The nerve, getting angry at me for saving him after I'd gone to all the trouble of keeping him alive.
“You think I'd forgive you over this?!”
“No,”
Before I could even get a word of explanation in, the kid shouted.
“Even if I owe my life to my enemy, it doesn't make me the least bit happy!”
...happy!
...happy...!
His resentful voice echoed through the waterway.
“...”
Maybe I should've just let him die.
When I stood there at a loss for words, the kid, reading who-knows-what into my silence, spun away with a huff.
“...Drop dead!”
Then he wedged himself into a corner and started sniveling. Choi Haegang walked over to the kid.
“Hurt anywhere?”
“Sniff, cold.”
That was when reason finally returned to me. I slid in a friendly remark.
“...I'm glad you seem unharmed.”
No reply came back.
Having draped his outer coat over the kid, Choi Haegang turned to me.
“I'll treat you.”
He'd finally noticed me bleeding from both my stomach and my back. I lay down obediently.
Honestly, I was running on fumes.
While I lay still receiving treatment, I caught Cap watching me, pretending not to. His lips had gone pale blue. He clutched the coat over his shoulders like a lifeline.
...He'd said he was staying at Choi Haegang's guild. I wanted to bring Cap back to the organization just like this. The Boss would surely be thrilled.
Recalling that the Boss had a weakness for my face, I smiled. The kid jerked his head away.
“...Seems like there's a big misunderstanding between us.”
I whispered softly to the kid.
“Misunderstanding?”
Worked up, the kid turned to look at me again.
“Drop the nice-guy act.”
“...”
“I saw everything. After you all left, I saw my dad lying there dead...!”
“Did you actually see anyone kill him?”
“That's-!”
He shouted boldly enough, but couldn't manage an answer, faltering. So he hadn't seen it. Good. There was still a chance to turn this around.
“You said ‘you all.’ Didn't you hear another voice, by any chance? The one who killed your family wasn't me.”
“Liar.”
“That was the work of a very scary, very bad man. Do I really look like that kind of bad person to you?”
“...You're on their side anyway.”
The voice that had been snapping at me was steadily losing its conviction. Just then, Choi Haegang tapped my body.
“Sit up.”
“Suure.”
I raised my upper body as told and went right back to running my mouth.
“Well, I certainly cooperated with them, but I'm not the one who ‘personally’ did it. I just lent a finger, you could say.”
It wasn't a lie. I'd merely phrased it to sound suitably vague.
“And yet, if killing a mere accomplice like me is enough to satisfy you...”
“! It's not!”
The kid shot to his feet. At how panicked he looked, a laugh slipped out of me before I knew it.
“If you get out of here... I'll tell you who the real culprit is.”
“You, spill it right now! Tell me, then die!”
Choi Haegang held back the kid as he thrust his face up close. I went on, unhurried.
“It's not the kind of thing that gets solved just by knowing a name.”
I knew all too well how fierce a vengeful spirit's obsession could be. Now that I'd dangled the clue right in front of him, he'd never be able to give it up.
“...”
“I'll take you to the real culprit.”
I cast out one last bait to drive the hook in. Just as I said it, Choi Haegang pressed down on my wound.
“Ngh.”
“Don't go making strange promises.”
He finished off the bandaging roughly, as if warning me not to pull anything. The conversation broke off. But the kid was already watching me with longing in his eyes.
That's right, just follow your hyung. Let's head to the hideout. Even better if we get a contract out of it.
I grinned wide in answer to that gaze.
Choi Haegang decided to take a short break from exploring, partly to let the clothes dry.
The kid, apparently worn out, leaned against the wall without dropping his guard and dozed off. In place of his soaked, discarded clothes, he had Choi Haegang's coat over him.
“You don't need to rest, hunter?”
“No.”
“I can take a watch too.”
“...”
“Haha, understood.”
Throwing out the light overture, Seo Sinwoo laced his fingers behind his head and lay down on the floor. He was still in his damp clothes. It would've been better to take them off, but Choi Haegang didn't force the issue. He had no desire to see that man's bare body.
Time passed like that.
Rustle.
A presence stirred on the far side of the waterway.
A monster?
Beyond the iron bars lay the corpses of the slain monsters. If any of them were still clinging to life, that would be a problem.
Choi Haegang rose to his feet. The other two were asleep.
A moment should be fine.
It was close enough that he could return the instant he heard a sound. Leaving a threat unattended was the greater danger. Choi Haegang made his decision and turned.
Crossing to the other side of the bars, he caught movement among the corpses.
Thunk!
He split the head of a crawling crocodile clean open with a single stroke. And when he returned to his spot in under five minutes-
“?”
“Oh...”
Seo Sinwoo was hauling the unconscious kid up onto his back. When their eyes met, he opened his mouth as if to make an excuse.
“Ah, this is...”
“Put him down.”
“...”
Watching Choi Haegang's reaction, Seo Sinwoo set the kid back on the ground. Choi Haegang crooked a finger.
“Over here.”
“You... won't attack me, right?”
He nodded, but Seo Sinwoo still looked hesitant. Bit by bit, he edged backward.
“Liar!”
Seo Sinwoo broke into a run, trying to flee. At that, as if he'd been waiting for it, Choi Haegang drew his sword and lunged. The distance hadn't been far to begin with, so the gap closed in an instant.
Whoosh!
“You said... you wouldn't attack...!”
“I don't recall ever saying that.”
Choi Haegang slammed the pommel of his sword into Seo Sinwoo's stomach. The merciless blow sent Seo Sinwoo staggering back.
“Ugh...!”
The wounds he'd taken throbbed. This was a clear cut above their last clash. It was the kind of attack you'd only see from someone who'd analyzed Seo Sinwoo's movements over and over.
Next, Choi Haegang aimed for the head. Not missing the opening as Seo Sinwoo reeled from the hard hit, he swept his leg and knocked him down.
Then Choi Haegang took a cord from his pocket, bound Seo Sinwoo's wrists, and dragged him by the back of the head to the water. The powerful grip plunged the seized skull beneath the surface.
“Pgh!”
Seo Sinwoo thrashed on reflex. He strained with everything he had to pry off the hand fisted in his hair, but the solid grip didn't budge an inch.
Ripples spread out around him in time with his flailing, submerged body.
How long had it been? Seo Sinwoo's body went slack. Choi Haegang yanked the head, heavy now with the loss of strength, back out of the water.
Seo Sinwoo didn't resist anymore. The man simply shut his eyes weakly and coughed.
He gives up fast.
Like a man used to being waterboarded...
That part was a relief. If he'd tried to use his power, Choi Haegang had been ready to dunk him again. That would only have meant more grief for both of them.
Choi Haegang flipped Seo Sinwoo over to face up.
“You'd best not move.”
He climbed on top of Seo Sinwoo to pin down any resistance. It was a posture skillfully calculated to keep his opponent from moving freely. He laid the flat of his sword against Seo Sinwoo's throat.
Feeling the keen edge of the blade, Seo Sinwoo slowly opened his eyes.
“...Are you going to kill me?”
“...”
“If you kill me... that's murder, you know, murder? You murderous bas... tard...”
Gritting his teeth, Seo Sinwoo spat out the words haltingly, then changed his tone in a flash. The venom suddenly drained from his eyes. He murmured like he was offering a confession.
“Hunter. I'll be honest with you. I'm sorry for trying to leave first. But I didn't know what kind of monster might show up, it was dangerous, that's all it was...”
A voice drawn out as though in genuine remorse. But Choi Haegang didn't move the sword.
“What did you do to the kid?”
“Nothing at all, agh!”
When he pressed down on the wound on his back, Seo Sinwoo hurried to speak.
“Wait, wait, I just knocked him out for a bit. He'd panic if he came to.”
“...”
He wanted to confirm whether that was true at once, but he couldn't pull away from this man. Choi Haegang narrowed his eyes, as if gauging the truth of it. He stayed poised to grind down on the wound again at any moment.
“Could you get off me? I'm scared.”
True to his word, Seo Sinwoo's body was trembling faintly. But it was clearly from the cold, not fear.
A man who claims to be scared over just this, doing something like that...
It struck Choi Haegang then, how Seo Sinwoo had been oddly friendly with the kid from the very start.
“Now, now. Don't be too hard on him. Fooling two awakeneds at his age, isn't that a truly remarkable talent?”
“So the talk of turning yourself in was a lie. You meant to take that child to your organization.”
Seo Sinwoo's eyes widened. But he quickly creased them into a smile. It was a smooth grin, ill-suited to his soaked, bedraggled state, but at this range the intent to hide his fluster was plain to see.
He spoke sweetly.
“...The organization. The organization's just for pocket money. If you want, I'll quit anytime.”
He'd carefully left out any mention of the kid.
“Really?”
Choi Haegang pressed, low. His cold eyes settled on the face, where bruises were beginning to bloom.
“Aha..., ha. Of course...”
“Don't try to spin anything. Answer honestly.”
Watching Seo Sinwoo's throat bob, Choi Haegang brought the blade in closer.
“Your fingerprints, your identity, the search itself came up impossible.”
“...Isn't that common enough? Things aren't the same as before the gates broke open.”
“I know that better than anyone.”
“Then why is a man who knows so well acting like this...”
Seo Sinwoo smiled, looking troubled. At the way he played the part of a man being unjustly threatened, Choi Haegang sighed and turned his head aside.
“Hah. You really are impossible to talk to...”
“...”
Seo Sinwoo, having been waterboarded out of nowhere, thought to himself.
That's my line.
Sweat began to trickle down over the faintly surfacing bruises.
Choi Haegang paused for a beat, then, as if he'd made up his mind, looked down at Seo Sinwoo coldly.
“If everything you've done up to now really was done without a single ulterior motive...”
The blade reaching up to his chin flashed.
“Then prove it, right here.”
“Prove it...?”
The haze in Seo Sinwoo's eyes cleared. His slightly unfocused pupils sharpened with such clarity they seemed, for an instant, to glint gold.
“That's really all it'll take?”
“So long as you can prove it... then yes.”
Seo Sinwoo nodded readily.
“Alright, I'll prove it.”
If it could all be settled that amicably, there was no reason not to step up.
“...”
He'd asked for it himself, yet he hadn't expected such a willing answer. Unable to believe it, Choi Haegang asked again.
“How?”
“First, mind getting off me? This position's uncomfortable.”
Composure regained at some point, Seo Sinwoo made his request. Choi Haegang rose. He still didn't let the sword leave his hand.
“...How exactly do you intend to prove it?”
“Well, isn't it obvious?”
Seo Sinwoo slowly sank to his knees. Having anticipated, at most, some exposé of his organization's weak points or a piece of evidence, Choi Haegang was thrown.
What is he trying to do?
