Chapter 95
After a moment, someone else started. It was a man holding what looked like a three-year-old child. With a somewhat gaunt and tired face, the man spoke.
“My name is Kim Daejin. This is my son, Kim Jiho. Jiho, you should say hello to your older brothers.”
The baby called Jiho gave a small bow at his father’s prompting.
The woman sitting next to him spoke next.
“I’m Choi Seongeun. This is my daughter, Park Sooyoung. Honey.”
“I’m Park Taeyoung.”
There was Choi Seongeun, a woman with short hair; next to her, a girl who looked like a middle schooler named Park Sooyoung; and beside her, a man named Park Taeyoung with a broken arm.
Next to them sat a man with his face wrapped in bandages, and beside him a girl who looked like an elementary schooler, her arm similarly wrapped in bandages.
“Ah, I’m Shin Junwoo. This is my younger sister, Shin Miyeon.”
Shin Junwoo, Shin Miyeon.
Once their introductions were done, it was our turn. In the end, I spoke.
“I’m Nam Muyeong. We’re just friends.”
I lightly nudged Lee Hoin.
“I’m Lee Hoin.”
People smiled lightly and welcomed us.
“Then how old are you two? You look young.”
“These kids just turned twenty. Said it happened right at their graduation, didn’t it?”
“Ah, yes….”
At that, people’s brows lowered slightly.
“…Oh dear.”
The very word graduation seemed to create a small tragedy, and they let out quiet breaths.
Two people who survived their graduation. Their expressions suggested they were imagining how the two “friends” had ended up traveling together.
There wasn’t really a way to tell them not to think that, so I stayed silent. Lee Hoin didn’t look particularly offended either.
No… he didn’t seem like the type to get upset over sympathy in the first place. That was a bit strange. Sometimes he seemed delicate, yet in matters like this, he was indifferent.
“Eat a lot~. Sungho, pick out some monkfish meat for the kids and put it on their plates. Do kids even know how to eat agu-jjim?”
At that, the large man nodded and moved. With practiced hands, he dismantled one of the four monkfish and neatly placed meat, bean sprouts, water parsley, and onions onto our plates.
As if that were a signal, the others also began eating. Lee Hoin stared at the monkfish for a moment, then raised his brows and glanced at me.
When I looked back at him as if to say, “What?” he let out a long breath, shrugged once, and began eating.
The mealtime was warm. People were more cheerful than expected. There was a sense of closeness unique to those who had already lived together for several days.
At the same time, they didn’t forget about us, occasionally asking questions.
“Where did you come from?”
Lee Hoin swallowed what he was chewing and answered Shin Junwoo’s question.
“Ah, we came from Gangdong. Around Gil-dong.”
“Oh my, isn’t that the complete opposite? Over there… Sangil-dong?”
“Yes. Around the Hanam Geomsan area.”
“Oh, right, right… The subway line got extended, didn’t it?”
Lee Hoin nodded.
“You came from really far away. How did you get here?”
It was a natural question. There wasn’t a single piece of public transportation left, and traveling from one end of a subway line to the other was difficult. If we had walked the whole way, that would have been impressive in its own right.
“We drove.”
“…You drove?”
The man named Kim Daejin looked at us with slight surprise.
“You said you’re only twenty, but you’re already skilled at driving? Even we had a hard time getting here because the roads were so blocked….”
“Ah, I got my license right after the college entrance exam.”
Even then, they looked impressed. It wasn’t normal roads… half-destroyed roads, roads filled with wrecked and broken cars. It seemed amazing to them that we had made it through.
Choi Seongeun spoke cheerfully.
“You know, people usually drive best right after getting their license. Right, honey?”
Park Taeyoung, following her lead, smiled kindly and nodded.
“I think I drove best right after getting my license too.”
At that, Shin Junwoo laughed and said,
“Didn’t you say you were a bus driver, hyung?!”
“Yeah. Good thing I came from Eunpyeong-dong. If I’d been driving near Banghwa, I would’ve taken a trip to the afterlife at least once.”
At the joke, whether someone who drove for a living should say that, laughter spread.
It was strangely peaceful. As if the apocalypse had never happened.
That didn’t mean the apocalypse was completely excluded. Their conversations clearly centered around a world where the apocalypse had arrived, yet they deliberately avoided talking about it.
They didn’t talk about mutants either. Not about how they fought, how they won, what events occurred, or what the commentator said.
There were no chaotic or information-exchange-type questions. Just casual chatter, close to small talk.
—
[Is this a space for escaping reality? (laughs)]
[It feels like watching a butterfly desperately flap its wings after being caught in a spider’s web, before the spider arrives. It’s already caught either way.]
[So, what will the narrator do?]
[Will you indulge in this peace?]
—
The commentator’s mocking words passed by.
The monkfish melted quickly in my mouth. The bean sprouts and water parsley weren’t tough. The seasoning was perfect, and the rice had just the right firmness.
The side dishes were also excellent. Whenever a dish emptied, the large man, Kim Sungho, would get up and bring new ones, and the entire process flowed naturally like water.
Peace. Tranquility. It felt like a well-structured play, yet also like a harsh reality.
Caught between those subtle impressions, I grew quieter, unable to decide.
Lee Hoin watched me like that for a moment, then finished his meal and even washed my dishes before sending me upstairs first.
I went up and was about to throw myself onto the bed, but flinched.
We had only left the room for a few minutes. In that time, the sheets had been changed, and a freshly washed blanket was neatly folded.
Somehow, this place…
‘Feels optimized for taking care of someone.’
It felt like a space that existed solely for that purpose.
It felt strange… and not strange at the same time. Not knowing where to place myself, I just stood there quietly.
—
[Does your reason keep holding you back?]
—
The commentator mocked me.
That, at least, was undeniably real.
I didn’t expect to find comfort in something sarcastic, though.
***
Before long, Lee Hoin came up as well and sat down on the bedding on the floor.
“Hey, how did we even end up here? I fell asleep halfway through, so I don’t remember.”
“We just kept driving and ended up here.”
“Ended up here from driving?”
Lee Hoin thought for a moment.
“But… this place feels kind of strange.”
Strange. The same subtle feeling I had… Lee Hoin felt it too.
“Ah, I don’t know what feels strange. I just can’t put my finger on it.”
“But at least the people themselves seem decent, right?”
At least the owner didn’t seem strange.
…Or maybe she was the strangest one.
Ah, seriously, why is there so much to think about?
“…Should I call my master?”
Of course, the price for summoning even 10% of my master might be coughing up blood nonstop. Unlike Hermadion, there was no magical recovery of stamina here, so I could die outright.
—
[Wow, you really do live a life full of gambles… but always remember your misfortune!]
—
If it were my master, a few spells would be enough to resolve this situation.
For a moment, I glanced at my vitality stat. It had dropped from 8 to 4… on the verge of death.
For now, eating well and resting for a few days was the priority. If I summoned my master here, I might end up paying with my life.
Maybe my master wouldn’t even come out.
‘Broken’s Oath… this is more complicated than I thought.’
It wasn’t the first skill that bound a contractor and a contracted entity through a pact.
But what made it different was that it prioritized the contracted party.
If other skills were like “come out when called, go back when told,” then Brecken’s Oath was more like…
“Would you come out? I need help.”
“The urgent matter is resolved. Would you like to go back and rest?”
It was closer to asking.
The reason Leon went back immediately last time was that I lost consciousness. Normally, even returning seemed to depend on the contracted party’s free will.
For something bound by a contract, it was surprisingly humane.
And that humanity probably meant…
‘It wasn’t created with malicious intent from the start.’
When skills were formed, they were created based on various circumstances, including their nature. Just like my “Definition.”
‘He probably won’t come out.’
My master, who likely knew my entire situation, wouldn’t come out so easily.
‘Still… should I try calling him once?’
Letting out a sigh, I rolled my eyes and summoned my master through Broken’s Oath.
—
[You call upon your soul’s master, ‘Leon Wolf’.]
—
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