The Rune Clan (2)

"...."

I walked toward Sunlight Orphanage with one eye on what was behind me. Rebecca, trailing at my back, didn't seem particularly concerned. She was certain she could catch me whenever I tried to run.

No openings.

She strolled along, casually taking in the scenery, but there wasn't a single gap I could exploit. The mana saturating the air around me would become a rope the instant I tried to flee.

"Haa."

"What's with the sigh, Lee Ho-yeon?"

"...It's nothing."

The way she kept acting so familiar with me was awkward in its own right. This was driving me insane.

To be fair, Rebecca was beautiful. She was a frequently appearing villainess in the original work, after all. Female executives of evil organizations were supposed to be gorgeous — that was just how it worked. Like Lim Sol, she had the air of a researcher consumed by magic, but where Lim Sol was wholesome, this woman was a more decadent kind of mage. Hair like molten rubies. Light green eyes that glittered like gemstones. If I had to put a word to it, she looked like a witch.

"Is it much farther?"

"We're almost there."

And honestly, she was the kind of beauty you'd drop to your knees and thank heaven for if she offered herself to you. I'd never seen a woman of her type before. She really was stunning.

But...

I've already got too many women as it is.

The heroines were already piling up. I couldn't go around seducing an evil executive who wasn't even a heroine.

As if to refute that thought, something floated up in front of my eyes.

"...."

Right. Thinking about it, a villainess of Rebecca's caliber couldn't possibly have low influence. Because she appeared as a full-on enemy in the original, it had never occurred to me that she could become a heroine. Tch. I was suddenly regretting things.

Should I have just told her I was part of the Rune Clan?

No. That could easily backfire. Even if it made conquering her easier in the short term, if the truth came out later, all that progress would go up in smoke. Better to come clean from the start and pursue her afterward. Not that I'd decided whether I was going to pursue her at all.

"We could just make a baby together, you know."

"...Come to think of it, you said there were two boys?"

"Yeah. One of them is you, and the other is a younger kid."

"How young?"

"Around elementary school age by now, I'd guess."

Elementary school age. I wouldn't know about a guy around my age, but the kid at the orphanage was about that old. The odds that my hunch was right were climbing.

"Is that Sunlight Orphanage over there?"

"Yes. That's it."

A short while later, we arrived.

"Hmm...."

Rebecca followed me inside. Naturally, she'd wrapped us in a Rune Barrier, so ordinary people couldn't see us. It was the same Rune Barrier I used, and yet hers was far more solid and stable than mine.

The mana structure itself feels completely different.

There was no other way to explain it. Even when I reproduced the exact same magic circle as Rebecca, the output came out different.

That was probably the simplest way to put it.

Stepping into the courtyard, I spotted a well-built man watering the flowers — the director of Sunlight Orphanage. I approached the man I hadn't seen in quite some time.

"Hello, Director."

"Hm? Oh, Cadet Ho-yeon! Well now, I figured ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you'd become too famous to visit us anymore."

"Come on, I don't come here for image management. What's fame going to change? I got discharged yesterday, so I figured I'd drop by and see your face."

It had been about a month since my last visit, so it had been a while. I'd come here to pursue Baek A-young back then... so I didn't really need to come anymore. Still, I should visit with her sometime.

"Ah, that's right. I saw it on the news, too — it slipped my mind."

The director chuckled, and I continued.

"It's fine. Anyway, I'd like to see the kids. What are they up to?"

"It's free time after lunch right now. They're all doing whatever they want. If I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tell them Cadet Ho-yeon is here, they'll gather in no time."

"Well, there's a particular child I'd like to see today. There's a red-haired boy at the orphanage, isn't there?"

Rebecca, who'd been watching our conversation with a look of boredom, finally focused when she heard the words "red-haired boy."

"Red hair...? Ah, you mean Su-hyun?"

"Yes. That little troublemaker-looking kid."

"He should be over that way. Would you like me to take you?"

"Please. I have something I need to discuss with him privately."

A short while later, I found myself alone with a boy named Cheon Su-hyun. I was something of a celebrity, and I'd volunteered here enough times to get close with the kids, so the director readily agreed to give us a private moment.

"Hyung! It's been a while. What did you wanna talk to me about?"

"I'm going to ask you a few questions. Just answer them for me, okay?"

"Yeah! Of course!"

The red-haired boy. Cheon Su-hyun was smiling with pure, innocent delight. As far as I knew, he'd just turned eight. Peak cute age.

Is it him?

I nodded to Rebecca, who was watching Cheon Su-hyun intently from behind me.

A faint rustle. I felt Rebecca's mana unfurl at my back. A whisper-thin wave of it passed through my body and began scanning Cheon Su-hyun from the top of his head down.

...Can I talk to him?

"Yeah, it should be fine. Su-hyun, don't be startled. There's a noona who wanted to meet you, so I brought her along. That's okay, right?"

"Yes, that's okay."

Creeeak—

The door opened, and Rebecca stepped inside as naturally as if she'd been standing there the whole time. It was an illusion using the Rune Barrier, of course — but how was something like that even possible?

"Hello. Are you Cheon Su-hyun?"

"Hello, noona."

Rebecca's expression turned faintly awkward as she watched him bow his head.

"...Can I see your hand for a second?"

"Okay."

She took Cheon Su-hyun's wrist and sent mana through it. After a moment, she spoke.

"...It's him."

"It is?!"

"Yeah. He's definitely of the Rune Clan. I can tell now that I've compared you. His mana circuits are completely different from yours."

"Oh... so you believe me now?"

"...Yeah. I'll believe you."

Rebecca looked deeply disappointed, but I was just glad the misunderstanding had been cleared up. Better to resolve this kind of thing quickly. Thank god. I wouldn't be getting kidnapped and forcibly milked after all.

"Kid.... Do you remember anything from before you came to this orphanage?"

Rebecca asked him for information about the other survivor.

"Umm... I don't know. I don't remember much from when I was little."

"...Haa."

Was it because she'd thought she'd found a surviving clansman, only to lose him? Rebecca let out a long, heartbroken sigh.

"Thanks, Su-hyun. You can go play with your friends now. Oh, and these are snacks I bought — share them with everyone."

"Thank you, hyung! See you later!"

I pressed the snacks into Cheon Su-hyun's hands and sent him out of the room. Watching him thunder off down the hall, I turned to Rebecca.

"Let's ask the director. If anyone would know something, it's him."

"...Okay."

"Ah... Su-hyun, you say."

In the director's office, I asked about the circumstances of when Cheon Su-hyun had first been taken in.

"I was wondering if there was a red-haired man who came with him. He would've been around my age."

I didn't know where the Rune Clan had originally been, but a child that young wouldn't have found his way here on his own. An older boy must have helped him.

"I don't know how you knew, but... yes, there was. A red-haired boy. If he were still alive, he'd be about Cadet Ho-yeon's age."

"...What?"

I couldn't believe my ears. That meant the survivor Rebecca had been searching for was dead.

"Tsk... it was a few years ago. Snow was coming down hard. I heard a knock at the door, and when I opened it, a red-haired boy was standing there with a small child in his arms, begging me to let them stay just for one night."

"...."

The director closed his eyes, as if reliving that day, and continued.

"The boy's condition was critical. He was burning up with fever. We wanted to send him to the hospital immediately, but he kept refusing. He said his body couldn't go to a hospital. We called an ambulance behind his back anyway and sent him."

"I see."

"But the malnutrition had already wrecked his entire body. On top of that, he'd walked so far barefoot that he had frostbite everywhere, and his stamina was completely gone. By the time we tried to treat him, it was already too late."

"Ah. So..."

"Yes. The hospital notified us that he'd died within a few hours. Fortunately, Su-hyun — the child he'd been clutching so tightly — was in decent condition, so we've been raising him ever since."

"...."

What was I even supposed to say about this? I snuck a glance at Rebecca. She looked like she'd just lost her country. Well, she needed to revive the Rune Clan immediately, and the only remaining survivor was a little kid. Of course she'd be devastated. No — given that fanatical look she got whenever the clan came up, she really must have felt like her nation had fallen.

Creeeak—

"Hm? Why did the door open by itself? Was that the wind?"

Rebecca simply opened the door and trudged out. She was still maintaining the Rune Barrier, so the director's eyes went wide at the suddenly opening door.

"...Thank you for telling me. I should get going as well."

"Of course, Cadet Ho-yeon. Thank you for stopping by."

I followed Rebecca outside.

She was standing in the empty backyard, staring blankly at the sky. When I approached, I saw fat, heavy tears rolling down her cheeks and dripping onto the ground.

"Rebecca...?"

It was the first time I'd called her by name. Only then did she turn her head toward me.

Drip. Drip.

Tears fell from Rebecca's eyes like an open faucet. If she'd just broken down sobbing, I could have tried to comfort her. Instead, she was crying like someone who had given up on everything.

Haa. I never knew what to do when a woman started crying. I should at least try to comfort her.

"Please don't cry. Um... eight is still young, but he'll grow up soon enough, and..."

"...It doesn't matter."

"What?"

"That child never received a proper inheritance education.... He missed the most critical years. He's barely half a member of the Rune Clan."

"Ah..."

"And by the time he grows up, it'll be too late. I'll be older, too."

"...How old are you?"

She looked about the same age as Lim Sol, but was she using magic to hide her real age? Concealing one's age was a classic witch cliché. If she turned out to be an eighty-year-old grandma, I was going to have some issues...

"...The year after next, I'll be out of my twenties."

"Wait, what? That's young."

"...I have to have as many children as I can while I'm still young!"

Sniff. Rebecca, crying as she swallowed back snot, looked genuinely pitiful.

"There has to be a way. I'll help you, so let's take our time and look for one."

She looked at me and roughly wiped her tears with her hands.

"Khhn. ...I'll just do it with you."

"Hold on. How did we get there?"

"Because you're the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠only male in the world who can use a Rune Barrier."

"That may be true, but..."

"And you're handsome. You're my type. If the survivor had turned out to be an ugly pig, I was still going to grit my teeth and fill a quota of fifty. With you, I could keep having kids until I die."

"...."

Rebecca grabbed my collar, her eyes overflowing with personal interest.

Honestly, I was fine with that. A beautiful woman I just had to have sex with, and another heroine would get added to the conquest list all on her own. You'd think I had no reason to refuse. In fact, I had plenty.

First, there was the revival of the Rune Clan. The talent in this body was a gift granted through a divine privilege called a Perk. Would that even pass on to my children? It'd be great if it did. But it might not.

"...Rebecca."

"I've already made all the preparations. If you need money, I'll give you money. Ah, I'll raise the kids myself, too... I'll make sure there's not a single thing you have to worry about. You just... have to plant your seed in me. Please...."

Rebecca's posture crumbled further with every word. By the end, she was practically on her knees, clutching my clothes and shaking them. It was a complete one-eighty from the way she'd forcibly seized me at the start.

She'd probably acted that way because she'd thought I was of the Rune Clan, too. Rebecca staking her life on the clan's revival. The boy who'd brought Cheon Su-hyun to the orphanage, doing everything he could to protect a child younger than himself. Based on all of that, it was highly likely she'd been educated from childhood within the Rune Clan itself. She must have been taught, over and over, that the bloodline had to continue at all costs — that extinction could never be allowed. So of course she'd assumed that I, as a member of the Rune Clan, would accept the duty of reviving it.

But I was different now. I wasn't of the Rune Clan, so I had no duty to continue the bloodline — and I was no longer in a position where she could simply take me by force. Because I might die.

She could still try to force me, but honestly, I wasn't at a level where I couldn't resist at all. If I put my mind to fighting back, creating an opening to die would be easy enough.

Not that I'd actually die... but Rebecca doesn't know that.

In a way, I'd become her last hope — one she couldn't control.

"I'll do anything, everything, so please...."

I caught Rebecca by the shoulders as she tried to press ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her forehead to the ground, and pulled her up.

"...Stand up. I don't want that kind of relationship."

A woman whose decadent beauty was her charm shouldn't collapse like this. People like her were prettier when they were confident.

"Then you'll get me pregnant? We'll make a baby?"

Rebecca looked up at my face, her eyes overflowing with hope.

"...I can give it a try. But I have conditions. You have to do exactly as I say."

"I've practiced enough. I can handle anything."

Rebecca steeled herself, taking my words in an entirely different sense — but that wasn't what mattered. There was a real, serious problem that meant I couldn't just accept her right away.

I had to deal with that first.