#114
“Hah…”
As soon as he saw his face, Yoon Pa-ran felt all his energy drain away.
All tension dissipated to an absurd degree.
“…Dan Joo-hyuk.”
Yoon Pa-ran let out a hollow laugh as he called his name. The body leaning against the rock lost even more strength.
For some reason, Dan Joo-hyuk’s hair was unusually disheveled. His usually smiling face was uncharacteristically tense.
Although Yoon Pa-ran thought this was strange, he considered it rather fortunate. After seeing such chilling faces earlier, Dan Joo-hyuk’s stiff expression felt more human in comparison.
He slowly walked towards Yoon Pa-ran.
His gaze never left Yoon Pa-ran. Dan Joo-hyuk’s eyes scanned Yoon Pa-ran’s entire body, almost obsessively.
Meeting those piercing eyes in the mountains made Yoon Pa-ran feel like he was facing a wild animal. He felt he should be tense, but the tension that had dissipated earlier was nowhere to be found.
So Yoon Pa-ran just silently watched as Dan Joo-hyuk approached until he was right in front of him.
“…”
“…”
For some reason, he just stood there looking down at Yoon Pa-ran for a while. There was a strange air about him, as if he had something to say but couldn’t.
This too was unlike Dan Joo-hyuk. He usually irritated Yoon Pa-ran by not holding back even words that should be held back.
By the way, how did he know where to find him?
Thanks to him, Yoon Pa-ran was alive, but it was puzzling.
“I heard Kim Tae-jun was here.”
The words that finally came out were unexpected.
From the tone that suggested he had been watching the entire situation, Yoon Pa-ran could infer a lot.
“Did you put someone to watch me?”
“…”
“I guess it’s true…”
Dan Joo-hyuk didn’t answer the words Yoon Pa-ran blurted out on a whim.
Surveillance, huh. It was somewhat typical of Dan Joo-hyuk, but Yoon Pa-ran couldn’t help feeling a bit dejected.
It seemed a bit excessive to consider it merely contractual protection. Well, more accurately, it was probably closer to wanting to control Yoon Pa-ran’s actions.
Anyway, thanks to that, he survived today.
“Don’t monitor people without permission.”
At these lightly chiding words, Dan Joo-hyuk averted his gaze for the first time. Yoon Pa-ran curiously observed the profile of his face as he glanced at the broken rocks.
After another moment of silence, Dan Joo-hyuk asked an unexpected question.
“Did you know Kim Tae-jun would be here when you came?”
“I didn’t. …I only just realized that Kim Tae-jun was the one targeting our orphanage.”
Thinking about it, all the information had been ridiculously exposed. It was just that he hadn’t thought to connect the pieces.
Would it have been better if he had known from the start that the name of the congressman who had bought land near the orphanage was Kim Tae-jun?
“Kim Tae-jun at our orphanage… No, never mind.”
Yoon Pa-ran, who had been speaking thoughtlessly, quickly closed his mouth.
Fatigue must have seeped into his brain. He was trying to confirm information from Dan Joo-hyuk without offering anything in return.
“The guy who invested near the orphanage under a false name? Yes, that’s Kim Tae-jun.”
“…I see.”
Dan Joo-hyuk somehow read the question Yoon Pa-ran had tried to swallow and spilled out the information intact.
It seemed he might owe Dan Joo-hyuk his life today, so Yoon Pa-ran felt awkward for doing something unnecessary. The fatigue was now heavily pressing down on his shoulders.
As Yoon Pa-ran lowered his head under that weight, Dan Joo-hyuk took another step closer.
“There’s one thing I’m curious about, Mr. Yoon Pa-ran.”
He slowly knelt on one knee in that spot. The shadow that his large frame had cast over Yoon Pa-ran disappeared downward as well.
When he finally sat down on one knee right in front of Yoon Pa-ran, it felt like his field of vision suddenly cleared. Their gazes met more directly due to their now equal eye level.
In that position, Dan Joo-hyuk asked in a low voice.
“If I had told you not to go meet Kim Tae-jun because he’s dangerous, would you have not gone?”
“…”
It was a sudden question. But the moment he heard it, Yoon Pa-ran’s words strangely caught in his throat.
If he had known exactly who Kim Tae-jun was, if he had known such a person was here.
He probably would have come here to confirm it by any means necessary. Because he would have considered the danger to the orphanage more significant than the danger to himself.
“I see.”
Although Yoon Pa-ran didn’t answer, Dan Joo-hyuk reacted as if he had heard a response.
“Even knowing it’s dangerous, you’d still rush in…”
The low voice strangely tickled Yoon Pa-ran’s skin. Dan Joo-hyuk’s gaze was now roaming all over Yoon Pa-ran’s face, almost hot in its intensity.
In fact, this was tantamount to saying he would ignore Dan Joo-hyuk’s warning. However, for some reason, Dan Joo-hyuk didn’t seem angry.
Rather, he had been acting strangely since earlier.
Dan Joo-hyuk, who monitored him excessively. Dan Joo-hyuk, who asked such questions unnecessarily. Dan Joo-hyuk, who seemed to have rushed here urgently.
As if he had genuinely searched for Yoon Pa-ran.
“Hey.”
Suddenly, Yoon Pa-ran felt very confused. Still, he didn’t avoid Dan Joo-hyuk’s gaze that was crashing into him.
There were so many things he couldn’t understand. Unable to comprehend them with his own mind, Yoon Pa-ran just opened his mouth honestly.
“I get that all your actions are because you have to protect me due to the contract… but if that’s the case, you should clearly tell me what’s dangerous.”
“…Contract.”
“Even today, you just told me not to go without any explanation.”
Dan Joo-hyuk clearly seemed to have known roughly what would happen today as well. Yoon Pa-ran didn’t intend to blame him for that, but it was difficult to express logically.
He didn’t mean to unconditionally ask for information to be shared, but how should he continue?
“Yeah. As you said, I might sometimes act even knowing it’s dangerous. Because I have things I need to protect.”
“…”
“Still, if you give me a warning, I’d think about it one more time.”
Yoon Pa-ran said, weakly rubbing his neck as he lifted his arm that felt as heavy as if it had weights attached.
“…But I’m not good at this kind of thing. To be honest, I often can’t tell if your actions are just on a whim, or if you’re trying to warn me about something.”
Even Dan Joo-hyuk’s behavior today was the same. Yoon Pa-ran knew that he valued the [Sacred Energy] highly, but something seemed excessive. Why did he offer the item to Yoon Pa-ran instead of just telling him not to go?
Also, it seemed that this Kim Tae-jun character wasn’t on good terms with Dan Joo-hyuk either. And unfortunately, Yoon Pa-ran and the orphanage had gotten caught in between.
It was difficult for Yoon Pa-ran to guess all these circumstances. Not unless Dan Joo-hyuk explained them directly.
Perhaps because of Yoon Pa-ran’s clumsy words, Dan Joo-hyuk’s expression became even stiffer than before.
Then he answered, almost like a sigh.
“I suppose so.”
Even as he uttered the response, Dan Joo-hyuk strangely felt as if his words were scraping his lips.
Yoon Pa-ran’s clear gaze was staring at him blankly. The longer that gaze continued, Dan Joo-hyuk felt an odd thirst. As if he had swallowed a bunch of dry leaves while searching for Yoon Pa-ran in this winter mountain.
Yoon Pa-ran had dry leaves clinging all over his body, having rolled who knows how many times in the mountain. Despite the cold weather, his outfit of just a hoodie had been bothering Dan Joo-hyuk for a while now. Even though he knew Yoon Pa-ran wasn’t weak enough to catch a cold from just this.
Over the past few hours, Dan Joo-hyuk had to go through quite a shocking experience.
‘The target hasn’t returned to the one-room apartment. Currently tracking location.’
Yoon Pa-ran, after leaving the house, didn’t head straight to his one-room apartment. When he received the report that Yoon Pa-ran had immediately taken a taxi and moved far away, as if to catch him off guard, Dan Joo-hyuk felt strangely anxious.
It took some time to find his exact whereabouts due to his unexpected behavior. So Dan Joo-hyuk first tried calling Yoon Pa-ran.
—The call couldn’t be connected…
However, the call didn’t go through. While it was possible that Yoon Pa-ran might not answer the phone immediately if he was moving urgently, Dan Joo-hyuk felt an inexplicable uneasiness growing.
Eventually, Dan Joo-hyuk immediately intercepted Yoon Pa-ran’s cell phone signal. This way, the last location where Yoon Pa-ran’s signal was detected was identified.
When he arrived there, what greeted Dan Joo-hyuk was a café that was practically in ruins.
‘…’
Looking around inside, the café appeared to have been abandoned for a long time. Many of the windows were broken, and there wasn’t the slightest sign of life.
The smell of mold, typical of long-abandoned ruins, assaulted Dan Joo-hyuk’s nose.
And beneath that, a faint smell of decaying corpses.
The ominous feeling intensified. As soon as he confirmed that Yoon Pa-ran wasn’t inside, Dan Joo-hyuk immediately came out of the café and examined the traces around.
There were traces on the ground of someone running urgently towards the mountain. This part greatly puzzled Dan Joo-hyuk.
Someone as savvy as Yoon Pa-ran would surely know to head towards the city when escaping from a place like this. Therefore, the footsteps heading towards the mountain without a moment’s hesitation seemed highly irrational.
While he was pondering what could have happened, he received a contact from the surveillance company he had placed around.
‘Congressman Kim Tae-jun’s vehicle left the mountain through the road connected to that location.’
An unexpected person had been nearby. Moreover, the whereabouts of Park Jung-hoon, who had called Yoon Pa-ran out, were still unknown.
So Dan Joo-hyuk thought reflexively.
Could it be that Yoon Pa-ran knew Kim Tae-jun would be here?
‘Confirm if it’s really Kim Tae-jun getting out of the vehicle when you reach the destination. Also check if there are any companions.’
‘Yes.’
It had been quite a while since Kim Tae-jun had been causing annoying trouble around Dan Joo-hyuk. Until now, Dan Joo-hyuk had only found this fact irritating.
However, when he considered the possibility that Yoon Pa-ran might have gotten caught up in Kim Tae-jun’s schemes… he felt extremely unpleasant.
‘…’
For a moment, it felt as if the ground beneath his feet had turned into burning firewood. It wouldn’t have mattered even if it was real. Such fire couldn’t harm him anyway.
However, it suddenly struck him that the information he had given to Yoon Pa-ran so far had been at a controlled level. Of course, it wasn’t just with Yoon Pa-ran. It was simply Dan Joo-hyuk’s habit in dealing with all humans.
Then, had Yoon Pa-ran been properly wary of Kim Tae-jun?
As his thoughts reached this point, Dan Joo-hyuk’s legs moved towards the mountain of their own accord.
As if there was no time to think further.