Chapter 12
It was a strangely familiar energy. Searching through my memories, I recalled its identity.
'This is exactly the same as the energy from Baek Hamin's curse.'
Wow, a curse so sinister that Baek Hamin's curse actually felt clean in comparison. Baek Eunseong, even after taking the curse Baek Jiseong was leaking head-on, was smiling with a noble expression without a single change in his complexion.
Anyway, he really hates showing any weakness.
Clicking my tongue, I continued to catch the humans showing off and exchanging artifacts. Meanwhile, the impure energy flowing toward Baek Eunseong grew even denser. It was so vicious that even I, who had deflected the curse's flow, felt nauseous enough to dry heave.
What a vicious bastard. He's still his brother, yet he's pouring out this kind of curse? Glaring at Baek Jiseong in displeasure, I rubbed my furrowed brow.
Even in Baek Eunseong's lake-like tranquil flow, ripples gradually began to form. He wasn't showing it yet, but it must be incredibly painful, and I started to worry that he might lose his self-control and go on a rampage.
If that happened, Baek Eunseong would lose his Hunter qualifications, and Baek Jiseong's end would go without saying. Then who would feed Baek Eunseong poison and send Baek Hamin into the dungeon? Searching my memories for people who could serve as Baek Hamin's trigger, I squeezed my eyes shut.
'…Surely not me.'
I absolutely refused to do that.
[Splash splash]
I reached out as if pointing at a Hunter showing off a necklace-type artifact, and severed the flow Baek Jiseong was directing at Baek Eunseong by shaking it.
"Ugh, crazy."
It wasn't even my fingertips—just touching it with my mana made my skin crawl. And he was just taking all of this? Baek Eunseong was seriously out of his mind.
Clicking my tongue, I continued monitoring the party venue. I could feel Baek Eunseong looking this way, but I had long since moved my gaze away from him.
* * *
—So, Uncle! Uncle! Are you listening to me?
"Yeah. I'm listening."
Baek Hamin, who had prompted my response, badmouthed Baek Eunseong in a small voice. My inner joy at hearing from him after so long was brief, and my ears soon began to ache.
Since returning home that day, Baek Hamin complained more than ten times that Baek Eunseong was keeping him locked up at home, unable to even go to the Academy.
And that he barely managed to call using a phone lent by the Guild Master who pitied him—didn't he say that about a hundred times?
So that was why only Baek Gyeongmin participated in the party.
Well, if my own nephew had been kidnapped and returned, I would have kept them hidden away inside the house for a while too. Baek Hamin would speak in a dignified voice saying he'd stay home obediently because his uncle wanted him to, only to sigh deeply complaining about how stifled he felt.
"Why is a little kid sighing like that?"
—Kids need to sigh too, you know?
Sighing again, Baek Hamin soon said in a bright voice that he'd be going to the Academy starting tomorrow. Thanks to Baek Eunseong uprooting the gang that kidnapped Baek Hamin, he could now go outside.
—Uncle said, if I lose Hwanie one more time, he'll never let me take him out again.
"What?"
Baek Eunseong won't let Baek Hamin take Hwanie out, huh… Was he perhaps saying in a roundabout way that if he got kidnapped again, he'd lock him up in the house forever?
—But… Uncle, you know.
—Hamin.
I had been focusing on Baek Hamin's voice, but at the sudden gentle voice, I furrowed my brow.
—Eeing.
I heard the pitter-patter of running feet as if trying not to have the phone taken away, but it seemed he was caught quickly, as Baek Eunseong's voice came through instead of Baek Hamin's.
—Who is this.
"Seong Dohyeon. Hanging up."
—Aaaah! Uncle! Don't hang uuuup!
At Baek Hamin's wailing, I couldn't press the end button, and Baek Eunseong must have been flustered too, as I heard him telling Baek Hamin to return the phone, promising it would only be a moment.
Only a moment, my foot. I had to keep listening to Baek Hamin repeat the same stories, and only when my energy was nearly drained was I finally able to hang up.
And starting from that day, Baek Hamin would call me after coming back from the Academy and chatter for over thirty minutes. If we had been together, he would have sat on my knee, swinging his legs while talking.
—I learned how to deal with dummies today, and the teacher praised me for being the best!
Even at his thoroughly excited voice, I felt no particular emotion. That's because you're from the Baekwoo Guild. It's natural to be praised for doing well, and even if you didn't, you'd still be praised—
…Ah.
An inferiority complex toward a child so much younger than me. I smiled bitterly. This was all because of Baek Eunseong. If only 'Seong Dohyeon' had grown up in a different environment—or at least apart from Baek Eunseong—he would have had a different personality.
Having been compared in everything from one to ten since childhood, Seong Dohyeon became a mass of inferiority, and I couldn't escape that influence either.
—And, Uncle. I want jelly…
After talking for a long while, Baek Hamin muttered in a tiny voice. "I want jelly" was a code Baek Hamin and I had created.
It had been about two weeks since Baek Hamin returned home, so I could consider the effect to last about that long. Recalling the memory of suppressing Baek Hamin's curse, I dry heaved softly. The revulsion I felt when severing Baek Eunseong's curse still lingered at my fingertips.
As I stared down at my fingertips, the memories of that day suddenly rushed in.
That day—the day the Yuseong Guild held the party.
Baek Eunseong did something crazy.
It was when Baek Jiseong, standing at the center of the crowd, was praising Baek Gyeongmin and boasting about how much he had accomplished in the dungeon. Having completely erased the existence of Baek Eunseong and Baek Hamin, Baek Jiseong added as if it were an afterthought.
"Our Eunseong worked hard too."
At those words, Baek Eunseong smiled sweetly.
Even though I wasn't directly facing Baek Eunseong's smile, goosebumps rose all over my body. Seong Dohyeon despised that smile. Whenever Baek Eunseong had an ulterior motive, he would put his looks forward and completely entrance people.
"The one who worked hard wasn't me, but Hunter Seong Dohyeon."
'…Me?'
Hearing my name, I reflexively scowled, but seeing Baek Eunseong smiling while making eye contact, I froze.
'What the hell is that bastard thinking?'
Just as I was about to demand what he was looking at, I caught sight of Baek Jiseong, whose expression had hardened completely. In contrast to such Baek Jiseong, seeing Baek Eunseong smiling brightly, a hollow laugh burst out of me.
'I'm getting caught in the crossfire of a sibling fight, right?'
Baek Jiseong was trying to hush up and gloss over Baek Hamin's kidnapping incident, yet Baek Eunseong was bringing me up and deliberately mentioning it. So rather than mentioning it out of genuine gratitude toward me, he was using me to undermine the Baekwoo Guild… that kind of thing.
Wow. What a splendid feeling.
"Eunseong."
"It's okay, hyung. I'll talk."
Stepping forward, Baek Eunseong was clearly smiling with his eyes, yet there was something strangely sorrowful about him. At that audacity, 'Seong Dohyeon's' body trembled. That bastard, doing that again… Glaring while biting my lip, Baek Eunseong avoided my gaze and looked around.
"Recently, there was an unpleasant incident at the Baekwoo Guild."
Baek Eunseong had his lashes lowered, but in contrast to his troubled face, the aura he exuded was so menacing that Asil even appeared and coiled around my feet as if to protect me.
"This time, I couldn't respond immediately, so Hunter Seong Dohyeon had to step in. But if… anyone touches our Hamin, and Gyeongmin, ever again, I promise that not only will I and the Baekwoo Guild not stand idly by, but we will return it to you manifold."
With those final words, Baek Eunseong smiled radiantly and raised his champagne glass high. Seriously, why raise a toast to a declaration of murder?
I glanced at the people exchanging glances and raising their glasses, then sharpened my senses again.
After finding a few more artifacts incidentally, I was about to call the Association Hunters when I felt a pink gaze watching me. I openly furrowed my brow.
'What are you looking at?'
I mouthed the words at him and watched as Baek Eunseong raised his champagne glass once more.
"And."
And?
"Anyone who touches Hunter Seong Dohyeon, who protected our Hamin, will also—"
My name leaked from that pretty face of his, and there was no memory after that.
It was because Seong Dohyeon, who had been thoroughly pissed off, went on a rampage, demanding if I thought I was in a position to be protected by him. Even amid all that, I didn't forget to catch the Hunters who had snuck in with hidden artifacts.
In the end, I was forcibly sent home, and on the way back, I was summoned by the Association, where I went on another rampage and got a proper scolding from the Association President.
Right, it was always like this.
Baek Eunseong would flash a bright smile and subtly dismiss me—I'm a good kid who cares for my comrades, and Seong Dohyeon is a weak kid who needs to be protected. After gently scratching at my pride like that, he would just wait for Seong Dohyeon's lid to blow off.
As expected, when I flew into a rage, Baek Eunseong would tidy up the commotion and smile, saying, "I'm okay." Like that, he built up his own good image while making Seong Dohyeon even more isolated in Hunter society.
This was why the original Seong Dohyeon ground his teeth every time he saw Baek Eunseong.
Ruminating on the atrocities of that fox-like bastard Baek Eunseong, I was brought back to my senses by a young voice ringing in my ears.
—Uncle! I said are you listening!
"I said I'm listening."
—I want Uncle to touch Uncle Eunseong too!
Whining, Baek Hamin soon added in a small voice that his uncle hurt a lot too, speaking in an uncharacteristically serious tone for a child. Your uncle was touched by me recently, so he won't be in pain for a while. Dismissing it casually, I perked up at Baek Hamin's mention of the Academy's end-of-month test.
—I really want to beat Do Yudam…
"You said he's three years older. You should call him hyung."
—Ugh, Do Yudam hyung…
"That's right."
—Do Yudam hyung will have Hunter Jeon Jiyun watching over him, and Jiyul will have Uncle Hwanie watching, but who will watch over Hamin…?
"Wait, it's a test, but guardians go with them?"
—Yeah. They said they're holding a观摩 class because our class might change based on this evaluation.
The voice over the phone had grown even more sullen. I fell into thought with a serious expression.
If he passed the test, he would be recognized as a Hunter even at a young age and could enter dungeons. And on the day they went to the dungeon to celebrate Baek Gyeongmin passing the test, Baek Hamin was kidnapped.
'Did Baek Hamin pass the test in the original work?'
I didn't know.
I hadn't been interested in a villain's narrative, so I could only recall reading it vaguely.
Hmm. Baek Hamin's abilities were outstanding, but taking a seven-year-old into a dungeon already was a bit much.
How could I return to the original world as quickly as possible? Briefly pondering, I came back to my senses at the sound of Baek Hamin's sigh.
"What about your uncle and the Guild Master?"
—They're both busy…
At his sullen voice, the memories of 'Seong Dohyeon' suddenly came to mind. Unlike Baek Eunseong, who had guardians swarming to attend, there was the young boy standing alone in the evaluation hall.
He had been envious but pretended not to be, acting proud—and that clumsy pride was crushed in no time. It was the moment Baek Eunseong, who had passed the test, received gifts from his family and other Hunters.
Though he had passed the test just the same, there was nothing in 'Seong Dohyeon's' hands.
Seong Dohyeon, consumed by his inferiority complex toward Baek Eunseong, probably began to hate—not just dislike—Baek Eunseong from that moment on.