Chapter 164 - The Half-Fairy Boy

Jun Hyeon spent the last few days with a lot of work due to the upcoming annual event. The next week of free surgeries that the Ji Hyeon Foundation promoted was something that worried him now. It aimed at people who needed and could not afford complex cosmetic correction surgeries, but he didn't know if he could perform surgeries at that time.

His sleepless nights, since he left home, began to take their toll. He didn't believe that senseless attack by miserable people in the park was the reason. Still, the images kept coming to his mind as if they wanted to join into a jigsaw. His reason refused to accept the result, whatever. In a way, it was a sensation similar to that of his recurring dream. A dream that, in fact, had not returned since the night the images changed. 

But it wasn't the only reason. Lately, he had been experiencing headaches and dizziness. He didn't want to worry anyone unnecessarily, so he didn't tell anyone. This problem had not yet hindered his activities, but he was considering transferring his surgeries to other doctors, even if he had to pay their fees himself. Those people looked forward to their surgeries and Dr. Kim didn't want to reschedule them.

He had ruled out a brain damage diagnosis that morning after his doctor checked the tests taken earlier in the week. After all, he had recently suffered a car accident, and despite having been tested at the time, he thought he should double-check. 

His friend and doctor, seeing his doubts about the result of a normal and perfect brain, recommended that, discarding physical aspects, he should go to a psychiatrist for an evaluation.

Dr. Kim decided to follow this sensible advice and planned to do so in the next month, when his schedule was less troubled.

Now, in the late afternoon, his lawyer paid him a visit, to talk about the mysterious woman. He was anxious about that too.

When the lawyer started talking about the difficulties he had and how the neighbors weren't exactly cooperative, actually looking irritated, Kim Jun Hyeon snorted with anger.

"But did you have access to an image? Is there anything we can take to the police? What about community cameras? "

"Jun Hyeon," said the man who was old enough to be his father and had known him since he was young, and so the intimacy to call him by name, "This whole story is very suspicious. Your front neighbor refused to cooperate, messing with me for a few days and finally saying that the security company had deleted the footage by mistake. The community cameras from that region to the park ... were also deleted by mistake. Weird, isn't it?" he finished sarcastically, turning on his tablet.

"Weird? I would say suspicious, Lawyer Cha."

"Then watch this, my son. We will discuss it after you watch the videos. This resident at the beginning of the street yielded the images, because he was walking his dog and saw a boy with a delivery motorcycle go down the street that day, looking for something. And his side camera took some images that interest us."

Dr. Kim leaned forward to watch the footage from the security camera. 

As always, it was a low-quality black-and-white image, already edited to get straight to the point of interest. 

Lawyer Cha explained,

"Video 1 is the couple's arrival on the motorcycle."

The image wasn't good enough because of the angle, but they could see a boy without a helmet riding a delivery scooter, and a woman in a hooded sweatshirt and mismatched sweatpants wearing a helmet. 

He had seen this type of scooter before. He even remembered once, actually the first time he went out with Ye Rim, when he saw exactly this model. It wasn't possible, however, to see many details of the people.

"Video 2," the lawyer pushed a button, and Kim Jun Hyeon saw the woman, running across the street. She held the helmet in her hand, but because she was constantly looking back, her face couldn't be seen. Jun Hyeon felt a tightness in his chest. Even with the poor quality of the image and without seeing the face ... the movements were very familiar. She looked like his sister. He bit his fist in anguish when he saw on the other side of the sidewalk the silhouette of a masked man in a cap, running with a stick, right after. It was too fast and blurred. 

"The third video is with the delivery man looking for her," and Dr. Kim followed the boy on the scooter down the street. "So far, it was the best video we got, Jun Hyeon. What do you want to do from here?"

"I want the police to find this woman, Dr. Cha. Incredible as it may sound, this woman ... It could be my sister." 

"I'm going to ask for an investigation opening with this video, Jun Hyeon," the lawyer sighed, although he already seemed to expect it. "You have an idea that this whole process of questioning your sister's death will be very difficult and painful, don't you?"

Jun Hyeon wanted to express his anger that it didn't matter. That he had to find the delivery man, the woman and that he should use all methods for that. But Lawyer Cha didn't deserve to be yelled at. The doctor bit his lower lip to contain his frustration, and said in a grave tone,

"Whatever it takes to find this woman and whoever attacked her, Dr. Cha. Do everything."

ººº

Mi Chang came to Mr. Shin's mansion that night, answering his request. He was looking forward to this moment, when I would hear the truth in detail. The richness of the place impressed him, but much more the amount of knowledge that should have been there. He would like to explore that library freely at least once.

Mr. Ahn, the ahjussi who seemed to smile at everything, as far as Mr. Shin was, led him to the next door to the library. The room was a mix of cabinet and laboratory. There were beautiful weapons hanging on the wall and also large empty glass containers. Mr. Shin was standing there, reading a notebook that reminded Chang Mi of books he saw in sangeuk dramas.

After greeting each other, the fairy man stared at him, and Chang Mi saw a myriad of emotions pass over the older man's face. This was so strange!

"Erm… Well, I'm here as we agreed, Mr. Shin. I came to know everything 'I need', as you said yourself."

"Chang Mi, I have been looking for a person like you for about 27 years," Mr. Shin was quite assertive.

"So I mustn't be that person. I am much younger than that," Chang Mi replied in the same way.

"The possibility that you are still the person I am looking for is huge, Chang Mi. When I heard that your foster parents found you in a crate of persimmons, some things started to make sense. But you might need to hear a story with a sad ending, first."

Chang Mi had nothing to lose, and when the fairy started telling the story of a woman who had a forbidden romance with a fairy, he understood why being a half-fairy was not the best thing in the world. As Shin explained, without any kind of half words or roundabouts, half-fairies were usually monsters. They were rarely born with a human appearance, and even when they did, they were often considered dangerous and unreliable.

The rest of the story, like the father of the half-fairy, a scholar named Seong Hwan, went crazy while researching so-called wraiths, caused him to lock his chin. It was a hard blow receiving the news that his possible father had become a monster. That certainly wouldn't make him the most popular guy among fairies, he thought.

"But how can you be sure I am his son?"

"I'm not sure," said fairy Shin. "I just understood what could have happened to you. There's an old transformation spell, very complex and powerful for me to explain, and even for me to perform," saying this he tapped the book he had been reading before. "This magic could turn a woman into a plant, for example. Many times people were transformed into plants, animals, etc. and then rescued later on. You must know or have heard of the Peach Boy tale, for instance."

In fact, he knew that story, but it amazed Chang Mi that the man in front of him, fairy or not, assumed that he had somehow turned into a real persimmon when he was a baby. His expression of disbelief must have been very visible to Mr. Shin, who asked,

"Can't you believe it? It was so easy to accept that Miss. Jung was a fairy, but can't you accept that you and your mother could have been bewitched?"

"Mr. Shin, are you really wanting me to believe that I was a persimmon? A Persimmon Boy?"

"Exactly. And a couple of greengrocers, the Yoo, found you. A persimmon tree can take up to 9 years to have its first fruit. And you were the first fruit."

"And the persimmon… was it my mother?" it was fantastic and at the same time, painful. "Did she use any spell or magic object to transform herself into a persimmon to avoid being captured by a Hunter?"

"You are canny, Chang Mi."

This was so fantastic that he sat, dazed, "Daebak!" Of course, he was sorry for his father and mother. What a tragic romance! His father had turned into a crazy and corrupt creature by consuming magic. His mother, to protect him, turned into a tree.

"Is there a way to turn my mother back into a human?" he asked.

"Usually the method is in the spell's casting, Chang Mi. In other words, probably the only person who knows, or knew, is your father, who cast the spell."

The student was thoughtful for a while, digesting the information.

"Chang Mi," continued the Hunter, after a while. "There's a test. A dangerous test, to make sure that's what happened. If you are the child that the Devourer seeks. But through this test, it is possible for the Devourer to know that you exist."

The half-fairy looked up at the Hunter, puzzled,

"Hm. How is this test?"