Chapter 87: The Watch Left Behind
The message never returned.
Dillan checked his phone again.
Nothing.
No notification.
No unknown number.
No deleted conversation.
It was as if the message had never existed.
Yet...
He remembered every word.
Do you still remember the tree?
"...What is happening?"
He slipped the phone into his pocket.
Sleep never came.
Morning.
The Guardian Network headquarters was already busy.
Dillan looked exhausted again.
Not from nightmares.
From thinking.
Dana immediately noticed.
"...You look terrible."
"I didn’t sleep."
"The dreams?"
He slowly shook his head.
"...No."
"Worse."
Dana frowned.
"...What could possibly be worse than those dreams?"
"I got a message."
"What kind of message?"
He looked around before lowering his voice.
"...Someone told me to meet them at the oak tree."
Dana’s expression changed instantly.
"...Who?"
"I don’t know."
"You told Commander?"
"...Not yet."
Dana folded her arms.
"...You’re telling her."
"I know."
Minutes later...
The Compass gathered inside the conference room.
Commander Yuna listened without interrupting.
"...The message deleted itself?"
"Yeah."
Dr. Yeon adjusted her glasses.
"...No digital trace?"
Mira already had her tablet open.
"I checked."
"Nothing."
"No sender."
"No transmission."
"No network log."
Commander Yuna sighed quietly.
"...Then we assume it’s hostile."
"I’ll go."
Dillan said.
Immediately...
Five voices answered at once.
"No."
The room fell silent.
Dillan blinked.
"...That was synchronized."
Dana looked away awkwardly.
"...Coincidence."
"It wasn’t."
Commander Yuna stood.
"If someone wants you isolated..."
"...We’re not giving them what they want."
Lyra quietly added,
"...Besides..."
"...The tree is already occupied."
Everyone looked toward her.
"...What?"
She slowly closed her eyes.
"The Resonance Field has been watching that park all morning."
"...Someone arrived before sunrise."
Silence.
Commander Yuna immediately made her decision.
"We move together."
Meanwhile...
The old oak tree stood alone in the center of the park.
Morning dew covered the grass.
Birds chirped peacefully.
An ordinary day.
Except...
For the hooded figure standing beneath its branches.
Motionless.
Watching the empty path leading toward the park entrance.
As if...
Waiting.
Across the city...
Sasha hurried toward Guardian Network Headquarters.
She wasn’t smiling today.
Her heartbeat hadn’t settled since waking.
She knew something was wrong.
The moment she entered the building...
She nearly collided with Dillan.
"...Sasha?"
"You got the message."
She froze.
"...What?"
"You know about it?"
For the first time since returning to Korea...
Real fear crossed her face.
"...You got one too?"
Dillan frowned.
"...Wait..."
"You did?"
Very slowly...
Sasha reached into her pocket.
She handed him her phone.
One deleted notification remained in her recovery log.
Bring him to the tree.
Dillan’s expression darkened.
"...You didn’t send mine."
She looked almost hurt.
"...Of course I didn’t."
"I know."
He answered immediately.
"I just..."
He sighed.
"...I had to ask."
She nodded silently.
Commander Yuna joined them seconds later.
She looked at Sasha’s phone.
Then at Dillan’s.
"...Same sender."
Dr. Yeon quietly whispered,
"...Except there wasn’t one."
Thirty minutes later...
The Guardian Network convoy arrived at the park.
The entire Compass stepped out.
Dana scanned the area.
"...Too quiet."
Mira already had her camera ready.
Sera quietly activated a healing barrier.
Lyra looked toward the ancient oak tree.
"...He’s still here."
Dillan slowly approached.
The hooded figure never moved.
Twenty meters.
Fifteen.
Ten.
Finally...
The figure spoke.
"...You came."
His voice sounded old.
Not physically.
Ancient.
Like something that had spoken for thousands of years.
Commander Yuna raised her weapon.
"Identify yourself."
The hooded figure ignored her.
His golden eyes remained fixed on Dillan.
"...You remember promises."
"...Good."
Dillan stepped forward.
"...Who are you?"
Silence.
The hooded figure slowly reached into his cloak.
Dana instantly drew both blades.
"Don’t move!"
Instead of a weapon...
The figure produced...
An old pocket watch.
Silver.
Scratched.
Its hands had stopped at exactly 4:17.
He held it toward Dillan.
"...This belongs to you."
Dillan stared.
"...I’ve never seen..."
The moment his eyes focused on the watch...
Another memory erupted.
A little boy laughing.
An elderly man kneeling before him.
"Take care of time."
"One day..."
"You’ll need it."
The memory vanished.
Dillan staggered.
"...No..."
The hooded figure smiled faintly beneath the darkness.
"...You’re beginning to remember."
Commander Yuna stepped between them.
"Enough."
"Who are you?"
The figure finally looked toward her.
"...A Watcher."
The word echoed strangely.
Not a title.
A role.
"...I watched the First."
"...Now..."
His golden eyes returned to Dillan.
"...I watch the Last."
The air around the park suddenly became heavy.
Lyra’s pupils contracted.
She knew that phrase.
She had heard it...
Once.
Centuries ago.
Inside Layer Seven.
The Watcher slowly closed the pocket watch.
Click.
"...The Architect is waking."
The Resonance Field exploded outward.
Trees bent violently.
Leaves swirled into the sky.
Every Hunter instinctively braced themselves.
Only the Watcher remained perfectly still.
Then...
Without another word...
He disappeared.
Not with speed.
Not with teleportation.
He simply...
Stopped existing.
The old oak tree stood alone once again.
Silence returned.
Only the silver pocket watch remained...
Resting in the grass before Dillan.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
Because every member of the Compass understood the same terrifying truth.
The nightmares had ended.
The memories had returned.
And now...
Something far older than Sasha...
Had finally stepped onto the stage.
The pocket watch rested quietly in the grass.
No one touched it.
Not immediately.
The wind had died.
The birds had stopped singing.
Even the park itself seemed to be holding its breath.
Dana slowly lowered one of her blades.
"...Did..."
She swallowed.
"...Did he just disappear?"
Commander Yuna kept her weapon raised.
"...Everyone stay alert."
Dr. Yeon scanned the area repeatedly.
Nothing.
No mana.
No dimensional residue.
No teleportation signature.
"...He’s gone."
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
"...Completely."
Dillan couldn’t take his eyes off the watch.
The silver casing reflected the afternoon sun.
Its cracked face remained frozen at 4:17.
Something inside him pulled toward it.
Not the hunger of Devour.
Something older.
Familiar.
"...Dillan."
Commander Yuna noticed him stepping forward.
"Don’t."
"I have to."
"You don’t know what it is."
"...I think I do."
He couldn’t explain why.
He simply...
Knew.
Slowly...
He bent down.
His fingers closed around the cold metal.
The moment he touched it...
Nothing happened.
No explosion.
No vision.
No System warning.
Just...
A quiet ticking.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Dana frowned.
"...I thought it was broken."
So did everyone else.
Moments ago...
The hands hadn’t moved.
Now...
The watch was alive.
The System quietly appeared.
[Unknown Artifact Identified.]
[Classification Failed.]
[Ownership Confirmed.]
"...Ownership?"
Dr. Yeon stepped closer.
"What does it say?"
Dillan read the notification aloud.
The room fell silent.
Commander Yuna looked at the watch.
"...It belongs to you."
"...Apparently."
Lyra slowly approached.
Unlike everyone else...
She wasn’t looking at the watch.
She was looking at Dillan.
"...Your Resonance..."
She whispered.
"...Changed."
"...Again."
Before anyone could respond...
A sharp vibration spread through the Resonance Field.
Not violent.
Gentle.
Like someone tapping the surface of still water.
One pulse.
Then another.
Far away...
Another answered.
Lyra closed her eyes.
"...Someone felt it."
Across the city...
Inside Chairman Gamilo’s office...
A crystal resting upon a black pedestal suddenly lit with pale blue light.
The Chairman slowly looked toward it.
"...Interesting."
The suited man beside him frowned.
"...Sir?"
"...He accepted it."
"...Accepted what?"
The Chairman remained silent for several moments.
Then...
"...The Watcher finally made contact."
The suited man’s expression stiffened.
"...Should we interfere?"
"...No."
The Chairman calmly stood.
"...If the Watcher has chosen to move..."
"...Then the game has already changed."
Back in the park...
Mira quietly photographed the watch.
Click.
She checked the image.
Normal.
She frowned.
"...No distortion."
She took another.
Click.
Still normal.
"...That’s strange."
Dana looked over.
"...What’s strange?"
"The Watcher disappeared from every photograph."
She showed the screen.
The final image before he vanished...
Contained only Dillan standing alone beneath the oak tree.
No hooded figure.
No golden eyes.
No pocket watch floating in someone’s hand.
Nothing.
"...It’s like..."
Mira whispered.
"...He was never there."
Sasha arrived five minutes later.
She had come as quickly as she could after receiving Yuna’s message.
The moment she saw Dillan...
She exhaled.
Relief.
"...You’re alright."
"I’m okay."
She immediately noticed the watch.
"...What’s that?"
"I..."
He looked down.
"...Someone gave it to me."
She tilted her head.
"...Someone?"
"The Watcher."
Silence.
"...Who?"
"No idea."
He laughed awkwardly.
"...Apparently he knows me."
Sasha looked at the watch for several seconds.
Then...
Very softly...
"...I’ve seen it before."
Everyone turned toward her.
"...Where?"
She frowned.
"...I’m not sure."
"...When we were children."
"I remember..."
She closed her eyes.
"...An old man."
"...He gave you something."
"...You were really happy."
Dillan’s heart skipped.
Another fragment.
An elderly man smiling.
"Never lose it."
"Even if you forget everything else."
The memory faded.
Commander Yuna noticed the change immediately.
"...Another memory?"
"...Yeah."
He nodded slowly.
"...They’re coming faster."
The drive back to headquarters was unusually quiet.
Everyone had their own thoughts.
Dana couldn’t stop thinking about the Watcher.
Mira kept replaying the disappearing photographs.
Dr. Yeon had already begun planning new tests.
Only Lyra looked out the window.
Watching the city.
Watching the invisible layers surrounding it.
Something had shifted.
She could feel it.
Not inside Dillan.
Inside the architecture itself.
Late that evening...
Dillan sat alone in his room.
The pocket watch rested beside the paper crane and the red ribbon.
Three objects.
Three memories.
He carefully opened the watch.
Inside the lid...
Tiny engraved words appeared.
So worn they were almost impossible to read.
He leaned closer.
"...What..."
After several moments...
He finally made them out.
When time remembers you...
Remember who you were.
A chill ran through him.
The watch suddenly ticked once.
Then...
Without anyone touching it...
The hands moved.
From 4:17...
To 4:18.
Exactly one minute.
The System immediately appeared.
[Artifact Synchronization: 1%]
[Chronological Lock Released.]
Dillan stared.
"...Chronological..."
Before he could finish reading...
The lights in his apartment flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then stabilized.
Outside his window...
For less than a heartbeat...
He saw the reflection of the hooded Watcher standing beside him.
Watching.
When Dillan spun around...
The room was empty.
Only the watch continued ticking.
Steadily.
Patiently.
As if counting down to something...
Only it understood.