20 – Returning Home is Difficult with a Younger Sister (2)
One afternoon.
So Young left the house in search of a part-time job, leaving Yeoul alone in the silence.
He was currently contemplating the future.
How should he make a living?
Even though it didn’t make sense to worry about making a living with such power, that was the reality.
Due to a series of coincidences and misfortunes, even after more than a week since his return, he had not been officially recognized as a returnee nor had his status been restored.
With the money he obtained from selling magic stones, he didn’t have to worry about his financial situation for a while, but once the money ran out.
The biggest problem was still the restoration of his status.
He was still officially considered missing. As a result, he couldn’t enjoy the rights he should have as a citizen of South Korea. Without a status, he couldn’t even dream of economic activities.
He remembered the supernatural police officer saying that he would contact Ryeoun. Perhaps through that process, he could naturally restore his status and be recognized as a returnee.
Surely by now, he should have been able to regain his normal status.
If he hadn’t been separated from Ryeoun, that is.
Originally, he hadn’t thought he would be separated for this long. She was his younger sister who had pierced his emotions, and in the depths of his heart, he was certain that he had to be with her.
But why?
After a minor argument with Ryeoun, his body wasn’t in good condition. Just thinking about her, seeing her, made his heart ache. Even if he tried to cut off the pain, it was difficult because he couldn’t identify the cause.
According to the original plan, the day after their argument, their emotions would calm down and they would resolve misunderstandings through dialogue. Then, they would live together with his sister.
But now, he couldn’t even speak to her, let alone approach her.
Since he couldn’t continue living at Soyoung’s house indefinitely, he had to meet Ryeoun and have a conversation as soon as possible…
Surprisingly, his own body, which seemed to timidly plead, was feeling a ‘discomfort’ as if it were soaked in sweat.
It was a contradiction in itself that he, who had cut off his emotions, felt discomfort. But it was indeed the case.
What should he do?
As he pondered, he decided to go outside for now.
The next door was his sister’s house, and sitting here thinking wouldn’t accomplish anything.
After confirming if his sister was at home, he planned to talk to her right away. If she wasn’t there, he would go outside and search for her.
For some reason, Ryeoun had been coming out of the house and endlessly walking the streets every day. Yeoul had witnessed that scene more than once.
And now was the time when Ryeoun was frequently wandering outside.
He had avoided it until now, but he couldn’t delay it any longer.
Yeoul stood up from the sofa and went outside.
The first thing to do was to confirm if Ryeoun was at home.
Yeoul pressed the doorbell.
…
One more time. Once again.
…
He even knocked on the door, but there was no response.
He didn’t want to use his power here, but just in case, Yeoul tore open the space and looked inside Ryeoun’s house.
Beyond the torn space, a chilly silence settled.
She wasn’t there.
It’s okay. He had expected her to be absent.
For now, he planned to go outside and search for Ryeoun, and when she returned home, he would knock on the door again.
Yeoul, who was wandering outside looking for something, discovered something strange.
A missing person poster suddenly stuck in a corner of an alley.
The poster had the name “Song Ryeoun” written on it.
Although it was an unusual name, there was no guarantee that there were no people with the same name, so there was a possibility that it could be someone else.
And if the photo of Ryeoun was not attached to the poster.
On the poster, there was a photo of Ryeoun as he had seen him, printed together.
A missing person poster for Ryeoun. Could it be someone’s malicious prank?
Yeoul peeled the poster off the wall and examined it carefully.
However, there were a few more odd points to note.
Firstly, there was no contact information written on the missing person poster.
In a normal missing person poster, contact information is usually written to ask for information if found, but it was not written here.
And the place of disappearance was quite unexpected.
The place indicated as the place of disappearance was a suburban area far from the vicinity where Ryeoun usually went.
It looked like a prank no matter how you looked at it, but Yeoul felt something suspicious from the strange details of his address.
Since it was related to his younger sister, he couldn’t simply ignore it.
For now, Yeoul took the poster with him and continued walking to find Ryeoun.
* * *
In the end, Yeoul couldn’t find Ryeoun until the sun went down.
He returned to the apartment and pressed the doorbell of Ryeoun’s house again.
…
He still hasn’t come back, is it?
Even after exploring the space and checking inside the house, the condition of the house was the same as what he saw during the day.
In the end, Yeoul entered Soyeong’s house without any gains.
“Oh, you’re back! Where did you go?”
When Yeoul heard the sound of the door opening, Soyeong came out to the porch, wagging her tail-like a dog greeting its owner.
The swaying golden tail tempted Yeoul’s interest, but he just gave a dry response and passed her, heading towards the living room.
Yeoul emanated an unsettling energy. Seeing him, Soyeong perked up her ears and raised her tail.
“Is there something wrong…?”
“No, there isn’t.”
“Then… what did you do outside today?”
There was nothing she couldn’t answer, so Yeoul told her what he had been doing today.
Upon hearing his words about searching for his younger sister, Soyeong felt a slight sting.
Having Yeoul come to her house was perhaps just a mistake.
But not informing Lyeoun that Yeoul was at her house was definitely a mistake.
At first, she had thought about telling Lyeoun.
To inform her on the day Yeoul was kicked out seemed a bit too much, so she had planned to subtly let her know through a note a day or two later.
But why didn’t she do that?
If she were to say that she forgot because she was too busy day by day, it would be a lie.
She questioned herself. Why did she do that?
Dimly, such thoughts came to mind.
The familiar and everyday with Yeoul.
She liked people and yet she was lonely with no friends, so she might lose that sweet sense of fulfillment.
As she thought that…
A feeling as if her face was getting warmer came over her.
No, it doesn’t mean that…!
Shaking her head and shouting at herself in her mind.
Whether she let herself entertain those thoughts or not, Yeoul was engrossed in thought while looking at the poster he had brought.
The probability of it being a prank was really high.
But just in case, if this isn’t a prank.
If someone was pulling a trick on his younger sister.
There was a possibility.
Of killing the boss.
He didn’t leave any evidence, but this world had become so bizarre that it was possible to find out that he did it.
There still wasn’t anything certain.
Lyeoun might just want to stay out today and be at a friend’s house. Or maybe there’s some reason and the house is empty.
There were enough possibilities.
But.
If, by any chance, something really did happen.
For some reason, he felt like this poster was calling him to that place.
He got up from his seat.
“Soyoung.”
“…Yes?”
Soyoung, who had been sitting next to Yeo-ul absentmindedly swaying her tail, snapped back to attention at his voice and looked at him.
“Something has come up, so I’ll be going out for a moment.”
“Yes…?”
Where suddenly, in the middle of the night…?
Although she looked at him with questioning eyes, he got up without hesitation.
And then he went out through the front door and put on his shoes.
“Yeo-ul…?”
“I’ll be back.”
Huh…?
Leaving the bewildered Soyoung behind, he opened the door and went outside.
Using power, an unpeaceful method of resolution always comes back as a boomerang. This was the truth that Yeo-ul had realized through his experiences over the past 10 years.
But that didn’t mean he regretted killing the boss.
Regret was also an emotion. He had shed all such troublesome things.
…Originally, that would have been the case.
But for some reason.
The unknown pain he felt when he thought that his younger sister might have been harmed because of him resurfaced in his chest.
The pain was even worse than what he had felt before.
Even if Ryoun was in any danger, he had the power to resolve it. That was why he had no worries about her.
That was the only certain fact.
But what could this pain be?
The chest that had remained silent for five years started trembling like waves after meeting the wind named Ryoun.