SOG Ch 141

However, the part that particularly bothered Seon Jae-chan was neither  Lee Yoon-do nor the perpetrator’s abilities.

What bothered him most were the wound marks that had caused the victims’ deaths. He was certain he had seen such wounds somewhere before.

‘Where on earth did I see them?’

Such distinctive and large wounds should be unforgettable, but even after carefully recalling all the Espers he had encountered, he couldn’t think of any ability that could create such wound patterns.

No matter how hard he tried, he could only feel a nagging itch in his brain. He eventually gave up, thinking he’d remember eventually, and turned his attention to the window. He was nearing the outlet they had visited a few hours ago. The place that Gyeong Hye-in sent in the message was near here.

Shortly after, Jae-chan stepped onto the top floor of a building overlooking the Namryu River. It was a wine bar with a heavy atmosphere, using predominantly black marble.

The warm interior, filled with jazz melodies, was decorated with vines, glass chandeliers, and transparent wine displays. Sitting by the window, Gyeong Hye-in looked up and spotted Seon Jae-chan.

Unusually, she wasn’t wearing her beanie. Under the pale chandelier light, her shoulder-length hair flowed down, partially obscuring her oval face. A wooden tray with various cheeses and a half-empty bottle of wine were already on the table.

“I heard this is a famous restaurant.”

She skipped the greeting, her eyes smiling slyly through her fallen hair.

“I ordered for you too.”

“I drove here.”

Jae-chan replied, also skipping formalities as he took off his coat and sat down across from her.

“Call a substitute driver.”

Geyong Hye-in spoke somewhat forcefully as she brushed her hair back with her long fingers. Since he was in a position to ask her for a favor, Jae-chan obediently picked up the glass.

“This isn’t ordinary wine. It’s from our elder’s collection. I even drove 300 kilometers and paid corkage for this.”

Gyeong Hye-in, whose tongue was already slightly slurred, chuckled as she told him to drink it gratefully. Indeed, the blood-red wine had an excellent smooth texture.

“I texted you yesterday. I’ll be staying in District 5 for a while—.”

“Getting straight to business, I see. No manners for a benefactor who saved your friend.”

Before he was Seon Jae-chan’s friend, Gyeong Chang-hyun was also Gyeong Hye-in’s own relative, but she made it sound like it had nothing to do with her.

“Before you get to your business, shouldn’t you ask why I’m here first?”

Gyeong Hye-in raised her languid gaze. Jae-chan played along halfheartedly.

“Why are you here?”

“Because of you. I came here because of you… Ah, this godforsaken place.”

Her muttering made Seon Jae-chan frown. She came because of him? That’s hardly believable.

“Seriously, why are you here?”

Jae-chan asked as he refilled Geyong Hye-in’s empty wine glass. Hye-in twirled the round glass and said, “Hmm…”

“To cut off tattered sleeves…?”

Jae-chan took her words seriously.

He had already been suspicious of Gyeong Hye-in’s possible connection to Black Swan. The locations of drug factories marked on the world map in his mind, and articles about drugs found in rivers, all came to him simultaneously. The concentrated factories were around District 5, and the streams where drugs were found were tributaries of the Namryu River that crossed District 5.

Could it be that Gyeong Hye-in came here as a manager? The ‘tattered sleeves’ she mentioned are things that need to be taken care of. For example, incompetent members who drew media attention by dumping drug packets in rivers.

However, as time passed, Jae-chan’s speculations began to blur.

“…”

It was because Gyeong Hye-in silently emptied her glass from then on. More precisely, the pessimistic atmosphere around her, as if she had put aside all worldly matters, seemed to tell him his speculation was wrong.

Something must have happened to Gyeong Hye-in, as her demeanor had significantly changed from the last time he saw her. It wasn’t just because she had taken off her beanie.

‘Now that I think about it, her text yesterday was a bit irritable too.’

She was no longer the endlessly relaxed person she used to be. Her complexion had worsened as well. Despite being the eldest daughter of President Gyeong Jeon-seok, her distinct features that barely resembled him now had shadows cast over them, eerie like the shade on a late-night stone statue.

“I have something I want to ask you.”

After setting the mood for a long while, she finally spoke. Here it comes, Jae-chan thought, bracing himself as he took his second sip.

“Yes, go ahead.”

And Gyeong Hye-in poured out this with a stiff face.

“There is someone I like. But things don’t go as planned.”

“…”

“Please give me some advice. You ended up dating Go Woo-jin after all.”

Already flustered, Jae-chan felt his throat tighten. He barely managed to swallow the wine that threatened to come back up.

‘She likes someone?’

This Gyeong Hye-in? As Jae-chan was bewildered, he suddenly recalled the shadow of the well-built man whose identity he never discovered. The man who was sitting next to Hye-in in the pub’s CCTV footage during the Gyeong Chang-hyun incident.

Could it be that man? If Gyeong Hye-in was connected to Black Swan, that man could be someone like ‘Angel’ or ‘Technician.’ If, by some incredible coincidence, that was the case.

Jae-chan did not let down his guard and listened to Gyeong-hye-in’s words.

“We were flirting, then I confessed, and we finally started dating, but he found out I’m the President’s daughter. He doesn’t like it.”

Of course, if he were a future rebel executive, he would dislike his girlfriend being President Gyeong Jeon-seok’s daughter. It all fit perfectly. Jae-chan’s ears perked up gradually.

“He said we should take some time apart. But I feel like we’ll break up if I just leave it like this. …What should I do?”

“…How did you meet him?”

Afterward, Jae-chan heard various stories from Gyeong Hye-in. How they first met at an offline meeting through an online cafe gathering, how they had known each other for years and had a long period of mutual attraction, how they had only recently started dating, and so on.

Empty wine bottles began to pile up between them. By the time Gyeong Hye-in showed Jae-chan her chat history with her boyfriend, he had completely forgotten his earlier suspicions about Black Swan and was fully engrossed in her love story.

“He’s lived a different life from mine. Our tastes, personalities, and views of the world are all different.”

Jae-chan sighed and listened to Gyeong Hye-in’s voice. Before he knew it, he was now projecting his past self onto Gyeong Hye-in, who was helplessly in love.

“…But I still like him. To the point where I feel like I could die. Do you know what that’s like?”

Now quite tipsy, Gyeong Hye-in asked in a slightly slurred voice.

“The feeling of wanting to hold onto someone even if it means doing bad things.”

Seon Jae-chan, who was also a bit drunk since they had finished drinking together, said, “Yes, I know. I know it well.” Though he answered with genuine sympathy, Gyeong Hye-in didn’t believe him.

“What do you know? This disgusting feeling like you’ve become trash!”

Hye-in rambled incoherently with slurred pronunciation. To summarize, she was saying, ‘If you had really done trashy things, there’s no way Go Woo-jin would be dating you.’

So does that mean Hye-in herself has already done something trashy? Jae-chan made a rather astute judgment even with his alcohol-addled brain as he tilted his glass.

“You don’t know anything…”

Meanwhile, Gyeong Hye-in continued to protest. From her perspective, not knowing the pre-regression Seon Jae-chan, his deep empathy felt insincere. She found it extremely irritating to see him nodding bitterly as if he understood her situation, while he had already secured the person he loved.

However, Seon Jae-chan was sincere.

“Why wouldn’t I know? You wonder if it’s not meant to be and if you’re just forcing it.”

A voice that seemed to read Gyeong Hye-in’s mind flowed through the calming saxophone notes. Forgetting her initial displeasure, Hye-in was momentarily confused.

Of course, she knew that Jae-chan had been quite obsessively fixated on Go Woo-jin in a rather twisted way… but Jae-chan didn’t seem to be simply talking about that time.  He had too bitter an expression for someone who had achieved that unrequited love.

For a moment, she found the young guide’s face unfamiliar. Gyeong Hye-in sensed a bitterness of years from Seon Jae-chan, who was ten years younger than her, something she couldn’t even feel from her peers.

What kind of hardships had worn this guy down to such a face beyond his years? There shouldn’t be any issues with his relationship with Go Woo-jin, so it couldn’t be that.

“Wait, you… Was there someone else besides Go Woo-jin?”

Gyeong Hye-in’s stiffened strangely. Her guess was half right and half wrong. Jae-chan was thinking of Go Woo-jin from before the regression.

“…Don’t tell me you still love them?”

Gyeong Hye-in asked as if she had witnessed the twist of a horror movie. Seon Jae-chan did not answer. However, Gyeong Hye-in read the answer in the other person’s sinking gaze.

“…”

“…”

“Wow, there’s an even bigger trash than me?”

Gyeong Hye-in lightly marveled.

“You know that’s emotional cheating too, right? Hey, you might face resistance from Gyeong Hye-su!”

“…Who?”