#99
What exactly was the truth? There was no decisive evidence that Baek Sa-jin was the culprit of the artificial gate incident, but conversely, there was also no evidence that he wasn’t the culprit. In a word, caught in this dilemma, securing decisive evidence seemed to be the priority.
“Enough of that, just tell me the reason. You spilled everything about the murder cases, so why are you being stingy with words about the artificial gate?”
Baek Sa-jin’s low, sunken eyes stared at Ha-seong. It wasn’t easy to figure out something through his gaze. Even trying to see through him, it was difficult to look inside as if surrounded by thick iron walls.
“There’s no other meaning. You could have easily uncovered the murder cases even if I hadn’t talked anyway. But the artificial gate is different. Why should I open my mouth for the bastards I hate?”
What a twisted guy, Ha-seong stood up from his seat. It seemed difficult to make him open his mouth by confronting him any further.
“You.”
As Ha-seong was about to leave the room, Baek Sa-jin opened his mouth again.
“Even though you’re a hunter, you have different eyes from the hunters of this world.”
Ha-seong turned his head to look at Baek Sa-jin. He didn’t bother to refute the words specifically calling him a hunter. Baek Sa-jin would have known anyway from the series of battles.
“Like someone from another world.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“Do I look foolish in your eyes too? For hating hunter society and trying to kill and destroy everything.”
“……”
Ha-seong turned his gaze away from Baek Sa-jin and stared beyond the window. Though invisible, he thought of Cha Do-hyeok who would be watching him from somewhere. A man who had an accident at a young age, lost a precious person called his benefactor, and spent his life chasing only revenge.
“To be honest, it’s not like I don’t understand your feelings at all. I’ve also thought about hating and wanting to destroy something.”
Ha-seong had also had slump periods when everything looked disgusting. He hated the society he was born into and hated the privileged forces who used hunters as tools for profit. There were times when he hated citizens who pointed fingers and cursed without a single word of thanks despite his devoted work. There were several moments when the targets he was supposed to protect looked like bugs.
The thought of wanting to destroy everything and run away was embedded deep in Ha-seong’s unconscious. The reason he didn’t act on it was thanks to his nature. Thanks to his innate instinct that still considered saving people and protecting someone as his mission without stopping.
“But I didn’t do what you did. You might have caused all this because you couldn’t find a way to express that hatred, but that’s wrong. Is it foolish? Yeah. Of course. There are countless people who suffered because of you alone. One guy ended up living his whole life chasing only revenge.”
Baek Sa-jin was currently the most likely suspect in the artificial gate incident. Thinking about the series of events Cha Do-hyeok went through because of what this bastard did, Ha-seong had to feel like his heart was being torn apart. He couldn’t forgive the culprit who left nothing but a desire for revenge to someone who had grown up lonely and solitary his whole life.
“Baek Sa-jin.”
“……”
“If I hadn’t been born this way, you would have died by my hands before that guy got to you.”
“Isn’t that also a foolish act?”
Baek Sa-jin raised the corners of his mouth mockingly. Ha-seong met his gaze and nodded peacefully.
“Maybe so. If that had happened, I think I wouldn’t have minded becoming foolish too. Like you.”
Ha-seong left the room thinking of Do-hyeok’s face until the end. As soon as he entered the inner office, Woo-bin got up from his seat with a clatter, and Do-hyeok ran over in one breath and stood in front of Ha-seong.
“What, why? Were you worried I’d fight with a tied-up guy?”
Do-hyeok was habitually looking Ha-seong over as if checking for injuries.
“Ha-seong-ssi, what about Baek Sa-jin?”
At Woo-bin’s question, Ha-seong shook his head. He said that no matter how much he asked, the guy wouldn’t open his mouth about that part, and conveyed everything Baek Sa-jin had said.
“I see. This might take quite a while. We’ll have to investigate decisive evidence that he’s the culprit of the artificial gate incident and about accomplices while simultaneously making him open his mouth.”
The three men’s gazes naturally turned toward the space where Baek Sa-jin was. He had turned his head and was blankly staring at the calendar and various miscellaneous items scattered around.
“Yes. That would be the top priority for now.”
“We’ll contact you if we find out anything too.”
Do-hyeok slightly grabbed Ha-seong’s arm and pulled him aside.
“Yeah. Please do.”
After exchanging greetings with Woo-bin, the two came outside.
“What did you talk about for so long inside?”
“I told you everything earlier.”
“Not that. You looked at me in the middle.”
“……”
From the space where Ha-seong and Baek Sa-jin were, you couldn’t see beyond the glass door. It was all black scenery like black glass. But Ha-seong had looked at Do-hyeok accurately. He was looking at him with somehow strange eyes. Do-hyeok was strangely bothered by that gaze.
“Really? I was probably just spacing out and looked.”
“…Hyung.”
Looking at Ha-seong’s back as he walked toward the elevator, Do-hyeok stopped his steps.
“Why?”
Ha-seong stopped walking and turned around. Physical distance filled the space between the two. Do-hyeok looked at that distance, then soon shook his head slightly.
“It’s nothing.”
“Let’s go.”
Do-hyeok and Ha-seong succeeded in getting to the car safely using the item. Do-hyeok started the car and an inexplicable silence flowed between the two.
“Ah, I need to pick up the pig.”
Ha-seong was the first to break that silence. But he was staring blankly beyond the window, and Do-hyeok just stared at the back of Ha-seong’s head before turning his eyes away.
“I’ll tell Shin-woo. To bring him tomorrow.”
“Yeah. He’ll whine a lot.”
As Do-hyeok started the car, the conversation was interrupted once again. Do-hyeok kept glancing at Ha-seong, then opened his mouth.
“I’m going to leave work right away.”
“Yeah. Good thinking. Go lie down, please.”
“I’ll take you home too, hyung. Since it’s my team anyway, it doesn’t matter if I leave early.”
“That’s good for me.”
Originally when contracting, there was a clause that early departure was possible when there was nothing particular to do as Cha Do-hyeok’s team. Actually, Ha-seong would have gone to the guild since he generally disliked slacking off, but after meeting Baek Sa-jin, he felt somehow uncomfortable.
“Cha Do-hyeok.”
“Yes.”
“If decisive evidence is found that Baek Sa-jin is the culprit of that artificial gate, what will you do?”
“……”
Ha-seong was asking. Would he try to kill him like that time? If Baek Sa-jin really was the one who killed his benefactor, who took away the precious existence to Do-hyeok, what kind of action would Cha Do-hyeok show?
“Do I have to say?”
Do-hyeok chose to avoid after deliberation. The words that he wouldn’t kill didn’t come out of his mouth. Ha-seong shrugged and shook his head.
“If you don’t want to say, don’t say it.”
Do-hyeok’s car slowly entered the alley where Ha-seong’s house was located. Even while the car was stopping, the persistent and nameless silence still surrounded the two.
“Ah, Cha Do-hyeok.”
Ha-seong stopped unbuckling his seatbelt and looked at Do-hyeok for the first time. Looking at him with somehow heavy eyes, Ha-seong slowly opened his mouth.
“About our contract. It was valid until we caught the culprit of the artificial gate incident.”
“…Yes.”
Do-hyeok, who had been looking only at the back of Ha-seong’s head, averted his gaze first this time.
“So let’s start thinking about that contract too.”
“……”
“For today, don’t wander off somewhere else and go straight home.”
Ha-seong said this was advice from a senior who had experienced it before, telling him to listen well, and got out of the car. Ha-seong, who had looked up at the sky full of dark clouds as if heavy rain would pour down at any moment, went into his house like that.
“Contract…”
Do-hyeok muttered blankly inside the car. His gaze, which had been blankly staring at the seat where Ha-seong had been sitting just moments ago, turned beyond the window.
But Ha-seong had already gone into his house.
* * *
Woo-bin closed the file while rubbing his tired eyes. Before he knew it, the time had well passed 10 PM.
“Let’s call it a day.”
Looking at Baek Sa-jin sitting motionlessly, Woo-bin slowly stood up.
“Get some sleep and eat your meals properly. Unless you want to starve to death.”
Well, I’m not planning to let you do that either, Woo-bin said as he got up from his seat.
“It’s all useless work.”
Baek Sa-jin, who had been pouring out only words like “I’m the culprit,” “I did it,” “You figure it out” throughout the investigation, suddenly opened his mouth. Woo-bin frowned and stopped trying to leave, looking down at him.
“What?”
“No matter what you do. Nothing will change. It’s all useless work.”
“Are you talking about your revenge against hunter society? Or what else?”
Woo-bin approached Baek Sa-jin, who was lowering his head with his hands on the desk. It seemed like something that could be an important clue, but it was too vague to interpret.
“……”
But Baek Sa-jin didn’t open his mouth any further. Woo-bin clicked his tongue and irritably picked up the file and left the room.
“Right. It will all become futile work.”
Left alone after Woo-bin left, Baek Sa-jin muttered blankly like that, then soon turned his gaze to the side. Like before, he was intensively staring at one place and couldn’t take his eyes off something for a while.
Where his gaze reached, there was a calendar.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
