Chapter 112.2

Chapter 112.2

Seoryeong shouted reflexively, the name piercing through her disoriented mind.

“Kim Hyun! Kim Hyun!”

As she repeated the name, the haze lifted from her eyes, and clarity returned. The heaviness in her head vanished, and she gasped for air as if she’d just surfaced from underwater.

“Yes, Kim Hyun. I’m looking for Kim Hyun. I’m hunting him down.”

“Good. Don’t forget. You haven’t finished it yet.”

“…”

“Stop staring and get back to your meal,” After all the shouting, Lee Wooshin turned away as if nothing had happened.

What… was that? Seoryeong’s palms were damp with cold sweat. Her breathing was shallow, her chest rising and falling in quick bursts. What just happened?

The others seemed just as stunned, frozen in place with only their eyes darting around. Whatever had just passed over them had been too brief to process. The spoon in her hand trembled, and the veins on her wrist throbbed visibly against her skin.

Ding, ding—

A clear bell rang out, signaling prayer time.

“…”

“…”

Amid the pristine sound, the eyes of two men clashed, unrelenting.

Pfft! Jin Hojae, mid-sip of water, caught on to the tension lingering from their first encounter. He licked his lips nervously, trying to process the scene.

A cultist…? He’s flirting with one of our team members and picking a fight with another?

Desperate to diffuse the tension, Jin Hojae blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“Uh, by the way, Father, what’s with those toys out front?”

“They’re mine.”

“Pardon? They don’t seem to fit your age.”

“Who said I play with them? They’re on display—for gravestones.”

“For gravestones?”

Kia, who had been glaring at Lee Wooshin moments before, now let his sharp gaze rake over Seoryeong’s face as if trying to unsettle her further.

His lips parted slowly, and a flicker of amusement danced in his eyes, hinting at a new layer of mischief.

“They’re from when I used to play with the other monastery brothers. Back then, the believers were too busy farming to care for their kids, so they sent them all to the monastery. Many were forced to give up their children, but in the Sakhalin branch, communal childcare was the norm. We grew up under the cult leader’s care instead of our parents. They don’t do it that way anymore.”

“I noticed there are still plenty of farmlands nearby. Why’s that?”

“The yields weren’t good.”

“Yields?”

“Yeah, because all the kids died.”

“…!”

An unsettling silence blanketed the table. Not a single utensil scraped against a tray. Even Jin Hojae, usually quick to keep the mood light, stiffened and muttered, “Excuse me?”

Kia, however, simply grinned, completely unbothered. His cheek twitched, as if daring someone to challenge him, eager to share more.

“It’s true. They all died.”

“…”

The whiplash between his somber tone and his amusement was impossible to follow.

Beneath the table, Lee Wooshin clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles stood out, his sharp gaze fixed on Kiya.

“Do you even know how useful children are?”

Kia chuckled darkly.

“They were stripped naked and imitated animals in front of people.”

“…”

“In Dagestan, they raise children alongside bear cubs. That’s why there are so many strong fighters from that region. One day, they threw us into a cage with a wild bear. I watched as my brothers’ limbs were torn apart before my eyes. That was probably Sakhalin’s first big performance.”

Seoryeong didn’t want to hear anymore. Her trembling, which had subsided momentarily, crept back in full force.

Instinctively, her gaze turned to Lee Wooshin, clinging to him as though he were a lifeline. Looking at him, for some reason, felt like the only way to calm herself.

Beneath the table, Seoryeong stretched her leg out and wrapped it around Lee Wooshin’s ankle. His eyes, void of warmth, slowly shifted toward her.

The tension in his clenched jaw was so intense it looked as if he were grinding down pain itself.

“Never seen a circus like that?”

Kia picked up a fork, twirling it deftly between his fingers and over the back of his hand. The fluid movements seemed almost hypnotic. Despite herself, Seoryeong’s gaze was drawn to the fork, following it closely as it spun through the air, cutting sharp whistles as it moved.

“They told us if we got stronger, they’d take us to a beautiful castle.”

Her stomach churned uneasily again. Why do I feel like this? she thought, furrowing her brow.

“I crawled everywhere with them. Rolled in the dirt, flew through the air—we did every acrobatic stunt you can imagine. Bones shattered, my face caved in more than once, but I survived. We pushed through everything. No one endured as much as we did. We prayed together, worked together, trained together—every single moment. Whether we were happy or devastated, we were together.”

Kia suddenly flicked the fork toward Seoryeong. Startled, her hand rose instinctively to catch it. The fork teetered on the back of her hand, wobbling before it slowly found balance.

Before she could steady it fully, Lee Wooshin’s foot lashed out, kicking the table leg hard.

The fork slipped off and clattered to the ground. Kia tilted his head slightly, then yanked Seoryeong’s chair toward him with a sharp tug.

“Was being married worth it?” he asked.