By Zephyria 
166
Tae-muk continued his steps without a moment’s hesitation, soon reaching an unknown valley. The sound of the cascading water was as loud as thunder.
He sat Ho-eun on a rock, then squatted down by the stream and began to wash his hands. Perhaps because he had been carrying Ho-eun, the hole in his palm had already healed halfway. There was no bleeding either. He was once again realizing how amazing a Bondmate was.
Ho-eun sat quietly on the rock, waiting for Tae-muk. He held a handkerchief embroidered with flowers in his hands, intending to wipe Tae-muk’s hands.
“Haa…”
He sighed as he looked at the forest covered in white snow. And soon after, he sighed again, and again. Tae-muk frowned and looked back at Ho-eun.
“Why do you keep sighing?”
“Well… I was thinking it might not be easy to find the Devouring Ghouls’ hideout.”
At those words, Tae-muk scoffed.
“Did you think it would be easy? If it was in an easy-to-find place, they would have all been dead a long time ago.”
“…You are right.”
It would definitely be in an inconspicuous, very secret place. He knew that, but he couldn’t help feeling disappointed. He was also impatient, wanting to find it as soon as possible. Even at this moment, countless people were dying and getting hurt by the Devouring Ghouls. Only by finding and wiping out their hideout could everyone live freely.
Ho-eun kicked at the snow with his toes, pondering how to find the Devouring Ghouls’ hideout.
Since the Devouring Ghouls couldn’t talk, they couldn’t be tortured to find out. And if they were to capture someone and ask, there were no villages or people in the areas where Devouring Ghouls were particularly prevalent. And he could only discern the Devouring Ghouls’ intelligence with his feelers, not their hideout. Ah… If only he could secretly follow a Devouring Ghoul…
“Oh…”
Ho-eun, who had been thinking that far, suddenly raised his head.
Follow?
Yes, wouldn’t following them work? Their hideout would be their home, so wouldn’t they return there someday? For example… when their lives were in danger, or when they were left alone, or when their leader disappeared and they lost control…
When the leader, the feeler Devouring Ghoul, was killed, the Devouring Ghouls would freeze like stone for a moment and then run away. Where would they run to? Of course, to their home, their hideout.
Ho-eun, rolling his eyes, called out to Tae-muk.
“General.”
“What?”
“Have you ever tried chasing after a fleeing Devouring Ghoul?”
“No.”
“I see…”
At Tae-muk’s short denial, Ho-eun nodded as if he expected it. The Crimson Rain Brigade killed every Devouring Ghoul they could. They probably didn’t even give the Devouring Ghouls a chance to escape.
Then what if they let them escape? And they followed them. Then the Devouring Ghouls might kindly take them to their base.
It was when Ho-eun, who had finally found a way, slowly raised the corners of his lips.
“I didn’t have the strength to do that.”
Tae-muk added something strange.
“You didn’t… have the strength?”
At those words, Ho-eun’s brow furrowed. That was not a phrase that suited Tae-muk. After all, he was someone who could smash a Devouring Ghoul’s head with his bare hands.
But Tae-muk continued in a monotonous tone.
“You weren’t there.”
“What do you mean…”
“When you weren’t there, I wasn’t as strong as I am now.”
“…Really?”
Ho-eun’s upper body leaned forward slightly. Tae-muk not being strong? It was hard to believe. The Tae-muk that Ho-eun knew had been strong from the beginning. He was the one who could lift Deok-woo with one hand, break walls with his bare hands, and pin house-sized Devouring Ghouls to trees. So ‘weak Tae-muk’ sounded as bizarre as the moon rising in the day or the sun rising at night.
“Yeah. Far from chasing after the ones that ran away, there were times when I had to run away.”
“…”
“There were times when my arms and legs were cut off one by one, and I had to crawl on the ground.”
“…”
“There were times when I had to leave the dying men behind and run.”
Tae-muk spoke of the most brutal things casually, even with a hint of laughter in his voice. As he spoke, blood spread like heat haze in the stream water where he had dipped his hands, but it was impossible to know what his expression was as he watched it.
“…”
Ho-eun stopped breathing for a moment. The inside of his chest throbbed as if someone had stepped on it. Tae-muk with severed fingers was terrible enough, but Tae-muk with severed arms and legs? His eyes involuntarily closed tightly.
But Tae-muk suddenly took his hand out of the water.
“But when I met you, the Devouring Ghouls started dying with one punch.”
“…”
“The excitement I felt then…”
He clenched his fist tightly as if recalling that time. His large hand curled up firmly. The hole that had been gaping open now had only a faint trace left, and the blood vessels stood out bulging on the back of his hand. It was a hand that looked as strong as iron at a glance.
“That was the first time I laughed while fighting Devouring Ghouls.”
Tae-muk chuckled and finished washing his hands. And when his fingernails were clean, he stood up. Then, as a matter of course, he approached Ho-eun, because Ho-eun would wipe the water off with a handkerchief.
But somehow Ho-eun’s face didn’t look good.
“Ah… that time…”
It was because he was thinking about the ‘that time’ that Tae-muk had mentioned. It must have been in the bamboo forest. He had seen Tae-muk laughing while killing a Devouring Ghoul. At the time, he had thought it was strange that he was laughing while covered in blood, and wondered if he was addicted to killing, if the rumors of him being a murderer were true.
It was because he had become stronger, so he could kill the Devouring Ghouls more easily, and he wouldn’t get hurt, and he could protect the Crimson Rain Brigade soldiers. He was ashamed of himself for having such irreverent thoughts while looking at him.
How foolish and immature he was.
Ho-eun’s eyes darkened. He didn’t have the face to look at Tae-muk. He was blaming himself with his head bowed.
“…”
Tae-muk looked at Ho-eun like that and bit his lower lip diagonally, then released it. He scratched the back of his head, and clenched and unclenched his hands tightly. He had an expression as if he was repeating something and blaming himself, like Ho-eun.
A strange silence descended. Then, when a cold wind swept roughly past the two, Ho-eun belatedly realized that Tae-muk had finished washing his hands. He should have taken his hand quickly, but he was foolishly spacing out again.
“I will take your hand.”
Ho-eun said, rising to his feet and inadvertently touching the rock. He thought the thickly piled snow would sink in, but then, a sharp! A sharp pain pierced his palm.
“Ah…”
Ho-eun’s neck flinched at the unexpected pain.
“What’s wrong?”
Tae-muk came to Ho-eun’s side in an instant. Ho-eun looked down at his hand. A small, sharp pebble was embedded in his palm.
“I was pricked by a stone.”
Ho-eun said nonchalantly and pulled out the stone. But perhaps the stone was sharper than it looked, because as soon as he pulled it out, a red drop of blood welled up. Ho-eun didn’t feel pain or get annoyed even when he saw it. He simply lowered his hand with his characteristic still expression.
But Tae-muk snatched it away. Then he brought his hand up to his nose and examined the wound.
“You have to be careful.”
“It’s nothing.”
“How is this nothing! You’re bleeding.”
Tae-muk frowned as much as he could and snapped. Ho-eun stared up at Tae-muk like that.
“…”
He was the one who said his arms were cut off, his legs were cut off. And just a moment ago, he had been stabbed by a Devouring Ghoul’s tooth and had a hole in his palm, so why was he getting angry over something like this? Ho-eun was embarrassed by his small wound. So he tried to pull his hand away.
“It’s really okay. First, General’s hand-”
“Stay still.”
Tae-muk gripped his hand even tighter. Then he took the handkerchief that Ho-eun was holding in his other hand and carefully wiped away the blood. The white towel was instantly stained red with the rather thick drops of blood. But Tae-muk frowned as if he had seen a blood-soaked handkerchief, even though only the corner was stained.
Ho-eun’s wound looked very painful. No, it really hurt. It felt like a knife was stabbed in his chest.
Such a beautiful hand, with such a wound. A stone was embedded in it. Bleeding. He shouldn’t let him sit on rough places like rocks in the future. He should just hold him. Or carry him on his back.
Tae-muk, who was thinking that he should quickly go back and show it to the Yui, apply medicine, give him Herbal medicine, and lay him down in a warm room to sleep, suddenly froze.
“…”
Since when had this hand become so precious? So precious, so valuable, so missed? He had treated it so carelessly ‘back then’. Why was he only feeling this way now?
Tae-muk readjusted his grip on Ho-eun’s hand. His gaze was still fixed on the wound where the stone had pierced.
“Ho-eun-ah.”
“…Yes?”
Ho-eun’s eyes widened at the sudden address. He did sometimes call him Ho-eun-ah, but it was literally sometimes. But why suddenly… Ho-eun looked up at Tae-muk with wide eyes. Tae-muk licked his lips with a somewhat nervous face.
“Back then.”
“Back then?”
“When we hadn’t met for very long.”
“Ah…, yes.”
Instantly, the heat that had been subtly spreading across Ho-eun’s cheeks evaporated. Back then. That is, at the Bondmate ceremony, at the hotel, or in the tent, or in the forest, the many things that had happened at the newly arrived garrison, no, the many pains flashed through his mind.
These were things he was desperately pretending not to know, pretending didn’t exist, but why was he suddenly bringing them up? Ho-eun was uncomfortable with that time. He was also uncomfortable with Tae-muk bringing up that time now. His gaze was shaking, unable to find a place to settle.
“I…”
Tae-muk opened his mouth, then closed it. Then he swallowed dryly once and continued to speak.
“I’m sorry for… hurting you.”