Chapter 570: The Conspiracy Begins (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 570: The Conspiracy Begins (3)
Approximately one meter.
That was the distance between the two people sitting at opposite ends of a long dining table, facing each other.
For an ordinary person, it might have been a bit far, but not for them.
Their superhuman vision was sharp enough to see each other's pores clearly even from a meter away.
The table was laden with all sorts of delicacies on beautiful plates.
There was also a bottle of wine, perfect for pairing with the meal.
It seemed the kitchen staff had been truly moved by the couple's first meal together in a long time.
Seeing this, Son Si-woo licked his lips lightly.
“It's been a really long time since we've eaten together like this.”
“It has.”
She replied dryly, then calmly tried to count.
When was it?
The last time she'd sat across from her husband for a meal like this.
‘I don't know.’
She couldn't remember clearly.
A few months ago?
Or a few years?
The very image of sitting at this table with him was blurry.
Of course it was.
After all, she was the one who had done everything she could to avoid spending time with him.
If asked why she avoided him, she would probably answer that she was afraid she'd grow weak.
Because he would never approve of what she was trying to do, the future she was trying to create.
She had deliberately looked away.
She reduced the time they spent face-to-face, burying herself in work to minimize their interactions.
So she was curious.
Why hadn't she refused his dinner invitation this time, as she usually did?
“Eat up.”
“You… too.”
The meal began with her awkward reply.
“Mmm…! This is delicious. Honey, try some of this.”
“Yes, thank you.”
The same affectionate tone as always.
But something about it felt unfamiliar.
Was it because she hadn't heard it in so long?
“A glass of wine?”
Son Si-woo raised his glass, offering her the wine.
“…But you prefer soju.”
When she asked, Son Si-woo replied.
“Because you like wine.”
Right.
He always accommodated her.
It was the same with their daughter, Seo-yeon.
How nice it would have been if that warm heart had been reserved only for his family.
Unfortunately, he was kind and considerate to everyone.
Even though he surely had his own likes and dislikes, his own preferences that suited him perfectly.
She opened her mouth, the words not coming easily, and asked him.
“How… have you been lately?”
“Lately? Everything's great. My body feels good, and having dinner with you like this is good too.”
“……”
It was a difficult answer to understand.
What was so great about a daily life that involved stepping into the jaws of death?
At the same time, she grew curious.
“Come to think of it, you still haven't told me.”
“About what?”
“How you healed your body.”
“Ah, that.”
When he had declared a sabbatical, using exhaustion as an excuse.
While everyone else thought, ‘Well, that's Son Si-woo for you,’ she alone didn't believe him.
Because she knew he wasn't the type of person to declare such a long break just for being tired.
In his entire life, he had only taken a long break twice.
To make their daughter Seo-yeon healthy.
And the other time was when an injury from a dungeon forced him to rest.
So she could easily deduce it.
Something must have happened to him.
Based on that conviction, she went to his long-time personal doctor and asked.
She demanded to know the exact state of his body.
As expected, he denied it at first.
He said there was nothing wrong with his body, that he had only recommended rest because he was a little tired.
She didn't believe him.
He could fool the whole world, but he couldn't fool her.
At least, not when it came to the man named Son Si-woo.
She pressed him based on this belief, and finally, she got the answer she wanted.
-“His mana circuit has been damaged. Permanently.”
-“……”
A shocking answer that surpassed her expectations.
But it wasn't as shocking as she'd thought it would be.
The feeling that the inevitable had finally come was stronger.
Because she had long thought that a day like this might come.
After all, as the "National Hunter" forced to the front lines of humanity's defense for so long, the dungeons he was given were all dangerous places.
After that, she too looked into ways to heal a damaged mana circuit.
But it was in vain.
She only learned that a mana circuit couldn't be fixed, not by a saintess's healing nor a witch's elixir.
She did her best.
So her heart felt a little lighter, and she was relieved.
‘He won't be able to continue as a Hunter anymore.’
She thought that with his body growing weaker by the day, he wouldn't insist on being a Hunter.
Thanks to that, the things she had been preparing until now felt a bit pointless.
Rather than crossing a dangerous river, wouldn't it be better to just quietly let time take its course?
While she was wavering, something unbelievable happened.
Contrary to her expectation that he would retire after his sabbatical, her husband returned.
Not by forcing his injured body back into action, but by healing it.
‘How on earth?’
That question was finally answered by his own lips.
“I was lucky. I met someone with a very special trait.”
“A special… trait?”
“Yeah. Actually, my broken mana circuit wasn't fixed.”
“If it wasn't fixed…?”
“To be precise, 'replaced' would be the right word. The existing damaged mana circuit was swapped with a new one.”
“……”
Her fine brows furrowed slightly.
“Is that… even possible?”
She had never heard of such a thing.
Replacing an existing mana circuit with a new one?
How could one even be replaced in the first place, and how would you acquire a new one?
To this, he replied.
“Sorry, but I don't know the details myself.”
“…What do you mean, you don't know?”
“They said it's their secret art and couldn't be revealed to outsiders.”
“……”
It wasn't that she didn't understand.
The value of a special technique increases the fewer people know about it.
But it was strange.
‘This smells incredibly suspicious.’
A procedure that raised an extraordinary sense of unease with just a simple explanation.
He accepted something like that without even looking into it properly?
Her husband, Son Si-woo, of all people?
‘Was he so desperate that he didn't feel that sense of wrongness, or…’
…did he undergo the procedure despite feeling it?
And who was it?
The person who knew about an injury only she and her husband were aware of, who came and made such a suspicious offer.
Suddenly, she remembered.
‘That woman.’
The woman who recently joined her husband's party and guild.
‘Her name was Michelle… I think.’
The beautiful woman who was always spotted recently at a strange distance from her husband—not too far, yet not too close.
If she was the one behind the suspicious procedure, it would roughly fit.
The timing of her appearance and her husband's treatment.
“Anyway, you don't have to worry about my body anymore. I'm in perfect shape.”
“…If that's the case, then I'm glad.”
It was grating.
His words and actions.
It was the husband she knew, and yet, something was constantly abrasive, not smooth.
It felt like the wrapping paper was the same, but the ratio of ingredients inside had been subtly altered.
A difference so subtle that perhaps only a very sensitive person could perceive it.
It was that trivial a difference.
But did she know?
The fact that once you start to see a tiny flaw in the jade, one that's hard to spot even when looking closely, it takes on a presence that overwhelms the whole.
That was her, right now.
A single speck of dust she'd stumbled upon had swallowed everything else.
To the point where she even doubted if the man before her was truly her husband.
Everything about him began to look different.
“Oh, this is delicious too. As expected of our ajumma's cooking skills…”
His tone.
“Honey, why aren't you eating? At our age, we need to eat well…”
His concern, completely unchanged.
Slurp!
“Drinking wine once in a while is nice too.”
Even the jovial remarks he offered whenever he sacrificed his own tastes for his wife's.
Cracks and fissures appeared in the familiar images that had remained vivid and unforgettable over time.
And then, she finally realized.
The reason for the immense sense of wrongness.
“Ah…”
“Hm? What's wrong?”
“Ah, it's nothing.”
“You're no fun.”
An act.
Yes, his current way of speaking was all an act, one that was close to the real thing.
Devoid of any heart, as if he were simply reciting lines from a script.
It felt like watching a well-rehearsed play by an actor who had spent his entire life studying the person named Son Si-woo.
That was the reason for the sense of wrongness she felt now.
Even she found it hard to comprehend her own thoughts.
‘This is absurd.’
Why would someone act like themselves, of all things?
Then, another possibility emerged.
The procedure that had healed his body, which both the saintess and the witch had declared impossible.
What if it had somehow prompted a change in her husband… no, something more than that?
‘I have to look into this.’
Who is this woman named Michelle?
What procedure was performed on him?
As her mind grew extremely complicated, Son Si-woo made a suggestion.
“Honey.”
“…Yes.”
“It's been a while, so how about we go to bed together…”
She didn't want to hear any more.
Scrape!
Pushing her chair back, she stood up and flatly refused.
“I'm sorry. I still have work to do.”
“Ah…”
A sigh full of disappointment.
“I'll be leaving first.”
Leaving him behind, she turned her back and headed for the study.
One step, two steps.
As she climbed the stairs, her face was as cold as a northern winter storm.