IRNH C66

Chapter 66

“Shall we go?”

Nod.

“Good. You followed me around all day, so I’ll give you a piggyback. Come here.”

When Sihyeon flashed a wide grin and beckoned, Taewoon worked his still-short arms and legs with all his might and climbed onto that broad back. He still hated the fact that he was at least a head shorter than his teacher, but moments like this made it feel… not entirely bad.

Taewoon hadn’t even finished that thought when the scenery suddenly began to fall away in an instant.

The road looked familiar. They were probably heading to the inn they had been staying at lately. Taewoon wrapped his arms around Sihyeon’s neck and buried his face against the back of his neck.

“Taewoon, are you asleep? Did you fall asleep already…?”

“…Mmph. I’m not sleeping.”

Taewoon had dozed off lightly, but the voice echoing from somewhere far away jolted him awake.

“Good. When you’re growing, you need to eat properly. You want to grow tall like me, right?”

But at those words, Taewoon turned his head slightly and frowned. Eating until he was full had never felt pleasant to him—more accurately, it had never felt necessary.

Still, whenever his teacher brought up height, something in him felt strangely complicated.

“I’ll eat.”

“Heh. Good.”

Looking as if he had expected that answer, Sihyeon strode into the inn first and ordered several dishes to be brought upstairs. Then he reached out and roughly mussed Taewoon’s much lower head.

But when the table soon filled with food, Taewoon instantly regretted his decision.

He pouted subtly—just enough not to be noticed—as he stared at the dishes piled before him.

“But seriously, what is this thing he guarded like a treasure?”

Sihyeon grabbed the book he had picked up earlier and began flipping through it. That guy had treated the bundle like something sacred, so Sihyeon had taken it out of curiosity.

It looked shabby, nameless, and plain—just enough to provoke a little interest. With a tiny hope that it might be some secret manual, Sihyeon kept reading.

“Balance of yin and yang? Eight trigrams? Sounds like tai chi… is it a Wudang secret manual?”

But after about ten pages of what seemed like grand talk about martial arts, the content began to drift into something far more novel-like.

Sihyeon stopped reading and quickly flipped to the very last page.

Thud.

“Oh, come on. It’s just erotic nonsense using yin-yang dual cultivation as a theme?”

This world was full of such stuff. The content was quite explicit—deep into the spicy territory—but Sihyeon skimmed through it and closed the book. Realizing the “treasure” was worthless left him oddly deflated.

“Is it interesting?”

“Huh?”

“I asked if it’s interesting.”

The question came from Taewoon, who should have been focused on his meal. Curiosity filled his eyes. Sihyeon set the book down, glanced at the pale, delicate-looking Taewoon, and smiled.

A teasing mood began to rise inside him.

‘Well, he is fifteen now. There are kids already married at this age here. This is nothing.’

He remembered how, back in modern Korea, kids around this age secretly passed around adult comics and videos. Between martial arts training and quests, he hadn’t bothered teaching Taewoon about such things—but introducing him to this much would be fine.

Well… mostly because it seemed like fun.

Sihyeon picked the book back up and held it out.

“Wanna read it?”

…Nod.

Cute.

Taewoon never peppered him with questions—what is this, why is that—yet he always watched and copied him instinctively. Because of that, his behavior and speech had gotten a bit odd, but that made him even cuter. It made Sihyeon want to tease him constantly.

Watching Taewoon take the book, Sihyeon imagined his reaction. A chubby pink-cheeked duck character flailing in panic popped into his mind. He nearly burst out laughing and struggled to keep a straight face.

“I’m gonna step out. You have to read it alone, okay? And finish your food.”

“Where are you going?”

“Mm, things kids don’t need to know.”

Taewoon hurriedly swallowed the food he’d been chewing and called out to Sihyeon as he tried to leave. Unable to resist, Sihyeon grabbed his soft cheek with both hands and squished it for a while before letting go.

“If you can’t finish it, just say so.”

After waving lazily as he left the room, Sihyeon disappeared. The moment he did, Taewoon lowered his chopsticks. His cheeks—red from all the touching—cooled slightly under his palm. Only after some time did he finally open the book he’d been handed.

A martial arts manual…?

If so, he needed to read it seriously. Even for him, understanding a martial arts manual in one go was not easy. But after flipping through a few pages, confusion grew.

The content was nonsense.

Even so, Taewoon didn’t believe Sihyeon would give him something meaningless. Clearly, there was something he couldn’t grasp yet. Resolving himself, he focused intently on the characters, reading each page multiple times.

After a while, his hand froze mid-page turn.

This is…

Then the sound of pages flipping grew faster and faster. His head tilted toward the book, practically diving into it.

“Taewoon?”

Taewoon blinked several times before slowly turning toward Sihyeon. Having been staring downward for so long, lifting his gaze felt like stepping into the past.

“Why are you zoning out? Anyway, hold these first.”

Sometime while Taewoon was absorbed, Sihyeon had finished paying. He stacked fifteen books into Taewoon’s arms in one swoop and patted his shoulder.

“I thought about it, and since you’ll be living here now, you need to study. So I bought more stuff for you.”

Maybe it was because he’d been a Korean for twenty-five years—once he had someone to look after, his mind instantly switched to education mode. The world might have changed, but universities still existed, and people who weren’t hunters lived normal lives. For a kid who liked books, studying was perfect.

“I can probably teach up to middle school level. Let’s study together for now.”

“Anything is fine. I will follow whatever you wish.”

Taewoon smiled softly as he listened to Sihyeon ramble on—explaining each book, this subject, that subject.

Seeing that smile, Sihyeon pressed his lips together.

‘Maybe I should make him a celebrity instead? Hiding that face away from the world feels like some kind of crime.’

His thoughts began to shift rapidly. He often forgot because he saw the boy every day, but Taewoon’s biggest weapon wasn’t his internal energy or martial prowess—it was his face. No wonder the people who came to kill him ended up throwing down their clothes and lunging at him instead.

Sure, they ended up beheaded for it, so the number dwindled. But even then, there were always new ones. That was how extraordinary his looks were.

‘Yeah… studying might be too much. I’ll try it first, but if it’s hard, I’ll let him choose. Are there career-experience programs here?’

While Sihyeon wandered through his own thoughts again, he took Taewoon’s hand and headed toward the hotel Kyu-min had arranged.

But before they even arrived, Sihyeon’s destination changed—the call he had been waiting for finally came.

It was Kyu-min.

Feeling instinctively that the “fun time” was over, Sihyeon forced himself to steady his drifting mood. He quickened his steps toward the hospital Kyu-min had mentioned.

The hospital clearly belonged to some major conglomerate’s family—security was tight, and an entire floor had been reserved. It wasn’t a place you could approach easily.

Since Kyu-min had called first, he had probably informed them beforehand, but Sihyeon chose to enter quietly.

Tsk. Don’t want rumors spreading for no reason…

Their footsteps were quick and firm, but the hospital interior remained still and silent.

Click.

Even the soft noise from the room door was swallowed by the hum of the ventilation system.

“Ugh… how could this happen? Even recovery items aren’t working…”

“Calm down. You’ll faint at this rate.”

As soon as they stepped inside, the voices of a middle-aged man and woman reached their ears. Sihyeon immediately hid in the shadow at the far end of the spacious hospital room.

His mouth filled with bitterness. It wasn’t his fault—he knew that. Still, he couldn’t help feeling guilty. He had grown more attached to Lee Kyu-min than he realized.

“Mother, Father. Please go rest. I’ll stay with hyung. Juyun is waiting too.”

“Yes… sigh. You must be hurting too—your brother meant so much to you. But tomorrow, we need to talk about company matters.”

“Honey!”

“That’s enough. We can’t just sit here grieving. We have to face reality.”

Sihyeon swallowed a quiet sigh as he listened to the family’s heavy conversation.

He tried not to listen, but the unusually subdued tone of Kyu-min made it impossible. Normally, he would have been relieved to hear him quiet for once—but now, knowing why, he wished the guy would just chatter like usual.

Next to him, Taewoon gently clasped Sihyeon’s hand.

{Are you feeling troubled?}

A soft voice resonated in his mind. Sihyeon flinched slightly, then replied through sound transmission.

{No. It couldn’t be helped.}

{Even so, I know it weighs on your heart. Please do not be distressed.}

A wry smile tugged at Sihyeon’s lips. He was increasingly convinced he could never lie to Taewoon again. How did this kid read him so well?

He’d felt it before, but now more than ever—it struck him how much Taewoon had grown.

{When did you get so grown up, Taewoon? You even know how to comfort people now.}

{…I have been like this for a very long time.}

{A long time?}

It was an unexpected answer. Sihyeon tilted his head. Surely he didn’t mean age—Taewoon was only twenty now. Maybe he meant height? But Taewoon had surpassed his height years ago.

Before he could ask, the sound of the hospital room door opening cut through his thoughts.