Kill Your X Chapter 93

[Hmm….]

The fortune teller stalled for time. Just like before, he stared as if seeing right through us, then muttered incomprehensible words into the air. His face wrinkled deeply here and there from contemplation.

In my head, I knew it was part of a performance to mesmerize a sucker—no, a customer—but watching it up close, I found myself unwittingly captivated. The weather was warm, but for some reason, I got goosebumps on my skin.

Could it be that the answer to the question was negative? To calm my anxious heart, I grabbed Seo Seunghan’s hand, then let go again. It was because his palm was damp with sweat.

I’d rarely seen him sweat in daily life, except when we were having sex. Just how nervous was he to be like this?

[Peculiar. Truly, I’ve never seen a case like this.]

[What is it?]

I couldn’t hold back and pressed the fortune teller.

[To answer your question first, you two are together.]

As soon as I heard the translation, a sigh of relief escaped me. To think he’d stage such a dramatic performance for a simple fortune reading. If this is a skill, it’s a skill.

I thought it was an interesting experience and was about to leave, but the fortune teller continued.

[You two are together even after 50 years from now. The same was true in the past. What a tenacious fate this is.]

[What do you mean by that?]

[The reading ends here. Even if you give me more money, I cannot say another word about the future. I fear the gods, too.]

The fortune teller caressed the bag full of money preciously, as if he were genuinely disappointed. In front of us, he crossed his arms and closed his eyes completely.

We returned to our accommodation with a strange, unsettled feeling. Our re-clasped hands were now bone dry, as if they had never been sweaty. Seo Seunghan’s expression was also back to his usual impassive self, with no hint of anxiety.

“So, Seunghan-ah. What do you think? Does that guy seem real to you?”

“What do you mean, real?”

Seo Seunghan blinked his large eyes.

“I’m asking if you think he has clairvoyance. I don’t know what it’s like overseas, but in our country, don’t fortune tellers each have a being they serve? I thought you got the reading because you saw something in that man.”

“I didn’t see anything.”

I stopped in my tracks. I was so flabbergasted I stammered.

“What. Then he really was a scammer. You must have known from the start, so why did you just stand there? You were even sweating, so I thought it was real.”

His gaze briefly dropped to his feet. When he looked at me again, I felt an unidentifiable unease. It was a fragile side of him I had never seen before.

“There’s something I’ve been hiding from you, Sunbae.”

“Hiding what?”

“Actually, it’s been a while since I’ve been able to see those beings.”

I stood there blankly, unable to immediately grasp the meaning of his words.

“Uh… Since when?”

Seo Seunghan being able to see ghosts must have been because he was fundamentally a being belonging to hell. But if he wasn’t anymore.

“Around the time just before we left Korea. At first, I was also unsure, but it’s true.”

It wasn’t just the ability to see ghosts that he had lost. Seo Seunghan originally possessed physical abilities far superior to others. While not on the level of a beast, his various senses were also sharper than average. But he confessed that at some point, he had become no different from a normal person.

I had been so happy that he was eating better and especially sleeping well at night…. I realized the reason was somewhere else entirely.

Listening to the story, a chilling hypothesis flashed through my mind. My heart pounded anxiously.

“Don’t tell me that’s your punishment? You said it before. That you had something you were supposed to do when you came to this world, but you gave it up because of me. So the Demon King found you impertinent and banished you from hell completely or something.”

“Wouldn’t that be a good thing? I was banished from hell, not heaven. In the end, it means my body no longer belongs to hell.”

Seo Seunghan said it nonchalantly. It seemed he had already adjusted to the changes within himself to some extent while I was unaware.

“I don’t know the specifics either. It feels like he deliberately didn’t tell me so I could learn things one by one on my own.”

His tone wasn’t particularly resentful; it seemed his expectations for the Demon King were quite low to begin with.

“There’s only one thing I’m worried about. That my physical abilities and senses are weaker than before, and I might not be able to protect you properly, Sunbae.”

“You worry about the strangest things. I’m not a three or four-year-old kid.”

I grumbled, then became solemn. It’s not that I didn’t understand why he was always trying to be overprotective of me. It wasn’t intentional, but I was always put in situations where he had to come and save me.

I don’t know if I can prevent it, but from now on, I don’t want to create situations where I unilaterally depend on him. He’s already been through so much. To lighten his burden, I’ll have to become stronger in the end.

I want to become a person solid enough for Seo Seunghan to lean on. A small goal had formed in my unremarkable life.

“Still, I feel relieved after getting the reading earlier. Since it said you and I will be together and relatively healthy until we die.”

“You said you can’t see ghosts anymore. Then how do you know if that person was just making things up?”

“I’m sure of it.”

“It’s not just that you believe it because he told you what you wanted to hear?”

“Whatever it is, you and I will grow old together happily. Just know that.”

Seo Seunghan informed me one-sidedly. We didn’t know what would happen tomorrow, yet even after experiencing such unpredictable days, he had a calm side to him. I liked that about him.

“…I think I kind of get why your colleague liked to go for fortune readings.”

I said as I interlaced my fingers with his. It was something only possible in this remote town, which was barren of tourists.

We, who had been so deeply tied to the past, began to slowly and concretely sketch out our future. All the while holding onto the premise that we would be together in the distant future as if it were the truth.

✽✽✽

Originally, we planned to return to Korea after the trip ended, but an unexpected variable threw a wrench in our plans.

“Hah… That Ma Yubin guy is really no help until the very end.”

I sighed after reading the news article Seo Seunghan sent me. It was a situation where I couldn’t not swear.

“Didn’t they say he and his sponsor director were crazy about each other? So why is he acting like that?”

There was a man who initially opposed the corporatization of the gang, but once the business started doing well, he latched on like a parasite to pursue his own interests. As the hidden power behind the variant gambling incident, he was arrested along with Ma Yubin and the other directors of the Kumto gang. I thought it had ended there.

“I guess it wasn’t a love that could survive prison.”

A few days ago, Ma Yubin failed in an attempt to kill that man in prison. The plan was so sloppy, it was clear at a glance that it was an impulsive crime committed out of his inability to control his anger. He seemed to believe that his current downfall was all that man’s fault.

He then took it a step further. He was caught trying to bribe a prison guard with sexual favors for a more comfortable life inside. The public mocked Ma Yubin with a high level of intensity, saying things like, “Does he not even have the will to hide his vulgarity anymore?” The man who once reigned as a top star hit rock bottom, voluntarily adding fuel to the fire of controversy.

Our return to Korea was postponed indefinitely as the case reappeared in the news. I thought I had overcome it to some extent over time, but facing the public’s sharp reactions again, I was suddenly terrified. Days of sleepless nights followed, and because of his concern for me, dark circles formed under Seo Seunghan’s eyes as well.

The conclusion I reached after long deliberation was, in the end, avoidance. I just didn’t have the confidence to live well among people who would still look at me like a monkey in a zoo.

After wandering through several countries for half a year, we settled in one nation. Since there was no need to rush our return, we booked a long-term stay at an accommodation we both liked and decided to get plenty of rest for the time being. Although we had changed our travel plans midway to a less crowded course, we were beginning to feel tired from continuously encountering strangers.

“Ah, this is nice….”

The pool villa, situated on a small island, was as luxurious as its price was high, so we rarely encountered other tourists.

We would stroll through a forest that felt different from Korea’s, soak in the pool or the sea, and lie languidly on a sunbed, reading a book we bought during our travels before falling asleep. When we got hungry, we ate, and if our eyes met, we would tumble around passionately with Seo Seunghan. It was to the point where I worried if it was okay for a person to live this instinctively.

Kota Kinabalu’s sunsets were particularly beautiful. Watching the sky being painted with enchanting light every day naturally led to profound thoughts. I looked back on the past and vaguely pictured the future to come.

“Seunghan-ah. You’re not a gangster anymore, so what do you want to do with your life from now on?”

I asked him while lying on the terrace, watching the sunset. He, who had been submerged in the evening glow, slowly opened his eyes and gave a deeply surprising answer.