#113
Min-woo remembered that day’s events in considerable detail.
“I don’t know why I did it then, but I was curious about who that person was who came to find the ajeossi. I even thought maybe it was someone who was tormenting the ajeossi.”
Min-woo said he had quietly left the dried persimmons he’d brought for Baek Sa-jin at the front gate and followed that person. It was behavior that deserved a scolding if one considered safety, but Ha-seong secretly thought it was fortunate that Min-woo had witnessed that day’s events.
“Honestly, I thought it was strange that someone came to find the ajeossi that night. Here, all the boats stop running in the afternoon, and I’d never seen that person staying around this area either. It was a bit strange, so I followed, and he walked toward the mountain.”
“Mountain?”
Do-hyeok furrowed his brow.
“Yes. You can see it back there, right? It’s not really a mountain, just like a high hill, but he went there so I secretly followed him too.”
Should this be called having good courage, or being fearless? Ha-seong barely held back from wanting to scold him and listened to the rest of the story.
“If you go up that hill and pass through some grass, there’s a wide meadow, right? But he just stood there upright without moving. Then suddenly… he disappeared.”
“Huh?”
Ha-seong asked back in surprise, but Min-woo only repeated the same words. He had definitely followed that strange man and seen him standing in that wide place, but suddenly he disappeared. It seemed like he had vanished without a trace, just like how Ha-seong and Do-hyeok had disappeared from Min-woo’s sight earlier.
It was so strange that Min-woo had also been dazed, but when he ran to where that person had been standing, he explained there was nothing strange to be found.
“And I suddenly got scared so I came right down. If I told grandmother or other people, they’d definitely tease me for being possessed by a ghost, so I’ve never told anyone else.”
“Then what about Baek Sa-jin? Did you ask him?”
Min-woo nodded once again. The next day, Min-woo had gone to Baek Sa-jin’s house to exercise and naturally asked when he saw the opportunity. He asked who that unfamiliar person was who had come to visit the ajeossi.
“Then what did he say… Ah! He said it was someone who shows the way. I think he also called him a guide.”
Baek Sa-jin, who had fallen into thought for a moment at Min-woo’s question, had apparently answered like that. Then he had even earnestly asked Min-woo not to tell anyone about that matter.
“Oh, and there’s one more thing I remember. I’m not sure if it was anything special, but that day Sa-jin ajeossi had a small, old black notebook. When I tried to look at it, the ajeossi blocked me from seeing it. I wonder if it was like a diary…”
“Diary…”
Ha-seong recalled Baek Sa-jin’s testimony. Baek Sa-jin had definitely said he learned about the inside story of his father’s suicide and the inside story of the Sparrowhawk unit’s disappearance by reading Baek Seong-hyeon’s diary. The diary was also one of the pieces of evidence Yoon Woo-bin had shown him. That too was a small, old, faded black diary.
“When I asked about it, he said that person had given it to him as a gift. It was also that day when he asked if I knew about hunters and told me not to be deceived.”
And the ajeossi disappeared the very next day, Min-woo added with a completely drained expression. Ha-seong, who had heard Min-woo’s story, turned his head to meet Do-hyeok’s gaze and nodded simultaneously.
Summarizing Min-woo’s words, it seemed Baek Sa-jin had been living quietly on this Baekgukdo. And after meeting that strange man, he immediately left Baekgukdo, went up to Seoul, and caused the hunter murder incident.
Baek Seong-hyeon’s diary—what if the outsider Min-woo had seen had come to give it to Baek Sa-jin? What if Baek Sa-jin hadn’t found the diary himself but had received it from someone along with other truths? What if that man had told him how Baek Sa-jin’s father died, revealed everything, and inflamed his desire for revenge to cause this incident?
Looking at it this way, Baek Sa-jin seemed quite distant from the artificial gate incident. If he were the culprit of the incident from 10 years ago, none of this would add up.
Until now, they had expected that Baek Sa-jin had led the accomplices who shot Ha-seong and caused both the 10-year-old incident and the hunter murder cases, but it was the opposite. Baek Sa-jin was just an outsider. Rather than Baek Sa-jin leading the accomplices, it was more natural now to see that they had manipulated Baek Sa-jin.
Finally, he felt like the inside story that had been shrouded like thick fog was gradually being revealed. Then, instead of investigating how Baek Sa-jin had caused the incident from 10 years ago or about artificial gates, it would be more appropriate to investigate the true culprit who had instigated him, that evil group.
Baek Sa-jin probably wouldn’t know anything about artificial gates.
“…Th-that’s all I know.”
Perhaps sensing the unusual atmosphere between Do-hyeok and Ha-seong, Min-woo looked around nervously.
“Right. Thank you, Min-woo. For telling us.”
“I… since I’ve told you everything, please grant me one favor.”
“What is it?”
“Please pass along a message to Sa-jin ajeossi.”
Do-hyeok shook his head and moved away from Min-woo. It was true that Baek Sa-jin was a criminal who had committed such terrible crimes and deserved to be pointed at. But to the young high school student, he had been a reliable hyung and probably the only adult he could confide in.
Couldn’t Baek Sa-jin have stopped his criminal resolve even for the sake of this child? Ha-seong nodded with a somewhat sunken expression.
“Tell me. If I can meet him, I’ll pass it along.”
“Tell him I’m doing well. That I even placed in the top 5 in school this time, and that I’ll definitely go to a good university by studying hard like the ajeossi said. And that… I was grateful all this time.”
Min-woo bowed his head deeply. The boy had probably sensed it intuitively. That he would never meet that person again. Ha-seong deliberately didn’t bring up words of comfort. He just said he understood and roughly patted Min-woo’s shoulder a couple times.
After greeting Min-woo, who said he would go back once he calmed down a bit more since grandmother would worry, Ha-seong left the yard.
“You’re going to check out that hill where that bastard disappeared, right?”
“Yeah. Of course.”
He had just finished questioning Min-woo about the more detailed location. The two quickly moved their steps. Behind where Min-woo’s guesthouse was located, there was a not-very-high hill, and after walking through some grass, a considerably wide space similar to wasteland appeared, just as Min-woo had said.
According to Min-woo’s explanation, in the old days village children used to play soccer and have fun here, but now it was a place almost no one visited. Perhaps that’s why that bastard had also sought out this place. What he had tried to do here, what Min-woo’s mention of “disappeared” actually meant, was still unknown.
“Is your detection skill rank high?”
Ha-seong, who had been crouching on the ground examining it, turned his head and asked Do-hyeok.
“I’m not a search-type hunter, so it hasn’t developed to that high a rank.”
Cha Do-hyeok could be fairly said to be an S-rank hunter optimized for combat skills. Ha-seong said then he would do it and closed his eyes tightly.
[Trait ‘Detection and Search (S)’ skill is activated. Please select the field to detect.]
Ha-seong immediately selected detection of surrounding energy.
[Searching for energy waves in the vicinity.]
A few seconds later, Ha-seong, who had finished searching, let his shoulders drop and shook his head. As expected, probably because quite some time had passed, no specific energy remained here. If that bastard had used some skill here, energy traces might have remained, so he had hoped for that, but it was somewhat disappointing.
“Cha Do-hyeok, look with your eyes too. You have those blue eyes.”
“Well. That’s not really what they’re for.”
Do-hyeok said he understood and closed his eyes once then opened them. His jet-black pupils changed to a mysterious blue light, creating a mystical atmosphere. While Do-hyeok surveyed the surroundings with those eyes, Ha-seong stared intently at Do-hyeok’s face.
Come to think of it, he didn’t think he’d ever looked closely at Cha Do-hyeok’s face with those blue eyes. It seemed like he always had those eyes when fighting in dungeons, but he hadn’t fought alongside him much.
If he was just handsome normally, with those blue eyes added, he looked even more distinctive with a mysterious feeling surrounding him. As Ha-seong was staring intently at that face, he met Do-hyeok’s eyes directly.
“Ahem, well, is there nothing?”
“No. But, hyung.”
After Do-hyeok returned to his normal eyes, he strode over to Ha-seong who had been standing far away.
“What. Why. I wasn’t looking at you, I was looking over there.”
Perhaps feeling guilty, Ha-seong cleared his throat and told a lie that didn’t work.
“You were looking at me.”
“I said I wasn’t.”
“Why? Do I look more handsome when my eyes turn blue?”
“Not handsome, but mystical… ah, forget it. If there’s nothing, let’s go down.”
Ha-seong shook his head and walked away with heavy steps.
Do-hyeok smiled slightly then looked around widely. The bastard who had stood here. The true culprit who instigated Baek Sa-jin and made him cause the hunter murder incident. What exactly was that bastard’s purpose?
Do-hyeok recalled the events from 10 years ago when he lost ‘that person.’ Then naturally, strength entered his hands.
“Cha Do-hyeok.”
Just then, Ha-seong, who had approached beside him, gently touched and grasped his hand.
“What are you doing? We have to go. Let’s go back. To do our work.”
Whether he had noticed Do-hyeok about to be consumed by anger or not, Ha-seong held Do-hyeok’s hand with a gentle touch. The warmth that came through contact was warm. Do-hyeok felt anew the sensation of someone standing beside him.
“…Yes.”
Now when he was about to be caught by a heart filled with anger and murderous intent while thinking of revenge, when his heart felt like it was being torn apart while thinking of that lost person, there was someone who held his hand and said it was okay.
Do-hyeok suddenly had such a thought. Whether that person came late or early, wasn’t this how their promise to come meet him had been fulfilled? In the end, that person couldn’t come, but hadn’t he sent him the person called Do Ha-seong?
Do-hyeok walked while firmly holding Ha-seong’s hand. Vowing that he would never, ever let go for his entire life, the two men’s short journey ended like that.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
