Unscented Trajectory - Chapter 54 - 54

What could be seen was a small bed for one person, an ugly table and chairs, a simple wardrobe, and a chest of drawers that looked unusually old… For some reason, it felt like a single room prison. Even though he had only glanced at the inside, his feelings gradually degraded.

It resembled the room in which he was confined during his mental illness. In fact, since he brought Yihyeon in here, he might have made a room that resembled him without realizing it.

A short, stinging pain passed.

Joohyuk turned his head while listening to Lee Haejun’s words coming through his cell phone. His eyes looked across the well-made bed and stopped at the table. An empty shopping bag without a logo engraved stood out. And the white robe that was thrown away.

He picked up the gown that Yihyeon was clearly wearing. He buried his nose and took a deep breath, but all that was left was fragrance.

His stomach ached again. This time brought even more pain than before, but Joohyuk only twitched his eyes.

Standing in front of the chest of drawers, holding Yihyeon’s gown in one hand, Joohyuk put his cell phone on it and touched the first handle.

Druck-

There was an uneven sound of small wheels rubbing together.

The first drawer contained a clean briefcase that looked like it had never been opened. Upon opening it, a similarly strangely clean sheet of paper emerged.

Contract with Kwon Yihyeon.

It was a meaningless piece of paper that he believed could hold him alone for a year.

Throb.

It wasn’t stinging or tingling. A pain strong enough for him to momentarily drop Yihyeon’s robe he was holding in his hand hit his stomach.

He opened the second drawer with one hand on his chest. Inside was a small notebook the size of a palm. When he opened the inside, he could see several contents.

Everything from his small habits to his way of handling work and specific others was written down in detail. The more he read, the more he was surprised to find that even the smallest things that even he was unaware of were written down. If there was a bodyguard or an attendant to assist him on his behalf, this notebook alone was enough.

Thud-

The notebook fell from his hand as more pain hit his stomach. He took a deep breath as he looked down at the notebook that had fallen down the empty drawer. Just looking at the neat handwriting, he knew it was Kwon Yihyeon’s.

He knelt down on the floor and slumped down. He clenched his hand holding his stomach. A different kind of pain was felt from the hand pressing it like it was crushing the skin, but this seemed better.

Joohyuk’s hand touched the handle of the third drawer at the bottom. For some reason, the surface of the handle was strangely cold.

Rattle.

He heard something snapping. He pulled it open without paying any attention to it, and unlike the other two drawers, he could see that it was full of something.

It was a pile of wrinkled checks.. It wasn’t just that it was roughly rolled up and thrown away, but it was crumpled to the extent that it was hard to recognize the shape as if to quench his anger.

He grabbed a sheet and unfolded it. It looked like it had been ripped to pieces because it was so crumpled.

The check he handed out to Yihyeon was still there. Not a single piece was intact. Not only were they crumpled up, but some were torn to shreds.

“Ugh… ”

An unbearable moan flowed from Joohyuk’s mouth. No matter how much he pressed his stomach, the pain as if he was being torn from the inside did not subside. His lips trembled and his throat felt like he was about to vomit blood from the excruciating pain which he had never felt before.

As he took deep breaths, his pale face was covered with a cold sweat, his eyes were on the checks that seemed to overflow from filling the drawer.

“… Kwon Yihyeon… ”

Through the moans, the name of the person flowed like instinct.

What was he thinking every time he crumpled that check?

What kind of expression was he making at the time when he mistakenly thought that the only thing Kwon Yihyeon wanted from him was money.

He didn’t remember.

How Yihyeon received the check, how he felt about him, how he accepted it, or what he thought, didn’t matter that much to him at the time.

Like now… He didn’t consider it important.

“Ugh…”

The pain got worse. He was short of breath, and with one hand on the floor, his chest burned and he endured the pain. He didn’t know what kind of pain this was, but it was terrible. The pain seemed to be messing with his mind.

He clenched his teeth, holding the barely open check in one hand.

No matter how much he tried to straighten it, it wouldn’t straighten. The crumpled traces were the same no matter how hard he tried, and the more he unfolded it, the more clearly he could see where and how it was crumpled.

Yihyeon’s face was overlaid on the wrinkled check. His smiling face, full of scars.

Just as he was breathing heavily, he heard a loud noise from the front door. He wondered if he could hear the knocking on the front door and the sound of people, and then he heard the door lock being unlocked.

Haejun’s voice was heard calling him from afar. He heard the sound of doors being opened around his home, and soon someone’s footsteps arrived in front of Yihyeon’s room. The door, which had been half closed, swung open at once.

“Hyung!”

Haejun, who found Joohyuk sitting on the floor, tried to take a step into Yihyeon’s room.

“Don’t come in.”

Joohyuk glared at Haejun with his eyes wide open to the point of being bloody. Haejun, who met his eyes, was startled, unable to enter the room and backed away. Still, while looking at the only bleak room in the penthouse, he looked at Joohyuk with concern.

Joohyuk, who was sitting down with only one robe on, was not in a normal state. He was drenched in cold sweat, his complexion was seriously bad, and his eyes were half-open. There, with one hand on his stomach, he exhaled a painful breath.

Haejun, who sensed something unusual, spoke calmly.

“What happened? Why did Kwon Yihyeon disappear?”

“… I…”

Joohyuk lowered his trembling eyes and looked down at the check in his hand. He contorted his face as he looked at the wrinkled check.

After taking a deep breath, Joohyuk closed his mouth for a moment and then slowly spoke out.

“Lee Haejun.”

“… yes.”

At the voice calling out his name, Haejun replied with a nervous voice.

“Immediately… Release people.”

Taking a deep breath, Joohyuk grabbed the chest of drawers and got up, bending his back due to the pain in his stomach. His pale complexion grew paler and his breathing became more difficult. Haejun recognized this and reached out to Joohyuk, who was walking towards the door.

“Hyung, let’s go to the hospital first. You look like a corpse now.”

He was about to grab Joohyuk and support him, but he shook his head and passed by. Haejun, who felt Joohyuk’s disturbing alpha pheromone, quickly caught up with him.

“Kwon Yihyeon… start looking for Kwon Yihyeon.”

It sounded like a machine was talking. Haejun frowned and grabbed his arm and turned him around.

“Hyung, so…”

“Go find Kwon Yihyeon!”

Joohyuk uttered with an evil voice. Haejun was startled by his dangerous cry.

“From Kwon Yihyun… find…”

After speaking up to that point, Joohyuk’s body crumbled forward.

“Hyung!”

Haejun was taken by surprise. When he called the personal bodyguards waiting at the front door and laid Joohyuk upright, his face contorted with pain. He was holding his stomach painfully, as if he was about to rip off his belly skin, and uttered several times while panting.

Kwon Yihyeon.

The person’s name.

Joohyuk still had a crumpled check that looked like it had been torn to shreds.

* * *

He had a dream like before after a long time. It was a dream that he almost never had after holding Kwon Yihyeon.

What unfolded before his eyes was the forest of that day. The landscape, where all sides were dark and filled with cold air, unfolded just like that day.

“Hyung! Wake up!”

He was startled. He almost made a sound without realizing it at the sound of a voice coming closer than before.

Hyun-ah.

Soon a black figure began to appear..

This time, strangely, he was in the position of a third-party observer. The black figure walking by was a young boy about ten years old and the boy he was supporting. The two were advancing little by little as if they were one person in the dark.

Joohyuk’s gaze was more on the child who was supporting him with difficulty rather than his own youthful appearance.

The height and body shape were instantly recognizable. Even though it was dark, thanks to the moonlight pouring into the forest, he was able to know what kind of clothes he was wearing.

When he saw the clothes the child was wearing, something filled his stomach. He wanted to forget it, but he couldn’t. Because it was his young mate’s last clothes, now stored in a shelf next to the tomb in the ossuary.

Even in the dark, the figures of the two were exceptionally clear. The two of them were coming closer and closer.

The young him was staggering forward with his half-open eyes. If it hadn’t been for the mate who was supporting him, he probably would have collapsed on the spot and wouldn’t even have stood up.

Their bodies shook even more. At first glance, he could see a child biting his teeth. With both slender legs firmly stomping on the floor, he was struggling to somehow support his young body. In the midst of this, the child who saw that his eyes had been closed spit out a squeaky sound.

“If this is the case, you will be caught!”

When he heard the sound, he was startled and opened his eyes. He looked at the child who was panting as he reached the limit of his breath. The focus was a little off.

Young Joohyuk opened his mouth and spoke. He couldn’t hear it, but he remembered what he said.

“You really want that? Aren’t you crazy?!”

The child said with an uncomfortably cold voice.

He thought that day was the first time that he was angry at what he said.

“I said I would protect you. I will protect you!”

He boldly shouted at him, with a small body that could fit in his arms. Then, while dragging young Joohyuk, he stepped forward again.

“Get a grip. I will never let you die.”

He spoke clearly, with a cold voice. In contrast, young Joohyuk looked like he was about to close his eyes at any moment.

“Hyung told me. If I visit you ten times, you will tell me your name.”

The child’s voice continued to pierce through the rough breathing. Gradually, they came closer to his field of vision, and the darkened child’s face began to become visible gradually.

“Today is the tenth. Name, you have to tell me. I haven’t heard it yet.”

“…Hyuna…”

Young Joohyuk licked his lips, but the only words that flowed through his lips was the name of his mate.

A sad smile crept across the child’s lips. He glanced away and looked at his alpha.

“If you say your name, I will call you by that name, so you should call my name properly too. ‘Cause I’m no longer a child like this… I can also save hyung like this… I’m no longer a child.”

A bright smile appeared on the child’s face, which had only been blurry to the point where it was impossible to recognize any shape except his eyes. As if the child had reached the limit, he held his breath and said his name.

“…You should call me, hyung.”

As if there was some noise, only that part of the sound was blurry.

The bright smile of the child, which had not been seen in his previous dreams, caught his eye, and his voice was heard clearly. But his name was not heard.

The child’s name was a name that Joohyuk could not come up with no matter how hard he tried for 17 years. He remembered the nickname he called Hyun, but for some reason he couldn’t remember it. Had he known that, he would have written the child’s name on the ashes, and he would have called him whenever he thought of him until this day.

Little by little, the child came closer. As if trying to pass through an empty road, he tried to proceed as it was. They didn’t stop for a moment until the men who were chasing ran up, screaming and running.

As he was watching the child approaching, he felt something strange.

He didn’t feel the scent of his partner’s pheromone. It was an amazing scent that could be felt and even if they were at a  distance, it was enough to distinguish it. The smell of soil and wood peculiar to the forest was the same.

He never had any dreams like this before, so he was terrified.

As soon as he thought of that, he stood tall, and the child stopped. He was only two steps away from him.

The child raised his eyes and looked at him. It was as if he recognized the existence of Joohyuk, who was looking at them from an observer’s point of view.

Someone’s face flashed by on the innocent and clear child’s eyes.

Those eyes resembling Kwon Yihyeon were looking at Joohyuk clearly.

* * *

Blinking, all he saw was a white ceiling.

As soon as he thought it was a reality, the sadness that ‘dream is over’ came rushing in. At the same time, he was puzzled by the different viewpoints and different scenes from before.

But the thought took a moment, and he sat up with his upper body upright.

When he looked into the child’s eyes, he naturally thought of Kwon Yihyeon. Joohyuk’s calm complexion faded in an instant, and his head became complicated like a tangled thread.

‘Where is Kwon Yihyeon? How many days has passed since he disappeared? No contact? Any information?’

His panicked mind quickly became a mess. Almost like a reflex, there was a terrible pain in his stomach.

“Ugh… .”

He crouched down in excruciating pain to the point of moaning even if he didn’t want to. He took a deep breath with one hand on his chest.

Just then, the door opened and the scent of another alpha came in. Recognizing that it was Haejun’s scent, Joohyuk spit out the words without raising his head.

“Lee Haejun… .”

“Woke up? Hyung, rest for a while…”

“Kwon Yihyeon… What happened to Kwon Yihyeon?”

Haejun approached Joohyuk, frowned and looked at his complexion.

It was good to put Joohyuk, who lost his mind while looking for Yihyeon, on the bed, but his complexion did not improve. It was fine when he fell asleep.

“I am looking for someone. First, let’s take care of your body.”

“Okay, more people… No, I…”

Joohyuk, who faced Haejun with his shaky eyes, pushed him away and tried to get off the hospital bed. Haejun, who restrained him and sat him down, glanced at the Iv’s fluid attached to his wrist.

“Let’s get this all right. You’re in really bad shape right now.”

This time, Haejun’s eyes turned to Joohyuk’s stomach. Seeing that his hand was pressing down so tightly that the tendon was protruding, it looked quite painful.

“It’s a nervous stomach cramp. I’ve never seen you pass out before, but looking at it now, it seems like you’re in quite a bit of pain.”

“… What?”

It was a name he heard a lot about.

“I… ?”

Haejun tilted his head in response to Joohyuk’s disturbed voice.

“He said it was because you had a lot to worry about and was stressed out.”

A disappointing laugh escaped Joohyuk’s lips.

It was a disease that Yihyeon suffered. He was feeling the same pain as the person who frequently touched his stomach and sometimes expressed pain.

Was it this painful?

The pain was like brutally slicing the stomach, the excruciating pain as if someone had put their whole hand in and squeezed it.

How did he endure this? How did he endure that long period for months?

His face, sometimes pale, or his eyes trembling, flickered. He was enduring this pain without saying a word.

He couldn’t even say it hurt.

As soon as he realized that, the pain in his stomach got worse. He clenched his teeth as if he was about to break it and swallowed his breath.

He wanted to see him like crazy.

Naturally, he missed the person who stayed next to him so much.

“I don’t care, so find Kwon Yihyeon first.”

“… So persistence.”

Haejun sighed and held out Joohyuk’s cell phone, which he had until then.

“I got a call from a detective. I also got a message.”

Joohyuk’s head flashed. He quickly picked up the phone and checked the message first.

[The person who you asked for, I finally found him. Please contact me as soon as you check the message.]

It was a short message, but it was enough to open Joohyuk’s eyes wide. Regardless of whether Yihyeon was investigated or not, it seems that he has finally found the person he told him to find.

The real ‘Kwon Yihyeon’.

* * *

A small passenger ship emerged from among the many chirping seagulls. The passenger ship, which cut the sea on the rippling waves, soon reached the wharf and set foot on it.

There were very few people who got off. At most, it was a couple of islanders, an old couple who were believed to have stopped by for sightseeing, and a young man with a big luggage bag with a black hat.

The man in the black hat took a deep breath as he put the heavy suitcase on his shoulder. His face, hidden by the brim of his hat, was quite bright.

Life on the island wasn’t bad, but since it was a small island, he couldn’t help but feel frustrated. Even though he had to use a pseudonym for a while, as he did on the island, he felt good that he could now go to the city and live comfortably.