<h4>Chapter 331 - Preparations to Leave (3)</h4>


    “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 <i>middle-aged</i> to describe her if they did not know any better.


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


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


    <i>‘That’s supposed to be kimchi stew?’</i>


    Why was it ck?


    <i>‘How could she do such a thing to kimchi stew...?’</i>


    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 eximed.


    <i>‘Please don’t.’</i>


    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 <i>hyung</i>. 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 ck 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.


    <i>‘What could she have to say to me?’</i>


    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. <i>Click, ck.</i> 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.


    <i>‘It’s a nice ce.’</i>


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


    <i>‘It feels homely.’</i>


    The feeling of cozinessing from the entire home felt quite nice.


    <i>ck.</i>


    “Here you go,” Seo-Ha said.


    “Thank you very much.”


    Kang-Woo sipped the coffee that she had made; it tasted normal, unlike her kimchi stew.


    <i>‘All hail instant coffee.’</i>


    The guaranteed sweetness enveloped his tongue.


    “First of all...” Seo-Ha stood up and politely bowed toward Kang-Woo. “Thank you very much.”


    “...”


    “If it hadn’t been for you, Si-Hun and I... would have never dreamed of having such a life.”


    “Si-Hun has great talent as a yer. Even if it hadn’t been for me, he would have been able to earn enough for the hospital bills and this house all on his ow—”


    “No, that’s not what I meant.” Seo-Ha smiled faintly. “If it hadn’t been for you... Si-Hun never would have been able to smile like that.”


    Kang-Woo remained silent, thinking about what he should say. Seo-Ha bowed toward Kang-Woo again.


    “Thank you... so very much.”


    Kang-Woo could hear how heartfelt she was. In the end, he said the same thing that he had said earlier.


    “I simply did my duty as his hyung.”


    “Hohoho,” Seo-Ha giggled. “I’m relieved to see that you truly care for Si-Hun.”


    “But of course. Although we’re not rted by blood, I consider him to be family.”


    Seo-Ha stared intently at Kang-Woo, and then sighed in relief. She continued, “To be honest, I was very worried. You didn’t build your friendship with Si-Hun through normal means, did you? I was worried because of that, but those worries have faded now.”


    “... I beg your pardon?” Kang-Woo froze. Her words had been branded on his brain. “What do you...”


    “I’m not sure if it’s hypnosis or some other kind of magic, but... you used some sort of coercive method to win Si-Hun over, didn’t you?”


    “...!” Chills ran down his back. Kang-Woo red at Seo-Ha. “I’m not quite sure what you mean.”


    “Hohoho. It’s okay. I won’t tell Si-Hun.”


    She was talking as if she knew everything. Kang-Woo’s mind was in jumbles.


    <i>‘She knows.’</i>


    She knew that Kang-Woo had attacked Si-Hun and made Si-Hun into his Familiar.


    <i>‘But how?’</i>


    Questions kept leading to other questions. The truth that he had kept secret all this time and thought would never be revealed, had been found out so easily.


    “... How long have you known?” asked Kang-Woo.


    “I had an inkling... ever since Si-Hun told me about you.” Seo-Ha put the cup of coffee down on the table and continued, “That boy never refers to anyone as <i>hyung</i>, especially someone that he has only met recently.”


    Kang-Woo swept back his hair.


    <i>‘I didn’t expect this.’</i>


    No, there was no way he could have, since there had been no way for him to know back when he made Si-Hun into his Familiar, the trauma that Si-Hun possessed, as well as how well Si-Hun’s mother knew Si-Hun.


    Heavy silence fell. Kang-Woo downed the cup of coffee, thinking up dozens of possible excuses he could make. If he wanted to, he was confident that he could use whatever reason to satisfy Seo-Ha. He could even argue that she couldn’t base anything off just from the fact that Si-Hun addressed him as <i>hyung</i>. However...


    <i>ck</i>. Kang-Wooid the cup down on the table.


    “Why didn’t you say anything despite knowing that?”


    Kang-Woo did not make any excuses nor try to call it out as a lie; he had a feeling that he shouldn’t, at least to Seo-Ha of all people.


    Seo-Ha remained silent, and then opened her mouth while staring into empty space. “I...mitted an unforgivable sin to that boy.”


    Kang-Woo could feel the voidness in her voice. He could easily tell what the sin that she was referring to was.


    <i>‘Si-Hun’s trauma.’</i>


    The words that his own birth mother had said to him,<i> “I’m sorry for giving birth to you”</i>, 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.


    <i>‘Why... was I... so happy?’</i>


    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>‘I felt like I was being pardoned for my sin.’</i>


    He couldn’t help butugh 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.


    <i>‘Despite the person in question knowing absolutely nothing about it.’</i>


    Kang-Woo smiled bitterly.


    “... Goddammit.”


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


    <i>‘Tomorrow...’</i>


    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 sinceing 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 aftering 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.


    <i>Bzzt.</i>


    Kang-Woo’s vision became blurry. He was shown a in filled with corpses, and himself copsing 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.


    <i>‘They’re all dead, though.’</i>


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


    <i>‘This time...’</i>


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


    “Fucking hell. I’ve be 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]