Chapter 37
“Who is this guy?”
The question, along with glares as sharp as the hunting rifle, pressured me. There was even a faint sound of teeth grinding, indicating the atmosphere wasn’t good at all. Was it like this when I first arrived? I clicked my tongue inwardly. Probably not. The people who brought me were Han Jong-wook and Son Byung-chul, and they were members of the village.
“Well…”
I hesitated for a moment. Not because I was worried about the gun barrels pointed at my body, but because I didn’t know how to begin. I really didn’t want to introduce Kim Doyun to these people. But I couldn’t not introduce him either. With them being so wary, if I didn’t speak, it would be like deliberately turning my already rough situation into a perfect target. But I didn’t want to explain everything to them in detail.
“Someone I know…”
I chose words vaguely, and then I felt Kim Doyun’s presence behind me. When I turned my head slightly, I saw him blinking up at me. His long eyelashes fluttered following his eyelids. Moreover, his eyes looked unusually moist… I felt my heart skip a beat. Moist? Was I imagining it? It must be my imagination.
“Why, why are you looking at me like that?”
Could it be because I said he was someone I knew? Seeing me glancing at him, Kim Doyun spread a smile across his face.
“What’s with these bastards?”
But even that brief moment was intolerable for the men. They crumpled their mouths so much that wrinkles formed on their cheeks and raised their eyes fiercely. They approached with nostrils flaring, looking ready for a fight. Kim Doyun erased his smile and looked at them with a calm face, and I swallowed my uncomfortable feelings and opened my mouth.
“He’s my friend.”
“Friend?”
The men who had been irritated stopped in their tracks. I could feel Kim Doyun’s gaze fixed on me, but I ignored it. I chewed over the word that just wouldn’t stick to my tongue two or three times. Later, I thought of other excuses like close hyung, neighbor, and so on, but I couldn’t take back what I’d already said.
“…Hello.”
Kim Doyun stood up and greeted them. Due to his tall height, the men’s gazes that had been on me moved slightly upward.
“…Friend, you say?”
The man standing at the front looked at both of us with a face that seemed to say “how pathetic.” His eyes were full of suspicion, and especially when looking at me, dissatisfaction flickered. Not just him, but all the gathered men behaved like people trying to find fault in some way.
“Yes.”
Kim Doyun answered softly in an exceptionally polite tone, then put his arm around my waist. And then he pulled me forcefully toward himself. This caused my feet to cross and my body to stagger. Thanks to the arm wrapped around my waist, I didn’t fall, but… I glared at Kim Doyun who was so close. Despite my merciless eye signals telling him to let go and move away, he acted as if he knew nothing.
Inevitably, I tried to free myself from his arm, but… I couldn’t even detach a single finger. Strength, this monstrous strength was the problem. I grumbled curses inwardly.
What on earth was wrong with this person? Thanks to previous events, I had expected that Kim Doyun was kind but not a gentle type. But he hadn’t been this forward before. I wondered if he had eaten something wrong during our time apart? Maybe his personality changed after a major incident?
The men’s expressions crumpled as much as my frowning face. After alternately looking at me struggling with strength and the composed Kim Doyun as if we were crazy, the men whispered among themselves.
“What are you doing not coming back!”
Just then, someone shouted. The men raised their heads startled. The owner of the voice that appeared suddenly approached with a swagger. A stocky man with half-white hair despite his short stature, Son Byung-chul clicked his tongue with his hands behind his back.
“You mindless bastards.”
Slap!
Son Byung-chul struck the face of the man standing at the front. He hit him so hard that the man stepped back. The rest of the men tightly closed their eyes and mouths. The atmosphere sank coldly.
“You don’t even notice the clouds. If you guys who only think about giggling die like this, you have nothing to say, right? Right?”
“We’re sorry.”
The men cowered like beaten dogs. The way they bowed apologetically was quite a contrast to how they had treated us. Son Byung-chul, who had been looking at them with displeasure, turned his body abruptly.
“…But who do we have here? It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?”
My eyes met Son Byung-chul’s. His protruding cheekbones and unusually large whites of the eyes stood out. Son Byung-chul spoke with snake-like eyes narrowed, but I didn’t answer.
What does he mean by “it’s been a long time”? I had seen him standing in front of the bonfire looking at me. Seeing me ignoring him, Son Byung-chul spat a couple of times as if his mouth was dry and scratched his nose.
“I’m sorry. If I brought a sick person, I should have taken care of them until the end, but I was too distracted to do so.”
He approached with large strides but stopped and raised his head. He seemed to be looking at Kim Doyun.
“But in the time I haven’t seen you, you’ve grown a tail? Who is this? A face I haven’t seen before.”
Son Byung-chul turned his body again to look at the men gathered closely.
“There’s no way there’s someone in the village I don’t know. Which damn bastard brought him without reporting? Huh?”
The men trembled each time his gaze landed on them. Each of them waved their hands and jumped up with innocent faces, as if to say it wasn’t them, then pointed fingers at me like seven-year-old children. It looked like they would fit perfectly with words like “He did it!”
Son Byung-chul’s eyes followed Kim Doyun’s arm down. And then he stared for a long time at his arm wrapped around my waist and my hands entangled trying to remove it. The moment his gaze touched, I quickly released my hands, but his gaze fixed on my waist didn’t return. Son Byung-chul, who was stroking his beard and deeply pondering, clapped his hands.
“Could it be the person waiting on the tree?”
Son Byung-chul grinned, showing his teeth. His murky laugh had a metallic sound mixed in, making it unpleasant to hear. I frowned, but the man’s laugh continued for quite a while.
“Is it really that person?”
Son Byung-chul looked at me. This time, eyes waiting for an answer sparkled uncomfortably. Even though I lowered my head to avoid his gaze, he seemed to have found the answer in my actions.
“This is truly surprising. A person I thought was dead has come back. And how did you know the location here…”
Son Byung-chul began to circle around us.
“Even when I saw what was gathered on the tree, I thought it was quite usable, but to find a person in this place? Is your ability better than I thought?”
Son Byung-chul had a pleased expression. No, is it really a pleased expression? I noticed that his jaw was tensed. A pleased person wouldn’t clench their teeth like that. I felt anxiety slowly rising. Son Byung-chul stood in front of Kim Doyun and smiled widely, showing his gums.
“I’m Son Byung-chul.”
Kim Doyun stared down at the hand extended toward him. Son Byung-chul wiggled his hand, urging a greeting. But Kim Doyun looked at me without responding to his greeting. Though there were no words, it was clear he was asking what to do.
I bit my lip. Though I desperately wanted to stop him, I feared the consequences of rejecting him here. This was because behind Son Byung-chul, men were watching while fidgeting with their hunting rifles. Moreover, not just the men, but village people had started gathering, one by one, as if they had come to watch.
Instead of answering, I blinked my eyes, and Kim Doyun nodded lightly and then grasped his hand.
“I’m Kim Doyun.”
“Well, what an embarrassingly affectionate relationship?”
Son Byung-chul, who had noticed our eye signals, shook his shoulders with displeasure. Then he said something to the men. In that gap, I grabbed Kim Doyun’s arm and whispered.
“Be careful.”
“Pardon?”
“I don’t know what they’re thinking, but the people here… they don’t value human life.”
Kim Doyun looked at me blankly. The flame that had barely survived, despite all the firewood having burned, caressed Kim Doyun’s face. Using the faint light as a shadow, Kim Doyun whispered in my ear.
“It’s okay. Trust me.”
“……”
“I won’t be taken down easily. I can protect you too, Seongho-ssi.”
Whether it was because of the flame, or because I gained faith in his words, the area around my chest warmed up. But given the situation, it was too embarrassing. I couldn’t bear it and rubbed my chest vigorously with my hand.
“Well, I’m not a child, so you don’t need to protect me…”
“Don’t you like it?”
“It’s not that I don’t like it… but it feels a bit embarrassing and burdensome.”
I shrank my neck like a turtle. After clearing my throat a couple of times, I realized my waist was still being held. When I patted his arm repeatedly asking him to let go, he instead tightened his grip. A hint of mischief could be seen in Kim Doyun’s smiling face. I was about to burst out in anger but then looked around. This was because I could see the number of people gradually increasing. Sure enough, Son Byung-chul was welcoming a new figure. A man with shaggy hair and a missing canine tooth, Han Jong-wook.
I struggled greatly and pulled on Kim Doyun’s hand. Even though I pulled so hard that red hand marks appeared, he didn’t even flinch. After watching me struggle for a while, Kim Doyun finally let go.
After adjusting my clothes, I stepped back a couple of paces from Kim Doyun. I didn’t want to give Han Jong-wook any reason to pick on me. The situation was already troublesome enough with just Son Byung-chul; I didn’t want to add Han Jong-wook to the mix.
Han Jong-wook frowned when he saw us. And then he whispered something in Son Byung-chul’s ear. Son Byung-chul’s face, which had been pleased after seeing Kim Doyun, gradually distorted after the whisper. He spat as if he had heard something disgusting, then approached us. Han Jong-wook tried to follow, but Son Byung-chul raised his hand to stop him.
“I suddenly have a place to go.”
I stared at him blankly. For someone who became displeased after hearing a whisper to suddenly have a place to go, I couldn’t figure out his scheme. I hoped he wasn’t acting this way toward me after hearing Han Jong-wook’s story about the scar.
“It’s not a dangerous place. That person just wants to see you for a moment.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
