Retire 324

324 Guardian (4)

“Uh… um. Yes… that is, no…”

“You look just like your brother!”

“Why are you so skinny? Did you eat? Should Grandma give you a snack?”

“I heard you awakened? Then you need to eat well. Your uncle awakened at your age too, and he ate so much—he rolled around on the floor like he was turning into a pig…”

Uirok’s eyes spun round and round.

I understood Uirok’s state better than anyone. How lucky I was not to have been in that situation at his age.

It wasn’t as if the Blakes didn’t bewilder me, but… I was an adult. Being able to handle unexpected situations was what made one a real adult. Nothing at the Agency had ever gone exactly as I’d planned, either.

Uirok kept whipping his head back and forth as Isabella and Robert spoke, until at last he looked to me.

“……”

I just smiled silently, faintly. Uirok quickly realized I had no intention of helping him.

“Come on, try calling me Grandma!”

“Say Grandpa first! Robert Grandpa!”

“You’re scaring the child. Can’t you step back?”

“He’s my grandchild!”

Caught between the bickering couple, Uirok was at a complete loss, fidgeting nervously. Hong Seokyeong would have loved to see this.

“…Blake. Blake… Blake, huh.”

Meanwhile, Kim Chaemin was muttering with a serious look.

I had introduced Kim Chaemin to Isabella and Robert as well, but their attention was fixed on Uirok rather than the great mage from the Far East.

“What’s wrong?”

“No, it’s just… I feel like I’ve heard that name somewhere before…”

I looked at Robert Blake. Despite his age, his tall, broad frame and undiminished muscles were impressive.

He might be grinning at Uirok now, but for a Hunter to survive to retirement at that age, he must have been formidable.

And Hong Seokyeong had gone so far as to call him to Korea?

Someone trustworthy. Someone capable.

…Whatever my own bewilderment, these were people I could entrust Uirok to. Honestly, there was no one more suitable.

“Hyung!”

In the end, unable to withstand the couple’s attention, Uirok fled to me.

I looked at his face. No matter how cunning he was, he was still a child. Besides, Uirok still had some of my own childhood habits. In time, as he grew away from me, those habits would change, but for now, they were useful for reading his feelings.

“Hyung, those people are weird.”

Uirok whispered in my ear. Not that it mattered—Isabella and Robert could hear him anyway.

I deliberately didn’t lower my voice.

“What’s so weird?”

Uirok gripped his pants tightly, his hands hanging at his sides. Wrinkles bunched up in the fabric.

…Looking back as an adult, I realize I was just a child too. It’s all so obvious now—why did I ever believe I could fool adults?

Was it because the people at the lab never noticed my lies?

To see through someone’s lie, you have to know them well enough to notice when something is off. In other words, if you’re fooled by a ten-year-old’s lie, it means you didn’t care enough to notice. Or maybe it just wasn’t important enough to point out.

I wasn’t cruel enough to teach that lesson to a child. Instead, I waited for my little brother, who always grabbed his clothes when embarrassed, to speak.

“No, I mean—!”

Uirok, all worked up, started to raise his voice, then stopped.

“I… I mean…”

“You mean?”

“……”

He gripped his pants tighter.

His eyes rolled anxiously. The way he sneaked glances at the Blakes, trying to hide it, was almost touching.

So, this is what I should say. What did Father think every time he pretended not to notice my clumsy lies?

If he were here, he’d have grabbed me by the collar and demanded I speak.

Or maybe, deep down, he never wanted to hear it from my own lips.

But, unfortunately, Father wasn’t here. In front of me was my own embarrassing self, alive and moving.

“It’s just… weird.”

“Weird?”

Wait. I think I know what he’s about to say.

“They’re foreigners, but they speak Korean too well!”

“Pfft.”

“Heh.”

I did my best to ignore the laughter that slipped from Isabella and Robert.

Remember. He is not me. This is not my past. He’s a different person. If he gets teased for this ten years from now, it has nothing to do with me. If anything, I’ll be the one teasing him!

For some reason, my ears burned. It’s none of my business. None at all. He’s not me, right?

“……?”

When Uirok jerked his head up, the Blakes stifled their laughter and smiled at him kindly.

Uirok, sensing something was off but not knowing what, tilted his head in confusion.

“Pffft…”

“…Quiet.”

I whispered to Kim Chaemin. He coughed loudly, trying to hide his laughter.

I cleared my throat and answered as evenly as I could.

“Foreigners can speak Korean well too.”

“But…”

“Dr. Gamble speaks Korean well, doesn’t he?”

“He works in Korea, so of course he should.”

Uirok retorted with surprising logic.

I shrugged.

“That’s true, but still…”

Whatever Uirok’s discomfort with the Blakes’ friendliness, if he truly hated it, he’d have lashed out physically by now.

That’s what I would have done. But he’d been hanging out with friends, so he was already more social and polite than I’d been at his age.

Or maybe, instead of fists, I would have used sharp words. But Uirok, instead of screaming about crazy old people, just kept glancing at them and clutching his clothes.

So… it was obvious. I could see exactly what he was thinking.

“They said they learned Korean because they wanted to talk to you.”

“…Huh?”

“Did you know the ajusshi was married before?”

Uirok’s eyes widened. I crouched down to meet his gaze.

“His wife was sick and passed away a long time ago. Those two are her parents.”

“……”

There was a void in Uirok that his brother couldn’t fill.

It was something I hadn’t realized as a child. Even now, I hadn’t fully understood.

But seeing Uirok, stiff and awkward yet unable to reject the affection and attention pouring onto him, I suddenly understood.

No matter how much I’d screamed that I didn’t care, that I wanted nothing to do with them, the lack of a parent’s love and attention—the first protector a child ever knows—had left a scar on me. No matter how much my brother cared for me, that wound never fully healed.

Uirok carried the same void. Even though he grumbled, his face always brightened when Hong Seokyeong visited. Even his sharp retorts to being called “son” had nearly disappeared lately.

I remembered the vague dreams I’d had watching endless movies in the lab. The main character, surrounded by family, being showered with noisy birthday congratulations.

Before I dreamed of the absolute power of a Hunter.

Before I dreamed of the invisible force that commanded Hunters.

I’d wanted a big family.

That was all.

It wasn’t regret or longing. I had a family—Father and my sister.

And now… it was Uirok’s turn. Time for him to have family beyond just his brother.

“The ajusshi said you could be his son. Don’t you want to?”

“……”

“Even if you say no, he’ll still call you his son, and those two will think of you as their grandchild.”

“…What’s that supposed to mean.”

“And anyway, you should call older people Grandma and Grandpa.”

“It’s weird.”

“Yeah. It’s weird, right? You don’t like it?”

“……”

Uirok pouted.

Right now, it was just the Blakes, me, and Kim Chaemin in the room. Kang Taewoo was off playing with his sister and the other kids. Good. If they’d been here, Uirok wouldn’t have answered honestly.

“…You said the ajusshi’s wife is dead. Doesn’t that make them strangers?”

Uirok was still trying, weakly, to resist.

“They don’t seem to think so.”

“…Weird.”

“You don’t like it?”

“…Why are you asking me that?”

“Because I can’t just let you do something you hate. If you don’t want to, I’ll tell Grandma and Grandpa for you.”

“No!”

“Hm?”

“No…”

Uirok muttered so softly it was hard to make out.

“At school, they said you have to speak politely to Grandma and Grandpa…”

“Really? Then it’s fine, right?”

Isabella and Robert waited for Uirok with expectant eyes.

I didn’t know how much Hong Seokyeong had explained, but they seemed aware that he’d lived in the lab.

Kim Chaemin, too, had stopped smiling and was waiting for Uirok’s answer.

“Is it okay if they call you their grandson?”

I pressed him once more.

“…If I…”

Uirok gripped his clothes tightly. I worried he might tear them.

“If I… become that…”

“Yeah. Do you want to?”

Uirok didn’t answer.

I said nothing more and waited.

It was as if time had stopped. I watched the child, not daring even to breathe.

And at last, Uirok—

“……”

—nodded, just a little.

The tense moment ended. As the Blakes raised their hands in delight and moved toward him—

Uirok looked up at me.

“What about you, hyung?”

“…Huh?”

“Are you going to be their grandchild too? Are you going to be the ajusshi’s son?”

Uirok let go of his own clothes and grabbed mine instead.

Just like I used to grab my brother’s sleeve as a child.

“Are you really okay with it, hyung?”

Ah.

This cunning brat.

The Blakes froze, hands still raised. Unlike with Uirok, they looked at me directly, their intentions obvious.

Uirok gazed at me, as if he had no idea what he’d just asked.

Maybe he really didn’t.

Or maybe…

Still…

“……”

I didn’t know.

But somehow, now that it had come to this, I didn’t mind anymore.

I’d always told Uirok he’d become someone different from me, but that we were still the same.

It was the same for Hong Seokyeong.

And for Father, too.

Did Hong Seokyeong plan all this when he brought his father- and mother-in-law here?

Probably not.

But, as with any seasoned Hunter, maybe he’d instinctively set things up to his own advantage.

“If you’re okay with it.”

I made one last attempt at resistance.

Of course, it didn’t work on Uirok.

“I don’t want to do something hyung doesn’t like, either.”

So I raised the white flag.

I’d always been Hong Seokyeong’s son, anyway. Just because time had changed didn’t make that fact disappear.

“All right.”

“…All right?”

“I’ve never had a grandma or grandpa either. I’m a little curious what it’s like.”

“Our grandchildren!”

Unable to hold back any longer, Robert rushed forward.

It wasn’t as bewildering as when I first heard those words.

Now, it even felt a little pleasant.

So this is how a family is made, I thought.