Chapter 69

Chapter 69

“Yerang. The time you promised to play with Seohee is already over, isn’t it?”

The Director walked up to the two children with a stiff expression. The children, seeming frightened by her tightly set face, shrank back while still clinging to Yoon Seohee.

“W-Well… but still.”

“What did the teacher say? When you make a promise?”

“…You have to keep it.”

“Right. If you make a promise, you keep it. So why are you trying not to keep it now?”

“But… Seohee doesn’t come often. If I don’t play with her this time, I don’t know when I’ll get to play again…”

“Isn’t that the same for Junseo?”

The child didn’t open their mouth. Being young doesn’t mean being foolish. The child’s eyes reddened with grievance, but they still nodded. The Director watched every bit of it without missing a thing, then spoke again.

“Alright. So what should we do now?”

“I need to apologize…”

“To who?”

“To Junseo…”

“Right, that’s correct. And you should apologize to Seohee too. She was feeling awkward as well.”

The child gripped the hem of their pants tightly, eyes red as if tears would fall any moment, but still turned to face the boy called Junseo and Yoon Seohee.

“*Sniff*, I’m, I’m sorry, unnie, and Junseo.”

“It’s, it’s okay. So d-don’t cry! It’s really okay.”

“And Junseo.”

“Yes, yes!”

“Junseo, what do you think you should do?”

The Director’s gaze turned to the boy this time. The eyes that had held a warmth as gentle as morning sunlight just moments ago now housed a stern judge weighing principles.

The boy, as if unable to withstand that look, let go of Yoon Seohee’s clothes he’d been clinging to and barely managed to speak.

“I… I need to apologize to Seohee…”

“Right. And?”

“Uh… and… uhh…”

“You should apologize to Yerang too. It’s true that Yerang was wrong for not keeping the time promise, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay to say mean things to Yerang, Junseo.”

“…That’s right…”

“Good. Then let’s try saying it again. What should you do?”

“I need to apologize to Seohee and Yerang.”

This time, the boy faced the girl called Yerang and Yoon Seohee.

“Uhm… Junseo, I’m sorry… And Yerang. I’m sorry to you too. I, I really didn’t think you were stupid. You’re not stupid. I know you’re really good at solving math problems.”

“*Sniff*, …*hic*, uh-huh.”

After the two children finished apologizing to each other, the Director’s eyes finally returned to their usual light. With eyes as soft as morning sunlight melting warmly, she pulled both children into her arms.

“Good, our Yerang and Junseo know how to apologize for their mistakes. Teacher is really grateful for that.”

“T-Tea, teacher, *hic*, *sniffle*…”

“I-I was wrong, teacher. I won’t do it again…”

The brief comedy that had unfolded in an instant was wrapping up just as quickly. Yoon Juyeong, feeling somewhat dazed, alternated his gaze between the two children sniffling in the Director’s arms and Yoon Seohee.

Yoon Seohee wore a faint smile as if she’d expected this. It seemed this kind of thing had happened often even when she lived here.

“Alright, Yerang will play with teacher from now on. Junseo, you play with Seohee like you promised. Oh, right.”

The Director, who had been gently patting the children’s backs, turned her head as if she’d just realized something and stared at him.

Yoon Juyeong flinched his fingertips for no reason, recalling that stern gaze from earlier.

Even though he knew she was just an ordinary person who hadn’t even undergone Awakening, the way the Director had acted just now had a strange power that made people tense up.

“Mr. Yoon Juyeong. Would you like to go along with Seohee?”

“Uh… hyung^[1], you coming too?”

Had he cried a little? The boy, with slightly reddened eyes, poked his head over the Director’s shoulder and asked. Yoon Juyeong, feeling a bit put out by the sight, nodded anyway.

Honestly, he had zero interest in this boy—whether his name was Kim Junseo or Lee Junseo—but if that kid was going to play with his Master, he had to force himself to care.

“I don’t mind.”

“Then I’ll leave it to you. Oh, Seohee. Yujin should be coming around four o’clock, so wrap things up and come back by then. Junseo, you heard that too?”

“Yes! I’ll be back before Yujin gets here.”

The Director, who had already let go of the two children and stood up, gave a gentle smile. It was a smile that resembled Yoon Seohee’s—no, perhaps it was Yoon Seohee who had inherited that smile.

*Peeeeep.* A shrill whistle rang out beneath the cloudless, transparent sky. Yoon Juyeong stopped halfheartedly marking the boy he’d been watching and turned to look at the boy who’d been assigned as referee.

“Time’s uuup! The winner is Lee Junseo’s team!”

At the child’s shout, the boy standing right in front of him started cheering.

“Wooaaah!”

Watching the kid throw both hands in the air and run toward his teammates, Yoon Juyeong couldn’t help but think of a bunch of monkeys squealing and carrying on. Hmm.

‘Better not tell anyone that.’

Not that he made a habit of sharing his thoughts with others anyway, so it didn’t matter… but still, the reason he resolved to keep his mouth shut one more time was, as always, because of his Master.

Yoon Seohee approached him, looking warmly at the boys huddled together, squealing and shouting in excitement.

“Was it hard dealing with the kids?”

“Not at all. An Awakened wouldn’t get worn out by something like this.”

“Really? Huh… Even after Awakening, I still find playing with kids exhausting.”

“Playing with children is a very difficult and tiring task. No matter how strong an Awakened is, they’re still human, so it’s only natural to find it hard.”

“You sure flip your stance fast. Or wait, should I say you’re really good at empty flattery?”

Empty flattery. He had never once dared to offer empty flattery in front of Yoon Seohee.

Even when he’d reversed his own words in front of her, that was only because, to him, her words were the law and truth of the world.

When an obvious and rightful truth stood right before him, stubbornly clinging to his own opinion was nothing more than obstinacy.

He genuinely believed that, and at the same time, he knew that this way of thinking would never sit well with Yoon Seohee.

So instead of insisting that his words weren’t empty flattery, he simply smiled in silence.

Yoon Seohee saw that smile and twitched her eyebrows as if to say she didn’t like it, but she didn’t react further. Instead, she deliberately changed the subject.

“Anyway, I noticed earlier—you’re pretty good at subtly favoring the kids without making it obvious. That’s the hardest part of playing with them.”

“Fortunately, it wasn’t too difficult. After all, you gave me a perfect example to follow, Master.”

“Ah, right. I guess once you’re an S-Rank Hunter, copying something after seeing it once isn’t hard.”

Saying that, Yoon Seohee gave a brief smile.

Watching that smile, Yoon Juyeong smiled back, just a little. He didn’t know exactly what had pleased his Master, but whatever the reason, if she was smiling, that was enough for him.

“So, how is it?”

“…Huh?”

“I know it hasn’t even been a full day yet, but I’m asking how you feel about seeing the place where I grew up.”

For the record, I’m going to ask you again when we leave here. Yoon Seohee said it in a calm, matter-of-fact tone, as if it were nothing. Yoon Juyeong stared at her peaceful face, bathed in white sunlight, and could only part his lips without a word.

“What? Do you think it’s not that great?”

“How could I…! …You know I couldn’t.”

How could he ever give a negative assessment of anything that made up his Master?

Yoon Juyeong reflexively reached out his hand, as if to beg her to understand his heart right then and there. But he stopped mid-motion because, in that instant, the silver-gray eyes he met were gazing at him with an utterly transparent clarity.

“Well then?”

“……”

Those silver-gray eyes, neither affirming nor denying anything about a person, simply facing things as they were—they were no different from the moment she had reached out to him in the pouring rain.

And so, feeling as if he were sinking deep down into something, he opened his mouth.

“…I thought it suited you very well, Master.”

“Oh? In what way?”

“The brightness… the radiance of it.”

It was so utterly different from his own past, where mockery was a meal and contempt was the air he breathed, that he felt the distance between Yoon Seohee and herself anew.

But he dismissed that thought between the cracks. If there was a difference between him and Yoon Seohee, it was entirely his fault. As her loyal servant and attendant, he had to think and see things the same way as his Master. Only then—

“I think I finally understand what kind of person you see when you look at me, Mr. Yoon Juyeong.”

Her voice was oddly firm, with a faint hint of laughter mixed in.

Yoon Juyeong fixed his gaze, which had been wandering through the air for a moment, back onto Yoon Seohee.

“Master…?”

“Actually, Mr. Jeong Seojin too, and Guild Master Kang Mujin as well… they all looked at me favorably in a strange way. But you, Mr. Yoon Juyeong, were a little… how should I put it, on a different track. I felt like something was different.”

In the distance, the children who had been cheering among themselves burst into laughter and waved at Yoon Seohee. She waved back in reply, continuing her words.

“If the former is just evaluating me as a good person, then in your case, Mr. Yoon Juyeong… it’s like you’re treating me like a hero from a biography or an angel from the Bible.”

“……”

“That’s probably the kind of person I am in your eyes, Mr. Yoon Juyeong. Unconditionally righteous, kind, and—I don’t know what you’re basing that on—but incredibly amazing.”

Her silver-gray eyes, which had been directed at the children for a moment, turned back to him.

“Mr. Yoon Juyeong.”