Chapter 66
Baek Sangyeon gave off an atmosphere as if suggesting they have tea time. While listening to his calm voice, several scenes from the past flashed through Eunseong’s mind. Eunseong glared with wary eyes at Baek Sangyeon, who was gradually approaching and narrowing the distance.
“Your legs seem uncomfortable.”
The limping gait and the arm that seemed uncomfortable somewhere were all due to injuries sustained from fighting him. Eunseong straightened his posture while tensing his neck. He tried to hide his vulnerabilities so as not to appear contemptible, to seem as if he could do the same thing again at any time.
‘Anyway, my advice is that if such a bastard appears in the future, slap him hard across the face.’
Eunseong recalled Yeon Seokchun’s advice and clenched his fists with force in both hands. When he focused on Baek Sangyeon, he continued speaking as if pleased.
“Whether you have memories or not, the fact that you relied on me remains unchanged. It’s quite hollow to see you’ve forgotten everything so completely. I took in a guy who had nowhere in the world to depend on, taught and raised him, but it’s all become useless work.”
The hunter who had come as Baek Sangyeon’s escort straightened her posture. Eunseong realized that if he made any rash moves, she would immediately restrain him.
Baek Sangyeon’s pupils fixed on somewhere in the air. It was a wistful expression as if chewing over memories, but Eunseong broke out in cold sweat from tension. His eyes gleaming with madness made it feel like facing someone who had completely lost their mind, even instilling fear.
“……Did Yoo Hwan deceive me?”
‘Father did?’
He shook his head as if denying himself, then looked at Eunseong again.
“No, that can’t be. He had no reason to deceive me and hide your abilities, did he? There was Yoo Jaeseong. There was definitely another child, Yoo Jaeseong.”
Eunseong had no idea what he was trying to say. Wasn’t he someone dissatisfied with Mujin’s guild withdrawal?
If he considered him a monster that had lured away his son Mujin, an eyesore that had stolen Huiseon’s main force, it would have been right to attack from the start.
“As you know, your older brother Yoo Jaeseong was a perfectly drawn child, wasn’t he? A match born as if perfectly fitted for Baek Mujin. He was a perfectly matching partner. With such a child in front, there was no reason to hide you from me. Jaeseong was also his son.”
“……”
“So I thought. Perhaps there was some legacy that Yoo Hwan left for you.”
Baek Sangyeon twisted his lips as he recalled Yoo Hwan, who had told him not to try to realize his ambitions by putting his son forward. He had wondered what right that bastard had to criticize and try to teach him, but now looking at it, wasn’t he no different from himself?
The appearance of Baek Mujin, who had the greatest power in his generation, Yoo Jaeseong who was born as if matched to him, and even Jung Hyeeun who developed blueprints that could open passages.
All the flow had been perfect.
Baek Sangyeon’s belief was that if you had power, its use was also predetermined.
For those with talent to waste it was a sin and cheating. It was betrayal toward the world, toward those who worked hard, toward unequal opportunities.
Baek Sangyeon’s gaze toward Eunseong was ice-cold. His face, completely drained of laughter, was close to colorless.
“Hiding and deceiving everyone, making them tremble with anxiety… you made a dramatic entrance trying to become the protagonist, didn’t you?”
“Did my doing something for once, when I couldn’t do anything before, disturb Guild Leader Baek Sangyeon’s mood?”
“Disturb? No. It’s closer to ecstasy, Eunseong. A rotten-hearted human is much more interesting than an incompetent one, isn’t it?”
Eunseong finally seemed to understand why Baek Sangyeon had come to him. He was certain that he had opened the rift. Well, knowing that he was by Mujin’s side, it was natural for his thoughts to flow that way.
But was it meaningful enough for him to engage in such reckless behavior inside the Control Agency?
“Tell me, Yoo Eunseong. You also have something you want to do, don’t you? Something you want to prove.”
“Something I want to do?”
When Eunseong responded, Baek Sangyeon smiled, splitting his lips wide.
“Yes, something you want to do. You definitely harbored desire for Mujin, didn’t you? You want to become like that child, right? Didn’t you always think about wanting to be the best? I who have watched your eyes can tell.”
Eunseong was so shocked by the mention of harboring desire for Mujin that his hair stood on end, but soon he couldn’t help but chuckle.
‘He’s got it completely wrong……?’
No, perhaps it was fortunate. Eunseong reconstructed his image of Baek Sangyeon with his fragmented memories and what he had seen of him since their reunion. Looking at it that way, he could understand Baek Sangyeon at least intellectually. He was a greedy and pitiful person.
The appearance he saw in the dream fragment, and the appearance now laughing with a distorted face in front of him, was his essence. Having lost all remaining family after the plane crash, he had been so absorbed in the thought of saving Mujin that he couldn’t see him properly.
“Guild Leader Baek Sangyeon came to confirm the blueprint, the power to open rifts.”
“You were a clever child. It’s good that we understand each other quickly.”
Can you do it? Baek Sangyeon’s eyes shone brightly.
At the same time, Eunseong guessed. Baek Sangyeon had no idea why Mujin was angry with him, and felt not even a trace of regret toward him either.
He didn’t even seem to know the fact that he, ‘Yoo Eunseong would absolutely never comply with his demands.’
‘An arrogant person……’
The woman with the red aura was watching Eunseong with unwavering eyes. Eunseong judged it would be difficult to expect a moment when her concentration would scatter.
Though he had brought more than enough items on his body, the woman’s grade was probably S-class, and the probability of successfully escaping was 5 percent? No, even that seemed like too much.
Eunseong took a breath for a moment.
“I can show you.”
Baek Sangyeon’s eyes instantly changed the atmosphere. His gleaming, shining eyes were greed itself.
Eunseong didn’t hesitate and raised both hands. The female hunter became alert and adjusted her posture. If he showed signs of doing something foolish, it seemed his head would fly off in one stroke.
‘I mustn’t hesitate.’
Light gathered in Eunseong’s blue eyes just like that time.
“But I can’t guarantee safety.”
“What?”
Before Baek Sangyeon could understand, the rift opened. Right beneath his feet, Eunseong imitated the method he had used to kidnap him.
However, if the item he had used was just a petty trick for spiriting away one person, what Eunseong opened was a real passage.
“……!”
Right after Baek Sangyeon and the female hunter were sucked into the rift without even being able to scream, Eunseong recalled the sensation from last time.
Understand the structure and control it. The end of the knot to close the rift seemed clearly visible. They say the first time is difficult but the second time is easy. Eunseong smiled slightly.
Then, the sound of fluttering wings brushed past Eunseong’s ear.
“Curry?”
A small flame drew a long trajectory. Curry increased its body’s speed and transformed into a fireball, then flew right into the gap of the closing rift without any chance to stop it.
Eunseong had no way to reverse the skill. Pop, the rift closed with that familiar sound, leaving only Eunseong alone in the dark underground bunker.
“What…… what did you do?”
Why? Would this be how it feels when your pet bird runs away right before your eyes? Eunseong went to the floor where the rift had appeared and disappeared, and lay down.
“Curry…… why on earth?”
It was useless to caress the floor with his hands. The cold, hard floor left no trace of the passage to another world having opened. Eunseong knelt in dismay and kept rubbing the floor.
Rumble-! The entire underground bunker seemed to shake, then Mujin jumped down with the sound of the ceiling breaking behind Eunseong. Light poured down from the hole in the ceiling, and countless metal fragments fell to the floor making the sound of heavy rain.
Eunseong looked back at Mujin while shading his eyes with his hand.
Again. Memory fragments overflowed again. The fierce flames that filled his vision and the heat so intense it made his pupils hot. Mujin’s flash that drove away all darkness completely covered Eunseong.
“Mujin.”
When he called out to him, he had the illusion of meeting the Mujin from the past.
At the moment when his chest was pierced and he was about to die, memories of the face that had come to save him while illuminating all around, the voice that had scolded him for doing something absurd, and the body temperature that had lifted him up came flooding back like a tide.
He came to save me again.
Eunseong, soaked in emotion and joy, smiled brightly to welcome him, but strangely, Mujin’s expression was terrifying.
With dust and roaring sounds draped like a curtain behind him, he walked toward Eunseong step by step with a pale face. His face, completely drained of all color, was that of someone who had faced fear and despair beyond what he could handle.
“……Eunseong.”
Even with Eunseong right before his eyes, his voice calling carefully as if it was hard to believe trembled pathetically.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
