Chapter 331 - Preparations to Leave (3)

Chapter 331 - Preparations to Leave (3)

“I-I-I-I-I-I’m so sorry! I thought having just kimchi stew by itself would make the dining table a bit empty, so I went to the market to buy some more ingredients and lost track of time!”

A middle-aged woman with short light brown hair, beautiful enough to be worthy of being Kim Si-Hun’s mother, lowered her head. She was likely at least in her forties considering Si-Hun’s age, but she could even be mistaken to be in her thirties, to the point that no one would use the term middle-aged to describe her if they did not know any better.

“No, it’s alright.” Oh Kang-Woo shook his head and flashed a smile.

Although he was smiling, his eyes were pointed at the abomination on the dining table.

‘That’s supposed to be kimchi stew?’

Why was it black?

‘How could she do such a thing to kimchi stew...?’

It was worse than sacrilege. Kang-Woo wanted to flip the table, but he couldn’t bring himself to in front of Si-Hun’s mother.

“I-I’ll whip something up right away!” the mother exclaimed.

‘Please don’t.’

Just by looking at the state of her kimchi stew, Kang-Woo could not expect anything from her other dishes.

“No, it’s okay. I don’t have an appetite.”

“Oh... Is that so?”

“Yes, so there's no need for you to worry about it. More importantly...” Kang-Woo slurred as he looked toward Si-Hun, gesturing him to hurry up and introduce him to the mother.

Si-Hun got back to his senses and walked toward the two of them.

“This is my mother,” he introduced.

“My name is Jeong Seo-Ha.”

“Mother, this is—”

“Yeah. I’ve heard a lot about Kang-Woo.” Seo-Ha grabbed Kang-Woo’s hands while smiling brightly. “Thank you for taking care of my son.”

“Not at all. I simply did my duty as his hyung,” Kang-Woo replied.

Seo-Ha’s expression froze from the mention of hyung. She then sent Si-Hun a gaze filled with guilt. “Why don’t we have something to eat first?”

“I-I’m fine. Like I mentioned before, I don’t really have an appetite...”

“Oh, that’s right. I heard you love kimchi stew. What a shame,” Seo-Ha said while staring at the black kimchi stew in disappointment. She then turned to Si-Hun after a short moment of silence. “Si-Hun, could you give us a moment? I... have something I need to talk with Kang-Woo about in private.”

“Huh?” Si-Hun looked at her in confusion.

“It’s nothing serious, so don’t make that kind of face.”

“No, but...”

“Please, for me.”

Si-Hun reluctantly nodded and went up to the second floor. Kang-Woo stared at Si-Hun climbing up the stairs, and then used the Authority of Silence to block all sound from escaping the living room. Si-Hun’s superhuman senses would allow him to hear a conversation in the living room from the second floor with ease.

‘What could she have to say to me?’

He had no idea, but since Si-Hun’s mother wanted to talk in private, Kang-Woo felt like he shouldn’t let Si-Hun hear.

“What did you want to talk about?” Kang-Woo asked.

“Oh.” Seo-Ha, who had been thinking about something absorbedly, turned around. “Let me make you a cup of coffee first.”

“Oh, thank you very much.”

Kang-Woo nodded softly, unable to refuse a cup of coffee on top of kimchi stew. Seo-Ha headed to the kitchen. Click, clack. The fragrance of coffee flowed all the way to the living room. As Seo-Ha was making coffee, Kang-Woo slowly took a look around the living room again.

‘It’s a nice place.’

He was not talking about extravagance nor that it looked pricey. Despite Seo-Ha mostly living by herself in this home, the place was very clean and tidy. No, clean was not the right word to describe it.

‘It feels homely.’

The words that his own birth mother had said to him, “I’m sorry for giving birth to you”, had been engraved in Si-Hun’s soul.

Kang-Woo had no idea how painful hearing those words were, since he had no memory of his parents.

“Back then... I was so tired, and felt so sorry for Si-Hun that... I ended up saying those words that I should have never said...” Transparent tears flowed down Seo-Ha’s cheeks. “I should have... never said those words to him of all people...”

Her words were filled with sorrow. Kang-Woo did not say a word; no, he couldn’t. He could not understand, sympathize, nor console her in any way, so he remained silent.

“That’s why... When I saw that boy smiling so brightly... I couldn’t say a word. Even if it was a lie... I just wanted my son to be happy.”

Kang-Woo remained silent.

“Thank you. Thank you... so much,” Seo-Ha said while bowing repeatedly.

She continued to thank Kang-Woo for making her son happy. Again, and again, and again.

***

Kang-Woo walked home after separating from Si-Hun.

His mind was in shambles. All kinds of thoughts tangled with one another. He frowned while recalling Seo-Ha, weeping while thanking him.

‘Why... was I... so happy?’

He couldn’t understand why he had been so happy to be thanked for making Si-Hun happy, even if it had been built on a lie.

Kang-Woo was unable to decipher his own emotions. No, he had a guess why; he just didn’t want to admit it.

‘I felt like I was being pardoned for my sin.’

He couldn’t help but laugh from the shallow thought. He was trying to lessen his guilt by thinking that although he had forcibly turned Si-Hun into his Familiar, it was okay since he treasured him.

‘Despite the person in question knowing absolutely nothing about it.’

Kang-Woo smiled bitterly.

“... Goddammit.”

He clicked his tongue and sat down on a bench in front of the apartment complex before heading inside.

‘Tomorrow...’

They would be leaving Earth. Although they were not leaving forever, he was sure that it would be a long journey.

“Fuck.”

Unnecessary emotions filled Kang-Woo. He looked up at the night sky.

“Ah...”

He thought about all that he had been through since coming back to Earth. He met Han Seol-Ah, Kim Si-Hun, Cha Yeon-Joo, Echidna, Kang Tae-Soo... He had met so many people and made just as many connections. Even his connection with Balrog and Lilith remained even after coming back to Earth.

It might not have been the best start; the first step might have been askew, leading to his connections to others being tangled messily. Despite that, he considered such connections to be precious.

Bzzt.

Kang-Woo’s vision became blurry. He was shown a plain filled with corpses, and himself collapsing to his knees and crying there.

It might sound funny, but he also had things that he had treasured back in Hell; he had the same tangled connections there.

‘They’re all dead, though.’

He had new connections now, ones that he had been unable to protect in the past.

‘This time...’

It would be different. He would make sure that it was.

“Fucking hell. I’ve become such a goddamn softie. Why the fuck am I shooting a drama all by myself in the middle of the night?”

Kang-Woo frowned. He stood up, and walked.

“... Let’s go.”

He set out, like he had always done. Forward.

[Part One - END]