SMFC | Chapter 31

No matter how much he asked what that meant, Jiwoo only laughed. Slightly peeved, Lee Soo grumbled and sent a text to Haeon.

[I stepped out for a bit. I’ll be back soon, so don’t be surprised if you wake up and I’m not there. It won’t take more than an hour.]

“Did you send a text to Healer Haeon?”

Jiwoo smirked without even looking at the phone screen and asked how he knew. Then she pointed at Lee Soo’s face.

“It’s all over your face. Like how you love tea and winter, both of you will cry a lot.”

“Why do you always say things that are hard to understand?”

Lee Soo pouted and muttered, and Jiwoo just scoffed, repeating the words “It’s karma, karma.”

After teasing Lee Soo for a while, Jiwoo sighed deeply and fished out a cigarette from her pocket.

“Are you a non-smoker, or do you have bad lungs, or are you quitting smoking?”

“None of those, so feel free to smoke.”

“Thanks.”

Jiwoo thanked him blandly and turned her body so the smoke wouldn’t drift towards Lee Soo as she lit her cigarette. As she struck the lighter, Lee Soo stared at his feet, unable to figure out what he had done wrong.

After taking a few deep drags and exhaling, Jiwoo, with a cigarette pinched between her fingers, laughed at Lee Soo’s perplexed look.

“No matter how much you think about it, or even if I explain, you won’t understand. You need to experience it yourself. Hmm, maybe making Healer Haeon cry once might do it. Oh well, kindness can be a sin in human relationships.”

“…Human relationships are too hard.”

Lee Soo murmured dejectedly, and Jiwoo, muffling her laughter, took another drag of her cigarette and replied in a slightly slurred speech.

“Every human being has their own personality, right? If the relationships formed by these individuals were simple, wouldn’t that be a serious issue in itself?”

“That’s… true.”

Lee Soo kicked his feet in the air in agreement, and Jiwoo, covering her mouth as she laughed, gently said with her hair fluttering,

“Don’t worry too much about anything. As long as you keep moving forward, it’s natural to bump into others. Even if someone cries, there won’t be a major disaster between Healer Haeon and Hunter Ryu Leesoo.”

If you truly care about someone, don’t fear moving forward. One person continues to move forward focused solely on Hunter Ryu Leesoo, but imagine how lonely it would be if suddenly Hunter Ryu Leesoo was not there when they looked to their side.

Lee Soo, who had stiffened for a moment at her earnest yet admonishing gaze, quickly got up.

“Are you going to Healer Haeon?”

“…Yes. Healer Haeon has always been there watching over me.”

“Really? Then you should hurry.”

As Lee Soo hesitated for a long time before finally offering his thanks, Jiwoo flashed a broad smile, showing her teeth.

Lee Soo, who would awkwardly whisper to the still sleeping Haeon that he had returned, was clearly visible in Jiwoo’s eyes.

***

Now, Lee Soo casually touched Haeon’s leg while fiddling with a talisman with his fingers. Ever since they got wrapped up in a dungeon rescue for Jiwoo, they had grown closer and spent most of their time together.

Whenever he had time, Haeon would check Lee Soo’s body and ponder over the most effective ways to apply his healing. As a result, Haeon had come to know Lee Soo’s body even better than Lee Soo himself.

At the moment, Haeon noticed Lee Soo’s muscles were noticeably tense. After observing him for a bit, Haeon softly massaged Lee Soo’s neck muscles and asked what was wrong.

As he looked at the bright red letters written on the talisman, Lee Soo, who had been recalling the spirits’ voices explaining the meanings and symbols while drawing the talisman, jerked up at the sudden touch.

Startled like a small animal, Lee Soo quickly scanned his surroundings, causing Haeon to awkwardly lower his hand. Once Lee Soo realized the touching hand was Haeon’s, he blushed and looked at him. It felt odd since he was more used to touching than being touched.

“Your muscles were really tense. Did I startle you? …But I did speak before touching.”

Haeon asked if he was startled, expressing regret, then his face turned somewhat resentful as if complaining that Lee Soo hadn’t listened to him. Lee Soo crinkled his nose, sensing the petulant tone.

“Uh, sorry. I was just lost in thought for a moment.”

“What were you thinking about that you couldn’t even hear me? You usually listen just fine.”

Haeon murmured, and Lee Soo fiddled with his lips before just smiling. Haeon expressed his dissatisfaction by pursing his lips, as Lee Soo’s face seemed to say he had no intention of answering.

Thinking that Haeon seemed to be whining more, Lee Soo gently caressed his cheek a few times. Every time he moved his hand, the soft skin squished lightly, making Lee Soo chuckle softly as he spoke.

“It was nothing much. I was just thinking about where this talisman might be needed… I was hoping it wouldn’t be necessary to use it, actually. And I was recalling what the spirits told me when they helped me make it. One of my skills involves making talismans, isn’t it fascinating?”

Haeon nodded, understanding, and recalled the talisman that Lee Soo had put away in his subspace earlier, looking like he didn’t want to hold onto it for long. It looked just like the other talismans, but it was unclear why Lee Soo hoped it wouldn’t be used.

“What kind of talisman is it? Talismans are usually for boosting attack power, reducing enemy attack power, or binding. There’s nothing special, right? Ah, they can be used for curses too.”

“The talismans I’ve been carrying around were for those purposes, but there are many others that can be used for different things. Not just simple curses, but ones that can take lives, detect dangers, and even heal, though mildly. And it’s not the talisman that’s the problem; it’s the situations where it might be used…”

As Lee Soo calmly addressed Haeon’s questions, he took out several talismans. Since he had brought it up, Lee Soo murmured that it might be better to give some away now and examined the talismans with a serious gaze. Not knowing why Lee Soo was so serious but intuitively guessing it involved him, Haeon instinctively wanted to lighten the mood and opened his mouth.

“Have talismans always had such diverse effects? I thought they weren’t supposed to.”

“Hmm, normally, they don’t. But the talismans I make aren’t the kind most people think of. How should I put it? It’s more accurate to call them items imbued with intangible power.”

Haeon, resting his chin on his hand, chuckled as he recalled the time he had asked Lee Soo, who was carefully inscribing intricate characters on a talisman, if he was skilled at Eastern painting because of how well he handled the brush. Back then, Lee Soo, sitting with perfect posture, had awkwardly laughed and shaken his head, saying that aside from talismans, he couldn’t draw anything at all.

Lee Soo, who was seriously examining the talismans with his arms crossed, looked up at Haeon’s laughter. With one eyebrow quirked up as if making an excuse, Haeon said,

“I just remembered you saying once that you can only draw talismans, not actual paintings.”

“That’s… actually true. I once did a drawing, and the spirits said it would look like quite a decent piece of modern art if nobody knew what I was looking at when I made it.”

“Spirits, always finding a way to shift the blame,” Haeon commented, sounding like an adult blaming the ground when a child falls and starts to cry, making Lee Soo roll his eyes playfully and chuckle shyly.

Slowly lowering his gaze back to the talismans, Lee Soo sighed and selected five of them. He noticed that the inscriptions were different and even the paper seemed a bit unique. Haeon quietly took the ones Lee Soo handed over and examined each one.

“What kind of talismans are these?”

After a brief pause, Lee Soo responded with a crumbling smile and a whisper,

“These are ordinary talismans. Well, for binding, cursing, healing, that sort of thing?”

“That sounds useful for a healer without offensive skills. What about the others?”

“…Those were experimental… They enhance self-healing, block those with ill intentions, avoid the gaze of the dead, and dispel misfortune.”

“Are you not giving those to me?”

“Later. Being a hunter, you’ll eventually need them. When that time comes, I’ll give you more perfected versions.”

Lee Soo spoke with a conviction that there would definitely come a day when Haeon would need them, smiling gently. Watching his face soften, Haeon fixated his gaze on the talismans.

“So you’re saying there will definitely come a day when I’ll need these talismans.”

“Hmm, it doesn’t hurt to be careful. Oh, if you want, I can teach you how to make them. Might be useful later on.”

“Why would I need to learn when Hunter Ryu Leesoo can just make them for me whenever I ask?”

Haeon rested his head on Lee Soo’s shoulder and murmured as if talking to himself. Lee Soo, about to say that Healer Haeon should know better, closed his lips again.

Just as he was about to speak, it felt as if he could hear Jiwoo’s voice, warning him he’d regret it if he continued like this. Hesitating for a moment, Lee Soo soon sighed and responded to Haeon’s playful sulking.

“That’s… not a bad idea.”