04. Uncomfortable Cohabitation (19)

‘It’s a surprise!’

I was really surprised. To think that Cha Soo-hyeok was standing in front of my house, soaked in the rain.

When you get wet in the rain that much, you look a bit pitiful and pitiful, but maybe because your face is Cha Soo-hyeok, it looks like a scene from a movie.

Splendid, tragic and something like that….

I didn’t feel that way for nothing. Now, Cha Soo-hyeok was not the cold, knife-like figure we saw at the fair, but his expression of melancholy that could not be hidden.

“Cha Soo-hyeok Hunter!”

I hurriedly ran to the front of the house and put an umbrella over him.

It must have been meaningless since it was already all wet, but I didn’t want to keep the rain on the guests who came to my house. Even more so if he was his father’s co-worker and my idol.

“Why are you here? Did you come to me? No, don’t do this for now, let’s go in.”

I opened the front door and tried to let Cha Soo-hyeok into the house, but he just stood still and shook his head.

“It’s okay. I… Because I don’t deserve it.”

“Yes? Are you qualified?”

Cha Soo-hyeok stared at the lighted living room through the window of our house with a rain-soaked face.

“I haven’t seen you in a while, but you seem to be the same. Please tell the elders that I am sorry.”

“Huh? Are you going? Like this?”

“Yes.”

Cha Soo-hyeok left only those words and turned his back. His back as he walked away in the rain caught my eye.

When you say elder, you think you mean my grandfather. What does sorry mean?

I went into the house feeling bewildered.

“Grandpa! I’m here.”

I couldn’t hear the benevolent voice that greeted me as always.

The house was quiet. Apparently the lights were on, but there was no sound coming out.

Are you sleeping already? Puzzled, I opened the door to the living room and saw my grandfather sitting at a table silently drinking green tea.

“Grandpa?”

Since I spent a lot of time with my grandfather, I immediately noticed how he was feeling.

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Grandpa, I don’t know why, but he was angry right now.

“Is Lee Jin here?”

“What are you doing… ?”

“Whoa… It’s nothing.”

It was absolutely nothing.

When Grandpa gets angry, he doesn’t reveal his inner feelings well because he has the personality to keep his emotions inside. No matter how upset and difficult it may be, he probably doesn’t want to burden his young grandson. So, when something like this usually happened, I didn’t bother to ask and acted as if nothing had happened.

But not today. I was very concerned about what happened between my grandfather and Cha Soo-hyeok. If it has something to do with my father, it certainly has nothing to do with me.

I took off my rain-soaked school uniform and carefully floated my rhyme.

“There was Hunter Cha Soo-hyeok outside.”

“… ….”

“It was because of him, right?”

“What does he say to you?”

That bastard was a title that somehow felt hostile.

Looking at the way he speaks, he seems to have known Hunter Cha Soo-hyeok for a long time, but why hasn’t he said anything to me yet?

“I asked him to tell his grandfather he was sorry.”

“Huh….”

The grandfather sighed silently.

It must have been that the tea was not even half empty after pouring it, and the green tea had cooled down before I knew it, and a cold feeling lingered in the air. It didn’t even give off the faint scent of when Grandpa always brewed tea.

When did you boil that teapot? I took the teapot that had cooled down and boiled water in the living room. Then, brewed green tea was poured into a new teacup.

It’s not like my grandfather’s level, but I’m proud of my ability to make tea because I learned it over my shoulder.

I set the steaming cup of tea on the table, carefully pulled a chair, and sat across from my grandfather.

“Eat.”

“… Thank you.”

We sat across from each other and tilted our teacups little by little without saying anything to each other. There was no conversation, but as I sat and drank tea, my mind gradually calmed down.

While I was completely emptying a cup of tea, my grandfather carefully sorted out his emotions, and I also slowly sorted out in my head what to ask him. This was our way of talking.

When I made a mistake or had something embarrassing to tell my grandfather, he often comforted me by serving me tea like this.

It’s only today that it’s finally my turn.

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Grandpa smiled softly and opened his mouth.

“Your tea-making skills have improved a lot, Lee Jin-ah.”

“You were still far away compared to my grandfather.”

“No. These are not empty words. I never thought I would be so comforted by the tea my grandson made. One day, I wanted to see Lee Jin catch up with your grandmother’s skills… After all, life is something to live and see.”

“Ah, embarrassingly, not that much.”

I waved my hand at the tickling feeling in my chest.

When the atmosphere was created to start a conversation calmly, I spoke first.

“What the hell happened?”

Even at my words, my grandfather hesitated for a long time and pursed his lips. He seemed to be contemplating where to start and how far he could go. I didn’t rush and waited for Grandpa to speak first.

“… He said he wanted to say hello. To my son.”

“Ah.”

If it’s a greeting… I naturally looked upstairs, where my parents’ room was. The tomb is empty because the parents didn’t bring the body. That’s why the photos of the two of you and the keepsakes of the two of you are all in our house.

“I told you to shut up. I didn’t even want to see your face.”

“Yes?”

It’s hard to believe that the words of my always gentle grandfather were so radical. No matter how difficult my parents’ room is to enter, I never thought my grandfather would talk about it that much.

“You look curious about why. It’s a long story, so to speak… Well. Would you like another drink?”

“Oh, yes. Here you go.”

While I was pouring green tea into my grandfather’s empty teacup, I also filled my own.

Hororok- The sound of drinking tea filled the living room.

“Didn’t he tell you something? Not today, but some other day.”

“Well, my father is the Clan Chief of the Suseong Clan. I also heard that Hunter Cha Soo-hyeok was once a member of my father’s clan.”

“So what? You already knew that far.”

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t tell you.”

I purposely did not tell my grandfather that I had met Cha Soo-hyeok at the fair. It was because I guessed that there must be a reason why Grandpa hid the fact. Deep things I can’t tell you. I didn’t want to touch it carelessly.

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Grandpa shook his head slowly from side to side with his eyes closed.

“No, no. Rather my fault. You must have been curious about your father… You’re deep inside, so you haven’t asked Grandpa anything yet.”

“… ….”

“Looking back now, it was a terrible thing. I knew it was my greed… Grandmother hoped Jin Lee wouldn’t know about what a great hunter your parents were.”

“Why? It’s nice to have great parents.”

I thought my parents were just ordinary hunters until now. There were so many people who died during the chaos of the Outbreak, so I assumed that my parents just died that way.

However, the person who created Suseong today and whom Cha Soo-hyeok considers a benefactor? I was secretly feeling proud and proud that my father was a greater person than I thought.

But his grandfather was adamant.

“I never wanted my son to become a hunter. No matter how great you have become, you can’t hug him saying you’re proud of him now.”

“Ah….”

My hair went white. No words came out.

“He was a nice guy. Just like you Jini… The gate is open and the world is in chaos, but I wanted to save people somehow. Climb the tower over and over again, and each time it gets wrecked….”

Remembering the past, the expression on the grandfather’s face gradually became wet with remorse.

“It kept drying. Do you really need to be you, and why do you do that? At the end, he knelt down and begged. I felt like I would really lose my son and daughter-in-law if I continued like this. He hugged you, who couldn’t even walk yet, and demanded that you intend to let this lump of blood live without parents.”

“… ….”

“Then Cha Soo-hyuk appeared.”

Recalling old memories, the grandfather’s voice trembled with overflowing emotion.

At the same time as he confessed his accumulated feelings, old emotions were also being pulled out.

“At that time, I was a novice who followed my son and daughter-in-law around. He said to his hesitant son. That you need There should be a clan leader in Mercury. In the end, your parents followed him and climbed the tower once again.”

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Grandpa quietly wiped his eyes.

There was clear moisture at the tips of those wrinkled and cracked fingers.

“It was he who brought mementos.”