Seonhwa Orphanage (2)
Choi Yeon quietly gazed at the bluish mana.
The mana streaming from the two leaves of the sprout stretched out in separate directions, as if yearning to head that way.
It was probably more than just a feeling.
That sprout hairband was an item that chose its owner—an artifact, after all.
Judging that there had to be some reason for it was the right call.
"Cha Jae-hyeok."
"Yeah, I know."
"...How do you know what I was going to say?"
"That this hairband is an artifact, so keep it secret, right?"
"……."
No.
In truth, Choi Yeon had planned to keep the fact that it was an artifact a secret altogether.
He'd figured no one would think a sprout-shaped hairband was an artifact, so fooling them wouldn't be hard…
He never expected Jae-hyeok to recognize it right away.
"Huh? This hairband is an artifact? Not just some light-up toy?"
Yeah—he'd expected people to think like Kim In-beom, muttering in bewilderment.
Choi Yeon turned his gaze to Cha Jae-hyeok instead of Kim In-beom. Denying it to someone who'd already figured it out would just waste time.
Better to figure out why the artifact was releasing mana.
"That's right."
"Yeah. That's why I said I knew."
While Cha Jae-hyeok casually shrugged his shoulders, Kim In-beom stood alone, opening and closing his mouth repeatedly, unable to resolve his questions.
Regardless, the two of them matched their eye level to the sprout atop Park Chae-eun's head and checked the directions.
Looking closer, the sprout wasn't swaying a full 180 degrees. It was slightly off—more like 130 degrees.
"It looks like it's pointing exactly this way and that way, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, it does."
"Toward the director's office and the meditation room. Hmm… how convenient."
"Why? Ah. There's a barrier stone, huh?"
"……."
"Don't worry. Where would we go blabbing about something like this? Right?"
"Of course."
Fair enough.
Choi Yeon accepted it without adding anything more.
These were the people who'd formed Nubyeok to protect the streets; they hadn't even shown interest in the tattooist Lee Chae-young, whom both Pakator and Amhyanghoe had targeted.
Once this moment passed, they'd likely scrub the memory of the barrier stones from their minds.
Choi Yeon took Park Chae-eun and headed for the director's office. With every step, the leaves above her head shook roughly.
Creak.
When they opened the door and stepped inside, the cross hanging on the white wall hummed with light as it maintained the barrier.
"It's resonating… isn't it?"
At Choi Yeon's question, everyone nodded in agreement.
It was a barrier meant to protect the orphanage. If it had been intended to keep them from approaching, it would have expanded much farther.
"I get that it's resonating, but what does it want?"
"Beats me…."
After Cha Jae-hyeok's reply, the words "I don't know" were repeated twice more.
Only Park Chae-eun smiled brightly and tilted her head this way and that.
"Since it's resonating, should we try holding it up to it?"
"Wow. That's actually a solid idea."
"If you're going to be sarcastic, come up with an idea first. Or just stay quiet."
Sssk.
Cha Jae-hyeok made a zipping motion over his mouth as if sealing it shut.
While everyone else stayed silent for lack of ideas, Choi Yeon scooped up Park Chae-eun and pressed the sprout against the cross.
Even with the sarcasm about it being a solid idea, he went ahead and tried it anyway.
You never know, right?
"…Hmm. Nothing's happening, seonbae."
"Most 'just in case' attempts end in 'as expected,' after all."
"I-I still think it was worth trying!"
Choi Yeon carefully set Park Chae-eun down.
The Nubyeok guys' words hadn't bothered him at all, but Ko Sung-yoon's pure encouragement actually stung a little.
"Hmm…."
Choi Yeon crouched beside Park Chae-eun and stared at the artifact.
Just what did it want?
As he watched and pondered, the mana kept flowing toward the barrier only to scatter. The repeated advance-and-disperse looked almost like it was gesturing.
Like it was saying, look at that.
So Choi Yeon shifted his gaze from the artifact to the barrier.
As he examined it closely—
"…Huh?"
—he suddenly realized the flow of mana was off.
Mana that should have been flowing calmly was surging. Parts of it were distorted and uneven, as if suppressed by the current.
Choi Yeon pointed to the upper section of the barrier. At the same time, the tip of the sprout turned that way as well.
"Here. There's a finely twisted spot."
"A twisted spot?"
"Yes. Probably because Father Joseph poured too much power into it."
"Excuse me?"
"I understand why, though."
Father Joseph had raised the barrier over the orphanage that protected the children rescued from Jeokhyolhoe after being kidnapped.
As a priest, giving it his all was only natural and proper.
His heart had been too full, which left a twisted section—but ironically, that very excess had created an A-rank defensive barrier.
An ironic situation. You couldn't help but laugh.
"But how can you even see that, seonbae?"
"I've seen a perfect barrier once before."
Kim In-beom tilted his head.
He wasn't trying to dismiss him, but Choi Yeon was a C-class Dongdae hunter.
A guy who'd barely even been to Seoul, let alone overseas—where would he have seen a perfect barrier? And why weren't the others surprised?
"What the artifact wants is for this barrier to be corrected."
"Ah. Then I'll go fetch Father Joseph—"
"No. I'll do it."
"What?"
"The artifact seems to want that too."
Nod.
As if to confirm it, the leaves bobbed up and down. Then—pop!—they produced a lump of bluish mana.
Kim In-beom, who had been about to leave the director's office, froze in place, bewildered.
What the hell was that?
Wanting to resolve his swirling questions, he started—
"Hey—"
"Hold on. In-beom, just watch quietly."
Cha Jae-hyeok quietly stopped him.
The lump of mana had already transferred into Choi Yeon's left hand.
Ssshh….
He guided the pure, complete mana into the barrier.
Gently, he opened new paths between the existing flows of mana within the softly enveloping barrier.
Neither too strong nor too slow—careful, as if stroking a child's head.
Woom!
In that moment, the space itself resonated.
Two manas of different natures connecting and pushing against each other.
Even so, Choi Yeon paid it no mind and gently guided the two manas together.
If it had truly wanted to reject him, it wouldn't have accepted the mana in the first place.
Whoosh, whoosh.
Following his hand, the mana began to flow anew. The suppression vanished, and the twisted sections smoothed out evenly.
The surging flow of mana calmed. The space no longer resonated.
"Haa…."
Choi Yeon let out a breath. His body was soaked in sweat, as if rain had fallen on him alone.
Thud.
Exhausted in proportion to the sweat he'd shed, he sank down. Park Chae-eun, who had been watching with clenched fists, patted his shoulder.
"Yeah. It's stable. Good work, Yeon-ah."
"Yeah. Good job."
"Um… did it… work?"
"As you can see."
"Hmm…."
Kim In-beom's brows drooped with as much frustration as he felt. With his eyes, he couldn't confirm a thing. The barrier was still just a barrier.
Where had it been twisted, and how was it different now?
The one silver lining was that he wasn't the only one with questions. Ko Sung-yoon beside him also stayed quiet, not fully understanding what had just happened.
Though he was still marveling that something amazing must have occurred!
Cha Jae-hyeok spoke calmly.
"Now we just need to do the one in the meditation room."
"…What? What did you say?"
"Don't remember? Well, you were concentrating so hard, so it's understandable. Earlier the artifact was pointing somewhere else too."
…Come to think of it, that was true.
The tips of the swaying sprout leaves had pointed not only here but also toward the meditation room.
The place where the core of the barrier that Monk Myeonghyeon had created by pouring his whole being into chanting sutras was located….
No way. He had to do this again?
In Choi Yeon's startled, blinking eyes, Park Chae-eun's head came into view. The sprout bobbing up and down nodded.
"…Jae-hyeok-ah."
"Yeah?"
At the unusually friendly tone from Choi Yeon, Cha Jae-hyeok's lips curved into a smile.
He knew exactly what was coming, yet he waited in silence.
"The core in the meditation room—could you handle that one for me?"
"Ahaha."
"We're friends, right? Huh?"
"True. Since we're friends, I kind of want to help."
"Then—"
"Yeon-ah. How am I supposed to pull off mana control that precise and refined?"
"No. You can do it. You're Cha Jae-hyeok. Leader of Nubyeok! Right?"
Ahaha—Cha Jae-hyeok threw his head back and laughed. Seeing his closest friend so flustered was genuinely delightful.
Pat, pat.
Park Chae-eun patted Choi Yeon's shoulder once more. The sprout above her head swayed its leaves back and forth as if telling him to get moving.
…Should I just yank that thing off?
Choi Yeon muttered with complete sincerity.
Haa, haa….
Choi Yeon's exhausted breaths echoed through the meditation room.
Sprawled out, he had Ko Sung-yoon and Park Chae-eun massaging his arms and legs. They didn't understand what he'd done, but seeing him sweat so hard and struggle made them want to at least give him a massage.
Choi Yeon muttered as if to himself.
"…Can I get separate pay for this? Like special duty or something."
"It's still work hours."
"……."
"You were hiding to avoid work and ended up like this."
"Urgh…."
A pained groan slipped from Choi Yeon's mouth. If he wrote the report carefully, it could be recognized as official work….
No—that picky bald guy probably wouldn't officially acknowledge it—
Rattle!
His thoughts were cut off as the sliding door of the meditation room opened.
City Hall hunter Kim Minseok's eyes met those of Choi Yeon, who was lying there receiving a massage.
"Well, I expected as much… but you're slacking off again?"
"When you put it like that, I feel wronged. I was working hard until just now!"
"Hmm… I'd like to believe you, but…."
Kim Minseok crossed his arms and looked around.
Only Choi Yeon's group was in the meditation room. The lotus-shaped statue up front somehow drew the eye, but that was all.
"No, you just didn't see it. I really was working hard! Right?"
"Yes. Yeon-i hyung is right."
"It's not a lie!"
Ko Sung-yoon and Park Chae-eun took his side.
But it didn't land with Kim Minseok. All the times Choi Yeon had slacked off simply played through his mind like a panorama.
This time it just looked like he was trying to loaf around by dragging civilians into it.
"Ah, why won't you believe me? It's true."
"How can I? After everything I've seen so far."
"I think it's your own fault too."
"Well… I also feel like Yeon-seonbae is largely to blame."
"Haa…."
Choi Yeon let out a deep sigh.
After working so diligently all this time, this was the thanks he got. From now on he'd have to be even more sincere about cutting corners.
Thinking of how Dongdae Chief Kim Jaesang's blood pressure would hit the max if he heard that, he asked,
"So. What's up?"
"The founding ceremony is about to start, so they want everyone gathered."
Kim Minseok looked around at the people in the meditation room with a bright smile.
His expression was more awkward than usual—something only Choi Yeon and Cha Jae-hyeok noticed.
"…Sung-yoon-ssi. Shall we sit together today?"
"Is that okay?"
"Of course. I was having a hard time with nothing but unfamiliar faces."
"What a relief! We were the same!"
"Ah, right. Did you get the bread?"
Cha Jae-hyeok led the relieved Ko Sung-yoon and Park Chae-eun out of the meditation room.
Rattle….
Kim In-beom closed the door, following his leader's lead.
"We've located the Jeokhyolhoe hideout. The information was accurate."
Kim Minseok's voice leaked softly through the closing door.