“Things get worse whenever I intervene,” Yun-seo explained. “With the past, it’s alright. It’s already happened. But the future is so much more …” Her hands rose, waving around as if to grab onto the right word. “Unstable.”
He shut his eyes, letting the frustration ease into exhaustion, and settled in across from her. “You told me about my future.”
Yun-seo rolled her eyes. “Because you don’t have one. I can’t intervene with something even the Gods are uncertain about.”
So, even the Gods acknowledged he was a mess. That was nice to know. “You believe your power was gifted to you by the Gods?”
“Who else has the power to see the future?”
Everyone’s future except his. Omniscience wasn’t what it used to be.
“Nevermind about that,” Min-jun said. “You said things get worse when you intervene. That means you’ve done this before. What happened?”
Yun-seo rubbed her arm. A sore subject, but Min-jun didn’t drop it.
She let out a shaky breath, her hands folded on her lap. “I tried to intervene a lot when I was younger. I thought it was all just a coincidence. I’d tell someone not to go into restaurants for the week to escape being poisoned by the chef, and then they’d end up dead after choking on a fishbone. Or I’d tip off the investigative office about a criminal, and then he’d escape and go on a spree. I can’t read my future, you know? What I do never affects anything. It’s as if I don’t exist. What’s the point in worrying others about their futures if they can’t even change it?”
She told him more than he’d expected.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Never told anyone about this before, have you?”
A snort, humorless. “No one has ever been so rude about it.”
“I didn’t feel inclined to tiptoe around someone withholding such valuable information.” The candlelight burned low, melting the wax to small stubs in their iron candelabras. “Even if your reasons are understandable. I can see you’ve been hurt by this power before. Even so …” He took one of her hands. “I must ask for your help.”
Her head shook, and she withdrew her hand. “I already told you –”
“Then I’ll shoulder the blame if anything should happen. It’s my fault for pressuring you into this. But, if the future is immovable either way, then we have nothing to lose.” He waited, as Yun-seo raged an internal battle against herself. Unlearning all she had known would be difficult, but if she answered his questions now, then she would be well on her way to getting over this obstacle. After that, who knew? Perhaps she could be of use to him.
“What would you like to know?” she asked, resigned.
“What did the killer look like?”
Yun-seo’s hand wrapped around her messy braid. “His hair was silver.”
Well, that was that. For heaven’s sake, Iseul.
“His eyes were dark grey. He seemed young. Or at least, he didn’t seem old, even if his hair had gone grey. And his hands …” She lifted her own. “They were gloved.”
He probably couldn’t control his gift. No wonder he’d always worn those old gloves. “Do you know on what day the killings you witnessed had happened? Or how?”
She shook her head. “I knew they’d be during the festival. That’s all.”
Min-jun couldn’t completely strike off the possibility that Iseul and his companion had planned to only stay for one night. Kill a few people off and be done with it. In that case, if the King did manage to catch them, Min-jun wouldn’t even know about it until it was too late.
He’d have to go to their stupid tent again.
. . .
The Next Day, 1:00 PM (Mishi)
The day before had been pleasant for the middle of summer. The air had yet to be wrought with humidity and the wind had momentarily eased the heat of the sun. Today was not like yesterday. The sun heated every surface it touched. Furniture burned to the touch, and every person had a bright flush on their skin due to the heat. Thankfully, the lake kept the worst of the heat away, and most of their guests devoted themselves to enjoying the cool breeze coming off the water.
Min-jun excused himself about an hour into the second day of the festival. He expected Iseul and his friend wouldn’t be committing any murders until later on, but that was a mere conjecture on his part. He had no real reason for believing they wouldn’t kill a person in broad daylight. Especially if all the silver-haired man had to do was touch someone to end their life.
The only problem being that Min-jun had no idea where that tent might be. Retracing his steps didn’t seem to be of use. Iseul had just pulled him aside in the dark last time. Knowing him, he’d put up his walls since then. Maybe they’d relocated. Maybe they were no longer here at all.
Min-jun laid down in the grass, heated through and dehydrated. He put an arm over his eyes, lips parched, and listened to the sound of the waves lapping against the shore. The noise made him thirstier.
“Min-jun-nim,” a soft voice spoke from above. Min-jun squinted at the man who had blocked out the sun so generously and jolted up at the sight of long silver hair and dark grey eyes.
“You,” he spluttered. His eyes dipped to the man’s hands. Gloved.
“I apologize,” the man said, sitting down behind him, as Min-jun leaned back on one hand to face him. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“Wh-where’s Iseul?” Min-jun asked.
The man averted his gaze. “He’s still at the checkpoint, preparing.”
“So, did you come here to torment me in his place?”
“I came to ask you for a favor?”
Min-jun spun around to face him fully. “If you’re asking me not to turn the both of you in, you’re going to need to be very convincing.”
Those slender, gloved fingers pulled at the grass. “That’s not … what I mean to say is … I want you to catch me.”
“I’m listening.”
“But let Iseul go.”
Interesting… does his “Mother” not think Min-jun can kill the emperor either? Seems like they want extra “insurance.”
Mother is a mystery to us all
Is this part of the plan or does he have some feelings for Iseul? 🤔
No feels, it’s strictly business b/w iseul and gyeo-wool