“······.”
When Noel could not part his lips, Yeong-hyeon grabbed his shoulder.
-The day that had to come has simply come. Right?
He had to answer that it was so, yet Noel’s eyes shook as he looked at Yeong-hyeon.
-Noel.
“···Yeah.”
-Going where I’m supposed to go is right, isn’t it?
“······It is.”
A ghost was one of the dead.
The dead were not welcomed here, where the living were.
Noel slowly smiled.
“You should go where you’re supposed to go.”
He knew well enough what a great blessing it was for a ghost to pass on without lingering attachment.
-Where are you going?
Kkamang blinked and asked, and Yeong-hyeon pointed upward with a finger.
-I’m going up there.
Kkamang looked upward, then tilted its head.
-What’s up there?
-I don’t know that either.
Yeong-hyeon approached Kkamang and stroked its head.
Kkamang slowly closed its eyes and accepted his touch.
-Kkamang, you come slowly.
“You can go with me.”
Noel laughed lightly.
Kkamang itself did not seem to know, but was it not bound to him by a contract?
-That’s what he says!
Kkamang sounded somehow excited.
What passing on was.
Where Yeong-hyeon was going.
It seemed to have no idea at all.
If it was excited, that was enough.
“Before we stop by home, let’s go look at furniture.”
Noel looked at Yeong-hyeon.
They had already made promises, and Yeong-hyeon himself wanted to pass on, did he not?
Noel had no intention of holding him back.
It was something he should not hold him back from even more.
“What do you think?”
-Sounds good.
Yeong-hyeon smiled gently.
Partings originally came without warning, did they not?
But this time, there was time to prepare himself, time to feel regret over the farewell, and time to say goodbye.
Yeong-hyeon thought that was truly fortunate.
-Let us not think of anything else. For now, let us all look only at this moment.
-I wasn’t thinking anything, though?
At Kkamang’s answer, Ashin let out a small laugh and patted its rear.
***
Noel went into the apartment, then went back outside with Yeong-hyeon.
After confirming that there were no people in the park near the apartment, he sat down.
He could see the sunset falling.
“Ask me everything you’re curious about. I promised, didn’t I?”
Noel spoke without looking at Yeong-hyeon.
-You did.
~I told you I’d tell you everything before you pass on. Don’t rush. I keep my promises.
Back then and now, Noel was truly consistent.
-Do you know how you came into my body?
“I don’t know that. Truly. I want to know the reason too.”
Had his parents used necromancy?
Or had his older sister and older brother done it?
He did not know.
He did not know what had happened to his family now either.
Had only he truly come to this world?
He decided not to think any further than that.
He might suffocate beneath the longing he had pressed down.
-So you don’t know either. That must feel really frustrating.
“I just accept it.”
It must have been frustrating, but Noel looked used to that frustration.
-Was the place you lived in a very distant foreign country?
Yeong-hyeon glanced at Noel.
His imagination could reach only that far.
“A different world. A completely different world. There were a lot of ghosts there too, but I was an enemy of the empire.”
-···What? You were? Why you?
Yeong-hyeon was startled for only a moment, then his expression turned angry.
Noel looked at him, then burst into laughter.
This was the first time anyone had said something like that.
-Don’t laugh. Tell me. Why you? I’m seriously angry!
“Simply because I was born this way.”
-······Huh?
“It’s true. I became an enemy of the empire because I was born this way. Not only me, but everyone born this way.”
-······.
As if he had never been angry, Yeong-hyeon pressed his lips tightly together.
He instinctively inhaled briefly, then spoke.
-Were you··· always being hunted?
Yeong-hyeon could not bring out all the words circling in his mouth.
Had he starved?
Had he been hurt?
Countless worries seemed about to stretch out like a tail.
“I’m not being hunted anymore. Then that’s enough.”
-You’re younger than me, so don’t talk like someone who has already lived out their whole life. You shouldn’t do that···!
As Yeong-hyeon spoke, he suddenly choked up.
It was true.
He should not speak that way.
“It’s because I’m truly happy now. I cursed and hated my power so much. But now I can earn money with it and buy fried chicken with it, can’t I? I couldn’t be happier than this.”
Noel truly smiled brightly.
He looked so happy that Yeong-hyeon could not ask any more about it.
It felt as though he would be gouging into a wound.
He swallowed every question that rose in him beyond his throat.
-Then, Noel.
“Yeah. Ask anything comfortably.”
-Did you··· die?
At Yeong-hyeon’s question, Noel sniffled for no reason.
“I was probably right on the verge of death. No, I must have just died.”
Only after one had just died would necromancy that moved a soul into another person’s body be possible.
It was absolutely not easy.
-Did it hurt?
“Did it hurt for you?”
-I don’t remember.
“Then it’s the same for me. But how did you know? Oh, you have good intuition.”
-When you sleep, you scream. You say not to come. You curse too.
“···Ah, really? So that’s how you knew.”
Noel pointlessly fiddled with his hair.
He had not known he was having nightmares.
“Older brother. Don’t leave that as a lingering attachment. My past and my nightmares are all mine to bear.”
It sounded as though he was drawing a line, but that was not what it was.
Was Yeong-hyeon not more worried about him than anyone?
Noel was telling him to leave well.
To go carefully.
He was too kind.
Kind enough to worry Noel.
-I know. You’re saying that because you’re afraid I won’t be able to go because I’m too worried, right?
“You know me well.”
Noel chuckled.
-Don’t forget what I taught you, okay?
“I won’t forget. Who taught me, after all?”
-Use the bankbook in the safe however you want. The apartment too. Live wherever you want.
“They’re already mine, though.”
At those shameless words, this time, Yeong-hyeon chuckled.
-Yeah, they’re yours.
Even after dying, Noel had kept him from being lonely.
He had kept him from being consumed by sorrow.
How grateful was that?
“Don’t worry about Uncle. In terms of the body, we’re blood relatives, at least.”
-What’s that supposed to mean?
Yeong-hyeon laughed loudly as he answered.
It was true, but somehow funny.
“He’s a good person.”
-Right? So that stays a secret until you die.
“Of course. I promise.”
-Then, Noel.
“Hm?”
-Can you lend me your body, just once?
“As much as you want.”
Noel turned his head again and looked at the sunset.
Because night brought things more dangerous than day, he had always hated when the sun went down.
Even if he was being chased, daytime was better; night was the worst.
But now it was all right.
‘It’s beautiful.’
He was gradually coming to understand why people liked sunsets.
***
“···Yawn.”
Noel let out a yawn.
It was today.
[010-xxxx-xxxx: Hello, Bodhisattva.]
[010-xxxx-xxxx: I’m the person you met last time at the side dish shop and the shopping mall.]
[010-xxxx-xxxx: I would like to talk about the mirror, so please contact me when it is convenient for you.]
‘This side contacted me too.’
It was an opportunity to make a good impression on the guardian spirit Ashin liked, and was that not a good ghost to befriend?
‘It would be nice if I could receive a guardian spirit’s blessing like last time too.’
Was it not free power?
Even if not, helping a guardian spirit was also good for accumulating the “virtue” Ashin always talked about.
With the guides to death in his original world, it had been a relationship where he was one-sidedly hated, so he had not even been able to have a conversation. He did not know whether the system here was the same.
However, in his original world, gods truly gave power to priests, and with that power, they could perform miraculous powers that healed wounds, so relationships with gods were extremely important.
Perhaps in this place, instead of such power, “virtue” had become an extremely important virtue.
When Noel went outside, Yeong-hyeon and Kkamang were spinning around and playing.
-Did you sleep well?
Ashin greeted Noel while polishing her sword.
Yeong-hyeon and Kkamang stopped at the same time.
-Did you sleep well?
-Hello!
Noel greeted them and called Kkamang.
“Kkamang.”
-Why?
“You know today is the day older brother leaves, right?”
-I know. He said he’s going up there.
“Do you know what that means?”
-I know.
Kkamang slapped its tail against the floor.
-He’s leaving on a happy journey.
-A happy··· journey?
When Yeong-hyeon paused and asked, Kkamang tilted its head.
-Yes. Everyone looked really happy before leaving. A ghost human who played with me near the hospital told me that too. That it’s a happy journey.
Yeong-hyeon held Kkamang in his arms at those words.
-You’re right.
-Yes. I’m right.
“Older brother. Don’t spoil it too much. It’ll develop bad habits.”
-I can develop bad habits.
Kkamang hugged Yeong-hyeon and swished its tail.
When it purred, Yeong-hyeon looked at it with an expression that said it was too adorable to bear.
Honestly, was this not cheating?
-···Well, developing slightly bad habits should be all right, should it not?
Even Ashin quietly took Kkamang’s side.
When Noel stared at her, she coughed for no reason.
***
“···Hoo. Hoo.”
Shin-hyeon placed a hand on his chest and took several deep breaths.
They were in a wide field, and even the wind was fairly calm.
The weather was this good, so why was Shin-hyeon so nervous?
“Are you nervous?”
“···A-a little?”
“You were really excited earlier.”
Noel grinned.
Even when they had been driving here a little while ago, had Shin-hyeon not sung along with music, saying he was excited?
He had looked so happy Noel could not tell whether it was because he was not working or because he was simply happy.
He had talked so much even while sitting still that Noel had not even been able to sleep.
-He really did.
Yeong-hyeon quietly joined in and chuckled.
“No, suddenly··· now that I’m about to ride it, how should I put it? I’m feeling kind of queasy.”
Shin-hyeon looked at the hot-air balloons other people were riding.
They were so far away they had looked as small as dots, but seeing a hot-air balloon just now rising made its enormous size hit him in reverse.
That seemed to be what was making him uneasy.
“Uncle, don’t you think it’s amazing?”
Noel asked while looking at the hot-air balloon rising.
~I wanted to ride in a hot-air balloon.
That was one of Yeong-hyeon’s wishes.
Noel did not know why he had wanted to ride one, but now that they were here, his heart pounded harder.
Of course, perhaps he would only understand after riding it.
“Uncle.”
“What is it?”
“There’s a ghost here who really wants to ride the hot-air balloon. Please understand if I talk to myself.”
“He wants to ride a hot-air balloon?”
Shin-hyeon tilted his head for a moment.
Why would a ghost?
That thought kept circling in his head.
“···Um, don’t misunderstand and listen. Can’t he just float straight up?”
Since he was a ghost, would that not be possible?
At those words, Yeong-hyeon laughed loudly.
It somehow sounded like his uncle.
-It’s possible, but the feeling is different.
Naturally, the moment he became a ghost, he had gone upward.
At first, it was purely fascinating.
The fact that he had done something he had imagined at least once had made him secretly proud, and it had even been fun.
But when he went up, then vaguely went higher and higher, the first emotion he encountered was fear.
It vaguely reminded him of when he had gone up to the apartment rooftop.
“The feeling is different. Going up limply on your own and going up together to enjoy the view aren’t the same.”
When Noel answered smoothly, only then did Shin-hyeon say “Ah” and smile gently.
“You mean like how instant noodles eaten at home taste different from instant noodles you eat after going outside to play in the cold?”
-Exactly. That is it.
When Yeong-hyeon answered, Noel nodded tactfully.
It was a taste he did not know.
‘Is it that different?’
“Do what feels comfortable. I saw everything directly, didn’t I? Thanks to that ghost back then, I renegotiated too, lowered the rent too, and it was great.”
Shin-hyeon answered cheerfully and began moving forward very slowly.
***
After hearing a simple explanation, they climbed into the hot-air balloon.
Shin-hyeon was still outside taking deep breaths, and aside from the person operating the hot-air balloon, it was only Noel and Shin-hyeon.
-Noel. Do you know why I said I wanted to ride a hot-air balloon?
At Yeong-hyeon’s question, Noel looked at Shin-hyeon and shook his head.
-There’s a book I like, and there’s a scene in that book where they ride a hot-air balloon. In the world of the book, the sky belongs to those in power, and airships, including hot-air balloons, symbolize the peak of power. The goal of the protagonist, who had everything taken from him by those people in power, was to ride a hot-air balloon. He wanted to land one good blow on those high-and-mighty rulers.
Fwoosh.
When the flames grew fierce, Kkamang bounced backward like a spring, and Yeong-hyeon watched with fascinated eyes.
-It was this close, but I never went. Because of studying. Because of my parents’ work. Because of other reasons. Day by day, I kept postponing what I wanted to do.
They had driven about two hours by car.
Only two hours.
The thing he wanted to do had been that close.
-That’s why I wanted to ride it. I wanted to face the dream my childhood self had missed.
When Yeong-hyeon smiled, Noel smiled along with him.
He felt like he understood what that meant.
When Shin-hyeon climbed in, Yeong-hyeon spoke to Noel.
-Will you lend me your body?
“As much as you want.”
Noel closed his eyes.
When he slowly opened them, Yeong-hyeon had to face several things.
His body still hurt.
They were wounds he himself had made.
Noel had never complained even once.
Gratitude and guilt drove several emotions into his throat.
But that would be for later.
“Uncle.”
He called that name he had missed.
Shin-hyeon, who had climbed in, met Yeong-hyeon’s gaze.
“······.”
For a moment, Shin-hyeon could not speak.
How should he put it?
It felt like he was seeing Yeong-hyeon before the accident.
Strangely, his heart rippled.