Chapter 23

“Was it revenge?”

Huikyung let out a small sigh, his gaze carrying the weariness of someone confronting a stubborn child.

“The belief that eating Esper flesh grants abilities comes from the hallucinations it causes,” he explained.

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Jaekani struggled to lift his heavy eyelids.

“Those abilities aren’t real; the hallucinations are meaningless. But the addiction is very real. Eventually, they can only survive by eating that flesh.”

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Hunters of Espers would inevitably become the hunted. They’d either kill each other in the grip of hallucinations or draw too much attention, leading to government intervention.

In any case, their end wouldn’t have been a good one.

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“…Though, yes, revenge was part of it,” Huikyung admitted.

“What if…”

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Their gazes locked, probing each other’s true intentions.

“What if I had done the same? Like my father or the council members… What if I tried to… from your body…”

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“You wouldn’t have.”

“But if—just if—I had?”

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This time, Huikyung yielded first. Not because his guilt was greater, but because Jaekani was the weaker of the two.

The weak naturally evoked sympathy to survive. In that sense, Jaekani was uniquely suited to survival. Even the unintentional nature of his ability to draw pity made him a perfect example of the frailty Huikyung despised yet couldn’t ignore.

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Huikyung’s hand moved slowly toward Jaekani, a predator’s fangs approaching its prey. Despite the chaos surrounding them, his hand remained delicate, pale, and precise.

As Huikyung’s fingers neared Jaekani’s hair, the boy turned his head sharply, a reflexive attempt to avoid whatever was coming.

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“Your face is dirty,” Huikyung said flatly. His tone suggested it was nothing more than an offer to clean him up.

Understanding Huikyung’s intention didn’t stop Jaekani from stubbornly wiping his face with his sleeve. Yet the act felt meaningless, a futile gesture.

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Who cares if my face is dirty? There’s no one to see it anyway.

But Huikyung was surprisingly persistent. Ignoring Jaekani’s curt refusal, he reached out again—firm but deliberate, giving Jaekani the option to pull away if he wanted. Receiving no objection, Huikyung’s warm thumb brushed against Jaekani’s face first.

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With careful pressure, he wiped at the corners of Jaekani’s eyes.

Only after cleaning the edges of Jaekani’s tear-streaked eyes did Huikyung notice the damp chill seeping into his fingertips.

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Those blue eyes, filled with rage and despair, seemed to scream, ‘I hate you. I really hate you.’ They struck like lightning.

Without a word, Huikyung continued wiping away Jaekani’s tears. His blunt fingers moved across the boy’s flushed eyes, his cheeks, and his trembling chin, the latter quivering as Jaekani tried to hold back his sobs. The silence between them remained unbroken until Jaekani’s tear-streaked face regained its natural, rosy hue.

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“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Huikyung said firmly.

His tone was so unyielding that, despite having witnessed Huikyung’s actions firsthand, Jaekani found his certainty wavering. Had he not seen it himself, had it all been just a rumor, Jaekani might have believed every word Huikyung said without question.

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“I told you not to cry over trash like them.”

“I’m crying because I feel sorry for myself!”

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Though his face was now clean, Jaekani still raised his hand to wipe his eyes again. His voice, a mix of defiance and sorrow, held both determination and vulnerability. He glared at Huikyung, as if to prove he hadn’t shed a single tear.

“Have you even considered how it feels to be stuck with a murdering lunatic like you? To demand responsibility from someone like you?”

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Huikyung gazed at the back of Jaekani’s bowed head, his hair messy and untamed.

He didn’t regret it. If anything, Huikyung felt guilty for not tearing the villagers apart alive, for ending them too cleanly.

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They should’ve known better when they displayed severed heads on the village walls. That pit was no place for anyone sane.

“…If you really had eaten me, at least you wouldn’t be alone,” Huikyung said.

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“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’d mean a part of me is inside you.”

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Jaekani’s blue eyes, brimming with unease, stirred an unfamiliar feeling in Huikyung—a flicker of pity.

“It’s fine. Eat and grow up strong.”

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The lightness in his voice was so characteristically Huikyung that Jaekani couldn’t help but let his lips curl into a faint, unbidden smile.

* * *

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That night was unusually cold.

Once the night fully set in, reality began to crash down on Jaekani like a tidal wave. The chaotic storm that had consumed his life subsided, leaving behind stark clarity and the bitter awareness of his circumstances. For Jaekani, who hadn’t yet had the time or space to grieve his father’s death, the night became a form of torture.

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Huddling tightly, Jaekani clutched the edge of his blanket to his chest. What might have once felt like a refreshing breeze now seemed threatening.

Tears spilled from his eyes, burning as they rolled down his chilled cheeks. The sensation was like a hot iron pressed to his skin. It hurt.

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Curling his body as much as he could, Jaekani tried to suppress his sobs. When that didn’t work, he even held his breath, as if that might keep the tears at bay.

He knew Huikyung could hear him. This was the man who could read faint scrawls in near-total darkness, who could detect presences far beyond ordinary sight. There was no way an Esper like him wouldn’t notice the soft sobbing of a boy lying right next to him.

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And yet, Huikyung said nothing. He remained silent, as if to say, ‘Cry as much as you need,’ or perhaps, ‘Your grief is yours alone to bear.’

Jaekani pressed his wrist against his eyes, trying to stifle his tears. In his mind, he saw his father’s dark, heavy eyelids, his rough, calloused hands, and the acrid scent of addiction that always clung to him.

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Traitor. Murderer.

Struggling to breathe between his tears, Jaekani looked back on the path they had traveled. No matter what his father had done, Huikyung wasn’t innocent either.

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He hated him. Hated him so much it was unbearable. Hated him so much he wanted to embrace him.

Jaekani didn’t understand attachment. He knew nothing of bonds or the nuances of emotion. Because he didn’t know emotion, he didn’t even truly understand his own intense hatred.

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Like a nervous system disrupted by extreme cold, Jaekani was thrown into chaos by the storm within him. Feeling inexplicably hot despite the chill, he flung off his only coat.

The wind tousled his hair, a small, fleeting contact that signaled something. Then came warmth, a distinct presence. Jaekani slowly raised his eyes.

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Huikyung was closer now, awkwardly resting a hand on Jaekani’s head, tousling his hair.

It was unfamiliar to both of them. For so long, they’d only exchanged words from a distance, never drawing close. Physical contact felt foreign, unnatural.

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“Take your hand off.”

“Then move your head.”

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Despite his words, Jaekani didn’t swat Huikyung’s hand away as he might have before. His lips moved in a small pout, but he allowed the gesture.

Though he never said it aloud, Huikyung’s destruction of the village had a lot to do with Jaekani. The boy’s hunger for affection had left a deep impression on him. Huikyung could imagine all too clearly the environment that had turned such a tender-hearted child into someone bristling with thorns. Without even seeing it firsthand, he knew what it must have been like.

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He had wanted to lash out at everyone who had contributed to Jaekani’s suffering, to destroy everything and everyone who had hurt him. Even after leaving the village a barren wasteland, it hadn’t felt like enough.

As Jaekani noticed the emotion flickering in Huikyung’s eyes, he frowned and turned his head away.

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The absence of warmth on his palm made Huikyung chuckle softly, but the laugh was cut short by the sudden weight pressing against his chest. The sensation was overwhelming—a searing warmth, as if he were embracing the sun itself.

Huikyung, arms awkwardly outstretched, looked down at Jaekani. The boy had wrapped his arms around Huikyung’s neck and rested his chin on his shoulder, hiding his face.

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Huikyung’s hand moved hesitantly at first but then began to stroke Jaekani’s frail back with quiet gentleness.

The embrace—caught somewhere between victim and perpetrator—was strange, yet it brought an odd sense of connection.

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For both of them.

* * *

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Huikyung walked steadily along the crumbling asphalt road, his pace unbroken. Like a shadow, Jaekani trailed behind him. Initially, Jaekani had doubted whether Huikyung was more bluster than substance—a hollow-headed Esper who might not actually know what he was doing. But those suspicions proved unfounded.

Huikyung seemed entirely at ease living outside the village walls. The longer they walked, the more items he managed to gather. With every step, he demonstrated a sharp instinct for survival, effortlessly locating and securing useful supplies.

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The more Jaekani watched, the more a question loomed in his mind.

‘What kind of person was he before all this?’

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The thought lingered, and Jaekani found himself narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

Huikyung didn’t hoard the supplies for himself. Instead, he shared them with Jaekani, tossing him various items as they went. By the end of their scavenging, Jaekani had acquired a malfunctioning but still usable lighter, a relatively clean piece of cloth, an adult-sized hat, and a jumper that was clearly too big for him.

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Not content with just providing the tools for survival, Huikyung also began teaching Jaekani how to use them. For someone who had grown up doing nothing but small errands, slaughterhouse work, and enduring the disdain of adults, this was an exciting, even enjoyable education.

At one point, Huikyung picked up a plastic water bottle and filled it with pebbles, sand, and other materials to demonstrate how to filter water.

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“Cool, huh?”

Jaekani, who had been staring intently at the clear plastic bottle, finally looked up.

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It wasn’t the filtered water that fascinated him—it was Huikyung himself.

‘He feels wilder than the wild animals out here.’

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“Drink,” Huikyung said, handing him the bottle.

The first sip of water, long overdue, felt like ambrosia. The cool liquid revived Jaekani’s parched tongue, which had grown dry and warm from thirst. His eyes widened in surprise at how refreshing it was. Seeing his reaction, Huikyung let out a faint, knowing chuckle.

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“What about you?” Jaekani asked.

“I’m fine.”

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“Why aren’t you drinking?”

…Could it be poison?!

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Jaekani’s gaze darted back to the “makeshift purifier,” now filled with suspicion. Huikyung couldn’t suppress a dry laugh, clearly amused by the boy’s mistrust.

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