MNP Ch7

”Haya, Seokha.’

The teacher’s voice that used to call him affectionately when he was young echoed faintly. The old man’s image was blurry and couldn’t be seen at all.

Why? Why are you calling me so frighteningly?

‘I told you to be careful, didn’t I?’

I’m being careful even while breathing right now.

‘You sometimes blow things out of proportion. Avoiding and avoiding…’

…I guess so. I didn’t mean to, but it keeps escalating.

It feels like I keep making bad choices. The teacher was silent without even showing his face.

Teacher?

“…Ha. Seokha.”

“Teach-”

“Yes?”

“Ah. Oh, I dozed off for a moment.”

Seokha gently pushed away Eden’s hand gripping his arm as he straightened his slumped posture. His shoulder ached from leaning against the wall for so long. As he rotated his shoulder and looked at Eden, he smiled and stood up from where he had been sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Shall we eat?”

Seokha watched Eden’s back as he walked to the table, then got up as well. He wanted to skip the meal and lie back down, but it was best to eat when food was available. He headed for the door, thinking he should grab some fruit from the truck.

“Where are you going?”

“To get something to eat.”

“You don’t need to.”

Eden, seated in a chair, smiled as he shook a can of food from who knows where. There were three or four other cans on the table as well.

“I found these earlier while you were washing up first.”

What a useless thing to do… Seokha tried not to scowl. He sat down in the remaining chair and picked up a can. He knew it would be inedible without even reading the ingredients. He also knew that Blue Land produce wasn’t cheap enough to be canned.

“What’s wrong, can’t open it?”

Eden asked in a mocking tone, having already opened one. Seokha didn’t want to reveal that he couldn’t eat regular food. There was already more than enough to be suspicious about. He wondered if Eden was pretending not to notice, or if he truly hadn’t realized. It was both curious and frightening. If Eden figured out Seokha’s identity and tied him up to sell him to a facility, he could at least open a small shop selling canned goods like these.

“I don’t eat meat.”

Seokha gave a plausible excuse and set down the can he was holding. He planned to make an excuse and go get fruit from the truck.

“Are you only vegetarian then?”

“Yes. That’s how it turned out.”

“Ah.” Eden let out an exclamation of unclear meaning and picked up one of the cans on the table, holding it out. The metal scraped against wood as it moved closer to Seokha.

“Here. Canned vegetables.”

Seokha blinked at the can placed right in front of him. Once. Twice. Three times. He slowly closed his eyes then opened them to find Eden staring at him intently, having stopped eating. It was an appraising look.

Ah. There was no way out now. Seokha irritably opened the can. Maybe it would be okay to eat. He had no choice but to take a chance on the slim odds.

Less than an hour after eating, Seokha had to suppress the urge to vomit. He couldn’t finish the whole can, but he had forced down at least half. By the time Eden finished his portion and got up, Seokha rushed to the bathroom under the pretense of brushing his teeth and threw it all up. It was a meal worse than not eating at all.

Seokha washed his face in the loudly running water to mask any sounds, then came out of the bathroom. At some point it had grown pitch dark outside. Only the lamp Eden had lit illuminated the small space. Seokha walked towards the bed, following the faint light. The bed was too narrow for two men to lie down. Unless they embraced while sleeping, one of them should sleep on the floor. Seokha wasn’t picky about sleeping arrangements, so he was about to remove the cloth he had spread on the bed.

“Ah. Sleep there. I’ll stay here.”

Eden could be seen lying against his gun bag, which he had brought over at some point, facing the bed. He then took out a small notebook from the bag and scribbled something.

“Oh, okay.”

There was no reason to refuse if he was going to sleep on the floor himself. Seokha spread the cloth neatly again and sat down. His empty stomach felt quite hollow.

“Seokha.”

“Yes?”

Here. Eden tossed something towards Seokha. He caught it reflexively with both hands. In the dim light, he could vaguely make out that it was an apple.

“I grabbed one when I went to get the bag. You didn’t seem to be eating much.”

“…”

The apple in his hands felt strange. Eden didn’t seem to expect a response as he turned off the lamp and lay down. Now the only light was the faint moonlight coming through the small window. Seokha looked at Eden’s barely visible outline while rolling the apple that fit perfectly in his hand. If Eden wasn’t from Nute and had no intention of selling Alma, it wouldn’t matter much if he discovered Seokha’s identity. But if both applied, Seokha thought this might be his chance to escape. Fortunately, his eyes were wide awake thanks to his earlier nap.

Seokha waited for Eden to fall asleep. He had never seen Eden sleep while driving the truck, so he would probably sleep deeply this time. His stomach was starting to growl, but he didn’t want to make noise and disturb Eden’s slumber.

As time passed, he had to fight the urge to close his eyes by pinching the back of his hand. An hour… maybe two hours had passed. Without a clock, it could have been just thirty minutes. If Eden had snored, it would have been easier to find the right moment to leave. But Eden slept like the dead, like some people Seokha knew in the Alma village. Unable to wait any longer, Seokha slowly got up. The apple he had been holding was now lukewarm from his body heat. Leaving the cloth covering the bed and his clothes behind, he tiptoed one step at a time.

He was extra cautious passing Eden’s legs which stretched out near the bed. The room that hadn’t seemed very large now felt endlessly vast. The wooden floor didn’t make much noise with each step. Seokha clenched his fist, feeling like he might hear “Where are you going?” from behind at any moment.

Finally reaching the door, he carefully turned the doorknob. The unoiled door let out a small creak. Startled by the sound, he looked back at Eden, but his silhouette hadn’t moved. Seokha opened the door little by little. He pushed it open just enough, just enough to not make more noise. The door finally opened wide enough for Seokha to squeeze through. Holding his breath as much as possible, he passed through the gap and stepped outside.

It was quite chilly outside. His clothes were just a thin long-sleeved shirt, and he briefly regretted not bringing his original clothes, but he didn’t have the guts to go back in. He needed to get to the truck quickly. Seokha checked that the gun and key were still in his pocket as he went around to the back of the building. Just as the truck came into view, he heard a familiar roar.

It’s a sound I’ve heard many times before… Seokha squinted, trying to recall the hazy memory. The sound was coming from behind the truck. Hiding his body against the building, Seokha peeked out to look. Thanks to the flat plains, he could clearly see them approaching from afar.

‘Hunters?’

The source of the roar was the exhaust from the four-wheeled bikes the hunters rode. However, what he saw now were regular two-wheeled bikes, different from the ones the hunters had ridden. And… there were many of them. It looked like there were three or four, but why were they coming here? For a moment he thought of the hunter he had hit with the car at the market, but unless they had been tailing him continuously, it would be difficult for them to find him. Even Seokha himself hadn’t expected to come this way, so how could the hunters have predicted it?

The destination of the people riding those bikes was clearly this building. It was the only structure in the vast plains. If he went to the truck, he would be spotted immediately. As Seokha stepped back, his back hit something solid. Surprised, he turned around and was about to cry out when a large hand grabbed his arm, but another hand quickly covered his mouth.

‘Shh.’

Eden put a finger to his lips. Seokha nodded slightly, and the large hand covering his face fell away. Though one hand was removed, the hand that had grabbed his arm was now wrapped around his shoulder. His body was pulled close by the tugging hand. Trying his best to look displeased and not make contact, Seokha was dragged along without being able to say anything.

“They probably know we’re here because of the truck.”

“Did we break into someone’s house?”

“Ah, I guess so.”

“I thought you said you knew this place?”

“Well, I’ve seen it a few times passing by.”

Seokha and Eden whispered as they went back inside the building. There was a hushed exchange of words. This person was completely unpredictable. Eden immediately rummaged through the bag full of weapons after closing the door.

“Have you ever killed someone?”

“Are you planning to kill?”

Seokha’s brow furrowed. Eden took out a suitable sniper rifle and loaded it with bullets.

“Even if we don’t want to kill, they’ll probably try to kill us.”

“Can’t we just apologize and leave?”

“Hmm… It won’t be easy to talk to them.”

Eden tilted his head playfully. The sound of bikes could now be heard right behind them. Seokha hurriedly approached Eden’s bag and searched for a weapon. He didn’t want to waste his own bullets unnecessarily.

“Do you know how to use it?”

Eden looked Seokha up and down. The firearms seemed more modern than the ones used in the Alma village.

“To some extent.”

He stood behind the door holding the loaded gun. I hope they leave the truck alone. There were no spare tires. Just as Eden hid in a corner, the door burst open with a loud noise.

“Where are they?”

“The car’s here so they must be inside.”

The sound of multiple people entering could be heard. Everyone who glanced around was carrying weapons – whose house had they broken into? It had been a series of tense moments since leaving the village. After forcing his sleepy eyes open trying to escape, fatigue was starting to set in.

Three people had entered. The lamp had been off for a while, so they appeared as vague shapes in the darkness.

“They could be from Mode. Kill them all.”

‘Mode… that sounds familiar.’

Thanks to hiding behind the door, he could hear the three of them whispering very clearly. It was right that the conversation wouldn’t be easy. If Eden was a Nute as expected, they could get out smoothly, but he wasn’t sure. Currently, Seokha couldn’t see Eden from his view. Should he wait until the rest come in? Seokha roughly estimated while looking at the backs of the three. It would be perfect if those intruders killed Eden, Eden took one or two with him on his way out, and I shot and killed the rest here and escaped.

“Aah! What the-!”

“Here, there’s someone here!”

The person who entered first was suddenly dragged into a corner. Then gunshots rang out repeatedly from an unknown shooter. It was too dark to distinguish between Eden and the intruders. Seokha came out from behind the door.

‘No need to distinguish anyway.’

He shot at the head visible in front of him. With a thud, the body collapsed, and he fired wildly at the rest tangled up. It was unpleasant how the blood sprayed everywhere, as shooting at such close range was rare. When there was no more movement from the fallen bodies, he approached and surveyed the surroundings. At the very bottom of the overlapping bodies, Eden’s shoes were visible. There was no reaction even when poked with the gun muzzle. Guess he wasn’t a Nute after all. As Seokha straightened up from his crouched position, an arm holding a gun suddenly stretched out from among the corpse