Chapter 47
Chapter 47
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: May You Be at Peace There (2)
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Vrooom.
As soon as they left the underground parking garage, Leila spoke.
“I think you turned down too much.”
“That’s why I asked for a car, at least.”
“Other agents would be quite disappointed to hear that.”
Olga seemed like she would have readily agreed even if he'd asked for a place to live instead of a car.
It was midday in the city.
The sunlight felt oppressive, and there wasn't a single cloud in the clear sky, yet the streets and roads were quite crowded.
Vrooom.
Leila, who had been observing the car's direction, looked out the window and asked a question.
“Aren't you heading home?”
“I have somewhere else to be. I can drop you off at a nearby station if you want.”
“No, it's fine. My mission isn't over yet.”
Kanghyeok gave her a look that demanded an explanation, and Leila replied in a casual tone.
“I sent in my mission completion confirmation and vacation request, but the processing is slow. So, my mission to support you is still active.”
“If I ask the company...”
“It's fine.”
Leila, guessing what Kanghyeok was about to say, continued with a slight smile.
“HR contacted me. They said they'd include the vacation time I lost last time. I think I'll be able to get plenty of rest.”
“It's good to rest when you can.”
“That's true.”
The conversation ended abruptly, as if cut with a knife.
Inside the moving car, Leila glanced at Kanghyeok out of the corner of her eye.
If you rest for too long, you lose your touch.
They say that even for musicians, if they take a day off, it takes two days to get their feel back, and if they take a week off, it takes a month.
That's how difficult it is to regain your touch.
The longer the break, the harder it gets.
‘You took a year off, so why…’
From what she'd seen up close, Kanghyeok's skills hadn't rusted one bit compared to when he was active.
If anything, he seemed more seasoned than in his active days, like a piece of iron that had been heated, hammered, and then plunged into cold water to become even harder.
Is this what talent is?
Leila looked at Kanghyeok for a brief moment with a hint of envy in her eyes before turning her gaze back out the window.
“So, where are we going?”
“You'll know when we get there.”
Leila arched an eyebrow at his tone, which seemed to say he wished she hadn't come along.
“Understood.”
In silence, the car moved along the road.
The car headed toward the outskirts of the city and, after about ten more minutes, slowed down in front of a certain building.
‘This place is…’
Leila realized why Kanghyeok hadn't told her the destination.
Screech.
As the car stopped, Kanghyeok unbuckled his seatbelt. Leila remained silent in the passenger seat.
She then watched Kanghyeok's back as he got out of the car and headed into the building.
This was a crematorium.
A rare sight in this place where burial was the mainstream culture.
And it was where Kanghyeok had brought a body, paying for it out of his own pocket.
“Sigh.”
Just as Leila sighed, her face showing regret for coming along, and leaned her head back against the headrest, Kanghyeok, having finished the necessary procedures, received a cloth-wrapped urn from an employee.
The urn felt light for its size.
Inside, it contained ashes.
The shopkeeper's ashes.
The only person who had treated Kanghyeok well, a truly human person, rare in this city that was like a den of beasts.
And the person killed by Nobody.
Kanghyeok gave a slight bow to the employee and returned to the car, cradling the urn.
“I'll hold it.”
Kanghyeok handed the urn to Leila and silently started the car.
A silence even heavier than the one on the way here descended.
The only sounds were the car's engine and the occasional rattle of the urn's lid.
Each time, Leila hugged the urn even tighter.
It was her first time holding an urn of ashes.
She could have shown some discomfort, but Leila didn't let it show at all.
It was because she knew what the person resting in the urn meant to Kanghyeok.
Vrooom.
On the way back to the city where the shopkeeper's supermarket was, Kanghyeok took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth.
He then lit it and turned onto a side road. Leila, who was about to ask where they were going, swallowed her question.
Because it was a familiar road.
The coastal road where Johannes, who had coveted Kanghyeok's laptop, had been killed.
A closed-off road, so it was quiet, with a view of the sea, and lots of seagulls, a place where one wouldn't feel lonely.
Screech.
Kanghyeok, who had parked the car on a particularly high spot, reached out his hand to Leila.
Leila handed over the urn she had been holding, and Kanghyeok received it preciously.
In an atmosphere like a solemn ritual, the two got out of the car.
It was a clear day.
A cool breeze was blowing.
Kanghyeok untied the knot, opened the lid, and held the urn. He then reached into the urn and took out a handful of white powder.
Kanghyeok looked down at the hand holding the ashes.
The powder on his fingers scattered in the wind, and seagulls cried out, showing their curiosity.
‘Ma'am.’
I'm sorry.
For not being able to protect you.
But I did get revenge.
I saved the city, too.
Many people's lives were saved, and this city where you and I lived saw another morning safely.
Even so, you'd probably be angry.
You'd say I pushed myself too hard, that your death wasn't my fault.
And you're the kind of person who would be angry that I collected your remains.
You'd ask where I got that kind of money.
The truth is, I deceived you.
I'm not weak.
I have money, too.
I always had a lot, and though I haven't checked, the cryptocurrency has probably gone up even more.
The company is trying to take care of me, too.
So, this much is fine.
So…
Kanghyeok slowly opened the fist clenching the ashes.
Carried by the wind, the ashes flew toward the blue sea spread out below. Leila, watching from behind, spoke carefully.
“Is this a funeral custom from her hometown?”
“Perhaps.”
Kanghyeok spoke calmly and again took out the shopkeeper's ashes, letting them fly into the wind.
The wind was strong.
As if it would carry the shopkeeper all the way to her distant homeland.
Swish.
Kanghyeok continued to release the ashes into the wind.
Finally, the urn was empty. Kanghyeok looked down at the sea and put a cigarette to his lips.
Click.
Leila averted her gaze from Kanghyeok's back as he smoked his cigarette in silence.
Kanghyeok wasn't crying.
His shoulders weren't shaking, and no tears were streaming down his face.
He was just watching the sea with deep eyes, bringing the cigarette to his lips.
And yet, it felt as though Kanghyeok was crying.
That emotion was visible in his back.
That's how it seemed.
Leila waited for Kanghyeok to finish his cigarette.
She stood with her back to him, facing the fierce wind.
“Sorry about this.”
A voice that didn't sound sorry at all echoed in the apartment.
It was a small apartment, but there weren't many belongings out.
The middle-aged man standing at the door watched Yohan with a look of disgust, while Yohan packed his things one by one into a cardboard box he had picked up.
Yohan no longer had a mother.
Yohan still didn't have a job.
The landlord, worried he wouldn't get his rent, had unilaterally demanded Yohan move out. Powerless and moneyless, Yohan had no choice but to pack his things as told.
Yohan's hands gradually slowed as he packed.
All that was left were his mother's belongings.
They were light things, like cheap cosmetics and cheap accessories, but the weight of the memories they carried was not light at all.
“Hurry up. What are you going to do if the sun sets?”
The landlord, suspecting Yohan might be deliberately dawdling, snapped irritably.
Yohan flinched and neatly placed his mother's belongings into the box.
He didn't know where he would go after leaving this apartment.
Her body had been lost in the explosion, so they couldn't even hold a proper funeral, and her scent still lingered in this apartment.
So he felt like livestock being dragged to a slaughterhouse.
Tears welled in Yohan's empty eyes, his hands slowing as if bound. Frustrated, the landlord stepped inside.
“What's taking so long to pack this little bit?”
The landlord spat out in an annoyed tone and snatched the mother's keepsakes from Yohan's hands.
He then dumped them into the box where things had been neatly stacked, shoved the stunned Yohan aside with his forearm, and began cramming the items from the vanity into the box.
“W-wait, sir. Sir! Wait a minute.”
A pale-faced Yohan tried to stop him, but the landlord didn't.
Crash.
A perfume bottle shattered, soaking the accessories and cosmetics in the box and spreading a strong fragrance everywhere.
Yohan's face hardened. The landlord scowled at the perfume on his hand and shook it off.
Just then, a car pulled up in front of the apartment building.
Kanghyeok's sports car, having finished the memorial.
Leila was not in the passenger seat.
He had dropped her off at a motel in the next city, so only Kanghyeok was in the car.
Kanghyeok got out of the car and walked toward the apartment building.
Thud, thud.
Climbing the stairs, Kanghyeok emerged into the hallway.
It wasn't the floor where Kanghyeok's apartment was.
It was Yohan's floor.
‘Yohan.’
The one who suffered the same wound because of Nobody.
And the kid who had asked him to teach him how to fight.
To meet him, Kanghyeok walked toward his apartment. He noticed the open door and the strong scent of perfume.
Kanghyeok frowned and approached the open door.
“Who are you?”
He unconsciously let out a cold voice.
The messy apartment, Yohan's miserable face, and the man who had entered with his shoes on and was now shoving things into a box—he didn't like any of it.
“Uh, uhh.”
The landlord froze the moment he saw Kanghyeok. Kanghyeok looked at Yohan, demanding an explanation.
Then, without waiting for an answer, he turned his gaze back to the landlord.
He could tell it was a difficult situation.
Kanghyeok gestured for the landlord to come over. The landlord, though flustered, managed to speak.
“Wh-what? I'm helping him move. I'm the owner of this place.”
“Moving?”
“You might not know, but this kid's mom died. I've got to collect rent, you know. I can't just let someone who can't pay stay here.”
“Was he supposed to move out today?”
“No, not exactly, but...”
As the landlord trailed off, Kanghyeok let out a dry laugh.
Right, this place was always like this.
There's no compassion or anything of the sort.
Kicking out a kid who just lost his mother, all because they might miss out on a few dozen dollars in rent.
Kanghyeok let out a heavy breath, and the landlord flinched, shrinking his neck.
And then.
“Get out.”
Kanghyeok's tone was forceful.
Yohan's eyes widened. The landlord clenched and unclenched his flustered hands and struggled to speak.
“B-by what right?”
It was a sort of bravado.
The residents here still didn't know what Nobody had done, or that Kanghyeok was the one who stopped him.
Someday, a rumor might spread from the very few who had given up the gang life to live normally in this city.
But that hadn't happened yet. There was only a rumor circulating that Kanghyeok might be the man who took care of Johannes.
“I get that you're trying to stick up for him since you're a renter too, but I'm the landlord here.”
Another reason for his bravado.
Kanghyeok might be strong, but in the end, he was just a tenant in this shabby apartment building.
Power here didn't just come from a gun.
It also came from money.
No matter how ridiculously cheap the apartment was compared to other places, owning a property that could generate rent was indeed a significant form of power.
“I could just buy this building.”
The landlord flinched at Kanghyeok's words.
“Wh-who said it's for sale? And do you even have the money?”
Kanghyeok's next words dealt a major blow to the landlord's pride.
“You think I can't afford it?”
Not a bluff, but genuine.
In fact, he currently had enough money at his disposal to buy a building like this outright.
Kanghyeok took a step toward him.
That was all.
And yet, the landlord instinctively took a step back.
“Ahem.”
A chill ran down his spine.
He instinctively knew he'd shown bravado to the wrong person. An ominous premonition that the aftermath would be difficult to handle if Kanghyeok really did buy the building squeezed his mind.
What if Kanghyeok borrowed money from men in suits who drove luxury cars and bought the building?
He would get the money.
But selling this apartment wouldn't bring in a huge sum.
He had nowhere else to settle but this city, and a fear arose whether he could even live comfortably here with Kanghyeok around.
“W-well...”
“If you're not planning to sell, I'll pay his rent.”
Yohan's eyes widened. The landlord flinched but met Kanghyeok's gaze.
And then.
“Now, get lost.”
The landlord nodded, almost trembling, then hastily turned and ran down the hallway.
Kanghyeok shifted his gaze to Yohan.
Yohan looked flustered yet grateful. Kanghyeok met his eyes and gestured toward the door with his chin.
Follow me.
Conveying the message with his eyes, Kanghyeok stepped out into the apartment hallway first and put a cigarette in his mouth.