By Zephyria After that, the house became even quieter.
All Ki Jae-eon did was visit his brother, Ki Jae-ha, at set times to look at his face. Other people were in charge of disinfecting his wounds, so he usually sat next to him for about thirty minutes to an hour, reciting prayers or reading newspaper articles.
Sometimes, the children from the main office would follow him. From one to five people.
‘Hello. My name is Jo Eun-ha-.’
‘I’m Ahn Seo-myeong.’
‘Hyung, I’ll offer a prayer for you, even though I’m not good at it!’
‘I hope you get well soon…’
The children all offered small prayers for Ki Jae-ha with serious attitudes.
That’s how peaceful, if peaceful, days continued.
As time passed, new issues arose.
First of all, the news that the long-awaited restoration of the [main office] had been completed was heard. In other words, it meant that the children had to leave Incheon and return to their original nest.
“It feels like I’m leaving a palace.”
Everyone had become somewhat accustomed to the luxurious life of the Gi Clan, so they expressed some regret, but no matter how enjoyable an overseas trip was, in the end, they would say, ‘Home is the best!’ The children couldn’t hide their excited expressions.
But there was one problem.
As if by a twist of fate, the day the children were leaving their nest happened to coincide with Ki Jae-ha’s surgery day. Naturally, Ki Jae-eon’s choice was Ki Jae-ha.
“I, I don’t think I can go with you…”
Inevitably, a short farewell came.
It would be a lie to say that they weren’t sad, but the children also understood which side to prioritize, so they decided to respect his choice.
“Oppa! Contact me!”
“You’re really coming back, right?”
“I’ll go ahead and clean the room.”
“We had a great time while we were here.”
“I don’t want to go. But I want to go. What’s my real heart?”
“I don’t know if it’s okay to leave like this…”
“I’m going to hold my breath until hyung comes!”
“Hey, come quickly. I’ll be ready to learn hard.”
Chatter, chatter. Noisy greetings poured out. Ki Jae-eon made eye contact with each one so that no one would feel left out and answered, “Yeah.”
“Um, Jae-eon oppa.”
“Ahem!”
Jo Eun-ha and a few other children approached him and spoke quietly. Then, they burst into laughter, saying, “Hehe,” and abruptly handed him two glass bottles as if they were pushing them away. Their gestures were filled with deep shyness.
“Take this!”
“……?”
He inadvertently held the two bottles in his arms.
Paper cranes in the bottles were reflected in Ki Jae-eon’s black eyes. Even if he just glanced at them, there were a tremendous number of them. There seemed to be at least a hundred, no, about a thousand.
“Hyung knows, right? A thousand paper cranes!”
It was as he had predicted.
“One is for the eldest hyung, and the other is for our Jae-eon hyung!”
“I couldn’t sleep because I was folding them all night.”
“A surprise filled with love, friendship, and respect! Ah, don’t sell it on Oee Market!”
“The meanings are also different. This one-.”
The children pointed to the bottles and explained each meaning. They said that the left one was to wish for Ki Jae-ha’s quick recovery, and the right one was to express their wish for Ki Jae-eon to return to the main office as soon as possible. Chatter, chatter- After finishing their explanations, the children looked at each other and giggled. Ki Jae-eon hugged the bottles tightly at their cute blessings. His handsome face, shadowed by the light, was pressed close to the bottles. The cold glass touched his skin, which had quickly become hot.
‘A thousand cranes…’
For me and hyung. Ki Jae-eon’s eyelids fluttered. There wasn’t a place from his toes to his heart that didn’t feel ticklish. It felt like small feathers had gathered together and covered his whole body.
“Th-thank you.”
Ki Jae-eon lowered his head slightly and conveyed his gratitude. I’ll treasure it. The children smiled at his small murmur. Of course, what! The main office, where the younger ones were more energetic than the older ones, was just like that.
“Our chicks, Teacher too, just for a moment-.”
Kim Yeong squeezed in between the friendly children. He scanned his students with an admirable expression and gently wrapped his arm around Ki Jae-eon’s shoulder.
“Be sure to contact me after the surgery. We’ll all be waiting. You know that Teacher is always wishing for Jae-eon’s happiness, right?”
The eyes that met his were very affectionate.
“Above all, don’t forget that you’re not alone anymore.”
Ki Jae-eon also gave a faint smile at the warmth.
“…Yes.”
Kim Yeong nodded as if he was satisfied. Yes, that’s enough. He patted his shoulder a couple of times and slowly turned his body.
After that, the greetings continued one by one.
“Hyung.”
The last one was Ahn Seo-myeong.
He said something like, ‘The end is always the most memorable. I waited on purpose,’ and then lightly flicked the glass bottle that Ki Jae-eon was holding and left a word.
“See you again, us.”
The neat greeting without any frills gave him the conviction that they would definitely meet again.
That’s how he ended the short farewell and arrived at the hospital.
“You’re late… No, you came just in time.”
His father, Ki Tae-ho, greeted Ki Jae-eon.
“Jae-ha just went in.”
Ki Jae-eon looked at the tightly closed operating room door and asked quietly.
“Um, your mother is…”
“She said she’s going to pray until it’s over.”
Ki Tae-ho answered with a sigh and pointed to the waiting area on the opposite side. It meant to sit down. Ki Jae-eon lowered his butt onto the chair as he was told. The cold and hard plastic chair, unique to hospitals, gave off a strange gloom.
“……”
“……”
A long silence flowed.
Ki Jae-eon lowered his eyes to the floor and took a deep breath. He thought he would have to stay like this for at least two hours when suddenly, a rattling sound came from the front.
And two cans of soda were handed out.
‘Soda?’
When he raised his eyes, he saw his father.
Normally taciturn and solemn, Ki Tae-ho’s face was now slightly softened, even showing a hint of weariness.
“Choose what you want to drink.”
“Pardon?”
“This side is carbonated, and this side is sports drinks.”
Ki Tae-ho kindly added an explanation. But even so, when Ki Jae-eon didn’t move, he added an excuse.
“Something sweet will help you relax.”
“Ah…”
“I didn’t know what you preferred.”
It’d be better if you chose yourself. The expression on Ki Tae-ho’s face as he spoke was something Ki Jae-eon had never seen before. A kind of subdued and weakened look, a strange appearance that was hard to define.
“If you don’t like either, I’ll buy something else. There’s a cafe on the first floor…”
“Ah, no. Th-this is enough.”
Seeing him really about to move, Ki Jae-eon hurriedly grabbed a drink.
“Th-thank you.”
“…”
Instead of answering, Ki Tae-ho gazed at the drink Ki Jae-eon had chosen for quite a while. As if trying to memorize the name of the drink. Then he slowly opened his mouth.
“Go back to Seoul when Jae-ha’s surgery is over.”
“…Yes?”
Ki Jae-eon’s eyes widened as if he hadn’t heard correctly. Because the end of the surgery didn’t mean everything was over.
“Your mother will take care of Jae-ha, so don’t worry.”
He rattled off the words without hesitation, as if reading Ki Jae-eon’s thoughts.
“As you can see, I won’t be taking on any requests for the time being. So you go back to where you need to be.”
Ki Tae-ho quietly turned his head and stared intently at the operating room.
“After seeing that Jae-ha comes out of this safely… I’ll be leaving home for a while too.”
“Yes?”
“The Sacheon Seonji Seal. I’m thinking of trying it.”
Ki Tae-ho lowered his upper body and lightly clasped his hands together. At his words, Ki Jae-eon’s eyes widened.
It was only natural.
[Sacheon Seonji Seal]
It was one of the most difficult spells.
‘The method itself is simple…’
The preliminary preparations to meet the conditions were quite complicated.
First, he had to find hundred-year-old pine trees located at each of the four cardinal directions. Even if he was lucky enough to find trees that met the requirements, that wasn’t the end of it. Before starting the actual spell, he had to ask permission from the Mountain Spirit who owned the tree.
Yes, that was the problem.
He couldn’t know when or at what moment the Mountain Spirits would open their hearts.
‘It could take months of suffering.’
And he had to repeat it for a total of four trees.
‘It’s a spell I gave up on because I didn’t have time either.’
But if he succeeded… he could make great preparations for the coming disaster. While the Sacheon Seonji Seal was maintained, the Evil Aura would not be able to properly use its original power.
‘No, not only that, but it would even create an environment suitable for summoning the Four Holy Beasts.’
Basically, it was a principle of suppressing evil forces and supporting good forces.
In game terms, it was like receiving a powerful buff.
But his father was doing that? Ki Jae-eon’s lips twitched. Seeing his hesitation, Ki Tae-ho slowly nodded. He looked like he understood what he was worried about.
“I know it’s not an easy task. It’ll take at least a few years.”
Giving up all his livelihood and devoting himself solely to that.
“Even so…”
Ki Tae-ho continued with a look of determination.
“It’s the adults’ turn.”
Then he gave a faint smile.
“Don’t worry. You haven’t forgotten who your Teacher was, have you?”
He reassured Ki Jae-eon with a confident voice. Well, it wasn’t unfounded confidence. He was Ki Tae-ho, who had raised the Exorcist Ki Jae-eon. A man who would have no problem jumping back into active duty.
“So you do what you have to do.”
Just then, the sound of the operating room opening was heard.
Ki Tae-ho slowly got up and hinted at what Ki Jae-eon ‘had to do’.
It was what all parents in the world wanted.
“Live a long and healthy life.”
Never hurt yourself again, and be happy.
The back that turned away from Ki Jae-eon was clearly saying that. Perhaps it was the first and last apology of a flawed father, delivered just before leaving.