Side Story 06
“Set” 2:34 PM
“I’m sorry” 2:35 PM
After sending the message, Yeon Ji-ho sighed when he saw the read receipt appear immediately. Having pushed Set into the closet and sent him to New York, Set must be extremely bewildered right now.
But Yeon Ji-ho didn’t have the energy to explain the entire situation to Set and ask for his understanding. No, the moment he told Set everything, Set wouldn’t move according to Yeon Ji-ho’s plan.
“…Master Ji-ho?”
Yeon Ji-ho turned his head at the quiet voice calling him. Shango was standing there, looking at him as if asking when he would come.
But the background where Shango stood seemed strange. While Yeon Ji-ho was standing in the ordinary living room of his house, Shango was in a field filled with densely blooming yellow flowers.
The two disparate backgrounds were connected by just a single “door.”
Shango gestured to Yeon Ji-ho to come quickly, as Yeon Ji-ho was busy leaving a message for Set. Yeon Ji-ho, who had been contemplating sending another message while clutching his phone, finally stuffed the phone into his pants pocket and had no choice but to follow Shango through the door.
“It’s really… been a long time.”
As soon as Yeon Ji-ho crossed through the bedroom door, the door behind him slammed shut. He glanced back briefly, but the door had already disappeared like smoke.
Nevertheless, Yeon Ji-ho showed no sign of surprise as he took deep breaths repeatedly. Unlike the air filled with Korea’s distinctive smog, the cool breeze and clear nature of this place somewhat improved Yeon Ji-ho’s gloomy mood.
“…It has… been a long time for me too.”
Shango slowly spoke while looking around. In a place where all that could be seen was the distant horizon and yellow flower fields, he seemed quite familiar.
That was because this place was his homeland.
“So where exactly is this?”
“…Not far from the capital, Asterra. Probably… there’s a village if we go this way.”
“Ah, then shall we take a slow walk first?”
Shango, who had worked at a mercenary company and experienced social life, was no longer as taciturn as before. Of course, he still spoke somewhat haltingly and was frustratingly slow compared to ordinary people, but he had improved considerably compared to before.
Yeon Ji-ho took his time exploring Asterra, where he had suddenly arrived with just Shango. Though he came here due to unavoidable circumstances, the natural silence, so different from modern Korea, actually felt welcoming.
“…Is what you said, really true…?”
“About what? Oh, that my ability isn’t being controlled?”
Having spoken in a casual voice, Yeon Ji-ho hesitated for a moment with an “Hmm.” Eventually, he smiled slightly and said:
“Actually, there have been signs all along.”
“Signs…”
“Whenever I wasn’t feeling well, gates would open unintentionally.”
Yeon Ji-ho recalled what had happened. The first problem occurred after Seho was born, when Yeon Ji-ho focused on the pension work and Set concentrated on running his company.
At first, he thought it was just his mistake. While simultaneously managing childcare and the pension, he was incredibly busy. Once, when opening a closet door while cleaning the pension after guests had left:
‘Ah, I need to quickly take these blankets to the laundry room and then go to Seho…’
It was something he had unintentionally muttered while repeatedly thinking about it. But when he opened the closet door, a blue light emanated from it, and soon the laundry room appeared before Yeon Ji-ho’s eyes. The problem was that it had connected directly to the drum washing machine in the laundry room.
At that moment, Yeon Ji-ho realized the danger of his ability. It was an incredible power that could connect directly from far-away New York to Korea, but it was also a tremendous ability that could manifest with just a small mistake on his part. It was fine now since no one was around, but if something like this happened in a crowded place…
From then on, Yeon Ji-ho began to feel tense whenever he opened the door of a closet or any furniture. But he didn’t tell Set about it. Set also seemed busy doing his own work.
The problem occurred recently when Yeon Ji-ho collapsed.
‘Mama, hot, hot, hot.’
‘…Hm? Seho, what’s hot?’
‘Mama!’
It was when Yeon Ji-ho returned to the house to prepare Seho’s lunch after finishing the morning work at the pension. The moment Yeon Ji-ho picked up Seho, the child grabbed Yeon Ji-ho’s cheeks with both hands and kept shouting that it was hot.
At first, Yeon Ji-ho didn’t understand what it meant. Wondering if the child had gotten burned somewhere while playing alone, he checked everywhere, but Seho showed no signs of injury.
Then Seho’s chubby hand brushed against Yeon Ji-ho’s forehead. Yeon Ji-ho was startled by the hand that felt chillingly cold.
But it turned out that the child’s hand wasn’t cold. It was his forehead that was as hot as a fireball.
‘Oh…’
‘Mama, hot, okay? Okay?’
After briefly putting down Seho, Yeon Ji-ho raised the back of his hand to touch his forehead. It was strangely hot. So hot that he wondered how he hadn’t noticed until now.
What was even stranger was that his physical condition, which had been fine until then, began to deteriorate rapidly after he detected his own temperature. His legs suddenly weakened, and he staggered, barely managing to hold onto the sofa armrest to stay standing.
Nevertheless, Yeon Ji-ho reassured Seho, who was looking at him with worried eyes while jumping up and down.
‘Seho, Mama is fine.’
‘Really…?’
Yeon Ji-ho nodded emphatically to answer. Then he quietly picked up his cell phone. The first thing he displayed was Set’s contact at the very top of his phonebook.
But for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to make the call. Recently, Set had told Yeon Ji-ho that a new investment he started with Apophis was going well, and mentioned in passing that he was very busy because of it. It was also around lunchtime now, when he would be in meetings.
After hesitating, Yeon Ji-ho carefully bent his knees to match Seho’s eye level and asked the child:
‘But our Seho, don’t you want to see Uncle Is?’
‘I like Uncle!’
Of course, Seho liked Yeon Ji-ho the most, but the sociable child liked all the Gorgon Knights. Among them, the closest was naturally Isquis, whom he saw every day.
After giving Seho a brief smile, Yeon Ji-ho immediately called Isquis’s cell phone. Checking the time, it was also Isquis’s lunch hour.
‘Um, Isquis…’
Despite Yeon Ji-ho’s careful approach, Isquis left school early and rushed home. And upon seeing Yeon Ji-ho holding Seho, he shouted with a shocked face:
‘Master Ji-ho, your face is…!’
‘What? What’s wrong with my face?’
‘You’re as pale as a sheet! Hospital, let’s get you to a hospital… No, I should call 119 instead.’
Isquis took Seho from Yeon Ji-ho’s arms as if snatching him away. Seeing that he was about to call 119, Yeon Ji-ho tried to stop him, saying there was no need for that.
But the moment he faced Isquis, Yeon Ji-ho’s body seemed to have relaxed before he could even realize it. Yeon Ji-ho collapsed to the floor with his hand still extended toward Isquis. Isquis’s terrified scream was the last sound he heard before falling.
Two hours later, Yeon Ji-ho opened his eyes in the emergency room of a nearby hospital. Since neither Isquis nor Seho were visible near the hospital bed, Yeon Ji-ho got up from the bed unsteadily with a worried face.
Having collapsed so suddenly, how shocked must Isquis and Seho have been? He intended to comfort them.
But after staggering up from the hospital bed, Yeon Ji-ho only managed a few steps before his legs gave out, and he sat down on the floor. His physical condition was much worse than he had thought.
‘Haah…’
His throat had become so dry that even making a sound was difficult. Finally, resigned to his body’s refusal to move, Yeon Ji-ho gave up on finding Seho and Isquis. At that moment, there was only one person he wanted to see.
‘Set…’
He should have called him. If he had, he could have seen him by now.
With a blank expression, Yeon Ji-ho had been lost in thought, but soon shook his head and managed to get up again. As he took a step forward and unknowingly entered the nearest bathroom:
‘…?’
He had clearly entered the bathroom, but the place he arrived at wasn’t a bathroom.
‘Rosalyn! I’ll leave the documents here!’
‘Damn it, I’m dying of busyness, and someone’s blocking the way with a chair here?!’
‘Max! What did you just say? Do you think others aren’t busy?! Stop being so irritable!’
It was Set’s company. A place as busy as a battlefield.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
