The sound of footsteps echoed along the road surrounded by a forest. They belonged to the old man as he gulped down his beer.
He walked toward the orange light at the end of the road, where it connected directly to the sandy beach.
A warm breeze swept through his golden hair and black robe. He casually tossed aside an empty beer can while his blue eyes settled on a bench facing the sea, which was bathed in an endless orange glow.
In front of the bench, a fishing rod was planted firmly in the sand.
The sound of whistling filled the air, as if it were waiting for the fishing rod to move.
The old man walked close enough for his voice to be heard.
"What are you doing? I already told you there are no fish here."
Van, who was sitting comfortably on the bench while whistling, clicked his tongue. He spoke without turning around.
"You never know. I mean, maybe there are humpback whales, or orcas, or even pufferfish... then I could talk to them."
The old man looked out at the sea, where the endless sunset lay on the horizon.
The two of them fell silent for a while as he enjoyed the warm breeze brushing against him.
"The time has come."
Van, who had been sitting on the bench, immediately turned to look at him.
His golden hair had now grown long and straight, reaching his waist. He wore a blue beach shirt with a humpback whale pattern, while his eyes were hidden behind a pair of sunglasses.
Van lowered his sunglasses, revealing his now gray eyes.
One of his eyebrows rose.
"What time has come?"
The old man let out a sigh.
"The time for you to return to two million years ago."
Van’s lips twitched.
He stood up, leaving behind his chair and fishing rod.
His smooth, waist-length golden hair swayed with every step.
"I thought I’d already lived for two million years."
Van took off his sunglasses and threw them onto the beach sand.
He then pointed at the endless sunset behind him.
"I’ve completely lost my sense of time because of that sunset that never ends."
The old man didn’t respond to Van. He simply raised his hand toward the orange sky.
Van naturally followed, feeling that he should.
The natural orange sky gradually faded into white, like a canvas that had yet to be painted.
Slowly, that canvas became stained with different colors until it turned into a painting.
Van’s gray eyes widened the moment he saw it.
The painting depicted a city’s destruction in broad daylight. Citizens fled in panic, pushing against one another as they tried to escape, while creatures resembling monsters with the body parts of sea animals chased them with blood-covered mouths.
"A few days ago, the world changed."
Van remained silent, staring at the painting as it slowly changed.
This time, the painting showed an ocean that should have been blue but had turned black, with hundreds of monsters swimming freely while destroying warships.
"The blue sea no longer exists..."
The old man let out a sigh, his voice becoming quieter.
"...the sea creatures have been contaminated and transformed into monsters, just as you see. And..."
"...far more terrifying monsters have also appeared."
Van shifted his gaze toward the old man before looking at the sea behind him, which was still blue despite being covered by the orange glow.
The old man changed the painting once again, making Van look back up at the sky.
This time, the painting was dominated by black, but something about it felt wrong.
A gate appeared in the impossible depths of the sea.
The gate released black fluid along with monsters whose forms were larger and far more terrifying.
"All of that came from the sea gate that releases black fluid, corrupting the sea creatures and the blue ocean itself."
The old man then looked at Van.
He cracked his fingers before pinching the air.
Van watched what the old man was doing.
Out of nothing, something appeared between the old man’s fingers that were pinching the air.
It was a small green bottle.
The bottle looked like crystal, allowing whatever was inside to be seen.
Inside the bottle was a small amount of black liquid that didn’t even fill it.
The old man opened the bottle using the thumb and index finger of the same hand holding it.
He then poured a single drop of the black liquid onto his left arm.
"This is the black fluid I just collected..."
The moment the black fluid touched the old man’s skin, it immediately began to peel away.
Black veins bulged and spread rapidly.
The old man’s skin slowly became covered in scales.
His fingers lengthened, and sharp claws quickly grew from their tips.
The old man’s eyebrow twitched while Van simply watched the transformation with a blank expression.
After realizing the transformation was continuing to spread, the old man cut off his own arm.
The transformed left arm fell onto the sand, its fingers still twitching.
Van crouched down and brought his eyes closer to observe the transformation more clearly.
Meanwhile, the old man regenerated his arm by reversing time.
The old man let out a tired sigh.
"Do you understand now?"
Van looked at the old man before standing back up and swallowing.
He tilted his head slightly.
"I think I understand... but isn’t that insane? I mean, even you were affected? What exactly is black fluid? And why did it appear?"
The old man shrugged, gently shaking the green bottle.
"Don’t go off on a tangent... I already went through the trouble of demonstrating it because you’re an idiot."
Van rolled his eyes in disbelief before shrugging.
"Good grief... I’m not the idiot. You’re just bad at explaining."
The old man raised his newly restored hand. He almost punched Van, while Van instinctively prepared to protect his head, but the punch never landed.
The old man clicked his tongue and held up the small green bottle.
"This is one of your tasks. Collect this green material, which will serve as a weapon against the black fluid."
Van tried holding the bottle, feeling its texture, which was as hard as a diamond.
The old man spoke again.
"This is Artium... just as I told you three years ago, you’ll collect Artium that came from a dozen... or perhaps dozens of meteors scattered across different worlds."
Van looked at the old man seriously while the old man continued speaking.
"You’ve already seen the consequences, haven’t you? You’ve also seen what’s at stake... humanity will awaken their potentials a few weeks from now. But..."
"...without enough Artium, they’ll only be able to survive."
The old man pointed at Van.
"That is one of your tasks. Gather Artium and store it. I also told you there may be interference from them... that’s another reason I’ve been preparing you."
Van nodded several times.
"Can I keep this bottle?"
One of the old man’s eyebrows rose.
"Seriously? That’s what you’re asking?"
Van chuckled.
"Of course not... I just think this bottle looks nice. And... what’s the other task?"
The old man crossed his arms as the endless sunset bore witness to their conversation.
"The Hell Gate."
Van’s ears twitched after hearing something that began with the word "gate" again.
"Huh? What? The Hell Gate? What’s that now?"
The old man fell silent for a moment, as if recalling something so distant it was impossible to imagine. He let out a tired sigh.
"It’s a gate that leads to Hell... where demons reside."
Van opened and closed his mouth several times. No sound came out at first, but after several attempts, he finally managed to speak.
"What?! Wasn’t there just something called the Sea Gate? The one that creates monsters, releases monsters, and releases that horrifying liquid?!"
Van grabbed his head with both hands.
"And now there’s also a Hell Gate?! Demons?! What the hell is this?! Isn’t this way too much...?!"
Veins bulged on the old man’s forehead. He gritted his teeth, and in the end, he couldn’t hold himself back.
He punched Van, sending him rolling across the sand in pain.
The old man let Van’s screams echo and be mocked by the endless sunset before finally speaking once he had calmed down.
"Listen first, you crazy brat."
Van held the bump on his head with furious eyes while the old man continued.
"That gate isn’t open. It was sealed long ago and forgotten."
The old man scratched his throat.
"Humanity doesn’t know that gate exists..."
The old man let out a sigh.
’...and hopefully they remain unaware forever.’
The old man continued speaking while Van got back to his feet with a wide smile after realizing he wouldn’t have to face even more enemies.
"That gate is in Antarctica..."
"Your task is to watch over that gate. Don’t let it open."
The old man gripped Van’s shoulder. His blue eyes stared at Van seriously, making him nervous.
"I’m warning you carefully. Don’t let that gate open. If you find a way to destroy it, then destroy it."
Van swallowed.
"Is... is it really that dangerous? Is it more dangerous than the Sea Gate, the black fluid, and all those monsters?"
The old man ran a hand through his golden hair.
"What’s even more dangerous is your third task."
Van dug at his ear, afraid he had misheard.
"Huh? The third one? What the hell now?"
Van grabbed the old man and shook him angrily.
"You!! You!! Are you making all this up, you damn old man?! There are way too many tasks!"
The old man clicked his tongue and pushed Van’s hands away.
"This is something that will happen far in the future... but it will definitely happen."
Van’s anger gradually subsided while the old man continued.
"We call it the Great Event."
Van rubbed his aching forehead, which already hurt from being battered by all the threats he had just heard.
"So... what’s going to come out of the Great Event? Aliens? I mean, we already have demons and monsters... the only thing left is aliens."
The old man shrugged.
"I don’t know what it is. None of us know what it looks like."
"The only advice I can give you is to use your two million years wisely to prepare. You can think it through carefully."
Van’s legs began to weaken. He eventually sat down on the sand, grabbing his hair in frustration, while the old man sat down beside him.
"Prepare for every possibility. Build the greatest army if it’s an invasion. Build the largest ship if it’s a flood that covers the entire world. Create the best disease response system if it’s a plague."
Van looked at the old man with a blank expression.
Neither of them spoke for a long time until Van finally stood up and walked away.
He headed toward the forest.
The old man didn’t stop him.
He simply remained seated, facing the endless sunset for quite some time until Van returned.
Van didn’t return alone.
He pulled a cart filled with potato chips and cold beer.
He sat down in the same place as before.
"Good grief... those are some heavy responsibilities, you crazy old man. Just surviving two million years is already hard enough."
Van smiled broadly.
"Since it’s so hard... can we take it easy today? I mean, no training."
The old man looked at Van, who blocked the endless sunset from his view.
He nodded slowly.
Van immediately opened a bag of potato chips and handed the old man a cold can of beer.
They didn’t speak.
They simply ate bag after bag of potato chips while drinking beer to wash them down.
The crunching sound of potato chips breaking beneath their teeth was no longer the only sound once the old man spoke.
"Do you understand? Do you get it?"
Van stopped moving for a moment.
A potato chip hovered just in front of his mouth before finally disappearing inside.
Van nodded several times.
"Damn... of course I get it. The Sea Gate, the black fluid, and the counter to those monsters is Artium, right? Then, as long as the Hell Gate never opens, things will be much better..."
"And... the Great Event means I can’t just slack off after collecting Artium, right? I also have to do this and that to prepare for something whose form we don’t even know, right?"
The old man smiled faintly.
That smile slowly turned into laughter.
Van laughed as well.
Their laughter blended with the crashing waves, making the endless sunset seem jealous.
The old man wiped away the tears that had accidentally formed in his blue eyes.
"By the way, how do you feel after seeing the outside world like it was in those paintings?"
One of Van’s eyebrows rose as the old man pointed at him.
"Do you feel like saving them?"
"Look at yourself now... you already have power. You can beat several monsters and become a hero... you could even awaken their potentials, then live and die as a legend..."
Van chuckled after hearing the old man’s words. He nodded several times.
"I might consider it if I still had my parents and family..."
"It would definitely be cool in front of them. I even imagined it every day after I became capable of doing all kinds of things like a fantasy protagonist."
Van let out a sigh.
"The only people I know are my coworkers."
One of Van’s eyebrows twitched.
"Ah, right... you’re someone I know too."
"And... I’m not shameless enough to forget the debt I owe."
Van lifted his blue humpback whale shirt, revealing the abdominal muscles that he considered impressive.
"Just look... I probably wouldn’t have this body if I were still typing for eight hours a day..."
Van nodded several times.
"Of course, it’s not that I don’t care and would just let the outside world suffer when I’m capable of helping..."
Van looked at the old man with a chuckle.
"But I’ll be going back two million years into the past, right? I’ll collect Artium and store it... after living through those two million years, I’ll be able to help even more... or at least I hope so."
Van let out a sigh before taking a pack of cigarettes from the cart and lighting one.
"I’ll carry out my duty as best as I can..."
The old man frowned.
"That’s right... there’s still one more thing. You also have to prepare the generation that will face the Great Event."
Veins bulged on Van’s forehead.
"You crazy old man!!! That’s way too much!!!"
"It’s your day off today... tomorrow I’ll lock your age and send you back two million years into the past."