Chapter 91
“……”
Yoon Seo Won always embraced whoever was next to him when he slept. Since that was his sleeping habit, Baek Rak had been caught by it several times. Now it wasn’t awkward to fall asleep holding Seo Won in his arms.
After satisfying his hunger while watching the two, Baek Rak approached Yoon Seo Won again.
Seo Won’s face, still deeply asleep, was utterly defenseless. It looked foolish, yet strangely suited him.
From the time when he knew nothing until now when he had learned so much, Yoon Seo Won hadn’t lost the unique gentleness he possessed. Even though he must have painfully realized the absurdity of this world.
The fact that he came from another world alone couldn’t explain it. Yoon Seo Won was simply that kind of person.
Baek Rak silently gazed at Seo Won, then gave a bitter smile.
The thoughts that suddenly arose troubled him somewhat.
Since he couldn’t just push them away entirely, he had acted as his heart led him, but that heart was growing like a snowball and coming back to him.
A scene that didn’t exist before, or that he didn’t want, had come this close. If he left it as it was, he would only end up repeating exactly what had happened before. Despite his vow that he would never let that happen.
Baek Rak pressed down on his throbbing head and closed his eyes.
It would have been better if Yoon Seo Won had been even slightly self-centered. Then he wouldn’t have had to feel these emotions.
Baek Rak ran his hand down his face and slowly got up from his seat.
Since dawn had broken, he couldn’t sense any presence of creatures roaming outside. Now, while the child and Yoon Seo Won were sleeping, was the best timing to check the situation outside.
Baek Rak shook off his complicated thoughts and quietly opened the door to go outside.
He wouldn’t go far, but he had carefully hidden the entrance so that other people or creatures wouldn’t discover this place.
Baek Rak immediately ran toward Yeongdeungpo Station.
***
Seo Won yawned long and slowly opened his eyes. He didn’t know when he had fallen asleep, but since he seemed to have slept quite deeply, his body felt considerably refreshed.
He blinked several times, adjusting his blurry focus.
When his vision returned, he saw the child slowly waking up.
Seo Won sat up abruptly and lifted the child into his arms. The child raised his head with disheveled hair. When their eyes met, the child blinked and nestled into Seo Won’s embrace.
He urgently patted the child’s back and looked around, but Baek Rak was nowhere to be seen. Where did he go?
If he had been in a state of knowing nothing, he would have been anxious, but now he knew well that Baek Rak wouldn’t have disappeared leaving him and the child behind.
He was probably checking outside.
Waiting for Baek Rak to return soon, Seo Won took out a water pouch.
“Want to drink some water?”
“……”
Instead of answering, the child nodded.
The kid who had been crying his heart out after losing his parents seemed to have calmed down a bit and was well-behaved. He seemed to dimly understand the situation he was in. That there were no longer parents to protect him, and that he shouldn’t be a bother to the person in front of him who was comforting him.
This small child who looked to be only about five years old.
Seo Won sighed softly and carefully asked the child.
“What’s your name?”
“……Ro, Rouni.”
“Rouni. That’s a pretty name.”
The boy, Rouni, carefully nodded.
“Do you remember how you got here?”
At Seo Won’s question, Rouni shook his head. Whether he truly didn’t remember or didn’t want to remember, there was no way to know. He just wanted to take meaning in the fact that the child had responded.
“When the other hyung comes back besides me, shall we go out together?”
“……”
“He’s a very strong hyung, so he’ll protect us while we go to the shelter, um… to a safe place.”
“……”
Rouni just nodded again instead of answering. Except when telling his name, he seemed to have no intention of speaking.
Since it wouldn’t be good to rush a child in this state, Seo Won just gently patted his head.
‘By the way, since he used his power to the point of exhaustion, is he completely empty now?’
Seo Won recalled Rouni’s appearance when he had used energy haphazardly in a panic state. Even the water droplets that moved in response to their master’s emotions.
At the end, they had become water whips that sharply swept around, but as soon as Rouni lost consciousness, they became tiny water droplets and fell to the ground. Rather than the water disappearing, it seemed like it had lost power and returned to its original form.
So he uses moisture in the air?
Anyway, it seemed he didn’t need to worry about Rouni using his power during the move. He probably didn’t even know what he had done, so there was no need to explain it now.
Seo Won gently stroked Rouni’s head, then carefully asked at a sudden thought.
“Rouni, shall we eat something?”
There was no way the child had eaten anything properly from leaving the shelter until coming here. Since his parents didn’t have any belongings with them, he might have been starving for a while.
Sure enough, perhaps because he was hungry, Rouni nodded faster than before.
Seo Won took out dried fruit from his pocket and placed it in the small hand. Then Rouni stared at the fruit silently for a long time before carefully bringing it to his mouth.
After taking a very small bite and opening his eyes wide, the child looked up at Seo Won.
“Is it delicious? Go ahead and eat.”
It was obvious he hadn’t been able to eat to his heart’s content. You could tell just by looking at how he ate. He ate so little at a time that later he seemed to be trying to melt it with his tongue.
Seo Won took out another piece of dried fruit and this time put it directly into the child’s mouth all at once. When would he finish eating if he was going to be so careful with fruit the size of a coin? It made him feel sorry.
When Rouni was startled by the thick chunk that entered his mouth and looked up with flustered eyes, Seo Won smiled lightly.
“There’s more, so don’t save it and eat.”
Only then did Rouni begin chewing the fruit in his mouth, moving his mouth.
After feeding him three more times and even giving him vegetable sticks and jerky, Rouni’s face turned slightly red. Finally, after giving him water to finish the meal, Rouni leaned against Seo Won’s shoulder and began nodding off drowsily because his stomach was full.
“Sleepy?”
“……”
Too drowsy to answer, Rouni quickly fell asleep.
Seo Won lifted the small and light Rouni once and covered him with Baek Rak’s jumper.
He hadn’t done anything particularly significant, but it strangely felt like he had finished one difficult task. Patting the back of the unusually well-behaved and quiet child, Seo Won sighed softly.
Just then, with perfect timing, Baek Rak returned.
Opening the iron door and entering, he glanced at the sleeping child and said to Seo Won.
“Let’s go, get up.”
“Huh? Really?”
To think they’d be moving this quickly. Seo Won hurriedly got up from his seat, adjusting his hold on Rouni.
“What about the guys that were gathered?”
“They all scattered.”
“……So the alpha really did die.”
Seo Won suddenly recalled the sight of Baek Rak’s back as he chased after the fleeing alpha. The alpha and Baek Rak who had disappeared into the approaching darkness had fought a duel in a place he couldn’t see. And the result was Baek Rak’s victory, returning alone leisurely.
The persistently clinging bastard had now truly disappeared. Only after hearing the news that even the gathered creatures had all scattered could he feel relieved.
“But can you move while carrying both of us?”
Seo Won looked back at him while putting on Baek Rak’s jumper in front.
If it were just him alone it would be one thing, but to move with a child between them, the method of him clinging on was impossible. At least Baek Rak would need to support him with one arm to safely transport the child.
“One sword is enough for the journey.”
“Ohh……”
“Don’t stare strangely and come out quickly.”
Since it was an underground bunker, the entrance was attached to the ceiling. When he reached out his hand to Baek Rak who was opening the door from outside, he lightly pulled up both him and the child.
Coming up above, he saw the familiar ruins and red sky. Seo Won looked around once and said.
“How long do you think it’ll take to get there?”
“From here, it won’t take long.”
“Then let’s go quickly. I want to get there and rest comfortably.”
Seo Won quickly raised one arm, telling him to hold on. Baek Rak, who put that arm around his shoulder, naturally embraced Seo Won’s waist.
While adjusting his position and properly holding the child in the familiar embrace, Seo Won raised his head at the clinging gaze. Then Baek Rak was looking at him with a strange expression.
“What?”
When he asked because he couldn’t understand the reason, Baek Rak narrowed his eyes and said.
“It’s fascinating.”
“What’s fascinating?”
“You look used to holding children.”
Seo Won finally nodded with an “Ah.”
“I have a friend who married early, and I often played with my friend’s kids. They’re probably around the same age as Rouni.”
“Rouni?”
“Ah, that’s this kid’s name.”
At the expression asking when he had even found out the name, Seo Won shrugged his shoulders.
“I have a face that works on kids.”
When he turned his head left and right confidently, Baek Rak unexpectedly examined his face seriously. Wondering if something looked new, he subtly moved his face angles around, but Baek Rak answered indifferently.
“It didn’t seem to work on Yu Sol though.”
Seo Won felt his expectations crashing down as he swallowed his saliva. What a guy, always good at making people embarrassed.
“……Sol is grown up enough at that level.”
“When did you say she was a kid?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
