HG | Chapter 25

The phone turned to dust, the cold expression, and the tone asking about the perpetrator.

A ripple spread from Cheonghyeon and Hakyung. It wasn’t the energy of an awakener, but a shockwave spreading among those who witnessed the scene.

‘Is that really Im Cheonghyeon the esper?’

‘Im Cheonghyeon has a son?’

‘Cheonghyeon-nim’s son goes to our school!’

‘Looks like his son got hit somewhere…. Did he just call him “child”?’

‘Wow… Im Cheonghyeon must really cherish his son. I heard his son’s rank is low, but what a gentle, loving dad moment.’

‘Hey, hey. Damn. Jang Yuseong and his gang are screwed.’

‘But why is the atmosphere so intimate when he’s dealing with his son…’

People were shocked by different aspects. Some were surprised by the mere fact that he had a grown child, while others were taken aback by his attitude and the atmosphere he created with his son. Every action he took caused ripples, big and small.

Even though he was the most famous esper in Korea, his private life was shrouded in mystery, making it inevitable that he would attract public attention. Among them, quite a few were openly filming Cheonghyeon and Hakyung.

Hakyung could feel the people’s astonishment on his skin. He couldn’t help but notice the wide-open eyes and mouths of those standing nearby. It was just fascinating that Cheonghyeon, who seemed to see only him as if no one else was around, was so focused.

Perhaps frustrated by his son’s silence, Cheonghyeon sighed a worried sigh and gently pulled Hakyung closer. With one arm around his shoulder, he walked towards the car.

“Hakyung.”

Without stopping, he leaned his head towards Hakyung’s face. It was as if they were sharing a secret only they knew.

The posture made them look like a close father and son, but it also resembled a couple with a significant height difference snuggling closely.

Unaware of the subtly changing gazes of some onlookers, Hakyung clutched his pounding heart.

“Y-yes…”

“Our baby is finally letting me hear his voice.”

The rich, low voice with a hint of laughter caressed Hakyung’s ear. The sound was refreshing, yet so low and subtly moist that it felt like it clung to his eardrums. Hakyung fiddled with his ear for no reason. It was an itch that made him want to dig into his ear.

The lips that came close to his upper ear whispered like a witch luring a child.

“Child. Want to tell dad who gave you that bruise? If it’s hard to say here, should we talk at home?”

“……”

“I’m upset. I came to pick you up because it was way past the time you should’ve been back from school, and my precious child is all crumpled like a rag?”

“……”

“Of course, dad should at least know the name of the bastard who turned my child into a rag. I should also talk to Hakyung’s teacher about why such an unfortunate thing happened.”

Hakyung just listened to his gentle whisper. He was surprised to encounter him unexpectedly, and he had a gut feeling that if he opened his mouth, something irreversible might happen, causing his tongue to stiffen.

It’s not that he sympathized with Han Hee-gyeom’s group. He had anticipated that this situation might arise when he trusted that his dad was behind him and spilled his inner thoughts to them.

The reason he hesitated when the anticipated situation arrived was that he worried they might end up smearing soot on his dad. That soot would ultimately stem from his own failure to behave properly.

“Im Hakyung.”

…Ah. Dad’s angry.

“…Yes.”

Hakyung glanced at Cheonghyeon’s expression and answered softly. His golden eyes, gently glowing, narrowed slightly.

“I don’t know why you’re keeping your mouth shut, but let me make one thing clear. If I have to force you to open your mouth, it won’t end with just them. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“F-force me?”

Does that mean he’s not forcing me now? Is there another way to find out?

“Well… it’s all in how you put it…. So, should I press you until you spill it out?”

His eyes seemed to say, ‘That would be nice,’ and Hakyung quickly shook his head. He momentarily forgot that he was someone who had carried out revenge for a very long time. The feeling of a bloody scent rushing in wasn’t an illusion.

“I-I’ll talk in the car.”

Conveniently, Cheonghyeon’s car was right in front of them. Hakyung quickly climbed into the passenger seat, which Cheonghyeon had kindly opened for him. He almost screamed when he instinctively reached for the seatbelt and touched his injured hand, but he held it in.

Cheonghyeon walked around the front of the car and got into the driver’s seat.

Click!

Finally, in a space where only the two of them existed, Hakyung let out a long sigh of relief.

Throb, throb…. The pain from his cheek finally registered. As the tension eased, the pain he had forgotten resurfaced.

Though he understood it in his head, a sudden wave of sorrow welled up, causing the corners of his lips to twitch involuntarily.

“Ugh…”

“Child, what’s wrong? Does it hurt?”

Cheonghyeon reacted swiftly, holding Hakyung. Hakyung covered his bruised cheek with his hand, holding back tears.

His furrowed brow. His drooping eyebrows. His eyes, brimming with unshed tears. Though he hadn’t cried yet, his expression was already one of crying.

“D-dad…”

“Yes. I’m listening. Tell me.”

Perhaps Hakyung was slowly, once again, taking a step forward.

The habit of holding back while away from his dad was on the verge of breaking.

Dad.

“I-it… hurts…. I-it hurts…”

He said it….

That it hurts. That it was so painful it was hard.

Why is it so difficult and sorrowful to honestly say it hurts?

“…Huu…”

Plop, plop.

Bothered by his ugly, gaping mouth, he covered it with the back of his hand, and hot tears fell on it without him realizing.

Huuung-.

The tears that had been falling in droplets soon soaked into the other’s clothes.

Cheonghyeon gently pulled Hakyung into his arms, more carefully than ever. He almost resented the fact that they were inside the car.

“Where on this little thing could they hit you…. It must have hurt a lot, my precious child.”

Pat, pat. The man who was gently patting his thin back loosened his grip even more, as if Hakyung might break. He earnestly urged in his mind.

Child, tell me. Who did this to you? Before I find them myself and tear them apart.

And after a long wait, names began to spill out like filth from a clogged faucet.

“…J-Jang Yuseong, h-hit me- huuung.”

Jang Yuseong. Han Hee-gyeom. Kim Jungwook. Oh Jinhyuk….

Cheonghyeon engraved all the names that came from the child’s mouth in his heart. So he wouldn’t forget, no matter what.

“Huu, huu… It hurts.”

Hakyung cried explosively until he was exhausted and fainted. Cheonghyeon easily pulled his sleeping son onto his lap and embraced him. The tear-stained eyes were pitiful and heart-wrenching. He could vividly imagine the child who had held back without being able to say he was in pain.

A flame ignited in Cheonghyeon’s eyes. When the child’s biological parents were sacrificed, his insides had turned icy cold, but seeing Hakyung hurt made him burn endlessly.

This would be the child’s first revenge.

Cheonghyeon patted Hakyung and pressed his lips to his forehead. His sharp eyes were fixed outside the car window, on the humans still lingering.

Burning hatred and loathing. His long-dormant misanthropy flared up fiercely.

Crack. The steering wheel snapped under the pressure of his grip.

“……”

Beep.

-Activating autonomous driving system. Would you like to set a destination?

Silently activating the autonomous driving mode, Cheonghyeon spoke in a low voice.

“Home.”

***

That weekend, Cheonghyeon crossed the dungeon boundary, humming a rare tune. Haegakryeong. The black land he had become so familiar with.

“Mmph! Mmph, hmp!”

“Geez…. Is it because he’s young? He’s really lively.”

The rare point wasn’t just the humming. For some reason, he was carrying a large load on his shoulder. It was a long black bag, roughly the height of an adult male.

Thud!

He casually tossed the bag he had been carrying on one shoulder to the ground. It was true that he hadn’t gently laid it down but had deliberately thrown it.

Cheonghyeon took a deep breath of the dungeon’s characteristic stuffy air and exhaled. Then he spoke in a tone that suggested he was quite pleased.

“Every time I come in here, it’s always been a pain in the ass.”

In reality, he had been coming and going from Haegakryeong almost every week. Aside from other reasons, there was no more convenient place to obtain a large quantity of monster corpse powder.

It’s a top-secret, but when monster corpse powder is mixed with certain drugs and diluted, it becomes a painkiller for awakeners. Inhaling the powder directly also has an effect, but the concentration is too high, causing most to experience hallucinations. It’s practically a drug in itself.

Of course, not all monster powders have narcotic effects just because they’re killed. Only the ones Cheonghyeon killed using his skill had unique properties. That’s why so many espers who had killed monsters hadn’t realized that the raw material for painkillers was their corpse powder.

Last Monday, Cheonghyeon had informed Secretary Song that he would take a few days off. It was to determine where the branches of things he needed to handle extended and how far he needed to prune them before gathering them.

He wanted to gather the ones who bullied Hakyung, their parents, and even the teachers and feed them to the monsters. But he knew sensitive Hakyung would be shocked, and he didn’t seem to have much grievance with the teachers, so he decided to remove only the yellow sprouts.

To do that, he had settled in a deep place far from the dungeon boundary today. It was originally an ordinary path, but over time, trees grew, and grass became lush, naturally turning it into a forest. If he went a little further from where he stopped, there was a hideout.

Conversely, it meant he deliberately came to a place difficult for others to find because he didn’t want to be disturbed by anyone today.

“Come on out.”

He tore the bag open and kicked it with his foot. Before Cheonghyeon arrived, the resourceful Secretary Song had prepared five bags. Since Han Hee-gyeom was an A-rank esper like Secretary Song, Cheonghyeon had personally brought him to be extra cautious. Variables can exist anywhere.

“Mmph! Hmp!”

“I’m not going to say anything right now, so calm down and enjoy the sunlight, kids. Isn’t the weather just lovely today?”

At his somewhat gentle voice, the six fish flopped around and then flinched. Upon closer inspection, some were trembling slightly, while others were tensing their entire bodies.

Han Hee-gyeom was pale but was biting the gag tightly instead of trembling pathetically. He even glared at Cheonghyeon with fierce eyes.

Cheonghyeon put a cigarette made from raw monster corpse powder in his mouth. Haha…. A derisive chuckle escaped him without realizing it.

Hoo…

The unusually white smoke spread long. Han Hee-gyeom, who took the smoke directly, scrunched up his face.

“Alright, by now you should understand what I’m saying. First, you’re probably curious about why you were brought here, right?”

Facing the silent students, Cheonghyeon smoothly clenched his fist and extended his index finger.

“First. The disciplinary case against Jang Yuseong for harassing my son was rejected. The reason is bullshit, so I’m not interested. Moving on to the second.”

He extended his middle finger.

“You guys habitually harassed and assaulted a classmate who was minding his own business. I heard you tried to rape Hakyung on the day he came with a broken hand and hit him when he resisted?”

“Mmph! Mmph!”

That’s not true, I’m innocent! Jang Yuseong writhed like a mad caterpillar, fiercely resisting with his bound body. The struggle seemed like an attempt to exaggerate his actions and puff up his body to shake off excessive fear.

Cheonghyeon casually lifted his left foot and stepped on Jang Yuseong’s ankle with his shoe.

Crunch.

“……! Ugh, ugh…!”

The bone shattered instantly, and the spot caved in. It wasn’t just breaking the ankle; it was obliterating it.

“Yuseong, you need to be quiet. Trash that can’t even beg for forgiveness can still feel pain?”

What a pity, truly a pity.

At this moment, Cheonghyeon regretted his excessive strength. When he stepped on them, it felt like stepping on a sponge, so it didn’t even feel like he had done anything.

Even when catching bugs, there are types where you can feel the texture, and others where you can’t feel it even though you’ve caught them. Like fruit flies, for example. To Cheonghyeon, harming humans, whether they were awakeners or not, felt like killing fruit flies.

What should he do to make it known that he handled them well…

Pondering deeply, Cheonghyeon absentmindedly rubbed his chin. Then a rather plausible idea came to mind, and he smiled slightly.

“Enjoy the sunlight for a bit. Have some conversations.”

Even after Im Cheonghyeon, whose intentions were unknown, personally removed the gags, the six remained instinctively silent. Only after Cheonghyeon disappeared into the forest did they burst into cries mixed with resentment.

“Shit!”

“Damn, this is fucked up! Isn’t there any way? Huh?”

“Hey! Jang Yuseong! This is your fault! What are you going to do?!”

They all shouted to hide their fear. Jang Yuseong, who had become the target, rolled his bloodshot eyes viciously and shouted back.

“What the fuck! Didn’t you guys touch Im Hakyung? And I really couldn’t help it then! Who knew that bastard could guide. That weird smell… Yeah, that bastard was wagging his tail!”

“Wagging his tail? What tail. As Hakyung’s father, I can’t let that slide.”

“Eek…!”

Not only Jang Yuseong but everyone except Cheonghyeon was startled. Not only had he returned in an instant, but he was holding a giant monster nearly 2 meters tall in his arms!

Bringing a monster… crazy bastard…!

They hadn’t encountered monsters many times either. Especially the monsters in the outbreak areas were only learned about theoretically, and they wouldn’t encounter them unless they were highly skilled espers.

Haegakryeong was a place even professional espers avoided due to the bizarre forms and high danger levels of the monsters. Naturally, it wasn’t on the list of practice dungeons for top students, so they had never faced monsters from this place.

Grrr-.

“Ah!”

Cheonghyeon dropped the monster he had brought from outside next to him. Then he commanded it like it was a pet dog.

“Stay.”

Six pairs of eyes widened as if they would pop out.

The monster… a monster with no intelligence understands commands…!

Whatever he had done, the monster stood still as if it were frozen in place. Grrk, grrr. The characteristic growling of a monster could be heard, confirming it was indeed a monster.

The spectacle didn’t end there.

Cheonghyeon collected all the ropes that had bound the limbs, starting with Jang Yuseong on the far right. He didn’t seem worried at all that they might escape.

Cheonghyeon’s guess was correct. Even though they finally had a chance to escape, the six couldn’t move an inch. Their limbs felt as if they were pinned down, making it difficult to even move a fingertip.

“Well, the preparations are complete…. Shall I show you something interesting?”

They had tormented his precious child so much, he couldn’t just turn them into powder. Cheonghyeon grabbed Jang Yuseong by the collar with a charming smile.

“Which hand did you hit Hakyung with? Right hand?”

“Ugh, ugh, argh…!”

“Oh, shit.”

“Ugh…!”

Before he could answer, Cheonghyeon tore off Jang Yuseong’s right arm. He tossed it into the monster’s mouth as if he were putting wood into a fireplace.

“No, don’t…!”

“What’s not to be done. Everything can be done.”

Cheonghyeon, who spoke like a kind teacher, grabbed the other arm and stared at the monster. As if waiting for a reaction.

Burp.

Before long, the monster’s round mouth opened, and a burp escaped. Six pairs of eyes widened again, but what Cheonghyeon focused on was the black shadow that briefly appeared inside the mouth.

‘As expected.’

He looked at the giant monster with satisfaction. The kids were so mesmerized by the ‘giant monster’ itself that they didn’t notice, but if they observed closely, they would have discovered that its tiny eyes glowed a dark red. It was evidence that the monster was being forcibly controlled by Cheonghyeon.

The warm-up was over.

“Monster, open your mouth.”