Chapter 292: Confessions (2)

Chapter 292: Confessions (2)

The night sky was turning blue.

A small knocking sound echoed in the hallway in the dark early morning.

Click-click-click!

The sound of the doorknob turning is low.

But even so, the door didn't open immediately.

Vikir looked around for a moment.

The girls' dormitory was eerily quiet at night.

There's a faint smell of footsteps or improperly dried laundry, snoring that can be heard even through the closed door, and shared lockers that show signs of destruction.

All in all, it's a scene not unlike the hallways of a fraternity house.

Vikir double-checks that no one else is awake.

Hmm...

The door opened softly and shyly.

"Hyung-ah?"

Sinclair stuck her head out from inside.

Seeing the look on Vikir's face, Sinclair smiled widely and said in a low voice.

"Come on in."

The door swung open and the warm air inside felt good against his skin.

The room, smelling sweetly of some unknown berry, wasn't very decorated, but it seemed quite serene with a few decorative items that gave it a cozy, antique feel.

"Bianca, aren't you in the same room?"

"I think she was sleeping in another friend's room. She's not really on speaking terms with me lately."

"I thought you two were best friends, why all of a sudden."

"...It's just. It's all my fault. Hehe-"

Sinclair greeted Vikir with a cool smile.

She was wearing a white T-shirt and pink dolphin pants and had a wet towel around her neck.

Her short, still-dry hair smelled faintly of shampoo.

"Come on, hyung-ah!"

Sinclair threw something at Vikir.

Vikir caught it out of the corner of his eye and realized it was a can of beer with cold droplets on the surface.

Sinclair smirked and pulled out the snacks.

"It's getting late, so we can't eat. Please bear with me even if the snacks are a bit meager."

"No problem."

"Good. By the way, are you good at board games?"

Sinclair clapped her hands and pulled out various board games from under the bed.

Simple games with simple rules, like Jenga, RummyCube, and Uno. Nnêw n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.com

"How is it? Would you like to play for the first time in a while?"

"...It's been a while."

Vikir nodded.

Board games were something he'd played tirelessly with his comrades in the Internal Affairs Squad before the regression.

But for some reason, the memories of that time came before the memories of his old volunteer work at the orphanage.

'I must have gotten dull,'

Vikir realized how much things had changed since his regression.

Both in his surroundings and in himself.

Whoosh.

Sinclair ran her hands through her hair as she looked at the crumbling Jenga.

"Ah~ Really. Why does it always have to be me!"

"It's all about the center of gravity. If you don't lean to one side or the other and keep your center, you'll never fall."

"Tch. Easier said than done."

Sinclair pouted her lips and stacked the next jenga, only to knock it down again shortly thereafter.

"Hyung-ah, I can't play board games with you, I swear. Why are you so good? You look like you've been doing this since you were a kid."

"There was a time like that."

"Uh, no. It's just that I'm a little...."

"Is it because of what happened at Bourgeois?"

For a moment, Sinclair's expression hardened before Vikir could finish his sentence.

'Of course.'

Vikir realized he'd hit the nail on the head.

It had happened in Bourgeois. The night of the hunt for the 6th corpse, Belial.

Sinclair looked particularly shaken.

"Oh, no, nothing happened that day...."

She waved her hands in the air in great embarrassment.

But.

Tuck-

Vikir wordlessly reaches out and grabs both of Sinclair's hands.

"What happened."

"...!"

"What's got you in so much pain."

"...."

Sinclair's pupils dilate for a moment, then tremble slightly.

Seeing it, Vikir was once again convinced.

Demon battles are always a terrible memory for humans.

The more high ranking the demon, the longer and more intense the battle.

Vikir was no stranger to this type of counseling, having seen many of his comrades-in-arms suffer severe after-effects after demon hunting.

'If it's post-battle trauma, I can help you overcome it.'

Vikir didn't want Sinclair to go into hiding from the world when she could be a great help to the Human Alliance in the future.

But.

Sinclair's next words were certainly not what Vikir was expecting.

"...He killed."

"What?"

Vikir asked, and Sinclair spoke again, her voice shaking violently, her pronunciation uncharacteristically inaccurate and slurred.

"Night Hound killed my father."

Hearing those words sent a bolt of lightning through Vikir's head.

There was only one thing Night Hound had killed that night when it had bitten Bourgeois from within, and that was Belial.

And the human body it had taken, the host. It was none other than Bartolomeo, patriarch of the Bourgeois family.

'That means....'

Vikir began, trying to organize his many thoughts and open his mouth to say something.

Walag-

A weight leapt into his arms.

Sinclair leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Vikir's body.

The warmth on Vikir chest suggests that Sinclair has been crying.

Vikir froze in place, unable to push her away or hold her.

"...."

"...."

They stayed like that for what seemed like forever.

...How much time had passed?

Eventually, Sinclair's trembling gradually subsided.

The hound's mouth was half open, but he hadn't yet found the words to say to the lamb that had burrowed into his arms.

Just then.

Sinclair lifted her head from burying it in Vikir's arms and looked up.

"Now it's your turn to answer."

And then, with watery eyes and a trembling voice, she asked.

"...What do you think of me, hyung-ah?"