Chapter 14
“Are you sure you don’t need me to help you walk?”
“I’m fine.”
After forcibly sending Baek Dam back when he suddenly insisted on accompanying him all the way home, Han Chasu managed to return safely.
“Phew.”
It was only his second time seeing this place, but still, because it was his home, he felt at ease.
After lying sprawled on the floor for quite some time, Han Chasu pulled himself together.
His steps did not head for the bedroom, but for the study.
“Diaries, diaries….”
He had already skimmed the diaries from after he joined Cheonryeong Guild last time, so he decided to exclude those.
He had not read them carefully, but since 98 percent of the diaries were curses directed at Jeong Iheun anyway, there was no need to look through them again.
Han Chasu meticulously searched the bookshelves from bottom to top.
“This is strange.”
It took him two hours just to rummage through the study packed tightly with books.
And yet, nowhere on the shelves that filled three walls of the study was there anything that looked like a diary.
It was such a hollow result that it made the fact that he had found the diaries immediately on the day he possessed this body seem ridiculous.
But he could not give up like this.
Han Chasu perched on the desk with a thud and furrowed his brow.
‘The diaries from the past three years were compulsive.’
The diaries written after he joined Cheonryeong Guild.
Though 98 percent of them consisted of abuse aimed at Jeong Iheun, Han Chasu had discovered one fact from them.
No matter how much stress Jeong Iheun’s existence caused him, “Han Chasu” had not stopped writing in his diary.
The diaries had been written every single day without fail, regularly and consistently.
That was closer to compulsion than habit.
And such compulsions became engraved into the body over a very long time.
Han Chasu was certain that there had to be diaries somewhere recording the past.
‘Come to think of it, there was one room I didn’t go into back then.’
Rising from his seat, he left the study and walked down the hallway.
The fairly long hallway was barren, without even a single painting hanging on the wall.
Han Chasu stopped in front of the room farthest from the bedroom.
‘I remember it being a storage room.’
The cramped room had been piled messily with all sorts of odds and ends.
It had looked difficult to even set one foot inside, so on the first day he possessed this body, he had not bothered to enter.
After all, the mental shock of having possessed the body of a villain who would be tortured and murdered had already been great enough.
‘If he put them away, there’s a high chance they’re here.’
Han Chasu slowly opened the door to the small room.
“Cough!”
Dust-filled air poured out into the hallway.
He had apparently lived without cleaning it for so long that when he turned on the light, he could see pale dust floating in the air.
“Tsk.”
He waved a hand to clear away the dust, then strode into the room.
He figured it was better to settle things inside the room than to turn the hallway into a den of dust as well.
“Let’s see….”
Han Chasu began opening the boxes piled up one by one.
If it were winter, he could have at least made some pathetic imitation of Christmas.
But reality was not that forgiving.
Creeeak.
It happened when he opened a box tied with a red cord marked with strange letters.
Kihihik, kihik!
A spine-chilling laugh pierced his eardrums, and immediately afterward, pop! The lightbulb burst.
In an instant, darkness filled the empty space.
Surrounded by boxes taller than he was, Han Chasu slowly lifted his eyelids.
Tat-tat-tat!
“…….”
The sound of a child’s footsteps came from above his head.
Kyaaaaaaaah!
An evil spirit with lips split all the way to its ears swung its arms and dropped down with a thud.
***
Jeong Iheun discovered Baek Seon just as he was getting out of the car.
“What is that guy doing here…?”
Unlike when he had spoken in front of Han Chasu, the way he referred to Baek Seon was familiar.
It was because Baek Seon was an old friend of his younger brother, Jeong Seohun, and he had seen him often since childhood.
Baek Seon, standing in front of Han Chasu’s apartment building, looked extremely anxious.
Every so often, he leaned toward the apartment entrance, then turned back, bit his lip, and looked upward, repeating the same actions.
“…….”
Jeong Iheun stared at the sight for a moment, then frowned.
Judging by his appearance, it seemed he had come after learning that Han Chasu had been discharged.
There was no need to ask how he had found out.
‘Looks like Baek Dam provoked him again.’
Baek Dam’s feelings for Baek Seon were sincere. There probably was no other older brother who cared for his younger sibling so much. The problem was the way he conveyed those feelings.
What had he said to his younger brother when he was devastated over failing to become S-rank?
‘He apparently told him that even if he became S-rank, there would only be more tiring and bothersome things to deal with, so B-rank was just right.’
Saying something like that to a child who was already heartbroken, instead of comforting him—anyone could see it was closer to provoking him.
And after that, he had whined that his younger brother would not come home.
Jeong Iheun clicked his tongue and moved his feet.
“Seon.”
“Huh, hyung?”
Baek Seon, whose mind had been elsewhere, belatedly noticed him.
“What are you doing here, hyung?”
“That’s what I should be asking you. Until just a few hours ago, you were on Ulleungdo.”
It had only been yesterday that he had flown there after hearing a rumor that an item good for recovery appeared in a green-grade dungeon on Ulleungdo.
Jeong Iheun had told them it was highly likely to be a false rumor and urged them to think calmly, but the two of them had not listened at all.
“I’m going.”
“I’m going too!”
Even elementary schoolers would not act like that. Despite his scolding, the two of them had left immediately.
If their bodies had been like elementary schoolers too, just like their mental ages, they would not have been able to leave so easily.
Jeong Iheun clicked his tongue again in regret, but on the other hand, he felt a little sorry for them.
Because he could sense just how heavy the debt they felt toward Han Chasu was.
Perhaps that was why his gaze as he looked at Baek Seon was gentle.
“Where did you leave Seohun?”
“He’s still on Ulleungdo. He said he’d come with me, but… I just told him to stay there. If he loses his place in line, he’ll have to wait forever again.”
Green dungeons were fairly popular wherever they appeared.
Their safety had been proven, and since there were always plenty of people who wanted to enter, it was easy to form teams.
“I see,” Jeong Iheun said with a nod, then asked casually.
“So do you know what floor he lives on?”
“…
Huh?”
“You came because you heard from Baek Dam that Mr. Han Chasu was discharged, right?”
Baek Seon’s ears turned bright red.
“Ahem, hem!”
Jeong Iheun gave a faint laugh. He was just about to say something to Baek Seon.
From somewhere came a familiar, bloody stench.
‘Huh?’
Baek Seon’s head slowly turned.
The fishy smell was coming from the apartment entrance.
From the very place he had been seriously debating whether or not to enter just moments ago.
By the time he realized the true nature of that bloody smell, Jeong Iheun had already dashed forward.
Along with that urgent back, far ahead, a figure that had been hidden in the shadows came into view.
A height slightly taller than an ordinary person’s, but a somewhat thin build, as though he did not enjoy eating.
A pale complexion and cloudy gray eyes that always seemed indifferent…
“Mr. Han Chasu!”
“Ah….”
“Are you all right? Mr. Han Chasu, stay with me!”
Han Chasu, who had been staggering forward, collapsed while spilling blood.
***
His aching body cried out in pain.
It was such a messy pain that it would have been better if his arms and legs had been cleanly cut off instead.
“Ugh….”
Han Chasu, drenched in sweat and groaning, opened his eyes at some point as though he had been waiting for the moment.
An unfamiliar scene entered his wide-open eyes.
If it had at least been a familiar sight, he might have felt less troubled.
At the sight of a neat and warm bedroom that anyone could tell was not a hospital room, Han Chasu sighed.
‘I’d like to believe it isn’t true.’
He hoped the suspicion blooming within him was not the truth.
But Han Chasu knew that no matter how much he denied it, it was useless.
Because before losing consciousness, he had seen the face of the man running toward him.
“You’re awake.”
Speak of the tiger and it shall come—Jeong Iheun appeared holding something.
“Ah, don’t move. It hasn’t been long since Mr. Baek Seon treated you.”
Baek Seon? Had Baek Seon been there too?
When Han Chasu looked around for him, Jeong Iheun shook his head.
“He left after treating you.”
“I see. Then where is this…?”
“My house.”
Of course.
Since it was nothing surprising, Han Chasu silently accepted the porridge Jeong Iheun handed him.
It was then.
He heard something like the sound of sobbing from somewhere.
Han Chasu reflexively lifted his head.
“What’s wrong?”
“…
Nothing.”
‘An auditory hallucination?’
It seemed the influence of the spirit-type monster he had fought so desperately just moments ago still remained.
Recalling its horrific appearance, Han Chasu frowned.
The spirit-type monster, which suited the word ghost far better, had literally been a wretched sight.
Twisted limbs, filthy tangled hair, and lips split all the way to its ears as it clung to the ceiling and swung its arms.
And that was not all.
“Come with me. Please. Come with me, Captain. Don’t abandon me!”
Unpleasantly, it had mocked him by imitating the dead.
Somehow, he had managed to use his skill and drive it away, but in the end, he had fallen under its hallucination and run out of the house.
“—!”
The lingering sound clung wetly to his ears. Perhaps that was…
“Mr. Han Chasu.”
Jeong Iheun caught the hand he was using to rub his ear and placed a spoon in it.
“You vomited a great deal of blood. Your stomach must be empty, so eat every last bit.”
“I have no appetite.”
“Do patients eat because they have an appetite?”
Han Chasu was about to quietly push the bowl away when he caught sight of something and froze.
Before he knew it, Jeong Iheun was holding the lifetime contract in his hand.
“Eat.”
“…….”
“If you want to be hospitalized again on the day you were discharged, I won’t go out of my way to stop you.”
If only this porridge were Jeong Iheun’s face instead.
Stab.
With a grimace, Han Chasu mercilessly drove the spoon into the bowl of porridge.
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