# Chapter 84
Not wanting to blurt out unnecessary words, I bit my lip tightly. Without properly asking the man’s permission, I opened the door and inspected the interior.
Inside the house, an oddly unpleasant smell wafted from everywhere, and as if to prove that the man couldn’t see, the complete mess of the place felt nothing but disagreeable.
I stepped onto the worn floor with my muddy shoes. Forcibly suppressing the urge to run outside immediately, I looked around to see if there was anyone else.
That’s when I noticed a lone gun placed on the table in the kitchen.
I quietly approached and lightly brushed aside the gun, which looked so worn out it might make an unpleasant sound.
The gun was placed so ordinarily, as if contemplating the day of death at any moment, it made my stomach churn.
In the future I imagined, there was no miserable future like that man’s. Such a day would probably never come.
It had to be that way.
After packing the old gun into my bag, I headed to another room to look for anything else useful.
Whether fortunate or unfortunate, there were a few more items worth taking in the house. After gathering what else I needed, I spoke to the man who was still lingering by the door.
“Do you keep in contact with other people?”
The man laughed as if he’d heard something absurd.
“No way. I’ve been cut off for a long time now. But… I didn’t think ‘Hund’ would abandon you, what did you do?”
“…”
Unlike before, the man actively engaged me in conversation. But his pronunciation was extremely slurred, as if he didn’t usually talk to anyone, and he mixed in a dialect I’d never heard before.
I couldn’t remember if he had spoken like this before. Perhaps the past me didn’t care about their manner of speaking.
I shouldered the now-heavier bag and slowly walked out of the forest. I distanced myself without even saying a proper goodbye, but the man didn’t add anything else.
I worried he might follow me, but someone who could barely keep his balance wouldn’t do such a thing.
‘In just a few more days, I won’t have to come to this kind of place, and I won’t have to get depressed alone for no reason.’
There was no need to intentionally think dark thoughts.
Looking up at the sky, unlike a little while ago, it was now filled with dark clouds. Since I had the gun, it would be better not to get rained on. I needed to hurry back to Paris.
Since being imprisoned by Jang, whenever it was about to rain, my legs would ache with small pains at every step. I gradually slowed my almost-running pace and quietly looked back.
The blind man was still awkwardly standing there at the edge of my vision. He’d long been forgotten by his colleagues, but even so, it seemed like he was still living alone with his blinded eyes, anticipating the day of his death.
It was terribly unsettling that the man’s appearance wasn’t unfamiliar to me.
‘If after killing Hund, I end up living an awkward life like that man for the rest of my days…’
I had known for a long time that being by Woosang’s side wouldn’t completely free me.
If Woosang knew I was having such weak thoughts, he would once again try to find a new solution for me. I didn’t want to live a life of constantly crying out to him for solutions.
Since he had chosen me, I should live my life properly. Rather than counting down the days until death like that man, I had no choice but to live, whatever that meant.
After walking for a long time, I came out of the forest and checked the time. I was worried that I might have lost track of time while lost in thought, but fortunately, there was still time until the last bus.
The bus came to a sliding halt just before the rain poured down from the darkened sky.
‘Come to think of it, where was Woosang again…?’
Hund would surely appear before Woosang without me having to search separately. So the best approach was to go directly to where Woosang was and protect him.
Sitting in my seat, I stared blankly out the window, thinking. Raindrops had begun to tap gently on the window, as if forewarning that rain would pour for a while.
I turned on my phone and looked at the screen. Having used it for a long time during the day to look at maps, the battery was dangerously low.
Not wanting the power to turn off at a crucial moment, I shut down the phone and hoped my tingling leg wouldn’t distract me. The quiet sound of rain gradually erased the noise of the slightly rattling bus.
Somehow, it felt like I could fall into a deep sleep to the sound of the rain.
***
“Excuse me.”
My dazed body was shaken back and forth. Someone was holding my shoulder and calling out loudly.
Startled, I opened my heavy eyes wide and looked at the person in front of me.
“I’m sorry, but this is the last stop now. You need to get off.”
“Ah…”
I glanced out the window, but the scenery was so unfamiliar that I couldn’t say anything.
“Excuse me, but where is this?”
The driver said the name of the area, but it was a place I had never heard of before. Noticing my confusion, he cautiously asked me:
“Where’s your destination?”
“I need to go to Paris.”
He stared at me for a while, then suddenly headed to the driver’s seat.
“I can’t take you all the way to Paris, but I can drive you to where you can catch a bus to Paris.”
“What?”
“I have some time left anyway, so let’s go for a drive.”
The driver started the bus with a bright smile. I wondered if it was okay for him to use the bus like this, but since it was much better than finding my way alone, I decided to stay quiet.
The bus left the small garage and began driving on roads I had never seen before. The rain that had been falling heavily earlier had already calmed down, and my aching leg seemed better than before I fell asleep.
Sometimes when I encountered unexpected kindness like this, I didn’t know how to act.
The ugliness of the world I knew felt like it had been a lie, and these unpredictable acts of kindness were simply bewildering.
On the other hand, I wanted to accept this kindness as if it were natural.
The heaviness of the bag in my hand felt like it was mocking me, making my head increasingly dizzy.
As my head started to throb, the driver conveniently parked the bus at a fairly large station.
“We’re here. You can take a bus to Paris from here.”
The driver called out to me while still seated.
“…Thank you.”
I wanted to face him properly and express my gratitude, but seeing the buses waiting behind, I had to get off quickly.
I quietly watched as the bus departed instantly. Looking awkwardly around, I realized the stop where the bus driver had dropped me off wasn’t an ordinary stop but a sizeable bus terminal.
‘Since I’m here, should I just go to where Woosang is?’
I thought, looking at the electronic board in the center of the terminal. Then suddenly, I realized I didn’t know which city Woosang was in.
I was sure he had mentioned the name of some city, but due to the difficult German pronunciation, I hadn’t properly remembered it.
“Haaa…”
I sighed deeply and turned on my phone.
Once it powered on properly, I immediately called Woosang’s number, worried the phone might shut down.
However, after the ringtone continued two or three times, only a voice message saying the power was off came through.
Just in case, I checked the time. The clock showed 7 PM. I remembered that at this time, he would be doing an evening performance.
I quickly ended the call and checked the battery, but it was already down to only about 4 percent.
‘It’s better to wait a bit.’
In an hour or two, Woosang’s performance would end, and after checking the missed call, he would call me back.
It seemed best to wait until then, confirm the location, and then head directly to where Woosang was.
Some people bumped into my shoulder and passed by without apologizing. Coming to my senses, I realized I had been standing in the middle of the path where people were passing.
Since it had just rained, the humid space and bumping into strangers didn’t make for a good feeling.
Just then, I noticed a café inside the station that seemed to have plenty of seats.
I went inside, ordered a cup of coffee, and sat by the window, following the busy people with my eyes.
After staring outside for a long time, I felt my phone on the table vibrating slightly. Thinking it might be Woosang calling, I immediately answered.
“Hello?”
「…」
“…?”
I looked at the screen, finding it strange that there was no response.
But the screen showed a different number, not Woosang’s. +49. It was a call from Germany. I wondered if he was using a pay phone, but not being sure, I asked the caller:
“If you’ve called the wrong number, I’m sorry, but may I hang up?”
「No. You shouldn’t hang up.」
A heavily oppressive voice crawled casually from the speaker. For a moment, my body froze, but I tightly clenched my fist to avoid cowering.
Hund’s voice, which I hadn’t heard in a long time, felt even sharper than before. His pronunciation, which seemed like it could cut flesh at any moment, felt uncomfortable.
「You were the one who asked me to contact you first, weren’t you?」
Contact. That’s right. A few days ago, when I met Jang, I asked him to tell Hund to contact me.
But I never thought Jang would actually relay the message to him. Why was I so certain he wouldn’t pass it on?
I thought if Jang understood my words of rejection, he would either completely lose interest in me or try to approach me on his own.
He seemed quite desperate and really seemed to want me.
But it seems I misunderstood another person’s emotions. If he truly cared for me, he wouldn’t sell me out to others.
‘What was I expecting? After being treated so badly.’
It seems I had unconsciously hoped for at least some genuine interest in me, even in this twisted relationship.
「Your friend’s performance should be ending soon. Where are you now?」
Despite the obvious provocation, I didn’t feel any emotions surging. I was only curious about his intentions behind such troublesome actions.
Since he took me to Brussels, I had continuous questions about his behavior. No, even before that, there were small irritating aspects that I had noticed long ago.
It was unfair to ask me now for the price of what I had ignored for so long.
“What bothered you so much? It’s not because of your fingers, is it?”
「…」
I spoke to him as calmly as possible, enunciating each word. But he seemed irritated by my words and cursed to himself.
I knew it wasn’t good to upset him. But I wanted to ask him about the fact I had been ignoring for a very long time.
I had a duty to look at my past.
“It’s not because of me… is it because of my uncle?”
