HG | Chapter 14

Even without anyone telling him, Hakyung could tell. The features that resembled the face he saw in the mirror every day were right there.

Strangely, the bodies were not decomposed. Thanks to that, he could confirm their faces, but the countless wounds they bore were also clearly visible.

“This, this is….”

Hakyung instinctively covered his mouth.

A man holding a woman. He was missing one arm. It wasn’t just cut off; it looked like it had been torn off by something, leaving a messy stump below the elbow. In fact, it was more like the woman was embracing the man, as she was missing one leg.

It was a horrific sight.

Who had mutilated them like this?

“Im Juhyeong. Choi Seonyeon.”

“……”

“The names of your dad and mom who gave birth to you, Hakyung.”

The man, who muttered as if talking to himself, carefully set Hakyung down and strode forward. He approached the bodies and examined them closely. His hands traced the wounds and bloodstains with great caution, as if conducting an investigation rather than mourning.

Hakyung, still unable to escape the shock, watched his actions blankly.

Eventually, the man straightened his back, looking as if he’d been struck.

“…That’s why I couldn’t find them.”

“……”

“Magic.”

“…Magic…?”

“Yeah. It seems… an invisibility spell. The condition for dispelling it was probably for a specific person to enter the boundary. That person was you.”

“Me…?”

Hakyung asked, bewildered. To Hakyung, who was attending an awakener school, magic wasn’t an unfamiliar concept. There were humans who could spew water and fire from their hands, so magic wasn’t a big deal. It was just that this situation didn’t quite feel real to him.

Cheonghyeon pointed with his foot at a spot above where they lay.

“There are traces of a magic circle drawn with their mixed blood. It was set to react only to someone who had both of their blood.”

“……”

“And there’s only one such person in the world.”

“……”

“Im Hakyung.”

As he explained, a dark red line, likely a magic circle, surrounded the bodies. Cheonghyeon muttered in a tone of resignation.

“Still, making me run around for 17 years is a bit much….”

But he didn’t seem displeased. Rather, he seemed relieved.

Though he had never revealed it to anyone, Cheonghyeon had been searching for their bodies all along. Ever since he lost them during the outbreak disaster 17 years ago.

In the meantime, he had several opportunities to clear the dungeon but consistently ignored them. Even if a dungeon had already broken once, there was no guarantee of what would happen if he cleared it. If the dungeon disappeared, their bodies would be lost forever, so he had to hold back even if he wanted to clear it.

‘They were closer than I thought.’

He had guessed they were in this vicinity. Early in the investigation, the bloodstains and traces of magic were clearer, but all traces ended around here.

‘It’s only natural since we parted ways around here.’

“But why… are the bodies in this state?”

However, when Cheonghyeon parted ways with them, they were intact. Of course, they had some minor and major wounds, but the physical mutilation occurred after they separated from Cheonghyeon.

“……”

Meanwhile, Cheonghyeon’s words echoed in Hakyung’s ears like a refrain.

The key to dispelling the magic was you. There’s only one such person in the world. The key to dispelling the magic was you. There’s only one such person in the world….

Beeeep-!

To make matters worse, a sharp ringing pierced his temples. Hakyung groaned in pain, covering his ears. He sat on the ground, waiting for the ringing to stop.

“Hakyung?”

At that moment, something filled his retina.

《 SYSTEM 》

You have acquired the skill, ‘Regeneration: Recovery.’

《 SYSTEM 》

The grade of this skill is Unique Passive.

A system message…!

It was similar yet different from the system window that appeared when he first entered the dungeon. No, it was content that made him wonder if it was really a message meant for him.

Normally, he would have dropped his jaw in shock and flipped out. But once again, there was no time to be surprised by the existence of the system window.

Hakyung stared blankly into the empty air instead of the bluish notification window. Like a broken doll, his gaze was vacant, as if he were entranced by something.

Flash!

Suddenly, a bright white light shot out from Hakyung’s body, sitting in a daze. It was a light that briefly turned the surroundings white, blinding his vision.

The light soon converged into a single point in the pit, enveloping the wounded bodies. Then the scene, which had been blurry with noise, became clear. Breaking through the system message and fully occupying his retina,

-Ahh!

-Oppa!

Screams filled the horrific scene.

In an instant, the skin tore, and a sturdy arm flew off. Due to the black smoke, the face wasn’t visible, but the one who tore off the arm was undoubtedly a person.

A man. At least in his late 30s to 40s. Small and solid build. Probably… strength enhancement or sniper type.

A gruff voice coaxed them as if instructing a subordinate.

-Hey, Representative Im. The living must live. What’s the point of dying with such great power? Let me use it. I’ll fulfill your task too. So….

-Spit! Damn, I’ve heard all sorts of nonsense in my life. <Abnormality>!

-Now, you, ahhh!

What had happened? With the scream, the black smoke completely obscured his vision, and as noise crept in again, the scene changed.

The next moment, a man resembling Hakyung was frantically digging the ground. As if possessed by a single thought, he muttered incessantly.

-More, I need to dig more. So no one can find it.

-Stop! Juhyeong, stop. There’s no time for this. Please. Okay?

A man and a woman, horribly broken. Their appearances were dirty with blood and ash.

The man, with only one arm left, was engrossed in turning the overturned ground into a massive pit, while the woman was trying to stop him.

The man, moving his arm frantically, grimaced and struck the ground.

-Ha… damn it!

-Come on. We have to save Hakyung. We have to save our baby.

-Yeah. Hakyung…. Our poor Hakyung….

Hoo…. The man, holding back tears of sorrow, drew a magic circle on the ground. A magic circle large enough for two people to lie down.

He drew half with his own blood and the other half with the woman’s blood, but there was no need to deliberately wound themselves to draw the magic circle. His blood came from the torn-off arm, and the woman’s blood was enough from her leg.

After painstakingly completing the massive magic circle, he collapsed beside the woman, panting heavily.

-Huff, huff.

-You did well. You worked hard. Now our baby will be safe.

-Will… will this work? Should we tell Cheonghyeon about it-.

-No.

Cheonghyeon’s name suddenly appeared. Hakyung held his breath as if he were eavesdropping in secret.

The woman cut him off firmly.

-We can’t tell him. Absolutely not! Who knows what he might do.

As the man hesitated visibly, she spoke more resolutely.

-Think rationally, Juhyeong. Maybe the outbreak was caused by him.

-…….

-He wanted to erase everything.

-…….

-Maybe, even us.

The vision ended there.

Drip, drip…. Tears fell from his unfocused eyes before they could even pool.

Step, step. The footsteps stopped in front of Hakyung at an opportune moment. Hakyung met the golden eyes looking down at him.

Because he wanted to erase everything….

Along with the faintly echoing hallucination, a question arose.

Was this just an illusion created by the magic circle, or a message left by his parents?

Only they would know the truth.

“Huff, huh….”

Perhaps due to the overwhelming shock, his chest felt constricted and suffocating.

Hakyung clutched his heart, gasping for breath. Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump! The sound of his rapidly beating heart was so loud it felt like his entire body was filled with it.

“Child, Hakyung.”

The man’s rare flustered appearance didn’t register in his eyes now.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

“Ugh, ahhh!”

Hakyung screamed in the man’s arms. The intense pumping of his heart felt strangely vivid.

An unbearable pain surged through him. Then, as he passed a certain point, something that had been blocked burst open. It felt like it was his heart, his blood vessels, and his head.

“Hic!”

Or maybe it was all of them.

An ambiguous force, whose origin was unknown, spread to his peripheral nerves. His limbs tingled. It was as if blood suddenly flowed through them, causing cramps.

Hakyung was squeezing his eyes shut to endure the pain. So he didn’t immediately notice, but the guiding energy that filled his entire body began to overflow, spreading around him. Just like the esper energy Cheonghyeon had sent out, it spread very far.

“Child, breathe. You have to breathe. Daddy will slowly…ly….”

It was when Cheonghyeon lifted his son onto his knee. The voice that had been continuing gradually stopped. Cheonghyeon closed his mouth and stared intently at the spot where Hakyung had been sitting.

A fresh sprout.

A light green sprout, which shouldn’t exist here, began to sprout in a circular shape. Not just one or two, but continuously sprouting as if germinating in real-time, breaking through the soil.

Cheonghyeon absentmindedly reached out and touched the spot where the sprout had emerged.

“Regeneration….”

The fresh green leaves were truly alive. Moreover, the once dry soil was now moist, with a damp texture.

New land. New soil.

The ground had regenerated.

“Hakyung, you….”

Cheonghyeon, who rarely got flustered, was so taken aback that he was at a loss for words. It was understandable, as it was unheard of for an F-grade guide to display regenerative abilities.

However, Hakyung, who had regained his breath, was pale as he asked a question.

Hakyung was curious.

“Dad… were our parents… murdered?”

Is my father really the one responsible for this disaster?

***

Hakyung, who fainted after leaving a question, slept for a long time afterward. It was a sleep that felt like an escape.

Days passed, with everything happening outside the door pushed out of his consciousness, as he curled up like a cocoon.

Cheonghyeon left his son alone. He neither scolded him to pull himself together nor comforted him to keep ignoring it. He just quietly let him be.

He simply had Hakyung stay in his bedroom. A place steeped in the energy of his partner esper. And he himself settled there too. Even while working, he reviewed documents with Hakyung lying on his chest, and they ate together closely.

For him, it was a situation that felt familiar.

‘It feels like I’ve gone back to when I first started raising him.’

He was somewhat pleased. When else would he have the chance to care for the child who was once smaller than his torso like this again?

“…Fa…ther.”

Hakyung spoke up on the fifth day.

Short if short, long if long, Hakyung had mostly been asleep, so he was pale and thin.

Smooch.

Cheonghyeon kissed his son’s forehead, who had just woken up.

“Did you have a good dream?”

“Yeah… I want to get up.”

Finally, a green light.

Cheonghyeon gently lifted the body lying on his chest and got out of bed. Though his son was grown, he habitually carried Hakyung around. The boy, who seemed like he might break, was now so thin he was almost just bones, making him feel even more pitiful.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“Um… a little.”

Not hungry, huh. He easily read his son’s mind. He was deliberately expressing it mildly so as not to worry him.

“I should prepare something simple. How about the bathroom?”

“Later.”

Hakyung answered compliantly. He didn’t have the energy to respond at length, so he clung to Cheonghyeon’s neck, limp. He didn’t even pretend to ask to be put down so he could walk himself.

Cheonghyeon, pleased with the scent of himself clinging to Hakyung, took him to the terrace. The terrace connected to the living room was pleasantly bathed in midday sunlight.

“Stay in the sun for a bit. I’ll bring the meal.”

“…Okay.”

He kissed Hakyung’s forehead again and disappeared beyond the terrace. Hakyung only let out a pent-up sigh after hearing the elevator sound.

“Haaa….”

‘I ran away again.’

The feeling of returning after running away to avoid reality was always complicated.

‘But… I had no choice this time….’

After all, it was about his biological parents.

Hakyung calmly regulated his breathing and reflected on the events of that day.

‘When the guiding energy drained at the end of the sex, Dad must have resolved the monster rush. Then the bodies of my parents appeared….’

Right, the skill.

Hakyung recalled the skill he had overlooked in the chaos.

“How do I view the skill window? Uh… status window…?”

For some reason, his voice naturally retreated inward, embarrassed to say it out loud. Fortunately, Hakyung’s effort wasn’t in vain, and a bluish window appeared.

Im Hakyung (Guide)

*Grade: F

*Skill: <Regeneration: Recovery>

“Ah, as expected…. Can I see the skill description in detail?”

Unlike the notification that first appeared on his retina, the status window appeared in the air. When he reached out to it, surprisingly, he could touch it. Hakyung tapped the text that read <Regeneration: Recovery>.

<Regeneration: Recovery>

*Unique Passive Skill. Guide-exclusive.

*Recovers all status abnormalities of the desired target for 5 seconds. However, the recovery order follows the priority specified by the target.

*This skill is a <Unique Passive>. It is a skill unique to the caster and cannot be copied, transferred, or deleted.

“Guide… exclusive skill.”

Even as he said it, Hakyung couldn’t believe it, and his lips moved silently.

‘An F-grade like me has a skill?’

He knew that outstanding awakeners had ‘skills’ separate from their innate abilities. Im Cheonghyeon was a prime example, and so was Cha Hyunseo. He remembered how excited Hyunseo had been, jumping around saying, ‘I got a skill!’ the day he first awakened his skill.

In other words, ‘skills’ could be seen as a secondary awakening for espers and guides. Awakening as an esper or guide was impressive, but ‘skills’ were a step further.

‘Then… was that illusion also because of the skill?’

Hakyung’s eyes sank deeply.

The vivid screams still echoed in his ears. The scene of someone cruelly harming his parents.

The suspicion towards Cheonghyeon.

Everything was chaotically mixed.

Before he could dig another hole, Hakyung shook his head vigorously.

‘Let’s think again. My parents wouldn’t have known I would awaken a skill. So rather than my skill showing the illusion, it’s more likely that the message they left was replayed.’

He guessed that his biological father was a magic-type esper from the way he drew the magic circle. As for his mother….

‘Wait.’

“I’ve seen it somewhere….”

Though he hesitated for a moment due to their appearance, dirty with wounds and ash, he quickly found the answer. It was inevitable. He saw that face whenever he was about to forget.

In the textbook.

‘Korea’s first S-grade guide.’

‘Im Juhyeong. Choi Seonyeon.’

Cheonghyeon’s voice passed by at the perfect timing.

“Right. That’s it. If it’s Choi Seonyeon…!”

The most outstanding guide in Korean history. She was his biological mother.

Goosebumps rose all over his body. Not only Choi Seonyeon the guide, but Im Juhyeong the esper was also a significant figure. He was the one who laid the foundation for the ‘Awakener Protection Act.’

“Those people….”

He was in a daze. He had guessed they weren’t ordinary people, considering Cheonghyeon had said they ‘lived together.’ He had even suspected they might be criminals who committed a grave sin.

“Those people?”

The voice suddenly interrupted.

Hakyung blankly looked up at the man who had approached without a sound.

The man, who had brought the cart himself, set the table like a seasoned server. A refreshing salad and fruits, freshly baked bread, various jams, and scrambled eggs….

And what was placed in front of Hakyung was porridge. A small appetizer-sized bowl with a yellowish porridge filled halfway.

“Since you’ve had an empty stomach for a while, start with this.”

“…Thank you, Father.”

“You’re welcome.”

Cheonghyeon moved his chair closer to sit next to Hakyung. It was to help him eat.

“Can you hold the spoon? Should I feed you?”

“N-no. I can… do it myself.”

Hakyung hurriedly drank some water. His scratchy throat felt much better. After finishing a cup of water, he picked up the small bowl of porridge and began to eat it little by little.

Meanwhile, with nothing else to do, Cheonghyeon rested his chin on the back of Hakyung’s chair. Then, gently, he traced the slender nape of his neck with his fingertips.

There was no sexual intent. But it wasn’t something he could ignore, so Hakyung furrowed his eyebrows and hunched his shoulders.

“F-Father….”

“Why. Can’t you do it? Should I feed you?”

“Your hand….”

“My hand, what?”

“Could you…?”

Was it always this hard to ask someone to move their hand while eating?

Hakyung glanced at the man who feigned ignorance with a sly smile.

Black shirt and black pants. The prominent collarbone visible through the slightly unbuttoned shirt. His bangs were naturally swept back, revealing his forehead, and beneath his thick eyebrows were his shining golden eyes and a prominent nose.

He was a remarkably handsome man. It was hard to understand why he was bothering with someone as insignificant as him.

Fingers tapped Hakyung’s cheek.

“Child, if you open your mouth, you should finish your sentence.”

“It’s… nothing. It’s okay. I think it’s okay.”

It’s just touching his neck, nothing more. It’s bothersome, but not unbearable. Yes, endure it. Hakyung’s cheeks turned slightly red.

Cheonghyeon curled his lips into a smile and chuckled.

“Well, it’s not like I’m screwing your little pussy, so this much should be fine, right?”