NOVEL NEXT Chapter 72: Jamsuni of the Basement (4)
“No.”
Yoo Hajin ran.
He just ran.
Like the time he watched what he once called home burn to the ground, he ran, forgetting even the fact that he was running.
“No.”
The yard filled with fire trucks.
The streams of water raining down.
Yet, the fire was not easily extinguished.
That image never left Yoo Hajin’s mind. That moment devoured his years. So now, Yoo Hajin forgot where these flames were coming from.
All he knew was that over there,The girl he had sworn to protect,
Was there.
“Never again.”
It was what he had said the first time he fought with the girl after taking her in. At that time, the man had said, “Never again,” and vowed something.
“Never again will I lose...!”
The flames were rising from the stairs leading down to the 9th floor. Despite the hellish flames roaring up like a demon, the man did not falter.
He swung his Black Sheath, creating a gust of wind that parted the flames, then charged through. The fire, as if it refused to die, singed his skin, but the man, holding the cane close to his body, healed himself.
The pain meant nothing.
He found the stairs descending through the raging inferno. Without hesitation, the man threw himself into the burning stairs that looked like the entrance to hell.
Why did those stairs resemble the entrance to his old house? If so, was that child beyond them?
‘This may be your sister’s remains...’
It was the sight of a child, burned completely black.
Yoo Hajin had seen it with his own eyes.
‘The remains are beyond the Great Ghost Gate.’
Beyond the Ghost Gate was the world of the afterlife.
Yoo Hajin knew this, being the son of a shaman.
‘Joo-cheol never said the child was alive.’
It was the truth he had been ignoring since his conversation with Joo-cheol on Jeonryusan Mountain.
But now, things were different.
Now, he could save her.
That child.
Even as his arms and back burned from the fire surpassing the healing power of his Black Sheath, the man couldn’t stop. Beyond these stairs was the child who had been left alone.
“Never again.”
There was a child whose brother couldn’t protect her…
And finally, Yoo Hajin reached the 10th floor and immediately began searching for the girl.
“I will never leave again.”
The heat from the flames made it hard to breathe.
But the man did not stop looking around.
“So please... please...!”
And then, he found her—the girl, kneeling with a shocked expression, staring right at him.
The flames of the Great Scorching Hell—one of the deepest hells, excluding the Avici Hell. Even knowing the power of those flames, he came to save her. Without realizing it, the girl murmured to herself.
“Hajin...”
No more words were necessary.
In an instant, the man ran to her and pulled her into his arms.
“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
Tightly—The girl was startled, seeing the man’s face soaked with tears. She was also surprised by the warmth of his embrace, as if he feared she might break.
There was one flaw in Kim Sojin’s logic of the heart.
Could wounds of the heart truly be healed?
The man, holding the girl tightly, began to make his way out of the flames. Even as the fire from the Great Scorching Hell scorched his body, he held her close, shielding her as if he would never let her burn.
“I’ll never leave you. Never again.”
She could hear the tremble in his voice. In this moment, wrapped in his arms, she felt like she wasn’t the monster she had always believed herself to be.
“You’re just a normal kid.”
The man said to the girl he called his sister.
Even though, in truth, she wasn’t his sister.
But right now, the truth didn’t matter.
The man wanted to say these words more than anything.
“You’re just a normal kid. You’re not some kind of monster like the adults say...”
Her grandmother, her mother, they all called his sister a monster.
And every shaman and sorcerer said the same.
So, the man had always wanted to say this.
“It doesn’t matter if you don’t have spiritual power or any kind of special abilities. I’ll protect you, always.”
He finally said the words he had always wanted to tell his sister. And the girl, who wasn’t really his sister, nestled deeper into his embrace, hearing them.
Not knowing the truth…
…Was her salvation.
“I just... I just want you to be happy. Stay away from ghosts and spirits. Don’t do shaman stuff anymore, just...”
She didn’t need to fight, he said. For the girl, who had been used as a tool of war her whole life, it was the first time she had ever heard such words. She had always thought that her only worth lay in her combat skills.
So, each word was a salvation. And for the man, this moment was salvation as well.
It was as if time had rewound,
And the past had been rewritten.
“Go to school, hang out with your friends like a normal kid who can’t see anything, and just live happily. That’s all I could ever want.”
If the wounds of a wounded heart could be healed.
And if, through that, the heart could be warmed.
Perhaps that warmth could heal the hearts of others too.
Even if it was all built on a lie.
“I’ll protect you.”
With those words, the man staggered.
He had inhaled too much of the burning smoke.
“I...”
Even as he collapsed, the man never let go of the girl.
“This time, I’ll...”
And with the words “B3 level” flashing in his vision, the man finally lost consciousness.
***
It was a familiar ceiling.
Judging by the sunset outside, it seemed to be late afternoon.
“Ugh, my head is splitting.”
Why does my head hurt so much?
Did I drink last night?
Wait, why am I waking up in the afternoon?
As I slightly lifted my head, I saw Jamsuni and Nayu staring at me. Both of their faces were streaked with tears.
“N-Nayu... shouted ’Thank goodness!’?”
“Y-Yeah. You’re awake?”
And as soon as I saw Jamsuni, most of my memories flooded back. I had gone to look for her after her so-called “runaway” incident, witnessed that fire show down on the 10th basement floor, and then lost it due to the trauma.
The memory of that moment when I lost control is blurry.
Maybe it’s because I inhaled so much smoke.
I must have run like a madman, not caring whether my body was on fire, to save Jamsuni.
Wait a minute... What the hell did Kim Sojin, this crazy little brat, do to cause a massive fire in the basement?
My expression must have turned from shock to anger because Nayu quietly stood up and left with a hasty,
“Nayu’s-not-running-away-but-a-valid-excuse.”
But Jamsuni just stared at me with a blank expression, even as my anger grew.
“Hey, Kim Sojin. What the hell did you do? Are you seriously insane? I know it was the 10th basement floor, but did you think the flames wouldn’t reach the surface...? No, seriously, if the fire was that big, you should’ve run away before trying to put it out! Are you really that stupid? Do you even realize how damn worried I—ugh, forget it. You...!”
But I couldn’t bring myself to scold her. Jamsuni, lying down quietly, had already raised her hips.
“What... what are you doing?”
“Hit me. I messed up this time, so... hit me.”
Making a middle schooler get into this kind of position...
It made me feel like trash.
Honestly, the only time I ever discipline Jamsuni like this is when she truly deserves it.
As I stood there staring at her, Jamsuni’s body began trembling slightly.
“Hurry up and... hit me.”
“Ha. Forget it. Get up.”
Jamsuni cautiously looked at me and said, “I... I think I’ll try going to middle school.”
“W-What?”
“You said you’d help, so financially, there won’t be any burden.”
Our little Jamsuni saying something this responsible...
I suddenly felt like I was going to cry a river.
“Why... why are you stuffing your fist in your mouth?”
“I can’t just cry out loud like a kid.”
Wiping away real tears, I muttered, trying to hold back my emotions.
Why did Jamsuni saying she wanted to go to middle school touch me so deeply? It felt as though a corner of my heart had been saved.
“And... I’ll try to be a more normal kid.”
“Hey, did you eat something weird? Why are you saying such responsible things?”
I patted Jamsuni’s hair.
She quietly accepted my touch.
“I was really planning on scolding you today, but I’ll let you off this time.”
“Hmph, you sound like such an old man. I’m going. A-And...”
The girl, her face still streaked with tears, smiled.
“Oppa, thanks for today.”
“What? I didn’t catch that. Say it again?”
“I-I don’t know! You misheard!!!”
The girl yelled at the top of her lungs and bolted out of the room.
Watching her, I mumbled to myself.
“She really feels like a little sister...”
***
A white space stretched infinitely in every direction.
This place, where the Baekdu of Cheonji gathered, was known as the ‘Room of the End.’ And now, within this room, stood two figures.
One was the leader of Cheonji, and the other was Baek Yoorin, who had newly ascended to Baekdu.
“Grrr...”
Baek Yoorin took a stance.
Her hands pressed firmly against the floor, her thighs tensed and ready. It was a stance one would take only in the moments before a battle.
Seeing this, the leader of Cheonji spoke.
“Stand down.”
“Right now, from over there—”
“I know. The rage is pouring out from the Great Ghost Gate.”
The leader of Cheonji looked off into the distance.
Beyond the door, where a girl always slept with an expressionless face, her brow furrowed ever so slightly, as if in anger. Just a tiny bit.
Yet, even that small sign of anger was enough to make the tiger in front of him tense up like this.
“Who could have possibly angered that emotionless being?”
The leader of Cheonji fell into deep thought.
Who could have stirred such rage?
“If that wicked god possesses emotions, perhaps those emotions can be manipulated.”
As the one responsible for preventing the end of the world, the leader considered all possibilities. A grudge against Maitreya, or perhaps some plan of the evil god had gone awry.
Among all those possibilities, the idea of ‘her position as a younger sister being threatened’ never crossed his mind.
The leader of Cheonji couldn’t even fathom such a notion.
– – – The End of The Chapter – – –
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