Retire 322

322 Guardian (2)

There was not a hint of shadow in that snowy white hair. The strands, remarkably smooth, did not look like those of an elderly woman at all. The old woman, her hair swept up with a large clip, smiled gently.

Before I could even react, she pulled me into a tight embrace.

“At last, we finally meet!”

Her words were so familiar, it was almost bewildering.

“Isabella, let me see our grandchild’s face too!”

In contrast to the old woman’s abundant hair, the robust old man was bald. His head, cleanly shaven, was topped with a deep gray fedora. Beneath a sweater of the same color, muscles rippled that seemed far too firm for his age.

Anyone could see he was a retired Hunter.

The elderly couple began bickering in fluent Korean right in front of me. There was a trace of a foreign accent, but they spoke so naturally it was clear they’d been using Korean for a long time.

So, these people must be…

“No, you’re in the way, move over there!”

“You’re the one in the way!”

“Don’t act like a child! Look at Taewoo and Sophia. What if you behave worse than those kids?”

Over the woman’s shoulder, I met Kang Taewoo’s eyes. He shrugged, then took his sister’s hand and spoke to the old woman. His face, plump and healthy, was both pleasant and a little annoying to see.

“Grandma, I’m going to say hi to the other kids!”

“Oh, all right, go and play then.”

Why was he accepting this situation so naturally?

“Ah, Sophia. You said you had something for the teacher.”

“Uh, yeah. Um…”

Sohi—now living under the name Sophia—twisted shyly as she approached me. Thanks to that, the old woman let me go, though I couldn’t tell whether I ought to be grateful or not.

The old woman made a fist and showed it to Sophia. Perhaps encouraged by that small gesture, the girl handed me a prettily wrapped paper bag.

“…What’s this?”

“Um, oppa!”

The unexpected term caught me off guard.

“…What?”

“I made these with grandma! Cookies!”

“……”

“I’ve never seen your real face before… but still, thank you for that time. Um, coo—cookies, it was my first time making them! Grandma helped me a lot… I think they taste okay. I tried them too, and they were good, so…”

It was only then that I realized Sophia wasn’t talking to me, but to my brother.

The shy words of thanks from the little girl weren’t meant for the boy who’d only ever played pranks on her. They were for the man who wore a crow-shaped mask and had shown kindness to the children living in the lab.

But the one standing here now was the one who had decided to live under his brother’s name…

“…Um, oppa?”

Sophia watched me warily, her manner cautious. In the video she’d sent Taewoo, she hadn’t sat still for a second, bouncing with energy.

The name of a brother, who had likely died long ago, felt different for the first time.

At first, it was all because of Father. Because he had guided me onto the right path, because I didn’t want to betray his expectations.

But this child was offering thanks not to me, but to my brother’s kindness. I…

I…

Thud.

The old woman gently placed her hand on my shoulder. She was much shorter than me, so it was more like she just barely managed to rest her hand there, but the way she softly patted my back was nothing but tender. When I turned, her warm gaze poured over me. A face that said she understood everything. A face that said, even without words, that it was all right.

A face that seemed to say it was okay to stand a little taller.

A face that radiated absolute faith that everything would turn out well.

“…You made these yourself?”

“Yeah!”

“Thank you. I’ll enjoy them.”

I patted Sophia’s head. I did it a bit roughly, as I would with Uirok, and she flinched. How was I supposed to treat girls? Was it okay to treat them the same? At the co-ed school, I’d always acted equally, but those kids were all Hunter trainees. Sophia wasn’t like that…

But Sophia, after a moment’s tension, broke into a bright smile, her cheeks flushing red. Even in my hazy memories of the lab, I recalled her as a child who laughed easily.

But seeing a child’s smile through an adult’s eyes, rather than as a peer…

……

I realized, with certainty, that I was no longer a child.

---

“I’m Isabella Blake. And this is Robert Blake.”

The old couple sipped their coffee and introduced themselves formally.

“As you might have guessed, we’re Seokyeong’s in-laws. Though, to be honest, we just think of Seokyeong as our own son these days.”

Isabella Blake spoke in a gentle, measured voice.

I couldn’t even begin to imagine what it was like to call the widower of a long-dead adopted daughter “son.” Their only grandchild was dead, too.

Blood ties don’t make a family, and the lack of them doesn’t mean you aren’t one. That, I know better than anyone.

But sitting here with these two, I couldn’t fathom what Hong Seokyeong had been thinking. He was the one who’d first brought up these people when creating identities for Kang Taewoo and his sister. Really… what had he been thinking?

Damn it, probably nothing at all! Thinking? As if!

When our eyes met, Isabella gave me the same gentle smile as before. My face grew hot, and I turned my gaze aside.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, her husband wasn’t looking at me.

With his hat off, Robert Blake’s face was clearly visible under the fluorescent lights. He stroked his impressively groomed mustache as he looked around the teachers’ office. Despite his imposing build, his face was full of curiosity and mischief.

Noticing where I was looking, Isabella jabbed her husband in the ribs with her elbow. An unwanted kindness.

“Can’t you sit still?”

“I heard Seokyeong started a school… It’s fascinating, that’s all.”

“Just sit quietly for now!”

“I am sitting quietly…”

Robert hunched his shoulders, watching his much smaller wife’s expression.

After a while of scolding her husband, Isabella turned to me with an awkward smile.

“Anyway, just call me Grandma. That’s fine.”

I opened my mouth, but no words came out.

There was plenty I wanted to say. But none of it was for these people… these two. It was all for the infuriating man currently enjoying himself in America.

After opening and closing my mouth like a fish for a while, I finally managed to blurt out something foolish.

“…You speak Korean very well.”

That’s all I could come up with?

But what was I supposed to say? That was another problem.

I’d never had grandparents at any point in my life. As for my birth parents… I even doubted whether those people had gone through the same process as everyone else to be born. Grandparents? Grandparents?

It was the same for Father. I only learned here, for the first time, that he’d kept in touch with his deceased wife’s parents.

Why hadn’t he told me?

…Thinking back to my childhood, the answer was obvious.

I would have hated it. I hated having people I didn’t know intrude on my life.

So why introduce me to them now?

“Pfft.”

“…?”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

Isabella and Robert burst out laughing at the same time.

I stared at them in confusion, and Isabella waved her hand. The way her shoulders shook as she laughed reminded me of Father. I couldn’t tell if it was because they’d known each other so long that they’d grown alike, or if they’d picked up habits from the person they both knew.

“Seokyeong said so.”

“Sorry?”

“He said you’d probably start by complimenting our Korean.”

“……”

“He told us not to think it was strange, that it’s just because you’re shy.”

That man, honestly…

Robert, still chuckling beside her, quietly joined in.

“If you’re Seokyeong’s son, then you’re our grandchild. Where’s the youngest, by the way? Still at school?”

“…The youngest?”

“Seokyeong’s third son, so he’s the youngest, right?”

I blinked.

“…You mean my little brother?”

“Yes. The youngest.”

“……”

It was clear I was flustered, but Isabella and Robert made no move to correct themselves.

This, too, was just like Father.

Every time our eyes met, their soft, smiling gaze was nothing like Father’s or my sister’s. It sent a ticklish discomfort through my whole body. I had to fight the urge to get up and run out of the room.

…It wasn’t that I disliked it. It wasn’t that at all.

It was just… something. That.

I forced my reluctant mouth to open.

“Um, excuse me, teacher… I mean, about your son-in-law…”

“You mean your father?”

Isabella corrected me with clear eyes.

“No, it’s just…”

“Why, what about your father?”

“My father…”

“Hmm?”

“……”

I knew instinctively. Even if I denied it, they wouldn’t understand. The longer this dragged on, the more I would lose.

I muddled my words and asked,

“…Yes, but, how much did you hear about me?”

No matter what, I couldn’t imagine Hong Seokyeong had told them everything without asking me first.

But these people were still Hong Seokyeong’s family. The family of my father that I never knew. Who could say?

“Well.”

Isabella was still smiling brightly.

“I think we’ve heard just about everything worth hearing. Right, dear?”

“Hm? Oh, yes, that’s right.”

Robert nodded emphatically.

“You’re Seokyeong’s son, aren’t you?”

“……”

“Then you’re our grandchild. That’s enough. What more do we need to know?”

“Well…”

“No, I suppose we do need to know some things. What do you like to eat? Grandma here is a fantastic cook.”

Robert looked me up and down.

“I heard you’re a Hunter. Why are you so thin?”

Me?

I looked at Robert suspiciously. Did he have bad eyesight?

“Yes, yes. Why are you so thin! You look about the same height as Damon… but you must weigh at least thirty pounds less.”

“Who’s Damon?”

“Hm? Our son.”

I fell silent. Their son—wasn’t that the Hunter whose body was never found?

As I awkwardly closed my mouth, Isabella became even more animated.

“I made a lot of Korean food for Hannah. So if there’s anything you want to eat…”

“It’s true. She’s really top-notch. She can make just about anything, so don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Well…”

“We even brought a present for the youngest! School? He’s still at school? Can we go pick him up?”

“But he doesn’t know our faces yet! Is it all right if we go together?”

“Um…”

The elderly couple, who called themselves my grandparents, didn’t give me a chance to object.

I sat there, listening quietly to everything they said, my face bewildered. I had no idea how I was supposed to respond.

Only the weight of the dainty paper bag with its pink ribbon in my hand reminded me that all of this was, in fact, real.