Chapter 68

Chapter 68

‘But… if my family ever saw an adult man calling me “Master” or “Lady Seohee” right in front of them, I’d die of shame.’

Of course, it was embarrassing enough when Mr. Yoon Juyeong called me that in normal circumstances, but doing it in front of my family was a whole different level.

How should I put this? It felt like showing the world a diary I wrote back in eighth grade. Though honestly, I’ve barely ever written a diary in my life.

“Anyway, both of you, come on in. I haven’t prepared anything, but I can at least offer you some tea and snacks.”

After saying that, the Director turned around and started heading toward the orphanage building, as if she wouldn’t accept any objections.

Thanks to that, the kids who’d been pressed up against the fence watching me and Mr. Yoon Juyeong exchanged glances with each other, then started running inside, leaving behind words like, “Seohee, hurry up and come in!” and “Yeah, Seohee! Let’s play together after so long!”

‘She really hasn’t changed at all.’

The Director, the kids at the orphanage, even the building with paint peeling off in spots and the clover blooming in a corner of the yard. My hometown was welcoming me exactly as I remembered it, without a single change.

“So this is where Master grew up.”

“Yeah, well… that’s right. I lived here for over twenty years.”

No one’s around, so out comes “Master” right away… At least he didn’t say it when people were right in front of us, so I guess I should be satisfied with that.

By now, the Director was standing right in front of the building’s entrance, waving her hand as if to ask why we weren’t coming in already.

“If you’re okay with it, Mr. Yoon Juyeong, shall we go in for now?”

“Whatever Master wishes is fine with me.”

“I was asking for your opinion, Mr. Yoon Juyeong?”

“Whatever Master likes, I like.”

“……”

He really was consistently impossible to reason with on this kind of thing. Instead of letting out the sigh that was about to burst out of me, I grabbed Mr. Yoon Juyeong’s wrist. For just a moment, his eyes went wide with surprise as he looked at me.

“Then let’s go in. The Director might not be good at much else, but she makes really excellent cookies. I think you’ll find them delicious too once you try them, Mr. Yoon Juyeong.”

“…Yes, if it’s food that Master says is delicious, then surely—”

“Yes, yes~ It really is delicious food, so you absolutely have to try it too, Mr. Yoon Juyeong~”

If I had my way, I’d grab Mr. Yoon Juyeong and hold a whole seminar on “How to Properly State Your Preferences” for a day and a half, but right now, no matter how I thought about it, that was impossible.

After all, the Director and the kids were right there ahead of us, just waiting for me to come inside.

In the end, instead of holding a “How to Properly State Your Preferences” seminar with Mr. Yoon Juyeong, I grabbed his wrist, pulled him toward the building, and opened my mouth.

“Mr. Yoon Juyeong.”

“Yes, Master.”

“I’m very curious about you.”

A faint tremor passed between our clasped hands.

“What you like and what you dislike. How you’ve lived, and how you want to live. And… why you’re so fixated on your relationship with me.”

I didn’t turn around, but I was certain Mr. Yoon Juyeong was staring at the back of my head right now.

I deliberately pretended not to notice his gaze and waved my free hand at the kids who were waving at me with all their might from the entrance.

“Actually, I decided we should come here ever since you made it a condition that it would be just us, without Avan and Jeong Seojin. Sorry, but you only said those two couldn’t be here—you never mentioned anyone else, so I figured it would be fine.”

“As Master says, just not having those two is enough.”

“That’s a relief. Well, anyway, that’s how it is. I want to get to know you, Mr. Yoon Juyeong.”

“…Why would you want to know about a worthless servant? It’s only natural for noble people not to know about the lives of those beneath them.”

“That’s your way of thinking, not mine.”

The distance to the entrance wasn’t far. When there were about ten steps left to the door, I let go of Mr. Yoon Juyeong’s wrist and turned around.

“That’s actually why I brought you here. I figured that to get to know you, Mr. Yoon Juyeong, I should first let you know about me.”

Mr. Yoon Juyeong was staring at me with a completely blank expression, devoid of any emotion. I met his gaze directly and spoke in a firm voice, as if cutting off any escape route.

“So, Mr. Yoon Juyeong. Let’s take some time to get to know each other.”

* * *

He sometimes thinks.

If only you had been a little more selfish.

If only you had been the kind of person who could close your eyes to the injustice right in front of you, tolerate the absurdities piled up around you, and swallow lies that would turn to your own benefit, pretending not to notice.

But before long, he thinks again.

If that were the case, I would never have met you.

That Yoon Juyeong met Yoon Seohee, was saved by her and pitied by her, and eventually ended up in a relationship like this — it was entirely possible because she was a good person.

If Yoon Seohee had been just a little more selfish, as he wished, and thus the kind of person who could swallow the lies before her, pretending not to notice.

Then Yoon Juyeong would never have been able to meet Yoon Seohee.

“Mr. Yoon Juyeong?”

Under the midday sun that poured down without a single cloud to shield it, a voice pulled the man out of the unfathomable depths of his thoughts.

Yoon Juyeong blinked once, as if shaking off the warmth of the sunlight settled on his brow, and looked at the owner of the voice that had called him.

“…Yes. Did you call me, Director?”

“Oh my, I’m sorry. I was just curious what you were staring at so intently, so I called out…”

The eyes, light brown from faded pigment, gazed in the direction Yoon Juyeong had been looking for a long time.

“You were watching Seohee.”

“Ah… yes. It seems all the children like Seohee…-ssi.”

“Of course. Children are bound to like people who play with them well.”

As the Director said, Yoon Seohee had been spending all her time playing with the children ever since she finished eating right after arriving at the orphanage.

Yoon Juyeong quietly gazed at her face, which shone purely white under the pouring sunlight.

“I’m relieved.”

Her voice melted warmly, like the midday sunlight. Yoon Juyeong turned his head again to look at the Director’s wrinkled eyes.

“I’ve been worried ever since Seohee said she wanted to become a Hunter and went up to Seoul… but it looks like she’s met a good person while working as a Hunter.”

“I’m not worthy of such an overblown evaluation…”

“Hm? No, what overblown evaluation. I’m just saying what I see.”

A faint smile rose on the Director’s wrinkled face.

“Because you’ve been watching Seohee the whole time since you got here.”

He was silent for a moment, looking at the Director’s wrinkled face.

It was a small, faint smile, like some nameless flower that only blooms in the drizzling dawn. And it was also a smile he had seen many times from Yoon Seohee.

“Seohee introduced you to me as just a work colleague… but it seems there’s a story between the two of you that I don’t know about.”

“…At the very least, the ‘dating rumor’ is definitely not true.”

“Is that so? Well, relationships between people are hard to define with just a single word, after all.”

This time, he didn’t answer. Not because he had nothing to say, but because the only words swirling in his mouth were ones he shouldn’t speak.

‘Because the Master commanded it…’

He wanted to say that his relationship with the Master was not something so vague. That he and the Master could be expressed with the firm word ‘master-servant relationship.’ That this relationship took on an absolute and clear form under the effect of her skill, ‘Ruler’s Garden.’

But he wasn’t stupid enough to forget an order that was less than a day old.

“No! I want to play with Seohee more!”

A sudden cry cut through the silence that had been comfortable, though unexpected. Yoon Juyeong quickly lifted his head to look at the little girl who had let out the tearful shout.

“Unnie is leaving soon! I want to play with unnie more!”

“No, I’ll be here until today and tomorrow.”

“Liar! Unnie is busy! That’s why you don’t come often!”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to be! You already got to play with Seohee all this time, that’s enough! We want to play soccer with Seohee too!”

“B-but, last time you guys played with Seohee way more!”

“That’s because we won rock-paper-scissors! Are you stupid? You can’t even remember that? That’s why you always get all the Korean questions wrong on your tests, you idiot!”

It seemed a conflict had broken out over who Yoon Seohee would play with. Yoon Seohee was caught between the two children shouting fiercely on either side of her, wearing an awkward, troubled smile.

On pure reflex, he tried to approach Yoon Seohee right away to separate the two children.

No matter how much those two children were Yoon Seohee’s family, he wasn’t a servant generous and kind enough to tolerate a situation where they made her uncomfortable.

But what stopped him was the names of the two children, shouted loudly right beside him.

“Kim Yerang! Lee Junseo!”

The two children, who had been raising their voices endlessly on either side of Yoon Seohee, flinched and froze. Yoon Juyeong, also startled, opened his eyes wide and looked at the Director, who was staring at the two children with a completely hardened expression beside him.