Retire 264

by Cristae

264 Tati (3)

‘Irok.’

A low, gentle voice.

‘Will you be alright without me around?’

‘…Are you leaving again?’

‘Probably.’

‘You’re always going somewhere.’

‘I suppose I am.’

A small laugh followed.

‘Someday, someone might come looking for you, Irok.’

‘Me?’

‘Yeah. A friend of mine.’

‘You have friends?’

‘…Don’t ask other people questions like that, okay? Just me.’

It would be a long time before I understood what that meant.

Back then, I didn’t really know what I was saying. I just… I remember trying to comfort him because he seemed down.

‘It’s okay! I don’t have any friends either!’

‘…Isn’t … your friend?’

‘They’re just people I play with.’

‘Most people call that a friend.’

‘Really?’

Looking back, now that I’m older, yes. I could have called them friends. Most of them, I never saw again after leaving the lab… If things had been more normal, I would have answered without hesitation that they were friends.

…No. This isn’t about me.

‘And Irok.’

‘Yeah?’

‘I have friends too.’

‘Who?’

‘……I just do.’

‘If you say so.’

I was old enough to understand pride and the little lies adults tell to protect it. I nodded knowingly.

Which, apparently, only bruised my brother’s pride further.

‘No, I really do have—’

Even if he did, the lab wasn’t the place to talk about it, with ears everywhere.

…Though, I think this conversation actually happened in the car, not the lab.

And again, this isn’t about me.

It’s about my brother.

‘Irok.’

That low, gentle voice again.

‘There might be someone who comes looking for you, saying they’re my friend.’

‘But you don’t have any friends.’

‘I do… Anyway, if that happens—’

‘Okay.’

‘…No, I mean, if you ever meet someone who says they’re my friend, even if it’s much later—’

‘But you don’t have friends.’

‘Just in case.’

My brother raised me with patience. If nothing else, I have to acknowledge that.

‘If you meet someone like that…’

And now, more than twenty years later.

I wondered if, when he said “friend,” he meant that even a monster could be included.

Did my brother think I would ever meet a monster like this? Well, considering he started by saying “you never know who might come,” he was probably thinking of Kim from Father’s group, Kim Yuhwa.

Kim never did come looking for me.

And my brother…

“……”

<Sniff, that one, sniff, give it back.>

I looked at the fairy, who was sniffling, making a sound almost like hiccups.

The worst-case scenario… didn’t happen.

I hadn’t told Hong Seokyoung, but I was afraid I might find my brother in this dungeon. My brother. Or more precisely, his body.

If my sister hadn’t found the sword in the Mud Dungeon, where else could she have gotten it? Now that it was almost certain my sister’s sword had once been my brother’s… I’d suspected she recovered his body and the sword from this dungeon, and maybe even Kim’s body from the Mud Dungeon.

Hong Seokyoung was probably thinking the same.

Should I be relieved my brother isn’t here?

It’s not that I’m disappointed he might still be alive. Honestly, I never really believed he was. Of course, it would be wonderful if he were. I’ve wished for nothing more, for so long.

But the facts are what they are.

If he were alive, he never would have left me alone.

I want to find my brother. Because he never would have left me, I don’t want to leave him behind, either.

…No. At this point, he could still be alive. I don’t want to be too pessimistic, but I don’t want to get my hopes up, either. In the end, I’d only be disappointed.

Whatever his situation, he’s not here. But there is a monster here who knew him. I haven’t lost all the clues about him yet.

The way it cries, demanding I give back my brother’s sword… And the way it says his name without hostility. If my brother had stolen its weapon, it would never react like this.

The fact that it can speak human language means we can communicate. Which means, depending on how I handle this, I might be able to persuade it—or not.

…If it refuses to talk at all, there’s nothing I can do.

There’s a simple way to find out.

“…This.”

I gripped the sword and held it out. The sniffling monster stretched its neck forward.

When I slowly moved my hand side to side, its head followed the movement of the sword.

“It’s mine.”

<No!!>

The monster reacted fiercely.

“It’s mine.”

<No! That one, that one.>

The monster spoke with a frustrated expression.

<$*)!$*!*&!*(&%&&%>

It didn’t hurt my ears like before, but it was clearly angry.

I shrugged to show I didn’t understand, and it frowned.

Hmm.

It seemed to understand gestures as well as words.

Was it because its culture was similar to humans’, or had it learned from someone?

<%)&*That one, that one, my friend’s.>

It said.

Friend.

A friend.

I hesitated, then steeled myself. If this really was connected to my brother, I couldn’t just kill it.

“Heejae?”

<Heejae! You know?>

Did it not realize it had already said the name?

“I received this.”

<Received?>

“My family gave it to me.”

<Family?>

It tilted its head repeatedly, then its eyes widened as if it remembered something. Not so different from a human.

<You, Heejae, sibling?>

“……”

It lowered its body and circled around me, like a curious young animal.

The monster nodded.

It grinned.

<Heejae’s sibling!>

“……”

<Name, name… I know it.>

This time, my eyes widened.

It knows?

The awkward sounds gradually formed familiar syllables.

<Iro, Iroot, geu. Geut… hard.>

I could have pretended not to understand.

But I knew what name it was trying to say.

<Iro, Iro… ok! Irok!>

“Woo Irok.”

<Right! Irok, Irok! That, you?>

Its demeanor changed completely. Even if it had acted childishly, it had still been wary of me.

The sharp, tense air relaxed, the hardened sea of mud rippling as if its tension had been released.

If we had fought, it would have been a hard fight.

While it smiled brightly, I grew more tense. I couldn’t forget—it was clever enough to submerge the gate in mud.

<Oh.>

But then it frowned again.

<Heejae… said sibling was small. Hm?>

“……”

I’d always been tall for my age.

Well, no point explaining that to a monster.

<Ah! Time… um, um. Fast. Fast, huh? You grew up!>

I understood what it meant, but I didn’t bother to correct it. It wasn’t wrong, after all.

But as the dungeon grew brighter, I felt strangely uneasy.

I hadn’t lied about anything, but I felt as if I were deceiving a child.

It was a strange feeling….

<Oh… Ah. Ah, Heejae, sibling?>

Without me saying a word, it conveniently filled in the gaps on its own, calling out to me as if it had remembered something.

Sibling.

Heejae’s sibling.

A title I’d never heard before, so unfamiliar. I’d never imagined I’d be called that in my life.

“…My brother?”

And to think I’d talk about my brother with someone else.

The creature squatted on the mud, then stuck its hand into the muck and began to rummage around.

It frowned in concentration for a while, then stood up with a bright face. Mud dripped from its hand, but it was holding something.

It opened its hand in front of me. For something dug out of the mud, it was surprisingly clean, though badly crumpled.

“…He gave you this?”

<Yes! Heejae gave it to me. Said to show it.>

“He told you to show it to anyone who knew him?”

<Yes!>

“……”

I looked at the crumpled slip of paper in its hand. About the size of a business card.

Normally, I’d forget such a tacky design and slogan after a glance, but I’d seen this before.

[Drive Safely! Treated Like Royalty]

[Hong’s Chauffeur Service]

A phone number connecting to the Awakened Crime Investigation Unit.

The same business card found in Kim Yuhwa’s belongings.

<This! Said to show this too!>

It held the card in both hands and showed me the back.

The message on the card Kim Yuhwa had carried was so smudged it was hard to read. But here, the writing was clear, written in neat, careful script.

At a glance, you might think someone else had written it. But no—the handwriting had the same quirks. The two were written by the same person.

Given the circumstances…

[Whoever is reading this, I don’t know who you are.]

It must be my brother.

If only I could remember his handwriting at a time like this. But when would I have ever seen him write? It was the researchers, not my brother, who taught me Hangul. Even if he had, twenty years is enough to make any memory fade.

[Kim? Or Kim’s teacher?]

[Whoever it may be]

The card was filled with dense writing.

I committed it to memory, so I wouldn’t get confused if I ever saw that handwriting again.

[You can trust this child.]

Unlike the cryptic message on Kim Yuhwa’s card, this one laid everything bare.

Was my brother that worried about this monster…?

[Her name is Tati.]

“…Tati?”

<That’s my name!>

The monster’s golden eyes curved into crescent moons as it beamed.

[Please take care of her.]

“…That’s how it happened.”

“Sir!”

Kim Chaemin shot her hand up.

“I don’t understand a thing!”

“Yes. Honestly, neither do I.”

I agreed with her.

Meanwhile, Hong Seokyoung stared intently at the card in the creature’s hand. The man’s face was leaking emotion, unable to keep his composure. He must have been deeply shaken.

Should he believe this? But it’s a monster. And yet, that business card? No, it’s a fairy right in front of him!

…His face said it all.

I never expected Hong Seokyoung to just trust this thing. I didn’t trust it myself.

But with Hong Seokyoung here, if it tried anything, he could kill it instantly. That was the only reassurance I had.

“Tati.”

I called out to it carefully. Sensing the tense mood, it hesitated, then answered brightly.

<Hm? Why?>

“Could you… get rid of this mud?”

<Okay!>

It didn’t ask any further questions. With that short, cheerful reply, the mud began to slowly recede.