Chapter 795 |
“Can I be honest?”
Kang Soyeong set down her coffee cup and spoke with grave sincerity.
“Boss, this tastes freaking awful!”
“Yeah, I agree.”
Moon Hyunah nodded, and Park Yerim beside her laughed and said, “This is kind of not it.”
Do Hamin, café owner, cried, “What, why!”
“Coffee all tastes the same!”
“I can’t believe I left a café in the hands of a guy like this.”
Han Yujin clicked his tongue in disapproval. Do Hamin glared at him.
Han Yuhyun, sitting beside Han Yujin, stared silently at Do Hamin. Do Hamin hurried behind Noah and hid. Han Yujin tilted his head.
“Syrup? I always only drank café lattes. You know, coffee in milk.”
“Hyung, coffee is bad for you, so drink tea. Preferably something without caffeine. I heard rooibos tea is good for your health.”
“We have tea bags. I’ll brew a new cup for you, Yujin. Everyone else, please order too.”
“Noah oppa! Orange juice for me!”
“I’d like mine with Noah’s love, please~!”
It was noisy.
Han Yujin smiled the whole time. He laughed easily and spoke happily. After accepting his teacup and taking a sip, he complained playfully to his little brother, “This is basically barley tea.” The scene changed behind the softly enveloping fog.
“…What are you two doing here?”
It was the lounge in the Awakening Management Office. Han Yujin and Seong Hyunjae stood side by side and, instead of answering, smiled brilliantly. Chirp, perched on Seong Hyunjae’s head, let out an energetic chirp and threw up his wings. The Management Office employees who had been filling out questionnaires slowly, stealthily began to leave their seats.
“That paper.”
“It’s just a simple survey. A survey.”
“For the sake of those who serve the public good, you see.”
Chief Song Taewon silently held out his hand. Han Yujin obediently offered up the questionnaire.
“My name seems to appear with unusual frequency.”
“Ah, well, the end of the year is right around the corner! Anyway, this is technically going in as, like, a year–end public donation fund, and once the year ends, Chief Song, your birthday is basically right after that.”
“Chief Song Taewon’s birthday is notoriously difficult to celebrate. This time, Han Yujin agreed to participate as well.”
“Han Yujin.”
“It’s not just you, Chief Song. Before that, there’s Hyunah’s birthday, and after that it’s Noah’s, then Yerim’s, then Peace’s, one after another. They’re all packed into two months, so we figured we should get ready in advance!”
“And before Chief Song Taewon comes Han Yujin’s birthday.”
–Chirp!
“We’re also treating Chirp’s birthday as sometime around April or May, and the newbie said hers is in spring too.”
Han Yujin cheerfully chattered away, pretending not to see Chief Song Taewon’s sigh. He already looked excited.
“There are so many people to celebrate now.”
The present Han Yujin said it too, smiling warmly.
“Anyone could see I suffered. Anyone could see I was in pain. And at the same time, anyone could see I looked happy. It looks that way to you too, doesn’t it, Yuhyun?”
Crack.
The arcade gun shattered into pieces in Park Yerim’s grip. Beside the tearful Park Yerim, Han Yujin comforted her and told her it was fine, even though he could not hide his laughter. Han Yuhyun coldly asked if she still could not control her strength, and Park Yerim looked ready to jump at him, telling him to come experience it for himself and check.
“I’ll take everything from here to there.”
Yu Myungwoo pointed at the items the Hunter Market employees had brought out in rows. Beside him, Han Yujin clapped with exaggerated grandeur. Noah, who had come along as a bodyguard, was swept up in the mood and clapped too.
“Wow~ As expected of our golden blacksmith!”
“Wh–what are you doing, Yujin? I’m not buying these to use them. I need a lot because I’m going to disassemble and examine them, and use some as materials. Besides, you can buy this much easily too.”
“Hey, hey, that’s different from you. You’ve got all those cards lined up over there waiting to pay for you.”
Han Yujin poked Yu Myungwoo in the side and glanced around at the high–ranked Hunters loitering nearby.
“No, actually, would Hunter Market even bother charging you pocket change in the first place? They’re probably thinking, Please just take it and later sell your SS–Rank equipment through us~”
At Han Yujin’s deliberately dramatic voice and gestures, Yu Myungwoo grew embarrassed, but he laughed with him.
“Daddyyy!”
Han Byeol cried out with a wail. For some reason, she was terribly upset, clinging to Han Yujin’s leg and rubbing her wet eyes against him. Hangyeol and Han Seol hovered anxiously beside her, at a loss for what to do.
“Why, Byeol? What happened, huh?”
Han Yujin picked the little girl up. Han Byeol sniffled and answered.
“Well. Um.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“What happened?”
Han Byeol tilted her head.
“I forgot.”
“You forgot?”
“Yeah. What’s that? Is it food?”
Seeing Han Byeol completely forget why she had been crying and show fresh curiosity instead, Han Yujin burst into laughter. The present Han Yujin laughed with her, then looked toward Han Yuhyun standing beside him.
“Isn’t she cute? The one over there who looks like you is Han Seol, and he really is just like you when you were little. Unless it has to do with Byeol, he barely reacts to anything. But in front of Byeol, he turns into a child properly, and that reminds me of you too, so it’s adorable. And Gyeol beside them is the oldest. You should see him acting all grown–up in front of his younger siblings. It’s so cute. So proud of him, too, and a little heartbreaking.”
“…She looks like Hyung.”
Han Yuhyun, who had been silently keeping his mouth shut, spoke while looking at Han Byeol in Han Yujin’s arms.
“You were that small.”
“…What? Don’t tell me you— You saw my memories? My childhood memories?”
Han Yujin said it in mortification. Han Yuhyun gave a small nod.
“You cried because I ruined Christmas, so you hated your little brother.”
“I–I barely even remember that! I mean, I was a kid. Kids are like that, you know. It wasn’t that I really hated you, Yuhyun, it was more like…”
“All of that is Hyung too.”
Han Yujin was Han Yujin.
Han Yuhyun was still clumsy with human feelings. Once Han Yujin was taken out of the equation, emotions became nothing more than simple knowledge to him, a collection of dictionary definitions. Even Han Yujin was not something he could understand completely.
But that strange part was also Han Yujin.
“I still don’t want you to suffer, Hyung.”
“Everyone feels that way. I wanted that for you too.”
Children’s laughter rang out. The sound of small footsteps mingled with it.
“You leaving me, Yuhyun— I can understand that. If that had been what you truly wanted, then in the end, I would have accepted it. But you left like that, and you didn’t even live well afterward.”
The end of Han Yujin’s voice trembled slightly.
“If you can live much better away from me than you can by my side, then you can go.”
“…That’s impossible, Hyung.”
“Then you should’ve stayed with me. Whatever happened, however it turned out, you should’ve stayed with me.”
Han Yujin let out a long, heavy breath. Deep and slow, as though he were trying to shake loose all the emotions piled up inside him.
“But Yuhyun, you protected me.”
“…Yeah.”
“And I met you again. And I’m going to keep living. Inside the time you gave me.”
Han Yujin held out his hand. Hesitating, Han Yuhyun nevertheless took it. They stood side by side, hand in hand.
The memories did not continue any further.
But they would keep piling up from now on. Over the memories of Han Yujin losing Han Yuhyun, memories of finding him again would settle. And holding that moment inside them, new memories would be made.
“Thank you for celebrating my birthday, Hyung.”
The twenty–six–year–old Han Yuhyun spoke.
He could not help taking Han Yujin’s hand.
He could not help accepting it.
The last remaining hesitation was still lodged in his chest, but he had grown one year older. Han Yujin’s little brother had reached his birthday.
“But I…”
Only, the Han Yuhyun here was—
He could not continue and stopped. There was one fact Han Yujin still did not know. Did he really have to tell him? Was this not already enough?
The twenty–six–year–old Han Yuhyun looked at Han Yujin. His softly smiling face filled his vision.
“Hyung, I…”
Fwoosh—!
A blast of surging heat drove the fog back in an instant. Even though the air was saturated with water, red flames bloomed. The twenty–six–year–old Han Yuhyun hurriedly stepped in front of Han Yujin. Han Yujin cried out in confusion.
“Yuhyun? You’re here too—!”
Had he been here all along?
There should have been only one person watching the memories. Those who did not belong to someone else, like Sanho or the King of Harmless, were trapped alone inside Han Yujin’s memories, drawing up the memories connected to themselves.
And yet.
“Because they’re… the same person…”
Though they had split apart at the age of twenty, perhaps they were still beings that had begun the same way. Han Yujin was shaken by the realization that the twenty–one–year–old Han Yuhyun had also been here.
In front of him, the flames surged forward, only to crash against the fog and scatter.
“…Hyung.”
The twenty–one–year–old Han Yuhyun stood beyond the flames.
Both his eyes were red.
They flickered crimson.
Han Yujin felt his chest go cold.
“Yuhyun, listen to me—”
“I don’t know who I am.”
Han Yuhyun.
But Han Yuhyun was already standing by Han Yujin’s side. A Han Yuhyun who had spent far more time with him. A Han Yuhyun whom Han Yujin had never once managed to let go of, even after turning back time. The time after the regression was not solely the twenty–one–year–old Han Yuhyun’s either. Nor was the time before it solely his.
Then what was the thing standing here?
“You’re my little brother! Han Yuhyun!”
Han Yujin’s voice sounded terribly far away.
The twenty–one–year–old Han Yuhyun looked at the flames wavering before his eyes. If he had been himself, then even if he wavered, he would have listened to Han Yujin. He would not have refused the hand reaching out to him.
But right now, he was being eroded by a fragment of the primordial fire and bound by the Gardener’s butterfly.
The pillar supporting Han Yuhyun’s very existence, part of which had already collapsed, disappeared. Without Han Yujin’s acknowledgment, Han Yuhyun could not exist as a human.
He was only fire.
And fire was devoured by stronger fire.
“Yuhyun!”
“It’s dangerous!”
The twenty–six–year–old Han Yuhyun caught Han Yujin as he tried to run forward. That fire was not Han Yuhyun’s. It was not his little brother, the one who would never hurt Han Yujin.
“Listen to me! From now on, you’re going to keep—!”
Rumble!
The water and fog shook violently at the same time. Like the inside of a fishbowl seized and shaken by someone, the water shot up high and overturned. The desperate shout and the blazing flames were swallowed together, and Han Yujin, Han Yuhyun, and Han Yuhyun were all swept away by water and fog.
There were few memories surfacing because of Liette.
She had not spent that much time with Han Yujin. If not for Noah, they might never have been tied together deeply at all. Perhaps because of that, after a few short memories, memories of Noah and Han Yujin without Liette began to appear.
“Call me anytime you can’t sleep.”
Noah, whose eyes were slightly swollen, nodded. He sipped the juice Han Yujin had given him and let out a long sigh.
“For it to show this much when you’re S–Rank…”
Han Yujin swallowed the rest of his words and said, “Do you want to have lunch together?”
Instead of answering, Noah quietly confessed.
“I did fall asleep for a little while at a time, but I must have cried. I think I was dreaming about when I was young. Should I use a healing skill now?”
“No, it’s all right. That happens. It just looks like you lost a little sleep. Mm, was it Liette after all?”
Noah breathed out another long sigh.
“Will I… really be able to stop being afraid of my sister?”
“Of course. But I also think it’s okay to be afraid. Everyone has one or two things that scare them, and when it’s tied to childhood memories, it’s especially hard to shake off. It’s just that you’re suffering a lot, Noah, so we’re trying to make it a little less frightening. That’s all.”
Han Yujin smiled as he said no one could simply cast off painful things in an instant.
“Some wounds heal quickly and cleanly, but some leave scars for a long time. The important thing is that none of it is your fault, Noah. You can be in pain for a long time. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just that, for your own sake, it would be nice if it healed quickly and cleanly.”
And even if it never healed completely, that would not be wrong either.
Han Yujin kept telling him it was okay. Noah was already more than good enough as a person, and even with those wounds, Han Yujin and everyone else would still like him and take care of him.
“I have quite a few sore spots myself, you know. That’s just how people live.”
Noah smiled faintly.
Liette watched her little brother like that. She was not like Han Yuhyun, someone who did not know emotions at all. Like most people, she laughed, got angry, and wanted things.
But Liette had always been strong.
Even when her parents feared her and pushed her away, it had not bothered her. Something at that level could not even scratch her.
“I still don’t really understand.”
Liette had always said exactly what she felt. She had thought that being hurt by the truth was a sign of weakness. It meant someone had no confidence in themselves. So she had believed that if Noah grew strong, everything would be solved. He would not die. He would not be hurt.
“But… Noah disappearing hurts.”
And more than seeing him cry, more than seeing him afraid—
“I don’t… really hate you, Sister.”
She liked his smiling face better.
The Noah in Han Yujin’s memories gradually grew brighter. He smiled often, like he had when he was very young.
“It’s hard.”
What Han Yujin did was not the kind of thing Liette knew as making someone stronger.
And yet Noah became strong.
He looked straight at Liette, spoke to her, and then—
“…I want to see Noah.”
Noah.
My little brother.
In Han Yujin’s memory, Liette watched the golden dragon glittering with light. Liette’s little brother had always been beautiful. More than anything she knew. Wings of golden feathers soared high into the sky. Beneath them was a black dragon. Liette stretched her neck out long and looked up at Noah.
He was like a small sun.
From the beginning until the very end.
Rumble!
At that moment, everything shook. Water surged upward, and fog scattered.
–Kyang!
From somewhere, a small ball of fur came rolling in. Peace, who had been acting thoroughly spoiled with the Han Yujin inside the memory, sprang to his feet and looked around in confusion.
“Peace—”
Before Liette could finish speaking, water crashed down over them both.
–What do you think you’re doing?
The King of Harmless appeared through the fog.
Seong Hyunjae did not look back.
The remnants of memories were gripped in his hand.
–You gathered every memory connected to you?
Not a single one left behind.
At Seong Hyunjae’s feet, black shadows stirred instead of water.
“But Seong Hyunjae. It’s too late.”
“Happy final year of your thirties! Now you’re really almost forty!”
Han Yujin’s voice was swallowed into the shadows.
One by one, every last trace, cleanly.
–TL Notes–
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