CH 17

It seemed to me that this was not the first effort to find John. I’m sure he’s been trying to follow John’s trail all along, and I’ve been lucky that the apostle’s intelligence hasn’t given away my whereabouts so far.

“Have you heard anything else about him?”

“They said he was killed in a bus accident.”

My hand tightened on the phone.

I’d heard that there had been two bodies in past bus crashes that were never identified because of the fire. Coincidentally, I had disappeared at dawn, there was only one bus going into town, and the first one had crashed, so maybe the unidentified body was me.

I stare at the chessboard, unable to make eye contact, and try to think of a response.

“I’m sorry to say this, but are you sure… Is he dead?”

Simeon answered without hesitation.

”He’s not dead.”

“How do you know that?”

I swallowed hard and looked up, defeat in my eyes.

“Because I didn’t see the body with my own eyes.”

Simeon was smiling with satisfaction.

From that moment on, I didn’t know how I was moving my chess pieces. Even if it was a strangling grip, I was too distracted to notice. I moved, moved, moved, moved, like I was being chased by something. By the time I realised, all my options were blocked.

“Checkmate.”

A stern voice announced the end of the game.

Before I knew it, his two bishops surrounded my king like a siege. Even though my mind was elsewhere, this was the first time I had ever lost a game so quickly. But even more shocking than the swiftness of his defeat were his last words.

I hadn’t realised that he believed I wasn’t dead because he hadn’t seen the body. You can never be at peace even if you leave behind the shell of your past. If you let your guard down, he’ll catch you off guard. Just like that chess game.

“…You’re brilliant. With your skills, you could have beaten anyone.”

“Thank you. As you said, there’s no opponent I haven’t beaten yet.”

Simeon muttered, scanning the chessboard as if in review.

“But I can’t seem to beat Shin Hajae-ssi, no matter how many times I try.”

“You just won.”

“Not that.”

His dark eyes pointed to my left breast.

”It’s about this side.”

This way? …You mean the heart? Come to think of it, Simeon said something similar when I first woke up.

‘I’ve tried it quite a few times while you were sleeping, and I couldn’t beat it.’

He couldn’t beat me. So I knew I wasn’t going to die. Winning and losing, life and death. Two seemingly distant and close words intertwined by some connection. They can only mean one thing.

“Does this have anything to do with your powers?”

I asked, thinking I was being perceptive, but Simeon just stared at me with a strange expression that was neither positive nor negative.

What is this silence? Did I ask something I shouldn’t have? Glancing at him, Simeon said with a cold smile.

“Don’t you know what I’m capable of?”

”That…….”

“You said you searched for me, so that should have come up right away.”

“I mean….”

“At least it’s more widely known than the information that I have two dots in a row on my index finger.”

Ouch, the note I wrote in my notebook… I see you’ve read it, and I have nothing to say, apart from embarrassment. I’d been comparing Simeon’s habits and appearance to Heo-sang and hadn’t paid attention to basic information like what he was capable of.

Embarrassed, he coughed and said,

“If you want to keep it a secret, you don’t have to tell me.”

“It’s not really a secret, but for some reason I feel like I shouldn’t just tell you.”

“What the….”

Of course, I’m keeping my curse a secret too, but it’s a life-or-death secret. Simeon, on the other hand, doesn’t bother to tell me that the ability is widely known enough to come up in a search.

My face contorts at the incomprehensible behaviour. I stare at him, but he nonchalantly ignores my gaze and stands up.

“You know, Shin Haje-ssi. They say all relationships start with curiosity.”

Placing his right hand on the table, Simeon leaned over and extended his left hand toward me, the straight fingertips still bearing the scars of a thorn prick. With his index finger, he flicked the pure white king in front of me.

“So keep wondering.”

His voice was creepily low.

“Like I do with you.”

The next day, I had a visitor from the morning. I thought the knock on the door would be a simple signal to leave the meal as usual. But the bodyguard at the door was empty-handed. He looked at me, who had just woken up and was looking shabby, and said nonchalantly.

“Please follow me.”

“What? Where….”

“You’ll know when you get there.”

I gave a cursory wash of my face and followed him.

As I walked down the prison-like corridor, I was worried about my arrogance. I don’t think he’s going to play chess again, and has he decided to question me? In the worst case, I may even be tortured. Anxiety suddenly filled my body with cold sweat.

(TL/N: 감옥 같은 복도를 걷는 내내 오만 걱정이 다 들었다, if someone know what it means, you can comment below. Please help me )

Meanwhile, we reached the room at the end of the corridor. The bodyguard opened the door shortly after a short knock.

“Mr. Simeon. I’m here.”

I follow him in, and a heavy tension settles over me.

The dark room is lit only by a single blue lamp. In its dreary glow, a man kneels against the wall. His hands are tied behind his back and his vision is completely blocked by a black blindfold. His face is half-hidden, but the fear in his pursed lips is palpable.

It must be him. He glanced away, and a black eye flashed in the darkness. Sure enough, Simeon was sitting in a chair with his two guards. He smiled at me, a quiet smile that was so chilling it was hard to suppress.

“This way.”

The bodyguard led me over to the kneeling man, his shoulders hunched in fear at the sound of footsteps. The bodyguard then removed the eye patch, revealing a younger face. As soon as he saw me, the gaunt, haggard man spoke up.

“That’s right, kid!”

“…yes?”

”He made me do it.”

His bloodshot eyes fluttered open, and Simeon’s words flashed through his mind.

‘We’ve finally caught the man who’s been bothering our people. He’s unconscious now, but when he wakes up, he’ll blow the whistle on everything.’

So this is the guy, and that’s why he’s being held in the chamber, but why is he suddenly lashing out at me, trying to frame me for something I’ve never seen before?

I glared at him to shut up, but he didn’t listen and accused me of being the instigator.

“I, I was just doing what I was told.”

I couldn’t take this bullshit anymore, so I stepped forward.

“Excuse me, what are you talking about?”

When I tried to approach him, the bodyguard immediately reached out his arm to restrain me. Simeon, who had been watching from the back, spoke up.

“Is it true?”

“It can’t be! It’s my first time meeting him today.”

Simeon whirled around to reveal a calm face. He had a thin smile on his face, but I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. The way he’d called me here in the first place, I’m guessing he wanted to see if the man was right…. If he believes him and not me, it’s a lost cause.

“No way… You don’t believe a word he says, do you?”

There was a heavy silence. Another bodyguard tried to block my path, but Simeon raised his hand to stop them back, allowing me to look down at him for the first time. However, it was still Simeon who had the upper hand in the relationship.

He looked up at me wordlessly for a moment, then smiled languidly.

“I believe you.”

“Yes?”

“I believe what Shin Hahae-ssi says.”

Simeon muttered and closed his eyes. Then he began to flick his hand at nothing. It was like that time under the Mapo Bridge, when he was dealing with Salamander. Somehow, I had a premonition that I shouldn’t interfere, so I stepped back and watched him in silence.

I thought he was playing chess again, but the movement of his fingers was distinctly different. He turned his wrist, examining something, and soon held it between his thumb and middle finger, moving only his index finger.

That’s a cube. His fingers were like notes playing on a sheet of music. Then his hand came to a screeching halt. The cube was already completed. The bodyguard went straight to the man. The man shuddered as rough hands put the eye patch back on.

“Now, wait. What are you trying to do!”

The bodyguard was unperturbed by the near scream. He forced the fear-stricken man to his feet and brought him in front of Simeon. Sensing something ominous, the man turned pale and pursed his lips eagerly.

”I didn’t. He threatened me? He asked me to go behind your back…!”

The desperate voice filled the blue room, but Simeon remained calm, his eyes still closed. In fact, the more the man trembled in fear, the more the smile on his face deepened.

“I’ll only say it once.”

His voice was a low whisper, like a serpent tempting the man to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

“If I move this finger, you die.”

“Wh, what?”

“So tell me the truth, tell me everything you know, and I promise not to kill you.”

Faced with the horror of death, the man turned to stone. Simeon, on the other hand, was leisurely stroking the intangible cube. His touch was tinged with wistfulness, and he was suddenly reminded of a childhood Heo-sang.