Aftermath (1)
I was fidgeting with my hands, stealing glances at Hyeonseok as we talked, when the shutter click of a Polaroid camera and the sound of someone stifling a laugh came from behind me. I turned around.
Yeonseo was watching me with an utterly delighted smile, one hand covering her mouth to hold back her laughter while the other held a freshly printed Polaroid photo.
A sudden chill raced down my spine. No way… I mouthed the words slowly as I stared at her.
"Hey… you didn't. Right? Right? Come on?"
"Hmm~ whatever could you mean?"
"Ahem. More importantly, when did you get here? You could've said something."
"Oh, please~ between us? I just happened to catch you two looking all cozy while you were in Hyeonseok's arms, so I stuck around to watch."
"Hey…! Give me that photo. Now!!"
I scrambled up from where I'd been sitting and lunged toward Yeonseo, but she must have seen it coming. An ice wall sprang up right in front of me, and she took off running into the distance.
That photo! When the hell did she even take it?! And why is she so fast all of a sudden?!
I wrapped my hand in Holy Fire and smashed through the ice wall that had erupted before me, then gave chase—but I lost her in the end.
"Hah… hah… where on earth did she go?!"
I'd lost Yeonseo, but we shared a room anyway, so I'd run into her eventually. I headed back to where Hyeonseok was. In the meantime, he had finished tying Han Jin-o up with rope.
"You're back? Yeonseo's surprisingly quick when she's running away, isn't she? It's weird. She spends all her time in the room and barely moves, but the second she bolts, she's gone."
"Hah… tell me about it. More importantly—what are we doing with this guy? Honestly, I'd love to take his head off right now, but… I did make a promise to you, so…"
"We'll keep him tied up for now and talk it over with the uncles. Oh—and can you pull the sword out?"
The holy power in the blade had kept him from bleeding, but leaving it stuck in him made tying him up a hassle. I retrieved Curtana, then stepped closer to Hyeonseok and asked what came next.
"So you're leaving now, then?"
"Hmm? Ah—yeah. Honestly, I never planned on coming here. I had business nearby, so I stopped by the settlement to pick up news and supplies, and then Uncle Hancheol asked for help. That's how I got involved."
"I see. Mind if I ask what that nearby business was?"
Hyeonseok gave the rope one last firm tug with his well-muscled arms, checked the knots, then looked at me and spoke.
And the moment he started talking, I immediately wished I hadn't asked. Because…
"There's a settlement called Nodeul that gets along well with ours—Garam. They said that for the past month, they've been hearing explosions every night coming from the Mokdong Settlement side. Tiny flashes, too, like fireworks going off. We figured it might be a new monster or some outlaws operating in the area, so we came to investigate."
"Ah… r-right. I see…"
"Yeah. But once we got here and asked around, people said it just stopped all of a sudden. Oh—that was around the time Charlotte arrived, wasn't it? The direction matches too. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that?"
I took a small step backward, cold sweat beading on my skin, already preparing my escape. That was definitely it.
The sparks I'd been launching into the sky every night under the excuse of training. That was absolutely it.
And just like Yeonseo had said, Hyeonseok was no fool. He wouldn't be asking me so directly otherwise.
He's not just a softhearted kid—he's a sly little snake too! He knew. He had to. He just didn't have hard evidence, only a hunch, so he was fishing like this.
Yep. Time to run. Get back to the room, find out what photo Yeonseo took, and snatch it.
I spun around to make my getaway—only for the uncles to arrive at that exact moment and cut off my escape completely.
I glanced back. Hyeonseok was wearing the faintest little smile.
Is there a mouse hole around here…? I'd really like to crawl into one…
The looks on Uncle Dusik and Uncle Hancheol's faces when they saw Han Jin-o were grim beyond words.
Uncle Dusik's eyes were bulging, his glare fierce enough to burn. His face flushed red and purple by turns, a vein standing out on his forehead.
He looked exactly like those cartoon characters who transform into demons when they get angry—as if some evil spirit had fully possessed him.
But I understood. This man was the one who had taken his precious daughter from him.
Of course. His daughter's killer is right in front of him, and he's still holding back even though his fists are clenched white. That takes real strength.
Uncle Hancheol wasn't quite as far gone, but the fury on his face was plain enough.
This man had terrorized the settlement Hancheol held dear, frightened its people half to death, and then launched an outright attack. Of course he was angry.
"So, Uncles—what are you going to do with him? Honestly, I'd like to just cut his thr—"
"Charlotte."
"Ahem. I think he needs to be punished. Or at least sent somewhere far away…"
Hyeonseok quietly called my name, and I immediately changed course, looking at the two men.
Uncle Dusik still hadn't cooled down enough to speak. Uncle Hancheol met my eyes and finally opened his tightly shut mouth.
"First—was Ara all right?"
"Yes. She was a little hurt, but I treated her as best I could. The others were still tied up, so I only healed them enough to move and relocated them to a church a short distance away. They should be fine. I'll go back with Yeonseo or Hyeonseok later to bring them."
"Good. That's a real relief… Thank you, Charlotte. As for this bastard… Honestly, I'd love to get rid of him myself, but just in case, I should contact Cheongwadae and have the Management Bureau send someone."
"Understood. Then I'll go fetch Ara and the others first."
"Do that. Once you're back, come to my office with Ara. I think we need to talk a bit more."
Hyeonseok and I hurried back to the room to find Yeonseo. Then Yeonseo and I left together and headed for Ara.
Riding our summons with Yeonseo, I brought up the photo again.
"Hey. So what did you take earlier? Hmm?"
"My, my~ that curious about it? Maybe you're better off not knowing."
"What on earth did you photograph that you're hiding it this hard?"
"Hmm~ well, I can tell you if you really want to know. But let's finish everything first and look at it back in the room. This kind of thing is better enjoyed just the two of us! Heehee."
What? Did she just laugh? She never laughs—what the hell did she take a picture of…?
No matter how relentlessly I pressed, she just grinned that sly grin and kept dodging, so I gave up and changed the subject.
"Fine. I lose. You win! More importantly—do you know what the Management Bureau is?"
"Ah~ that place? Basically the police, in simple terms. The police of this era. You mentioned Cheongwadae, right? On the surface, it's the first settlement the government established.
So they set up various departments under it. Management Bureau, Administrative Bureau, Welfare Bureau—something like that?
The Administrative and Welfare Bureaus help the settlements stay connected and communicate with each other, so you don't really need the details. The Management Bureau, like I said, is the one that tries to maintain public order in this day and age. Like the police."
"Even though the law only exists in books now? So what, they take outlaw criminals and try to reform them or something?"
Yeonseo narrowed her eyes, let the silence hang for a moment, then spoke quietly.
"Reform? Well… when there's no law left, is reform even necessary? Sometimes they just let people go, I hear—though they put a leash on them first, of course. Beyond that… I don't really know myself~"
"Hmm. I get the general idea."
Honestly, this era was no different from the old Wild West—an age of outlaws.
If you had power, you took. If you didn't, you were taken from. The only reason people still hesitated was that they'd lived their whole lives inside the laws society had built, and those habits died hard.
A few more years like this, and the outlaws might only multiply. Law only works when a country is still functioning properly.
But at least there were still people trying to preserve what society used to look like.
We talked about the time we'd spent apart, and before long we arrived at the church where Ara and the others were waiting.
When we opened the door, the people startled at our sudden appearance—but the moment they recognized me as the one who'd saved them, they began to relax. Ara came over and started asking whether the settlement was all right.
"So… is it really all over now?"
"Yep! We just need to head back together. Oh, and Ara—can you make something like a cart?"
"A cart? Why all of a sudden…?"
"Well, not necessarily a cart. Anything with wheels that people can ride on will do. Yeonseo here will handle the rest."
"You little fox—is that why you brought me along? Not Hyeonseok?"
"Hey, I told you to stop calling me that!"
As Yeonseo and I bickered back and forth, Ara laughed.
"Pfft. You two seem pretty close. Have you known each other long?"
Yeonseo and I looked at each other, then answered together.
"Not really? About three or four days now?"
Ara let out an awkward little "Ahaha…" and forced a smile.
By the time we returned to the settlement, the sky was painted red with sunset, and the black of night was already creeping in.
Everyone was exhausted—but tonight would be far more peaceful than the one before.
A cool night breeze soothed our worn-out bodies. Yeonseo, Ara, and I saw the rescued people to a place where they could rest, then headed to Uncle Hancheol.
He slammed his desk with a thunderous bang! and roared at Ara, who stood before him. She flinched hard at the shout.
Ara kept twitching her shoulders, head bowed, eyes squeezed shut as she endured the torrent of Uncle Hancheol's words.
Yeonseo, Hyeonseok, and I stood there watching the whole scene unfold.
"You're just a kid! Do you have any sense at all, or don't you?! I told you—wait for the right time!
And if you were going to go, you could've at least said something?! Huh?! Or taken someone with you!
You went alone and look what happened! Well?! If you've got something to say, say it!!!"
Ara fidgeted with both index fingers.
"But… if I'd told you, you would've stopped me. And taking other people would've been too dangerous…"
Another bang! rang out as Uncle Hancheol's voice nearly tore itself apart.
"That's exactly the point!!! You thought other people would be in danger—so you figured you yourself wouldn't be?! Is that it?!!"
Uncle Hancheol drew a deep breath, about to shout again, when Uncle Dusik stepped in, wrapping an arm around Ara's shoulders.
"That's enough, hyung-nim. Ara knew what she was doing. And sooner or later, those bastards were going to bare their teeth at us anyway, weren't they?
At least Hyeonseok, Yeonseo, and Charlotte were here, so it turned out as well as it did. Ara's reflecting on it. Let it go."
Ara lifted her head and looked up at Uncle Dusik.
"Uncle Dusik…!"
"Of course, that's that—and this is this."
"Agyaaaaah! Un—Uncle, my shoulder!! My shoulder's gonna break…! It's breaking…!"
Watching Uncle Dusik clamp down on Ara's shoulder with real force, I could tell he had plenty of anger stored up himself.
Afterward, Ara sat on the sofa in a daze while the uncles turned to us and began discussing what to do about Han Jin-o.
"First off, like I said earlier—I've already requested people from the Management Bureau, so you don't need to worry about him. They'll come collect him.
Now, about payment for the job."
Hyeonseok jumped in immediately.
"You don't need to pay us. Just keep up good relations with the Garam and Nodeul Settlements going forward. That's more than enough for us."
Yeonseo's face twisted. There he goes again, charging ahead on his own, she muttered, glaring at him.
Me? Honestly, Hyeonseok saying that made things easier for me.
Asking for payment from this place felt a little awkward anyway. And if they were giving us a room to sleep in and food to eat, I wouldn't mind staying a while longer.
"Haha, that's kind of you to say—but accounts are accounts. Better for everyone if we settle them properly. Of course we want to stay on good terms with those settlements going forward, so we'll set that aside.
For now, the rooms you've been using are yours to keep. Come and go as you please. Or—since we're doing repairs anyway—should I have a separate building put up for you?"
Hmm. The current place was fine, but I was still weighing whether to ask for a space of our own when Yeonseo spoke up first.
"Honestly, this softhearted pushover jumped the gun, but we should take payment. And before you build anything new—if there's an unused spot somewhere, we'd rather take that."
At that, Uncle Dusik brought over a map of the settlement and a set of keys, then pointed to a spot.
"There's a camper van here. It's pretty big—plenty of room for the three of you. Has a shower and two bedrooms, so you should be fine. I've been maintaining it myself, so you won't have any trouble using it."
"Hey! Dusik, that place is—!"
"It's fine. Leaving it empty like this, it'll just keep collecting dust."
"Uncle, are you really sure?"
It was obvious the place was connected to Uncle Dusik's daughter, so I had to ask. He smiled—a bright, unburdened smile, like a heavy weight had finally lifted from his shoulders.
"I'm sure. The help you've given us is a kind of bond too. I'd rather it be this way."
"Then we'll take it. Building something new would take time anyway—this is better."
Yeonseo said that and immediately set off to move our things. Hyeonseok followed her out of the room to help.
"Charlotte, you go get some sleep too. You must be exhausted. Rest well, and we'll talk again tomorrow."
At Uncle Dusik's words, the tension drained out of me all at once, and my body went heavy and limp.
Come to think of it, today alone had been nonstop from morning—the whole mess, racing around to save Ara, and then that huge fight at the settlement. My eyes were already starting to close.
"Yaaawn~ All right. I'll head in first, then."
I gathered my things and followed after Yeonseo and Hyeonseok, making my way to the place Uncle Dusik had described.
"Whoa… are we really allowed to use this?"
In the parking lot outside the stadium that enclosed the settlement sat a fairly large camper van. Not quite bus-sized, but definitely big enough for three people without any trouble.
The exterior was painted black. The windows of the living space—everything except the driver's seat—were covered in dark tinting and curtains, completely blocking any view from outside.
I would have liked to admire the outside a little longer, but my body was growing heavier by the second. Better to wash up and lie down. I opened the door.
And what I saw when I opened it…
Well… let's just say it was a feast for the eyes.