Chapter 822 |
“I said… a lot of what I wanted to say.”
Not everything.
I could never say everything. No matter how much I said, it would never be enough. There was no end to that kind of conversation.
Yerim’s cheeks were already wet when she finally let out the sob she had been holding back.
“Huuung…”
She began to cry in earnest, grief spilling out of her, and Hyunah pulled her into her arms. Sanho, too, reached up and cupped her cheek, stroking her gently. I moved toward her on instinct, but Yerim shouted at me.
“Mister, hic! Don’t come over here!”
“Uh… okay?”
“You’re already, you’re already having such a hard time, hic, I don’t want you having to comfort me too!”
“That’s right, hyung-nim.”
Hyunah patted Yerim’s back as she spoke.
“There are plenty of people here to share the weight. You just let yourself be comforted.”
At those words, my eyes stung all over again. I hugged the spear in my hands tightly to my chest. Peace, who had been watching me carefully, came up in front of me. From the gem on my bracelet, a red lizard crawled out and climbed onto my shoulder.
– Hyung, Iryn is sad too.
Iryn’s eyes trembled. There were no tears in them, but they shimmered like flame.
– I’m sad, and I’m happy. This Yuhyun didn’t get to burn together with you. If there hadn’t been another Yuhyun, Iryn would’ve asked you to go with him, hyung. But Yuhyun was happy. Because he gave you everything he could give. Every last bit. He didn’t keep anything back.
“…Yeah.”
Everything, without so much as a handful of ash left behind.
Iryn looked at the white, black, and red spear I was holding.
– You’ll go together with the other Yuhyun, right? Hyung?
“I can’t promise that, Iryn.”
– Why not?
“Because I’m different from Yuhyun. I accepted that Yuhyun would follow me. That’s Yuhyun’s way. That’s how fire stays with me. But I… I’ll stay with my brother by remembering him and living on. The fact that I’m alive like this means Yuhyun is already inside me. One of the pillars that makes up the person called Han Yujin is Han Yuhyun.”
– …
Iryn doesn’t get it.
The fire spirit smacked his tail against me in irritation. I smiled as I watched him.
“Of course, when the time actually comes, I might not be able to hold out either.”
The only reason I could stand here on my own two feet and talk like this now was because I still had to bring back the twenty–one–year–old Yuhyun, and because I had learned that the twenty–six–year–old Yuhyun’s magic stone existed.
Without that, I wasn’t confident I could have stayed sane.
There were still things I had to do. Things I had to hold on to.
Yuhyun was waiting for me.
I stroked the spear once more, then put it into my inventory. The moment the thing I had been clinging to disappeared, the strength went out of my legs. I stumbled, and someone caught me from either side.
Seong Hyunjae and Chief Song.
Noah had also somehow come right up in front of me.
“You must be exhausted. Let me at least put a buff skill on you.”
– Kiang!
Peace rubbed his face against my feet, then grew larger as though telling me to climb onto his back. Yerim glanced over at us and started crying even harder.
I felt like crying too.
I was so sad. So exhausted. In so much pain.
And yet, it felt as if I were being held in warm water. Even the Yuhyun who had left seemed to be whispering that it was all right.
“I’ll support you.”
“I’m fine—”
No sooner had I tried to refuse Chief Song than Seong Hyunjae lifted me up. Then he set me on Peace’s back. Peace’s red fur slipped softly into my grip.
“To be honest, I don’t know what I should say to you, Yujin. Even though I went through something similar, I’m sure it was different.”
Noah looked apologetic as he spoke.
“So instead, I’ll do everything I can to help you save Hunter Han Yuhyun.”
“Me too!”
Behind Noah, Liette raised her hand and waved.
“Anyway, that tree was sent by that Gardener guy or whatever, right? So we should pay him back too! And cheer up! When you live long enough—”
“Noona.”
“What?”
Noah grabbed Liette and dragged her backward.
Chief Song, meanwhile, looked lost the entire time. His eyes said he wanted to offer me comfort, but he couldn’t easily bring himself to speak. Given his position, he had probably attended more than a few funerals. Still, I found myself thinking that maybe, to Chief Song, I really was someone rather close and special.
“Mr. Seong Hyunjae, you’re quiet too.”
I spoke while slowly stroking the scruff of Peace’s neck.
“Are you still going to keep saying nothing?”
“I’m somewhat at a loss myself.”
Seong Hyunjae looked at me and gave a slight shrug.
“This is difficult. Even for me.”
He had once said that even the most eloquent speaker would fall silent before someone who had lost a child, but that applied only to someone he respected, or at the very least someone he thought of as another human being. There was no need to be that considerate toward the feelings of someone with little value. Of course, Seong Hyunjae would basically maintain a polite attitude. But normally, he would likely stop at offering formal condolences.
“I see.”
In contrast, for him to call this difficult meant that I was someone he could not treat lightly.
For better or worse.
Even across the long, layered years he had accumulated, had there ever been many times when Seong Hyunjae had thought so hard over a single thing to say?
See, Yuhyun? This is what your hyung is like. There are an awful lot of people who like me. Even high–ranked Hunters listen to me now. You should have gone all the way to our world and seen it for yourself. Then you would have been able to feel more at ease.
“Thank you. You too, Mr. Seong Hyunjae, Chief Song.”
“I… yes.”
Chief Song looked like he was about to lower himself by habit, then stopped and gave a small nod instead. I turned my head toward Noah and Liette.
“Thank you too, Noah. You too, Liette.”
“You’re very welcome.”
“Why me?”
Liette, you don’t care one bit that you saved me, do you. Surely you haven’t already forgotten.
Next, I turned my gaze toward Yerim and Hyunah. Yerim rubbed at her reddened eyes. She shouldn’t rub her eyes like that. Well, she was S–Rank, so she’d be fine, but still.
“Thank you, Yerim. Thank you, Hyunah. Peace, you too. Thank you.”
For being with me as I saw my brother off.
For staying with me all this time.
Yerim’s lower lip jutted out as she said she felt like she was going to cry again. Then she pulled out her spear and raised it high with all her strength.
“Now we have to go save Han Yuhyun!”
“Yeah. We have to go get Yuhyun.”
“And then we’ll go home. All of us together.”
A water droplet floated over to me. A large one appeared in front of Yerim too.
“Wash your face. You can drink it too. When you cry that much, your throat gets dry.”
“Yeah. My throat stings.”
“Mine did too. Funny thing is, you get thirsty and hungry too. Even though when you start crying, it really feels like everything is over.”
Yerim smiled. I smiled too as I washed my face. My throat closed up again. These weren’t feelings that could be washed away cleanly in one go. They would stay with me. Even years from now.
“Ahem. Peace.”
Peace turned his body. He started to run in the direction I indicated, then stopped short. With a worried little rumble, he looked back at me.
“It seems he realized Han Yujin is very worn out.”
“What? Uh…”
“Please hold my hand tightly.”
Chief Song held out his hand. I took it as he said and tried to put strength into my grip, but my hand trembled. Chief Song looked at me with concern.
“If you’d ridden like that, you would have fallen off.”
“…I didn’t think I was that tired.”
“When a person is emotionally shaken to that degree, their brain sometimes fails to properly register the state of their body. I would like to advise you to rest, but…”
Chief Song knew perfectly well that I could not do that while Yuhyun was waiting.
Flutter.
Noah spread his wings.
“I’ll go ahead with noona and take a look. Yujin, please come slowly.”
Before I could say anything, the golden dragon lifted into the air with Liette on his back.
“The chances that the Gardener will harm Han Yuhyun are low. Even more so now that there is only one.”
“Yes. Fire was also one of the Gardener’s objectives, so he should be safe.”
Seong Hyunjae tried to soothe me, and Chief Song added his agreement. I took a long, deep breath.
Of course I was worried about Yuhyun. Of course I was anxious. But right now, I was undeniably exhausted. I couldn’t use My Kid Is The Best or skill sharing, only Teacher’s skill…
Wait.
“Where’s Hwang Rim? There’s no way he still hasn’t woken up.”
Where did that bastard go?
At my words, Yerim and Hyunah looked in different directions. Chief Song also glanced around.
“I’d put him a little ways away from Yerim. It felt gross to leave them together.”
“I didn’t see him when I opened my eyes! I thought he wasn’t even here!”
“He vanished without a trace. I didn’t sense any movement either.”
He had slipped away quietly enough that even Seong Hyunjae hadn’t noticed. A faint sense of dread crept over me.
“Even if he switched to the Puppeteer’s side, he was originally under the Gardener, wasn’t he? We should’ve tied him up after all! Hyunah, you said the Puppeteer took Sigma with him, right?”
“Yeah. Hwang Rim might have joined up with the Puppeteer too.”
“If that’s the case, it’s actually better. But shouldn’t you go too, Hyunah?”
“I don’t know where they are.”
Hyunah shrugged and continued.
“The Puppeteer does need me, but at the same time, he openly declared he was going to kidnap my precious kid. So it’s awkward for him to keep me near Dal too. Our relationship is pretty delicate in its own way.”
“Ah…”
“And even here.”
She smiled, glancing between me and Seong Hyunjae.
Right. There was that too.
“I either have to wait until the Puppeteer contacts me, or until Seong Hyunjae dies and Dal comes looking. Or should I give him a little poke right now?”
“I’ll decline. I, too, have to be wary of the Breaker Guild Leader.”
“Oh, that actually feels pretty good. To think the Sesung Guild Leader is wary of me.”
Moon Hyunah chuckled. Then she gestured toward me.
“You watch your back too, hyung-nim. Even if it’s not me. The guy who ran off is one thing, and the one stuck to your side right now is thinking his own thoughts too.”
I looked back at Seong Hyunjae. His golden eyes smiled, prettily pretending innocence.
The ones I could trust were Yerim and Peace and Yuhyun—
No, Yuhyun had stabbed me in the back too, hadn’t he. And honestly, Yerim could choose whatever path she wanted just as much as anyone else.
“Well, even so, I trust everyone here.”
And still, they were all people I could trust.
“So I’ll be counting on you. Please help me find my runaway little brother.”
“Don’t worry, Mister!”
Yerim answered energetically and lightly rose into the air. I signaled for Peace to walk slowly.
“I have Peace with me, so you can all go ahead.”
“No way. Mister Doll is one thing, but that con man is dangerous!”
“She’s right. That Hwang Rim guy is dangerous in all sorts of ways, hyung-nim.”
Hwang Rim seemed weaker than the Puppeteer to me. Though his relationship with the Gardener was the problem.
“Even though everyone has grown used to working together, whether or not we have Han Yujin’s skills still makes a significant difference. Without you, less than half of us can function as actual combat personnel.”
“And I suspect that black crystal cannot be broken by ordinary means.”
The crystal imprisoning Yuhyun.
Suddenly, I thought of the spear in my inventory.
“And lastly, Han Yujin has to go.”
“Yes. I have to go.”
The person Yuhyun was waiting for was me. The person who would bring my brother back was me.
No one else.
This was my task, and I could not hand it over to anyone.
I took some dry rations out of my inventory. Yerim made water for me. I needed to get my strength back quickly.
“White Bird met my brother before the regression.”
I started telling them about what I had seen.
“She was a future–sight species who could see the future. She said our world would probably have had a hard time avoiding destruction.”
“Isn’t this usually where someone says, but not anymore?”
Hyunah spoke lightly. Yerim nodded in agreement.
“So how do we save the world?”
“Mm. Work hard?”
“What kind of answer is that! Even I could make a prophecy like that!”
But boiled down, that was basically what it meant. It’ll be hard, but don’t give up and keep doing your best. What else was there? Though that was true of most things.
“She said the future is made of countless crossroads and showed him several of them. Apparently, before the regression, Mr. Seong Hyunjae might have aimed for the Nurturer title and taken me overseas.”
“Han Yuhyun let you go? No way!”
“It sounds highly likely it would have been an abduction.”
“She said it wasn’t kidnapping, but it was like kidnapping.”
“Seong Hyunjae went after the Nurturer title? Didn’t that thing barely do anything?”
“Mine is different because I got it by raising a natural S–Rank.”
Since Seong Hyunjae and Chief Song had also learned the facts, I gave Yerim and Hyunah a rough explanation as well. Of course, I hid a reasonable amount about the skills.
“Right now, its rank is higher because it became Perfect Nurturer, so if I hadn’t gotten close to Mr. Seong Hyunjae, she said he would’ve absorbed me, title and all. That was why Gyeol was wary of Mr. Seong Hyunjae too.”
“…Wow, seriously? Sesung ahjussi would do that?”
Yerim glared at Seong Hyunjae, and Seong Hyunjae put on an aggrieved expression.
“After all the loyalty I’ve shown Han Yujin so far.”
“You were eating it up like it was delicious, saying it was sweet. Hold on. What was that look just now? You want to try it too, don’t you?”
“To be honest.”
“Mister! Throw Sesung ahjussi out right now! Sprinkle salt on his head or something!”
“Seong Hyunjae really is hopeless, huh.”
Amid Yerim’s exaggerated shriek and Hyunah’s laughter, I laughed too.
But now, that future would never happen.
Yuhyun was at my side. Yerim had become family. Hyunah would stand on her own strength. Chief Song would keep living. And Seong Hyunjae would protect himself too.
And while we were at it, I’d like to live a little longer myself.
“Yujin!”
Noah’s voice called from high in the sky.
In the distance, I saw a black crystal faintly holding light within it.
A swarm of butterflies fluttered up into the air.
–TL Notes–
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