The sight of a strange but awfully familiar man disguised as Jisung was not what the team was hoping to see at the end of the platform, not when they were wounded and injured and starved, while the unknown figure stood tall and strong, oozing out confidence and good health.

The others felt mocked, belittled by the sight.

“But if Jisung is here, then who’s that?”, asked Soobin to no one in particular. That question remained unanswered for only a second, before the man began to speak.

He walked in a circle, his hands clasped behind his back, his head turning to face the lined-up team as he explained, “Not even a single greeting, hmm? Very well, I suppose I can introduce myself now. My name is indeed Jisung. Han Jisung. You got that right. I happen to come from another world, another earth, if you will.”

From the corner of his eye, he saw some movement, so he immediately stopped walking in circles and put a firm hand out to point at his lookalike. “Hold it!” He then pointed towards the ground, moving his index finger from the left to the right.

“Make sure none of you step too close to me. All of you must maintain a distance of at least two metres from me, okay?”

“Why?”

“So that you don’t die!” A wicked laugh left Other Jisung’s lips as he noticed how Taehyun’s face paled at the response. “Oh, it’s funny, come on!”

But Taehyun was not going to tolerate it, not after all they’ve been through. He looked over his shoulder to see that Kai was still unconscious. He then spared a quick glance at the box further to the side, and it much closer to Other Jisung than he’d like. Something was off, something was strange, and he wanted answers.

“What is happening? Why are you here? Why are we here? If anyone knows anything about what is going on, why we were brought here, and why we lost our friends, it’s you.” Taehyun paused for a moment. “Tell us everything.”

“And why should I do that?”

The smile on Other Jisung’s face was getting on Taehyun’s nerves, so he blurted out whatever he could think of: “Because if I stepped towards you, I wouldn’t be the only one dying.”

That smile dropped at once, now a neutral line bordering a frown. Taehyun realised that his bold assumption was surprisingly accurate, and he realised that they heavily outnumbered the one man standing by himself. He realised that they had a chance. “So, you’ll do as we say. From the very beginning, and whatever we ask, you’ll listen and respond accordingly.”

“Ah, I like you, Taehyunnie.” Other Jisung slowly lowered himself to the ground, sitting in a cross-legged position with his hands resting on the surface behind him, palms flat on the ground as he leaned back. “Very well, I suppose I can waste away some time answering whatever questions you have.”

Silence fell upon them at once, not because of fear, but because they weren’t quite sure where to start. They weren’t sure if they could trust Other Jisung, nor were they confident about sharing whatever they’ve been through, just in case it would cause them their loss and Other Jisung his victory.

“Can we trust what he said about keeping our distance?”, whispered Yeonjun.

Taehyun nodded, “Better safe than sorry.”

“What do you do?”

Suddenly, the atmosphere had changed. It was Jisung who voiced out the question, and it was far from expectation. Why Jisung would suddenly be so confident and seemingly over all that he had been through, the others did not know. Still, they noticed the stern look in his eyes, and they wondered if Jisung was unexpectedly calm and collected because of the subtle hope of there existing an Other Minho.

“I’ve got immense agility, so you either catch them or run away, and I decided to catch them instead.” Other Jisung paused to pull out a badge from his pocket. “I’m a police officer.”

At that, Jisung let out a low chuckle, muttering to himself, “Of course, a ing police officer.”

“What do you have against police officers?”

“Not all of them, and certainly not you, not yet, but I’ve had my experiences.”

“If you’ve committed a crime, then it’s no surprise that-”

“Oh, so many crimes. They called me slurs as I sinned, as I walked down the street, and one attempted to assault me when I didn’t give them no response. Fun times, really.”

The silence returned as the others looked at Jisung with concerned eyes. They were aware of his harsh encounter with some police officers, but they had no idea that he was subjected to assault. They never knew it went that far, at least some of them didn’t. However, they could understand why Jisung hadn’t mentioned it three years ago. After all, the team were never close friends from the very beginning and wouldn’t have ever gotten close if it weren’t for the tragic incident.

“Why do your friends look shocked?” Other Jisung made sure to be careful with his words. “Did they not know?”

“I didn’t think it was worth mentioning when we were putting our lives on the line while fighting against some slimes three years ago.”

Finally, Other Jisung showed some sort of reaction. His eyes widened and his body visibly stiffened, “Three years…”

His voice was quiet, but it was heard by the others, nonetheless. He then put his badge back in his pocket, choosing to play with his shoelaces instead. He added, “Well, I suppose I can start explaining everything now. We’re running out of time.”

The rest of the people only held on to that sentence, wondering what it meant. Eventually, they all settled down, some on their knees, some crouched, some on their backs, some cross-legged, and some sprawled out.

“To make things simple, there are other worlds. You’ve got your own world, and I’ve got mine, and there’s two more above my world, at least two that we’re aware of. Just above your world is mine, no particular name but a world very similar indeed, and above my world is the Higher Realm.”

“Higher Realm?”, repeated Yuqi.

“Yes, mainly because there resides a being with enormous strength and power. A giantess who rules over the Higher Realm and controls the pathways and platforms that give access to other worlds. You humans can only go so far as to reach the edge of my world, and the people of my world can only go so far as to reach the edge of earth and the Higher Realm, each on opposite ends. The giantess, however, can go across all worlds but sequentially. She has a world above hers, known to be the strongest world of all. She’s banned from entering that world though.”

Perhaps it was the exhaustion or the sheer frustration at being somewhat forced to sit and listen, unable to cross the imaginary line to keep their distance, but whatever it was, the team was restless. It was Beomgyu who spoke up, “Where are you getting with this? What’s the point?”

Other Jisung was not at all bothered by the sharp tone used towards him, so he continued, “The inhabitants of the highest world granted the giantess an incredible array of powers, and they also assigned her the task of controlling access between worlds and creating gates and platforms. She was grateful, and she kept the balance for centuries, alongside some other cruel tasks. She used her powers to control the other giants that lived in her world, and she realised that she was abusing her status. She killed all the other giants and that itself was slowly killing her.”

“So, there’s no one else in the Higher Realm now? Except for the giantess?” Felix seemed oddly intrigued by the story – true or not.

“Yes, just her, all alone.” Other Jisung briefly glanced at his wristwatch, before turning his attention back to the several pairs of eyes that stared at him with anticipation. “She was dying