Chapter 51
“What are you doing!”
Eunseong raised his voice and quickly closed the distance. When he glared sharply at the squished Curry, Mujin showed his canines and smiled.
“Let go! You’ll kill it at this rate.”
“I don’t want to?”
“Why are you suddenly doing this? What did it do wrong…!”
Eunseong threw down the medicine packet and jumped onto the bed. He grabbed Mujin’s wrists with both hands and hung on, but as if he had no intention of obediently letting go, he applied more force. Curry made a pitiful “kiii-ing!” sound and opened its beak wide.
“Mujin-ah, if you’re angry about something, say it with words. Why are you trying to kill it!”
“What do you mean ‘it’? Didn’t you see it trying to start a fire? It almost burned me just now.”
“That’s because you grabbed and shook it first.”
While the two were engaged in a tense struggle with their hands locked together, Lee Haesu stood stopped at the threshold, trying to understand the situation. He gathered up the medicines scattered on the floor and put them back in the packet, then looked around the two people.
“Excuse me, but what are you two doing right now?”
“Don’t take the monster’s side, Yoo Eunseong.”
“What side did I take? It’s in pain, Mujin-ah.”
“Who exactly is in pain, I wonder…?”
“Let it go!”
“No.”
Lee Haesu was so flustered he didn’t even know where to put down the medicine packet in his hand. Eunseong and Mujin were struggling with all their might over ‘something,’ which meant there was ‘something’ in this room whose presence couldn’t even be felt. When Eunseong finally shouted “Curry, get it together!” he looked like his soul had half left his body.
“If… you’re fighting, should I come back later?”
“No! Help us now!”
Eunseong shouted and bit Mujin’s wrist. At the unexpected attack, when Mujin was startled, Curry popped out, circled the ceiling once, and settled on top of Eunseong’s head.
“Piyo-o!”
At the triumphant cry, Mujin ground his teeth.
“See, it’s being good.”
“You! This… Yoo Eunseong.”
“I know it doesn’t bite too?”
Mujin, who had been glaring at Eunseong with hardened lips, no longer responded. With a flushed red face, he swiftly got up and passed by Eunseong toward the powder room.
Eunseong followed him with his gaze but soon gave up. Lee Haesu was waving his arms in the air like a person who had lost his mind. He seemed to be looking for Curry.
When Eunseong cleared his throat with a fake cough, Lee Haesu quickly pulled back his arms.
“While you’re healing, could you also look at where I bit him? And please check Mujin’s core condition as I mentioned earlier.”
“Are you telling me to follow Baek Mujin in there right now? In there? Opening the door that just slammed shut?”
“He seems very angry, but it’s not related to Hunter Lee Haesu, so nothing will happen. Mujin also distinguishes between public and private matters… please.”
Looking at Lee Haesu who pointed at the powder room with both index fingers and showed reluctance, Eunseong explained softly. Then he blinked his eyes and said he was at his limit, putting on his protective glasses.
In front of Eunseong who had blocked his vision, Lee Haesu just opened and closed his mouth. That guy won’t distinguish between public and private. Still, having come this far, it wouldn’t do to leave without treating him. Lee Haesu had been continuously concerned about Baek Mujin’s condition, so he couldn’t miss this golden opportunity to examine his body.
“Fine. But.”
“Yes.”
“Eunseong-ssi can’t go anywhere.”
Eunseong, who had paused in puzzlement, soon nodded. He strongly wondered what his staying here had to do with anything, but since it was a condition set by a precious S-grade healer, it was right to comply.
“I won’t go anywhere and will stay here, so please go in quickly.”
* * *
After Lee Haesu closed the powder room door and went in, Eunseong placed Curry on his palm.
“What changed…? Why did Mujin suddenly get angry at you?”
“Pyo?”
“You do seem a bit bigger?”
The small head tilting in confusion was just cute. Eunseong gently combed through Curry’s disheveled feathers with his fingertips.
During all the time living at the ‘Bottom,’ it had been a creature he kept at distance feeling somewhat uneasy about, but perhaps he had grown attached, as it now looked really pretty. He regretted not giving it a name and affection sooner.
‘You’re only saying that because you don’t know what Hwanghwa is, Eunseong. I can say with certainty it doesn’t look like a chick.’
Mujin’s reproachful voice was clear in his ears. If he knew these feelings of his, he would definitely sigh disapprovingly about getting attached to a monster.
“Then what are you really? Is there such a cute monster in the world?”
Above all, wasn’t it strange that only he and Mujin could perceive its existence…
Curry had forgotten about being persecuted by Mujin and was playing around. It bit Eunseong’s fingers without hurting him, then pecked at Seorin hanging around his neck, making tapping sounds.
Come to think of it, I’ve never seen it eat anything. Does it live by catching bugs? Eunseong, who was continuing his imagination, shuddered and quickly erased the image that came to mind.
“Curry.”
Eunseong spoke to the small bird on his palm as if scolding it.
“You can’t mess around with Mujin hyung.”
Whether it understood or not. Each time it blinked, its black eyes sparkled like stars.
“You’re the only one losing out. Look at this. Your tail feathers are crumpled… it makes me so sad.”
When he saw Mujin gripping Curry’s body roughly, he was really shocked. Eunseong rubbed his cheek against Curry’s soft chest feathers to comfort his own heart.
Just as his startled heart was calming down, the door opened again and Mujin appeared. His breathing seemed to have calmed down, but Eunseong kept Curry against his chest and covered it with both hands. Seeing the defensive posture, Mujin’s lips hardened firmly, but Eunseong wearing protective glasses didn’t know.
Following Mujin, Lee Haesu also entered the room. At that sound, Eunseong perked up his ears. Whether all his energy had been drained in that short time, Lee Haesu appeared dragging his feet and collapsed onto the bed. Even when Mujin complained and pushed him away with his foot telling him to get down, he stubbornly held on.
“Aigoo- this is killing me.”
While Eunseong was distracted by the commotion, Mujin came and sat next to him. The mattress sank deeply and Eunseong’s tilted head bumped against Mujin’s shoulder.
“Yoo Eunseong. Look at this.”
When he tapped the protective glasses, Eunseong undid the buckle. As Eunseong blinked to focus on the brightened vision, Mujin held out his hand. When he looked closely with furrowed brows, his own bite mark was cutely visible.
“Why didn’t you get this treated?”
“Ah, he made a fuss telling me not to.”
The answer came from Lee Haesu lying behind them.
“What, why…?”
Even when asked with bewildered eyes, no answer came from Mujin.
Is it puberty?
He suddenly felt sorry for Lee Haesu who was lying behind them complaining he was dying. He was expressing with his whole body that Mujin was a difficult patient.
“He won’t even let me touch him as if his body is gold-plated, and looking at it, he’s more difficult than Hanyeong.”
“Is treating Hanyeong difficult?”
“No. With the buffer here, my work is pretty much done. I just said that, so don’t worry about it, Eunseong-ssi.”
Mujin lightly touched Eunseong’s cheek. As soon as Eunseong, who had been distracted by Hanyeong’s story, gave him attention again, he voiced his complaint.
“You didn’t used to be like this with me.”
“Originally… how was I?”
When he asked back without realizing, Mujin lowered his head. As his lips came close to his ear, Eunseong hunched his shoulders.
“You used to be with me—”
Then, Mujin and Lee Haesu’s watches simultaneously sounded alarms.
Eunseong, who had been listening intently to Mujin, ended up being startled. The alarm that set nerves on edge didn’t stop there. Phones started ringing from all directions. Mujin’s, Lee Haesu’s, even the landline installed in the house—as multiple devices vibrated and made sounds simultaneously, it was like sirens wailing throughout the guild building.
Lee Haesu sprang up and went out to answer the phone, while Mujin turned off all the alarms coming to him one by one. His expression as he looked at the phone receiving contacts was quite serious. Eunseong couldn’t even think of putting his protective glasses back on as he watched him.
Mujin’s face, lost in thought while stroking his jaw, was like before a typhoon. Looking at his rapidly hardening expression, something big had definitely happened.
“Team Leader Woo, it’s me.”
Leaving Mujin making a phone call somewhere, Eunseong went out to the living room. Lee Haesu was standing blankly holding the TV remote. The TV was broadcasting urgent breaking news.
“Eunseong-ssi…”
Following Lee Haesu’s gaze toward the screen, Eunseong stopped short.
Inside the square frame, below the red letters saying a new changgui had appeared, his name in three characters was boldly embedded.
[ Changgui Yoo Eunseong, Rampage in Downtown ]
On the large TV screen appeared an image that looked exactly like Yoo Eunseong from three years ago, different from his current appearance. As if knowing it was being filmed, the thing was looking directly at the camera lens and smiling serenely.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
