What the old man was looking at was a salt farm.
Grueling labor went on under the merciless sunlight.
But the other side was a little different.
The villagers sat comfortably, doing no work at all, just watching the laborers.
At that moment, a single word flashed through Jae-hwan's mind.
'...Island slaves.'
It seemed the islanders still hadn't abandoned their vile practice.
The old man's expression as he watched the scene looked somehow sad.
Seeing this, Jae-hwan was able to figure out the cause of the aberration.
'So he used to be an island slave.'
Jae-hwan looked at the old man with pity.
"...You've been through a lot, sir."
Jae-hwan made an effort to offer the old man some words of comfort.
'Does the salt warehouse have to disappear to settle the old man's grudge...?'
Then Jae-hwan conveyed his resolve to the old man in a roundabout way.
"I'll be back. You'll be able to rest easy soon."
With those last words, Jae-hwan began walking toward the salt warehouse.
Watching Jae-hwan, the old man's shoulders trembled silently.
The emotion of being treated as a human being.
And the hope that his wish might come true.
Feeling this, the old man trembled without a word.
***
"We found the bastard! To the salt warehouse!!"
The villagers' shouts spread across the blue sky.
Every one of them held some kind of tool.
Soon, the villagers began to swarm toward the salt warehouse.
For the villagers, who scraped out a living from the salt farm, the salt warehouse was practically their everything.
And an intruder had broken into that salt warehouse.
An outsider they'd thought they had killed, no less.
Every one of the villagers was gripped by the fear that their livelihood might be taken from them.
Atop a pile of salt sacks, Jae-hwan leisurely waited for the villagers.
"You sure he's in here?"
"I'm sure! I saw him!"
Slam!
With a violent noise, the door burst open.
Led by Jang-hoon, the villagers stormed into the warehouse.
But on spotting Jae-hwan, they couldn't help but be thrown.
"Yo."
"Mmph! Mmph-mmph!!"
Beside Jae-hwan was the village chief, gagged and tied up.
But there was something the villagers found more worrying.
"Th... that's not oil, is it?"
"No! That crazy freak's trying to set fire to the salt warehouse!"
Sure enough, upon spotting the oil drum, the villagers all charged at Jae-hwan at once.
As if they didn't care what happened to the village chief held hostage.
"...What a sight."
Having finished his brief observation, Jae-hwan gave a light wave of his hand.
Creeeak—
With an ominous sound, the door began to close.
He had controlled the door using blood he'd smeared on the warehouse in advance.
"Huh? What the?!"
The flustered villagers belatedly ran toward the door.
But Jae-hwan's blood soon became a latch and sealed the warehouse door.
Only then did the villagers realize they'd fallen into Jae-hwan's trap.
"What is this?! Open it right now!"
"What do you think you're doing?! Get rid of that oil drum right now!"
Looking at the villager spewing abuse as if he were pathetic, Jae-hwan pulled something out of his jacket.
"Shut up for a sec."
What he pulled out was a lighter.
Seeing it, the villagers finally seemed to realize their place and fell silent.
"Get down here right now."
The one who stepped forward on the villagers' behalf was Jang-hoon.
"That depends on what you people do, doesn't it?"
Letting Jang-hoon's threat go in one ear and out the other, Jae-hwan asked what he most wanted to know.
"Where are the rest of my team?"
"No idea. They weren't there. Looks like they managed to scurry off like rat bastards."
Jang-hoon answered Jae-hwan without any emotion.
Hearing this, Jae-hwan felt a moment of relief.
But the relief lasted only a moment.
Rage surged up, and Jae-hwan tried hard to hide his expression.
Even if his team was alive, the evil these people had committed wouldn't disappear.
'Okay... I'm still fine. Those two would obviously have gotten away. I just have to focus on what I'm doing right now. And above all, if things go according to my plan, those two will naturally... come find me too.'
Forcing himself to steady his mind, Jae-hwan went on.
"You people, why do you think we came here?"
"Why we came? You call that a question...!"
At Jae-hwan's question, Jang-hoon suddenly began to get irritated.
"Why else?! You came to ruin our village with some weird report or investigation again! You did it years ago, and you'll do it this time too! Cops, reporters, whatever, you're all the same! You're all the same tras..."
"No."
Jae-hwan quietly denied Jang-hoon's words.
"What? What do you mean, no?!"
"That's right! Do you know how much we've lost thanks to you people? We fed them, housed them, and went through every hardship there is!"
At that, the villagers joined in unison in backing Jang-hoon.
'There's no talking to them.'
Jae-hwan waited for a moment until they quieted down, then spoke again.
"I'll say it again: no. Until I came here, I didn't even know island slaves still actually existed. If you'd cooperated with us from the start... no, if only you hadn't hurt Section Chief Kim Min-jun, nothing would have happened."
For an instant, the villagers looked as though they didn't understand Jae-hwan's words.
"Liar, what on earth is that supposed to mean...?"
"In other words, you made the worst possible choice. No, before that, did you really not think that harming someone sent from the central government would come with consequences?"
At Jae-hwan's words, the villagers fell silent for a moment.
Only then did the villagers seem to realize what they had done.
Then, soon enough, the villagers began pouring blame on one another.
"I... I told you not to kill him! I definitely tried to stop it! So..."
"What? What nonsense is that?! You're the one who took the lead in burying the body!"
"I don't know anything! It was all the men here who did it! Us womenfolk just did the housework, that's all!"
"What? You crazy hag...!"
Truly, a paltry sort of loyalty.
Watching this, Jae-hwan's gaze grew colder and colder.
But not noticing Jae-hwan, the villagers kept spewing their outrageous drivel.
Seeing this, Jae-hwan finally made up his mind.
'I was overthinking it. There was no need to agonize over how to deal with these people. They were never human to begin with. They're just wearing human masks.'
Letting their commotion go in one ear and out the other, Jae-hwan quietly lit the lighter.
"Mmph?? Mmph-mmph!!"
Seeing this, the village chief began to struggle violently.
But Jae-hwan's expression didn't change in the slightest.
He dropped the lighter straight onto the piled-up salt.
"Mmmph!!! Mmph-mmph!!!"
The flames spread in every direction in an instant.
Faced with the searing heat, only then did the villagers understand the situation they were in.
"Huh...? Wait, fire, it's a fire!"
"Put it out! Now!"
"Open the door! Let me go! Let me go!"
At first, Jae-hwan tried to ignore their wailing.
But he soon recalled the back of the old man, gazing forlornly at the salt farm.
"Let you go?"
After catching his breath for a moment, Jae-hwan finished his words.
"When the island slaves said that, did you ever listen?"
While the villagers faltered at Jae-hwan's words.
Jae-hwan immediately formed wings out of blood and flew straight up through the ceiling.
Below Jae-hwan's feet, incomprehensible screams rang out.
But Jae-hwan didn't look back at them.
Soon after, Jae-hwan landed softly on the ground.
Then he silently watched the burning salt warehouse.
Smoke rose high into the sky.
Just as Jae-hwan had intended, the flames burned fiercely.
Feeding on the screams of the villagers trapped inside the warehouse.
With things going according to plan, Jae-hwan let out a sigh of relief.
'This should be easy to see. Whether it's the old man or my team...'
And so a long time passed.
"Kim Jae-hwan...?"
A familiar voice came from behind Jae-hwan.
"Team Leader."
There stood Chang-ho and Ji-yeon, covered head to toe in soot.
Seeing them, Jae-hwan let out a sigh of relief.
"You're alive. Both of you."
"Yeah. I'm sorry about earlier. I thought it was already too late."
Seeing Jae-hwan alive, Chang-ho bowed his head apologetically.
"No, well, there's no need for that..."
"...But where were you?"
Ji-yeon asked Jae-hwan.
"It's a long story. I'll tell you in a bit."
At the same time, Ji-yeon closed the distance to check whether Jae-hwan was all right.
At that moment, catching the smell of burning flesh, Ji-yeon stopped in her tracks, flustered.
"...Hey, that, don't tell me... there are people inside?"
"Yes... No, no."
"No? What do you mean..."
"There were no people in there. Only beasts wearing human masks."
At Jae-hwan's words, the team fell silent for a moment.
But soon, Ji-yeon gave him a look that said she understood what he meant.
"Just this once. If you attack civilians again, then..."
Jae-hwan nodded heavily at Chang-ho's warning.
"So, is it over? Section Chief Kim Min-jun was killed by those guys, and was the aberration Section Chief Kim Min-jun was looking for there?"
"Yes, it was."
"How are you going to deal with it? Can you even kill it?"
Jae-hwan paused briefly before answering Chang-ho's question.
"No. I'm not going to kill it. Instead, I'm going to resolve its grudge."
"Its grudge? How?"
"Yes. Is there a convenience store nearby, by any chance?"
"There should be. Why?"
"Uh... I think I'm going to need some liquor."
With that, Jae-hwan set off to find liquor.
Unaware that a man was watching him from hiding.
"...I see. He seems like someone I could talk to."
A hooded man was watching Jae-hwan with a smile.
Leaving those meaningful words behind, the man hid himself in the darkness.
***
A hill brushed by a cool sea breeze.
Holding a bottle of liquor in one hand, Jae-hwan climbed the slope.
Soon, at the top of the slope, he found the old man.
"I'm back."
The old man was gazing endlessly at the salt warehouse, now turned to ashes.
Jae-hwan carefully held out the bottle to the old man.
"Here, I thought you might need this."
A brief silence passed between them.
After a moment, the old man carefully took the bottle from Jae-hwan's hand.
"I've dealt with all the villagers. So... um, you can rest now."
Having finished speaking, Jae-hwan quietly got up.
The old man who had received the liquor gazed as if lost in thought again.
And by the time Jae-hwan had gone some distance away.
The old man rose and quietly opened the bottle.
He soon walked toward the earthen graves.
Stopping before them, the old man calmly began to pour out the liquor.
'Those earthen graves around there were probably... island slaves, like that old man.'
He must have been consoling the souls of those who had shared his plight.
Feeling an indescribable emotion welling up, Jae-hwan turned away.
'I should head back to the boat now. This should be enough. Probably...'
The moment a gentle breeze blew in time with Jae-hwan's footsteps.
The old man turned to smoke and vanished.
As if riding the wind, to savor his freedom at last, however late.