By Zephyria 
“Perhaps the princess was summoned using the shaven hair from when they left the priesthood after the Princes’ Rebellion, and the time I entered was shortly after Yi Seong-gye executed Choe Yeong? The rule of the Aberrant Realm is to revere the princess.”
Combining the fact that it was a soul unpolluted even within an Aberrant Realm—the eldest daughter of a late Goryeo Dynasty Minister of State who was resented by the people for executing the Governor of Cheorwon—the answer was only one. Princess Gyeongsune, the Sealed One of the Ten Thousand Waves Flute from 600 years ago. She was also the only full-blooded sister of Yi Bang-seok and Yi Bang-beon, who were killed by Taejong Yi Bang-won during the First Princes’ Rebellion.
Until now, Jeil Heon had felt an aversion toward the Ten Thousand Waves Flute and could not understand the true intentions of Mae-gu, who assisted him. However, if Princess Gyeongsune were involved in the background, there must be a justifiable reason. Just as her soul received noble treatment within his Aberrant Realm.
Mae-gu let out a small groan and covered his face with a folding fan.
「…This is why I didn’t want to show it to a quick-witted younger brother. I shall quietly steal the Aberrant Mother’s sample myself.」
“Thanks.”
「However, the Palace Lord… Ah, I am more accustomed to the days when she was called Palace Lord Gyeongsune (In 1872, during the early Joseon Dynasty, the title of Palace Lord was changed to Princess, and thus Palace Lord Gyeongsune became Princess Gyeongsune), so filter it out as you see fit. Your guess that you won’t make the Princess sad is half right and half wrong.」
“Hmm?”
As Mae-gu folded the fan and tapped his forehead, his eyes grew cloudy, as if wandering through a distant past hundreds of years ago rather than the present before him.
「I intend to do something that she absolutely did not want.」
The depths of the Water Abnormality Worship Management Bureau, which seemed to have transplanted the Junghwedang Hall of Changdeokgung Palace exactly as it was, served as a sanctuary for only one person. Around the prince, who slept silently without even the sound of breathing, several voices murmured.
「A fox. The presence of a fox again.」
「Do the humans not know?」
「It is better that they do not. It is proof that the barrier has weakened.」
「The humans likely already suspect it.」
「Would a fox really come this far?」
「That person has never once violated our surroundings.」
「Shall we inform the Young Lady?」
The murmurs that had been vibrating through the air from all directions stopped abruptly. After a moment of silence, a low growl barked out.
「Shut your mouths. Do you intend to burden the Young Lady with more worries?」
「Do not wake the Young Lady from her sleep.」
「What a pitiful soul. Pitiful, pitiful, and pitiful.」
「Pitiful Young Lady…」
The murmurs, spoken in coarse and harsh accents, vanished as if sinking into the body of the prince submerged in a deep slumber.
At the same time, none of the researchers noticed that a portion of the Aberrant Mother’s physical sample kept in the research wing had disappeared.
Even after the funeral of the couple recovered from the Park Incident, a sense of turmoil remained in a corner of his heart. Moreover, he worried about when the Smiling Man, who had been quiet for a few days, might appear again, and he worried that Jeil Heon would have to step forward to deal with him. Consequently, although exams started tomorrow, he couldn’t study at all.
Yoo Jiha eventually left his room. He felt he needed to clear his head with some coffee.
“Where are you going?”
Jeil Heon, who had been smoking on the wooden veranda, quickly stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray upon sensing someone and looked back. Unlike his usual self, who would just toss his phone aside at home, it was lying right next to him. He was likely waiting for a call from the center stating that the Smiling Man’s waveform had been detected. Yoo Jiha suppressed an expression that looked like a sigh and spoke in a mock-complaining tone.
“I’m going to buy a cup of coffee from the place up ahead.”
“Keep studying. I’ll buy it for you.”
“I wanted to take a walk while I’m at it.”
“Then do you want to come along?”
“Were you planning to send me alone?”
Jeil Heon chuckled and took his hand. They walked through the neighborhood side by side and came out with takeout coffees from a nearby cafe. Since it was late and tourist access was restricted, it was quiet enough for a pleasant walk. It was also a good time for a date.
“With all these exams piled up, I feel like a high school senior again. At this rate, I feel like I’ll end up studying for my signature…”
“Oh dear. I don’t know about high school senior life. Why study? You don’t have to if you just quit school.”
While pinching the cheek of the middle-school dropout who was spouting annoying things, he noticed the park swings were empty. He had eyed them occasionally, but there were always people; today, he was lucky.
As soon as he hopped onto the swing, Jeil Heon pushed him hard from behind. As his feet floated in the air and he flew high into the sky, a scream that was almost a prank escaped him. It was childish, but so much fun. He thought he had graduated from enjoying swings in elementary school, but perhaps romance is pursued for that very childishness.
Riding the high swing woke him up and cleared his thoughts. Now that he had a change of pace, he should go back and study, but the short date during this brief respite was so precious that it wasn’t easy to get off the swing. As he just fidgeted with his hips, Jeil Heon pushed him slowly from behind.
The cool night breeze felt good, and the large hand slowly pressing against his back felt good too. Enough so that it felt okay to bring up painful memories.
“I have a vague memory of riding a swing in the yard of my house. But there were no swings in my yard. I heard they were removed because my Noona got seriously injured while swinging before I was adopted. It was probably the house where I lived with my biological parents, right?”
“…You don’t remember your parents?”
“I’m not sure because nothing comes to mind clearly… but I feel like someone like a mother had me on her lap, and someone like a father was beside us…”
It was the only memory he possessed from before he was found in the market 17 years ago, with all other memories lost. Even that was merely a remnant that had vaguely surfaced around the age of ten. In that faint remnant, even the faces of the people presumed to be his biological parents were unclear.
“But isn’t it a bit funny? That they played on the swings with a four-year-old child, only to abandon them on the market floor… It feels like they were being kind out of a final sense of guilt before throwing me away.”
The swing, which had been moving slowly back and forth, gradually came to a halt. He hadn’t brought it up expecting a specific answer. Just as he shared small topics from school with him to share joy, he simply wanted to talk. A wound he had never shown anyone, only to him.
It would have been enough if he had just listened, but instead of pushing the swing again, Jeil Heon toyed with Yoo Jiha’s hand gripping the swing rope and spoke.
“I mentioned my late mother last time, right? Actually, she was killed by an Aberration. The fox demon that killed her pretended to be her and tried to kill my entire family.”
Yoo Jiha gasped in surprise at the unexpectedly gruesome story, but Jeil Heon instead comforted him by cradling his stiff hand. His voice, as he recounted a blood-soaked past, was neither agitated nor shaken. Yet, there was clearly a fourteen-year-old boy who had to risk his life to protect his family alone.
“…Did the scars on your body happen then?”
“Yeah.”
“It must have hurt so much…”
Not knowing what kind of comfort to offer, only a distressed murmur flowed out. Jeil Heon let out a low laugh and kissed the crown of his head.
“It was something I could do, and something I had to do.”
However, it wasn’t the same for his father. The shame of not knowing for a long time that a monster had entered the house, and the humiliation of that fact being revealed to the Management Bureau and others, drove his sensitive pride. Above all, he found it humiliating that the one who resolved everything was a mere fourteen-year-old son.
That was the reason why he had insisted on officially adding the illegitimate son to the family register despite the opposition of relatives and in-laws. He had to erase and cover the traces of a wife who had been toyed with by a monster. His household had to return to a perfect image once again.
The eldest son had scratched the perfection he had achieved throughout his life. He should have died with the monster back then. If he had, at least there would be no humiliation of a young son solving a problem the father didn’t even know about.
“The biggest reason I dropped out of school and joined the Management Bureau was that I wanted revenge for my mother, but there was also a certain extent to which I simply couldn’t stand being at home. In the end, well, it worked out. Since it’s practically the same as being disowned.”
Jeil Heon laughed, saying that if it weren’t for his father’s face, he would have been scrubbed from the family register long ago. Once again, his back was lightly pushed, and the swing began to move slowly back and forth with a creaking sound.
Along with his voice, which wrapped around him calmly.