#129
For two days, Dan Joo-hyuk constantly struggled with his patience. He occasionally checked Yoon Pa-ran’s location compulsively and sometimes called him.
However, the calls were never answered.
“…”
Just then, the sharp ring of his phone cut through the silence.
Nevertheless, Dan Joo-hyuk looked at his phone without any expectation. After all, the look in Yoon Pa-ran’s eyes when he said he wanted to end the contract was sincere, without a hint of hesitation.
As expected, it was Heo Sang-yeon calling.
With reluctant movements, Dan Joo-hyuk answered the phone. Right now, he needed something, anything, to distract his mind.
Otherwise, he felt he might act rashly.
“Yes.”
“Hey, it’s me. I called because there’s something I need to confirm. You know those unidentified bodies found at the Gumun-dong anomaly gate…”
“Go on.”
“We received a tip that some of them were people who lived in an orphanage, and it was confirmed today. But while it’s certain they all lived in an orphanage, they don’t have birth registrations.”
“…”
Although he had answered the phone to distract himself, the information flowing in was rather unsettling.
Dan Joo-hyuk furrowed his brow but silently waited for Heo Sang-yeon’s next words.
“Well… It seems like information related to orphanages keeps coming up lately, and it’s been bothering me. So I looked into it a bit…”
Heo Sang-yeon’s words trailed off hesitantly.
Along with this, a strange sense of unease came over Dan Joo-hyuk.
“Hunter Yoon Pa-ran, is he really someone we can trust?”
“What do you mean?”
“Sigh… After discovering that these civilians didn’t have birth registrations, we thoroughly investigated the orphanages that Congressman Kim Tae-jun was interested in. We found that in most of them, there was a significant difference between the number of children actually living there and the number of registered children.”
“And?”
“…It seems that Yoon Pa-ran’s orphanage might be among those managed by Congressman Kim.”
“…”
Dan Joo-hyuk, who had been listening silently, suddenly frowned. He sensed a slight discrepancy in Heo Sang-yeon’s words.
The information he was providing showed subtle differences from what Dan Joo-hyuk had collected. If he had looked deeper, he should have been able to find out that Yoon Pa-ran had no connection to someone like Kim Tae-jun.
That’s why Dan Joo-hyuk found Heo Sang-yeon’s attitude a bit strange.
He had apologized before for suspecting Yoon Pa-ran. In this situation, was he doubting Yoon Pa-ran again with just this level of certainty?
It wasn’t like the usually cautious Heo Sang-yeon. Dan Joo-hyuk narrowed his eyes and wrapped up the call appropriately.
“Just send me the data for now.”
Even after the call ended, he felt strangely unsettled.
It was unclear whether this was due to Heo Sang-yeon’s uncharacteristic rashness or because of Yoon Pa-ran.
“…”
In any case, it was clear he couldn’t hold back anymore. His patience, which had been precariously swollen like water held by surface tension, finally burst and spilled over.
With that, Dan Joo-hyuk went to find Yoon Pa-ran. To that damn orphanage where he had been holed up without moving for the past two days.
The more he thought about it, the more ridiculous Heo Sang-yeon’s suspicion seemed. As he was sneering at this, Dan Joo-hyuk suddenly fell into deep thought.
It was nonsense that Yoon Pa-ran had any connection to someone like Kim Tae-jun. But what about the others surrounding Yoon Pa-ran?
Especially the director of the Yoonseul Orphanage seemed suspicious. He wondered if she had been deceiving Yoon Pa-ran all this time.
Dan Joo-hyuk knew that although Yoon Pa-ran seemed to be on guard against everyone, he was actually quite soft-hearted inside. That’s why he probably left the attacker who had left traces of his skill alive instead of properly killing them.
The more he thought about it, the more plausible this hypothesis seemed. The information Heo Sang-yeon had obtained might actually be about Yoon Seul, not Yoon Pa-ran.
Lim Hyun-sung’s first visit to negotiate with the orphanage happened when Yoon Pa-ran was absent. The time when he went berserk and attacked the orphanage was also when Yoon Pa-ran was at the gate. If Yoon Pa-ran hadn’t set up security, wouldn’t everything have gone according to Yoon Seul’s wishes, whatever they were?
Since they weren’t real family, she could betray Yoon Pa-ran at any time.
After coming to this conclusion, a sense of urgency came over him. As he quickly drove to Yoon Pa-ran, Dan Joo-hyuk immediately made a call.
“The number you have dialed is not available…”
As it had been for the past two days, the call didn’t connect.
And just like every time before, a status window popped up.
[Blessing Contract]
Confirmed the denial of the contract partner.
Do you want to execute the penalty?
“…”
When Dan Joo-hyuk first saw this status window, he finally realized.
That Yoon Pa-ran’s will to end the contract was firm.
There had been many times when he couldn’t contact Yoon Pa-ran since they made the contract. But the contract responded completely differently this time. It was proof that Yoon Pa-ran was deliberately ignoring his calls.
He knew from the testimonies of those who had used the [Blessing Contract] that the penalty execution worked this way. When they made the contract, he had thought this would be one of the ways to control Yoon Pa-ran.
However, actually seeing it with his own eyes was quite unpleasant.
“Dismiss.”
Dan Joo-hyuk closed the status window with a dry voice. He had no intention of actually imposing a rank reduction penalty on Yoon Pa-ran anyway.
Yoon Pa-ran was firm in his decision to end the contract. But Dan Joo-hyuk silently headed to the orphanage.
He had never agreed to end it. So he only had the duty to inform Yoon Pa-ran of the danger that might befall him.
The image of Yoon Pa-ran being betrayed without knowing anything was vivid in his mind.
It didn’t take long to reach the orphanage. He had no intention of going through the main entrance boldly. He would probably just see the same status window as before anyway.
Besides, he needed to talk to Yoon Pa-ran secretly. If there was an enemy in the orphanage, it would be best to discreetly extract Yoon Pa-ran alone.
So Dan Joo-hyuk easily jumped over the wall at a suitable spot. He was able to infiltrate all too easily into the place where Yoon Pa-ran had painstakingly laid out surveillance.
“Wow…”
On the other side of the wall, Dan Joo-hyuk encountered a somewhat dazed-looking kid.
“…”
He had known there was a small presence moving around near where he was going to jump over. However, since this was the easiest way to get inside, he had planned to deal with it appropriately.
Dan Joo-hyuk approached the child while suppressing his presence. He didn’t want to make the child cry and cause a commotion here.
This kid would probably know exactly where Yoon Pa-ran was.
Just as he approached right in front of the child…
The boy, who had been looking up at him with his neck craned all the way back, suddenly greeted him politely.
“Hello, mister.”
He even had his hands neatly folded at his belly button. This was certainly not among the reactions Dan Joo-hyuk had expected from the child.
Looking down at the face that resembled a white rice cake, a memory came to mind. Wasn’t this one of the kids he had seen months ago when he brought the unconscious Yoon Pa-ran to the orphanage? He had handed over a potion and told them to give it to Yoon Pa-ran.
Anyway, this unexpected reaction made him feel somewhat deflated. Letting out a small sigh, Dan Joo-hyuk slowly bent down towards the child.
“Kid, you shouldn’t greet suspicious people who jump over walls like that.”
“But you’re a nice big brother, aren’t you?”
“…”
Once again, he was at a loss for words.
Only then did Dan Joo-hyuk feel a strange sense of déjà vu. The way he kept shutting people up, and those somewhat fragile-looking eyes.
This kid strangely resembled Yoon Pa-ran.
Even though they weren’t blood-related.
“Big brother, let’s play together, I mean, please play with me.”
The child approached Dan Joo-hyuk without a trace of wariness. He even clung to one of Dan Joo-hyuk’s legs, looking quite skilled at whining.
Due to the S-rank curse, children and animals usually became wary of Dan Joo-hyuk no matter how much he suppressed his presence. But this kid in front of him didn’t seem to have even a speck of wariness.
Even that dull sense resembled Yoon Pa-ran.
“What?”
“Hmm…”
Dan Joo-hyuk rubbed his brow awkwardly. He was very flustered by this unfamiliar situation.
First, he needed to win the kid’s favor. With such a low level of wariness, the child would probably quickly tell him where Yoon Pa-ran was holed up.
“Pick me up, please.”
The kid, missing one of his front teeth, now raised both arms. Swayed by this confident attitude, Dan Joo-hyuk reflexively grabbed the child’s torso with both hands.
Of course, he regretted it immediately. Although he was skilled at controlling his strength, he had never had contact with such a small child before.
Having no choice, he slowly lifted the child to eye level as if holding a feather. The dazed, white face was more visible now.
“It’s high!”
“…”
Awkwardly holding the child up, Dan Joo-hyuk just stood stiffly. Even dangling in mid-air, the gap-toothed child smiled brightly.
Should he now throw the child into the air to play with him?
As he was lost in serious contemplation, he sensed someone approaching quickly.
“Min-woong!”
Finally, the voice Dan Joo-hyuk had been looking for was heard.
As he slowly turned around, he saw Yoon Pa-ran looking this way with a pale face.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
