Chapter 20
Above the Boss’s body that had turned to ash, the fireball that had been crouching slowly raised its head. When Mujin extended his blood-soaked hand, it tilted its head as if sniffing the scent.
“Yes, calm down. It’s me.”
As gentle whispers followed as if knowing everything, the fireball flickered and began to form a human shape again. Smooth shoulders and limbs took their proper form in order, and Geumseum, who had barely regained his appearance, collapsed forward as strength left his body.
“…Huk.”
Mujin caught and supported Geumseum. He took off his blood-soaked outer garment and wrapped it around Geumseum’s body, whose clothes had all burned away. Huiseon Guild members who had approached at some point were looking down at the two.
“That’s not Eunseong, Mujin.”
Though Baek Sangyeon spoke in a heavily sunken voice, Mujin didn’t even pretend to listen.
Geumseum touched the arm of Mujin, who was trying to stand up while holding him. He had tried to grip it tightly, but his fingertips had no strength left to do so. Nevertheless, Mujin noticed. At the questioning look asking if he had something to say, he barely parted his parched lips.
“…Hanyeong, please save Hanyeong.”
That was his limit. His whole body ached as if it had been butchered, and his eyes felt like they would fall out. Geumseum squeezed his eyes shut. Amidst his labored breathing, he could feel Baek Mujin moving.
Perhaps it was because of his careful movements. Strangely, he felt a vague faith that he would help Hanyeong. In Baek Mujin’s arms, Geumseum lost consciousness.
* * *
When he opened his eyes again, he was in an all-white room, on an all-white bed. The marble floor and ceiling were all blindingly white. Geumseum, who had been lying down just blinking, sat up in shock.
“Ah!”
The moment he moved, his whole body felt like it was breaking apart, so he collapsed back down. It was just like when he had opened his eyes in the garbage dump three years ago. And what about his eyes? The bandages had been removed and thrown away somewhere, leaving his face feeling empty as all the light from every direction poured down on him.
The entirely white space was strangely warm, but that made his eyes hurt even more.
‘Originally it was decorated all in black…’
As Geumseum surveyed his surroundings while curled up, he was surprised to find himself feeling a strange familiarity with this unfamiliar space. There was a somehow familiar scent spreading through the air, and because of it, he had the illusion of returning to his own home.
The room was vast enough to be described as enormous, the scenery visible through the windows, the bed placed alone in the center. Everything was definitely something he was seeing for the first time.
But what was this?
Geumseum tilted his head curiously at the iron bars that seemed to divide sections within the room.
“For a prison… this is too nice a room.”
Even though all his memories from three years ago had disappeared, he hadn’t forgotten common sense. He knew that installing iron bars in a bedroom wasn’t ordinary.
‘Is it because the scent is familiar?’
Despite being trapped in this strange space blocked off by iron bars on all sides, he strangely didn’t feel tense. Geumseum closed his aching eyes and buried his nose in the pillow, sniffing.
“…”
Then he remembered Hanyeong. When he came to his senses with a start, the events of the previous night passed through his mind in sequence. When he vividly recalled the part where he killed the Boss, his heart seemed to drop with a thud.
Fortunately, his memory didn’t disappear this time…
Geumseum naturally concluded that transforming into a ‘fireball’ had affected his memory. He wasn’t certain whether he had transformed into a fireball during the crash incident three years ago since he had no memory of it, but his thoughts naturally flowed in that direction.
Geumseum walked toward the iron bars with his eyes closed due to the pain. He grabbed and shook them, but as expected, they didn’t budge at all.
“Excuse me, is anyone there?”
The moment he thought his question sounded rather carefree even as he spoke it aloud, the door burst open as if someone had been waiting, and Mujin entered.
The inside of his eyes hurt as if they’d been stabbed deeply, so even with his eyes closed, he knew it was Baek Mujin. Geumseum bowed his head deeply. It seemed like it might hurt even a little less if he did so. He couldn’t understand why his body reacted first whenever he met this person.
He could feel Mujin’s sharp gaze falling on the top of his head.
“…What about Hanyeong? What happened to him? You did help him, right?”
Though it was clear he could hear, Mujin remained silently unresponsive. He just stared at Geumseum persistently.
“He was near there earlier. He was about this tall… There should have been a child poisoned by spider venom. I definitely asked you to help him.”
“Yoo Eunseong.”
Geumseum, who had been gesturing, flinched and stopped at his call. His shoulders straightened from tension and his head tilted in confusion.
Who is Yoo Eunseong?
As he waited quietly for the next words, Mujin let out a deflated, murky breath.
Then, without giving any answer whatsoever, he turned around and left the room.
“Excuse me?”
Geumseum only straightened his face after the door had completely closed. He poked his head out slightly, trying to sense any presence, but whether he had gone far quickly, he couldn’t feel Baek Mujin’s energy.
‘I wish he’d at least tell me what happened to Hanyeong…’
But somehow, it seemed like he would have saved him.
‘You think a bastard like Baek Mujin would even glance at vermin like you?’
The Boss had said that, but vaguely, he had that feeling.
* * *
The child lying on the treatment room bed looked to be about six or seven years old at most. However, the chart recorded that he was over ten years old.
“How did you know that kid’s name was Hanyeong?”
The doctor in a white coat asked Mujin, who was holding the chart.
“Eunseong…”
Mujin answered absentmindedly, then pressed his lips tightly together.
‘…Hanyeong, please save Hanyeong.’
It was a request made in a moment of crisis, while losing consciousness. When he said the name ‘Hanyeong,’ you could tell he considered him very precious.
With changed silver hair and blue eyes, he was protectively caring for someone he didn’t know in his altered appearance.
While he had forgotten everything.
Thud, Mujin threw Hanyeong’s chart down on the table.
“When will he wake up? I need to hear his statement.”
“Uh…”
At Mujin’s demand, the doctor looked at the monitor with a troubled expression.
“The esophagus damaged by the poison stuck together, cutting off oxygen to the brain for too long. If you look at the CT scan, see this black part here? It means the brain tissue here is all dead. I don’t even know if this kid can wake up. Even if a miracle happens, there’s a high possibility proper conversation will be impossible.”
“…”
“Haesu-ssi did his best to heal him too, but as you know, ordinary people fundamentally have different recovery abilities compared to hunters…”
As the explanation grew long, Mujin waved his hand as if he didn’t want to hear more and turned away.
His head was pounding.
Baek Sangyeon followed Mujin as he left the treatment room. As if he had been waiting, he thrust a tablet forward and said the same thing.
“That’s not Eunseong. Instead of just keeping him in your room, we need to investigate first.”
The tablet Baek Sangyeon thrust forward displayed breaking news about supernatural phenomena that had rapidly increased over the past few days.
[The dead have returned to life.]
[Monsters that lure and devour people by stimulating human wounds have appeared in the city center.]
[Residential areas are no longer safe zones.]
[Intelligent monsters]
The unidentified monsters that had crossed into the human world without any rift phenomena already had several nicknames.
Below the news was a tip hotline number. Looking at the documents Baek Sangyeon was holding, it seemed the Rift Control Agency and guilds were forming an emergency task force together. The situation looked quite urgent, but it wasn’t his concern.
“Changgui… people are really creative.”
How fitting to borrow the name of ghosts that appear in the form of dead family members to bewitch people.
“Since they appeared in residential districts, fear is great. If we have a source, cooperating with the investigation is the right thing to do, Mujin.”
“I’m more curious about how you can be so certain.”
“The Rift Control Agency Director’s daughter was exactly the same, they said. That cold-hearted man was fooled too, Baek Mujin! Think rationally. How could Yoo Eunseong be alive? Unless a miracle happened—”
“So my survival was a miracle, but Eunseong is a monster? Is that what you’re saying?”
When Mujin turned his head away as if the conversation wasn’t worth having, Baek Sangyeon urgently added:
“I don’t know what Do Yeongmyeong babbled to you that made you go there and find that thing—”
“Guild Leader Baek Sangyeon!”
As references to Eunseong as ‘that thing’ and ‘it’ continued, Mujin finally exploded. His voice, soaked in anger, rang loudly through the corridor.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
