Chapter 755 – 755. Connections (6)
“Ah… !”
As soon as she stepped inside her village, Erin found the familiar scent of Eunhyeon.
She let out a small exclamation and immediately ran in the direction she smelled her.
“Wait a minute! Where!”
At her sudden action, her scarlet urgently tried to catch her, but her timing was too late for her Erin, who had already started running blindly, to catch her behind.
For Ju-hong, who was unaware of the fact that her Erin’s senses were unusually superior to her own, as a beast-in-law, Erin’s sudden action was too sudden and dumbfounded.
What calmed her panic was the member of Heilang who came to meet them.
“It’s okay. Because it always happens.”
Erin’s sudden behavior, which always moved more emotionally than rationally, was at a level that the Heilang members couldn’t do anymore.
She didn’t often look at her face and do something together, but basically, the Heilang members don’t care much about what Eun-hyeon’s wives do.
Even if you care, you can’t interfere.
Not to mention Illyana, Eleanor, Lily, and Erin are all stronger than the Black Wand members, have a higher status, or are of a different race.
Rather, since everything they do is for Eun-hyeon’s sake, it is beyond the topic for them to interfere with their owner, who are mere dogs on a leash.
So, the Heilang members accept Erin no matter how unexpectedly she behaves or has an accident, and is rather more inclined to deal with her accident.
“…”
“I heard a story from ‘him’. We will guide you.”
At the words of Heilang, Ju-hong calmed down and nodded his head slightly.
He knew very well that she couldn’t do anything even if he was embarrassed here.
At midnight, when the cold wind was blowing, Erin’s steps were so light as she ran down the street at night.
Unlike the speed at which she quickly tracks her scent, there is no hesitation as the destination of her silent footsteps has already been decided.
Erin ran, just as her loyal dog stimulated her homing instinct to return to her own master.
Eventually, Erin arrived at the inn, the only building where tourists visiting the village could rest.
The building was not very large and shabby, but it showed that it had put a lot of effort into maintaining it.
Erin immediately opened the inn door and entered the building.
“Welcome.”
Erin didn’t react to the host’s greetings at her counter.
Her nerves of her Erin now were full only of her seeking out the location of Eun-Hyeon.
Eventually, Erin found Eunhyun.
It was very easy to find because only one person was filling the restaurant table at the quiet inn.
“Erin.”
Sure enough, Eun-hyeon sat at her table and waved her hand gently from side to side toward Erin, conveying her position.
“Hyun-a!”
Erin was delighted and ran to Eunhyun.
“Oops.”
She caught Erin, who threw her body as if jumping.
“Hi-Hi. Hyuna! When did you come?”
“Just.”
“I thought I wouldn’t see you today!”
Erin teased her, rubbing her own face on her cheek.
To be honest, she really liked it because it felt like she had been given a gift that she hadn’t expected at all.
She was in the middle of a date, and she was very sad because it happened suddenly.
“Today isn’t over yet.”
In fact, Eunhyeon was also aware of Erin’s feelings, even if it was a small grumble when she started working.
“It’s late, but I’m here to spend the night with you.”
“Hi-Hi.”
Erin smiled and expressed her feelings.
But she, of course, also noticed that she hadn’t come purely to meet him.
“Isn’t that all there is to it?”
“Huh.”
Eun-hyeon did not hide it from Erin, who accurately grasped her true intentions, but affirmed it.
Her reasons included wanting to spend the night with Erin, but another purpose was to directly check Runan’s condition and a woman named ‘Juhong’.
“I’m still happy.”
Even so, Erin was grateful to Eunhyun for caring about her.
“Ah…”
Others entered the inn later.
A member of the Heilang Troupe and a beastman woman with crimson hair who was guided by him.
Eunhyeon’s eyes met with the prisoner woman who was staring at Eunhyeon and Erin with a small sigh.
Ju-hong shook her shoulders.
The man who met her eyes was very different from the person in the past that existed in her memory.
In particular, white-silver hair did not exist in Ju-hong’s memory.
But.
“Oh… Bar… ?”
The red eyes, those eyes, and the atmosphere are still vivid in her memory.
Ju-hong cautiously called Eun-hyeon again.
“Really… Hyun is your brother?”
“That’s right. Really… It’s Hong.”
“Black… !”
Ju-hong’s shoulders trembled at Eun-hyeon’s voice calling her by her own name.
Various emotions such as longing, guilt, and sadness surge in her heart.
“Erin.”
“Huh?”
“Can we just talk for a moment, just the two of us?”
“… Huh. I can’t help it.”
She didn’t like that she prioritized other women over herself, but considering Eun-hyeon and Ju-hong’s relationship, she couldn’t just use a group.
Erin left behind her regret and left Eunhyeon.
And she went straight to the counter and talked to the owner.
“Mister.”
“Hmm?”
“Could you please leave your seat for a moment?”
Erin glanced at Eunhyeon and Juhong and asked the owner.
It was a consideration to arrange a place so that Eunhyeon and Juhong could have a conversation just the two of them.
Of course, I didn’t ask for it empty-handed.
When I took out two gold coins from my pocket and presented them on the table, the owner did not think long.
“Hmm.”
In a village on the outskirts where customers do not come often, gold coins are not easy to see.
It was easy money for Erin, an adventurer in the gold tier, but from the innkeeper’s point of view, it was a large amount of money that easily exceeded a few months’ worth.
The innkeeper stood up from her counter seat, pocketing two of her gold coins that Erin had placed on her table.
“Maybe I’m doing inventory.”
“Then we’ll be leaving as well.”
Following the innkeeper, the Heilang troupe member who guided Ju-hong also bowed briefly to Eun-hyeon and disappeared.
“Hyunah. Then I’ll go to the room first.”
“Thank you.”
Erin headed to the room Eunhyeon had reserved.
When everyone left, only Eunhyeon and Juhong were left in the wide space of the inn restaurant.
An awkward silence settled between the two, and that silence was not easily broken.
“… Are you really my brother?”
Joo-hong asked again.
It wasn’t that I wasn’t sure, it was that I couldn’t believe the situation.
Because I never thought that I would be able to meet my relationship on Earth again here.
A completely different region, civilization, people, and the world itself are completely different.
Meeting someone who knows you in such a world would be more difficult than finding a tiny needle in the middle of a vast desert.
That miraculous probability, now the vermilion was experiencing.
Eun-hyun got up from the table and went to Ju-hong.
“… !”
Still unable to believe it, she stood at the entrance of the inn, shaking her head as Eun-hyeon slowly approached her.
“Hongah.”
Eun-hyeon, who arrived right in front of Ju-hong, smiled and stroked her head.
“Sorry.”
Ju-hong understood Eun-hyeon’s feelings in that one word.
An apology to blame herself for not being able to save her father, Joo Hyeon-seong, until the end.
And he even apologized for not defending himself.
His smiling face is full of regret and guilt.
“No…”
Ju-hong did not accept his apology.
“Why are you apologizing? That… It wasn’t your fault.”
“…”
“My father died… It’s not because of your brother. Me, I was wrong I was stupid.”
Joo Hyeon-seong took the bait himself to save Eun-hyeon and Ju-hong.
He set his body on fire like a fire moth and fought against countless demons alone, making time for Eun-hyeon and Ju-hong to escape safely, but the price was his life.
As a child, Ju-hong was not mature enough to accept such a complex situation.
So he always blamed Eun-hyeon.
Why didn’t he save his father, and why was it not his father who survived, but his older brother?
His messy feelings pushed him more and more, and he couldn’t understand why Eun-hyeon, not his father, survived.
So he denied his existence.
In the end, the more she realized the Geukwon-ryu taught by Ju Hyeon-seong and grew up, the more she recognized Eun-hyeon’s helplessness.
Whenever Eun-hyun took a step forward, Ju-hong was always ten steps ahead, and the gap widened.
It became an opportunity for Ju-hong to follow his father and recognize his talent for the far source, but on the contrary, he recognized the helplessness of Eun-hyeon, who could only take one step when he took ten steps.
Maybe that’s why she hated her even more.
It’s not a pathetic man with this kind of dunjae, but that his father should have been alive.
She became even more angry at the thought that it would have been easier for her to deal with the demons now rampaging on Earth.
“Sorry. I’m really sorry. Brother…”
Ju-hong apologized to Eun-hyeon several times while shedding tears.
It was only when the spark of her life was extinguished that she was mortally wounded by her demons, that she realized her own wrongdoing.
At that time, Eun-hyeon, who arrived a little late, hugged Ju-hong’s body and cried as her blood poured out and her heart beat gradually slowed down.
Ju-hong couldn’t understand why Eun-hyeon shed tears over his death.
He accused his father of letting him die and ridiculed his efforts as a human being with no talent.
He denied his life itself, saying that his father should have lived instead of Eun-hyeon.
Even though Eunhyeon made such severely insulting words and actions, she cared for herself.
Ju-hong realized why Eun-hyeon treated him so preciously right before he died.
For him, Ju-hong was the only remaining family member.
Joo Hyeon-seong entrusted Joo-hong to Eun-hyeon.
It was because he believed that Eun-hyeon, who lost his mother and became alone, would be able to understand Ju-hong’s heart and become his strength and raise him well.
Joo Hyeon-seong asked Eun-hyeon to raise Ju-hong well as her daughter’s friend and brother, and like her father.
So Eun-hyeon raised Ju-hong like his family according to his teacher’s will.
No matter how much you hate and criticize, in the end, only family can trust and rely on in this harsh world where demons run rampant.
Ironically, it was when he approached the threshold of death that Eun-hyeon, who had taken care of her, felt the rim of family for the first time.
“Are you okay. Hong Ah. It was me who was wrong. I am… In the end, Hyeonseong couldn’t keep his brother’s will.”
In the end, Eun-hyeon failed to keep his teacher’s will to raise Ju-hong well on his behalf.
“But…”
Ju-hong shook his head with tears in his eyes.
No matter how many times he apologizes, it doesn’t change the fact that his actions and words stabbed, cut, and scratched Eun-hyeon’s heart.
She knew that no matter how much she apologized, now that she was aware of both her and her own faults, she would not be able to make up for what she hadn’t done.
Even if you collect all the pieces of a once broken bowl and put them back together, the bowl can’t do its job.
“Hongah. Thank you. For coming back to me like this and… Once again, will you allow Hyunseong to keep his brother’s promise?”
“…”
Scarlet couldn’t answer.
He left so many indelible scars on him, is he really worthy of wanting to go back to his old relationship?
After thinking about it for a while, Ju-hong just nodded as he was wrapped in Eun-hyeon’s arms.
This was an opportunity for her too.
A chance to right her own actions and wrongs from her past.
His previous life was the worst, and a great blot on himself.
If so, that wasn’t the case this time around.
“… Huh.”
“… Thank you.”
After hearing Ju-hong’s answer, Eun-hyeon hugged her and comforted Ju-hong, who was shedding tears.
