Side Story 12
“Yawn…”
Apophis, who had returned to Korea after quite some time and stayed at Yeon Ji-ho’s house, enjoyed an exceptionally sweet sleep. After waking up and smoothing the bed sheets, Apophis muttered in a voice still drunk with sleep.
“Strangely, I always sleep well whenever I’m here… Maybe I should ask Master Ji-ho about the bedding brand.”
Diligently getting out of bed, Apophis neatly arranged the blanket he had used the night before. When he first crossed over to this world, even using a blanket felt awkward, let alone tidying it up, but now he was quite accustomed to it.
Then Apophis grabbed a disposable toothbrush and went outside. His mouth felt very dry since he had fallen asleep without brushing his teeth the night before, being too tired.
After bringing Seho from New York, Apophis had closed his eyes as if fainting when Seho, who had been crying incessantly, finally smiled in Baal’s arms. Fortunately, he had managed to crawl to a bed and lie down, but he had no memory after that.
Click. Creeeeak…
Opening the door and stepping outside, Apophis shuddered at the morning chill still filled with dawn dew. As he was about to quickly pass through the living room toward the bathroom:
“Apophis…”
“Eek!”
Startled by the sudden voice that approached him, Apophis screamed and fell backward. Barely clutching his heart, he looked up to see Set standing there with a deathly pale complexion. Apophis opened his mouth while gently rubbing his chest in a circular motion.
“Your Excellency, why are you there? More importantly, did you sleep at all? Surely you weren’t standing there all night?”
“…Morning has already come.”
Set gave an irrelevant response to Apophis’s question. Seeing Set’s seemingly delirious state, Apophis sighed and said:
“Yes, it’s morning, Your Excellency.”
“Ji-ho hasn’t returned even though it’s morning.”
At the voice that seemed on the verge of tears, Apophis couldn’t offer comfort and just cleared his throat. Come to think of it, Yeon Ji-ho, who should have been with Set by now, was nowhere to be seen.
“…Well…”
“…Has Ji-ho abandoned us like this?”
The fact that Yeon Ji-ho, who always returned home as long as Seho and Set were there, had not come home all night had left a huge shock on Set.
Throughout the dawn while waiting for Yeon Ji-ho, Set had sent so many messages that his phone was nearly worn out, but there was no reply, not even a read receipt. No matter how many times he called, only the mechanical voice saying “Unable to receive the call…” came through.
During the longest night of his life, the delusions that began in Set’s mind kept growing. Naturally, he couldn’t sleep a wink. Not only was sleep elusive, but if he fell asleep, it felt like his hands might set his body on fire on their own.
Having promised not to go near anything related to fire when Yeon Ji-ho wasn’t around, Set had spent the night with his hands tightly gripping each other, almost as if restraining them. The result was his current miserable appearance.
“Your Excellency, surely Master Ji-ho wouldn’t do such a thing?”
“But, but Apophis. Then why is Ji-ho avoiding my contact? There’s been no response after the ‘I’m sorry’ message!”
“That’s, well…”
Apophis couldn’t find the words and just repeatedly licked his dry lips with his forked tongue. In truth, even to Apophis, this time was different, very different. The Yeon Ji-ho he knew wasn’t the type of person to get angry easily over trivial matters.
But he couldn’t say what was in his heart directly to Set. Apophis, once known as the most wicked tongue, quickly formulated the most plausible explanation he could offer in this situation.
“Perhaps Master Ji-ho is currently unable to receive calls or messages?”
“…What?”
Set’s eyes widened at the alternative hypothesis Apophis presented. Unable to receive calls or messages right now?
At that moment, all the events that had occurred when Yeon Ji-ho was carrying Seho rewound in Set’s mind. What if something had happened to Yeon Ji-ho during the brief time he was away? What if he had been taken by someone…
Set’s face, which had been a mixture of anxiety, impatience, and depression, suddenly changed. He spoke to Apophis with an expressionless face.
“I must go find Ji-ho.”
“Your Excellency, wait, Your Excellency!”
Apophis barely managed to grab Set, who was about to turn around and rush out. It was clear what he was thinking. He must be thinking that Yeon Ji-ho might be in danger.
Apophis swallowed a sigh and hurriedly added to what he had said earlier.
“What I mean is, he might be in a place where he can’t receive calls or messages right now.”
“You’re saying he might have been kidnapped. Yes, Ji-ho wouldn’t leave me and Seho. Unless someone forcibly took him…!”
“That’s not it!”
Apophis repeatedly hit his chest as if frustrated by the conversation that kept veering in another direction. This wasn’t what he had intended to say to Set.
“Asterra!”
Finally, the word he had been holding burst out. Apophis, also uttering this word after a very long time, looked at Set momentarily with nostalgia.
“What if he went to Asterra?”
In reality, as far as Apophis could see, Asterra was the only place Yeon Ji-ho could have gone if he hadn’t returned all night. It seemed he had gone somewhere where communication wasn’t possible. If he had gone somewhere other than Asterra, Yeon Ji-ho, knowing that Set and Seho were waiting, would have surely returned through the closet, even if late.
The fact that he hadn’t returned meant there was a good reason or circumstance, and no matter how much he thought about it, Asterra was the only possibility.
As he continued his reasoning, Apophis suddenly remembered something he had forgotten upon mentioning Asterra.
“…Wait, Shango? Your Excellency, have you seen Shango?”
“Why are you looking for Shango? He should be in America.”
“No, he said he was quitting his job and coming to Korea briefly…! Didn’t he come to the pension?”
At those words, Set also sensed something odd and frowned. Shango, who had stayed at Yeon Ji-ho’s pension before immediately going to work in America, had no particular ties in Korea. Why would such a person come to Korea and go elsewhere?
“I haven’t seen him. …I arrived late at night, so he might have come before then.”
“But he wasn’t at the pension? Isn’t that strange?”
“Indeed.”
Set, who had been speaking slowly, suddenly spoke hurriedly to Apophis as a thought crossed his mind. And simultaneously, Apophis had the same thought.
“Could it be…”
“Taking Master Ji-ho to Asterra…?”
Their eyes met at that moment. And at that moment, Apophis sensed it. The order Set was about to give.
“Apophis.”
“Y-Your Excellency. I flew from New York to here with young master Seho last night. I really don’t have any mana left…”
“Open a gate.”
At those words, Apophis thought to himself, wondering if his resignation letter was readily available. However, his resignation letter was unfortunately resting peacefully in the desk drawer of Apophis’s office at the New York branch.
***
“…Master Ji-ho. I’m so sorry.”
Inside the heavily bumping carriage, Shango opened his mouth with an expressionless face toward Yeon Ji-ho sitting beside him. Of course, he appeared expressionless only from an objective viewpoint; to Yeon Ji-ho, who had fairly understood Shango by now, it was clear how downcast he was.
Yeon Ji-ho spoke warmly, changing his posture several times to prevent his wrists and ankles, tightly bound with rope, from going numb.
“It’s okay.”
“Yeah, I’m fine too!”
“…Haah.”
As Ganesha, who was also bound like Yeon Ji-ho, spoke with a grin beside them, Shango closed his eyes tightly and sighed.
They were being taken to the imperial palace after failing to overcome the imperial knights who had chased them.
Shango had fought valiantly, keeping Ganesha and Yeon Ji-ho, who had no combat abilities, behind him, but he couldn’t handle the number of oncoming knights and was defeated. Of course, it might have been a battle they could have won if Shango had brought just a few more bullets.
“Perhaps Hadad will, once again, to Master Ji-ho…”
“That’s possible.”
Yeon Ji-ho answered in a calm voice. It was entirely expected that he might meet Hadad again if they were taken to the imperial palace like this. Yeon Ji-ho remembered clearly, without forgetting a bit, how obsessed Hadad had been with him.
“It doesn’t matter anyway.”
However, the anxiety and fear that were once present in Yeon Ji-ho’s expression were now nowhere to be found.
Looking at Shango, who was immersed in an inexplicable anxiety, Yeon Ji-ho smiled gently. If something had changed between then and now, it was Yeon Ji-ho himself. Or more precisely, the power he possessed.
“I’ve changed a lot too, you know.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
