Chapter 208: 22. Fifth Regression Grace Period

It wasn’t even enough to call it a shower. I stood under cold water, trying to force my dazed head to think calmly.

‘Let’s go home.’

Objectively, nothing was really fucked, but I kept feeling like the situation was bad.

It felt like it’d be better to lay things out a little more clearly and hear what I should do next, objectively.

‘Should I tell Joo Seowon to do my thinking for me?’

I drifted through some pointless thoughts, then turned off the water and came out. No matter what, I’d been rolling around in a Dungeon the whole time, and I’d just had sex, but my body was still overflowing with heat and energy past a normal level.

Compared to that, Do Yehyun—maybe because he was adapting fine for someone whose Rank had suddenly gone up—already had drowsiness mixed into his eyes.

“Wanna sleep?”

“Are you okay?”

“No.”

His expression instantly turned worried. I snickered briefly, turned off the air conditioner, and lay back down on the bed.

“...I’m worried.”

“Yeah. Should I call 119?”

“Can I heal you?”

“I dunno.... Mm, no.”

I wasn’t hurt in the first place, so there wasn’t anything to talk about—healing or otherwise. When I answered like I was joking, Do Yehyun’s face darkened even more.

I pretended not to notice and closed my eyes, but I could feel him looking at me from the side. I covered his eyes roughly with my hand and said,

“Go to sleep.”

“.......”

For a guy I’d basically forced to lie down, he must’ve been tired, because Do Yehyun fell asleep pretty fast. After confirming he was out, I kept my eyes shut and tossed around for a long time anyway.

***

All through dawn, I kept drifting off and waking up over and over. I’d check my phone thinking a decent amount of time had passed, only to see that barely anything had.

After repeating that dozens of times, I finally managed to fall asleep.

I got up the moment my alarm went off, but I didn’t feel great. Yesterday it was just that my body was hot—now the situation had slid further downhill into actually running a fever.

Without waking Do Yehyun, I sat in a chair and checked my phone for messages.

After pushing aside all the useless stuff I couldn’t deal with right now, one text caught my eye.

If you check this message, please reply whenever it’s convenient for you.

Time doesn’t matter.

The content wasn’t anything special, but the name of the person who’d sent it was one I hadn’t seen in a long time.

‘Why is Ryu Taeyoung...?’

After months of no contact, him reaching out first at this timing felt too coincidental. Or it could’ve been intentional on their end.

I checked the time. 5:53 a.m.

Obviously not a great time to call a government worker, but I didn’t hesitate and dialed.

‘You said time doesn’t matter, didn’t you?’

After a long while, the call connected, and a familiar voice came through.

-...Jehyun.

“Long time no see.”

-Mm. First... thank you for calling. I didn’t expect a reply this fast....

Ryu Taeyoung trailed off. He didn’t expect a reply this fast, huh.

I answered slowly.

“I didn’t expect I’d be calling you at this hour either, Taeyoung.”

-.......

“You said time doesn’t matter.”

-Ah, yes. That’s right.

Even though it was early, Ryu Taeyoung’s voice didn’t sound particularly groggy.

“You weren’t just waking up now, right?”

-I’ve been up for about an hour... a little over. I usually wake up pretty early.

“Yeah, I wake up early too... I guess so.”

-Are you up right now?

“Yeah, well.”

Even while answering offhand, I could tell Ryu Taeyoung was hesitating. To begin with, he wasn’t even trying to hide it.

I waited a very short moment, then went straight to the point.

“What is it?”

-Ah.

“Just say it comfortably.”

A guy who’d been out of contact for months wouldn’t be calling at dawn just to ask how I’d been, without any business.

When I waited, his reason came out slower than I’d expected.

-Back when we ate together before, I briefly mentioned my younger brother... do you remember?

“Yes.”

-.......

‘Of course.’

Timing this neat wasn’t a coincidence. I furrowed my brow slightly and slowly rubbed above my eyebrow.

-Actually, my younger brother recently....

“.......”

-...went missing. To be exact, it’s probably closer to... running away.

“Did you report it to the police?”

Even as I asked, I thought my sincerity had dropped to basically zero.

The reason Ryu Taejun went missing was obvious. He was the one who’d thrown a fit insisting ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) he was going to compete in those Cheonmyeonggyo matches, so of course he couldn’t stand living with Ryu Taeyoung, who wouldn’t just let him do that.

Hadn’t he even run his mouth himself about how his brother didn’t understand him—comfortable, bullshit nonsense like that. Nothing surprising about it.

It was kind of funny to pretend I didn’t know anything and bring up calling the police to Ryu Taeyoung, the actual party involved.

Ryu Taeyoung fell silent for a moment, then slowly added,

-I... can’t report it. The circumstances were like that, and in the first place, my younger brother was so firm about it... about becoming independent.

“Independent... well, that’s not bad. He’s an adult, isn’t he?”

-Yes, he’s the same age as you, Jehyun....

“Old enough to move out.”

-.......

When I answered calmly, silence came back from the other end. I leaned back in the chair and pulled the curtain aside a little. Maybe because it was winter, the sky was still dark, with no sign of sunrise.

-...That’s right. But after that, contact stopped....

“Yeah.”

-I did some looking into it on my end, too. Something he said at the end stuck with me.

“What did he say, last?”

-Do you remember what I told you back then, Jehyun? That my younger brother had taken an interest in Cheonmyeonggyo.

“Ah.... I remember.”

Even as I answered slowly, inside I was running through possibility after possibility. At this point, it was impossible not to get it.

I didn’t know what direction he’d gotten his information from, but Ryu Taeyoung was suspecting me, one-sidedly. And the problem was, I really had approached first—so his suspicion wasn’t completely wrong.

“So?”

-Cheonmyeonggyo... it lines up, from multiple angles, that he went into that cult’s temple.

“Mm....”

But even so, what was I supposed to do for him?

‘Fuck, I even went into a Dungeon and busted my ass to save him.’

And in the first place, Ryu Taejun was the one who’d gone there all excited. I’d only dug into his personal info—I hadn’t interfered even a little in him taking his ass all the way to Jinsando.

“Yeah?”

When I answered flatly, there was no reply again for a long time.

“Report it.”

-.......

It was obvious what he wanted to say.

I laughed quietly, adjusted my grip on the phone, and said,

“Have you been well?”

-Me?

“Yeah.”

-Yes.

“Doesn’t sound like you’ve been well. Just from what I heard. You said your younger brother got sucked into a cult and went missing.”

-.......

Answering that everything was fine on top of that would’ve been a joke and a half. When I pressed with a furrowed brow, Ryu Taeyoung barely managed to answer with some nonsense.

-Just... my condition wasn’t bad. I’ve been well.

“Yeah, sure.... Either way, it’s not like we were ever the type to keep in active contact, were we.”

-.......

“You had zero contact the whole time, then suddenly you reach out and what you tell me is... your younger brother disappeared and you think Cheonmyeonggyo’s involved. If that’s all, then... I don’t really know what you want from me.”

-That’s....

“By my common sense, there isn’t really an answer. You don’t seem like you want comfort, and you’re probably not asking me to investigate with you either....”

I paused and waited for Ryu Taeyoung to answer, but nothing came back. On the other end, I heard him breathing slowly for a moment, and then even that faded.

“Why are you calling me, specifically? If you just tell me honestly.”

-...I hired a tracker Hunter privately, without using the police.

“.......”

That’s more surprising than I expected. Even if his younger brother went missing, I’d assumed he’d follow legal procedure.

-It isn’t illegal. I proceeded through entirely legal channels... and the police investigation is very slowed down right now.

“Yeah.”

-So... we got testimony that my younger brother frequently went in and out of a specific shop, and we ended up checking CCTV around there. We heard that building is one Cheonmyeonggyo manages.

“Mm.... So?”

Normally I would’ve listened pretty earnestly while he laid out the process in detail, but the situation was the situation. I glanced toward the bed, then asked again.

“What’s the conclusion?”

-...And in the testimony from someone who worked in that building, there was a part about someone who came and went wearing a mask. Someone who also had frequent contact with my younger brother.

“Yeah.”

-And that person....

“Me?”

-.......

Huh. That’s unexpected, too.

Wearing a mask and going in and out of somewhere. Other than Im Haekyung’s night market, I’d never gone anywhere wearing a mask.

And it was true this was my first time meeting Ryu Taejun face-to-face, too.

I didn’t know what kind of info you had to get to slip this badly, but it was complete bullshit. I answered without hesitating.

“Whatever you thought, it isn’t me. I’ve never visited anywhere wearing a mask.”

But an unexpected response came back.

-I thought so too... so I checked the CCTV we obtained.

“Yeah.”

-...And to me, the build and the overall feel looked a lot like you, Jehyun, so that’s why I brought it up.

“That can’t be.”

-If you’d like, you’re welcome to confirm it yourself.”