By Zephyria 
Although he was far smaller and slenderer than Jeil Heon, he was still an adult male; yet the hands that lifted and held him were as effortless as if they were holding a doll. Yoo Jiha loved the fact that Jeil Heon’s strength allowed him to hold someone like him so easily. He also liked how Jeil Heon kissed and caressed his body as if every part of it were lovely, while simultaneously preventing him from performing fellatio. It made him feel as though he were being cherished as something precious.
And yet, the man claimed he didn’t know if his feelings were love. What is love? He wasn’t sure. But he knew one thing: he wanted to kiss the man who poured such burning desire only into him.
“Haa… Ah! Mister…”
When Jiha looked up with tear-filled eyes, Jeil Heon tilted his head and pressed his lips against his. In that moment, their hearts were undoubtedly one.
* * *
Jeil Heon applied ointment between the legs of Yoo Jiha, who had fallen asleep as if he had fainted from sheer exhaustion. As he inserted a finger into the hole that remained parted and hadn’t fully closed to apply the medicine, Jeil Heon let out a low groan. Just pressing against the moist, soft mucous membrane caused the blood to rush below his waist. Feeling a sense of self-loathing that he had become even more of a piece of trash than when he had been aroused by Jiha’s erotic words, Jeil Heon painstakingly withdrew his finger.
He adjusted the underwear and pajama pants, tidied up around the bed, and lay down beside him. Even in a sleep so deep that Jiha wouldn’t have known if he were being carried on someone’s back, he tossed and turned in his sleep until his face rested against Jeil Heon’s chest. Perhaps this was why he procrastinated on buying a new bed despite the current one being somewhat uncomfortable for two people. He liked falling asleep pressed tightly together in a cramped space, sharing their body heat.
“…Jiha.”
Caressing the cheek of the boy who was breathing in steady, soft puffs, he whispered words that would not be heard—words that must not be heard.
Jiha. I killed your father with my own hands. The Smiling Man is actually your biological father. You were never abandoned by your parents. Rather, to protect you, they both became Aberrations… Ah. Jeil Heon let out a low lament and embraced the boy. The pain of not being able to convey the fact that he wasn’t abandoned, but rather raised with love, clawed at his heart.
* * *
Gong Ran-sa’s eyes widened when she returned home after several days and met Jeil Heon. Since she was also an Aberration and not human, she could recognize Jeil Heon’s wounds at a glance. To her surprised expression, Jeil Heon explained the Smiling Man’s abilities.
“As the Smiling Man died and the Aberrant Realm collapsed, the wounds began to heal quickly, but a final trace remained. This means that the Smiling Man’s grudge did not completely vanish even after death, or perhaps the influence remains because he is still a notorious murderer in the public eye.”
「Or perhaps he didn’t actually perish, but survived in a near-death state somewhere.」
Gong Ran-sa voiced the final hypothesis that he had intentionally left out. A bitter smile appeared on Jeil Heon’s lips.
“He was pierced by the Mansin’s Divine Blade. Even if he survived, he would be a minuscule existence. Please do not mention this to Jiha.”
「Mr. Je, you really are…」
Seeing his reluctance to dwell further on the topic, Gong Ran-sa sighed and changed the subject.
「It was difficult for me to face you after you killed the Smiling Man, so I stepped away from Pilgyeongdang for a while. I heard you visited North Korea in the meantime?」
“While I was in North Korea, I found a useful heirloom to use at the Hamhung Main Shrine. If an Aberration happens to bring an item from North Korea while I am away, please accept it as mine and do not turn it away. It would be too suspicious if I brought it back myself, whether to the Management Bureau or Sona Castle.”
「You entrusted an item? I’m impressed you managed to get an Aberration to follow orders.」
“I sold out a Mae-gu. After beating it up, I told it that I was the Mae-gu’s younger brother and that my older brother wouldn’t stay still if it didn’t listen; it got terrified.”
「…While he hates the idea of being urged to become a brother, you certainly put him to use quite efficiently. I’m sure the Mae-gu loathes it when you call yourself ‘hyung’ as well.」
“Thank you for the compliment.”
Jeil Heon smiled brightly.
“More importantly, Teacher. Suk-young is pestering me to write down everything that happened in North Korea, down to the number of times I breathed and blinked. I’m exhausted to death. Since you are capable of typing on a keyboard with your physical powers, could you help me a litt—”
Before he could finish his sentence, Gong Ran-sa vanished.
The Smiling Man had been dealt with, and the Hidden World Record had been updated. Even though the case was closed, a lingering feeling of unease remained in a corner of Yoo Jiha’s heart. He didn’t know why it bothered him so much. Perhaps it was because he had faced a concrete threat and had shared a brief conversation with the man…
He even looked up articles and videos about the Grinning Killer, but the unease didn’t vanish.
〈Since his mother, wife, and the senior who was like an older brother were all deeply connected to the Management Bureau, there’s no way Nam Hyeon-woo didn’t know about the Otherworld. He surely chose murder as a means to become an Aberration. From the way he chose his victims to his signature, it was all a calculated, intelligent move.〉
〈Despite rumors of being a Hybrid of an anomaly, Nam Hyeon-woo had a truly kind personality during his life. Since his school days, he consistently volunteered whenever he had time and couldn’t ignore people in trouble. That was the side of Nam Hyeon-woo that Yeo-jin loved… It’s chilling to think that everything might have been a lie to hide his true nature.〉
It was the same even after listening to Song Hilda and Kang Suk-young’s explanations. He asked for Jeil Heon’s opinion, but the man only gave a vague answer: “Well… they say you can know the depth of ten fathoms of water, but you can’t know the depth of a single fathom of a person’s heart.”
Today, since he had some spare time, he scrolled through YouTube, but there was no new information about the Grinning Killer. It would be better to hear more from Jeil Heon, who had experienced him most closely, but he felt he shouldn’t pester the man who had likely suffered alone to resolve those very doubts.
Spending a rare holiday cooped up at home digging into murder cases was too bad for his mental health. Just as he was thinking about taking a walk, Jeil Heon returned home. A beaming smile on his face, he held a phone in his hand.
“I finally got my phone back from the company.”
“Is the investigation over?”
“Yeah, they combed through everything. So, what should we look at on my phone?”
“What is it?”
“Photos and videos from North Korea. I took a lot because I thought our Jiha would like them.”
“…!”
Due to various events, it hadn’t quite sunk in, but he had also visited North Korea not long ago. How many ordinary Koreans had actually stepped foot on the tightly locked soil of North Korea?
Feeling a belated excitement making his heart thumping, Yoo Jiha clung close to Jeil Heon’s side to look at the phone.
“At first, I thought I’d come out into the deep mountains where there was no signal, but I found it strange that everything around me was a bald mountain. I wondered what kind of construction they were doing to flatten the mountains, but…”
“…Then?”
“After walking a bit more, I came across a rock with phrases praising Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il engraved in red letters. When I saw that, my brain actually froze for about ten seconds.”
“Wow, crazy.”
Jeil Heon shared the photos and videos he took at the time, telling the story vividly. He explained that while Korea had traditionally used Sona rituals to drive away evil spirits, North Korea did the opposite by colluding with anomalies and performing Sona rituals to summon evil things.
“They took the Cultural Revolution as a cautionary tale and did the opposite. So far, it’s been quite effective.”
“Oooh. So, in a rough analogy, it’s like the Mae-gu is the Dark Prime Minister.”
As he listened to Jeil Heon’s North Korean experiences while expanding his trivia, he quickly became immersed, and thanks to that, the unease that had bothered him was significantly diluted.
However, the refreshed feeling did not last long. A call came from his father saying that his grandmother had undergone surgery.
* * *
His father’s hometown was in the countryside near Jeonju. This was the first time he had gone down there since the incident with the grandmother’s jade ring. He tried to calm his churning stomach, but his face reflected in the car window was full of distress.
〈It wasn’t a major surgery, she just fell… You know how elderly people get hurt even from a slight slip. Grandmother strictly told me to keep it a secret from you, so your aunt told me privately.〉
His father’s voice was full of worry. He mentioned that he planned to go down to the countryside with the mother and sister over the weekend and asked for his opinion.
〈I don’t really want you to meet your grandmother either, but your aunt said she hoped you would come down too. Of course, I’m not forcing you, so take your time and let me know.〉
Even after hanging up, his unsettled mind would not calm down. When he shared his worries, Jeil Heon thought for a long time before giving advice.
〈If I were in your position, I wouldn’t go. I’m a wretched human being who never ended up apologizing to my father. If I had begged for forgiveness, even superficially, maybe my father would have ‘forgiven’ me.〉
As he spoke, he held Yoo Jiha quietly.
〈But you’re different from me, right? The fact that you’re conflicted means that even after everything you’ve been through, you haven’t completely erased your grandmother from your heart, Jiha.〉
Those words helped him make a decision. While he strongly disliked his grandmother, if asked if he resented her, the answer was no. If asked if he loved her, the answer was also no. Nevertheless, there was a thick bond between him and his grandmother, connected through his father.
If he wanted to avoid her until the day she died, he could. His parents wouldn’t blame him. But he had had enough of avoiding things.
Though he steeled his resolve, as he drew closer to his grandmother’s house, the pounding in his chest transmitted anxiety at a rapid pace.