Double Junk - 70

“….”

Ajin tightly bit his lower lip. Had both the pig and Jin-geol given up on catching him? No, that couldn’t be. They were the ones who came to kill him with a sickle and a scythe. They wouldn’t give up so easily.

Maybe they were already up there, waiting for him at the top of this endless forest, bathed in the blue moonlight.

Yes, they all had perfectly fine legs, so they must have ascended quickly.

Ajin pondered. His eyes, searching for a refuge, wandered anxiously. Scratching the wooden pillar with his dry fingers, he soon found himself breathless. Then, he started descending the path he had climbed.

Ajin wandered through the mountains for a very long time. The uncomfortable legs struggling in fear made the mountain seem wider and more distant than any other world. His knees wobbled. If he blinked for a moment, it felt like his strength would give out, and he would collapse onto the fallen leaves.

Still, Ajin didn’t give up. He descended and descended. Choosing only the paths that seemed to lead downhill, he couldn’t see the back house anymore. There was no sign of a house with bright lights in the yard.

It was all trees and darkness. From the pitch-black darkness, Ajin couldn’t help but fear what would happen if the pig with the scythe, or Jin-geol with the sickle, or even wild animals like tigers emerged, baring their teeth.

“Hoo…”

His legs grew heavier. His feet felt like they turned into posts. Each step was a tremendous effort to lift them from the deeply sunken ground.

Ajin slapped his thigh, urging the unresponsive thigh to move. Then he tried to move his head again.

Flash. The world brightened. Ajin stared at the light as if mesmerized. Two round and pale yellow lights were floating. The light above Ajin’s head alone resembled a small moon. However, it wasn’t the moon. Ajin knew its true identity.

It was the headlights of a car.

Ajin’s breath stopped. A scraping sound, as if the car’s wheels were scratching the ground, echoed. It was uncertain whether it was real or hallucination. There was no rationality left to judge such things. Ajin was momentarily back to the age of ten. He had returned to the street where he had been hit by a car.

The headlights blinked, slowly and intensely. It felt like they were hypnotizing Ajin.

Ajin stared at it blankly. Although his eyes were fixed on the headlights right in front of him, what appeared on his retina was a different scene.

A rough engine sound. Wheels rolling, emitting pungent smoke. The square shadow of the car cast above. Rising together into the sky, a small figure. Soaring with it, the sky itself. The hard and cold body rolling on the rough ground. Shattered knees. Shattered skull.

Ajin looked down. Under his black shoes, thick and viscous bl00d spread like a puddle. Even in that situation, the headlights fiercely flashed as if targeting Ajin.

“Ugh…”

Crushed by that light, that memory, and that illusion, Ajin collapsed slowly.

When Ajin opened his eyes again, the world was bright. The moonlight pierced through the gaps in the dense trees.

But it wasn’t too bright. Black smoke was drifting in the sky. The smell was acrid. It smelled like someone was doing a fireplace in the middle of winter.

Ajin was absentmindedly inhaling that pungent smell. Meanwhile, he reflected on where he was and why he was here. Then, he remembered the pig and Jin-geol.

Ajin suddenly touched his own arms. Fortunately, both arms were intact. Then he looked straight ahead. Worried that the car with the headlights might still be targeting him.

But in front of him were only trees that had become more desolate in the winter. Ajin stared at the unfamiliar trees as if trying to see through them.

Did I see something wrong? But I definitely saw the car lights. I heard the engine sound too. Perhaps, Jin-geol and the pig were also illusions. Have I been possessed by a ghost?

Ajin urgently pulled up his pants. There were hole-like wounds on his knees. Bl00d was sticking to them.

He touched his forehead. The bangs that usually covered his view had been trimmed. It felt awkward, so he used his fingers to brush them aside, even though there was no need for it.

Ajin, with unfocused eyes, gingerly touched his sore legs. Whoo… a dry wind swept painfully across his body. Ajin instinctively huddled under a large rock. The rock felt icy, but just the presence of something to lean on eased his mind.

“….”

Ajin embraced his knees and buried his face between them. Maybe he should go back home. What time is it now? Has Seokju come? What if he hasn’t? Are Jin-geol and the pig still holding on? As soon as he returns, limbs would be severed by the scythe and sickle. He would undoubtedly scream like a slaughtered chicken, knowing the inevitable fate.

No one would come to help. Neither Seokju nor Miss Flower. He was a wretched and repulsive bastard who caused harm to Myungjin.

“Haah….”

Ajin sighed repeatedly. His throat was dry. Climbing the mountain unexpectedly at night with frostbitten legs and knees was a mess. His fingers and toes felt like they could break in the cold.

Ajin blew warm air onto his reddened fingers. While doing so, a sudden surge of sadness overwhelmed him.

“Darn it… Is this beggary or something else…”

Even though I’ve lived buried in unhappiness, spending a night in the mountains without a destination was a first. Cold, painful, hungry, frightening… Experiencing these emotions simultaneously made his sanity feel like it was shattering every moment.

“I miss the boss.”

A warm boss… He would hold Ajin’s hands tightly with those big hands and rub them warmly. Ajin muttered with a small voice.

That’s when it happened. Rustle. The sound of dry leaves being stepped on. Ajin lifted his head in surprise and scanned the surroundings. However, it was all dense trees. Nothing seemed to be moving.

While Ajin nervously nibbled on his lips, rustling sounds happened again. This time, it came from behind the rock.

Ajin quickly turned his head in the opposite direction. This time, the source of the sound became visible. A large figure was making its way up, avoiding the trees.

Ajin squinted at the face of the figure. It wasn’t a pig; there was no fat, and the hair was too short for Jin-geol. It couldn’t be Jin-geol, who would never cut his hair after carrying a knife. It must be someone else. Who…

While Ajin anxiously bit his lips, the figure quickly approached. By the time Ajin realized it, the figure had come close. Finally, he raised his eyebrows at the face of the figure.

It was a member of the Taeho faction. Although Ajin didn’t know his name, the face was definitely familiar.

A hopeful smile appeared on Ajin’s lips. It must be Seokju. Seokju must have sent him to find me.

He stood up abruptly. No, he tried to stand up. However, the legs, frostbitten overnight and unresponsive due to the cold, wouldn’t move as he wanted. Halfway up, Ajin grabbed a rock, intending to use it for support, but he stumbled backward, falling.

The desolate branches filled his view. His body slid down the steep slope. Startled, Ajin muttered, “Uh, uh…” as he struggled. Then his ankle got stuck. Simultaneously, Ajin’s body, sliding, came to a halt.

His body was pulled back up again. Ajin, letting out a relieved sigh, shook his upper body and struggled to get up. Then, he looked up at the member who had helped him.

“Did you come looking for me?”

“….”

The faction member didn’t answer. Ajin bowed his head. Thank you, he was about to say. However, a wide hand approached as if to grab him, but it painfully gripped the nape of his neck.

“Ugh….”

A stifled groan escaped Ajin. He tried to shake his body free, but it was a futile struggle. The faction member grabbed Ajin’s nape and began to descend the mountain, step by step.

Captured by the faction member, Ajin was thrown into the backyard.

“Ah….”

His forehead collided with the hard ground. Instinctively, he reached out his hand, only to have his palm scraped. His knees were throbbing. Ajin hunched his body in pain from sporadic pains shooting all over.

As Ajin crouched, the atmosphere seemed uneasy. He looked around with a cautious tilt of his head. Not only the faction member but also the servants were gathered in the courtyard. They all stared at Ajin with strange looks. No one was grinning with their mouths wide open, as if…

It felt similar to the time when they were cutting off the pig’s arms in the yard. The only difference was that instead of a pig, it was Ajin sprawled on the ground.

Ajin raised his upper body with a squeaky sound. Then, he shifted his gaze to the source of this eerie silence and the apparent host.

He was looking for Seokju.

Finding him wasn’t difficult. He was sitting on the porch, leaning against the men’s quarters.

Seokju had one leg folded, resting on a stone, and the other leg stretched out. The usually sleek shoes seemed a bit muddy today. Whether the shoes were dirty or it was due to the foggy weather in the morning, it was hard to tell.

Without a tie, he wore a shirt, a suit jacket, and a headband. He looked tired. His beard traces rose slightly. He held a cigarette with dry lips, and his black pupils, staring at a distant mountain, were unusually cold and stern.

As Ajin stared blankly at Seokju.

The window paper door of the servants’ room, wide open, threw out a drawer into the yard. It was Ajin’s drawer. The nearby faction members began to rummage through it recklessly. The clothes were so unimpressive that it would be embarrassing to show them off.

The chocolate Seokju had given was crushed underfoot, and the notebook filled with carefully written notes was torn apart.

Ajin was silently watching his belongings turn into a mess.

At that moment, about 5kg disappeared and the whole house was turned upside down. Even then, although his belongings were scattered, he did it with his own hands. Having someone trample on what belonged to him was much more violent, humiliating, and frightening than he had thought.