HG | Chapter 19

Hakyung mustered the courage to push forward.

“Because I love you too, Father… ‘Dad,’ it’s only natural that I want to help….”

Who could be the person Cheonghyeon hasn’t avenged yet? What part of him is still angry?

Hakyung hesitantly moved forward. Like a child taking tentative steps, unaware of his own actions, he slowly made his way to the study where Cheonghyeon was. Fortunately, the elevator was on the third floor, allowing him to quickly ascend to the sixth floor.

“Father…?”

He was anxious that he might hang up the call in the meantime. Please don’t hang up. Please. Hakyung repeatedly whispered, quickening his pace. With each hurried step, his breath caught in his throat.

“Huff, huff…”

It wasn’t just the urgency that was suffocating him.

The more he learned about the unknown, the more familiar things appeared differently, making his vision blur.

For instance, his father’s actions.

From a young age, his father spent a lot of time at home. As a child, he thought it was because they were the only family each other had, so he assumed he was just a family-oriented person. Even business meetings were conducted at home.

That didn’t change even when he became the head of a large corporation. Hagyeong Pharmaceuticals. A company that invents and distributes stabilizers for awakeners. It was fundamentally different from SL Group, which was rooted in manufacturing, or DH Group, which focused on automobiles.

Do people really not know? Like the maliciously suspicious column, do they believe that his father harmed his parents to seize their wealth?

Hagyeong Pharmaceuticals continues to grow, so why does his father always stay in the background and never step forward?

Why didn’t he enter into a strategic marriage?

Why does he still cherish and want to live with his grown son?

Could it be that such malice has forcibly tied his father’s feet to the house?

‘If I had ever seen Father being greedy for money…!’

Bang!

“Huff! Huff!”

Hakyung finally reached his space. He slammed his shoulder against the heavy study door, causing him to tumble to the floor.

He didn’t feel any pain. What mattered was his father.

“Ugh…”

Hakyung struggled to lift his sweat-drenched body. Crawling on his knees, he slowly made his way to the chair where he sat.

His hand.

He kissed the hand that could crush the world into a handful of powder.

The inscrutable golden eyes looked down at Hakyung.

Speak.

The desire suppressed deep in his chest urged him.

Hakyung steadied his trembling breath and finally exhaled his last breath.

Father.

“…I’m your guide, aren’t I?”

He realized after confessing.

Ah. I’ve always wanted to say this….

I wanted to openly declare that you belong to me, and I to you.

It was from that desire that I sought unconditional support.

Just as an esper feels endless obsession and a desire to control their partner guide, a guide also wants to completely devour their esper. This was a trait inherent in awakeners.

It couldn’t be refused. Nor did he want to refuse it.

But could he reject even this overwhelming instinct?

The man, who showed no reaction, made Hakyung anxious. He wanted him to answer anything.

He feared that the suffocating frustration would turn him into a living fireball. Of course, it was better than doing nothing and just shedding tears, but at this rate, he might run out of breath before getting an answer.

“…….”

“…….”

A silence descended as if weighing down time and space.

Huff, huff….

The man stared blankly at the face that was a mess.

Sweat-drenched and trembling with breath. A young face, constantly rolling its eyes, anxiously gauging the other’s reaction.

He had fed him breakfast, eaten him, washed him clean, and left him alone not long ago. In terms of time, it had been about an hour or two.

Why did the child, who looked like a well-fed cat with relaxed eyes, come running with such a precarious look?

‘…Is it because of me?’

“F-Father…”

– F-Father….

The actual voice and the voice from the phone simultaneously resonated in the space, grounding the man in reality.

With a rather indifferent demeanor, he ended the call. 5 minutes and 3 seconds. Short if short, long if long. Recently, it was on the longer side. Hakyung wasn’t one to call him first.

While he wanted to enjoy the call with his son a bit longer, the way his son only focused on his lips made him feel like he should give an answer.

The reason he hesitated, uncharacteristically, without immediately rejecting him was simple. He hadn’t expected him to pinpoint the core from the hint he gave, which was just skimming the surface of the truth. Seeing his son pleading as a lover and guide made his heart ache, wanting to grant his wish.

Cheonghyeon was genuinely curious.

“How did my son figure it out?”

Revenge.

A lifelong endeavor he was pursuing, yet a plan he intended to keep secret from Hakyung.

Hakyung’s assumption that he wouldn’t mind if he found out was wrong. Cheonghyeon had no intention of revealing even the beginning of his revenge.

That’s why he had only tossed a ‘document’ scrap. He figured that relying on artificial intelligence searches would have its limits in identifying the hidden flaws in the plan, and if the child got lost, he could easily buy time by throwing a hint or two.

‘Hakyung is cute, but… wasn’t he a fool?’

Thinking thoughts that would make Hakyung sulk if he heard them, Cheonghyeon tapped the armrest of his chair with his index finger.

“Joining in on the revenge….”

Even when he muttered it again, it was an awkward sentence.

Ironically, what he missed was the illusion of Hakyung he saw in Haegakryeong. Since Hakyung was so focused on Cheonghyeon, he hadn’t revealed the existence of the illusion, unaware that the document was the decisive hint.

Cheonghyeon suddenly felt a sense of incongruity.

‘Come to think of it… why did he so definitively conclude it was murder?’

In the dungeon and the columbarium, Hakyung had used the term ‘murder.’ It was in the form of a question, but his tone suggested he had already concluded. If one found a body in the dungeon, wouldn’t they usually assume it was torn apart by monsters? After all, they were reported to have disappeared, buried in a horde of monsters.

Crucially, even Cheonghyeon hadn’t initially assumed the possibility of ‘murder.’ It was only after recovering the bodies and conducting an investigation, including an autopsy, that he concluded the limbs were torn off artificially.

There’s something there.

‘He seemed to have seen something when he was dazed in the dungeon.’

The past, which he hadn’t scrutinized, had grown like a snowball and rolled to this point. It added credibility to a trivial speculation.

“Child, you’re hiding something, aren’t you?”

“W-what?”

“What is it? In the dungeon, what did you see?”

Unconsciously, Cheonghyeon stroked his chin.

The feeling of being blindsided by a child he thought was just cute was quite intriguing.

His eyes, incapable of lying, trembled as if an earthquake had struck. Cheonghyeon thought the situation was becoming interesting. Even this feeling seemed like destiny’s arrangement, to the point of being frightening.

Your guide wants it. What are you doing not granting it immediately?

It seemed to scold him. As Cheonghyeon maintained his indifference, it felt like the situation was being manipulated to create a scenario that would catch his interest, making it impossible for him to ignore.

When fate and instinct urged him like this, Cheonghyeon’s win rate was abysmal. Especially when the opponent was Hakyung, it was like fighting with one arm tied behind his back.

Moreover, what Hakyung wanted was a very desirable relationship. We are partners, so let’s trust and follow each other, moving as one. It was a wish that ‘good’ people might have. If someone else had said it, he would have laughed and ignored it, but the moment Hakyung wanted it with all his being, his heart automatically synchronized like a reflex.

By now, he was tired of reacting to every instance of ‘Is this what having my guide means?’ Nevertheless, ‘my’ guide was a mysterious existence. Regardless of his own will.

Cheonghyeon had already acknowledged that Hakyung was his guide and that he found his feelings for him endearing. Since succumbing to his instincts and mixing bodies, he had been devouring Hakyung as if it had always been that way.

The curious thing was that new feelings were layered onto the facts he had already accepted and fully understood. Like an art piece that evoked different emotions the more he contemplated it.

‘My’ guide.

That term was more fitting as the title of a work. A young man, who had been focused solely on revenge while observing the world, encountered a soul-stirring work one day, and in front of it, he found himself disarmed. And he repeated the process of helplessly accepting new emotions whenever they arose.

Thinking that way made his heart feel a little lighter.

Of course, the conclusion wouldn’t change.

‘I’m screwed….’

This tug-of-war would end with Hakyung’s victory.

He might let it slide for now, but eventually, things would go the way he wanted. It might be better to acknowledge it cleanly here and align with him.

“It’s not that I deliberately didn’t say….”

Cheonghyeon broke off his thoughts and looked directly at Hakyung. Hakyung was flustered, unsure of what to do.

“It’s just that I, I developed a skill….”

“What?”

Cheonghyeon furrowed his brow. Thinking it was something serious, Hakyung began to tremble visibly.

The man finally moved his heavy body and embraced his son. He naturally carried the drenched child to the bathroom. After tearing off all the cumbersome clothes, he got into the filling bathtub with him.

Pat, pat. Gently patting the bony back, he coaxed him to continue.

“Keep talking.”

Swoosh—.

Even with the water sound being quite loud, Hakyung’s small voice reached Cheonghyeon’s ears clearly.

“They said it’s a regeneration, recovery… skill. It can remove status effects for a short time….”

“Ah, so that’s why the ground was restored.”

There was more than one unusual phenomenon. Cheonghyeon silently berated himself for being a fool. He had never heard of a case where land undergoing ‘dungeonization’ was restored.

Hakyung’s mother, Choi Seonyeon, had an extraordinary skill as an S-class guide. Her signature skill was <Resistance>. It was a cheat skill that could reflect or nullify others’ skills.

It must have shown a cheat-level effect because it was legendary grade, but even without that, her skill was like magic. It was just limited to one type of magic.

On the other hand, Hakyung’s grade was F-class. Objectively and subjectively, it wasn’t a level where he would awaken a ‘skill.’

‘Is it hereditary?’

It was unclear if skill awakening was influenced by bloodline… but for now, it seemed the most likely cause.

“And when my parents’ bodies surfaced… I saw an illusion. A, a man, tearing my parents’ arms and legs… Ugh!”

As he hesitantly confessed, Hakyung couldn’t hold back and gagged. The memory, which he had forgotten for a while, vividly resurfaced.

“Shh… It’s okay, child. Breathe.”

“Ugh…”

Smooch, smooch. Cheonghyeon neatly brushed back Hakyung’s bangs with his wet hand. He repeatedly pressed his lips against the smooth forehead.

Eventually, the warm water filled the bathtub. Even then, Cheonghyeon didn’t release the intertwined position. Today, he too felt like crying.

“Your parents were truly relentless.”

Hakyung reflexively tried to lift his head. Cheonghyeon pressed the small head against his neck and murmured.

“Look at that. They left an illusion skill, unwilling to die just like that. Not knowing if you’d come to find them.”

“…….”

“Haha…”

This was, in fact, Cheonghyeon’s interpretation. If it were them, they would have left the illusion skill not to ask for revenge, but to prepare for any situation if someone came to recover the bodies later. Meanwhile, since the enemy might find them, they would have had to cast the spell using blood as a medium. Even that blood couldn’t be from just one person, as the enemy siblings might dig it up, so they had no choice but to mix the blood of both. From the start, they only had one option.

Cheonghyeon felt genuinely relieved. Although he had persistently killed those involved at the time, being human, he often wondered if this revenge was merely self-satisfaction.

‘Hyun, don’t do that. Live your life. Revenge isn’t necessary.’

What Cheonghyeon truly feared was Juhyeong and Seonyeon suddenly appearing, whether in dreams, illusions, or delusions, to admonish him.

I’m not satisfied yet.

Then and now, he had no expectations from the world. He still couldn’t trust humans, finding them the most disgusting trash in the world.

“Hakyung.”

Calling his son as usual, his voice choked. He chuckled, a hollow laugh escaping. The situation was so absurd.

“What if the train you’re on is headed for ruin?”

No, it was surely headed for ruin.

From the moment he resolved to take revenge, he sensed that his life wouldn’t be smooth. There were many he wanted to kill, and he had actually killed many. He was surrounded by enemies. As people died, killing one enemy only created another.

Yet, even after all that killing, he wasn’t satisfied.

Still, it was a revenge with a reason, so he couldn’t give up.

In other words, his actions were destroying the peace that ‘good people’ had painstakingly built. Was it right to involve their bloodline in such actions?

“I’m really curious. If Hakyung goes with me, how far will you fall with me….”

The clear thing was, no matter how far he fell, it wouldn’t be too difficult if his guide was by his side.

After a long silence, Hakyung finally spoke. His eyes, when he finally lifted them, were more resolute than ever.

“…Any ruin is fine.”

If it’s where my esper is headed, even hell would be bliss.

***

It was from that day onward.

Hakyung strangely gained confidence. He no longer hesitated to initiate skinship and guiding, like kissing or hugging Cheonghyeon first. Watching Hakyung smile bashfully afterward, Cheonghyeon said,

“Raising you with love was worth it.”

“Ahaha!”

Hakyung laughed heartily at that.

Coincidentally, the weather was cloudless. The weather was as clear as his brightened heart.

Hakyung lay with his head resting on his father’s thigh, gazing at the sky like a lounging animal. The weather was so nice that they had set up a spot in the artificial garden. They even brought a basket filled with snacks to create a picnic atmosphere.

His father had brought a book. Then, holding the basket in his right hand and Hakyung’s hand in his left, he walked to a sunny spot, matching his son’s pace.

“Father.”

“Yes.”

Was it because the weather was nice, or because he liked his father even more than yesterday? An uncharacteristic thought suddenly arose.

“Should I return to school?”

“Hmm?”

Cheonghyeon tilted the book he was reading to the side. He gazed intently at his lovely son, trying to discern his intentions. His eyebrows were slightly furrowed. It meant he was displeased.

“Why school?”

“…Isn’t that a strange question?”

“What is?”

“Don’t fathers usually say something if you don’t go to school…?”

He snorted and lightly pinched and shook Hakyung’s cheek.

“First, decide if you’re calling me father or your boyfriend.”

Ugh….

Ah, Father’s sneering face is so handsome….

Hakyung held his nose, fearing a nosebleed, and replied.

“Anyway… since I’m already in, wouldn’t it be good to get a diploma?”

“Why are you such an old soul for someone so young? How many actually get a college diploma? Half of the awakeners only have an elementary school education.”

The emphasis in his voice was stronger because he was one of those with an elementary education.

Does he really dislike the idea of going to school that much…. His response was rather prickly.

However, Hakyung had his own concerns.

“I thought if I at least graduated from college, there might be a place that would take me.”

“Are you going to college to get a job?”

“Well… most people do, right?”

“Not most people, you. Im Cheonghyeon’s son, Im Hakyung.”

“I….”

Hakyung hesitated, then let out a deep sigh.

“What’s fun about going to school? I just… want to be of help to Father….”

To be precise, he wanted to prove his usefulness. When he forcibly distanced himself from his father, he needed such a goal. A goal that seemed visible and within reach.

Reflecting on the past, he suddenly found it amusing. Talking about career paths felt like a normal conversation between a father and son. Wasn’t it quite the ‘family’ conversation?

“Why are you laughing? Don’t laugh alone, share it with me, son?”

Cheonghyeon closed the book he was reading. He stretched and pulled his son’s soft cheeks.

“Haha… No, it’s just, the conversation was so, so normal—.”

“You laughed because it was a normal conversation?”

Cheonghyeon clicked his tongue and suddenly glared. Whatever had irked him, he seemed quite displeased. It was a very confusing reaction for Hakyung.

“Why, why… Ah!”

The hand that had been touching Hakyung’s cheek and neck suddenly lifted his shirt and invaded. He squeezed and rubbed the softer flesh than his cheek, grinning.

“Why. It’s normal for a dad to touch his son’s nipples.”