Left (2)
oil paint?
Who is Yuhwa?
Acquaintance?
I looked at Hong Seok-young with a puzzled mind. It was the first time I had seen this man react like this.
“How did you end up like this…?”
Oil painting. Oil painting… .
There is no woman I know named Yuhwa.
But it’s a name that strangely sticks in my mouth. I can’t help but remember it. Where have I heard it before? If I feel this uncomfortable, there must be something to the name.
“If I had known this would happen… No. It’s not your fault, Yu-hwa.”
I have no knowledge of the decay of corpses, and of course I have no idea how the environment inside the dungeon affects it.
But it wouldn’t take more than a day or two to get to that point. I don’t know for sure, but I’ve probably been here for quite some time.
“But I still wish you were alive.”
Hong Seok-young extended his hand toward the face of the corpse, which could not be said to be in good condition, even in empty words.
ah.
I remembered where I heard the name Yuhwa.
Kim Yu-hwa.
That’s Kim Yu-hwa.
Hong Seok-young’s junior. A police officer. Infiltrated the ark.
And then finally, there was no contact and he went missing.
Hong Seok-young couldn’t bring himself to touch his dead junior and just curled his fingers.
For some reason, it became difficult to watch. I picked up the fallen flashlight and looked around, hoping to find some clues.
“… … .”
There is a stain on the floor.
Even a fool can tell that those aren’t ordinary stains. They’re spaced out at regular intervals. They’re probably footprints.
There are no other noticeable wounds on Kim Yu-hwa’s body. It is difficult to recognize her because the surroundings are dark and her clothes are all black, but if there were signs of a fight, it would have been recognized right away.
… is there? Hong Seok-young is too close, so it’s hard to see.
Apart from a black stain on the floor, nothing caught my eye. There were no footprints, either, except for the ones made by Hong Seok-young as he walked in hurriedly… .
I saw a path leading inside. I wondered if there was something more inside.
This dungeon, this passage is where my sister picked up the sword.
Unless my sister lied to me.
“You… Ahem.”
Hong Seok-young opened his mouth in a hushed voice and then cleared his throat.
“I’m sorry. I never thought I’d find you like this.”
“… No. Well. I didn’t know either.”
“Didn’t the author tell you?”
“yes.”
Did your sister lie?
I don’t know. I thought she was lying to me because she talked too much. Yu Ji-eun’s sword, it’s famous, right? Sometimes when she went abroad, she would brag about finding treasures in that dirty crocodile’s dung pit. If the reward for all that hard work was this treasure, I would think twice about going into the same dungeon.
Well, let’s say it’s not a lie.
My sister really got the sword here.
When I searched for the entrance here earlier, I couldn’t find the other place. It’s too dark to say that I couldn’t see it properly, since there are only two veteran hunters here. Hong Seok-young, let alone me, doesn’t make that kind of mistake.
So if my sister got the sword here, there are two things.
My sister hid the story about the corpse,
When my sister came in, the body wasn’t there.
“I think it’s the latter.”
When asked honestly about such speculation, Hong Seok-young immediately said so.
“why?”
You wouldn’t have said that without any basis, would you?
Hong Seok-young gave me the business card he had taken out of his wallet earlier.
“What is this?”
“Carry it with you so you can identify yourself in case of such situations.”
“… A designated driver?”
I checked the business card and made a tired expression, even though it was a serious situation. No, it was a smart idea. If it was a surrogate business card, I wouldn’t be greatly suspected of carrying it around.
How often does a cleaner on the ark… call a designated driver when he’s drunk?
[Drive Safely! We Serve You Like a King]
[Hong’s designated driver]
There’s also a phone number.
I asked just in case.
“Who answers the phone if I call here?”
Surely this isn’t that old man’s number. It’s not a number I recognize, though.
“Awakening Criminal Investigation Office.”
“…Not a teacher?”
“Yu-hwa is a police officer.”
“ah.”
That’s what it was.
Hong Seok-young sighed with complicated eyes.
“I knew something like this could happen… but I still wanted you to be alive.”
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“…yes.”
“And look at the back.”
“The back?”
I flipped over the business card. As expected, there was a cheesy design advertising a designated driver service… But before that, what caught my eye was a phrase written in blue ballpoint pen.
[sorry]
[I’ll definitely come back later]
I must have written it in a hurry, because my handwriting is shaky and slippery.
“…The person who wrote this has come back?”
Hong Seok-young spoke carefully, watching my expression.
“I think it might be someone from the ark who came into contact with Yuhwa.”
“… … .”
“Wasn’t there a time gap before the author originally attacked this place? How many years?”
“…yes.”
“In the meantime, I came and cleaned it up or… .”
While I was mulling over Hong Seok-young’s words, he took the flashlight from my hand and examined the body again.
“It’s hard to see because of the clothes. There’s no wound on the head, umm…”
Hong Seok-young slightly lifted his vest.
“A wound on the side. The clothes… This must be blood. But there’s no blood on this side, so it’s unlikely that he was hit here.”
“… … .”
“There were no footprints left while walking here, so my companion must have erased them.”
I listened to Hong Seok-young’s words calmly.
“I’ll have to take a closer look, but… there don’t seem to be any other noticeable injuries.”
The crow mask that Hong Seok-young took off is lying quietly on Kim Yu-hwa’s lap. What was that woman thinking as she died? What was it that she wanted to infiltrate such an organization? Was she happy when she met an insider who was willing to provide information?
I can finally get out of this shitty place?
Crow mask.
“… Over there, teacher.”
“And, um?”
“I don’t know the identity of the person inside the Ark who made contact with that person.”
“hmm.”
“There are people who are suspicious, right?”
Hong Seok-young is someone I know as well, but I try not to say it out loud.
A man with the same last name as me who wanted to save his younger sibling.
“If it’s the person I know… no, no. No action, just here like this.”
I pointed to Kim Yu-hwa.
“I won’t leave you behind.”
“……then?”
“therefore.”
Hong Seok-young slowly looked at Kim Yu-hwa. His hand, which had been hesitating for a moment, moved toward his vest. He lowered the zipper that was closing the front.
Bam.
In a quiet space, the sound of a zipper being pulled down is clearly incongruous.
As if a thread had snapped.
Hong Seok-young opened the zipper wide.
I don’t know what they did to the vest, but it sure works.
Performance that hides the horsepower.
What the f*ck.
Without even thinking about it, my body moved first. Seeing me move, Hong Seok-young instinctively matched my movements before I could say anything.
BANG!!!
As soon as I leapt around the corner, blue flames burst out. A blazing heat engulfed me.
* * *
‘Listen carefully, Irok.’
‘ok?’
‘That lady is harassing you even though you don’t have a brother.’
‘Brother, are you going out again?’
‘Yeah. It’ll take a little longer this time. I’m going far. My brother will bring me a present.’
‘good.’
‘Anyway, that lady is harassing you… .’
‘Tell your brother?’
‘Tell me when you get back. But you won’t be able to come right away.’
‘huh.’
‘Then first… .’
‘first?’
‘Cry.’
‘… crying?’
‘You don’t have to cry, but just make a sound like you’re crying and fall down. Okay?’
‘Huh.’
‘Scream too. Do you remember number 7 from last time?’
‘Ah. Like him?’
‘Yeah. Scream like that. It’ll be nice when the lady gives you medicine or a shot. Scream and tell her that she pinched you. Got it?’
‘… Ah. Okay. I understand. Is that okay?’
‘Okay. Then I won’t have to see that lady anymore.’
“… … .”
Well, my brother wasn’t an angelic, kind person who would sacrifice anything for his younger brother.
He was a good brother to me. But that doesn’t mean he was a good person. I don’t even know what kind of work he did as a cleaner.
“Wow… The firepower is good.”
Hong Seok-young laughed, shrugging his shoulders. I didn’t laugh, but I shrugged my shoulders in return.
“That business card might have been bait too.”
“You want to take a closer look?”
“No. There was most likely a timer as well.”
“Wow. I like that guy.”
Hong Seok-young whistled briefly in admiration.
I don’t know what my brother’s job is, but I know he’s not just a low-level cleaner. If he was in that position, when he escaped from the ark… no, he must have had quite a few items in his possession. Even items made by wizards.
I checked the items I had brought just before the explosion.
“mask?”
Since my flashlight was caught in the explosion, I took out a glow stick. When I shined it inside the mask, I saw a thirteen-digit number engraved on it.
“It’s a serial number.”
“okay?”
I fiddled with the numbers.
“It’s not Mr. Kim’s number.”
He didn’t say whose number it was. Hong Seok-young tapped my shoulder.
The fire died down quickly because it was only caused by an explosion of magical power. As the heat disappeared, Hong Seok-young and I got up.
“This gives us one more guess.”
Hong Seok-young looked at the soot-covered walls and floor and then saw where Kim Yu-hwa had been sitting.
There was nothing left.
“He didn’t come back.”
“… … .”
“Yeah. You should have considered the possibility that you might not return. There might be tracking.”
“If you touch the corpse… it will work.”
“I don’t know how long you can set the timer for, but….”
“If it was used in the ark, it can last for about a year if there is no one to manage it.”
“…with runes?”
“Huh? No. It’s an item made by a wizard. It’s used to discard research materials. If you charge it with magic power, it can be used semi-permanently… . It’s designed to catch fire when the magic power runs out. It’s hard to manage old materials one by one, so that’s how they’re discarded.”
“If it’s efficient, then it’s efficient.”
Hong Seok-young nodded.
“Then the author might not have found the body when he came in. If it had been… burned like this.”
Hong Seok-young muttered softly. He felt sorry for some reason. After hesitating, he ended up apologizing.
“I, I’m sorry.”
“What? Your brother did it?”
“… … Anyway.”
“Whether it’s your brother or someone else, I’m just grateful.”
“yes?”
“At least Yuhwa wasn’t captured by the Ark. That’s enough for me. It means that the guy wasn’t tortured by the Ark guys at the end.”
“… … .”
“If you’re lucky, you might find a companion. You’ve never met Yu-hwa, have you?”
“…yes.”
“If it were him, he would be really sorry right now. He felt like he lost a good opportunity because you messed with him for no reason.”
Hong Seok-young laughed heartily.
“I wish I was alive. I wish I was alive… But it’s enough knowing that I had a comrade who made sure Yu-hwa’s body didn’t fall into the hands of bad guys.”
Hong Seok-young extended his hand to me.
“Do you have any flashlights left? Just give me two and I’ll see.”
“…Where are you going to use it?”
“But he’s a junior who has worked hard.”
Hong Seok-young lit a fluorescent stick and placed two of them on top of each other where Kim Yu-hwa had been.
“I had a friend who went to church every Sunday.”
Hong Seok-young folded his hands and bowed his head.
I looked at the sight quietly. I looked at my hand. There was a crow mask in it.
He quietly put down his mask and glow stick and clasped his hands together.
The police who dreamed of a just society disappeared from the world like that.
Fantasy, contemporary,
