Chapter 6
The ring with its surface ground into angular facets had fine engraved lines at regular intervals. On the inner surface that touched the finger’s skin, unknown language was carved in black—a famous item that Eunseong was well familiar with. His mouth involuntarily fell open.
“It’s the ‘Rift of Fate.’ This is.”
Among the items hunters brought out from rifts, those with unique or powerful effects gained fame. This ring was one of them.
“How did you get this? They wouldn’t have sold it just for money.”
‘Rift of Fate’ got its name because it supposedly granted the wearer powerful luck at critical moments. There was a hypothesis that the grooves carved into the ring represented the number of instances of luck, and if the rumors were true, it was in a state with one final stroke of luck remaining.
“I traded it. For my sword.”
As if he had sold some unused item secondhand, Mujin’s expression was indifferent.
“What? Your sword? Baekmu? You traded it? What do you mean? You gave Baekmu to this ring’s owner?”
“Put it on, quickly.”
Mujin didn’t want to wait even a moment after speaking and grabbed Eunseong’s hand to put the ring on. His grip strength was so tremendous that there was no way to avoid it. The ring fitted on Eunseong’s right ring finger vibrated briefly upon touching his skin, then glowed faintly and clung to his finger like a tattoo.
True to its name ‘Rift of Fate,’ the binding was determined according to the giver’s will. Whether Mujin’s will was firm, the ring immediately bound itself to Eunseong. Something indescribably reassuring seemed to fill his heart completely.
Separate from the pleasant warmth, becoming the item’s owner in an instant was bewildering. Especially knowing that it had been exchanged for Mujin’s sword made it even more so.
Eunseong looked at Mujin with an incredulous expression. His open mouth couldn’t even close.
“What kind of thing did you do, Baek Mujin, are you crazy?”
He knew well that he wasn’t crazy. He could guess what mindset had brought this item. He also knew that his heart held immeasurable value beyond the item. He just had nothing to say, so the only words that came out were pathetically just curses.
“Eunseong, you make me anxious.”
“Even so, this is too much. If ajussi finds out, there’ll be hell to pay. That you traded it for Baekmu…”
You really don’t seem to be in your right mind. Eunseong muttered with a dazed expression. He scratched vigorously at the finger where the ring had absorbed, but true to an item that submitted to force, this one also wouldn’t listen to Eunseong’s words.
“An adult conspired with immature you, so he’ll have to accept it.”
More precious than items made from rift byproducts were the finished products obtained from rifts. The sword Baekmu that Mujin possessed was a sword that Baek Huiseon had obtained from early rifts, and while the current owner was Mujin, it was essentially a family heirloom.
To have traded such a thing for another item. Even if it had been exchanged for something of tremendous value, it would be worthy of gossip, but he had even gone and put it on Eunseong without hesitation.
“I don’t need it anyway.”
“…”
“I can’t give you Baekmu, so I just traded for this. This ring’s luck activates regardless of the wearer’s grade.”
“Why are you talking like someone whose departure is confirmed?”
He couldn’t even bring himself to utter the word ‘death.’
“It’s something I accepted long ago. I’m mentally prepared, and I’ve finished organizing everything around me. Don’t you think you’re the one clinging to false hopes?”
“You finished organizing everything around you—did you organize me away? When?”
Mujin looked at Eunseong as if he had lost his words.
“What false hopes? What organizing? I can’t do it. Even if I die…”
Such stubbornness. Mujin muttered quietly and stood up abruptly.
Eunseong hurriedly chased after him as he left the training ground just like that. Mujin, who headed to the kitchen, took out food from the refrigerator one by one. With the rough hands that stood at the front lines of battle, he neatly transferred side dishes onto small ceramic bowls.
Eunseong sat silently at the dining table while watching what Mujin was doing. This was a long-standing habit. Even if they bickered and fought, it was a ceasefire during meals. Mujin, with his meticulous personality, cooked well, and Eunseong was always the first to taste his new dishes. His food was so delicious that one might imagine he would have become a chef if he hadn’t awakened as a hunter.
Mujin, who had quickly finished setting the meal, held out a spoon to Eunseong.
“Eat, then sleep again.”
Where did all that temper you showed when I first opened my eyes and was hurt go… Mujin seemed to have completely abandoned any thought of fighting, maintaining a consistently calm tone throughout.
“If you return to Yuseong in that condition, Team Leader Yeon Seokchun will faint. He has high blood pressure. Eat, rest, get completely better, then go.”
As if everything had been decided.
“I can still do this for you now. Enjoy it.”
In the end, Eunseong’s eyes turned red. Heat rose around his eyes to the point where his brow flushed red.
Mujin, standing and looking down at him while gripping the table, was definitely smiling. His rigid lips and eyes that looked scary at first glance, like black holes. Still, to his eyes, they were eyes from which he could feel warm temperature. The fire lurking within Mujin could not burn him.
“It’s not good for you either.”
When Eunseong spoke in a voice cracked and chewed up, Mujin blinked those black eyes.
“…Can’t you tell me you want to live?”
When he spoke as if acting spoiled, Mujin turned his body away sharply. He headed to one side of the kitchen and took out ice and lemon. Eunseong put more strength into his voice.
“I know you’re tired, Mujin. That it’s hard too. But no matter how hard it is, being alive is still better.”
Eunseong looked straight at Mujin as he set down his cup with a thud.
“I, I need you.”
“…”
“Mujin, don’t you want to live with me?”
Eunseong spoke as if vomiting, not hiding his urgency. He wanted his consent for his own greed.
When Mujin’s lips were about to move, the doorbell rang. Since neither of them reacted, a commotion arose outside the door. Soon after, they began pounding violently—bang bang!—as if to break it down.
“Guild Leader-nim! This is Yeon Seokchun! Are you inside?”
At that sound, Mujin, who had been quietly looking at Eunseong, moved.
The door burst open. Several people rushed into the house all at once. At the front stood Yuseong’s Team Leader Yeon Seokchun. He exhaled heavily and roughly pushed Mujin aside.
“Guild Leader-nim!”
From the kitchen visible right from the entrance, Yeon Seokchun, who made eye contact with Eunseong as he turned around, urgently threw off his shoes and crossed the open inner door.
“Are you alright?”
His voice was filled with worry and resentment. Behind him, equally angry Yuseong guild members followed in a rush. The restless Huiseon guild members just stood there watching Mujin’s expression.
There was an unwritten rule among hunter guilds. Under no circumstances could one arbitrarily confine or dispose of another guild’s members. When conflict situations arose, they received mediation from the Rift Control Agency.
Yeon Seokchun’s demand was natural, and there was no way to prevent him from barging into Baek Mujin’s house. While Huiseon guild members stammered excuses to Baek Mujin, the conversation between Mujin and Eunseong had no choice but to be postponed.
Mujin just stared at Eunseong with those black eyes whose inner thoughts were unknowable.
* * *
“What is this…! Isn’t this leaving scars?”
In the car returning to Yuseong Guild, Yeon Seokchun suddenly lifted Eunseong’s t-shirt without warning. His eyes quickly turned sharp after rapidly scanning the thick bandages wrapped around his chest and the vitality-boosting item.
“It’s all healed. Ah, I should have returned this necklace.”
When Eunseong tried to remove the necklace, Yeon Seokchun stopped him.
“I’ve been stepping back out of respect for Guild Leader-nim’s opinion until now, but I have to speak up now. This isn’t right. This is self-abuse. The late former guild leader must be shedding tears of blood.”
Yeon Seokchun was a hunter who had been affiliated with Yuseong Guild since before Eunseong was born.
He was unusually a combat-type ability user in Yuseong Guild, which was made up entirely of support and production types. Lacking blood relations and connections, he had entered rifts as an unaffiliated hunter in his youth, but saved his life thanks to an item that Eunseong’s father had provided during a moment of crisis. After that rift subjugation ended, he came to Yuseong Guild and had been with them for nearly 30 years.
Other guild members added their opinions to Yeon Seokchun’s sharp voice.
“That’s right. Stop that dangerous re-awakening thing or whatever it is now, Eunseong hyung. It’s not your duty to save the Baek family’s lives.”
“Just because the previous generation did it doesn’t mean there’s a law saying you must continue. Oppa, are you in debt or something?”
“Now that Mujin knows about it, you might not be able to attempt it anymore anyway.”
Eunseong muttered gloomily toward the guild juniors in the front seats.
Among the guild members who were close to Eunseong, including Yeon Seokchun, there was no one who didn’t know about the relationship between the twins and Baek Mujin. Therefore, they all knew what losing Baek Mujin soon would mean to Eunseong, who had already lost Jaeseong.
That’s why they couldn’t stop Eunseong from participating in the re-awakening project or whatever that Baek Sangyeon was leading. However, that became something they could no longer tolerate as of today.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
