DTD 7

The scent of sun-dried blankets brushed the tip of my nose. As I turned over in comfort, a sudden pain in my waist jolted me awake. As I lifted my heavy eyelids, a familiar face appeared in my blurry vision when.

“Mr. Hajae, are you awake?”

I was so dizzy with fatigue that I almost called out, “Sang-ah.” 

No matter how sleepy I was, I couldn’t let that slip. Instead of answering, I just blinked, and Simeon asked concernedly.

“Do you feel dizzy, or does it hurt anywhere in particular?”

Why was he asking…? Ah. I collapsed again in the rift. I’d slept so deeply that I thought it was all just a dream. Since I was back in the Ark, it seemed I’d avoided getting stranded in the rift, but I wasn’t sure if everything had worked out okay.

“What happened to <Blue Hope>?”

“It awakened safely.”

“Oh! That’s a relief.”

Hearing the success brought a rush of energy that swept away my deep fatigue. The pain in my waist flared up when I tried to sit up again. I didn’t even groan, just slightly furrowed my brow, but Simeon immediately supported me, helping me sit up against the bed’s headboard.

“I had to perform surgery because we ran out of healing medicine.”

Surgery? So Raphael didn’t come? That’s probably for the best. I felt bad about owing him another favor.

“Then I guess I don’t need the healing medicine.”

“No, I’ve already asked for it, so I’ll bring it when it arrives. So don’t push yourself for now.”

When I lifted my thin T-shirt, I saw my waist tightly bandaged. Did they stitch my skin while I was asleep? It was my first time receiving any medical treatment, and I found it fascinating. As I poked the bandage out of curiosity, Simeon quickly grabbed my hand to stop me.

“What are you doing?”

I could barely hold back my laughter at how he glared at me as if scolding me with his eyes. What was he so uptight about? It wasn’t like I was a kid playing with a hot stove. As the corners of my mouth twitched, Simeon frowned even more, clearly not understanding.

“Is this… funny to you?”

“No, I’m sorry. Seeing someone who doesn’t bat an eyelid when killing several soldiers, getting so flustered by something like this, I find it a bit amusing.”

I chuckled alone, but when I met his serious face, I quickly wiped the smile off my face. Even though I disliked heavy atmospheres, I was smart enough to know when joking was inappropriate. Still, I didn’t want to cause unnecessary worry, so I shrugged lightly.

“This isn’t serious. I’ll be fine if I eat and sleep well for a few days. It’s not a big deal.”

“It is a big deal. You may not die, but you feel pain just like anyone else.”

“So what?”

“What do you mean, so what…?”

“As long as I don’t die, isn’t that enough?”

I said it without much thought, but when I saw Simeon’s distorted expression, I realized my mistake too late.

Humans instinctively struggle to survive. They have evolved to avoid pain and evade danger out of fear of death. But I have lived with an immortal body for nine years. The curse eliminated minor ailments, and my healing ability became abnormally high. The certainty that I wouldn’t die, no matter what I did, dulled the survival instincts that a human should naturally have.

Thus, for me, pain became not a warning of death but a mere physical reaction, nothing more or less. To get what I wanted, I would willingly cut my own throat, rush toward a blade without hesitation, and throw myself off a cliff.

Having lived alone for so long, I didn’t realize how strange that was. But now, seeing the miserable look in his eyes, I understood. My way of thinking was vastly different from others. …No, rather, it was severely broken.

“Simeon, what I mean is…”

“What if you fell into a coma? What if you never regained consciousness?”

“Oh, that won’t happen.”

“Can you be one hundred percent sure of that?”

Sure… I can’t be. But even if I did fall unconscious, wouldn’t there be ways to come back?

“If worse comes to worst, Raphael will help.”

“Raphael isn’t all-powerful. He needs the right gemstone resonance to heal. Even last night, Raphael came to heal you but failed because there wasn’t a suitable gemstone. Do you understand? There’s no such thing as a hundred percent certainty in every situation.”

So he did come… I hope he isn’t beating himself up over failing. I thought about contacting him later when Simeon suddenly asked me a question.

“Why did you leap in front of me?”

I tilted my head, confused by the unexpected question.

“Why else? I told you I’d protect you.”

“For the plan?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

I deliberately swallowed the words, ‘My body moved before I even realized,’ and, ‘I instinctively tried to protect you.’ Simeon just stared intently at my face without saying anything. He seemed to have a lot to say, so I cautiously asked.

“Are you mad?”

“No.”

Liar. You’re clearly upset.

“You don’t expect me to apologize, do you?”

“…No, that’s not it.”

That was genuine. I couldn’t tell if he was angry at me for recklessly using my body or at himself for not being able to protect me. Whatever the reason, I wasn’t at fault. As I sat there quietly, Simeon brushed his tired face and murmured softly.

“Don’t do that again.”

I usually keep my mouth shut, but I couldn’t agree with that, even as a polite lie.

“Sorry, but I can’t promise that.”

“…What did you say?”

“Thanks for worrying, but if something similar happens again, I’ll make the same choice.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Simeon frowned deeply. He seemed unable to understand what I had just said. But I couldn’t understand his attitude either.

“You said before that you always make the best choice to minimize damage. I just acted rationally. Thanks to that, you weren’t hurt, and we both returned safely to reality. <Blue Hope> also awakened successfully.”

Simeon had always said he followed logic and reason regarding spiritual objects. So, wasn’t it a good decision for me to shield him with my body?

“Everything turned out well in the end. Shouldn’t you be happy?”

Simeon let out a bitter laugh as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Happy… Are you serious? You were just moments away from going into shock from blood loss.”

“It wasn’t that serious.”

Even though I said he was exaggerating, Simeon didn’t seem to think so. Well, I can understand. He had to drag my bleeding body from the rift back to reality. It would make sense to be worried.

“Sure, maybe if you were unlucky, you could’ve died… if the person Ector had cut had been you, that is.”

His black pupils trembled like a stormy sea as he spoke coldly.

I understood why Simeon was worried about me. If he’d been cut instead of me, I would’ve been angry, too, asking why he’d done something so reckless. But that’s because it would’ve been a life-risking act.

“But Simeon, I can’t die.”

No matter how much I might throw myself into danger, there’s no such thing as noble self-sacrifice for me.

“A soldier wouldn’t go into battle with bare hands, fearing his beloved shield might break.”

His lips, which had been slightly open as if to say something, closed tightly at my extreme analogy.

After that, a long silence followed. Simeon’s gaze and expression changed every few seconds as he quietly watched me. Anger directed at who-knows-who, a slight sense of relief, suppressed worry, and regret all intertwined in a complex way. But in the end, it all settled into resignation.

“You’re right, Mr. Hajae… You made the best choice.”

A dry, lonely smile briefly crossed his lips. I felt like I might have spoken too coldly to someone who was just concerned, so I tried to offer an excuse, but Simeon quickly returned to his usual self and spoke up.

“You said you wanted to join in on the plan once <Blue Hope> awakened safely.”

I quickly nodded at the conversation I’d been waiting for, and Simeon spoke calmly.

“This mission made it clear. You’re the perfect ally. If you help, my plans will progress much faster.”

I never expected him to consider me a “perfect person.” I always thought he didn’t want me getting involved and kept drawing a line between us. Now that I’d finally earned his acknowledgment, I couldn’t help but feel a bit proud.

“Sure. You can ask me for anything now.”

“…Anything?”

When I nodded cheerfully, Simeon lowered his gaze slightly and smiled.

“Come to think of it, you said you came back to my side because you understood me.”

“Yes.”

“Then, can you solve the problem I haven’t been able to answer?”

“…What?”

When I realized something was off, it was already too late.

“Why would someone who sent a person on a mission while telling them not to come back if things went wrong, then choose to follow that person out of concern they wouldn’t be able to return?”

I didn’t have time to think of an answer. With one knee on the bed, he braced a hand against the wall and slowly leaned his body toward me. His dark eyes, devoid of any light, swept from my chest down to my waist, where they lingered.

“If it weren’t for that person, I could’ve died. So why am I angry at the one who saved me?”

“Simeon.”

“The card I’ve coveted so much came to me of its own will, asking to be used. So why does fear strike me when I finally reach out to grasp it?”

He grabbed my hand earlier to stop me from touching the wound, but now he was slipping his hand inside my T-shirt as he pleased.

“Why am I afraid of losing someone who can’t even die?”

His cold hand brushed against the wound, which was still hot with fever, sending a chill through me. If only his touch had been rougher, but contrary to the icy look in his eyes, his hand gently stroked the bandage. The silent tenderness was suffocating.

I finally couldn’t stand the ticklish sensation in my lower abdomen and grabbed his hand as if to push it away.

“…Wait….”

Only then did his dark eyes turn to me.

“Answer me, Mr. Hajae.”

The boy who used to constantly ask me difficult questions when we were young was once again putting me in a tight spot.

“What’s the contradiction inside me right now?”

The only part of him that touched me was his hand, and the only thing we exchanged was a glance. So why was I blushing as if he’d just kissed me?

“How would I know that?”

I let out an awkward laugh and avoided his gaze first. Yet his persistent stare showed no intention of letting go. As he even tried to get closer, I quickly raised my arm to block his chest. I tried to push him away, but Simeon didn’t budge, like a wall.

No, instead, he leaned in with his weight.

“You said you understood me.”

His indifferent face stopped right in front of me. I was so startled that I sucked in a short breath, and Simeon’s eyes curved slightly in a smile. I instinctively turned my head away when I noticed his slightly parted lips. In response, Simeon deliberately brushed past me so our cheeks barely touched and whispered softly into my ear.

“Liar.”

The sound of his stifled chuckle made me think once again, ‘He got me.’

“Get some rest. And don’t even think about wandering around while I’m working.”

Had he even slipped his hand under my shirt without permission? Here he was, straightening my clothes and tucking the blanket tightly over me. How considerate of him. His nonchalant attitude, as if nothing had happened, was almost admirable.

“By the way, where’s <Blue Hope>?”

“Why?”

“Since we went through so much trouble to get it, I should at least take a look at it.”

I almost forgot the most important step. I had to see <Blue Hope> for myself. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe Simeon when he said he succeeded in the awakening, but I wanted to see if there was something special that only I could see as I’d done with <Codex Gigas>.

Simeon, who had been looking at me for a moment, eventually nodded.

“I’ll show it to you if you quietly accept treatment.”

His tone, like a pediatrician trying to coax a child who didn’t want a shot, was annoying, but at least I got his permission. He started to leave the room when I called out to his retreating back.

“So was <Blue Hope> the spirit item you were looking for, Simeon?”

Simeon stopped in his tracks but didn’t turn around as he replied.

“I don’t know yet.”

Yet…? Does that mean there’s a separate method to determine if it’s the right artifact?

While I was pondering, Simeon left to go back to work. The room quickly fell silent. As I thought about what to do to eliminate my boredom, I suddenly remembered my conversation with Shinhwan before entering <Blue Hope>’s rift.

‘If you have time, you should meet with Mr. Enoch.’

Right, Enoch. When I was agonizing over my relationship with Simeon, Shinhwan suggested I meet with the second apostle, the one closest to Simeon. He said Enoch was overseas at the time, but he should be back by now. It would be great to meet him while Simeon’s watchful eye is elsewhere…

‘Don’t even think about wandering around while I’m working.’

Mulling over his warning, I stared intently at the firmly closed door before throwing off the blanket.

“Hmm… As long as I don’t get caught, it’s fine.”

Staying still doesn’t suit me anyway. I carefully got up and walked over to the door. My side still throbbed a bit with each step, but I could endure it by chalking it up to severe muscle pain.

Worried that Simeon might still be outside, I pressed my ear to the door to listen. The hallway was quiet, without any footsteps or signs of life. Feeling reassured, I opened the door, only to immediately hear a deep voice. 

“Where are you going?”

“Whoa!”

Startled, I spun around to find myself face-to-face with one of the bodyguards who always followed Simeon like a shadow.

“You scared me!”

“…I apologize.”

The bodyguard awkwardly apologized. As I tried to calm my racing heart, the pain in my injury flared up again. It was because I’d tensed up all of a sudden. Since it was my fault for sneaking out, I couldn’t complain. Instead, I just held my aching waist with one hand and asked.

“Why are you standing here?”

“Guild Master Simeon ordered it.”

“He told you to ensure I don’t leave the room?”

“Yes.”

At least he’s honest. I exaggeratedly sighed, making the bodyguard look at me uneasily.

“Are you hungry?”

“No, that’s not it…”

I hesitated for a moment, wondering if I should ask about Enoch. The bodyguard would probably report to Simeon even if I asked him to keep it a secret. But then again, it might not matter. Right now, there was no one else around who could provide information on the apostle.

“Has Mr. Enoch returned to the country?”

The bodyguard’s reaction to the unexpected name was a puzzled question.

“Are you acquainted with Mr. Enoch?”

“No, actually, Shin… I mean, Justino suggested I meet with him.”

I deliberately mentioned Justino, fearing that the bodyguard might suspect I was digging around again. As expected, the wariness on his face eased a bit. Justino’s trust in the Apostles seemed to be quite significant.

“Mr. Enoch returned yesterday and should be in the greenhouse by now.”

“The greenhouse? There’s a greenhouse in the Ark?”

“Yes. Mr. Enoch usually spends his time there when he has no special plans.”

I had noticed while wandering around the Ark a while ago, but it had everything.

“Where is the greenhouse?”

“It’s on the second floor, the first room on the right.”

“Thank you.”

I politely nodded my head and subtly tried to slip past him. But the sharp-eyed bodyguard quickly stepped in front of me again.

“Where are you going?”

“The greenhouse.”

“You can’t. Simeon told me to make sure you rest comfortably.”

“But I’m not comfortable at all.”

When I immediately retorted, the bodyguard uncharacteristically hesitated. He probably didn’t expect me to be so brazen. Since I was already here, I might as well play the nostalgia card. People who seem cold-hearted are usually weak to sentimental appeals.

“You haven’t forgotten that day, have you?”

“What?”

“Breakfast.”

Surely, he hadn’t forgotten? When I noticed that Simeon was skipping meals, I went out of my way to bring two servings of food to his office to eat breakfast together. The bodyguard, who had been deep in thought, muttered to himself.

“…Just make sure you’re back within an hour.”

“Haha, of course.”

“And don’t tell Simeon.”

“Yes, yes.”

I waved my hand casually as I walked out of the bodyguard’s sight.

I didn’t run into anyone in the hallway since only the necessary staff manned the Ark. Most of them were probably in the meeting room since Simeon was busy working. Still, I couldn’t guess what kind of person Enoch would be, spending time alone in the greenhouse.

I went down to the second floor and walked down the right corridor. I was glad I asked the bodyguard how to get there; the Ark’s white walls, ceilings, and floors made getting lost easy, and none of the doors had nameplates.

Just as I was starting to feel lost, I spotted the first door.

“Is it here…?”

I knocked politely, but there was no response. As I cautiously opened the door, the warm, humid air unique to greenhouses rushed out. I hadn’t expected much from a greenhouse inside the Ark, but it was surprisingly large. I was surrounded by dense greenery everywhere I looked, and I couldn’t even tell where the path was. On top of that, there were even hanging pots suspended from the ceiling.

“Is anyone here?”

Silence. Only the faint sound of water trickling among the broad leaves. I tried to head in that direction but couldn’t find the way. Just as I was about to push aside the foliage blocking my view, someone spoke.

“I wouldn’t touch that if I were you.”

“Ah!”

Why are so many people suddenly popping up today? I turned to see a man wearing a brown apron and holding a white watering can. Even as I gasped for breath, the man continued calmly.

“It’s poisonous.”

I quickly withdrew my hand at the mention of poison.

“Sorry for barging in. I knocked, but I guess you didn’t hear.”

Once I calmed down, I started to notice his appearance.

His soft, green-tinged eyes and slightly curly brown hair gave him a distinctly foreign look. His gentle smile highlighted the moles under his eyes and lips. It might be inappropriate to call a man pretty, but no other word came to mind.

Moreover, I was sure I hadn’t seen his face before, yet there was something strangely familiar about him. With a memory like mine, I wouldn’t have forgotten someone who looked like that. As I stared at him, puzzled, the man spoke first.

“It seems like you don’t remember me.”

“Pardon?”

“We’ve met before.”

What is this? Weirdly, it was like getting a message from someone the morning after you’d drunkenly exchanged numbers at the club. You have no memory of it, and the wrong answer could make you look bad.

“Uh… um…”

I deliberately took my time as I looked him over. His beige knit sleeves were rolled up, revealing a black leather watch on his wrist. As expected, he was an apostle. He must be Enoch. But have I ever met Enoch before? Could it be that we encountered each other when he was wearing a mask?

I’ve only encountered The Apostles outside of here twice before—once under the Mapo Bridge when they subdued an A-class Salamander and again when I left work and ran into them by chance in an alley. The Apostles present on those occasions were Simeon, Yulia with her steel prosthetic leg, and…

“Oh! You’re the one who grew that tree!”

The “Enoch” Shinhwan mentioned was the very apostle who’d blocked the Salamander’s flames on Mapo Bridge with the roadside trees. The strange familiarity I felt was from crossing paths with him twice before. Fortunately, my guess was correct, as a soft smile curled on his lips.

“So, that’s how you remembered me?”

“Ah, haha, well…”

“I’m the Second Apostle, Enoch.”

Enoch wiped his wet hands on his apron and extended his hand for a handshake. I quickly grasped his hand and greeted him.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Hajae Shin.”

“Yeah. I’ve heard about you from Oni.”

Oni…? Could that be a nickname for Simeon? They seem closer than I thought. If that’s the case, he must know things about Simeon that I don’t. However, I wasn’t sure how to naturally draw out the conversation. Enoch, who’d been smiling the entire time since we met, didn’t seem easy to read.

“Are you a college student?”

Caught off guard by the sudden question, I quickly shook my head.

“Ah, no.”

“Are you in your 30s?”

“I’m 26.”

“Then you’re younger than me. Can I speak casually?”

Why is he asking? He’s already speaking casually…

“Y-yes, of course.”

“You can speak casually, too.”

“What?”

“It’s unfair if only I do it.”

The way he looked at me made it clear he wasn’t joking. Why are all the apostles so eccentric? Well, that’s probably why Simeon scouted them. Still, this is better than Shinhwan, who insisted on using formal speech out of habit.

“Then, Enoch… hyung.”

“Haha, yes, that sounds nice.”

Although he looked like someone who would be quiet and reserved, his laughter was quite refreshing.

After that, Enoch told me to follow him and turned to walk into the dense bushes. As I followed him, we reached a small resting area among the dense pots. With only two chairs around a round table, it felt like I’d been invited to a secret garden.

Enoch placed a watering can on the table and gestured toward a chair with his eyes.

“Sit comfortably. If I knew a guest was coming, I would’ve prepared some tea.”

“It’s okay… I mean, it’s fine. Sorry for showing up unannounced.”

As I apologized and sat down, Enoch touched my shoulder and spoke.

“Indeed.”

A chill ran down my spine from where his hand touched me, and I quickly looked up. His green eyes, which had been warm when we first met, now gleamed sharply.

“Why did you come so suddenly?”

His hand lightly tapped my shoulder, but it felt like a heavy stone had been placed on me, causing my body to stiffen.

“You didn’t come to the greenhouse for poison, did you?”

Enoch leisurely moved to sit across from me and stared at me intently. A strange tension filled the air. Should I be honest? As I racked my brain, Enoch asked in a light voice.

“Is it me? Did you come here for me?”

“…What?”

The unexpected question left my mind blank. It sounded odd to call him my goal, but it wasn’t entirely wrong either, so I just blinked in confusion. Enoch, finding my reaction amusing, burst into laughter.

“Enoch Van Persey Kim. I like my baptismal name, so I also use it as my given name. My father is Dutch, but my nationality is Korean. I’m thirty-three years old. As you can see, I’m one of the awakened, and my ability is called ‘Flower Blooming in the Desert’.”

The barrage of information left me dazed. Ignoring my state, Enoch pulled a seed from his apron pocket and placed it in his palm. When he blew on it, the seed, no larger than a thumbnail, suddenly sprouted, and in the blink of an eye, it grew and bloomed into a pure white flower.

…What? It felt like I was watching a time-lapse of a flower blooming. I’ve seen many hunters’ abilities, but this felt new. As I stood there, entranced, Enoch handed me the flower, which had grown roots.

“A gift.”

His words snapped me out of my daze, and I hastily took the flower with both hands.

“Oh, uh, thank you. I’ll plant it in a pot later.”

“You don’t need to. It’ll wither soon.”

Will it wither that quickly? Could it be the cost of accelerated growth? Still, since it was a gift, I carefully placed it on the table in front of me. But before I could even admire it, Enoch spoke again.

“My hobby is cultivating poisonous plants. Most of the plants in this greenhouse are poisonous.”

“Do you… grow them because you need them?”

“Does it seem that way?”

Suppressing the urge to reply that it entirely seemed that way, I shook my head. Enoch gave a meaningful smile and murmured.

“Don’t worry. I don’t have a hobby of secretly poisoning people.”

So… does that mean he poisons them with permission? I’m happy he didn’t prepare tea. Who knows if it would’ve had Chrysanthemum or Wolfsbane in it?

Feeling a shiver down my spine, I gave an awkward laugh, and Enoch tapped the table with his fingers.

“So, what else do you need?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I think we’ve done enough small talk. Go ahead and ask me.”

Enoch propped his elbows on the table and rested his chin in his hands, subtly probing my intentions.

“Don’t you have something you really want to ask me? For example…”

His lips curled slightly, and his green eyes fixed on me as if he already knew everything.

“How I met Simeon.”

My heart dropped for a moment.

Did he see through my intentions from the start? Did Shinhwan give him a heads-up? I considered various possibilities, but none led to a clear answer. I couldn’t read what he was thinking behind that smiling face. One thing was certain, though: the emotion I sensed from Enoch wasn’t wariness but curiosity.

“Is it okay for me to ask that?”

“There’s no reason you can’t. It’s not some secret I can’t tell. It’s just that no one has asked until now.”

More accurately, no one dared to ask. They probably feared the consequences if Simeon found out they were snooping around. But I’d already lost all fear, so I didn’t mind.

“Then tell me everything you know about Simeon.”

When I asked him directly, Enoch immediately turned and pointed to something.

“Do you see that tree over there?”

Following the direction of his finger, I saw a short tree. Amidst the lush greenery, its bare branches stood out starkly. Even someone like me, who knew little about plants, could recognize it immediately. That tree was dead.

“It’s a plum tree. I’m taking care of it because someone asked me to.”

“Who?”

“An old man who died a long time ago.”

There was no emotion in his soft voice.

“Before I became an apostle, an old rich man I didn’t even know gave me a blank check.”

“A… blank check?”

“Yeah. The old man said he had one last wish before he died, and if I granted it, he’d give me however much money I wanted.”

Enoch laughed to himself and muttered.

“Doesn’t it sound like some cheap third-rate movie?” 

At that moment, only one question swirled in my mind. What kind of extraordinary request could have warranted a blank check?

As I furrowed my brow in thought, Enoch kindly answered my curiosity.

“He wanted to see the plum tree he planted when he was young bloom.”

“…Huh? That’s surprisingly modest.”

“It is.”

Enoch nodded readily and added.

“Except that the request came in the fall.”

Only then did I understand why the old man offered a blank check.

As far as I knew, plum trees bloom in spring. There were other ways to see a plum tree in bloom, but the old man specified ‘the plum tree he planted in his yard.’ From the start, it was a wish that only Enoch could fulfill.

“Isn’t it funny? The last wish of a man who had everything in life was just to see a flower bloom.”

“It’s romantic, in a way.”

“Is it? Anyway, I had no reason to refuse. So I immediately fulfilled that old man’s wish. The man, who’d only nodded his head as if he could die any moment while sitting in a wheelchair, suddenly began to cry sorrowfully when he saw the plum tree in full bloom. He said something about how that tree contained his youth.”

Enoch shrugged, still not understanding the sentiment.

“Honestly, I didn’t care about his story. I was only curious about one thing.”

The corners of his eyes, which had been smiling all along, trembled slightly.

“How he found me.”

“Why?”

“Because at that time, I wasn’t a registered awakened one. So no one except my parents knew that I could ‘make flowers bloom in the desert.'”

That was strange. The old man wished to see the plum tree he planted bloom before he died. So I thought he found Enoch because he sought an awakened one who could grant that wish. But if Enoch’s ability wasn’t yet known to the public…

“What on Earth…? Then how did he find you?”

As I furrowed my brows in confusion, Enoch whispered conspiratorially.

“<Fine Pattern Mirror>.”

It was my first time hearing its name, but I could get a sense of what it was by that alone.

“Is that a spirit object?”

“Yes. It looks like an old bronze mirror, but its abilities are quite special.”

Enoch put his hand into the watering can, dipping the tip of his finger in the water. With the tip of his finger, he drew a circle on the glass plate in the center of the table, causing thin water droplets to form on the surface. After looking at it for a long time, he grinned.

“If you gaze into the mirror while thinking about your wish, it’ll show you how to make it come true.”

How long had it been since I’d allowed myself to feel a small ray of hope? At his words, my heart, which had been dying in despair with every breath, felt as if it had begun to beat once more.

Until now, I’d never wanted to possess any spirit object. But <Fine Pattern Mirror> was different. It wouldn’t grant your wish, but it would tell you how to make it come true… If I could get my hands on it, I could learn how to erase Sang from my mind and remove all feelings of love. No, I might even be able to go so far as to figure out how to break the curse.

“So, the old man saw you through the mirror?”

“Yes. He saw me through the mirror, watering the local garden.”

Enoch smirked a ridiculous laugh.

“So in exchange for granting his wish, I asked for <Fine Pattern Mirror> instead of money.

“What? How much was it worth?”

“I don’t know. What value is a mirror like that to someone who’s about to die in the first place?”

His dying wish was to see his plum tree blossom. As Enoch said, even if you could put a monetary value on <Fine Pattern Mirror>, it would be nothing to the old man. I nodded, then suddenly realized something.

“But the old man’s son went on a rampage, saying he was the one who was going to inherit <Fine Pattern Mirror>.”

“Then…”

“Since his father was still alive, the son eventually obeyed his father’s wishes.”

Okay. So then <Fine Pattern Mirror> was in Enoch’s hands now. How could I see it? At what price would Enoch be willing to relinquish the mirror? It whetted my appetite like a beast with tasty meat in front of it.

Then Enoch clenched his jaw and muttered.

“But it was a little strange.”

“What?”

“Why didn’t he wish to live a little longer?”

“Well…”

Was it because he’d lived long enough? Because he had no more regrets about life? Or maybe because he had a wish that couldn’t be fulfilled? Whatever it was, I couldn’t help but envy the old man who’d died after getting his final wish to see plum blossoms.

“Then, did you also look in the mirror, hyung?”

When I hinted at it, Enoch nodded in response. Soon, he closed his eyes as if recalling a memory. The pupils concealed beneath his thin eyelids slowly moved like they were looking around an imaginary landscape.

“I saw a cathedral. A cathedral on the edge of the sea.”

Enoch smiled softly through his closed eyes. He looked like he was having a lovely dream, so I couldn’t help but smile. A cathedral on the edge of the sea. The moment I heard those words, a tidal wave of images flooded back to me. Images of a landscape—a landscape I’d missed so much that I had to cut it out completely—flooded my head.

“…A cathedral?”

I couldn’t believe it when the name I wanted to hear the least came out of his mouth.

“It’s called Jeongdong Cathedral. Have you heard of it?”

“Oh? No…”

“Definitely visit there if you have time.”

The scenery was pretty, and it was nice and quiet. Enoch generously praised the cathedral, but I struggled to listen to any of that.

Enoch had met Simeon at Jeongdong Cathedral. If he doubted who I was… No, let’s not worry about it. I erased all traces of myself when I left the cathedral early that morning. I wrote a letter, but it would be hard to recognize me as the author since my handwriting had changed over time.

Fortunately, my nervousness didn’t show on my face as he continued.

“Anyway, a boy was standing on the cliff in front of the cathedral.”

“That was… Simeon?”

“That’s right.”

What was his wish that had caused the mirror to reflect Simeon?

“What did you wish for? In the mirror.”

Enoch slowly opened his eyes. His half-closed eyelids reflected a hint of boredom, but he was stunned when he opened them wide. His green eyes were glowing in the middle of the whites.

“Bring me something to shake up this terribly boring life.”

I couldn’t hide my bewilderment at the unexpected answer.

What would one wish for if they obtained a spirit like <Fine Pattern Mirror>? Most people would say health, money, happiness… some might say honor, others would say love. But Enoch’s wish far exceeded my expectations, ‘something to take away boredom.’ It was as if I’d snuck into an untrodden forest and stolen a glimpse of the sleeping beast of madness.

“That something was Simeon?”

I asked, swallowing dryly, and Enoch nodded, smiling.

“It wasn’t difficult to meet him. He… I heard he hadn’t left the church since he’d gotten into a car accident and been discharged from the hospital. Sometimes, he’d look down at the sea from the cliff when he went out onto the grounds. I visited him every day, but he never answered anything I asked, so I thought he couldn’t speak at first.”

Enoch’s story reminded me of when I started volunteering at a nursery school, meeting Sang, who never spoke, and me, who kept approaching him anyway. The curiosity was similar, but I was troubled by the fact that curiosity had begun to morph into kinship, kinship into sympathy, and then a strange emotion beyond that.

“Then, one day, he suddenly spoke to me first.”

Even the beginning of the relationship was similar. Still, I was relieved that Sang didn’t completely blow off anyone who tried approaching, even after we parted ways.

“He must’ve realized that you weren’t a bad person.”

As soon as the words came out, Enoch vehemently denied it.

“No, no, it wasn’t that. He knew I was useful; Oni’s a natural player.”

“What do you mean…?”

“If you become a hunter, can you do anything?”

Enoch immediately imitated someone. The pitchless voice and indifferent expression were well and truly Sang Heo.

“…He asked me that. He heard from the priest that I was an awakened individual.”

Pfft—.

Enoch laughed and seemed genuinely amused.

“When I asked him what he wanted to do, he didn’t answer me. But he gave me a look I’d never seen before in my life.”

A look of constant longing. Enoch said that at that moment, he saw a child who’d reached rock bottom in the most primal way.

“Only then did I understand why <Fine Pattern Mirror> showed me Sang Heo.”

A meaningful smile emphasized the double meaning of his words.

“Did you show <Fine Pattern Mirror> to Simeon, too?”

“Yes, since there was something he wanted. But I don’t know what Oni wished for.”

Vague expectations quickly turned into disappointment. Enoch continued with a mischievous expression, perhaps without realizing it.

“But I know what he saw in the mirror.”

Enoch took his phone out of his pocket and showed me a location on the map. It was an antique shop in Turin, Italy, littered with various old trinkets and items. I could see it’d closed down now, so only old photos were left.

“Did <Fine Pattern Mirror> show him that store?”

“More precisely, I think it illuminated something for sale here.”

“…So?”

“I took Oni to Italy with me at my own expense.”

As if reminiscing about that day, Enoch, who zoomed in on the old picture for a while, tilted his head slowly.

“He bought something over there but never showed it to me. He hid it in his clothes, so I guess it wasn’t that big.”

“Was it a spirit object?”

“Well, it wouldn’t have been in the antique shop if it were a proper spirit. And it probably wouldn’t have been something we could afford then.”

It felt like the road I was traveling on had suddenly cut off right before me. The shop had long since closed, and even Enoch, who had accompanied Simeon, hadn’t seen what he’d bought; the only evidence we had was that it was small enough to hide under his clothes.

What had he bought there? And what wish had he made?

“From that day on, Oni was different. He used me for the first time to start gathering a group.”

To fulfill his wish, he needed to collect spirit objects, and to collect spirit objects; he formed a guild. And so, the Sang Heo of my fleeting memories vanished and became Simeon, a man of strategy and calculation. The starting point of his transformation was Enoch, or more precisely, <Fine Pattern Mirror>.

“Where’s <Fine Pattern Mirror> now?”

When I asked him honestly, Enoch’s corners of his mouth crept up.

“Do you want to see it?”

I nodded curtly. Somehow, I felt Enoch would show me <Fine Pattern Mirror> without asking for anything in return. However, he smiled bitterly and shook his head.

“You can’t use it anymore, unfortunately.”

“Huh? Why? Did you give it to someone else?”

Enoch narrowed his brow as if troubled as I urgently pressed him. I knew it meant rejection, but I never thought another reason would exist.

“No. It’s… gone.”

“Gone? What, suddenly?”

“Yes. <Fine Pattern Mirror> disappeared in a cloud of dust right after Simeon used it.”

“What? Why on Earth…?”

“I’m not sure. But Simeon apologized, saying it was his fault.”

Dark doubt flashed in his narrowed eyes.

“That it was a punishment for defying providence.”

I’d hoped it were a lie. I hoped he was just pretending because he didn’t want to show me the mirror. But the look in his eyes pitying me was sincere.

“I’m sorry.”

<Fine Pattern Mirror> has disappeared. The reason for that and whether it was truly because Simeon made a wish that went against providence was already a thing of the past. How can that matter when the hope I’d finally found has disappeared like a midsummer mirage? None of the dreams Michael had shown me were more cruel than this.

“Ah, I’m getting a call.”

I sat there in a daze, but I raised my head when I heard Enoch’s voice. A smile appeared on his face as he checked his phone to see the incoming call. I quickly realized who the call was from.

“Is it Simeon?”

“Yeah. I skipped the meeting so I could secretly take a break.”

“I’ve already been caught,” he said, as I smiled awkwardly at the mischievous grimace on his face. 

Enoch stood up once he’d finished speaking. I thought I heard Simeon tell him to come to the conference room right away. As I finished my business, I stood up, and Enoch motioned for me to sit down.

“You can go look around some more.”

“Nah. Actually, I also snuck away from Simeon.”

“What? You too?”

When I nodded solemnly, Enoch took off his apron and laughed brightly.

“Haha! We’re both just like Cinderella, wow..”

The seemingly carefree face made me uneasy. Of course, Enoch said it was okay, but what if Simeon finds out later that Enoch told me about it?  I’m the one who asked him to tell me, but he might wrongly blame Enoch.

“Hyung… I won’t tell anyone, but is it okay to talk about something like this to a stranger?”

“A stranger?”

Enoch asked, tilting his head as if puzzled.

“You’re Oni’s friend. Also, we’ve decided to call each other ‘hyung’ now.”

“Still, if there’s a chance that hyung gets into trouble because of me….”

“Then it’s even more fun.”

His grinning face seemed to be waiting for that moment.

I couldn’t read him at all. What on earth was Enoch thinking when he so willingly told me about Simeon’s past? Was he curious about what I was going to do next? Or was it because he wanted me to become a force of strength for Simeon, like Shinhwan Joo? No, maybe… maybe he did it just for pleasure. Since he’s a person who hates boredom more than death.

“Anyway, I’m grateful. Hyung. For everything you told me, and this flower, also…. oh?”

As I was gearing up to take the flower I’d received as a gift, I was startled. The flower that was in full bloom just moments ago had completely withered. In that short period, the once pure white petals had wilted and turned yellow. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

“Why’s it like this?”

When I asked that question out of confusion, Enoch tapped the dead flower with his index finger and spoke. 

“I told you earlier. It’ll wilter soon.”

“I didn’t know it would be this soon…”

“That’s the price of ability. The faster it blooms, the faster it withers.”

Still, I received it as a gift, so it seemed like a waste. Should I try giving it some water now? I reached for the watering can on the table, but Enoch was faster than me. He shook his head resolutely as he moved the watering can out of my reach.

“It’s too late. There’s no way to bring back something already dead.”

No way to bring back something already dead. I don’t know why those words pierced my heart right now. How could I feel pity for a flower that bloomed beautifully, shined for a moment, and then withered away when I wasn’t even able to take care of it? Even though it’s the natural law that once a flower blooms, it will inevitably wither someday.

Since I was just staring at the flower, unable to touch it for fear the leaves would fall off, Enoch eventually asked me a question. 

“Do you feel sorry for it?”

Why was I like this? Not long ago, I would have struggled to empathize with a withered flower. When did I become such a sentimental person? Do I think that sooner or later, I’d end up like that flower?

As I remained silent, neither agreeing nor denying, Enoch spoke as he watered the withered flowers.

“When I was young, my dad told me that life is inherently fleeting, so you have to be careful.”

“Why…?”

“You don’t know when you’ll disappear, you know.”

Unable to withstand the weight of the water droplets, the dried flower slowly drooped forward. Even then, Enoch did not stop watering it.

“But even though we know that, we still freely give affection. Just like now… you’re sad when you see a withered flower even though you only came across it momentarily. Because the human heart doesn’t behave like it’s supposed to.”

The flower drooped towards the table more and more until it eventually dropped. Several dried petals came off the stem from the impact and scattered over the stagnant water. It was like a bloody murder scene had been refined into a beautiful drama.

Enoch immediately put down the watering can, picked up a wet flower, and handed it to me.

“But even so, Jae-yah.”

The flower. No, all that was left in my hand was a bare stem with no leaves left. It could no longer be called a flower.

“You shouldn’t give affection so carelessly.”

****

Simeon, who said he’d return after finishing the meeting, didn’t come no matter how long I waited, so I guess work was busy. I took the recovery medicine and rested quietly. Thanks to that, I got better in two days. By the time Raphael visited, even the surgery marks had faded already.

Three days passed like that. Simeon didn’t come to the ark. I was about to ask his staff if there was any news when I found an article online. It was news of a crack suddenly opening and a monster attacking the city. Underneath it, there was a photo of a man in black, wearing a black mask and playing chess while seated in the middle of a ruined road. His appearance looked very aloof.

And so came the fourth night.

“When on earth is he coming?….”

There was still no sign of Simeon. Only when he returns can I touch <Blue Hope>, and find out what Simeon plans to do with the cursed spirit object, but he’s so busy with work that he hasn’t come at all.

I was so frustrated that there was no way I could sleep. After tossing and turning in bed for a while, I turned and looked out the window. It was an extremely dark night. The kind where the boundary between the sky and the sea disappears, and only the occasional ripple created by the moon sways along with the waves.

As I moved my gaze along the lights placed sparingly along the cliff, I came across a human silhouette.

“What is that…?”

Someone was standing on the edge of a cliff. The staggering figure looked dangerous as if it would fall into the sea at any moment. I immediately threw off the blanket, got up, and ran outside in my thin pajamas. The night’s wind was quite chilly once I got outside, but I didn’t have time to worry about it.

As soon as I saw the silhouette standing precariously on the cliff, I spoke cautiously.

“Hey….?”

The dark shadow slowly looked my way. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see whose figure was standing under the moonlight. The face that glowed especially white amidst the darkness was all too familiar.

“Simeon…?”

Is he finally back? No, more importantly, why is he standing on a cliff at this hour? He even had blood on his cheek, as if he’d just finished a mission. My mouth suddenly became dry. The pitch-black night sea, the shadow even darker than that. And the fact I didn’t know whose blood that was sent a chill down my spine. 

“Did your work go okay? I was worried since you didn’t show up.”

I spoke in a friendly manner to try and lighten the mood at first, but it was no use. Can’t he hear my voice? The moment I took a step forward, Simeon took a step back.  As soon as I saw part of his heel go off the cliff, I felt the blood drain from my face. Beyond that was the sea.

“W-Wait a second.”

I told him I wouldn’t come any closer as I stopped in place and raised my hands. Fortunately, Simeon also stopped. But there was no focus or emotion in the eyes that stared at me intently.

At that moment, I felt something strange and an ominous foreboding flashed through my mind.

“Are you… listening to me?”

I was convinced when I saw him standing there without any reaction. Simeon was now seeing a vision of John. Fortunately, his state is much calmer compared to before, but with one wrong move, he could tragically fall off the cliff.

I let out a trembling breath and spoke in a calm voice.

“Simeon. It’s me.”

“…….”

“Johan isn’t here.”

The black pupils shook slightly. He could clearly hear my voice. Unlike when he was in a state of panic, if we can communicate, it will be much easier to bring him back to reality. I spoke while closing the distance so slowly that Simeon didn’t notice. 

“Look. It’s me. Hajae.”

The moment I said my name, Simeon’s eyes twitched. Confusion soon flashed across his distorted face, as if he’d realized something was wrong. I quickly walked up to him, grabbed his hand, and placed it on my cheek.

“Can you feel me?”

The heavily shaking hand smelt strongly of blood. Unlike what I was anxiously expecting, 

Simeon did not push me away. However, he remained stiff as a stone, like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. So, I confirmed my presence again in a quiet voice.

“I’m here. Right in front of you.”

His long eyelashes fluttered as if he had woken up from a long sleep. Before long, his ice-cold hands started to warm up as they took the heat from my cheeks. When I was convinced that he was looking at me, I finally opened my mouth.

“Can you see my face?”

Simeon nodded slowly. I still didn’t feel reassured, so I asked again.

“How is it?”

I opened my eyes and looked up at Simeon who was looking down at me silently. The eyes scanning over my face were quite cautious. The next moment, he softly stroked my cheek and murmured.

“…It’s pretty.”

“No, that’s not what I mean.”

I was instantly dizzy at the answer that far exceeded my expectations. I closed my eyes tightly before opening them and changing the question.

“I’m asking you who I am.”

“Hajae Shin.”

It wasn’t until I heard my name that I could relax. He was truly a man I couldn’t let go of, even for a moment.

Simeon’s downcast gaze quickly relaxed. Satisfied that he’d calmed down, I took my hand away, much to his openly expressed disappointment. Usually, I’d have thought that expression on his face looked cute, but because of his current appearance, any facial expression he made gave me the creeps.

His pale, blood-covered face looked as if he’d pulled all-nighters for several days straight. Even when I looked closely, I could see that it wasn’t a blood splatter but the remnants of a bloody handprint. If the police caught him red-handed while walking down the street, there’s no way he’d have been able to protest his innocence.

“What on earth happened to you?”

“…What?”

“There’s blood on your face.”

Only then did Simeon become aware of his appearance. Sighing, he tried to wipe the blood off with the back of his hand, but instead of coming off, the blood only became more of a mess.

Finally, I sighed and pulled his hand down as if I were stopping a child from playing with mud.

“Do you have a handkerchief?”

Simeon obediently took out a handkerchief from his jacket pocket. I felt bad about getting blood on the luxurious-looking dark gray handkerchief, but oh well. Since he has so much money, it should be okay.

I carefully wiped the blood from his face with the neatly folded handkerchief. Some of the bloodstains had dried already, so I couldn’t get it off, but it was still much better than the first time. I nodded with satisfaction and returned the handkerchief to him. 

Simeon suddenly grabbed my wrist and spoke.

“Have you thought about it?”

“Thought about what?”

“The contradiction.”

In an instant, the memories of that day flashed through my mind.

‘Answer me, Mr. Hajae…. What’s the contradiction inside me right now?’

I thought he’d just wanted to embarrass me, but seeing his earnest gaze, it seemed he wanted my answer. I pretended to be calm and turned the question on him.

“Why are you asking me that?”

“Because I’m curious about your answer.”

When I thought of the word ‘contradiction’ both then and now, only one word came to mind—one of the most fundamentally human traits, an emotion that was off-limits to me. After reuniting with Sang, I felt it rise in my throat several times, and recently, I felt it again. Those words mustn’t come out of your mouth until you die.

‘But even so, Jae-yah… You shouldn’t give affection so carelessly.’

When I heard Enoch’s words, I felt like I’d been struck in the back of the head since they were similar to my mother’s will. Despite her warning that I’d regret it, I did something I couldn’t take responsibility for when I was young. I fell in love with Sang under the pretext of momentary curiosity and loneliness.

I dared to look down on people’s hearts and was confident that I’d be able to control my emotions simply by drawing and erasing lines in the sand. But just as there was no way to stop the sun rising in the east, there was no way to erase your feelings for someone. It was a foolish and arrogant decision.

So, I’m the reason Sang is suffering while he constantly blames himself. Yes, maybe now I’m being punished rather than cursed. Pretending not to notice that heaviness weighing me down was the only path of atonement I could choose.

“Maybe it’s because of him.”

“Him?”

“Yes. You’re still confusing me with that person. That’s why you’re confused. So… someday, when you escape that person’s shadow, that contradiction will disappear naturally.”

I spoke in a soft voice to avoid making the atmosphere too serious. I thought Simeon would laugh at my words, understand me, or get angry. But he was surprisingly calm.

“Is that the conclusion you’ve reached?”

I nodded quietly and took my hand out of his grasp. Fortunately, he obediently let me go.

“It’s windy. I’m going to call it a night.”

I bowed quietly and walked away. I was concerned about the eyes following me, but I tried not to notice.

Why did he keep bringing up a problem that he could just ignore? You said you wanted to forget me, but why do you have regrets when you’re collecting spiritual objects for that exact purpose?

When the moment we’ll forget each other arrives, that will be the day the contradiction disappears. I don’t dare to try to solve this problem, which has no answer, so our relationship remains an issue. But a mutually beneficial relationship to help us reach our goals was enough for now. Even if he’d given up on his heart, Sang has never backed down since he was young.

“Mr. Hajae.”

The voice calling me stopped me in my tracks. I could hear Simeon’s footsteps approaching. It seemed like he’d keep coming towards me unless I faced him, so I turned around. But he kept approaching with long strides.

“I like dichotomies: true and false, good and evil, winners and losers, and life and death. Even the common games of chess and baduk are a battle between black and white, correct? If we divide this complex world into just two polarities, it becomes very simple.”

Eventually, he stopped. One step away.

“‘That person’ that Mr. Hajae talks so much about also easily fits into this dynamic.”

I could touch him if I stretched out my hand, but Simeon stood motionless, looking down at me. A shadow fell on his white face as he stood with his back to the moon.

“But since you appeared, you’ve been standing at the border of every crossroad, disrupting my world. You seem to help but also hinder, and you seem to hate me, yet you’re friendly to me. It’s as if there’s no clear answer. I was confused like I was facing a complex puzzle.”

Simeon frowned as he continued talking but smiled as if he’d realized something.

“But now that I think about it, there’s no problem in this world that can’t be solved. You can figure out any math problem if you spend enough time on it. Of course, some people hate that and say it’s a pain in the ass… but as it happens, I enjoy the time and effort that process takes.”

The corner of his mouth turned up in a strange smile. 

“So, going forward, I’ll try even harder to solve this mystery.”

“What are you….?”

“You are the contradiction.”

The black eyes looking at me shone brilliantly like the Sang who’d received the gift of a Rubik’s cube when we were kids.

“My only unresolved question. No matter what answer I come up with, don’t think about running away.”

Simeon bowed and approached me. Even though he didn’t grab my shoulders or arms, I couldn’t push him or run away. He just whispered in a low voice into my frozen ear.

“I let you go, but you were the one who came back.”

That smiling face under the moonlight.

“Sleep well.”

I don’t think I could forget this moment for the rest of my life.

****

Simeon’s voice lingered in my head all night, and I couldn’t sleep. I’d been drawing a line to prevent us from getting any closer. In Simeon’s words, it was a warning that he wouldn’t give in to me and a declaration that he’d find out what I was hiding. 

Didn’t it seem like a declaration of war? I thought he gave up trying to dig up my secrets after confessing to me the existence of the ‘ghost’ he sees. But I guess he’s just been watching and waiting for the right time. Or perhaps he already knows who I am.

“No, probably not.”

If that were the case, he would’ve asked sooner. What person could pretend not to know that the object they’d been looking for was right before them? But what if, by chance, he does know that I’m John, and he’s deliberately pretending not to know?

“…Why, though?”

I couldn’t figure out a reason at all. After washing up in the warm water, I sat in front of the window overlooking the sea and contemplated that for a while. But I couldn’t come up with an answer. While I was just scratching my head, I suddenly heard a knock.

I thought a staff member was here to bring me breakfast, so I opened the door without hesitation and froze.

“Good morning.”

Why was Simeon here? What’s that tray in his hand? This scenario was exactly like when I stormed into his office with breakfast. Simeon smiled as I glanced at him with narrowed eyes.

“This is for eating with me last time.”

Well, I guess that’s only fair… I smiled awkwardly and let him into the room.

“Haha, there’s really no need to do this…”

“I can’t eat this on my own.”

“Yeah, you couldn’t possibly bear the burden of eating all that alone, right?”

Simeon calmly ignored my sarcasm and personally set the table, motioning for me to take a seat once he’d finished. It felt like I was sitting on a thorn cushion. After what happened yesterday, I didn’t have much of an appetite. I’d be thankful if I could even use this fork straight.

As if reading the apparent discomfort visible on my face, Simeon finally chuckled and spoke. 

“After eating, I’ll show you what you want.”

“Which is….?”

“<Blue Hope>.”

As soon as he finished speaking, I picked up my fork and started to eat. Normally, I would’ve said something because the silence was awkward, but right now, even that short time was too much to waste. I finished the meal quickly and quietly, like someone who’d starved for several days. I put down my fork.

Simeon opened his eyes wide, amazed at my speed.

“I usually eat like this.”

“Do you? For me, I’d need a reward or a punishment hanging over my head to move that fast.”

Finally, I rinsed my mouth with some cold water and asked what I’d been curious about the whole time.

“So, did you find out? Is <Blue Hope> the spiritual object you were looking for?”

“I’m not sure yet.”

“I heard it was still there at that time, too. But I don’t think there’s a simple way to find out, right?”

Simeon drank his coffee quietly as if he hadn’t heard the question. His tightly closed mouth revealed his determination not to answer, so I changed the question.

“Then when will we find out?”

Tak—.

Simeon put down his coffee cup and muttered.

“Tonight.”

Tonight? There must be a particular reason why today, specifically at night. But I knew that there’d be no answer even if I asked. But I had my ability; I could just use my eyes to discover if <Blue Hope> had hidden abilities.

As I put down the water cup with a serious face, Simeon stood up and nodded.

“Follow me.”

I followed him out of the room, down the hallway, and the stairs. The spiral staircase seemed deliberately designed to disorient anyone who used it. Before I realized how far I’d come down, we’d reached the bottom of the stairs and encountered a strange wall. The wall, tightly intertwined with branches and mud, looked like a giant bird’s nest.

Judging from the tight security, this was undoubtedly where <Blue Hope> was stored. Although no one was guarding the front, there was no way to get inside. Even after carefully examining the wall, I couldn’t see a gap where the door could be opened.

“It’s here…. right?”

Instead of answering, Simeon stopped before the wall and took something from his jacket pocket. It was an olive branch that connected the passage to the ark. The moment he touched the ‘key’ to the wall, the rigid wall rippled like a wave. As if repelled by the ‘key’, the densely tangled tree branches eventually parted slowly, revealing a passage for people to enter.

I was naturally impressed by the incredible sight, as though the ocean itself was splitting in half.

“Was this also made by one of the apostles?”

“Of course. There’s nothing on the ark that hasn’t passed through his hands.”

By ‘his’, he was probably referring to the owner of The Ark.

“Noah…?”

Simeon strangely smiled as if hinting that I was right.

“You’ll meet him someday. Well, he might already know you, Mr. Hajae.”

Simeon headed into the passage first, and after I followed him inside, we finally arrived at the depths of the ark.

Is this what it felt like to enter a bird’s nest? The ceiling and walls were curved, and everything was made of tree branches. The surroundings were softly lit like an afternoon sunset despite no visible lights. It was probably specially made so that even if a spirit got out or a crack opened, and a monster escaped, they couldn’t affect the outside world.

There was only one thing in the middle of the mysterious room: <Blue Hope>. Instead of a mannequin, the glowing blue necklace was wrapped around a tall wooden pillar. It was probably thanks to the successful sealing that an enticing, almost hypnotic energy now flowed from the brilliant blue jewel rather than the energy of murderous intent.

As I approached the blue gem, a warning about my ability suddenly flashed before me.

“There.”

[‘To use ‘Pioneer of the Unknown,’ there must be no one within 5 meters.’]

“Could I have a moment alone in here?”

Simeon frowned at the unexpected request.

“Why?”

“There’s something I need to check quickly.”

Doubt flashed through his dark eyes as if he didn’t trust my vague answer. But was his curiosity greater than that? Simeon left the room with a brief warning for me to be careful. Only after he left the strange nest and I remained alone with <Blue Hope> did the letters appear before my eyes.

[‘Pioneer of the Unknown ( )’ Activated.]

[Would you like to see the awakening conditions for the spirit object ‘Blue Hope’?]

I gently closed my eyes to indicate agreement. When I opened them, the information I’d been waiting for appeared.

[On the night of a full moon, illuminate the sinner in the waterscape that embraces the moon.]

<Codex Gigas> was also like this, and it’s a similar situation now. It was difficult to understand the conditions immediately. But, thanks to my ability, one question was resolved. Why didn’t Simeon check <Blue Hope> as soon as he got it?

I returned <Blue Hope> to the wooden pillar and left the room. As soon as the tangled branches were opened, Simeon, who’d been waiting with his arms crossed, looked surprised.

“You’re finished already?”

Even though he acted unphased, his eyes were full of curiosity, as though he were asking what on earth I was doing inside there alone. If I answered honestly, I’d essentially be exposing my unique ability. But it didn’t matter. Not only was Simeon not a villain who would abuse my abilities, but more than anything, my shoulders felt heavy from too many secrets I was already keeping.

“You said that earlier, didn’t you? We’d find out tonight if <Blue Hope> was the spirit object we’re seeking?”

I spoke in an indifferent tone to Simeon, who nodded leisurely.

“Is tonight the full moon, by chance?”

As soon as I finished speaking, his eyes widened. The trembling muscles around his eyes and the wavering pupils represented complicated feelings. Simeon, who’d been pursing his lips for a while as though he’d lost his voice, finally frowned and muttered.

“How… did you…?”

Seeing his uncharacteristically embarrassed appearance gave me confidence in my hypothesis.

“…I guess I was right.”

“I’m asking how you knew that. What kind of trick did you use?”

Simeon asked, holding my shoulder tightly. His wide-open eyes bore into me as if they were going to burn a hole through my face at any moment. I didn’t expect him to be this surprised, so I was utterly taken aback. I held his arm as though to tell him to calm down as I answered.

“I saw it.”

“You saw it?”

My answer, which contained only facts, only added to the confusion. Simeon’s furrowed eyebrows seemed to ask me to explain what I meant quickly. It was a secret I would have to reveal anyway, but I couldn’t seem to say it out loud.

“If you want to know how there’s something I want you to tell me first.”

“What….”

“The real reason you only collect cursed spiritual objects and what you plan to do with them. If you tell me that, I’ll tell you how I ‘saw’ it.”

His hand tightened on my shoulder. Seeing his eyes glaring at me with his mouth tightly closed sent a shiver down my spine. No matter how foolish I was, hiding it wouldn’t be safe, so I spoke more confidently, straightened my shoulders, and made direct eye contact.

“I assure you, I am what you’ve been looking for, Simeon.”

****

Have I ever waited this long for night to come? The day felt longer than I thought it would, to the point I even started to wonder whether the sun was setting slowly on purpose just to spite me. 

After spending much of the day like that, the night finally came. 

I recalled what happened in the morning as I looked at the full moon rising in the night sky.

‘When the moon rises, come to the roof of The Ark.’

What is he trying to show me? Amidst anticipation and anxiety, the promised time finally arrived. As I left the room, the security guard waiting at the door guided me silently. Thanks to him, I was able to reach the rooftop easily. 

The view was unobstructed as I climbed to the top of the ark. I could see the calm horizon but heard waves crashing against the cliff in the distance. Even without a lantern, my surroundings were visible, thanks to the exceptionally bright moonlight, 

Under the pale night sky, amidst a wash of cold colors, Simeon greeted me.

“Welcome.”

As I greeted him with only a glance, I noticed some objects lying at his feet—a silver plate containing water and <Blue Hope> beside it. As I looked at the beautiful full moon reflected in the calm water, the awakening conditions of <Blue Hope> came to mind.

‘On the night of a full moon, illuminate the sinner in the waterscape that embraces the moon.’

If the waterscape that embraces the moon refers to clear water that reflects the moon’s shadow, then the sinner must be…

Before I could finish that thought, Simeon made the first move. He knelt on one knee before the silver plate, picked up <Blue Hope> with both hands, and projected it onto the water. Yes, the sinner was the cursed diamond itself.

It wasn’t long before the moonlight pouring down on the blue gem started to sparkle, like small pieces of ice dancing together.

“That…”

When I squinted to take a closer look, I saw the shape of fine particles. It was a letter. Unlike me, who frowned at the unrealistic sight, Simeon smiled with delight, his dark eyes shining.

“Found it…!”

Unmistakable joy was evident in his mumbling voice.

Simeon immediately put down <Blue Hope> and picked up an object the size of his hand from the floor. It was a book so old that both the cover and pages were tattered entirely. The moment he opened it, I was taken by surprise once more. There were no words, neither on the cover or even on the inside.

Simeon illuminated the blank, yellow page in the moonlight and softly muttered. 

[In what manner have I come to wander in a forest so dark?]

It was like a passage out of a book.

[Perhaps it is because I have abandoned the righteous path of God.]

The moment he finished speaking, letters began to form on the paper basked in the moonlight. More precisely, the mixed letters appeared to fall into place and stick to the paper in the moonlight. Since the letters were so small and in a foreign language, I couldn’t read them.

Suddenly, the front of the book, half-covered by Simeon’s hand, caught my eye. Just a moment ago, there was nothing, but now there were letters. The title, written in neat cursive, was familiar to even me, who didn’t know Italian.

<LA COMMEDIA DI DANTE ALIGHIERI>

Only then did I realize what the book in his hand was. The object he saw through <Fine Pattern Mirror> that had led him to an antique shop in Turin. A book that detailed the journey through hell and purgatory before finally reaching heaven. It was Dante’s <Divine Comedy>.

<Divine Comedy> had become a spiritual work? I had no idea what it could be capable of.

Meanwhile, clouds obscured the full moon, and the letters that decorated the cover disappeared like a mirage. Even though my eyes were open, it felt like I was dreaming.

“What… did you just do?”

“I restored a damaged part of <Divine Comedy>.”

“It was damaged?”

As I looked at him with confusion, Simeon finished speaking and closed the book with a loud thud.

“Once you use <Divine Comedy>, each chapter of the book is scattered across the globe. So, when I first got my hands on it, nothing was written in it. It wasn’t until I held it up to the moonlight that I saw the book’s title and how to open the gates of heaven.”

“Open the gates of heaven…?”

“That’s <Divine Comedy>‘s ability. You can only use it once you’ve collected the scattered chapters and completed it.”

Once you use it, it breaks. Regardless of its abilities, it’s a difficult artifact to prepare in the first place. I asked Simeon if it was like the <Codex Gigas>, where the book’s width had caused some pages to tear off, and Simeon pointed out the exact difference.

“It’s similar in that it’s a partially lost book, but it’s different from the <Codex Gigas>. <Codex Gigas> is easier to find since it at least retains its paper form, but the chapters of <Divine Comedy> are hidden in various artifacts. You can never recognize it at a glance.”

“Then you won’t know which spiritual object <Divine Comedy> is hiding in until you can reveal it under a full moon?”

“That’s right.”

The more I thought about it, the more difficult it seemed. There were so many spiritual creatures in the world, so how long would it take to examine them through this ritual? And if the spiritual object you’d worked so hard to obtain didn’t contain <Divine Comedy>, you’d have to do it all over again. It didn’t seem like you could find a single chapter without a great deal of persistence.

Simeon shook his head, his expression showing his thoughts.

“But you don’t have to check all of them because <Divine Comedy> only permeates those that are deeply sinful.”

According to Simeon, the ‘hell’ described in <Divine Comedy> had nine circles. It started in ‘Limbo,’ where the unbaptized fall through the circles of ‘Lust,’ ‘Gluttony,’ ‘Greed,’ ‘Anger,’ ‘Heresy,’ ‘Violence,’ ‘Fraud,’ and ‘Treachery.’ Sinners were trapped in the circles associated with the evil deeds they’d committed, where they’d be tortured for all eternity.

“And I just finished the chapter for ‘Lust.’”

The circle of ‘Lust’ was the final place for sinners who’d gone mad with desire and tormented others with evil acts, such as adultery. Just like the sins committed by Ector and Charlotte in <Blue Hope>. In other words, to complete <Divine Comedy>, Simeon needed the spirits associated with the nine sins. Now I realized why Simeon had been collecting only cursed spirits.

“How long until you finish <Divine Comedy>?” 

“All that’s left is ‘Anger’.”

He’d made more progress than I thought.

“So, can you use its ability right away?”

“No. You have to pass through hell, like in the original <Divine Comedy>.”

The first thing that opens is the Gates of Hell. To be precise, the rift to hell described in <Divine Comedy> opens. If you can safely pass through the nine levels of hell like Dante, you’ll then cross the mountain called Purgatory. Only those who pass through the many gateways will finally qualify to enter heaven.

“Is that how you’ll erase that person from your memory?”

“I’m going to erase him from my life completely, which is more final than simply wiping my memory.”

Erase me… from his life? How? Was he planning to go to ‘heaven,’ meet Johan, and make a clean break? Not only was I not a saint who would enter heaven in the first place, but Simeon didn’t even believe Johan was dead. So what kind of heaven would <Divine Comedy> lead him to?

As I was trying to wrap my head around what he could mean, Simeon calmly spoke.

“When you finish <Divine Comedy>, you can go to any point in time you want, only once.”

…What?

“Whether it’s the past or the future, you can wander around that time for 24 hours, and when you come back to reality, you’ll come to a new present, changed by what happened in ‘heaven.'”

I was mesmerized by the ability to do something completely unexpected—time travel and altering reality. I felt a sense of foreboding.

“Where… are you going to go?”

“To the past, of course.”

Simeon looked down at <Divine Comedy> and muttered to himself.

“I’m gonna go back to the time before I got attached to that person and send my past self somewhere far away.”

Was that what he meant by erasing me from his life completely? I felt dazed as if someone had slapped me in the back of the head.

The present is the result of many small choices made in the past. If Sang’s parents hadn’t been drowning in debt, if they hadn’t made the irresponsible choice to commit suicide together, if any of his relatives had reached out to him, if he’d been sent to a different orphanage than the Orthodox Church, we wouldn’t have met.

Against countless possibilities, all of those choices came together by chance, leading to our meeting. Some might call it fate. But even the brightest destinies can change when you miss one of the smallest choices.

Yes, that’s exactly what Simeon was aiming for—me. He’d decided to eliminate meeting Johan completely.

My brain felt overloaded.

“Is it… ok to change the past?”

“Well, if there’s a punishment for defying providence, I’ll gladly take it.”

That was the reason <Fine Pattern Mirror> was destroyed. The questions floating around in my head started to come together. I should’ve felt relieved, but why were my hands shaking and my heart full of regret? Was it so regrettable if the memories of him and I never existed?

…I needed to come to my senses. It was for Sang’s own good. If we’d never met, he wouldn’t have been hurt by me. I’d also be free of the anxiety of passing the curse on to him. All I had to do was love no one and wait for the day I died.

It was all good; it was what we wanted… but I couldn’t let go of the other possibilities. I had a vain hope that if I could go back, I could create a better future.

“Is that… the best way?”

The words slipped out of my mouth without my realizing it. I was about to apologize when Simeon calmly replied.

“It’s not that I didn’t think of other ways to do it, like… going back in time and preventing the bus accident that person was in.”

My heart sank for a moment. But it’s something Simeon would have thought about carefully. Stopping the accident would ensure Johan’s life or death, and at least it would be less painful than it is now. When asked why he’d changed his mind, Simeon replied bluntly.

“I quickly realized that it was all for nothing.” 

“Why?”

“Even if I prevented the accident, that person would eventually leave my side.”

I was struck speechless by the truth. Simeon’s glassy eyes seemed to have already penetrated my past and heart. I swallowed dryly and asked, trying to act nonchalant.

“How do you know that?”

“I knew it right away. He may have thought he was hiding it well, but I could see it.”

Simeon muttered with sarcasm.

“He wanted to leave my side.”

My fingertips twitched involuntarily at the cold voice.

“I may not be close to many people, but I’m very good at recognizing when someone’s about to leave. It’s a sixth sense I picked up from my parents, who abandoned me and died. And he… I realized he had the same look in his eyes as my parents did.”

“What sort of look…?”

“The look that says my existence is a nuisance.”

Simeon blinked slowly. Once, twice. With each flutter of his long lashes, the emotion in his black eyes diluted and faded away. What remained on his impassive face were the remnants of loneliness.

“Of course, I don’t want to treat him like my parents, who were worse than animals. But he at least never made it obvious that he found me annoying or that he didn’t like me… And more than anything, I was happy with him.”

I’d prefer if he accused me of being irresponsible, but Simeon blamed himself. 

Unable to tolerate the ridiculous misunderstanding that I could find him annoying or dislike him, I ended up speaking up.

“Maybe he had other things going on and couldn’t come back.”

“Exactly. So I gave him a chance. A chance to come back to me. A chance to tell me everything. I gave him countless chances and waited endlessly.”

He sighed quietly and then looked at me with eyes full of both longing and anguish.

“Seven years is enough, isn’t it? Mr. Hajae.”

It was as if he were addressing John rather than asking for my opinion, so I said nothing. The shadow on his face grew darker as the silence prolonged.

Finally, Simeon frowned and spoke with a hint of sarcasm.


“He faked his death and left me. So wouldn’t he resent me if I prevented that accident?”

“……..”

“I may hate him, but I don’t want to be hated by him.”

Soon, dark clouds covered the sky. The full moon was no longer shining brightly as the clouds consumed it. It quickly became too dark to see Simeon’s expression, which was just as well because I was struggling to control my own expression. My slightly twitching facial muscles would have looked unnatural.

“Anyway, I’m sorry, Mr. Hajae. I’m not looking for a memory-erasing spirit.”

I tried to say something, but my voice wouldn’t come out, as if someone was choking me. As the silence grew stifling, droplets suddenly began to fall from the sky. I’d never been so relieved to see rain before.

I put my hand over my head to block out the rain, and a look of helplessness took over my face as I spoke.

“Let’s discuss this again tomorrow morning; we’ll catch a cold out here.”

Simeon said nothing, so I excused myself and left the roof. I hoped Simeon would see it as a gesture to get out of the rain rather than something suspicious. Afterward, I returned to my room and soaked in the warm water, which helped me breathe.

“Going back in time, ha…”

What would I do if I could turn back time? Whenever I thought about the unrealistic scenario, I thought the same thing. I would destroy the seed of unhappiness.

Destroy the beginning of the chain of misfortune that was this curse. My mother had failed to save her companion inside a rift, so there were two ways to avoid the curse. I could either convince my mom to give up on the mission or help her coworker get through the gate safely.

“….Would that even work?”

My ragged laugh echoed through the bathroom.

It sounded nice, in theory, but the odds were close to zero. A mother who valued loyalty enough to save people on the front lines until she died was unlikely to abandon her comrades. Furthermore, the time allowed in the past through <Divine Comedy> was only a day. There’s no guarantee her colleague would safely make it out of the gate in 24 hours.

Worst of all, I still didn’t know what kind of spirit cursed my mom. My dad never told me the story, and when I tried to find out on my own, I couldn’t find it by searching the internet. Ultimately, I realized there was no way for an average person like me to access the information in the rift, so it was best to give up.

So what about now? With The Apostles’ contacts, I might be able to find out which spirit had cursed my mom. Furthermore, if I revealed myself as Johan and asked for help, Simeon would probably be willing to use <Divine Comedy> to remove the curse. That’s the kind of man he is.

But what if that plan fails? I’d be stuck and have to pass on my curse to Sang. That alone was enough to catch my breath, but I was afraid of something else. I was worried that Sang would blame my death on his inability to break the curse.

Urgkk—.

My stomach lurched with guilt at the mere thought of it, and I covered my mouth.

Let’s not think too hard. I just had to help Sang complete <Divine Comedy>. Helping him get away from me was the only way to atone. A way to make everyone happy? Ha. There was no such thing. But, it was fortunate I wouldn’t have to pass the curse on to him.

‘I may hate him, but I don’t want to be hated by him.’

What a happy life to have found someone who cares so much for me.

What a happy death.

****

I woke up this morning and headed to the cliffs like a man possessed. The sky was bluer than usual after yesterday’s downpour. I took a deep breath as the smell of the ocean permeated every inch of my body. The wind was cold, and the waves were high. It was the kind of weather I loved.

As I stared down at the sea, I heard footsteps approaching from behind. The hesitant footsteps sounded unsettled and hesitant, so I stepped back from the cliff and spoke.

“Don’t worry, I won’t jump.”

The figure stopped beside me, and we watched the sea silently. Or rather, he gazed at the endless horizon while I leaned toward the cliffs and watched the crashing waves.

“Good morning.”

He greeted me as he always did and got straight to the point.

“How did you know that the full moon was a condition?”

I was nervous about telling him about my abilities. After all, it was a secret that no one but my father knew. I took a breath and said it casually as if it were no big deal.

“I saw it with my eyes.”

Simeon, who’d been watching the sea with me, turned his head quickly to look at me. I couldn’t bring myself to look him in the eye, so I continued, still looking at the open sea.

“I can see an entity’s awakening conditions. I always thought it was limited to humans, but I can also see the conditions for spirit objects.”

“Why… you haven’t told anyone until now, have you?”

“I thought it would be tiresome.”

There were more people than you might think who performed stunts just to awaken their abilities. We’d all seen news stories of people jumping off the roofs of villas to their deaths or smashing through windows with their bare hands. The last thing I wanted was to get tangled up with people like that.

“And because my father told me keeping one villain asleep was more important than creating ten heroes. He said that if the person I awakened were a vicious murderer, I wouldn’t be able to escape the consequences of that. 

I followed my father’s advice and lived my life as if I didn’t have the power. Then I met Sang and changed my mind, but that was the first and last time I’d used it on a person.

“Thanks to my father, I could live quietly all these years.”

I shrugged, and Simeon shook his head in sympathy.

“Your father was a wise man.”

“Haha, yes, it seems like it.”

In my memory, my dad was always wise and strong. I think he and Sang would’ve gotten along well if they’d met since I owed my enjoyment of chess and my first encounter with a Rubik’s cube to my dad.

After a moment of silence, Simeon was the first to speak.

“All this time, I thought your body was your awakening power.”

“Oh, that’s…”

I didn’t know what to say but finally told him the truth.

“Something I inherited from my mom.”

Yes. That was true. Technically, it’s not a lie because I did inherit it.

Simeon frowned slightly at the unexpected news.

“And did your mother ever…?”

“She passed away. I’m not sure how because we parted ways when I was young.”

“How did you know you inherited it from your mother?”

“My dad told me. …Of course, he died not long after we got my mom’s will, so I never got to ask him much else about her.”

The way to get away with lying is, to tell the truth in a disjointed way. If you weave pieces of the truth in, like a jigsaw puzzle, even the most astute listener won’t recognize the parts that are a lie. 

Simeon expressed sincere condolences for the loss of both my parents.

“I’m sorry I brought up difficult memories for you.”

“Oh, no, I’m sorry I didn’t answer your question.”

I tried to laugh it off gently, but then I added a request.

“Oh, and can you please keep my abilities a secret? I don’t want to be The Apostles’ guinea pig.”

Simeon nodded silently and looked away. The black eyes no longer looked at me but drifted slowly across the sky and sea. He seemed to be thinking about what I said. Even if he tried to find the truth later, there’d be little information about it. I’d prefer to know the source of the curse, personally.

I momentarily gazed at his neat and beautiful side profile before speaking.

“I thought about this all day yesterday.”

I grinned at him as he looked at me again.

“I want to help you find the last chapter of <Divine Comedy>.”

“…Why’s that?”

“Why, well. You haven’t found the spirit object you want yet. So, like the other apostles, I’m happy to help you until you find it. Maybe I’ll even find the last chapter of <Divine Comedy> and get the spirit object I want first.”

Even today, his eyes were transparent enough that I could see through their darkness. I wasn’t agitated anymore. Because last night, I realized precisely what I had to do.

I’d help Sang complete <Divine Comedy>, and when we crossed that threshold and reached heaven, today… and all our future memories would be ‘non-existent’. Isn’t that what I was hoping for?

“So let’s help each other.”

Here’s to the ending we want. Here’s to us taking different paths to the same destination. Here’s to our happy ending that no one will ever remember.

I smiled and offered my hand to shake, but Simeon glanced down at my hand, seemingly unenthusiastic to take it. I clenched and unclenched my hands into fists, sneaking a sly glance at him.

“So, what?”

“…….”

“I thought it seemed like a pretty good idea.”

Simeon smiled and tilted his head before sighing in exasperation.

“Follow me.”

He turned abruptly and walked back to the ark as he spoke. I followed but couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy about his reaction.

“Where are we going?”

“If you’re going to be with The Apostles in the future, you have to go to him first.”

“Go to who?”

Simeon muttered as he opened the door to the ark.

“The owner of The Ark.”

The names of The Apostles were well known. The world’s interest in them never waned, as they frequently appeared at a newly opened gate before disappearing in the blink of an eye. 

But they were able to remain anonymous all these years, thanks to him. 

The owner of The Ark.

“Noah.”

Stopping in front of a door, Simeon knocked and called. But no one came out. 

Simeon casually grabbed the doorknob and turned it. As soon as he opened the door, he heard a loud bang and the sound of an object slamming against the desk.

“Hey, I’m trying to sleep over here!”

My jaw dropped at the sudden outburst.

Unlike the pristine ark, Noah’s room was quite… cluttered. It had a long desk lined with energy drinks and coffee cans displayed like trophies. The only light in the dark room was around the desk, like fireflies in a cave. It reminded me of a developer in Pangyo I’d worked for.

“Ah, shit….”

After a long moment of racking his brain, he glanced over. His tired, half-closed eyes widened at the sight of Simeon.

“What’s up, boss? When did you get here?”

Pulling the earplugs he usually wore to sleep out of his ears, Noah stiffened and sat up.

“Knock next time, there’s such a thing called privacy, you know?”

“I knocked. Twice.”

“Huh, I guess my earplugs are working well then…”

Noah said, rising to his feet casually.

“Well, what are you doing here?”

“I need another key.”

“Key? …All of a sudden?”

“Yes, it’s….”

Simeon stopped talking abruptly and pulled out his cell phone. His expression slightly twisted as he saw the name on the incoming call. Realizing it was important, Simeon excused himself and left the room, leaving me alone with the man I’d just met.

Unable to bear the heavy silence, I spoke first.

“Hello. I’m Hajae Shin.”

“Ah, yeah.”

Stifling a yawn, Noah shook his head slightly. He flipped on the fluorescent lights, brightening the room a little. I noticed he had a few green plants by his desk.

I glanced around the room out of habit and met Noah’s gaze. He was staring at me blankly, his eyes blurry with fatigue.

His appearance was even more intense in the light. His tousled hair looked like a magpie had made a home in it, and his eyes were piercing behind his round, silver-rimmed glasses. His pale skin also looked like it hadn’t seen sunlight in a long time. I guess he’s what some people would call a nerd.

“Your name is…?”

Noah smiled and spoke in a shaky voice.

“Six..? No, it was seven. …Anyway, yes. I’m Noah.”

“You can speak casually.”

“Oh, sure.”

Noah yawned repeatedly during the greeting. He looked so tired, like he could collapse at a moment’s notice, to the point where even though I didn’t know him well, I started to worry. I wondered if managing an ark was really that tiring.

“It seems like you work overtime a lot.”

“Over…time?”

As soon as I set the bait, Noah pounced.

“Isn’t it ‘overtime’ only if you leave work?”

“Well, yes, but surely you can…”

“I can’t.”

“Why not…?”

Noah blinked his bloodshot eyes; his hyena-like features appeared eerie in more ways than one before he slowly opened his mouth.

“Does the door of your house have a lock?”

“Uh, I think so…?”

“Well, imagine if that lock was a person.”

“…What?”

Noah suddenly approached me, grabbed my shoulder, and spoke.

“People come and go at all hours of the day and night. When I lay down to sleep, they leave, and when I think I’m finally drifting off to sleep, they come back in. If I’m late approving something, I get tons of phone calls, which causes a huge fuss. They don’t even care if I’m washing up!”

It seemed like he’d bottled a lot of things up. But it’s understandable. Imagine being the only person working a 24-hour security job. It would suck. I patted Noah’s shoulder; he must have been frustrated to vent his anger at me, someone he’d never met.

Suddenly, Noah frowned as if a headache plagued him.

“Are you okay?”

I thought my head was hurting from the stress, but Noah said something else entirely.

“Look at this. It’s not even noon yet.”

“What is it?”

Instead of explaining, Noah snapped his fingers. Dozens of screens, each with a different landscape, filled the room. Like standing in the center of a panopticon, the screens fanned out in front of us. There was a forest ruin in Gimpo and a flower shop in Songdo. It seemed to be a collection of places The Apostles frequented.

Then, a new scene popped up. A man stood with his back to the forest, staring straight ahead. A black mask covered his face, but his curly brown hair was familiar. He held up two fingers in a V as if he knew we were watching. It was Enoch.

Noah muttered in open disgust.

“No, since when is that bastard here again?”

Noah pointed his middle finger straight at the screen, snarling like a dog facing its nemesis. He wouldn’t see it anyway, but the gesture made me feel more at ease, somehow. 

Noah flicked his hand like he was swatting at a bug, and a door opened within the screen. Apparently, you had to ask his permission to enter The Ark.

“It doesn’t help at all. Not even one bit…”

Noah snapped his fingers again, and many screens disappeared in the blink of an eye. Noah then opened a new energy drink and downed it in one gulp. The way he slammed the empty can down, he looked like an angry office worker downing a beer while on the clock.

“Why don’t you tell Simeon?”

“…How can I tell him?”

“If you tried, I think he’d listen to you.”

The Apostles Guild didn’t seem exploitative or toxic, but I’d never seen an apostle whine like Noah. Besides, Simeon had told me that if I wanted anything, I could always ask him.

Noah muttered, crushing the empty can with one hand.

“…I have to do it.”

“What?”

“This is what I said I’d do.”

“Why?”

I asked curiously as Noah quietly pushed his glasses up on his head. Then he covered his near-dead face with his hands and muttered.

“It was too much money to turn down.”

A sigh escaped my slightly gaping mouth. Is something like that the benefit of being self-employed? As I was comforting him, Simeon walked into the room.

“Sorry, important call. …What were you two talking about?”

Noah put his glasses back on correctly and responded.

“We just said hello and shared what’s happening in our lives.”

Simeon glanced at me after Noah’s perfectly crafted response. He seemed to be asking if that was really what happened. I eagerly agreed with Noah since my attitude would determine the future of that sad office worker.

Finally, Simeon nodded slowly and got to the point.

“Since we’ve finished our introductions, …could we get the keys now?”

“Yes, yes. Of course.”

As Noah stretched, I heard a popping sound in his joints, making me wonder if he’d broken something. He looked over his shoulder at me mid-stretch and spoke.

“You’re the one who needs the key, right?”

“Yes. I’m sorry to bother you when you’re so busy.”

“Nah, I mean. It’s my job, so…”

Noah staggered to the window, curled his thumb and forefinger together, and whistled. A pure white pigeon with a pink beak and small, black eyes like beans flew in through the window. It circled the room in a wide arc and settled on a potted olive tree in the corner.

“It’s been a while since we had a fresh face here, so choose properly.”

Did the pigeon even understand Noah’s words? The pigeon hesitated momentarily, and then, with a flick of its tiny beak, it snapped off a piece of branch.

After that, it flew to Noah, placed the tree branch piece in his hand, and then flew out the window.

While I was mesmerized by the scene, Noah approached and handed me the small piece of wood

“Here you go.”

“Ah…. Thank you.”

It was the key to the ark. It was a little shorter than Simeon’s but very charming. As if to prove that it wasn’t ordinary wood, it was stiff and didn’t break, even as I tried to exert force onto it.

“That’s amazing. It’s like… a fairy tale.”

“Is that a compliment?”

“Yep.”

As I looked at him in admiration, Noah’s mouth twitched.

“I’m kind of a big deal.”

Noah seemed to feel better as he started elaborating on key-related skills I hadn’t even asked about.

The ‘Cradle of the Sea’ was a unique ability that allows you to set up a base on the ocean, where only those with a key can enter and leave. You could immediately recognize and chase away intruders. You could also hide the base from prying eyes, which is why it’s not visible to satellites.

“But what do I do when I want to go out?”

“You can use it the same. But you can only use so many doors to go out.”

Noah gestured to the olive tree plant where the pigeon had just sat.

“It has to have already been opened at least once with a key made from that.”

“Oh…”

“And it only works domestically.”

He hastily added that there was a distance limit, as though it were some kind of an insurance policy.

“Anyway, you’re free to use the key. Just don’t lose it.”

“If I lose it, can I not have another one?”

“No, it’s not that…”

Noah glanced at Simeon and whispered to me in a voice only I could hear.

“Please don’t increase my workload.”

“Ah, I got you.”

Noah offered a louder response meant for Simeon’s ears this time.

“So, yes. If you ever lose it, come directly to me, not the boss. …Don’t come together.”

Afterward, Noah shot me an earnest look and squeezed my hand. Maybe it’s because I once worked with a similar client, but I sympathized with the woes of an employee who wanted to stay as far away from his boss as possible.

Simeon, who had been watching the situation in silence, spoke up.

“You look like you have a lot to talk about. Should I leave you two alone?”

The mood immediately turned chilly. Cold sweat ran down my spine when I met his dark eyes. At first glance, those words may have sounded considerate, but I wasn’t stupid enough not to recognize their true meaning. I let go of Noah’s hand and let out an awkward laugh.

“No. It was just small talk, small talk.”

Simeon waved off listening to my excuses, and turned to Noah.

“I apologize for barging in on you.”

“No, what barging in?”

“Are you having a hard time with anything these days?”

“Haha, not at all.”

“That’s good.”

Simeon burst out laughing, prompting Noah to burst out laughing as well. The corners of Noah’s mouth twitched unnaturally under the pressure. Finally, the stifling atmosphere became unbearable, and I left the room with Simeon. I glanced back just before closing the door, and Noah gave me a wordless thumbs-up.

I stifled a laugh, turned my head, and locked eyes with Simeon’s.

“It looked like you two were hitting it off.”

“We just discussed this and that….”

I laughed awkwardly, then quickly changed the subject.

“Come to think of it, I guess I can go back now.”

Simeon suddenly froze in place, his expression subtly crumpled as he turned around.

“…Go back? Go back where?”

“Home.”

“…Home?”

“I can’t be indebted to you forever, and besides, the whole reason I agreed to stay on The Ark was for <Blue Hope>, and we’ve finished with that now.”

I thought it was time to go home, and luckily, I had a key. Simeon wasn’t thrilled when I told him I’d be staying at the Ark for a while, so I thought he’d be happy to see me back home, but he just frowned as if he didn’t understand my choice at all.

“Why?”

“Why…? Well, it’s more comfortable at home.”

Honestly, in terms of facilities, The Ark is much better than my cramped rented room, but strangely, I didn’t feel at home here. Maybe it was the sea and cliffs that resembled the landscape. Not knowing the details, Simeon frowned and continued his barrage of questions.

“When are you going?”

“Tomorrow?”

Simeon’s eyebrows twitched before I could say anything else. Did he take that to mean I would leave like I did before? He looked quite unhappy, so I offered some reassurance.

“If you need me, just let me know; I’ll be right over.”

Still, his stony face refused to relax.

****

The following day, I was ready to leave The Ark. I didn’t bother telling the other apostles I was leaving today. I only thanked Simeon’s bodyguard for escorting me to the door with the keyhole.

Then, left alone at the door, I nervously pulled out my keys.

“Hmmm. So…”

They say you can go to any door you’ve opened with a key, even if it’s just once. Raphael had opened the bathroom door at my house once, so I didn’t have to think about the destination. I closed my eyes, pictured my apartment in my head, and turned the key.

The door clicked open with a bright, cheerful sound. Suddenly, the acrid smell of smoke hit me. I instinctively covered my nose and mouth with my sleeve, and a cough escaped my lips. The door creaked open, and the sight before me was startling.

“What.. What is this…?”

Everywhere was covered in a thick blanket of darkness. The old wallpaper, ceiling, worn boards, and colorful spring quilt were covered in charred ashes. I was too frightened to enter. How could I have expected that the house I had returned to after so many days would have been been set on fire?

Scanning the room, I suddenly noticed something strange amongst the carnage. The iron box on top of my chest of drawers was missing. I hurriedly crossed the threshold and searched the entire house as quickly as possible. But the box was nowhere to be found; there wasn’t even a trace of its burned remains.

“This can’t be…”

It didn’t matter if my place burned down—but not the iron box that contained my parents’ keepsakes and my mother’s last letter.

As I was searching through every drawer, someone walked in from the front door.

“Young man! What are you doing in here?”

A gruff-looking man waved his gloved hand.

“No, I… This is my…”

“Come out quickly!”

I panicked and wasn’t able to tell him that this was my house and that I was looking for something, so I didn’t resist and was dragged out of the house by him. As I stood dumbfounded in the hallway, I made eye contact with the landlady coming up the stairs.

“Oh, young man! Where have you been? I was worried about you.”

“Ma’am…”

“I keep trying to reach you, but you didn’t answer; where have you been?”

“I was at a friend’s house for a while.”

She breathed a sigh of relief and slapped my arm.

“There was a fire in your room last night.”

“I… The fire came from my room?”

“Yeah. Something about a short circuit or something, but I’m not entirely sure. Anyway, it’s good they extinguished it before it spread anywhere else, or it would’ve burned down the whole place down. Thank God no one was hurt.”

I was glad to hear that no one was hurt, but something wasn’t right. I hadn’t been in the house in a while. I turned off most things whenever I left the house, so there was no chance of anything short-circuiting. I also didn’t smoke. How could that fire have come out of nowhere?

As I pondered why, the lady suddenly clapped her hands.

“Ah, that’s right. I have something for you!”

She told me to wait for a moment and ran up the stairs. When she descended the stairs again, my heart skipped a beat as soon as I saw the object in her hand. She was carrying the iron box containing my parents’ belongings that I thought had been lost.

“T-That… Where did you find that?”

She brushed the ashes off the iron box and handed it to me.

“We had to get rid of the furniture first, so I hurriedly grabbed what seemed important.”

“Ah……! Thank you. Really.”

“If you need anything else, go get it and come back out.”

“It’s ok, this is all I need.”

The lady smiled and spoke as I clutched the box preciously in my arms.

“I put whatever else I could fit in there.”

I bowed my head in thanks again and opened the lid, but as soon as I saw what was inside, my mind went blank.

“This is….”

“Oh, I was going to ask what that was. Everything, even the curtains, burned, yet that flower was somehow the only thing that survived.”

Of course, it survived. It wasn’t a flower; it was a spirit item.

“Did you buy that? I’ve never seen that kind of flower before.”

“I received it as a gift…”

I barely swallowed the swear word that came out of my mouth like a sneeze when I saw the red flowers arranged atop my mother’s will. There’s a strange urban legend about the Breath of the Firebird, which had an auction price of over 100 million dollars. 

It was said that wherever the flower blooms, a great fire will start.

I couldn’t believe it… It all made sense now.

I thought it’d be fine as long as I didn’t grow it from a new seed, but apparently not. Or maybe the fact it was already a flower was the reason it set my house ablaze. In any case, knowing the real reason for the fire was a great relief. I couldn’t even complain about my bad luck since it was my fault.

“I’m sorry, ma’am.”

“Oh, it’s not your fault. It was an accident, and it’s covered by insurance.”

“Well, that’s great, but… Anyway, it’s my fault…”

I’ll have to pay this month’s rent later and include the repair cost to make up for it. I apologized profusely, but she just turned her back to me.

“So, young man, do you have a place to stay for the time being?”

“Oh, that’s….”

“If you don’t have one, I can find one for you.”

When she asked if I could go to my parent’s house for a while, I laughed awkwardly and brushed it off. When the landlord went to answer the phone, I stayed deep in thought. Should I rent a room again right away since I have an emergency fund saved up, or should I spend a few days in a public bathhouse or a motel?

Just as I was about to plan my search for a new place, a message arrived on my phone.

[What’s it like to be back home after so long?]

What exquisite timing. I couldn’t help but laugh. I was about to write, “The flower you gave me burnt down my house, so thank you!” but I decided to bluff a bit instead.

[Very nice^^, as I thought, it’s comfortable being back.]

Was that too much of a lie? No answer. I figured he was just ignoring me until he suddenly sent me a picture. A chessboard was laid out on the table where we recently sat across from each other. The black and white pieces were lined up in two rows, and only the black one had moved, so it looked like he’d just started. But the seat across from him was empty.

[Why did you leave me alone?]

[Because you’re not here…]

….What? I was stunned and unable to think of anything to say when another text arrived.

[I’m bored, and there’s no one to eat breakfast with.]

What’s wrong with him? You’d think we hadn’t seen each other in a week. In reality, it’d been less than a day since I’d left The Ark.

No, I was homeless after less than half a day. Should I just go back to the Ark? But now I’ve said it was comfortable being back, so I’m a little…. embarrassed. Besides, Simeon might change his mind if I go. I kept the fire a secret and waited for a reaction.

[Did you get rid of my room?]

[No, of course not.]

While I was thinking about it, another message came in.

[But why?]

[Just asking.]

[Do you miss me already?]

Immediately, I coughed. Has he decided to change his tactics? Is he watching my reaction somewhere? I looked around wildly and sent a deliberately cool reply.

[Yeah, you wish.]

In less than five seconds, I got an answer.

[That’s right.]

[So come back].

The succession of texts caught me off guard. One minute, I was chuckling; the next, I was stunned by the text that had just arrived.

[No matter how uncomfortable it is here, it’s better than ashes.]