Vol 3 Chapter 70

In the moment Kapros was lost in thought, he quickly came to his senses and smiled at Je-hwan, who had spoken to him.

"Yu-wan. No, Je-hwan."

"..."

"Thank you."

Seeing Je-hwan's puzzled expression, as if saying "What?", Kapros scratched the back of his head and laughed.

"There was something I'd been worrying about, and I think your words have been a big help. ...That doesn't mean I didn't hear what you said. I'm sorry I can't give you an exact answer yet. But I'll keep thinking about it. Until I can give you a proper answer..."

I'll keep thinking about it.

"What worry..."

"...?"

"It's nothing."

At Kapros's response, Je-hwan's deep eyes sank further, and he seemed about to ask something, but after staring at Kapros's face silently for a while, he suddenly embraced Kapros lightly. Kapros stiffened for a moment but soon yielded to the embrace without a word. It felt somewhat strange.

"Yes. Someday..."

A voice so low it was almost pitiful resonated in Kapros's ear. He couldn't hear the rest clearly, but he felt he was beginning to understand the actions of this guy who, unlike his cold eyes, extended a careful hand to Kapros.

Suddenly, as if emerging from deep underwater, Kapros was slightly excited, wanting to think more about the solution he had just realized.

Seeming to notice Kapros's state, Je-hwan quietly asked for his destination, and as soon as Kapros got on the bike and gave his home address, Je-hwan told him to hold on tight and then focused solely on driving without saying anything more. As Kapros held on, feeling the tension in Je-hwan's solid back, he vaguely sensed the difference in emotions between Je-hwan and himself.

A while later, the bike came to a smooth stop at the intersection in front of Kapros's house. As Je-hwan helped Kapros get off, his expression had softened somewhat.

"Thanks for the ride."

"It's fine."

After chuckling once at Je-hwan's brusque but not cold tone, Kapros turned around and started walking with his cane. After a few steps, he suddenly heard a clear voice as if it was right behind him.

"...Mu-heon."

As Kapros stopped abruptly, Je-hwan's voice was heard again.

"Can we meet again sometime?"

Kapros silently turned his head to look back. Je-hwan's expression was hard to see due to the strong sunset light.

"Sure. If you contact me first."

Kapros couldn't tell what expression Je-hwan made at his answer. He only read the emotion in the fingertips that pressed down the helmet with some force. After seeing the black and blue hair covered by the black helmet, Kapros turned back and walked away, listening to the rough exhaust sound.

The hint Kapros had gotten from Je-hwan's words contained a simple but fundamental part. That there was no need to solve everything at once. This was something he had already realized from Ju-yeol-hyung's words, but he hadn't fully internalized it. When he started thinking separately about where his confusion had begun, he was able to grasp it.

The problem started when he met Jeong Seung-jo as 'Caesar' in THE MIST where he had begun living as 'Kapros'. The fact that Caesar, the enemy in the game, was Jeong Seung-jo, the symbol of pain in reality, was enough to make Kapros, who had never thought there could be an intersection between game life and real life, mistakenly believe he had to deal with these two issues at once.

But in a way, this was a simple matter. There was no need to necessarily meet Jeong Seung-jo in THE MIST. Just as Kapros in THE MIST was living only as 'Kapros', unrelated to 'Kang Mu-heon', Jeong Seung-jo had also encountered Kapros only as 'Caesar', completely unrelated to his life as Jeong Seung-jo. There was no need yet for Kang Mu-heon and Jeong Seung-jo to intervene in the relationship between Kapros and Caesar.

In other words, there was no need to ruin Kapros's life, which was unrelated to the issue between Kang Mu-heon and Jeong Seung-jo. Even so, since Kapros knew Caesar's true identity was Jeong Seung-jo and couldn't completely separate Caesar and Jeong Seung-jo in his mind, he would naturally have to reveal his own identity in reality someday. But the first thing to resolve was not the relationship in the game, but the relationship in reality - the relationship between Jeong Seung-jo and Kang Mu-heon.

To do that, the first step was for 'Kang Mu-heon' to meet 'Jeong Seung-jo' and continue the conversation from three years ago. To share the stories of the intervening time and somehow resolve their emotions. That was the important part, but Kapros had been despairing while trying to solve everything that had rushed at him all at once.

Meeting Jeong Seung-jo first. It seemed he needed to start with that task, the most important but also the most avoided. Since the beginning of the issue was in reality, the beginning of the solution should also be in reality. Thinking about it separately, it was so simple - why had he taken such a roundabout path?

'Of course, meeting that guy again won't be easy.'

Even while thinking gloomily, a smile naturally formed on his face at the feeling of being much lighter. How many years had he run away to prepare himself to face this? As much as he had avoided it until now, it was time to confront it.

***

"Honey."

Despite his wife's call, the man's expression of self-reproach didn't ease.

"It wasn't your fault. It was something that had to be faced someday, but we kept trying to avoid it... If someone hadn't told us, we might have tried not to see it until the end."

"..."

However, it was clearly still painful for the man, who prided himself on raising his disciple with a deeper love than parents, to have caused such an expression on the face of the disciple he cherished more than anyone.

The man still vividly remembered the day he had given up and returned home when his disciple kept dropping the sword, unable to hold it himself. He couldn't forget those trembling eyes that looked at the cherished wooden sword as if it were a frightening monster, but seemed more afraid of feeling that way. Believing it was a sin to force someone with such eyes to hold a sword, he had gritted his teeth and turned away. Recalling that old memory, the man spoke in a slightly hoarse voice.

"...I need to make a phone call."

"To whom?"

"To the other one..."

It's time for that guy to stop running away too. Sensing her husband's painful thoughts, his wife stood up quietly without asking any more questions. Although she had found out the whereabouts of the other one after meeting him, she wouldn't tell their beloved disciple, who was like a son to the couple, until he wanted to know. After a moment, the man dialed the number his wife had brought him. Just as it was about to go to the automated message, he heard someone answer.

[ ...This is Jeong Seung-jo. ]

"Seung-jo."

As the man spoke, the other end of the line was instantly filled with a chilling silence. The man continued undeterred.

"Do you remember me?"

[ It's the Cheongui-gwan Master. ]

The answer came after a long pause. Seung-jo, who wasn't an official disciple of the man, had always addressed him as 'Cheongui-gwan Master', using the name of the dojo instead of a title. When was the last time he had heard that familiar form of address that Seung-jo had used when visiting with his disciple? Suppressing an indescribable emotion, the man continued.

"Yes, it's me."

[ What is the matter? ]

Hearing the voice that seemed to want to hang up immediately, the man sensed that this young man too was desperately trying to run away from everything.

It was understandable, as the incident had been too painful for the young ones to look back on, but it had been nearly half a year since Seung-jo had returned. He couldn't stand by any longer.

"How long are you going to be alone? Do you intend to never see Mu-heon again?"

After the man's quiet question, trying not to sound accusatory, there was another long silence over the phone.

"You're all such fools. How long are you going to keep turning a blind eye! What was your reason for returning to this land?"

As the man put force into his voice, a quiet answer came after a moment.

[ No matter what you say... I'm not sure. ]

"What?"

[ I really don't know if that guy... is alive, or how he is. Isn't it actually a lie? ]

"You fool, what are you saying! How can you say that now!"

To the man's shout of disbelief, Jeong Seung-jo gave no answer for a while, and finally uttered just one sentence.

[ ...I can't do anything. I can't do anything. ]

"..."

As the man was at a loss for words at the indescribable emotion contained in that voice, it was his wife who suddenly snatched the phone. With a reddened face and unable to hide her trembling hands, she cried out.

"Seung-jo. Please, just come once. Come and see Mu-heon walking around alive, at least. What are you so afraid of? At this rate, neither of you will amount to anything. Next Friday, no, even Monday would be fine, if you just come... Then..."

[ .... ]

"You boys who are like our children, I can't bear to see you living like you're dead anymore. I can't stand it anymore."

In the end, tears welled up in the eyes of the strong but soft-hearted wife. As the man embraced his wife's small shoulders, a final brief response was heard from the other end of the phone.

[ ...I understand. ]

[To be continued in the next volume.]