Chapter 589: A Stale Old Connection (8)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 589: A Stale Old Connection (8)
An illegitimate child.
A term for a child born to a man and woman not bound by marriage.
That was the conclusion she had reached after agonizing over it for days on end.
She was certain.
She didn't know about now, but in the past, he had loved her ardently.
But he was only human, and humans make many mistakes and go through trial and error in life.
Even the process of their marriage had not been smooth.
The opposition from her family had been so fierce that they had considered breaking up several times.
Even after they married, he wasn't treated properly by her family for quite some time.
Whenever he spoke, they would corner him, citing his lack of formal education and his upbringing.
He would always laugh it off like the bigger man, but she knew.
She knew that after putting her to sleep, he would go out to the living room, pour himself a drink, and swallow his anger alone.
He never showed it, but it must have been incredibly difficult.
He was a rough and tough man.
That was why he was more affectionate, more down-to-earth.
A man who had to say what was on his mind to feel satisfied, incapable of empty words.
The total amount of humiliation he silently endured was equal to the total amount of his love for her.
That was why, even as she declared he would never betray her, a faint suspicion that it might be possible began to grow.
If, when he was at his lowest, someone had comforted his sorrow…
Couldn't even a man like him have made a mistake just once?
It was all just circumstantial evidence.
But, feeling anxious about the possibility, she went so far as to investigate Kim Do-jin's background.
However, even that couldn't resolve the anxiety sprouting within her.
‘There’s nothing.’
The background check on him had only revealed that he was from an orphanage and had been bullied by his friends during his school days.
In addition, his personality had done a complete 180 after his Awakening.
She had even tracked down the director of the now-closed orphanage he had run away from to ask about his parents, but was only told that even the director didn't know.
He had simply been left abandoned at the orphanage's gate one day.
So she focused on the point in time when he had changed.
‘He Awakened at twenty… and started changing from then on.’
That's what made it even more puzzling.
His outstanding magical ability was understandable.
His eye and talent were so great they could close a gap of decades in an instant.
But his swordsmanship was a different story.
She had spent a long time with a man who had lived by the sword his entire life.
There was one thing he had told her so many times she was sick of hearing it.
-“There's nothing as honest as swordsmanship. The results you get are proportional to how much you swing and how much you deliberate.”
That's why he always swung his sword.
Whether it snowed or rained, whether heat shimmered in a heatwave, or the whole world froze in a cold snap.
He always swung his sword a set number of times at a set time.
But what about Kim Do-jin?
He had lived a life completely unrelated to the sword, then suddenly displayed swordsmanship.
And in a form very similar to her husband's.
What did that mean?
‘Perhaps their relationship began after he Awakened…’
That’s what she thought.
That after he became an Awakened Being, he must have learned swordsmanship from her husband in some way.
And that in the process, his inherent nature had also awakened.
The evidence was none other than the words of Son Seo-yeon, who had spent a considerable amount of time with him.
Despite their relationship having become awkward due to various conflicts, whenever she asked about Kim Do-jin, her daughter would forget all that and boast with a warm expression.
-“It surprises me sometimes. He knows Dad's swordsmanship better than I do, you know? He can spot a problem just by looking, and he's incredibly accurate.”
He knew the swordsmanship better than she, the daughter, did.
-“Sometimes I even think he's like Dad. Uh, how should I put it… his way of speaking, his phrasing, it's like it's mixed with things I've heard from Dad before.”
She said she had seen her father's image superimposed on him several times while talking to him.
Finally, the timing overlapped.
The time he began to stand out and the time her husband suddenly declared a sabbatical.
What more needed to be said?
The circumstantial evidence was solid, and there was nothing more to be gained from investigating.
So she went to her husband and asked.
“Kim Do-jin… is he your son?”
Without any further hesitation, she thrust a dagger deep into his lungs—concise and powerful.
This was to gauge his reaction.
She knew that when a blind spot is struck at a completely unexpected moment, an unrefined expression is starkly revealed.
The reaction to her deliberate move was quite shocking.
“What is this all of a sudden…?”
He faltered.
His pupils, the end of his sentence.
It was far from the pattern he showed when he occasionally lied, but one thing was certain.
‘He’s shaken.’
He, who was rarely shaken by anything, was trembling greatly at just a single sentence.
She didn't know if they were father and son, but it seemed clear they were related in some way.
She stabbed at him once more.
“You've never taught your swordsmanship to anyone. Correct?”
“…That's right.”
“But Kim Do-jin is using your swordsmanship. How is that possible?”
“Th-that's…”
Son Si-woo was at a loss for words.
Of course he was.
‘He's using his own swordsmanship, so what is there to explain!’
Although not much time was left, the contract between the two was still solid.
If he let even a single word slip, he would probably die on the spot.
That's why it was so frustrating.
‘An illegitimate child… damn it!’
It was a ridiculous story.
But it was also a misunderstanding that she, knowing nothing, was likely to make.
“While you were in the middle of your break, Kim Do-jin came out into the world and made a spectacular debut.”
It couldn't be helped.
After their bodies were swapped, one was busy tempering himself, while the other was busy hiding.
“Seo-yeon told me. She said that whenever she's with that boy, she feels like she's seeing her dad.”
“……”
Even that was only natural.
Because even though his appearance had changed, he was still Son Seo-yeon's father.
“Your personality, your way of speaking, your expressions, your aura, even your swordsmanship. They're so similar. So much so that the word 'similar' can't even begin to cover it.”
Her sharp gaze slowly tightened around his throat.
“Are you still going to deny it after all this?”
He kept backing away from her lofty demand to tell the truth.
He rummaged through the rippling spring of memory, searching for a suitable excuse.
“No, it's not true! If that kid were my illegitimate son, it would mean I cheated on you not long after we got married. Do you really think I would do that?!”
Han Ju-hee shook her head.
“…I want to believe you wouldn't have.”
It was ironic, but she also sincerely hoped it wasn't true.
Their relationship had been pushed to the brink of collapse by her own choices, but back then, it had been utterly pure.
She prayed that those brilliant times wouldn't be smeared with such filth.
In response to her answer, Son Si-woo pressed her in a frustrated tone.
“Then why…!”
“Because you're human, too.”
“What…?”
She continued, speaking to him as he tilted his head with a bewildered expression.
“Because anyone can make a mistake.”
It was the next best thing.
If he really was her husband's illegitimate son, she hoped it was at least the result of a one-night mistake, not love.
She hoped it was a regret, a pain that had gouged at her husband's insides for a long, long time.
“So please, tell me honestly. Is he really your illegitimate son?”
And if not.
“Then what in the world is your relationship with him?”
The final question was directed at Son Si-woo.
He had to answer.
But he couldn't figure out what to say.
What on earth was he supposed to say?
‘Damn it.’
He wracked his brain.
Then he realized.
The miserable truth that there was only one thing he could say right now.
“He's not… an illegitimate son.”
“Then what is he?”
“…I can't answer that. But know this one thing.”
The flood of memories meant he had looked back on Son Si-woo's entire life.
From a childhood as unfortunate as his own, all the way to the present.
He vividly felt every event Son Si-woo had experienced and every emotion he had felt then.
Thanks to that, he sometimes got confused.
Was he Kim Do-jin, or Son Si-woo?
That's why he could say these words with certainty.
He tapped his chest with his right hand and continued.
“I… this body has never, not for a single moment of its life, not loved you.”
Her pupils trembled violently at the sentence he uttered without a hint of hesitation.
She wanted to ask.
If that feeling was still the same now.
But she held it in.
She knew she didn't have the right to ask such a question.
Also, the faint scent of another woman, not her own, still lingered here.
A trace left painstakingly over a considerable amount of time, one that couldn't be imprinted in just a day or two.
Her gaze, now a little gloomy, watched Son Si-woo, who was breathing heavily from the emotional strain.
“So you have no intention of telling me.”
Regardless of the sincerity in his words, that was how she took it.
She stood up.
In many ways, this place had become dangerous.
Emotionally and mentally.
“I'll be going now.”
With a brief farewell, Han Ju-hee turned and left the guild leader's office.
There was nothing Son Si-woo could do.
Nothing but stand there blankly and watch her retreating back.