#112
He hadn’t thought it was strange from the beginning. When he saw the two of them, his awkward behavior, saying only what he had to say and disappearing as if fleeing – he had just thought it was all because he was a shy child. Even last night during dinner when he asked Do-hyeok if he was a hunter, he had thought he was no different from any other kids who were interested in hunters.
He started thinking it was strange after finishing breakfast this morning. The grandmother was organizing the kitchen and moving heavy luggage, so Ha-seong brought Do-hyeok along and rolled up his sleeves to help. While moving and organizing luggage, Ha-seong suddenly felt the need to use the bathroom, and it was when he was leaving the dining room to use the bathroom in their room.
“Huh?”
The door that should have been empty opened and Min-woo carefully revealed himself. With the expression characteristic of someone hiding something clearly displayed, Min-woo immediately came out of the room and ran to the back.
As soon as he saw that, the things he had thought could be explained by shyness or being a young boy who admired hunters began to look different one by one.
Come to think of it, when they first came to this guesthouse, hadn’t Min-woo been startled when he saw Ha-seong and Do-hyeok, as if he was seeing someone he had already met? He had thought it was because he had seen Do-hyeok on TV, but what if that wasn’t the case?
Ha-seong suddenly remembered feeling someone’s presence while looking around Baek Sa-jin’s house. It was highly likely that whoever had searched Ha-seong and Do-hyeok’s room hadn’t entered just to steal, but to find out something.
“Hey, Cha Do-hyeok. Let’s stop by Baek Sa-jin’s house one more time before we leave.”
So Ha-seong deliberately spoke loudly, raising his volume enough for Min-woo, who would be standing behind them, to hear.
“Why Baek Sa-jin’s house all of a sudden? We couldn’t find much there anyway.”
When Do-hyeok said it would be better to dig around other places instead, Ha-seong lowered his voice completely unlike before.
“There’s something I want to check.”
“Check?”
After that, Ha-seong briefly told Do-hyeok about the strange reaction he had sensed from Min-woo. Do-hyeok, who roughly understood Ha-seong’s intention, agreed to the plan and the two headed to Baek Sa-jin’s house together. If it really had been Min-woo, not just a cat, who had been secretly watching Ha-seong and Do-hyeok from this place yesterday, he might come again after hearing Ha-seong’s deliberately loud voice.
They immediately put their half-gamble plan into action and were right. They could feel someone’s presence and gaze from the crack in the door. Do-hyeok and Ha-seong quickly moved to catch that person’s tail.
“So it was you after all. The one who kept spying on us like that yesterday too.”
Min-woo, who had fallen on his bottom and was sprawled on the ground, looked up at the two with a completely flustered face.
“H-how… I was sure I, I wasn’t visible…”
“This kind of thing is child’s play for hunters.”
Do-hyeok and Ha-seong, who had been in Min-woo’s field of vision as he watched through the door crack, hadn’t disappeared. With amazing agility, they had split to both sides and immediately stuck to the sides of the door to hide. It was to catch the tail of the boy who would panic and reveal himself when he thought the two had disappeared.
“You seem to have known about Baek Sa-jin’s house from before.”
Do-hyeok bent down and gripped Min-woo’s collar tightly, slightly lifting him up.
“What’s your relationship with Baek Sa-jin? What do you know?”
Whether Min-woo was intimidated by Do-hyeok’s cold aura and expression, he squeezed his eyes shut, and his lips were visibly trembling.
“Stop it, Cha Do-hyeok. He’s still just a kid.”
Ha-seong restrained Do-hyeok’s hand and released Min-woo. Min-woo, freed from his grip, quickly took a stance to run away, but Ha-seong spoke first.
“Min-woo. Even if you run away from here, finding you wouldn’t be difficult for us. Don’t worry your grandmother and let’s talk with us.”
Then Min-woo slowly turned his body and looked at the two.
“……What happened to Sa-jin ajeossi?”
Min-woo, who had kept his mouth shut, slowly spoke up. His voice was weak but filled with worry. As expected, Min-woo seemed to know Baek Sa-jin well.
“Ah, ajeossi said that. That all hunters are bad… Is ajeossi captured now?”
He’s been filling the kid’s head with strange ideas too. Do-hyeok let out something close to a sigh. Whether he truly believed those words, something like hostility could be seen in Min-woo’s eyes.
“Let’s go inside and talk first.”
There was a chance that residents might pass by and discover this scene. Since it was a very small neighborhood, if a resident who recognized Min-woo told his grandmother, things could get complicated.
Ha-seong and Do-hyeok brought Min-woo into Baek Sa-jin’s house for now. Fortunately, there was a wooden platform in the yard where all three could sit comfortably.
“Min-woo, how do you know Baek Sa-jin?”
“……”
Min-woo shut his mouth tight again. When Do-hyeok tried to step forward, Ha-seong immediately restrained him.
“It’s not right to keep your mouth shut when things have come to this. I’ll say it again, but I’d prefer not to cause your grandmother any worry.”
Then Min-woo’s eyes shook slightly. Even though he was a high school student, a kid was still a kid, and mentioning his guardian worked quite well. Ha-seong didn’t want to do this either, but he had no choice if he wanted to extract information.
“Sa-jin ajeossi was… my only friend.”
“Friend?”
“I didn’t really like this village where there aren’t many people my age. Enough to wait for the day I’d graduate school, become an adult, and leave the island.”
Min-woo, whose parents had died early and was inevitably left in his grandmother’s care, seemed to have lived here since middle school.
“Grandmother likes to make food and share it with others. Delivering it to houses was my job. That’s how I also came to talk with Sa-jin ajeossi.”
Baek Sa-jin, who exercised in the yard every day, would always just say thank you curtly when Min-woo brought food and then disappear inside. Then one day Min-woo gathered courage and asked if he could teach him to exercise, and that became the opportunity for the two to start talking.
“Ajeossi was blunt and sometimes had a blank expression, but he was a good person. In this neighborhood where there’s no one to talk to, he was the only one who listened to me… and listened to my worries.”
“Then what about what you said earlier? That all hunters are bad.”
“……After we became closer, ajeossi suddenly said that. He asked what I thought about hunters. I’m not an awakened person and don’t particularly admire them, so I just answered casually, but after that ajeossi said that hunter society is all wrong and that I shouldn’t be fooled either… That’s what he said.”
It was obvious. He must have sat down a high school student living on an island who didn’t know how hunter society worked and poured out his inner thoughts without filter. Just as Min-woo was Baek Sa-jin’s only conversation partner when Min-woo was depressed from having no peers, Min-woo must have been Baek Sa-jin’s only one too.
“Not long after saying that, ajeossi suddenly left. Without a word. Then the news I heard was what came out in the news…”
That must have been when he went up to Seoul in earnest to prepare for his crimes.
“Is ajeossi captured in Seoul now?”
“That’s right.”
Do-hyeok, who had been quietly listening from behind, stepped forward.
“He killed two innocent people, so of course he’s captured. And yet you still say that person is a good person? Grandmother would be heartbroken if she heard. Seeing her precious grandson call a murderer a good person.”
At Do-hyeok’s cutting words, Min-woo’s expression rapidly darkened. Ha-seong poked Do-hyeok’s side, telling him to speak more nicely.
“Min-woo, I understand what feelings you have when you say that. He seems to have been good to you. But Baek Sa-jin is definitely not a person who deserves to be called good.”
“……”
“I know your feelings are complicated. But I’m sorry, I have more to ask you. This is really important to us.”
Min-woo looked up with a deeply depressed face.
“From what I hear, it seems Baek Sa-jin didn’t really interact with the village people.”
“Yes. Ajeossi wasn’t very sociable. Most of the residents here are older too…”
“Right. It seems like you were the only one he opened up to. By any chance, did any outsiders ever come to see Baek Sa-jin? People who weren’t residents of this village, I mean.”
At Ha-seong’s question, Min-woo fell deep in thought. Then he soon clapped his hands lightly.
“Ah, come to think of it, there were some.”
Ha-seong and Do-hyeok’s eyes widened instantly. As expected, there was information on this island.
“Really? Have you seen them?”
When Ha-seong asked urgently, Min-woo, slightly flustered, slowly nodded.
“There were about two times. One time was when I was delivering food that grandmother made. I saw someone in a black suit coming out of ajeossi’s house. There’s absolutely no one among the village people who dresses like that. There aren’t many young men either.”
“The face? Did you see it?”
“Um… it was daytime but… I think that person had somewhat long hair. The bangs came down long too, so I couldn’t see well. I was watching from far away too.”
Min-woo stared into space as if recalling that time, trying hard to revive his memory.
“What about the other time?”
Before he knew it, Do-hyeok was also sitting on the platform and asking seriously.
“The other time was when a guesthouse guest gave us a lot of dried persimmons as a gift, so I secretly took a few without grandmother knowing and went to ajeossi’s house. It was evening then, so it was dark, and I was about to knock on ajeossi’s house when that person came out from inside.”
Min-woo said it was the same appearance with the black suit again.
“Wasn’t there anything unusual? Anything is fine. Tell me everything.”
“Ah, come to think of it, there was something a bit strange…”
Min-woo suddenly seemed to hesitate and made a low sound in his throat. When Do-hyeok urged him to speak quickly, Min-woo showed a slightly unconfident expression.
“You won’t think it’s strange if you hear it, right?”
“Of course not.”
Ha-seong reassured Min-woo even more exaggeratedly, saying that would absolutely never happen. Then Min-woo, having made up his mind, slowly opened his mouth.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
