By Zephyria 
#Side Story 8
Kim Ha-yoon and Ire sat on a bench near the hospital, silently watching the child. In front of them was a dog. It was the one that had injured its leg a few days ago; the leg grazed by a gun was fine, but they heard that the wound on its neck, caused by an old leash, would require treatment for some time. Ridiculously, the dog and the child were staring at each other intently.
“Where’s the little old man?”
“He’s not expected to make it. He’s been sick for a long time.”
Just then, the child floated a small ball into the air. The dog followed the floating ball with its eyes. Kim Ha-yoon held Ire’s arm, who was about to stop him. After a moment, the child caught the ball and handed it to the dog. The dog bit and tore at it, and the child squatted down in front of it, quietly watching.
The child possessed a similar ability to Ire, but that was all they knew. Unlike Ire, who had his awakening as an adult, the child knew how to use his ability. It would be good to hear about the child from the old man if he were conscious, but unfortunately, he was not expected to last more than a few days.
After squatting in front of the dog for a long time, the child ran towards them. He ran so well on his short legs that he didn’t even fall, which was admirable. Reaching right in front of them, the child caught his breath, reached into his pocket, and fidgeted.
“Hyung…. Can I give the puppy a candy?”
“No candy. Let’s get some jerky from the car later.”
At the word jerky, the child’s mouth dropped open, and he drooled. Come to think of it, it was long past mealtime. What would the child like? As he pondered, Kim Ha-yoon lowered himself and looked into the child’s eyes.
“Shall we go with Hyung and get something delicious to eat?”
The child flinched back a step, shrinking away.
“Scary….”
“…….”
“And you’re not Hyung….”
Ire bit his lower lip, trying to suppress his laughter. He never understood why Kim Ha-yoon was so obsessed with being called “Hyung.” He even brainwashed Luca.
Kim Ha-yoon frowned, making a villainous face. When he said he would only give him food if he called him “Hyung,” the frightened child’s eyes turned to Ire. He crept over and quietly grabbed Ire’s left arm, causing Kim Ha-yoon to let out a hollow laugh.
“Don’t be sulky. I’ll call you. Hayun Hyung. Hyung. Hyung. Hyuuung— Ah!”
He deliberately made a fuss, pushing his face close, and their lips accidentally brushed. Ire was horrified and looked around, worried someone he knew might have seen. Kim Ha-yoon tried to cup his cheeks and kiss him again, so he pushed him away by the shoulders.
“Please stop.”
“I almost came when you called me ‘Hyung’ just now. Say it again.”
“Oh, come on! The kid’s listening.”
“The kid doesn’t know what it means.”Did the uncle pee his pants?””
Oh, for the love of God. Ire squeezed his eyes shut, looking like he was about to die of mortification. He glared at Kim Ha-yoon, who was smiling with a smug expression. He took the child’s hand and started walking, and Kim Ha-yoon came to stand beside him. The dog, which had been playing alone a short distance away, was also running towards them.
Kim Ha-yoon stared silently at the face of someone in the image Kwon So-young had shown him. The man in the photo was young and full of vigor, smiling brightly. It was hard to believe he was the same person as the old man lying in the hospital bed, waiting for death.
“Looking at the date, it’s exactly 100 years ago. That means the old man is at least over 120 years old.”
“And?”
“He’s presumed to have been the chief researcher at the pharmaceutical company your grandfather ran. There are no accurate records left. That photo is all I could find after searching everywhere.”
As Kwon So-young said, the logo of the company Kim Ha-yoon’s grandfather founded was engraved on the man’s left chest. He wasn’t using it now, but he had seen it often in his grandfather’s bedroom as a child, so he couldn’t easily forget it.
“What about hearing it directly from him?”
“Impossible. He’s barely clinging to life now.”
He wanted to know how the old man had survived until now, whether he knew about the kid’s ability, and what kind of device he had implanted in the dogs to control them. Kim Ha-yoon left the lab and headed to the hospital room.
Opening the door, he saw an old man lying there, no different from a corpse. As he stared at him, the old man’s fingertip twitched. The beeping of the machine sped up, and Kwon So-young, who had come with him, checked the old man’s condition.
In the meantime, the old man slowly opened his eyes. When he found Kim Ha-yoon, his eyes widened as much as possible. His lips moved, as if he had a lot to say. When Kwon So-young hesitated, Kim Ha-yoon went ahead and removed the man’s oxygen mask.
“C-Chairman! S-Stop… Every… Everyone… Destruction….”
The old man was reminded of Kim Ha-yoon’s deceased grandfather through Kim Ha-yoon. Considering that Kim Ha-yoon resembled his grandfather in his younger days, it was not surprising that the old man was mistaken. The pronunciation was slurred and unclear, but it was definitely a warning.
The old man’s breath was dangerously close to stopping. As he put the oxygen mask back on, tears streamed down from his cloudy eyes. What did the man with the regretful face want to say?
Just then, his heart rate became noticeably irregular. Life was fading from the old man’s eyes. As Kwon So-young was about to press the emergency call button, Kim Ha-yoon stopped her. Leave him. There’s no hope even if you save him anyway.
Prolonging his life like this was no different from torture. Kim Ha-yoon looked at the old man quietly and came out. Just then, Ire was walking towards him in the distance, holding the child’s hand. He looked happy, probably because he had a filling meal.
“Uncle!” Hyung bought me a hamburger! A hamburger! Do you know what that is?”
He stared silently at the excited child, then looked at Ire. The quick-witted Ire sighed and held the child’s hand tightly.
Let’s go say hello to grandfather.”
The smile disappeared from the child’s face in the heavy atmosphere. The two went inside, and he watched them through the window. The child bit his lip tightly, holding back tears.
Then the graph changed to a straight line, and Kwon So-young pronounced him dead. The child hugged the old man, who was growing colder, and burst into tears. A sorrowful cry filled the hospital room.
“How old do you think he is?”
“Hmm? Five? Six?”
“He’s really small. And skinny.”
“Doesn’t he look a little like the boss?”
“Huh? I was thinking the same thing.”
“Could it be that the boss secretly had a kid…?”
Gilsu, Gangsan, Baek Seol, and Jang-cheon looked at the child and let their imaginations run wild. Later, they even suspected that Ire had secretly fathered the child.
But the four soon shook their heads. If that were the case, would Kim Ha-yoon have left this child alone? He would have done something out of jealousy long ago. Ire would argue that Kim Ha-yoon wasn’t that much of a scumbag, but in their eyes, he was more than capable of doing it.
“Does he have a name?”
At Baek Seol’s words, Gilsu approached the child.
“Hey, kid. What’s your name?”
The child blinked nervously. Even when Gangsan, who had a relatively gentle face, tried to talk to him, it was the same. But strangely, he would run and cling to Ire as soon as he appeared.
“That’s weird. The kid is shy, but he only follows the boss well.”
“It’s not that he’s shy, it’s that he’s wary of faces. Look at your face. It makes you want to run away.”
Gilsu jumped at Baek Seol’s taunt. When he snapped at him not to make personal attacks, Baek Seol retorted that the truth is always painful. Then, when Gilsu got angry and pointed his finger, Baek Seol twisted his finger roughly, telling him to take his hand away if he didn’t want to die.
Jang-cheon and Gangsan, who couldn’t stand to watch, tried to stop them, when a car drove in from afar. Baek Seol, who had been making a fierce expression until just now, suddenly changed to a coy one, slicking back his side hair and checking his face in the window. Soon after, Seo Young-jun got out of the car. He always came to pick up Baek Seol on Friday evenings, with a bouquet of flowers in one hand.
“Honey’s here?”
Watching Baek Seol speak in a nasal voice, the three pretended to vomit. The child, who had been watching blankly, also mimicked, “Ugh-” causing the three to burst out laughing. Baek Seol glared at them and went down the stairs.
Seo Young-jun greeted them, and the three watched him with the eyes of brothers monitoring their sister’s boyfriend. With the mindset that even if they fought, they wouldn’t let him get away with making their Baek Seol cry.
A moment later, the car carrying the two of them backed up and went back the way it had come. Baek Seol waved out the window, and Gilsu shook his head.
“Poor guy. He got caught by Baek Seol.”
Even as he said that, Gilsu was the first to worry about her relationship if Baek Seol was in a bad mood. Weren’t they once enemies? He couldn’t help but worry that she might get hurt while dating. Fortunately, there seemed to be no problems in their love life yet.
Then, the three belatedly realized that the child was gone. With a sense of foreboding, they rushed into the building, only to stop abruptly in the hallway. Wasn’t the toy in the child’s hand floating in the air and moving!