BXBX NOVEL Chapter 90 - Under the Flowers (3)
Chapter 90: Under the Flowers (3)
The place Hong Seok-young had lived was nothing like this clean facility. It was always dark, smelled of dust, and there were always people whispering around.
Back then, it wasn’t even called an orphanage.
He had spent more time outside than inside, and now, he couldn’t even remember the faces of the teachers who were there. But still, he couldn’t help but occasionally get lost in memories.
Was that what nostalgia was?
He wasn’t sure about that.
Hong Seok-young had no desire to return to those days.
However, recalling life at the orphanage no longer tormented him the way it used to. Hong Seok-young knew what had changed his heart.
It was simply because of one person. Just one.
A female reporter who had come to interview the rising young Hunter.
‘Wait a minute….’
The only woman from the same orphanage that Hong Seok-young had seen since leaving the orphanage.
‘Haven’t we met somewhere before?’
‘…That’s a pretty cliché line for a reporter. Don’t you have something more impressive?’
‘What? No! I didn’t mean it like that! Haven’t we really met? I’m sure I’ve seen you somewhere.’
Whether it was the persistence of her profession or not, the woman succeeded in recalling Hong Seok-young before the interview ended.
‘Hongsi!’
‘…Yes, my last name is Hong, but—’
‘Not your last name, Hong-ssi, but Hongsi! You’re Hongsi, right?’
A vague and long-forgotten nickname. Ever since he had a rash from eating Hongsi (TL: Persimmons) that had been donated to the orphanage, everyone started calling him Hongsi.
The guy whose face turned red from eating Hongsi. The guy who threw up after eating Hongsi. The guy who couldn’t even eat Hongsi properly.
Hongsi.
‘I’m Mimi, Mimi! Don’t you remember me?’
Hong Seok-young’s eyes widened.
The scruffy little girl who always carried a blonde foreign doll, claiming her dad had bought it for her.
‘Mimi?’
That little girl had been adopted and left the orphanage far earlier than Hong Seok-young. That day, too, Mimi had been clutching her doll tightly. The director got angry and tried to forcefully take away the dirty doll, throwing it away.
Mimi left the orphanage without retrieving the doll. Hong Seok-young had watched the doll, lying in the dirt, with pity.
Just as the director had said, Mimi’s doll was filthy. Mischievous boys had snatched it, cutting its hair with scissors and smearing snot on its dress. Though Mimi cried and washed the dress by the faucet, it never looked clean again. The blue and silver dress, which once sparkled, first lost its fake jewels, then tore, and eventually became a rag.
But Mimi cherished the doll.
Hongsi waited until the kids kicking the doll around lost interest. The kids quickly found something else to play with. It wasn’t until he picked up the doll that he realized there was no place to put it. After much deliberation, Hong Seok-young hid the doll in the corner of the storage room, knowing no one would retrieve things from that spot.
After that, Hong Seok-young forgot about Mimi and the doll. He ran away from the orphanage, became a Hunter. He believed the orphanage memories had disappeared beyond reach.
That was until Mimi called him Hongsi.
The small, dirty girl had grown into a sharp-eyed reporter, dressed in a well-fitted suit.
The boy who couldn’t even properly remember his parents’ faces and suffered from directionless anger had become a hunter.
The contrast was so amusing that Hong Seok-young burst out laughing.
‘Huh? Wha—why are you laughing? You do remember me, right?’
‘Yeah. I remember now. I couldn’t recognize you at first.’
‘Same goes for you!’
The two, who were the same age, reunited after about twenty years.
And five years later, they got married.
“Big sister has really been searching all over for this place….”
Lee Mi-seon’s voice woke Hong Seok-young. With a skeptical look, Lee Mi-seon opened the director’s office door. Woo Hwijae, standing next to her, muttered something about her being an aunt, not an older sister, but got jabbed in the ribs by Lee Mi-seon for it.
Kang Tae-woo blinked a few times before following Lee Mi-seon into the director’s office.
“There’s a place you haven’t checked yet.”
“Where?”
Unlike the other areas of the orphanage, which still felt somewhat disorganized, the director’s office was clearly a mess.
Cabinets were left open with empty spaces inside, and the same went for the bookshelves and desk. The spot where a computer once sat was also empty.
Looking at the space that seemed like a storm had passed through, Lee Mi-seon shrugged her shoulders.
“Big sister even checked the ceiling.”
“The ceiling?”
“You’d be surprised how often people hide things there. Do you know how many people stash things up there?”
“You didn’t check behind the picture frames?”
“Oh, please. Of course, I did that ages ago.”
Laughing loudly, Lee Mi-seon smacked Woo Hwijae’s arm. Woo Hwijae frowned and moved away from her.
Woo Hwijae then asked Kang Tae-woo,
“So, what are you trying to do here?”
“Um…”
Kang Tae-woo walked over to the window.
There were many potted plants by the window. From relatively tall trees to elegant orchids in antique pots, common plants like monstera, and even some plants whose names were unknown. Several small pots lined the windowsill as well.
Though the trees were still somewhat lush, the potted plants with flowers drooped as if no one had taken care of them. Some were so withered they seemed to crumble.
Kang Tae-woo crouched in front of one of those pots….
He grabbed a stem and yanked.
“Huh?”
“Ah, why won’t it come out.”
At first, he shook it gently, but soon, Kang Tae-woo’s movements became rougher. The almost-withered hydrangea swayed back and forth until Kang Tae-woo flipped the pot over, and the plant finally came loose.
Thud.
Soil spilled onto the floor, making a mess. The plant’s dry roots were tangled in all directions. But the heavy sound wasn’t from the soil hitting the floor.
Hong Seok-young frowned and approached Kang Tae-woo. Peeking over the boy’s shoulder, he saw a small notebook nestled in the dirt. It had been protected in a ziplock bag, keeping the soil from dirtying it.
“This is it.”
Kang Tae-woo picked up the notebook and handed it to him. Hong Seok-young opened the ziplock and took out the notebook.
And then he grinned.
“Analog. Not a bad method.”
The notebook was filled with neatly written contact numbers. Half were mobile numbers of people he didn’t recognize, and the rest were names and phone numbers of various organizations, including the orphanage.
Hong Seok-young snorted when he noticed a gas station listed among the contacts. It seemed like they had been quite active in this small country. Then again, perhaps the small size of the country made things like this possible. After all, in Korea, Ark hadn’t committed heinous crimes like it had in the U.S.
…Research Lab.
Woo Hwijae had said that Ark was largely divided into two factions. The criminal stronghold operating in places like America, and the research lab primarily active in Northeast Asia.
If the money from America was flowing into this side….
‘If there’s internal strife within Ark, it could be because of that.’
If they thought the money they earned was being drained into a bottomless pit like the research lab….
‘The experiments were said to keep failing, right?’
The American side might want to sever ties with the research lab completely.
Well, that’s something to think about later.
As Hong Seok-young casually flipped through the notebook, he asked the still-standing Kang Tae-woo,
“Is there anything else?”
“That’s the only thing I know of.”
“Really? Hmm. Well, just in case, we should check the other pots too.”
They overturned every pot one by one, but apart from the contact information in the hydrangea pot, there was no other result.
“There’s nothing else.”
Hong Seok-young couldn’t hide his disappointment as he looked at the floor, now a mess of dirt and plant debris.
“I’m sorry….”
“Hm? What are you apologizing for? Tae-woo, you’ve done really well. It must’ve been hard to speak up, but I appreciate your courage.”
Kang Tae-woo finally relaxed his tense shoulders and smiled. Feeling a bit apologetic for some reason, Hong Seok-young ruffled Kang Tae-woo’s hair roughly.
“Don’t think too much. The teachers will take care of the rest…. By the way, how’s Teacher Woo’s class going? I heard you’ve been working hard.”
“Oh, yes! I still think I should’ve tried harder, though.”
“You’re already thinking like that? It hasn’t even been a month since your Awakening. Pushing yourself too hard isn’t good either.”
“Still, what the teacher taught me… it really helped.”
“Taught you?”
Woo Hwijae was the one in charge of Kang Tae-woo’s lessons. To be honest, after the first day, Hong Seok-young hadn’t paid much attention to Kang Tae-woo.
If Woo Hwijae found out, he’d probably react with disbelief, saying something like, “You really trust me that much?”
Or he might even get angry, telling him not to be so careless after bringing the kid in.
Hong Seok-young knew he was being absurdly lax about it. Even Lee Mi-seon had pointed it out once.
‘I have a clear reason to help Teacher Woo, but shouldn’t you, as a Hunter, be more cautious?’
‘Hmm.’
‘Don’t just cross your arms and go “hmm.” That won’t cut it. I’ve told you before, unless Teacher Woo suddenly turns into a murderer and starts killing people, I’m going to support him.’
Her love for her nephew was something else.
‘Well, he did save our kids, so I guess that’s fair!’
‘But the Hong Hunter I know isn’t exactly the touchy-feely type.’
‘What do you think of me? I’m capable of gratitude, you know.’
‘Who said otherwise? But you’re pretty strict about separating work from personal matters. Do you know how many times I’ve felt hurt because of that?’
Lee Mi-seon grumbled, pouting her lips. As if that would make him give in. Hong Seok-young just snorted.
‘Look who’s talking. You’re the one trying to push your responsibilities onto me.’
‘Hmm.’
‘There you go again, crossing your arms and going “hmm.” Stop that!’
They’d had that conversation once.
At first, he thought it was just a misunderstanding. Then, little by little, he thought, “Hmm, maybe…” and he was convinced after watching the footage where Alex Hope was stopped.
His instincts had probably sensed it first.
“Mana sensing training… if not for that, I wouldn’t have dodged in time.”
Kang Tae-woo’s eyes lit up. It was hard to believe this was the same kid who had been moping over his sister’s bracelet just moments ago.
“If the lessons helped, that’s good. Keep attending Teacher Woo’s classes diligently from now on.”
“Yes!”
Well, if it lifts his spirits, that’s a good thing.
Kang Tae-woo fiddled with the beads of his sister’s bracelet, then glanced at the notebook in Hong Seok-young’s hand.
“Um, Hunter Ho-Hong?”
“Call me Principal.”
Woo Hwijae’s sharp gaze was almost stinging. It’s a look that says “You should feel ashamed to be called ‘hunter’ before ‘teacher’.”
Feeling a bit awkward, Hong Seok-young scratched his head. He really had been too hands-off. Starting tomorrow, he would have to attend more classes, talk to the kids, and be more involved. He had canceled all dungeon raids for the time being, and told Team Leader Kim he wouldn’t be responding to calls, so he had plenty of time.
“P-Principle?”
“Yes.”
“With that notebook… we could find Teacher Woo’s brother too, right?”
“…!”
“I heard that the research lab was closed and all the kids were scattered… The notebook should have a list of orphanages managed by the research lab… Wouldn’t the teacher’s brother be there too?”
“…I suppose so.”
Only then did Hong Seok-young realize why Woo Hwijae had been so upset about being told to stay with the kids.
It was cruel to ask someone to sit and wait when there might be clues about their brother’s whereabouts.
Looking at Woo Hwijae, Hong Seok-young smiled gently. And with a more confident tone, he said,
“Yes. We will find Teacher Woo’s brother.”
*****
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