all this from you." He backed away slowly. "What is the secret word between lovers in your clan?"

"What?" Hajime wasn't sure what secret word Yul was referring to. He wondered if the mage and his clan had secrets word between lovers that only they knew. "I didn't understand your question."

Yul backed away some more, approaching the middle of the pond again. He looked at Hajime, who hadn't moved since he came up to the surface and then he looked at Chun, who was only a few feet away from him. "Hajime said, there is a secret word in his clan between lovers, since you don't know this secret word, then you are not the real Hajime." He gripped the knife tightly. "I'm not afraid to kill you again."

"She's dead, how can you kill her again," he says, looking at Yul. "About this secret word, if the mage has a secret word, I would have known it when I took over his body." Hajime looked at Yul and said to himself. Yul's gloomy expression tells him that Yul is serious about the secret word. Hajime try to recall if there were any secret words the mage might have sealed from his memory, but he came up empty-handed. "What is the secret word?"

Hajime pondered deeply in his mind, the more he thought about this secret word, the more confused he became. When he saw his body standing by the pond, he sighed and turned around, only to realize that he was still possessing Chun's dead body. Suddenly the thought of having a snake-like body is nauseating.

Hajime finally opened his eyes, staring at Yul who was still in the middle of the pond. He stretched out his arms and walked towards the pond. "Yul," he said. "Are you going to soak in that pond all day?"

Yul looked up at the edge of the pond, and he saw Hajime standing there, and the gray wolf standing beside Hajime. Yul started swimming towards the edge of the pond. Hajime stretched out his hand and pulled Yul out of the pond.

Yul looked at Hajime and said, "Chun..." He turned around and saw Chun's body already floating in the pond. "Did you possess Chun's body just now?"

Hajime said, Yeah, because you've been down there for too long, I was worried about you, so I borrowed her vessel and dived into the pond." He looked at Yul, his mind was full of that so-called secret word. "Now, what about the secret word?"

Yul said, "You forgot?"

Hajime said, "No, I didn't forget..." refusing to admit that he didn't know what the secret word was. "When you suspect that I am not the real me, you may not be the real you. So, when did I tell you this secret word?"

Yul said, "Back in Skeleton Desert."

Hajime suddenly remembered. "That's right, you're the real Yul." He smiled awkwardly. "In our clan, when you love someone dearly and are too embarrassed to express your deepest affection to the person you love, you just say Christmas." He smiled at Yul. "Christmas..."