Chapter 37. Festival (2)
How could he not know the familiar smell entering his nose as he inhaled?
Hyeon-yul’s eyes moved urgently.
People were mixed together, so numerous that he couldn't even tell who had just passed by.
Pinpointing someone in this situation was difficult.
‘…The Poison King was definitely caught, though?’
This festival became dangerous because of the Poison King.
Due to the Poison King's greed to expand his influence after Shin Dae-ho's death, a massacre was scheduled to happen here.
Now that the guy was caught, that danger should have disappeared.
‘But someone died here?’
Did someone inherit the Poison King’s will?
Why.
Hyeon-yul felt a flood of thoughts rushing in.
Among these countless people, who exactly was the villain?
Who was the right person to kill?
Feeling the warmth of the small hand tightly gripping his own, Hyeon-yul thought deeper.
‘Does no one know yet that someone died?’
Suddenly, the wind blew.
It wasn't ordinary wind.
As Hyeon-yul’s gaze moved, it fixed on someone.
It was impossible not to notice.
Because an eagle emblem was proudly embedded on his arm.
It was Ji-hwan.
When their eyes met, Ji-hwan smiled.
It felt like he would shout ‘Hyung’ at any moment.
Ji-hwan raised his hand and pointed at someone.
Turning his head in that direction, he saw Shin-woo.
Shin-woo raised one finger.
One more.
It seemed exactly like that.
‘Is Chu Na-yoon here too?’
Shin-woo shook his hand as if dusting it off.
Go play.
Hyeon-yul felt as if he heard those words clearly.
The tension built up in his shoulders slowly eased.
Team 3 had arrived.
‘Do they know someone died?’
Jiiiing.
The phone in his pocket vibrated.
[Senior Baek Shin-woo: Na-yoon probably saw the guy who passed by you.]
[Senior Baek Shin-woo: I want to make sure nothing bothers you, but I can't promise this time.]
[Senior Baek Shin-woo: There are way too many people.]
[Senior Baek Shin-woo: Contact me if there's any strange sign.]
[Senior Baek Shin-woo: Have fun.]
He had noticed.
But it seemed the other side was troubled as well.
“…Hyeon-yul?”
At Jeong-min’s voice, Hyeon-yul looked at him.
He was anxious.
“Are you really okay? Feel like throwing up?”
“I’m fine.”
“First, eat this.”
What Jeong-min offered was candy.
Hyeon-yul frowned as soon as he saw it.
“Give Se-rin some too.”
Se-rin shook the hand she held with Jeong-min.
“This is really, really sour, so no. Se-rin will cry as soon as she eats it, you know?”
“Se-rin eats sour things well.”
“This is not allowed. It tastes truly terrible.”
Hyeon-yul sighed and put the terribly tasting candy wrapped in yellow paper into his mouth.
Surprisingly, it was handmade.
It was made exclusively for him, so others couldn't eat it.
It wasn't medicine, just meant to snap him back to his senses with its sourness.
Since taking too much medicine wasn't good either, it was a temporary measure offered by Jeong-min.
Hyeon-yul put the candy in his mouth.
“Now you’re wide awake, right?”
Jeong-min laughed, but Hyeon-yul frowned.
It was sour enough to make him snap wide awake.
“…Terrible.”
“You look like you can live now.”
Jeong-min laughed looking at Hyeon-yul, then looked at Se-rin.
He thought she would throw a tantrum, but she was enduring it well.
“Se-rin.”
“Yes.”
“What do you want to eat?”
Jeong-min asked, looking at Se-rin.
“…Is it okay for Se-rin to say?”
Se-rin spoke more cautiously than before.
“You can say whatever you want. Since Ajussi couldn’t give you candy earlier, I’ll buy you something even tastier.”
As Jeong-min smiled, Se-rin finally smiled shyly.
Strength entered the hand holding his.
“Se-rin wants to look around.”
“Won’t your legs hurt?”
“Se-rin is strong!”
“So brave too.”
Jeong-min smiled and praised Se-rin.
She was mature for her age.
How did she get involved with Hyeon-yul?
Jeong-min was worried about Se-rin.
As if to shake off such worries, Se-rin walked forward excitedly.
She waved the hand on Hyeon-yul’s side and looked at him.
“Ajussi, Ajussi, there are really, really many people.”
Everything was fascinating to Se-rin.
She had never seen so many people, nor were there people looking at her strangely.
It seemed as if the sparkle of as many people shone in Se-rin’s eyes.
“There are many people at festivals. I didn’t know there were even more on the last day.”
“Everyone is smiling brightly.”
“I understand that happens when you come to a festival.”
“Is Ajussi happy now too?”
“I don’t really know about that.”
“…Then, you know. Could Se-rin’s mom and dad be here too?”
“I don’t know.”
At Hyeon-yul’s answer, Jeong-min freaked out.
Why do you talk like that?
Jeong-min barely swallowed the words rising up to his throat.
‘…He’s adapting well, right?’
To think this was Hyeon-yul’s social life.
Seeing it firsthand was devastating.
He himself knew Hyeon-yul’s condition, so he was moved enough to clap his hands, but it wasn't like that in other people's eyes.
He was doing worse than when he was with him.
Jeong-min observed Se-rin.
He thought she would be sad, but Se-rin was actually smiling.
Her smile spread.
“Ajussi is funny!”
“Is that so?”
“Everyone gets surprised when Se-rin asks like this. So Se-rin doesn’t ask.”
Even if Se-rin didn't know exactly what those gazes meant, she didn't want to face them.
She didn't know why they looked at her like that.
“I also don’t know who my parents are.”
“Ajussi doesn’t know either?”
“Yes.”
At Hyeon-yul’s answer, Se-rin squeezed the hand holding his.
“But can you see?”
Hyeon-yul looked blankly at Se-rin.
She was small.
From this viewpoint, what more could she see besides people’s legs?
“Yes. I can see people.”
“Besides that, can you see something you want to eat?”
At Hyeon-yul’s question, Se-rin hesitated.
“…What if Se-rin hurts Ajussi?”
When she got excited, when she was too happy, fire would burst out of her body.
She was holding it back tightly even now.
“You won’t get hurt.”
Such tiny flames wouldn't even reach him.
Hyeon-yul held out his hand just as Jeong-min had done for him.
Se-rin hesitated, looked at Hyeon-yul, then slowly stretched out both hands.
Hyeon-yul held Se-rin.
As her view became higher, Se-rin’s chubby cheeks rose upwards.
“Can you see well now?”
“Yeees!”
At the voice shouting loud enough to hurt his ears, Hyeon-yul frowned.
Did they learn group shouting techniques at kindergarten?
Hyeon-yul walked slowly.
“Teacher.”
“…Huh?”
Jeong-min’s voice trembled.
It seemed he was moved again in the meantime.
He didn't know what there was to be so moved about.
“Come to think of it, when I was young, didn’t we watch fireworks together?”
“Ah, ah, we watched when you were young.”
“Was it a festival?”
“It was a festival. The scale was similar to here, or maybe a bit smaller.”
“Why didn’t I know?”
“That’s because we watched from afar.”
Jeong-min pushed up his sliding glasses and answered nonchalantly.
He felt it took a long time for Hyeon-yul to stand here so casually.
“Teacher.”
“Why? Is there something you want to eat?”
“Not that, are people-watching the festival?”
Hyeon-yul didn't like the situation where he couldn't proceed as he wished.
He could smell food, but because of the people lined up, he couldn't even see the food properly.
The performance times were set, and what was he supposed to watch until then?
“It’s a bit different from the book.”
The book clearly listed numerous advantages of the festival.
Like unique experiences, or sights not usually seen.
The more he walked, the more it just looked like a street lined with stalls.
What was he supposed to look at?
“Hyeon-yul. First, do you know what kind of festival this is?”
“It’s a light festival!”
Se-rin answered on behalf of Hyeon-yul.
“That’s right. Se-rin knows well?”
“I watched a video, and they said it’s super sparkly. So I wanted to go.”
“Did you hear? It only becomes beautiful at night.”
“Still, it looks like there’s nothing.”
“The sun will set if you wait just a little longer.”
Jeong-min looked at the sky.
The sunset was setting.
Soon the sun would set, and night would arrive.
Hyeon-yul also followed Jeong-min to look at the sky but stopped when he heard something fall with a ‘thud’.
A little ahead, something resembling the new weapon, but much smaller in size, fell.
A chilling sensation washed over him.
“If we fill our stomachs a bit and wait at that performance stage over there, the sun will set quickly?”
“Teacher.”
At Hyeon-yul’s unusually heavy words, Jeong-min sensed something was wrong.
“Why?”
“I’ll eat that.”
Jeong-min and Se-rin turned their heads towards where Hyeon-yul pointed his finger.
In the meantime, Hyeon-yul hid the weapon into the darkness.
‘…They chose this place for new weapon testing.’
Only then did he clearly understand what the villains were planning.
There was only one way to more definitively consume this area that the Poison King had tried to occupy.
‘Show it through a huge incident.’
Everyone who participated in the festival guarded by the Black Eagles died from a weapon used by villains.
Wouldn't it be perfect for establishing a focal point with quite provocative material?
Who would be the one leading this?
‘…Asan.’
That weapon was originally the creation of Asan, known as the Crimson Witch.
Perhaps the smell of blood he caught earlier, and the reason for causing an incident that would smell of blood, were all bait laid out for the new weapon?
‘They’re trying to pull off something interesting.’
Of all days, on his day off.
They caused trouble on that day.
“…Waaaah! Se-rin wants to eat that too!”
Se-rin finally saw what the food was through the crowd.
It was chicken skewers.
Seeing the plump meat skewered on the stick made her mouth water.
“Want to eat that?”
When Jeong-min asked, Se-rin nodded her head.
“Teacher. How about going with the child?”
At Hyeon-yul’s suggestion, Jeong-min reached out to Se-rin without hesitation.
He couldn't take Hyeon-yul all the way to the crowded stall.
It would only serve to trigger his trauma, and he vaguely sensed that something had happened just now.
“Shall we go with Ajussi and see how the chicken skewers are made?”
At Jeong-min’s suggestion, Se-rin nodded.
“Okay!”
Se-rin was held by Jeong-min, and Hyeon-yul pointed somewhere with his finger.
“Then, I’ll be under that streetlight over there.”
When Jeong-min followed his finger, there were no people around.
“Okay. Don’t go anywhere, stay there.”
“Yes. Sauce, mild flavor, please.”
“Okay. Wait there.”
Only after hearing Jeong-min’s reply did Hyeon-yul turn around.
Everyone looking at Hyeon-yul with his cold gaze flinched.
‘…Today is a day off.’
If the incident grew this large, it was natural for his leave to be forcibly revoked.
They blocked him from going home with tiresome overtime, and now they even ruined his day off.
‘I thought I was finally escaping overwork, and now they’re pushing me to overwork again?’
Anger boiled up.
If the mastermind was indeed Asan, he intended to kill her no matter what.
He had no intention of tolerating being made to work on his day off anymore.
Why here of all places?
They could have caused trouble anywhere his eyes didn't reach.
Hyeon-yul took out his phone.
Who should he tell?
After 고민ing(worrying,Thinking) for a moment, he saw a message.
[Noonim. The enemies dropped an unknown object. Please watch carefully from afar.]
Na-yoon was perfect for this kind of job.
***
As Hyeon-yul leaned against the streetlight, someone approached.
“I just got the call, what on earth is going on?”
It was Shin-woo’s voice.
When Hyeon-yul glanced, Shin-woo had come without his outer coat.
“It’s exactly as I told Noonim.”
“You, when did you… to Na-yoon…… Never mind. Do you have that object?”
At Shin-woo’s words, Hyeon-yul slightly lifted the object then hid it again.
“It resembles the new weapon we saw last time, the only difference being its small size. The content is likely poison. By any chance, has the antidote been made?”
“Not yet.”
Shin-woo trailed off.
Yesterday, the new weapon was used on the mountain near the city.
Was it tested for today’s event?
“Then we must find it.”
“Find what?”
The weapon, or the one holding the weapon?
Perhaps both could be included.
Shin-woo waited for Hyeon-yul’s answer.
“Both.”
“If that’s the case, Na-yoon and Ji-hwan are chasing them now. You know Na-yoon has good eyes, right?”
“I know.”
“If Na-yoon sees it, Ji-hwan shares the vision with magic and pinpoints the location. Then I’ll go to the pinpointed location and handle it. Are you reassured now?”
“Then you can give the weapon to me.”
“…What?”
“I can stop it.”
At those words, Shin-woo looked at Hyeon-yul.
“I’ll show you right away.”
He played with that toy yesterday.
He also figured out how to stop it.
“……You, are you crazy?”
But Shin-woo freaked out.