By Zephyria Forgetting all decorum, he ran down the hallway to the treatment room.
Kim Yeong threw the door open without hesitation. Screech! The door opened with a rough sound.
Thwack!
The sight that appeared before his eyes was so shocking that it was beyond words.
It was none other than his student, Kim Ju-won, beating up Ki Jae-eon, who was there as a guest.
‘How is that a fight…!’
With only one side battered and bruised, it had to be considered a one-sided beating.
“Kim Ju-won-!!”
Kim Yeong quickly rushed towards the two. You rascal! Let go! But he wouldn’t budge. No matter how much Kim Yeong grabbed Kim Ju-won’s shoulder and told him to stop, Kim Ju-won shook off the hand and didn’t stop his violent punches, shouting, “Say that again!”
He was already seeing red. Even Ki Jae-eon, the victim, was passively taking the blows without resistance. No one seemed willing to follow Kim Yeong’s instructions.
I have no choice. Kim Yeong took out his Rosary from his pocket and began spellcasting.
As he recited each word with fervent desire, golden iron chains appeared and wrapped around Kim Ju-won’s body, pulling him down with a whoosh- to subdue him.
“Ugh! …Damn it, Teacher!”
“In short, go only as far as your conscience can forgive.”
Kim Yeong left the bound Kim Ju-won on the floor, not even sparing him a glance. Instead, he approached Ki Jae-eon, who was sitting and coughing.
“Be careful and lean on me. Can you stand up?”
His touch was very cautious as he helped him sit on a chair.
“Cough, haa, cough…”
His hair was disheveled, his eyes were swollen, and his nose and mouth were covered in blood.
His already gaunt face looked several times more gloomy and pitiful. Ki Jae-eon coughed a few times, then, noticing Kim Yeong staring at him, lowered his gaze as if trying to avoid the situation. His bloodshot eyes seemed to simply want to escape this situation.
But Ki Jae-eon had completely misjudged Kim Yeong.
Kim Yeong had no intention of glossing over this absurd situation.
Those who committed wrongdoings deserved to be punished and seek forgiveness. Even if the target was his most cherished student.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
“Ah- th, heuk.”
He forcibly held the twitching face and examined the inside of his mouth. His thumb carefully checked the inside of his cheek.
‘It’s all burst.’
The condition was quite serious. Kim Yeong narrowed the space between his eyebrows, uncharacteristically. He couldn’t help but sigh at the messy state. Frankly speaking, if asked, ‘Did Ki Jae-eon have a frail physique that made him lose to Kim Ju-won?’ that wasn’t the case. No matter how thin he was, Ki Jae-eon was clearly an adult man, and the two were equal in everything from height to build. In other words, if Ki Jae-eon had wanted to, he could have fought back.
The reason he didn’t, well…
Kim Yeong groaned and let go of Ki Jae-eon’s chin.
‘People exposed to long-term violence feel helplessness rather than resistance.’
At least, that was the feeling Kim Yeong got from Ki Jae-eon.
Helplessness.
He somehow seemed used to the anger and violence directed at him.
‘It’s just a guess for now…’
Whenever he saw Ki Jae-eon’s actions, he couldn’t help but feel that the ‘Ki Clan’s Ki Jae-eon abuse theory’ was gaining traction.
‘But for now, the priority is to separate the two.’
Kim Yeong gestured to another student standing nearby and asked him to help support Ki Jae-eon. The student flinched for a moment, then approached Ki Jae-eon. “U, um, are you, are you okay?” A whisper filled with a small glory, even, of facing the person he admired. Ki Jae-eon nodded slightly and limped out of the treatment room, following the student.
Well, then…
How should he discipline the remaining rascal?
Kim Yeong released the restraints and glared at Kim Ju-won with a cold look.
Kim Ju-won seemed to have regained his senses while tied up, or perhaps it was because the object of his anger had disappeared, as he was quite calm. Then, instead of making excuses, he offered a sullen apology, “I’m sorry.” But there was someone else who deserved an apology. Kim Ju-won knew that too.
Kim Yeong shook his head and asked, “Why did you do it?”
“……”
“Kim Ju-won.”
“He didn’t die.”
Kim Ju-won ran a large hand over his face. Looking closely, the knuckles were slightly scraped, showing how much force he had used to hit Ki Jae-eon.
“He shamelessly said he didn’t die.”
Kim Ju-won clenched his fist as he recalled what had happened earlier.
After confirming that Ahn Seo-myeong had gone in for emergency surgery, Kim Ju-won turned and headed to the treatment room. His purpose was singular: Ki Jae-eon.
‘Why did you let him get hurt?’
Kim Ju-won thought of his junior, who might die soon, and questioned Ki Jae-eon.
The infinite spiritual power that covered the sky.
What followed was resentment, not reverence.
‘You could have gotten rid of it sooner!’
The veins in Kim Ju-won’s neck stood out. He shouted and grabbed Ki Jae-eon by the collar. The large body swayed and followed weakly. The way he pretended to be weak was too disgusting. Frankly speaking, he couldn’t help but think he had done it on purpose.
‘You have that much power, so why until Seo-myeong got hurt…!!’
It was then that Ki Jae-eon’s dry lips moved.
‘Ahn… ah, Ahn…’
Unlike what he had expected, a sharp and unpleasant tone, he spoke in a stammering voice.
‘Not yet, not d, dead. Alive. Not yet…’
He uttered such words.
‘What?’
It was around that time that Kim Ju-won’s eyes went crazy.
‘What did you just say?’
His vision was obscured by anger, and he didn’t see Ki Jae-eon’s face, which was pale and panting, and understood the meaning of ‘not dead’ as
And from here on, there were facts that Kim Ju-won didn’t know.
Of course, Ki Jae-eon didn’t mean it that way. No, he didn’t have any meaning at all in the first place.
How could he be in his right mind? Ever since he found Ahn Seo-myeong bleeding and collapsed, he had already been out of his mind.
Recurring memories, death, memories, death.
He was being devoured by them, crushed by fear, and after seeing Ahn Seo-myeong finally go into surgery, he was self-hypnotizing himself to avoid going crazy, saying,
‘Not yet, n, de… a, uh…’
Not dead yet. He can live. It’s different from when he was torn in two and died.
It was at that moment, as he was trying to calm himself, that Kim Ju-won’s anger reached him.
‘Is this crazy bastard out of his mind?’
Thwack- Thwack! Thwack!
Even as punches rained down on his face, Ki Jae-eon didn’t resist.
Because the memories latent within him were more frightening than Kim Ju-won’s violence.
If he could forget that fear with violence, he would gladly do so.
“Seo-myeong would have died if we were just a little later. Is that all you have to say? ‘I’m sorry’ should have come first.”
Kim Ju-won gritted his teeth and spoke, trying to suppress the rising emotions again.
“Haa- you rascal.”
Kim Yeong, having heard all the circumstances, sighed deeply. He understood both sides, so this was a truly troublesome problem. He couldn’t tell Kim Ju-won right away, but Kim Yeong had a vague idea of why Ki Jae-eon had said such hateful things.
‘He must have been treated that way himself. That must have been the only way he could speak.’
So he didn’t want to blame Ki Jae-eon.
Because consideration and concern were things that had to be learned to some extent.
‘But I can’t just talk about his situation.’
More than anything…
‘There’s no way the Gi Clan will quietly cover up this matter.’
They were already cruel people who abused Ki Jae-eon like that. Paying back grudges twentyfold must not be a joke.
Kim Yeong decided to find a way to save his rascal student first. He had no choice. He could only favor his own.
[“I will come to pick you up.”]
“…Yes.”
After ending the short call, Ki Jae-eon fiddled with his torn lip, calculating the time left until the driver arrived. As if representing his unstable mind, his restless fingertips caught on a scab. He picked at it a few times, then, not caring, tore it off with a rip! He felt a stinging pain, but it didn’t matter. This level of pain was nothing.
‘Did the surgery go well?’
His eyes, looking only at the floor, wavered uncertainly. The hand that had been picking at his lip was now neatly gathered on his lap, and this time, he began to torment the hangnails with a tick- tick-.
If he had his way, he would have already checked on Ahn Seo-myeong’s condition… but he couldn’t move because he knew better than anyone that he didn’t deserve to.
But it would be okay. Ahn Seo-myeong would die in the distant future.
To know someone’s end, it could be helpful like this.
“It’s… okay…”
Tick- tick- The unstable hand finally dug into the skin and drew blood. And at that moment, the movement stopped, and Ki Jae-eon’s world changed once again.
-You could have gotten rid of it sooner!
A voice filled with anger.
Kim Ju-won’s voice began to overlap with the voices of several other people.
-My husband is dead.
-Why aren’t you saving us!
-If you give up, what about us?
-You have to hold on. Everyone believes in you.
-Please save me.
-Exorcist, …can’t you hear me?
Please save me. Please save me.
Please save me. Please save me.
Please save me. Please save me.
Please save me. Please save me.
Please save me. Please save me.
Please save me. Please save me.
He leaned his head against the wall, resisting the urge to cover his ears. Disheveled hair tickled his forehead. Ki Jae-eon fell into deep loss. He had lost everything, including the sense of duty and pride he had once cherished like his life, and the desire for peace. Nothing was left for Ki Jae-eon.
Really nothing.
He blinked his eyes, which were swollen and barely able to open, a few times, then slowly closed his eyelids. And then he stopped breathing. His motionless, limp body looked like a dead person.
As he felt the limit, the corners of his lips turned up.
As he saw death, surprisingly, peace followed.
‘Just a little more here.’
Then…
Vibrate!*
“Heok-!”
What made him exhale the breath he had stopped was the vibration of his cell phone.
Ki Jae-eon coughed and took out his cell phone. It was the driver. He reluctantly shook off his spot and got up after seeing the message that he had arrived.
And so, Ki Jae-eon returned to Incheon.
Leaving a short greeting saying he was sorry for leaving without saying goodbye.