I wasn’t in my right mind around this time.
Half the day I justified my life thinking ‘I must live, I can do anything if I live’, but the other half I blamed myself asking ‘Why am I still alive and not dead?’
Like winter coming and nights getting longer, the time I spent tearing myself down also gradually lengthened.
As my birthday approached, the nights grew deeper and darker.
Since meeting Jeong Ho-san at the orphanage, I spent every birthday with that guy. Even after he became a hunter, that didn’t change.
As much as we had no other family to celebrate our birthdays, we always celebrated each other’s birthdays.
There were times when we didn’t have money to buy a cake or gifts and made do with just a snack, but we never skipped celebrating birthdays.
At least on our birthdays once a year, no matter what had happened before, it was our promise to spend it happily.
The birthday I faced after living on stubbornly despite Jeong Ho-san dying because of me.
I had locked myself in the house, refusing even Seol Rok-jin’s orders.
Seol Rok-jin insisted on dragging me out and sat me in front of a birthday table.
Seeing the birthday cake placed in the middle of the large conference room, I laughed hollowly and looked at Seol Rok-jin.
“What is this?”
“It’s your birthday that I cherish. How can I just let it pass like this?”
There’s a limit to making fun of me. I clenched my fists. I wanted to punch that smooth face, but I couldn’t.
Because I was afraid.
Though he was somewhat lenient towards me after that incident, I held myself back knowing Seol Rok-jin would change instantly if I crossed the line.
“I don’t need any celebration.”
But I couldn’t stop those words from coming out. I tried to get up from my seat subtly.
“Sit down.”
But at Seol Rok-jin’s order pushing down on my shoulder, I had no choice but to sit back down. The atmosphere was ominous. What the hell is he planning now? I bit my lip nervously. Seol Rok-jin smiling kindly is a bad omen.
“Everyone, come in.”
At Seol Rok-jin’s order, people in suits started entering the conference room one by one. They all looked as bewildered as I was.
“Now, sit in your places in order.”
There were exactly twenty people sitting around the conference table. I slowly scanned their faces. Most were familiar faces. There were even some who used to click their tongues at me as if I was pathetic. They’ve all been dragged to this ridiculous event.
“Today is the birthday of Kang Yi-sin, whom I love. Everyone, congratulate him!”
At those words, my cheeks flushed. What is he doing? Is he trying to embarrass me?
What kind of birthday party is this, bringing people who dislike me?
The already crumpled faces now all turned into expressions like they’d eaten shit.
But perhaps unable to dare ignore Seol Rok-jin’s words, the people filling the conference room clapped hard and congratulated me on my birthday.
“Woooow.”
There were even cheers. As the applause died down, Seol Rok-jin said with a smiling face:
“Now, shall we sing a song?”
“Are you serious?”
Despite my disgusted reaction, Seol Rok-jin didn’t care.
“Yes, it’s a birthday party after all, there should be a song at least.”
I don’t even want to hear a song sung by those people. As usual, my opinion didn’t matter.
Under Seol Rok-jin’s direction, the world’s worst birthday song began.
“Ha-happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you, ha-happy birthday dear Kang Yi-sin…”
When that not-at-all funny song finally ended, Seol Rok-jin said:
“Well, the congratulations are over. Now it’s time for birthday gifts. Fortunately, only one person among you needs to give our Yi-sin a gift.”
Seol Rok-jin’s hand rested on my shoulder. What is he trying to do? My shoulder stiffened with tension.
“You don’t need to worry about what to give as a gift. I’ll decide for you. As I said, this Kang Yi-sin here is my most cherished friend, right? So we should give the most precious thing as a gift.”
Seol Rok-jin smiled and said:
“The gift to be given for this birthday is, ah yes! Life. No matter how I thought about it, there’s nothing more precious than life.”
At those words, I blinked. So did the people in front of me.
No one understood Seol Rok-jin’s words.
“What do you mean? Life?”
Ignoring my muttering, Seol Rok-jin slowly walked and stood behind the man sitting closest to me.
“Manager Lee. You cursed Yi-sin saying he was a good-for-nothing bastard, right? And what did you say about me, that I have no eye for people? You asked why I keep such a bastard by my side, saying Seol Rok-jin has gone senile?”
At those words, Manager Lee jumped up from his seat. Seol Rok-jin sat him down with one finger. Seol Rok-jin stepped to the side and continued speaking lightly:
“And Director Kim, what did you say? That all he can do is kiss ass. Ah, you also said this. That Kang Yi-sin must have done something for me.”
At Seol Rok-jin’s words, the faces of the people sitting in front turned ashen. Seol Rok-jin’s pupils were now dyed yellow.
I realized then that the people sitting in front weren’t not speaking, but unable to speak. Seol Rok-jin was already controlling everyone here.
They couldn’t make any excuses or apologies.
Because Seol Rok-jin wouldn’t allow it.
The common point of the people who came here. They all committed a ‘mistake’. The mistake of badmouthing me, or more precisely, badmouthing Seol Rok-jin who chose me.
I wanted to say it’s ridiculous to make such a fuss over mere gossip, but I simply couldn’t open my mouth in this atmosphere.
Seol Rok-jin calmly recited the gossip people had said. Some were so vulgar they were hard to even say out loud. I wasn’t particularly hurt anew. To be honest, it wasn’t entirely incorrect…
What was shocking was that Kim Pil-jun was among those who had gossiped. He was the one I had grown somewhat close to since coming here. To think he was saying such things behind my back.
Kim Pil-jun’s face turned deathly pale when our eyes met.
After reciting the curses they had supposedly said behind each person’s back, Seol Rok-jin slowly opened his mouth.
“I’m disappointed. Didn’t I clearly tell you to treat Yi-sin here just like you treat me?”
Silence filled the conference room. What’s the point of asking like that after making it so they can’t make any excuses? As I was grumbling internally like that, Seol Rok-jin’s hand touched my shoulder again.
Seol Rok-jin lowered his head and whispered to me:
“Who should I kill for you?”
Only then did it sink in.
The birthday gift Seol Rok-jin had prepared for me was the lives of those people.
I had to choose one person among those sitting there.
As soon as I realized this fact, I bit my lip. I felt like throwing up what I had eaten.
You’re really going to give this kind of thing as a birthday gift?
“I don’t need it.”
“Really?”
At Seol Rok-jin’s words, I nodded. My back was already damp with sweat. I don’t like people dying. Really, I hate it. The thought of someone dying by my word was just horrifying.
“You shouldn’t refuse what an adult gives you.”
“It’s really fine. I’m not even that upset.”
At my words, relief flashed across the faces of the people sitting in front of me. Honestly, I don’t like those people either. If I liked people who said such things behind my back, I wouldn’t be a nice person but a pushover, a real pushover. But still. Does it make sense to ask for someone to be killed just for gossiping?
“Can’t you just treat me to something at a department store instead of this?”
I said that with a forced smile.
If I wheedled that I didn’t want this kind of birthday gift, maybe we could get out of here.
“Ah, as expected Yi-sin. You’re just too kind.”
I frowned at those words. Because any words coming from Seol Rok-jin’s mouth didn’t sound like praise.
“We should reward such a kind person. Ah, right. Everyone knows the story of the gold axe and silver axe, right?”
Seol Rok-jin smiled.
His yellow-dyed pupils glowed ominously.
“We should give everything to a good child.”
And at the same time, people opened drawers and took out knives. I didn’t have time to stop them. As soon as they picked up those knives, people started stabbing their own necks.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
“Ugh, uugh…”
I froze at what was happening around me. The clean office instantly began to be dyed red with blood.
All twenty people who were here died.
If only I had chosen one person, this wouldn’t have happened.
No words came out.
In the middle of that chaos, Seol Rok-jin calmly walked to the center and brought over the cake splattered with blood.
Holding out the cream cake stained red with blood to me, Seol Rok-jin smiled brightly.
“Happy Birthday.”
* * *
Ray, who had peeked at my memory, exclaimed in horror:
—C-crazy…
‘It was called a birthday party, but it wasn’t really a place to celebrate my birthday. It was a warning to those who dared to speak against Seol Rok-jin’s decisions.’
Even after that incident, Seol Rok-jin celebrated my birthday every year.
My birthday party turned into a purge day to eliminate people who had displeased Seol Rok-jin over the past year.
Every year, I had to choose the ‘person who should die’ with my own hands. I had no choice because I knew he would kill everyone like that if I didn’t choose.
Someone’s life disappeared at my fingertip.
I always had to suffer from guilt that I had killed someone.
Sweet cake became the food I hated most in the world.
Enough, thinking about the past only makes my head hurt more.
—Why on earth did you decide to follow such a guy? He killed your friend, and he does such things all the time.
‘I’ll tell you about that later.’
Just recalling that birthday party has already pushed my mental strength to its limit today.
Anyway, ‘birthday’ was not a welcome day for me at all.
It had become a day that made me shudder just thinking about it.
But…
I looked at the pile of snacks in front of me. Though they tried their best to decorate it, it still looked like nothing but a pile of stones.
I wonder who they take after to have such disastrous handiwork.
Still, well. I’m glad it’s not cake.
“Thank you.”
Thanks to this, I could smile with sincerity.
“Ah, right! There’s a birthday gift too.”
“A birthday gift?”
“Yes, there should be a birthday gift at a birthday party, right?”
Han Seo-hyeon rummaged behind his back and held out something.
“This is…”
It was a ring made of black bones. It was polished so smoothly that I could see my face reflected in it. But a ring for me?
Han Seo-hyeon, with a reddened face, stammered:
“A necklace is too cumbersome, and earrings require piercing ears. So it’s a ring. It has tracking functions too, because I thought I should know right away if something happens to Boss.”
Listening to this, it wasn’t just an ordinary ring.
After checking the item information window, my jaw dropped.
=====
Black Bone Ring / B-Grade
—–
Accessory · Auxiliary
A ring made directly by a talented necromancer by carving the bones of summons.
Transmits the wearer’s location and status to the creator.
=====
What is this? Isn’t this complete invasion of privacy?
“Make sure to wear it all the time.”
But I can’t say I don’t like it. Black aura swirled behind Han Seo-hyeon.
“Y-yeah. Okay.”
I silently put the ring on my left pinky finger. Anyway, I felt proud thinking he made something like this for me. Is this how parents feel raising children?
At that moment, Kim Jae-ho also raised his hand beside me.
“I prepared something too.”
Kim Jae-ho did? I didn’t expect anything, what did he prepare? Kim Jae-ho, who had disappeared somewhere, came back with his arms full of wood.
“What’s that?”
“You liked this, right?”
Perhaps because he saw me trying hard to make furniture recently. Kim Jae-ho’s prepared gift was well-processed wood.
“There’s more outside. A lot more.”
I burst out laughing at his face saying that as if boasting.
“Puhehe.”
Why does my heart feel so full?
“You guys.”
I roughly messed up Han Seo-hyeon and Kim Jae-ho’s hair.
“Ah, what are you doing!”
I felt good.
“Thank you.”
For the first time in a really long time, I was able to spend my birthday happily.
* * *
“Are you still alive?”
Lighting the candles on the cake, Jeong Ho-san smiled bitterly.
Since that incident, Jeong Ho-san had been trying to find out where Kang Yi-sin disappeared to, but there was no trace at all.
As if he had completely disappeared from this world, he was gone.
Jeong Ho-san belatedly regretted letting Kang Yi-sin go like that back then. He thought he should have held onto him and heard the detailed circumstances, then he wouldn’t have to worry like this.
Jeong Ho-san still believed in Kang Yi-sin. He believed he wasn’t the type to kill someone and run away, that there must have been circumstances.
People talked about how futile Jeong Ho-san’s belief was, but Jeong Ho-san’s faith never wavered once.
He was just desperately worried and afraid.
Afraid that he might never meet that guy again.
“Happy birthday, Yi-sin.”
Sending out birthday wishes to someone who wasn’t there to hear, Jeong Ho-san smiled bitterly.