Reminisce | Tower of God

Chapter 12

By the time she’d caught up to her brother, a lighthouse appeared before them, lighting up their path better than their pockets ever could. And the second they neared the floating grey cube, its owner addressed their presence in an all too panicked voice.

“Bam! Elyse! What are you doing here? What about the fishermen? What’s wrong?” The light bearer hastily went on to bombard them with new information about their team’s situation. “It’s chaos everywhere! Hatz got beaten by the ranker, and the spear bearers ran away. And Michelle’s lighthouse went off just a while ago!”

Upon hearing Rachel’s alias ‘Michelle’, her brother rushed forward, no longer caring for the injuries he’d received from Narumada’s attack. Elyse wasted no time chasing after him, sprinting to keep up with him.

The lighthouse also followed after them. “Hey!” its owner called out, somehow sounding even more panic-stricken than before. “Where are you two going?”

“Where did her light go out?” Bam asked breathlessly, not bothering to elaborate.

“In the safety zone!”

Elyse furrowed her brows at that. The safety zone … it was much too far away for comfort. If Rachel was truly in danger, they could only hope she’d be able to hold on until they got there.

As they ran, she couldn’t help but wonder what had happened and when everything had started going wrong for their team as a whole. Obviously, from what she knew, their fisherman fighting against one another and their spear bearers betraying them were two of the biggest turning points for them. But then there was the issue of what exactly the ‘danger’ revolving around Rachel was. 

The more she thought about who could’ve caused Rachel’s lighthouse to go off, the more her mind kept returning to one person in particular, someone who was likely the only one she could’ve possibly found more suspicious than her blonde friend. 

Despite all her worrying, nothing could’ve prepared her for the scene she and her brother walked into as they arrived at the area just outside the safety zone.

Nearly all of Team B was there, with the addition of the seeker of the test, who appeared nothing short of furious. The spear bearers were off to the side, apparently holding three of their teammates hostage. But while none of their lives seemed to be in danger, within the ‘safety zone’ … Rachel’s certainly was. 

She’d been right.

Hoh stood behind Rachel, one hand covering her mouth and the other pressing a knife to her throat. He hadn’t noticed either her or Bam’s presence just yet, and neither had anyone else, but she knew such a minor advantage would mean nothing in the end. After all, with her current control over shinsu, or lack thereof, it was far too risky to try to ‘blast’ through such a situation.

“Mr. Hoh?”

At the sound of her brother’s voice, everyone around them turned to look at him, then her, temporarily stunned into silence.

“What … are you doing?” Bam asked, confusion and anxiousness laced in his tone. “Why—why are you … holding Rachel?”

“Mr. Bam!” Hoh replied shakily, forcing a strained smile. “It … it’s n-nothing!”

Her brother frowned. “Nothing? Then why are you holding Ms. Light?”

“It’s—this is … nothing really—”

The blond wave controller seemed to give up on acting ‘nice’ mid-sentence, gritting his teeth and finally letting his true self show. Even from afar, the crazy look in his eyes was ever so clear.