Resurrection Chapter 82 - Not That One

Park Sikyung gulped down the curry he had been chewing and answered, sounding displeased.

“It’s fine. It’s not like it’s the first or second time I’ve been asked that kind of question.”

Kim Yitae noticed that his mood had improved and straightened up with a smile. Then, he rested his elbows on the stool, propped his chin on his hand, and spoke.

“I guess there are a lot of people who find it as strange as I do.”

“Don’t even get me started. They all think that if you’re an Apostle of the White Goddess, you must be living a life of abstinence like a monk. Even when I say it’s not like that, they make fun of me, asking if I’m a virgin or whatever, and look down on me.”

“I see. That must have been upsetting. I really didn’t know. I found out because Heesoo hyung told me. To be honest, I was really surprised. I thought someone like Heesoo hyung would have dated many people, but he said he’s never done that before.”

“It’s Mr. Heesoo who’s amazing. For someone like Mr. Heesoo, the temptations around him are no joke. People come at him using any means necessary. Actually, the White Goddess tends to be lenient about relationships between apostles, so in the case of Moon Yisun, another top-ranking apostle, he doesn’t discriminate between men and women……”

Park Sikyung clamped his mouth shut mid-sentence. That was an internal matter of the White Order, so it felt wrong to disclose it to an outsider like Kim Yitae. It wasn’t a good thing either, but rather something that could be considered a flaw, so he quickly stopped talking, but thankfully Kim Yitae didn’t press for the rest of the story. Seeming not to have any vulgar curiosity, he changed the subject back to Park Sikyung and asked.

“You’re young, so you must be full of vigor. Isn’t it hard to practice abstinence?”

“What do you mean I’m young? I may look like this, but I’m an adult. And I’m content as long as I can train hard and be by Mr. Heesoo’s side.”

Hearing that answer, Kim Yitae asked as if genuinely curious.

“Why do you follow Heesoo hyung to such an extent? I heard you were scammed several times trying to save him.”

“Because there’s no one else in the world like Mr. Heesoo. I mean, he’s perfect, isn’t he? Whether you look at his abilities, or his appearance, and above all, his character is excellent.”

Park Sikyung recalled all of Seo Heesoo’s deeds that he had watched over while they were colleagues in the same order.

He valued principles and was at times so moral that it could be frustrating. The most representative case was the City Ville collapse incident.

Once, an entire building called City Ville had collapsed due to a Monster Break. The people who had taken refuge in the underground shelter there were trapped, and since the remaining parking garage was on the verge of collapsing, there was no way to rescue them. They weren’t gathered in one place but were scattered here and there, and they were trapped in very narrow spaces, so it was impossible to rescue them with teleportation either.

Meanwhile, monsters were moving through the underground sewer pipes, making the situation extremely dangerous. With limited manpower, they couldn’t do two things at once. The prevailing opinion was that they should give up on the buried people and use the time to prevent the monsters from crossing into other cities.

But Seo Heesoo did not give up until the end. He sought out nearby spirit masters and personally persuaded the earth spirits they had summoned. When the gnomes opened a thread-like path into the underground, the tankers who had been inspired by Seo Heesoo and volunteered secured the buried people.

In the middle of it, the debris of the collapsed building came crashing down, and everyone there was almost buried alive, but Seo Heesoo broke through the ground with a feat of strength that could only be called a miracle and simultaneously supported the crumbling debris with his holy power.

The tankers escaped with the buried people through the underground sewer, but Seo Heesoo did not come out with them. He entered the sewer along with the collapsing underground, pursued the monsters heading for the city center, and annihilated them.

There were countless examples like this.

The Holy Knight Seo Heesoo never compromised when it came to practicing justice. At times, when faced with situations where he had to choose practicality between one life and many, he never gave up on anything.

There was no need to. Because he had the ability to do so.

That was why people called Seo Heesoo the national hero, passing over the seven S-rank Awakeners. The fact that the White Goddess’s religious influence had grown this large was also entirely due to Seo Heesoo’s merit, so it was understandable that the goddess was obsessed with him. If it was a person like that, he wouldn’t be betrayed even if he trusted and followed him.

“The only person worthy of being the savior of the world is Mr. Heesoo. In that sense, I guess Mr. Kim Yitae has a good eye for people. I don’t know about when you were a Holy Knight, but now that you’re not, thank you for believing in Mr. Heesoo until the end… is what I should say.”

Park Sikyung was about to just say thank you but hastily changed his words. As he spoke, it seemed to be turning into something like praise for Kim Yitae, but it didn’t seem to be very effective. Kim Yitae was narrowing his eyes and smiling with satisfaction.

Under his gaze, Park Sikyung prepared to put up his thorns. He was determined not to fall for it even if Kim Yitae tried to win him over by saying something about being comrades.

Park Sikyung knew very well that the reason he had made him a comrade was because of Seo Heesoo. If it weren’t for him, he would have just killed him to silence him, not kept him alive and treated him like a comrade as he was now.

He might be cooperating in the noble work of defeating the Black King and saving the world, but his fundamental nature was that of an all-rounder jack-of-all-trades, a team breaker who caused trouble wherever he went. Park Sikyung had also heard all sorts of rumors surrounding him, so he couldn’t let his guard down…….

It was then. Kim Yitae suddenly reached out his hand.

Park Sikyung flinched and pulled his head back, but Kim Yitae’s hand was faster. As if patting Park Sikyung’s cheek, he picked off a grain of rice that was stuck to the corner of his mouth. He put it back on Park Sikyung’s lips and said.

“Seeing you get food all over yourself while eating, you really are a kid.”

It was a trivial touch and clearly a meaningless comment. But after licking off the grain of rice without thinking, his face flushed hot.

Park Sikyung almost covered his face as he rubbed the spot his hand had touched with the back of his own hand. Seeing the bright red Park Sikyung, Kim Yitae chuckled, but the feeling was definitely different from teasing. It was a look of genuine endearment, as if looking at a child.

When Park Sikyung didn’t know what to do, Kim Yitae got up from his seat. Then, he tapped the tip of his foot with the tip of his own, turned around, and said.

“When you’re done eating, clean up properly and let your food digest before you go to sleep.”

Even after Kim Yitae left, Park Sikyung couldn’t take his hand away from his mouth for a long time. He figured it was because he was surprised by the sudden contact, having never had any contact with others in his life.

Park Sikyung convinced himself several times that it was no big deal until his pounding heart calmed down. Only then did he manage to lower his hand and shovel the remaining curry rice into his mouth. After that, he did a half-hearted job of cleaning up and started to walk back to his tent.

Just as he was lifting the tent flap.

Someone forcefully pushed his back from behind. His steps getting tangled, Park Sikyung stumbled into the tent, lost his balance, and fell toward the cot. He managed to stop himself from falling flat on it by bracing his hands on the bed, but someone lunged onto his back.

A shiver ran down his spine, and Park Sikyung tried to scream and whirl his body around. But the opponent grabbed his chin and pressed his body down onto the bed.

Even without seeing, he could feel that the person was about twice his size. A hard and dangerous body, like a weapon, pressed down on his back with a terrifying aura. Because of that, the terrified Park Sikyung couldn’t even scream and asked in a small voice.

“Wh-wh-who…?”

Could it be an attack? Kim Yitae said this was a place no one knew about? Who on earth? Could it be Yaksha? If not then…….

As a myriad of thoughts ran through his head, Park Sikyung was forced to look back by the hand that gripped and turned his chin strongly. His eyes met with the opponent pressing him down, and he was so shocked he nearly passed out.

It was something he had never expected, but the opponent was not a stranger.

It was none other than Seo Heesoo.

Park Sikyung was greatly bewildered.

Why is Mr. Heesoo doing this?

“Hee, Mr. Heesoo…?”

The way he was holding him down with a coercive attitude and looking into his eyes up close was not like his usual self. The eyes beneath his long, flowing bangs were black, but they looked red because they were bloodshot.

A strange, unusual light that was unimaginable during his Holy Knight days swirled in those eyes, and Park Sikyung felt an unidentifiable threat. It wasn’t a simple attitude of scaring or threatening him. It was a demeanor that was all the more frightening because the intention was unknown.

Frozen and unable to speak any further, Park Sikyung watched as Seo Heesoo’s gaze slid from his eyes downwards. He was staring intently at his lips, a gaze whose meaning he couldn’t fathom. It seemed to be a mix of lust, anger, and jealousy, making his heart drop.

As Park Sikyung was horrified, Seo Heesoo, as if noticing his expression, gripped his chin even more strongly.

“Ugh!”

Sharp fingers dug into his cheek as if to pierce it, and his mouth fell open in pain. Park Sikyung saw Seo Heesoo open his own mouth just a little. As he brought his parted lips close, as if to kiss him, an intense tension he had never felt before washed over him.

Just a moment before their lips touched.

Seo Heesoo suddenly pulled his head back. He let go of Park Sikyung and took a step back, then suddenly spoke with an impeccably polite attitude.

“My apologies for the intrusion so late at night.”

The tension gone, Park Sikyung leaned his arm on the cot and slumped to the floor. As he stared, dumbfounded, Seo Heesoo continued in a tone that was even courteous.

“I had something I was curious about and wanted to ask, but my eagerness got the better of me……”

Park Sikyung was beyond confused and was now terrified. Even if Seo Heesoo had gotten angry and thrown a fit, it probably wouldn’t have been as scary as this. His sudden calmness was not like his usual self.

Beneath the expressionless face that feigned composure, an inexplicable madness seemed to be hiding. No matter how much he acted like his usual self, something irrational was slowly seeping out.

Seo Heesoo, who seemed to be trailing off, tilted his head slightly and asked.

“What did you talk about with Kim Yitae?”

Park Sikyung blinked rapidly.

Is that all he’s asking? It doesn’t make sense, and because it doesn’t make sense, it was even scarier.

Seeing the way he was staring, it didn’t seem like a question thrown out at random. A will to definitely hear the answer was apparent, so Park Sikyung forced his frozen lips to move and said.

“N-nothing much……”

“Nothing much?”

“We didn’t talk about much……. Just talked a little about you, Mr. Heesoo……”

“Not that.”

“Pardon?”

“Not that, what did Kim Yitae say while touching you at the end.”

His tone was strong and clear, and his demand was definite. Park Sikyung could no longer mistake his question, so he repeated what Kim Yitae had said without changing a single syllable.

“He said, seeing me get food all over myself while eating, I really am a kid……”

“Ah.”

As if his curiosity was finally resolved, Seo Heesoo nodded his head. Then he said something that was more like a farewell than an apology to Park Sikyung.

“I understand. Please get some rest now.”

Seo Heesoo turned around just like that, lifted the tent flap, and went outside. Once he was gone, Park Sikyung, completely drained of tension, let his hand slip from the cot and braced it on the floor.

Even as he sat there like that for a long time, letting the chill of the floor seep into him, he couldn’t figure out what had just happened. He just vaguely felt that the Seo Heesoo he had just seen was not the Seo Heesoo he used to know.