#93
“Done crying?”
The man smiled warmly as he looked at Do-hyeok, who had been sobbing in his arms for several minutes. He had been uncomfortable because the child seemed to have walls around his heart in a way that didn’t suit his age, but now he finally looked like a child.
“…Yeah.”
“Then tell me now. How did you end up caught up in here?”
Even as he said this, the man didn’t forget to look around as if surveying the surroundings. Do-hyeok hesitated for a moment, then seeing the man’s gentle smile, carefully opened his mouth.
“I was alone at the orphanage… When I came outside, there was a huge black hole, so I tried to go back inside, but my body moved on its own…”
“So other kids got caught up in this too, not just you?”
The man asked back with a serious face. While muttering that he hadn’t received such information from the association, Do-hyeok naturally couldn’t understand.
“No, just me. The other kids went on a field trip.”
“A field trip? There were orphanages that went on such things.”
The man muttered with a puzzled expression. Muttering to himself that there seemed to be orphanages in decent circumstances, he concluded alone and looked at Do-hyeok again. Having cried his fill, his eyes must be swollen. Though it wasn’t clearly visible due to his long bangs, the man recalled the moment he had faced those tear-filled black eyes.
While observing Do-hyeok, the child gently placed his bandaged hand on the man’s hand.
“Are you going to leave too?”
The man’s eyes deliberately widened. There were no positive emotions like hope dwelling in the child’s eyes. Of course, he knew this situation itself was shocking enough for a child’s psyche, but still, the resignation, sadness, and loneliness dwelling in Do-hyeok’s eyes didn’t seem to stem solely from this situation.
A sense of solitude that had been concentrated for a very long time. The man read that.
“…Why are you speaking informally, you little thing?”
The man playfully flicked Do-hyeok’s forehead. Then Do-hyeok rubbed his forehead while glaring at him with a face full of complaints.
“Of course I’m young too, but I’m still older than you, you know? Call me hyung.”
“…Hyung.”
“That’s right.”
“Don’t leave me behind, hyung. I… want to go home.”
Do-hyeok pressed the man’s hand more firmly than before. This was the first time he had said such words to someone else. Moving from orphanage to orphanage, Do-hyeok sometimes felt the urge to cry out to the teachers that he didn’t want to go, that they shouldn’t abandon him.
But he never bothered to say it. Because he vaguely knew that no one would grant his request anyway, and far from granting it, they wouldn’t understand his feelings or take warm care of him.
But now was different. For some reason, to this man, to this person, he desperately wanted to say it. Don’t leave me behind, actually being alone is terrifying.
A troubled expression crossed the man’s face as he met Do-hyeok’s pitiful gaze. As if he was someone whose tasks were already determined, he looked like he was about to say he had to leave soon. Do-hyeok, who was particularly excellent at reading others’ moods and facial expressions, eventually withdrew his hand himself.
“That’s troublesome.”
At the man’s words, Do-hyeok deliberately turned his head away. To this man too, I’m just a burden after all. Even to this person who had shown him warmth for the first time in his life, he was just an unnecessary existence.
“How can I fight while protecting such a small thing? Hmm… I need to come up with a plan.”
But different words came out of the man’s mouth. He had expected irresponsible and indefinite words like “I can’t take you” or “Sorry, someone else will come to rescue you,” but it wasn’t like that. Protect? The man had definitely said that.
“Can you definitely do what I tell you to do when it’s dangerous?”
“…Are you taking me with you?”
At Do-hyeok’s question, the man showed a strange expression as if asking why he would ask something so obvious.
“Of course. Did I look like such an irresponsible guy who would leave you here alone and go?”
“B-but I’ll only be a burden. And also…”
What did the orphanage teachers say again? That he had no charm at all and wasn’t worth taking care of. Do-hyeok was unconsciously passionately finding only negative reasons. Then the man flicked his forehead once more.
“Where can you find such a small and cute burden?”
Saying this, the man stood up from his seat. Then he extended his hand toward Do-hyeok once more.
“Sorry, but I have enough strength to protect just one of you. Then you’re not a burden anymore, right? Isn’t that settled?”
Do-hyeok stared blankly at the hand extended to him once again. An unknown space where he knew nothing. In the midst of terrifying monsters and constantly approaching threats, the only one who had come to him.
Do-hyeok had this thought. If he took that hand, no matter what happened in the future, no matter what came before him, he felt like he could overcome it all. There would be nothing to fear, nothing to be lonely about.
“Yeah.”
That day, for the first time in his life, something called a smile appeared on the face of the ten-year-old boy who was all indifference and solitude.
* * *
So the man and Do-hyeok walked side by side through the forest.
During this, Do-hyeok witnessed amazing scenes several times. There were several occasions when monsters still in the forest appeared from various places and tried to attack the two, but each time the man somehow knew and defeated the monsters with just one hand without showing any sign of surprise. His movements were as if he knew where the creatures would jump out from.
That wasn’t the only amazing thing. The monsters didn’t pay him any attention. In other words, it felt like being an invisible person, as if only the man was there alone, and this was an amazing change that occurred after the man touched Do-hyeok’s body once.
“So if hyung kills the strongest guy here, we can get out?”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
The man pushed aside the grass in front of him with his hands and moved forward. Even while doing this, he was keeping a close eye on Do-hyeok’s feet, worried he might trip.
But perhaps because he was young and weak, Do-hyeok almost fell several times on the rough forest terrain. If the man hadn’t caught him in time, Do-hyeok’s nose would have been broken several times for sure.
“Hmm.”
When this was the third time he almost fell, the man stopped briefly and fell into thought. Then Do-hyeok habitually read his mood. If the man had been like the orphanage teachers who didn’t need to seek affection, Do-hyeok wouldn’t have read his mood like this. But somehow, he kept doing so in front of the man.
“I’ll be more careful. So I won’t fall…”
“Should we hold hands?”
The man clapped his hands as if a good idea had occurred to him. Then he extended his right hand and firmly grasped Do-hyeok’s uninjured opposite hand.
“This way you won’t fall, right?”
“…Yeah.”
Do-hyeok looked at their clasped hands and smiled bashfully for no reason. The man’s touch was softer and warmer than anything.
“Then let’s go.”
So the two walked slowly through the abnormal world, chatting pleasantly. They knew neither each other’s names, ages, nor anything else, but they walked relying on their clasped hands. Do-hyeok couldn’t have been happier meeting someone who was curious about him and cared for him for the first time in his life.
Contrary to how he had been afraid of dying until just moments ago and had ultimately decided to die, Do-hyeok felt like this moment was a sweet dream. Though it hadn’t been long since he met the man, Do-hyeok could confidently say this moment was the happiest time of his life.
The man urged their steps, saying they needed to quickly catch the strongest guy and go home. Speaking of strong guys, there was something that immediately came to Do-hyeok’s mind. That creature he encountered as soon as he entered here. The monster that first threatened his survival.
“Hey, hyung.”
“Yeah.”
“Before I entered this forest, I saw a really, really big and scary monster with really, really long legs.”
“Is that true?”
“Yeah. It was wandering around alone in a desert-like place before I entered the forest.”
Then the man fell into thought once more. After saying something about feeling energy, he nodded his head greatly.
“Kid.”
“Yeah.”
“If hyung ends up fighting the strongest monster, you absolutely have to do what I tell you to, okay? You understand?”
“Yeah.”
He would do so even without being told. The man had told Do-hyeok he wasn’t a burden, but still, when it came to fighting and combat, even the slightest mistake could make him an obstacle.
“Good. Then let’s get out of the forest now.”
Do-hyeok put more strength into their clasped hands and followed the man’s steps. Like someone with a map drawn in his head, there was no hesitation in his steps.
Before long, the two emerged from the forest. Then the man stopped briefly and closed his eyes. He seemed to be trying to do something, but it was an action Do-hyeok couldn’t understand. However, it was nice to get a good look at hyung’s neatly formed face.
“I can faintly sense some suspicious energy.”
The man’s eyes narrowed for a moment. Then he changed his expression again and looked at Do-hyeok with a bright smile. Seeing that smile, Do-hyeok couldn’t have felt more reassured.
The two walked again. The desert was vast, and all that could be seen were sand and the bare branches of dry trees planted here and there.
Had they walked as far as they had come out of the forest? Suddenly the man stopped in the middle of the desert.
“Hyung, that thing…”
Do-hyeok looked ahead following the man’s gaze. Then he could see the terrifying monster he had encountered as soon as entering the dungeon standing still with its eyes closed. It was a chillingly peaceful scene, as if it was taking a nap.
“Bingo. You were right, kid.”
Just seeing that monster made Do-hyeok’s legs tremble, but the man showed no such signs at all.
“Here, wear this.”
From who knows where, the man suddenly wrapped something like a cloak around Do-hyeok.
“And hide behind this tree. You absolutely can’t move. Don’t take this off either. Got it?”
He wasn’t sure what was draped over his head, but Do-hyeok nodded for now. Then he went behind the tree as the man guided and crouched down.
“Good. You must keep hyung’s words.”
“H-hyung.”
As the man stood up to leave, Do-hyeok urgently grabbed his clothes.
“Why?”
“How many seconds this time?”
“Ah, well…”
The man seemed to ponder, then soon grinned.
“This time too, 100 seconds. I need to get revenge from earlier, right?”
So the man gradually moved away from Do-hyeok. While worrying about him going to fight the terrifying monster, he was also very reliable at the same time. Do-hyeok felt his heart beating gently as he watched the man’s receding figure.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
