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“It seems we’ve been talking about nothing but heavy topics in front of the youngest, haha. He came here because he’s having a hard time, and now we’re only confusing him with incomprehensible talk.”
The man approached Dokyeom, knelt on the ground, and lowered himself. His eyes, when they met, were deep and dark, as if they had been set deep in the sea. A hand in a white glove brushed Dokyeom’s cheek and then gently tousled the back of his head.
The lingering warmth was intense. At that familiar, wistful touch, one he felt he had received before, Dokyeom’s stiff tongue twitched.
“Tong… hyung…”
“Still… I wanted to give you a name after much thought.”
[Enough, boy. Just thinking about how we argued for decades over naming the youngest still makes my blood boil. No need for long talk; just soothe the kid and send him off before he breathes his last.]
“That was because of you, sis. You insisted on naming him ‘Choondeuki,’ so we spent decades trying to persuade you, and in that time, the youngest ran away, didn’t he?”
[What’s wrong with Choondeuki? Look here. You don’t know how good that name is. In the old days, it was a childhood name given only to the eldest grandson of a noble family.]
“Still, big sis, he has a better name now.”
Seeing the gentle smile, Dokyeom’s eyes reddened involuntarily. All he could do was force his stiff tongue to keep calling out “hyung, hyung.” The man looked at him, laughed awkwardly, then closed his eyes and pulled Dokyeom into a broad embrace.
It felt cozy. The familiar scent and body temperature, along with an unspoken sense of belonging, made him close his eyes. Dokyeom curled up like a child in the man’s arms, leaning on him, and burst into tears. A large hand patted his back.
It was like the healing touch that would stroke your stomach on a night when you had indigestion.
It was peaceful. The ticklish sound of breathing from above. The hearty laughter of an old man stroking his beard behind him, and the clear voices of a woman and a girl gradually faded away, as if submerged in water.
“Don’t get sick, and live well, Dokyeom.”
The affectionate words rang in his ears for the last time. By the time the tears gathered at the corners of his closed eyes and rolled down his cheeks, he was already moving away from this place.
***
The first thing he felt was a dry throat from not swallowing for a long time. Swallowing a few times, Dokyeom squinted as if light suddenly struck his face, then opened his eyes hazily.
It was a ceiling he had seen before. A pale purple blind was half-drawn on one side, and a breeze slipped in through the open window for ventilation.
Dokyeom blinked slowly, taking in the surroundings. Ivory wallpaper, a potted plant near the window. A moderately spacious hospital room. But if there was one difference from before,
“Hey, excuse me, Reporter? I don’t know how you got my number, but this is grounds for a lawsuit, you know? What? Compensation? No, why are you suddenly talking about money? Listen, Reporter Shin. I’ve told you several times that I’m a patient now. And I am a hunter of the Sihyeon Guild, but I don’t know anything, okay? I told you to contact the Sihyeon Guild! You say you did? Well then, wait until there’s a briefing or something!”
In the hospital room, where Agon and Dali were absent, only Baek Jiun was sitting alone, fuming. He must have ended the call, because he threw his phone onto the blanket. As if to support his claim of being a patient, he was sitting on the bed in patient clothes.
“Those bastards, coming to fish for information. It’s only been a few minutes since Yeonhu hyung chased them out, and the rumor’s already spreading…”
Then Baek Jiun turned his head and met a pair of gray eyes staring at him.
“…….”
…What the? Does hyung sleep with his eyes open now? Uh… he was definitely asleep until just now…?
He stared at those clear eyes, showing no signs of drowsiness, for a moment, then Baek Jiun flinched and jumped up from his seat.
“Hyung! Hyung?!”
He then jumped down from his bed, ran barefoot to Dokyeom’s bed, and examined him with startled eyes. Head, arms, body, and legs.
“Hyung, you’re not hurt somewhere, are you?! Who am I? Can you recognize me? No, seriously, you have to know how to worry people properly! Do you know what kind of state Yeonhu hyung was in?! Agon hyung and Dali thought you were dying!”
While Dokyeom processed those words with his groggy mind, the faint afterimages lingering from sleep swirled in his head like smoke and then vanished. He felt like he had missed something important, but even that wasn’t clear.
It felt like he had met someone. Not just one person, but several.
“Hyung, you’re not listening to me. What is it, are you really hurt somewhere? Should I call someone?”
“No… More than that, where are Agon and… Dali now.”
Dokyeom held his throbbing head and asked the most urgent question first. His cloudy mind was gradually clearing.
“Where do you think they are? At the guild, of course. The hospital limited visitors, so only Yeonhu hyung could come. And do you know how chaotic it’s been outside? Do you know how many days have passed? How could you not wake up even once while we were coming into Korea? Really. We were so scared.”
Dokyeom sat up with his aching body and quietly watched Baek Jiun, who was beating his chest as if frustrated. He had an abdominal bandage on, looking like he had at least a few broken ribs, but his complexion and condition seemed fine.
The fact that Dokyeom and Baek Jiun were now in the hospital meant that the Shanghai Gate incident had been resolved one way or another. Dokyeom had no way of knowing the process, but the Chinese side probably didn’t let them go easily.
“Hyung, you’re really cruel. You can worry people, but how could you not open your eyes for ten days, making everyone anxious?”
Dokyeom doubted his ears for a moment. Ten days? What, ten days?
“Ten days? Ten days?”
Baek Jiun clicked his tongue pityingly and even spread his fingers in front of Dokyeom’s eyes as if emphasizing the point. Dokyeom’s expression hardened instantly. What the hell is this bastard saying?
And in an instant, Baek Jiun was grabbed by the collar and pulled close.
“Hey, what about the kids? What’s happening with them now? Have they eaten?”
“…So hyung does worry about the kids a bit. Ah, first let go of this. Yeonhu hyung is taking care of them, so they’re both fine. But… I think they might escape soon.”
“Did Dali suffer when his skill was released?!”
“Dali? Dali… other than sleeping like dead for two days, he was fine. He didn’t seem to have any pain. Ah! He did stagger a bit, like he woke up from anesthesia. Yeonhu hyung said he couldn’t go without food, so he kept giving him IV fluids. Other than that, nothing special?”
He must have suppressed the pain with [Nullification (SS)]. If not, Dali would have writhed in agony like Agon and collapsed. He had been worried about that, so it was fortunate that he had avoided it somehow.
Realizing that, Dokyeom slumped onto the bed. Ten days or not, just looking at the marks from all the IV needles on his arm, he could tell how much fluid he had received. Even considering that the needle position was changed every three days, there were puncture marks everywhere, as if they had missed the veins.
Ten days.
That meant everything was resolved during that time, he supposed. Since Baek Jiun didn’t say much, could he take that to mean there had been no rampage after that?
He had a mountain of things to ask, but above all, Dokyeom wanted to confirm the voice he had heard at the end. Whether all the missing hunters had been rescued in time.
“What happened to the missing hunters?”
“Ah…”
Baek Jiun averted his gaze and scratched his cheek, as if he had heard something difficult. He was silent for a while, as if thinking, then sighed and spoke.
“Well, it’s not something hyung would be happy to hear… but anyway, all but one were rescued in a vegetative state. They received treatment and all got better, and now they’ve been discharged from this hospital. The remaining one… well, they talked about a funeral, but the situation is complicated, so they can’t hold it yet… China is currently foaming at the mouth demanding compensation.”
The mechanical sound he had heard before closing his eyes was definitely the news of Nam Yuseong’s death. He had hoped it wasn’t, but like a fixed railroad track, it had come to this end. Learning of his death without being able to save him.
Dokyeom closed his eyes with mixed feelings and wiped his face. To change what happened after this, he would have to walk a more dangerous path than this one. Still, if there was one consolation… even in this seemingly worst situation, it wasn’t that there was no way to bring Nam Yuseong back.
Yes, if he catches that ‘bastard,’ he can find Nam Yuseong. That hunter bastard who joined hands with the Shanghai Association, who wanted to take the Sihyeon Guild hunters alive.
He was the Chinese hunter with the ‘Power of Pride’ that Taeseongyeon wanted. Additionally, he was the creator of that ‘monster’ that had attacked Dokyeom.
“Hey… hyung, don’t blame yourself too much. How could this be because of hyung? Cheer up, cheer up.”
“So, what happened to that monster?”
“Monster? Ah…”
Baek Jiun’s gaze again shifted oddly to the side. Moving his eyes as if searching for words, Baek Jiun spoke uncertainly after a moment.
“Well… as hyung knows, I wasn’t exactly in my right mind at that time, right? Probably the guild leader took care of it… Since hyung didn’t have his skill released right away, I can’t be sure either. But I think that’s probably what happened…”
Trailing off, Baek Jiun laughed weakly under Dokyeom’s piercing gaze. Dokyeom stared at him blankly, then asked with a long sigh.
“Then, you.”
“Me, what?”
The adventure continues! If you loved this chapter, Illusionary Dream is a must-read. Click here to start!
Read : Illusionary Dream
