DEB 12

“Yasha! Did you really tell Vina to go to the western mountains? How could you do that! You know the western mountains are the farthest from here!”

“Stop barking.”

“Yasha!”

“Even if you complaining… The western mountains are where you need to go. If it’s not you, there won’t be anyone to seal the rift that started in the west.”

“Why! Why do I have to go?”

“Because you’re the strongest among my disciples.”

“Oh, is that so? …If that’s the case, well, I guess I can go?”

With a gesture of pondering while stroking his chin, he seemed both simple and cheeky as he shrugged his shoulders helplessly. Just a moment ago, he was shouting loudly, but now, he smiled gently when I praised him, which made me unconsciously smile too, finding his innocence as pure as ever. 

“Then, just for this time, I’ll go. But in return, when I come back, you have to give me pat while I lay on your lap!”

“Alright. I’ll think about it if you don’t confuse ‘recover’ with ‘give birth’ anymore.”

“Argh! That’s been hundreds of years ago, and you’re still bringing it up!”

“Haha.”

I found it quite cute when he made a fuss when I teased him. Even after reaching adulthood, that innocence hasn’t changed… Even if he had inherited the ruthless nature of the Red Dragon, who could possibly hate him?

***

Ugh…

“……”

Agh… my head.

A splitting headache made his head throb. 

He definitely dreamed something… 

Yet he can’t seem to remember the contents of the dream he had. 

It’s bothersome that he can’t recall whether he dreamed of Yasha’s past or not. 

When he tried to remember it again, instead of the dream, memories of the events just before he faint flashed through his mind.

The cold-eyed man leaning against the wall, the ominous man with dark black hair, and the man with red hair.

As the faces of the troublemakers became vivid in his mind, emotions he had forgotten surged within him.

Those bastards…!

When he tried to get up in a hurry, he saw an empty hospital room. Even Huigang couldn’t be seen. 

Huiyun lifted the blanket.

What did those bastards do to his brother?

Considering the grim atmosphere, there was no denying the possibility. Feeling the need to find Huigang quickly, he stepped on the floor and headed for the door, only to collide with someone as the sliding door was pushed open.

“Brother?”

“Huiyun!”

Huigang, who seemed slightly relieved compared to the last time he saw him, hugged Huiyun. Snuggling into his brother’s embrace, Huiyun wrinkled his nose at the scent wafting from his brother.

“What’s wrong? Why do you smell of blood?”

The pungent scent of blood emanated from Huigang’s clothes. 

When questioned about the smell that could only be found after spending a day in a place where dozens of people died, Huigang retreated a few steps.

“I’m sorry, Huiyun. I didn’t realize the smell was so strong.”

“Where did you go that your clothes smell like blood?” 

Huigang seemed to deliberately avoid answering. If he were his usual self, he would have answered his question first and apologized, but instead, he looked frustrated, as if he had a lot to say but couldn’t. 

Huiyun narrowed his eyes and frustration was evident in his face, as he couldn’t help feeling annoyed at his evasiveness.

Huigang closed the door to the hospital room, saying he would talk inside. 

Following his lead without a word, Huiyun brought out a chair far away from Huigang and sat down quietly. Knowing that Huiyun was bothered by the smell of the blood, Huigang just silently rubbed his face.

“I followed the guild leader through a gate and came back. That’s probably why I smelled of blood.”

“What do you mean by that? Why did you follow that person through a gate?”

“…For a deal.”

“A deal?”

Huigang sighed heavily at the question and leaned back in his chair.

“He said he’d remove the surveillance on you if I followed him through a gate a few times.”

Huiyun, who had been habitually picking at the remnants of his fingernails, stopped moving at the mention of surveillance.

Surveillance?

“What? Why would I be under surveillance?”

It was so absurd that he couldn’t help but ask Huigang. 

He immediately regretted it, but Huigang gave a look that said he understood the sentiment and rubbed his face again. 

Covering his face with his hands, he muttered, “Exactly…” 

His voice was bitter, trapped within the palms of his hands.

“It’s puzzling to me too. Why are they trying to monitor you? But the guild leader and the two others insisted it was necessary, saying you might be an unregistered hunter…”

Huiyun’s shoulder jerked up at that.

An unregistered hunter?

Huigang, thinking Huiyun felt wronged, looked out the window then ruffled up his hair.

“It’s absurd. How could you be an unregistered hunter? You’re lying in bed right now… He said he’d remove the surveillance attached to you after I go through a few gates, but that’s only for the Blue Flame Guild. The surveillance from the Ash Guild and the Bureau is still there. They said they’d leave once your innocence is proven, but I can’t make sense of any of this.”

Huigang visibly expressed his confusion as if facing the biggest crisis of his life, groaning in frustration. Huiyun, seeing his brother in distress, felt a pang of guilt and closed his eyes.

This has to be because they suspect something and wanted to check if Huigang was involved too by taking him around…

He shouldn’t have helped them. Regardless of what’s right or wrong, he should have just left those three hunters there. Why did he bring them along and cause this mess?

Huiyun bit his lip.

As expected, Yasha’s abilities were the problem.

From their first meeting until he passed out, Jiwook had been hung up on Yasha’s abilities. That meant the situation was entirely his fault. The use of Yasha’s abilities and rescuing them had weighed heavily on Huiyun. Deciding to just deal with the surveillance, he patted Huigang’s back.

“It’s not going to last forever. If I’m innocent, they’ll leave on their own. Like you said, I spend most of my days lying in bed anyway.”

Huigang, encouraged by his words, quickly turned around, looking pleased at his word.

“But… Where were you ten days ago? The day you had a seizure at the hospital.”

“Huh?”

“That day, the nurse called me saying you had disappeared. I couldn’t ask because the guild leader came and it was hectic, but where did you go? It can’t be that you actually went to a gate… You weren’t caught on CCTV either. …I understand if hiding it in front of the guild leaders, but you should tell me now.”

Huigang asked with a mix of firmness and concern. Realizing the inevitable was upon him, Huiyun, understanding that he couldn’t deny the situation, quickly apologized. 

As in fights where the first punch is essential, apologizing before being scolded seemed like the winning strategy here.

“I’m sorry! …I actually tried to enter a gate that day…!”

“What?”

Huiyun quickly recited his prepared excuse before Huigang could ask further.

“You’ve been a hunter for a while, but there’s still no word on the elixir, and you suffer every time you search for it… I wanted to help somehow, so I tried entering a gate on a whim, but of course, they wouldn’t let me in because I’m not a hunter. I tried a few more gates before coming back. The seizure might have been caused by inhaling too much mana near the gates… I don’t know what happened with the CCTV, but I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“You…”

Huigang stuttered in shock at the rapid flow of words. Then, he stood up and walked over menacingly, grabbing Huiyun’s shoulder firmly.

“Are you out of your mind? Why would someone who’s not even a hunter try to enter a gate! Especially when you’re not well, what if the guards had let you in!”

The expected shouting came. If their roles were reversed, Huiyun would have reacted the same, so he closed his eyes tightly, chanting apologies after apologies in his mind. After gripping Huiyun’s shoulder as if afraid of losing him, Huigang sat back down in the chair. His staggering sit-down was reminiscent of a tragic hero in a movie.

“…”

An uncomfortably heavy silence settled inside the room. 

It had been a long time since Huiyun felt this awkward being with Huigang.

He seems angrier he initially thought.

As Huiyun watch his brother amidst the tense atmosphere, Huigang, who had been massaging his eyelids to relieve stress, slowly opened his mouth.

“…So it was all because of the Elixir in the end.” 

“No, it’s not like that…!”

His instincts screamed a red alert, warning him that agreeing to that statement would be a mistake. Staying true to his instincts, he immediately countered, and Huigang, unlike his usual self, didn’t hide his tired emotions.

“What do you mean it’s not? You acted because you thought I was suffering because of the Elixir.”

“It’s not just that. I was also curious about the Gate….”

Ha. 

At those words, Huigang let out a deflated, mocking laugh. Faced with a reaction he had never experienced before, Huiyun’s expression froze.

“You’ve ignored me for almost a year because you hated that I became a Hunter. And now you’re telling me to believe that you suddenly became curious about the Gate? You had no interest in Hunters, let alone Gates, to begin with. That’s why you didn’t recognize those three when they showed up.”

“Brother…”

“If you’re having seizures in a row, it means your body is in bad shape. Just wandering around the Gate area affected you this much, entering it could literally kill you, Huiyun. You know that.”

He knew. 

There was actually a case just a year ago when a patient with Mana Hypersensitivity stepped into the entrance of a Gate and died in less than a minute, causing a stir. Of course, that patient didn’t enter the Gate out of curiosity but used an unidentified Gate in an attempt to commit suicide. Tragically, there was already a team inside making progress, and they found him in less than a minute.

He moved because the system assigned him a quest, so he was confident that it wouldn’t let him die in the Gate due to Mana Hypersensitivity, but Huigang, not knowing this, had no choice but to be anxious.

Realizing his clear mistake, he lowered my head, and Huigang, who had stood up, whispered softly.

“If I lose you too, I can’t go on, Yoon-ah.”

His childhood nickname for him slipped out of his mouth for the first time in years. Knowing that his being left alone would truly make Huigang alone, Huiyun simply nodded.

“I’m sorry.”

It was a short apology, but it was filled with sincerity. Huigang seemed to notice that sincerity, as he let out a small laugh and hugged Huiyun. It was a moment of reassurance, receiving a familiar embrace.

“This should be enough right?”

A soft whisper tickled his ear. As he opened my eyes wide, Huigang, who had stepped back a bit, met his eyes and slightly curled up the corners of his eyes. It was a relaxed but somewhat sad smile.

“I don’t know the details, but you don’t want those people to be suspicious of you, right? So, this should be enough for the surveilance to listen and report that you’re innocent.”

“…”

“But I still have many unresolved questions. Why you have the power of an Awakened… and how you ended up acting as the savior. So, tell me when you’re ready.”

With a twinkling smile, Huigang patted Huiyun’s back, saying he had to go and to take care of himself, then turned around. Huiyun blankly stared at his brother heading towards the door, waving.

What was that just now…?

Surprised by the unfamiliar situation, Huiyun soon burst into laughter, sensing that the presence of the two watchers outside the door had also disappeared.

“…So, you knew all along.”

Judging by the reaction, it seemed Huigang had been aware that Huiyun had been sneaking out of the hospital room intermittently over the past three years to save people. Yet, he pretended not to know and brought up the news about the savior. He was quite the sly person. Similar to someone.

Wondering if the saying “blood is thicker than water” also applied in this situation, Huiyun felt a sense of defeat and reached for the blanket.

“I underestimated my brother.”

Though he looked naive, almost likely to be deceived, at the end of the day, Huigang was indeed a son of the Mok family. He felt a bit surprised and felt slightly betrayed, but Huigang must have felt the same.

Well, thanks to this, he might be able to lessen the relentless surveillance from those three men, so it’s a good outcome.