****
“You've gotten very thin.”
Se-jin spoke to her four-year-younger cousin like that. At that, Se-gun gave a faint smile.
“Well, that aside, have you eaten lunch?”
“Not really. Ah, there's something I need to talk to you about.”
“Okay. Then it would be difficult to eat at the student cafeteria. Alright. I’ll open my wallet for the first time in a while.”
She said that and forcibly dragged Se-gun to a small spaghetti restaurant in front of the school.
“Now, okay. What’s going on?”
She ordered the food and then, feigning cheerfulness, started the conversation. At that, Se-gun hesitated slightly before speaking.
“Well, it’s nothing else, but… um, how should I put it.”
“Oh, right. Se-gun. Did my father, by any chance, ask you to come over?”
She beat him to the punch. She had gone to a university in Seoul, so she was currently living on her own, and her relationship with her father was one that couldn't be called good even as a joke.
“Yes? Ah. That’s it.”
“I-I know this is a sorry thing to say to you, who’s been through such an ordeal. But don’t do it.”
“Yes?”
Se-gun was startled by her sudden words. In a world where not speaking negatively carelessly was considered a virtue, he couldn't understand why she, his own cousin noona, would say such a thing so easily. But Se-jin sighed and added an explanation to her words.
“Se-gun, you know your house is a single-family house with 100 pyeong of floor space, right? The land is 250 pyeong… do you know how much this thing is worth?”
“……”
“And what about your father's factory. Of course, with the recession and what happened, it'll be hard to get the full price, but do you understand that it's a large fortune?”
Se-gun was at a loss for words. Of course, it was hard to think that the heart of his uncle, who had warmly embraced him, was not sincere. No matter how ignorant of the world Se-gun was, sincerity was something that was easily conveyed and not something that could be so easily deceived.
However, even if that was sincere, the fact that economic gain followed remained unchanged.
“You understand, right? I'm. saying this for your sake. Huh? Se-gun? Se-gun?”
“I'll be going first.”
Se-gun said that and shot up from his seat. Se-jin, wondering what she had done wrong, looked at Se-gun with a bewildered expression.
“You ordered, so you should at least eat before you go, right? Se-gun.”
“No, it’s alright.”
Se-gun said that and, as if fleeing, left the place and started the engine of the RX-125. His indifferent cousin noona was much more resentful than his uncle. But, because he had no grounds to hate her, Se-gun was truly on the verge of going crazy.
So Se-gun had no choice but to run away. The motorcycle, his hyung's keepsake, as if it had sensed Se-gun's feelings, sped out of the alley and left the front of M University.
But soon, the motorcycle came to a stop. It was because tears kept flowing, blurring his vision. Se-gun stood on the side of the road, took off his helmet, and, regardless of whether others were watching, wiped his tears and bit his lip.
<><><>
The main customers of Kim Sung-hee, the owner of Occult Shop Arjouna, were, of course, ordinary people interested in the occult. However, the customers who accounted for most of the sales were people who could never be called ordinary. Even now, she was explaining about tarot to a group of female high school students from the nearby S High.
She, who mainly dealt with high-end goods, always had inexpensive items prepared for the general public, but now, all of them were gone. But there was no way high school girls could purchase a set of tarot cards that cost over 500,000 won.
Screeeech!
Just then, an ear-grating friction sound was heard from the shop's entrance. She was startled and looked outside. There, Se-gun's RX-125 was stopped.
“Is Sylvester here?”
Se-gun asked as soon as he came inside. She struggled to control her expression and glared at Se-gun. It would be troublesome for her if he said strange things in front of her regular customers.
In fact, if she were to keep that in mind, it would have been better not to open the shop to the public, but if she did that, there would be many problems starting from taxes to shop rent and management.
“He's not here right now. Won't you sit down and wait for now? Huh?”
“Y-yes, I will. Ah. I-I'm sorry.”
Se-gun said that and wiped his reddened eyes. Sung-hee shrugged her shoulders, asked for the customers' understanding, and then came out from behind the counter.
“The restroom is that way, so go wash your face and come back.”
“Ah, yes.”
Se-gun said that and disappeared into the restroom.
“Honestly. He’s still a kid……”
She muttered that and looked at Se-gun's retreating back. She instinctively felt that Se-gun had no choice but to set foot into this world.
<><><>
Around sunset, Sylvester's Corvette stopped in front of Arjouna. The ones who got out of the Corvette were the usual retired soldier and Sylvester, and their expressions were distorted, perhaps because they hadn't achieved very good results in a series of investigations.
But compared to their expressions after seeing Se-gun sleeping on Arjouna's sofa, it could be said to be much gentler.
“What is this?”
Sylvester asked Kim Sung-hee. At that, she smiled and answered.
“A cute newbie.”
“He was a bit faster than expected.”
The retired soldier said that and looked down at Se-gun. Just then, Se-gun woke up.
“Ah! I-I fell asleep……”
Se-gun said that and wiped the corner of his mouth. Fortunately, he hadn't drooled. Sylvester looked at Se-gun and swept his hair up.
“Damn it. He really is a brat who’s dying to die. Hey. I’ll ask you one last time. Are you serious?”
“……O-of course.”
Se-gun, as if he had already made up his mind, said that and nodded his head. At that, the retired soldier chuckled and held out his hand.
“Welcome to the world of the mad moon. Kid.”
“……”
Se-gun shook his hand without a word. At that, Sylvester, who saw it, let out a sigh.
“I don’t know. Deok-yeon, I’ll leave that kid to you, so make him into something that won’t get himself killed somehow. For the price I paid, I can expect at least that much service, right?”
“Of course. Hahaha.”
“And Sung-hee, arrange for a ship to Mexico immediately. So I can take my Corvette too.”
He said that and headed inside. At that, Se-gun was startled and got up from his seat.
“Are you going abroad? You're not the one training me?”
At that, the smile disappeared from the face of the retired soldier, Song Deok-yeon, who had been laughing until just a moment ago. In other words, Se-gun had just grumbled about why Deok-yeon was training him instead of Sylvester.
Even if Sylvester didn't know much about etiquette and wasn't interested in it, he knew very well what Se-gun had done wrong. He looked at Deok-yeon and let out a dry laugh.
“What an absurd guy. Can you really make him into someone useful?”
“I’ll have to try. But I can’t guarantee it.”
“Right. Well, it doesn’t matter if he doesn't become someone useful. It's not like it’s just one or two guys who die.”
Sylvester said that and suddenly raised his hand and placed it on Se-gun's head.
“It's a bit sudden, but I’ll say it again. Welcome to the world of the mad moon. Han Se-gun.”
“……”
Even if he was an outsider, Se-gun could tell that this was a concise ritual, but it was by no means something to be ignored. So he buried all his various questions and things to say in his heart and kept his mouth shut.
“Well then, I’ll be taking my leave now. See you later, kid.”
Sylvester said that and left the spot. Se-gun was startled and was about to ask a question, but while he was hesitating, not knowing what to ask first, Sylvester disappeared into the back of the building.
‘The world of the mad moon?’
Se-gun repeated that mysterious phrase to himself.
His ignorance of the world he had stepped into; for him, who had now made a choice that could never be undone, this ignorance was too harsh. But the baptizer, indifferent to one person's life, had finally accepted him.