Welcome to the World of the Mad Moon
“You’ve gotten so thin.”
Se-jin said it the moment she saw her cousin four years her junior. Se-gun managed only a weak smile in reply.
“Anyway, have you eaten lunch yet?”
“Not really. Oh—there’s something I need to talk to you about.”
“Alright. In that case the student cafeteria won’t work. Fine. I’ll open my wallet for once in a long while.”
With that she half-dragged Se-gun out of the school gates and into a small spaghetti house just across the street.
“So. What’s going on?”
She ordered for them both and opened the conversation with forced cheer. Se-gun hesitated, picking at the edge of the table.
“It’s nothing big, just… how do I put this…”
“Oh, right. Se-gun—did my father ask you to come stay with us?”
She struck first. She was living alone now, having entered a university in Seoul, and her relationship with her father was not something even a joke could call good.
“Huh? Oh. Yeah, that.”
“I’m sorry to say this to you of all people, after everything you’ve been through. But don’t.”
“What?”
Se-gun stared, startled by the sudden bluntness. In a world where refusing to voice anything negative was considered a virtue, hearing those words so easily from his own cousin left him unmoored. Se-jin only sighed and expanded on what she meant.
“Se-gun, you know your house is a single-family home with a hundred pyeong of floor space, right? The lot alone is two hundred fifty. Do you have any idea what that property is worth?”
“…”
“And your father’s factory on top of that. Of course it’s a recession and after what happened you won’t get full value, but you understand it’s still a serious fortune, don’t you?”
Se-gun had nothing left to say. He couldn’t bring himself to believe that the uncle who had wrapped him in warmth had been anything less than sincere. Even someone as green as Se-gun knew sincerity when he felt it; it wasn’t the sort of thing that could be faked so easily.
But even if the kindness was real, the fact remained that real money would follow.
“You get it, right? I’m only saying this for your sake. Okay? Se-gun? Se-gun?”
“I’m leaving first.”
He shoved the chair back and stood. Se-jin watched him with a flustered look, wondering what she had done wrong.
“I already ordered. At least stay and eat, Se-gun.”
“No. It’s fine.”
He fled the restaurant as if running for his life and kicked the RX-125 to life. The cousin who was even colder than his uncle stung far worse. Yet he had no clean reason to hate her, and that alone was enough to drive him half mad.
So he ran. The motorcycle—his brother’s last possession—seemed to understand; it tore down the alleys and left the front gates of M University behind in a blur.
Then it stopped. Tears kept coming, blinding him. Se-gun stood at the roadside, pulled off the helmet, and wiped his face with no care for who might see, biting down hard on his lip.
Kim Seong-hui, owner of the occult shop Arjuna, counted ordinary people interested in the occult among her main customers. The bulk of her revenue, however, came from people who could never be called ordinary. At the moment she was patiently explaining tarot to a cluster of high-school girls from nearby S High.
She always kept a stock of inexpensive goods for civilians, but those had sold out. There was no chance the girls could afford a deck priced over five hundred thousand won a set.
Screeeech!
A harsh scrape of rubber on asphalt cut through the shop. She looked up, startled. Se-gun’s RX-125 sat parked right outside the entrance.
“Is Silvester here?”
He asked the question the instant he stepped inside. She fought to keep her expression level and fixed him with a glare. Having him say strange things in front of regular customers was her problem, not his.
In theory it would have been cleaner never to open the shop to the public at all, but then taxes, the lease, and a dozen other headaches would have piled up.
“He’s out right now. Why don’t you sit and wait a while, okay?”
“R-right. Ah—s-sorry.”
He scrubbed at his reddened eyes. Seong-hui gave a small shrug, excused herself from the customers, and stepped out from behind the counter.
“Bathroom’s that way. Go splash some water on your face.”
“Ah—yes.”
Se-gun disappeared into the restroom.
“Honestly. He’s still just a kid…”
She muttered it while watching his back. Instinct told her he had already stepped too far into this world to turn around.
Near sunset Silvester’s Corvette rolled to a stop in front of Arjuna. The men who climbed out were the usual pair: the retired soldier and Silvester himself. Neither looked pleased; whatever investigation they had been running had clearly produced little of value.
Even so, their faces were almost gentle compared to the expressions they wore the moment they saw Se-gun asleep on Arjuna’s sofa.
“What the hell is this?”
Silvester directed the question at Kim Seong-hui. She answered with a smile.
“A cute little freshman.”
“Faster than I expected.”
The retired soldier spoke while looking down at the boy. At that exact moment Se-gun woke.
“Ah! I—I was just…”
He wiped the corner of his mouth. Luckily no drool had escaped. Silvester watched him, then raked a hand through his silver hair.
“Damn it. This brat really is dying to get himself killed. Kid. I’m asking one last time. Are you serious?”
“…O-of course I am.”
Se-gun’s resolve was already set; he nodded hard. The retired soldier gave a low chuckle and held out his hand.
“Welcome to the world of the mad moon, little guy.”
“….”
Se-gun took the hand without a word. Silvester watched and let out a long breath.
“Whatever. Deok-yeon, I’m leaving the kid with you. Make him at least tough enough not to drop dead. After the fee I paid, I figure I can expect that much service.”
“Wouldn’t dream of shortchanging you. Ha-ha-ha.”
“And Seong-hui—arrange a Mexico-bound berth right away. Make sure I can take the Corvette.”
He started for the back rooms. Se-gun shot to his feet in alarm.
“You’re leaving the country? And you’re not the one who’s going to train me?”
The laughter vanished from the face of the retired soldier—Song Deok-yeon. In other words, Se-gun had just whined about being handed off to Deok-yeon instead of Silvester.
Even if Silvester had never bothered to learn manners and cared even less, he understood exactly what the boy had just done wrong. He glanced at Deok-yeon and gave a short, incredulous laugh.
“What an absurd little bastard. Think you can actually turn him into something useful?”
“I’ll give it a shot. No promises, though.”
“Fine. Even if he never amounts to much, it hardly matters. One more body more or less doesn’t change anything.”
Silvester said it, then suddenly raised a hand and rested it on Se-gun’s head.
“I’ll say it again, for what it’s worth. Welcome to the world of the mad moon, Han Se-gun.”
“….”
It was a simple rite, yet even an outsider like Se-gun could feel it was not something to be brushed aside. So he swallowed every question and every protest and kept his mouth shut.
“Well then, I’ll clear out. See you later, kid.”
Silvester turned and left. Se-gun jerked upright, ready to fire off questions, but he could not decide which to ask first; while he hesitated Silvester vanished into the depths of the building.
The world of the mad moon?
Se-gun turned the strange phrase over in his mind.
The ignorance of the world he had just entered—and the irreversible choice he had made—felt brutally unfair. Yet the indifferent baptizer who cared nothing for any single life ultimately accepted him.