Chapter 46
“……”
Do Yeongmyeong, whose head had turned, finally seemed at a loss for words. His expression was fierce as he touched his torn lips, but perhaps due to shock, he couldn’t immediately respond to Eunseong.
Leaving him behind, Eunseong returned and took Mujin’s hand.
“Team Leader told me to do this. Let’s go, we’ll eat at home.”
This time, Eunseong pulled Mujin along. The firmly grasped hand was full of confidence, and his voice had no tremor. He stretched one hand forward, feeling his way while striding ahead. Mujin couldn’t make any response and just obediently followed where Eunseong led.
Eunseong unhesitatingly left the area where the restaurant was located and continued walking as if he could clearly see the path where purple wisteria flowers hung down like rain. From behind, Eunseong’s gait seemed both angry and like he was running away.
Then, Mujin noticed through their tightly clasped hands that Eunseong was trembling. When he grabbed his shoulder and turned him around, he was panting as if he had sprinted at full speed for a while.
“Oh no, Eunseong.”
“Go, hurry, home… huk, heok…”
Though it was all covered by security glasses, it was vivid what kind of eyes he must have. His flushed cheeks were drenched with sweat and his lips, unable to control his breathing, were moist. Mujin hurriedly pulled Eunseong close. He wrapped his hand around the back of his neck and covered his nose and mouth with his other hand to control his breathing.
“Let’s breathe slowly.”
He embraced Eunseong’s shoulders painfully tight.
“Come here, calm down… it’ll be okay.”
“Urk… huk, heok…”
He had once watched Joo Hyeonwoo do this from a distance. Mujin clumsily imitated him. He squeezed Eunseong’s entire body to suppress his anxiety and checked his face.
As he felt the hot breath scattering like it was wetting his palm, suddenly the image of Eunseong from the past came to mind. Looking at his flushed cheeks, Yoo Eunseong didn’t seem to have grown even an inch from then to now, but he didn’t know why the surroundings had become such a mess.
Mujin had participated in rift subjugation since he was about 10 years old.
Perhaps because of the power he was born with, his physical growth was also fast, so his build wasn’t typical for his age. Therefore, no one stopped Baek Sangyeon. He was someone who dreamed of the revival of the declining Baek family. There couldn’t have been anyone who could stop him.
After returning from rifts, Hwanghwa would rampage. The more his core grew, the harder it became to suppress the heat. The only method available was to lie quietly and wait for the storm to pass.
At such times, fever and chills would repeatedly assault his body. Even someone trying to nurse him would only torment him, so Mujin would lie alone in a large room, struggling to control Hwanghwa.
That day was the same. Mujin’s room was filled with the heat he emitted and his labored breathing. But then Eunseong quietly approached. Mujin felt sweat flowing down his cheeks as he squeezed his eyes shut.
‘Mujin, are you hot?’
Mujin didn’t even answer.
He was too lazy to even tell him not to come closer. How did he get in, he wondered – then concluded that his father must have sent him up thinking he was Jaeseong.
‘You were absent again… you know, today was the day we were supposed to present our shadow play, but we couldn’t do it because you weren’t there.’
Flinch, his lips trembled. So he came to say he was in trouble because his partner was absent. He had no talent for this kind of conversation. The reproach that he hadn’t fulfilled his part was what Mujin hated hearing most.
‘I was really glad.’
‘…’
‘Actually, I really didn’t want to do it. I couldn’t even memorize the finger movements…’
‘…’
‘Honestly, I had way too many lines too. And Jaeseong made fun of me every time we practiced the song.’
The chatter continued. He wondered how he could keep talking so well when he wasn’t even getting responses. Eunseong was definitely the type who could be friends with a wall.
‘But that doesn’t mean I was glad you were absent.’
‘…’
‘You know?’
I don’t know.
Then a cold, soft hand touched his forehead. At the sensation of coolly soothing his forehead, Mujin opened his eyes. Eunseong was pressing his forehead with his small hand. It was strangely cold, so when he looked, he was holding a pure white stone in his other hand.
‘Ah, this? Dad gave it to me. It’s an item Dad made, and it has no function except being cold like ice. Don’t worry.’
‘…’
‘But if I put it directly on your face, it would be too cold.’
Though he hadn’t asked, Eunseong continued his explanation. Then he switched hands. He showed his bright red palm that had been holding the ice, then said look look – there’s nothing, right? to reassure him. His cheeks, round from smiling, looked like a rabbit.
‘So it’s okay.’
At the feeling of the frozen hand touching his forehead, Mujin squeezed his eyes shut. His roughly beating heart quietly settled down. It seemed like shade was cast for the first time over his always overheated body. It was really a strange sensation.
Mujin lifted the panting Eunseong and headed toward the shade. As his memories returned sporadically, it seemed trauma was returning along with them, his face full of anguish.
Normally he would have made a fuss to be put down, but seeing him docilely being held meant he wasn’t in his right mind. After boldly slapping his cheek to surprise him.
I should have just stepped forward first and torn that bastard’s mouth apart.
If he cut Do Yeongmyeong’s throat, the civilian believers that bastard had gathered would all rise up at once. Not only the Rift Control Agency but also Nova would turn their backs on him, and Eunseong’s social reintegration, the new guild launch, and all the things he had planned would go completely awry.
But he couldn’t return to those days when he smiled brightly with peachy cheeks anyway.
“…Should I just give up everything?”
Mujin sat down under a large tree and comforted Eunseong. Taking out an item that could create a barrier from his pocket, a curtain like fog descended. When only the two of them remained in the blocked space, he hugged him with more strength in his arms.
When he carefully removed the security glasses under the deep shade, Eunseong frowned and closed his eyes. When he wiped away the tears that had quickly gathered with his fingertips, his wing-like eyelashes slowly fluttered.
“It’s okay, it’ll be okay.”
Mujin repeatedly whispered words, not knowing who he was comforting.
Blink blink, the bright blue eyes appeared and disappeared repeatedly. His labored breathing gradually calmed as his gaze swayed here and there.
Eunseong was momentarily confused. Whether what he was seeing now was Mujin as seen with his own eyes, or Mujin he was arbitrarily imagining inside the dark security glasses. To confirm, he had no choice but to touch.
Eunseong raised his hand and brought it to Mujin’s cheek. He could clearly feel the hot body temperature and smooth contours. His lips seemed to dry up as much as the sweat that came off on his hand.
“This is what I wanted to do.”
At the completely cracked voice, Mujin’s eyes shook greatly.
“…What?”
“It’s not because of you, Mujin.”
It’s not that I devoured my friend. Though it was a whisper so small it could barely be heard, it was enough to shake Mujin’s insides.
Was it because Eunseong’s palm was cold like that day? It seemed like he forgot his heart was beating. Mujin felt dizzy with the distant feeling.
His body was crushed by gravity. Pulled by irresistible attraction, Mujin lowered his head. At the moment when the distance slowly narrowed, he seemed to fall into Eunseong’s wide open bright blue eyes. Thunk, their foreheads lightly touched.
Warm breath scattered over each other’s philtrums. Mujin embraced Eunseong with trembling hands. He didn’t care even though Eunseong stiffened his body with tension.
“…Mujin.”
Was it his delusion or wishful thinking that Eunseong’s downcast eyes were looking at his lips? The moment he realized it, time that had been stopped seemed to flow quickly again. Mujin clenched his fists tight because his tingling fingertips were unbearable.
* * *
With each step, dust rose thickly. The narrow, dark alley had long been untouched by human hands, vibrating only with the smell of rotten oil. Mujin ran unhesitatingly over that path.
He leaped over rusty steel debris and piles of glass, pushing off walls to propel his body. The man being chased ran to the point of breathlessness but finally reached his limit.
“…Kuk!”
His weakened feet finally tangled. Mujin slowly approached the bastard who had rolled around pathetically. Perhaps due to instinctive fear, the man kept crawling even though he knew it was useless.
Mujin, whose breathing wasn’t even disturbed, brought his foot down toward the man’s two knees. Crack! Crack crack! Along with a sound like dry branches breaking, a scream burst out.
“Aaaahhh-!”
Mujin flipped over the bastard who was foaming at the mouth. Then he crouched in front of his face. On the faint new moon night, amid the darkness all around, Mujin’s shadow, darker than anything else, cast over the man’s face.
Then Mujin took out his phone from his pocket, opened an app and browsed through something, then began reciting as if calling attendance.
“Kim Sangmin, thirty-eight. Ability type is physical mutation. Five rape convictions, three of them minors, four illegal filming distributions, two special injuries, three injury resulting in death, violations of narcotics control law, theft, gambling, violence, confinement, threats – eighteen convictions in total.”
“Urk, kheuk, Baek, Baek Mujin…”
“Additionally, unauthorized entry into the Rift Control Agency, damage to state-owned items.”
“Wh, what… do you want!”
“Illegal use of the Holy Grail of Truth.”
It was simultaneous with the end of Mujin’s words. Kim Sangmin’s body became limp and began melting, then tried to spread like smoke. From Mujin’s fingertips aimed at him, flames blazed up with a whoosh.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
