Chapter 42

"Where is Young-il's grave?"

The mountain connected to the tunnel was now in sight, and the watch on his wrist pointed to 4 o'clock.

"I didn't ask."

"What?"

Handon-hee jumped up.

"He's still in Young-il's room."

"His body? No, I didn't smell any rot?"

Seo-un also noticed this. Even Chahaya, who was sensitive to smells, didn't react when they passed the second floor.

"It... didn't rot."

"Then he's a vegetable?"

"No, his heart and breathing stopped. I don't know why... but a strange stone came out of Young-il's body. It's tiny but incredibly heavy. Chahaya said it might be the condensed energy of Young-il's cosmos. Since it's Young-il's, we can't use it carelessly. When I held it in Young-il's hand, it embedded itself in his palm. We were going to hold a funeral, but Chahaya said to leave it as it is."

"Why?"

"He said it doesn't feel right to send him off alone. He suggested waiting until Seo-un comes."

Handon-hee retorted, "What the hell are you talking about?" but Seo-un thought of the custom in the region where he grew up. Chahaya might have been influenced by it.

"So I thought you knew everything, Seo-un."

"In short, you saw a human mutant and kept your mouth shut?"

Handon-hee, exasperated, hit Gangsan's shoulder with the scabbard.

"Since he went into the black wall, we can't definitively call him a mutant. And it's Young-il. Don't talk about him like that, Handon-hee."

"He didn't die fighting mutants; he committed suicide. Why should I care?"

"You also insulted Sung-hee. Ugh!"

Handon-hee jabbed Gangsan's mouth with the scabbard. Gangsan ran his tongue over his front teeth to check if they were broken.

"Handon-hee, don't talk to Gangsan like that. Young-il was trying to find a way back to Korea."

"If he had returned to Korea safely, do you think he would have come to save us?"

"Young-il would have."

"Shut up. Do you even know how much Young-il pocketed in Korea? After we all worked together to kill a fourth-stage mutant, he claimed no stone came out. If Sung-hee hadn't been like that, Young-il would have been exiled a hundred years ago. His café went bankrupt because he borrowed 300 million won from his friend for gambling and didn't pay it back. Did you know he paid it all back? He just said he was eating his own beans."

"Handon-hee."

"What?"

"Have you also reawakened?"

"I'm not a chick; I'm a strong swordsman."

"Then you're a fortune-teller? How do you know so much?"

"My uncle, who lent money to Young-il, is our maternal uncle. After becoming a Mansheng, he paid back the exact 300 million won, without interest. I would have given twice as much out of guilt. That's why debtors get stabbed on the street and have no complaints. And why would a low-level person jump into that wall? Clearly, he wanted to gamble."

"You, you talk... "

"Why am I wrong? If he hadn't become a Mansheng, do you think he would have paid back the 300 million? He just ate and left."

"Where did you get the money?"

Handon-hee's sword, slung over his shoulder, trembled.

"Our chick is smart. My father took my money and blew it on a national dish company. He thought the money was raining from the sky, not knowing it was my life's worth."

Handon-hee's parents were legally married but had been separated for over ten years.

"Handon-hee, did your father start a national dish company?"

"This guy doesn't understand metaphors. He started a ridiculous company and blew it like a national dish."

"Gangsan, but why is Abdulraziz doing this? He said he would bring Young-il to join us."

"Huh? Really? Abdulraziz said he would come with us?"

'Right, Abdulraziz will take care of Young-il.'

Seo-un, climbing the mountain, softly said, "Ah."

"Why?"

It seemed Abdulraziz meant to take care of Young-il, not bring him. Even if he didn't rot, a body was still a body.

This is what happens when communication fails. If I'm like this, how frustrating must Abdulraziz be? He might be cursing in Uzbek at home.

<Is it you?>

Now, it wasn't surprising when his thoughts intruded.

A large tree was shaking and coming down from the top of the mountain. I thought it was a landslide, but Yuchan was running with a tree as big as his body. It looked like an illusion of a landslide.

"Guild Deputy, why are you so late?"

Chahaya, wearing a mask, was coming down from behind. According to Gangsan, Chahaya started wearing a mask after Young-il died. Did he get a trauma from killing Young-il?

If so, he must have experienced Young-il's hallucination, not mine. Seo-un shook his head.

Gangsan and Handon-hee said they experienced hallucinations that triggered their trauma, but there was no guarantee Chahaya did. If three out of four experienced trauma, it didn't make sense that one didn't. Still, Seo-un couldn't accept that he was the source of his fear.

What fear could an elephant shrew have?

<'Chahaya' might be afraid of mice.>

This guy used to catch cockroaches coming out of the basement. I would scream at 100 decibels. I'm glad I recorded it, even though I didn't expect this day.

Chahaya's eyes were softly creased, as if he was smiling.

"Did you see on the way up? There were no DK members."

"What?"

Seo-un, absorbed in Young-il's story and Yuchan's tree illusion, hadn't noticed the tunnel.

"Are you denying that you killed them?"

"Handon-hee, can't you see? It's a tree, a piece of the world."

"Ah, you uprooted it and killed it."

"I'll replant it."

Yuchan laid the tree down and started digging with his hands.

"Asshole."

Handon-hee laughed, "Exactly." The tree kept falling over, no matter how many times they planted it. Seo-un told Yuchan to stop.

Thinking about it, they hadn't encountered any DK guild members, including Kim Hansol, on the way. Most DK members wore dragon-pattern badges, but they hadn't seen any.

"Ah, they must have been attacked first... There seem to be no DK members in the northwest."

Seo-un took off his hat. He had planned to seek help but ended up wasting his energy.

"Maybe Kim Hansol took the kids to the southeast?"

It felt like he had been hit by Kim Hansol. Kim Hansol could predict the emergence of a sixth-stage mutant and had a high-level searcher named Kim Ji.

"Let's go down."

Tacheon, who had unintentionally become a hiking club, jumped down from the mountain. Seo-un watched them jump onto the rockfall prevention net in front of the tunnel, feeling a bit disappointed. The reason Tacheon lacked elemental or mental skills was because of such inconsiderate and ignorant people.

With everyone leaving, only Chahaya was left by his side. Seo-un thought for a moment. Would he just be a burden if he went down? But he still had two ultimate skills left and was the only decibel healer in Tacheon.

"Planning to come down?"

Chahaya, thinking he was considering how to get down, asked.

To get to where they had slid down like a slide, they had to climb further up. Here, it was a sheer rock wall, unlike the place with soil and grass.

"Hey, I heard everything about Young-il."

He patted Chahaya's back. There was something he wanted to say to him before thinking about going down.

"You've been through a lot."

Chahaya only shrugged his shoulders in response to Seo-un's comfort.

"I thought you wouldn't do something so reckless, but I was wrong."

"Huh?"

"Young-il said you might have climbed the black wall and returned. If you hadn't said that, he might have tried to stop you. Then you might have survived."

"..."

He wanted to ease his guilt, but it was hard to find the right words. If he hadn't gone into hiding, would Young-il have survived? The guilt was weighing on him.

"Taxi fare for going down is 50,000 won."

Chahaya showed five fingers to Seo-un, who was looking down. Despite the mask, Chahaya seemed to be smiling.

"Cheaper."

"Special price."

It was more efficient to save time by spending money rather than wasting time going up and down. The problem was that the vehicle was Chahaya's back, but it was the only option.

"Driver, I'll owe you one."

Before Seo-un could jump and grab on, Chahaya lifted him with one arm.

"Ah! I said carry me, not treat me like luggage!"

"I find this more comfortable."

The view suddenly rose, and he realized this guy must breathe such fresh air regularly.

Chahaya was tall in high school, but he seemed to have grown even more after becoming a Mansheng. Seo-un had also grown after awakening, so it wasn't just an impression.

Still, if it were before, this guy wouldn't have suddenly picked him up like this...

His fingertips and toes tingled, and his stomach felt uncomfortable with a new sense of powerlessness. Could one feel both good and uncomfortable at the same time?