BIA Ch. 80

Still, he couldn’t help but say something about Chester’s dramatics. This room was like a dump? He wouldn’t talk like that if he had spent half a year in some backwoods barracks with no running water.

“It doesn’t seem that small.”

Isaiah crossed his arms and looked around the room again. Just by eyeballing it, it seemed at least four or five times the size of a normal bedroom. Of course, there were that many beds too. Two bunk beds and four single beds. Plus, there was barely any other furniture, so it almost looked like a dormitory room.

“That’s right. This house had a lot of guests coming and going. There were times when dozens of organization members would hide out here for days.”

Isaiah replied casually, “I see,” to Manny’s explanation. Whatever it was, compared to military barracks, it was no different from a luxury hotel. The beds were big and spacious too.

“Anyway, I’m leaving.”

“Leaving?”

Chester shot up.

“What else am I supposed to do if I don’t leave? I can’t do anything until next Friday anyway. If you even touch a hair on Bran’s head, you’ll be a beggar.”

“But, what if you secretly try to get to Bran….”

“Bran’s going to be in this house with you. What kind of magic am I going to use to meet him? Stop talking nonsense.”

Only then did Chester shut his mouth. Isaiah quickly slipped out of the room before Chester could come up with another excuse. He could feel Manny’s envious gaze on him from behind.

Leaving the mansion, Isaiah began walking across the dark garden. It was quite a distance to the main gate of the garden.

Passing through the various trees that might have been quite picturesque in the daytime, but were now only desolate, Isaiah sighed deeply. He couldn’t tell if it was from exhaustion or relief. Probably the latter. But the former wasn’t entirely untrue either.

There was definitely a part of him that wanted to get it over with quickly so he wouldn’t think about anything else. Because then there would be no turning back. Even if he wanted to go back, he wouldn’t be able to.

Instead, he would regret it. But with his honest feelings right now, he felt that it would be better. Rather than being stuck in the mud, unable to move forward or backward, it was better to keep walking forward while constantly regretting. Eventually, he would forget. There was no hardship in the world that couldn’t be overcome anyway.

There is no hardship in the world that cannot be overcome.

That slogan was posted all over the drug rehabilitation center. It was a common expression that many people used as a way to comfort others, but he actually gained quite a bit of courage from those words. Thinking about it now, it seems that was only possible because he was young.

It was more than a dozen years later that he learned that the slogan was a line taken from the Bible. It was when he was hospitalized in the hospital at the Kabul US military base after being shot. At the time, the hospital had framed Bible verses hung everywhere in an attempt to inspire the faith of the soldiers and make them more eager to fight. Two of them were hung in his hospital room. One of them was a verse from 1 Corinthians 10. God is faithful, so he will never give you a trial that you cannot overcome.

Around that time, he had a strange habit. No, it wasn’t just around that time. It had been much earlier. It had been right after he realized that Yahweh didn’t necessarily have to be a god in a religious sense. From around the time that the being who had shown him that fact became a new salvation for him, whenever he saw the words Yahweh (Jehovah), the Lord, or God in the Bible, he had a habit of replacing them with Bran, whether it made sense or not.

It was the same with that Bible verse. Bran is faithful, so he will never give him a trial that he cannot overcome. It strangely seemed to make sense. He was the most reliable and kind person he knew. If he trusted Bran and endured, this pain would pass someday. Whenever the temptation for narcotic painkillers reared its head, he would remember those words and resist.

Then what if he kills Bran…? And then later, if he is in pain, will he still be able to remember those words? Or will he erase Bran’s name then and recite the proper Bible verse this time?

As he walked aimlessly, he could see the main gate in front of him.

It seemed like quite a distance, but when did he get here already? The cold he hadn’t been aware of until now hit him all at once, and his cheeks, frozen by the cold air, felt numb.

Does that door open automatically when you get close? Or do you have to press something?

He was thinking about what it was like when he came in earlier, when the door opened with a clank, as if it had read his mind.

Isaiah, startled, stopped walking and looked over, and a black figure appeared in the door gap, along with a strong headlight beam. But the next moment, the iron door closed again with a clank, and instead of a shadow, a familiar man was standing where the light had disappeared.

In one hand he held a cell phone, and in the other, a briefcase. Isaiah guessed that he had probably gotten out of the car early to make a call.

But the man, having found Isaiah, put his cell phone in his coat pocket and calmly approached Isaiah.

“Looks like you’re going back now?”

No, he isn’t coming to me. He’s just going to the mansion. Isaiah vowed not to be mistaken. Of course, there were several paths to the mansion, and the path he had walked was a narrow, dark shoulder with no lights, but still, still.

“You two seem close. Not enough that you went to Virginia together, you’re still together at this hour.”

Yet his heart was pounding hard. As if he was expecting something else.

“Just like a normal couple, right?”

Instead of answering, Isaiah began to walk. He walked, looking only ahead, without looking at Bran. When he passed by him, he tried to walk as far away as possible, in case his heartbeat could be heard.

“We’re not done talking.”

But he was caught too easily. He thought he had walked a few steps away, but Bran easily caught him just by reaching out his arm.

“Let go.”

Isaiah shook him off reflexively.

“You’re too rough.”

“Don’t grab me as you please.”

Isaiah spat out sharply, and thought it was fortunate that there were no lights. Thanks to that, he couldn’t see Bran’s face, which was probably displeased by his rough actions, and Bran couldn’t see his own face, which was flushed red. It was truly fortunate.

Instead of grabbing Isaiah again, Bran took something out of his bag and handed it to Isaiah.

“Here, this.”

“What is this?”

Isaiah received what Bran offered without thinking. Then, he gasped as he felt the texture of the old paper on his fingertips.

“The book I borrowed.”

He could tell without looking at the cover. It was that had been in the wooden box. The book that Bran had taken while he had lost his memory.

But in the first place, that was Bran’s book. It was the book he had stolen from Bran’s house in Liberty Port.

Then why is he saying he borrowed it? Could it be… does he not know it’s his book?

Isaiah took a short breath and then said calmly, trying to act nonchalant.

“It’s okay, you take it.”

“Why?”

“I don’t need it.”

“You don’t need it, huh.”

Bran looked down at the book that Isaiah handed back. Then, he looked up at Isaiah and said,

“Then you shouldn’t have stolen it in the first place.”

Had he gotten used to the darkness ? Isaiah could see Bran’s expression. He was smiling.

“Right, Lee?”

Isaiah dropped the book he was holding. With a thud, the book fell to the dirt floor of the garden.

“Oh dear.”

Bran bent down. For a moment, Isaiah unconsciously stepped back.

“You shouldn’t throw it away, even if you don’t need it.”

Bran picked up the book. Isaiah stepped back another step. He was afraid that Bran would hand the book back to him.

Faced with the moment of terror, his body moved before he could even think.

“Don’t come closer.”

The sound of a pistol slide being pulled back echoed loudly in the dark garden.

“Looks like you went to Virginia to get bullets.”

Looking at the gun pointed at him, Bran nodded as if he understood now.

“If you understand, don’t move.”

“Does ‘don’t move’ mean don’t move at all?”

“Is this not allowed?” Bran asked casually, putting the book in his briefcase. Then, suddenly, he took a step closer with his bag in his hand. Isaiah was surprised by his reckless action and instead lifted the gun barrel upwards.

Not missing the gap, Bran took another step closer and said,

“What are you going to do if I move?”

“Stay still,”

“Are you going to shoot?”

He thought he would take another step closer, but it was the opposite. Bran’s hand grabbed Isaiah’s wrist. And he pulled him strongly towards him.