# Chapter 69
As if embarrassed by the words of gratitude, Hajin added unnecessary words uncharacteristically. But Seo Jihan could smile and let him go because of those words.
He turned away in case he might try to hold Hajin back at the last moment.
Hajin ran toward the passage Seo Jihan had mentioned without waiting for a response. Seo Jihan, who had been clinging to the fading sound of footsteps until the very end, finally moved when he could no longer hear anything.
* * *
“Haa, haa.”
Despite his throat feeling parched and painfully dry from his rough breathing, Hajin didn’t stop moving. Though he seemed to have climbed quite far, he could still hear the roar of battle in his ears.
BOOM! CRASH!
“Ugh!”
Hajin staggered at the strong vibration and quickly sat down. Having nearly fallen backward, he caught his breath and stood up again.
There was no time to rest. Not only was escape within reach, but he was also worried that the building might collapse first.
‘Damn it, how much further do I have to climb?’
He carefully peeked up, but he couldn’t see the end. It was amazing that it was even possible to construct a building by digging so deep.
At such a depth, the pressure would be considerable, making the building’s durability impressive, as were the Espers fighting hard enough to make such a building shake.
‘I should have been born an Esper.’
Then he wouldn’t have been struggling so much that he could barely swallow. Of course, the best would have been to be born as neither an Esper nor a Guide, but as an ordinary person.
“Huh, huh!”
Hajin climbed the stairs again in a trance-like state. The sounds of battle had faded into the distance.
‘Just a little more, just like this…!’
The end of what had seemed like an endless staircase started to come into view. Hajin punched his trembling legs to calm them—a result of moving without rest—and stepped onto the stairs again.
“…I had hoped you would stay put.”
Hajin froze like a scene from a drama at the voice that shouldn’t have been heard. His heart, which had seemed to stop for a moment, began beating strongly again.
‘It can’t be…’
The voice should have been unfamiliar, yet his heart reacted intensely. His mind couldn’t comprehend the situation.
“Hajin.”
‘Hajin.’
Hajin’s head slowly turned upward at the sound of his name. The person who had called him was there.
“Father…?”
He could recognize him instantly despite the decades that had passed. Unlike in old photographs, he wasn’t smiling and had developed wrinkles, but he was still recognizable.
“So you recognize me.”
No. It couldn’t be his father. Hajin tried to judge rationally. But contrary to this judgment, his pupils trembled uncontrollably. He couldn’t hide his confusion.
“H-how…? You’re supposed to be d-dead.”
At that moment, the thought flashed through his mind that all of this might be an illusion created by an Esper’s ability. If it were an illusion, his father should have appeared as the young figure preserved in photographs, but in his confusion, Hajin didn’t think of that.
“No, there’s no way you could be alive.”
Having concluded that he might be brainwashed by someone’s ability, Hajin quickly calmed down.
‘Right. This is all an illusion.’
Hajin, who had stopped in shock at the unexpected sight, began moving again and climbed the stairs. However, he couldn’t climb as quickly as before.
‘If Father were alive, would he look like this?’
Hajin unknowingly looked at his father’s face again. Then he shook his head. There should have been more wrinkles.
If alive, he would be approaching sixty, but the illusory father looked young enough to be barely over fifty.
Moreover, the father in his memories was always someone who worried about his son’s well-being and was affectionate. He never looked at him as coldly as now.
Strength gradually returned to his legs. The shock of hearing his father’s voice in a defenseless state had drained his strength, but it was getting better.
Only five stairs remained until he reached where his father’s illusion stood. To go up, he would have to pass by him. Hajin’s steps halted again.
There was no particular reason. Even if it was an illusion created by someone, it was a face he missed, and he wanted to take it in for just a bit longer—just a little bit.
Hajin observed his face very carefully.
‘I do resemble Father after all.’
Since his father was always smiling brightly in photographs, Hajin had never thought he resembled him. But seeing the cool face not smiling, he was surprised to see the resemblance to himself.
“…You should at least smile. Even for an illusion, isn’t this too stiff?”
Having discovered that he did resemble his father, Hajin muttered to himself, dissatisfied that the face he was seeing after so long remained expressionless.
After all, it was just an illusion, and no one was around, so there was no need to be embarrassed about talking to himself.
“Illusion? That’s a foolish thing to say for my son.”
When the response came as Hajin had three steps left, he raised his head in surprise. He was so startled that his exhausted body nearly fell backward from the recoil.
“…!”
Just as he was about to fall without even a scream—
“And so weak.”
Hajin’s father, Lee Hoseung, who came down the three steps effortlessly, caught Hajin. Despite nearly tumbling down the high staircase, Hajin’s gaze remained fixed on the hand that had caught him.
‘Is it real…?’
Along with the strong grip holding him through his shirt, he could clearly feel warmth. Hajin was still confused. If it wasn’t an illusion, it meant that his father was truly alive and standing before him…
‘No… It can’t be real.’
Hajin tried to think rationally while calming his pounding heart. The voice had been similar enough to the father in his memories to startle him momentarily, but it must all be fake.
‘Could Seo Jihan’s ability have been illusions? Pretending to let me go while actually deceiving me like this…?’
Having concluded that the figure before him was an illusion, Hajin ignored his father, who continued to stare at him, and sought a way to escape from the ability.
‘Maybe if I bash my head against the wall…’
Lee Hoseung sighed as Hajin, who had been looking around while ignoring his existence, stared fixedly at one wall.
“You don’t believe me.”
Then he uttered those words.
“Don’t let anyone know you’re a Guide. You must live an ordinary life.”
Though he could avert his gaze, he couldn’t avoid hearing unless he blocked his ears. Hajin took a deep breath.
“That…”
Those were the words his father had spoken when he discovered Hajin was a Guide while still alive. Words that would shape the direction of Hajin’s life.
He had never told anyone. There was no particular reason to keep it secret, but no need to mention it either.
But how could those words come from an illusion? Hajin was confused.
‘Is it real…?’
Hajin steadied his wavering heart. Perhaps his memories had been searched. Without definitive proof, he couldn’t believe it.
“…There’s a part of my body that resembles you, Father.”
Lee Hoseung answered calmly despite the direct question.
“You mean the mole on the left side of your fourth toe?”
Hajin’s eyes trembled upon hearing the answer. He couldn’t deny it anymore. The warmth of the hand holding his, the voice that remained only in his hazy memories—everything was real.
“Why, why are you here…”
Yet he felt neither joy nor affection. Instead, Hajin instinctively stepped back but couldn’t break free because his wrist was held.
Anywhere else might have been different, but this place was the base of an anti-government faction. No matter how he thought about it, he could only conclude that Lee Hoseung belonged to the anti-government group.
Lee Hoseung smiled dryly as he watched Hajin grow more wary despite recognizing him.
“You immediately assume I’m your enemy. Don’t you think I could be a government member who had to conceal my identity for some reason?”
Hajin, who had consistently shown a dumbfounded expression since meeting Lee Hoseung, frowned for the first time.
“You must think I’m a complete fool. If that were the case, you should have revealed yourself when I became part of the government.”
“I might have had a mission I couldn’t tell even you about.”
Hajin snapped at Lee Hoseung, who was spouting nonsense to the end.
“I don’t know how difficult that mission was, but I doubt it’s more impressive than being an immeasurable-rank Guide.”
Lee Hoseung’s eyes lowered. There was a momentary change that seemed like sadness, but it disappeared before Hajin could notice.
“I expected an S-rank to emerge, but I didn’t know you would far surpass it.”
“It would be nothing for me to put you to sleep right now, so let me go. And step aside.”
Despite the series of startling events, Hajin decided to focus on one thing: Lee Hoseung was part of the anti-government faction. Therefore, if necessary, he would put him to sleep and escape from this place.
In response to Hajin’s threat, Lee Hoseung spoke as if saddened.
“Threatening your father whom you’ve met after so long—how heartbreaking.”
Yet as he said this, Lee Hoseung’s face remained smooth, without even furrowing his brow. Hajin tried hard to suppress his wavering emotions. If he couldn’t suppress them, it was better to ignore them.
“Let go of me now.”
It was shocking to learn that his father, whom he thought was dead, was alive. But this father had been aware of his kidnapping and condoned it.
Would he really have been unaware? If he could act independently even in this commotion, he must have had a prominent position, and such a person couldn’t have missed news about him.
‘Perhaps…’
Hajin tried to ignore the thought that emerged without restraint. But just as one naturally thinks of an elephant when told to think of one, he couldn’t stop the thought that had already surfaced.
Perhaps Lee Hoseung had ordered Lee Hajin’s kidnapping.
Having reached this stage of thought, Hajin closed his eyes tightly, even knowing it wasn’t the time for that. He desperately hoped it wasn’t true.
Even though the years he had lived without his father far exceeded those they had spent together, his father had had a profound influence on Hajin’s life.
Hajin prayed that he wasn’t nothing to his father.
“I won’t warn you again. Let me go.”
He spoke more coldly, deliberately, to hide his inner feelings. But Lee Hoseung didn’t release Hajin’s hand. Instead, he pulled him closer to himself.
Hajin tensed to resist being pulled, but Lee Hoseung was also an Esper. No matter his age, he wasn’t weak enough to lose to Lee Hajin.
“Stay here. This is the last chance I’m giving you as my son.”
Lee Hoseung whispered softly as if sharing a secret. But Hajin struggled to break free from him, as if there was nothing more to hear.
“Talk sense. Is that all you have to say? What will you do if I don’t stay? Break my legs to prevent me from escaping?”
Hajin unleashed his uncontrolled emotions wildly. He hadn’t been this sensitive even during puberty, but the accumulated stress and the series of shocking situations had made him this way.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
