NOVEL WEB Chapter 365
Chapter 365. Jeju Island’s Blue Night (7)
“So? Did you ride the horses too?”
“Yeah, it was harder than I thought. It’s really fast.”
“Wow, that’s awesome. What else did you do?”
“Well… surfing, ate some hairtail fish… Oh, and I bought bread. It’s supposed to be famous. Share it with Yurang.”
“Man, I’m so jealous. Was it fun? It must’ve been amazing.”
The voice on the other end of the phone was filled with envy. Sitting in the airport waiting for the flight back to Gimpo, Yugeon bit his lower lip unconsciously. It felt like a tiny needle that had been buried deep in his heart during the trip had suddenly poked through.
He responded as casually as possible, trying to keep his excitement and joy from reaching his younger siblings.
“I don’t know, everything just flew by, and before I knew it, I was back at the airport.”
This was the truth—just without the feelings of excitement and joy. After parasailing, Yugeon had been dragged through an endless string of activities: more extreme sports, surfing, horseback riding, cafés, scenic walks, and must-try restaurants. It felt like they had visited every single hotspot in the northeastern part of Jeju.
From a famous black pork kimbap shop perfect for grabbing food before climbing Seongsan Ilchulbong, to renting electric bikes for a ride along the coastal road.
Hajin seemed determined to make sure they did *everything* a Jeju trip had to offer. It was almost like he’d been sponsored by a travel agency—an absurd thought, but that’s how it felt.
“Did they serve food on the plane? Have you ever had an in-flight meal?”
“Jeju flights are too short for that. You’d need to fly to Europe or somewhere to get one.”
“Lame… Even people flying to Jeju might want a meal.”
“Yeah, airlines should do better.”
Agreeing with his brother Yuho’s playful complaint, Yugeon stared out the window at the reddish Jeju sunset.
‘Will I be able to come back here?’
The first thing Yugeon had abandoned when he took on the title of “head of the family” was his dreams.
Hope, a bright future, optimism, the expectation that things could change.
He’d had to let go of such things in order to endure, and life continued whether those things existed or not. That had always been the way for Yugeon.
“Hmm… I’d like to visit Jeju someday, too, once I start making money.”
But he didn’t want his siblings to live like that.
When Yuho quietly muttered this small wish he couldn’t hold back, Yugeon spoke up without thinking.
“You can come with me. What’s the problem?”
Since childhood, Yugeon had never told his siblings, “I’ll do it for you next time” or “I’ll buy it for you later,” even as an empty promise.
He knew he wouldn’t be able to keep those promises.
He thought making promises he couldn’t fulfill would only lead to disappointment.
“Next time, we’ll bring Grandpa and Yurang. The four of us will have fun together. There were plenty of places today that you guys would love.”
“Really?”
This meant that everything Yugeon was saying now was the first time in his life that he was making promises he wasn’t sure he could keep.
He didn’t know how much he would earn after the next settlement, didn’t know how long he could keep earning like this, didn’t know if they would be able to escape poverty anytime soon.
“Yeah. Next time, I’ll definitely take you.”
But he said it anyway. He blurted it all out.
Just like Hajin had said—*thank goodness there’s at least one easy thing in life*—once Yugeon started speaking, his words ballooned like cotton candy.
“Yeah, then let’s make our first family trip to Jeju!”
“Yeah, let’s do that. For sure.”
“Oh, I’ve got to fold the laundry now. If I don’t, Yurang’s going to kill me. I’ll hang up!”
“Alright. I won’t be home for a while because of comeback preparations, so call me if anything happens.”
“Okay, work hard! Bye!”
With a hurried tone, the call ended. Just then, the monitor in front of Yugeon blinked, signaling that his and Hajin’s flight was ready for boarding.
“Hey, bro.”
As Yugeon stared blankly at his phone for a while longer, someone approached him. Looking up, he saw Hajin standing there, arms full of shopping bags after disappearing to “use the bathroom.”
“…?”
“Take some of these. They’re heavy as hell.”
“What is all this? Weren’t you just going to the bathroom?”
Without waiting for an answer, Hajin shoved the shopping bags into Yugeon’s hands. As Yugeon grabbed them in confusion, he peeked inside.
“Well, what can I say? These days, they sell so much stuff on the way to the bathroom. It’s overwhelming.”
Inside the white paper bag was a simple box.
It was the 16,000 won chocolate box Yugeon had reluctantly left behind last night.
“…”
Yugeon stood there for a moment, staring at the box. Then, finally finding his voice, he asked Hajin:
“Didn’t you say they sell this online?”
Hajin slung his bag over one shoulder and replied.
“If you buy it online, it’s not a souvenir. It’s just a product.”
“What difference does that make…?”
“But I bought this one for you, so next time you come back, get something better. It’s good, but 16,000 won for 12 chocolates is a bit much…”
Stupidly, it was only then that Yugeon understood everything.
What this spontaneous Jeju trip had really been about, why Hajin had acted like a tour guide, and why they had rushed through so many famous spots.
“How was the trip? Not as big a deal as you thought, right?”
“…”
“Think you can bring Grandpa and your siblings next time?”
He was teaching him.
How to book a place to stay, how to find discounted flights, what the best transportation options were, which routes to take for the most efficient trip—everything.
Hajin was teaching Yugeon so that if he ever had the chance to come here again, either on his own or with his family, he wouldn’t be lost and could handle it all.
And for Yugeon, this was the first time in his life that someone had done something like this for him.
No one had ever laid out steps in advance to make sure he wouldn’t get hurt, wouldn’t stumble, wouldn’t struggle.
This was the first time in his life.
“…What kind of person are you, really?”
Yugeon asked sincerely. He had no idea how to define this person, who was unlike anyone he had ever met.
Even his own parents had abandoned him, and yet here was someone bound to him by nothing more than a contract, going out of his way to take care of him.
“Watch your tone. Calling someone a ‘what.’”
But once again, Hajin just laughed it off and casually answered Yugeon’s question.
“I’m your hyung. What else?”
As if to say, *I’m the first person you’ve ever had like that in your entire life.*
At that, Yugeon bit the inside of his cheek in silence. He clenched the shopping bags tightly.
[System Alert: ‘Yugeon’ is reacting to you. (Reaction Rate: 81%)]
[You can now recruit ‘Yugeon.’ Would you like to recruit him? (Y/N)]
Hajin, aware of Yugeon’s inner turmoil faster than anyone, pretended not to notice and turned with a smile.
“Let’s go. It’s time to board.”
“…”
“You coming?”
“…Yeah, I’m coming.”
Hajin, with a backpack on his shoulder and hands full of shopping bags, led the way. Yugeon followed slowly behind him. The once unfamiliar and daunting airport path no longer seemed difficult.
“Let’s go home.”
It was time to head back.
This place was where time both stopped and flowed, a space that existed and yet did not.
Number 13, the one who had been assigned this title, stepped forward into the space, neither dark nor light.
[……]
He thought.
Or rather, he did not think.
A timekeeper was not easily explained. It was simply a being that existed, a mechanism ensuring that time moved properly. But there was one small question in his mind.
[…I have something to ask.]
He was known as the “system,” but that wasn’t quite right. Still, this being finally asked his question. For a timekeeper to ask anything was unusual—impossible, even.
For a timekeeper to have questions? To have doubts?
He was like a cog in a clock, just a support to ensure the proper flow of time.
But still, he had a question.
And he thought that the person responsible for this change in him might be that man.
Kang Hajin.
The man who was both his charge and partner, and the one who had called him ‘friend.’
[It concerns the ‘Regressor.’]
A friend of a timekeeper?
What an odd idea, Number 13 mused, as he posed his question to the “entity.”
[The ‘Regressor’ has breached the security of the timeline and accessed both Dan Haru and Joo Eunchan.]
[Even the unconscious mind of my charge, Kang Haj
in, has been threatened multiple times.]
[And I do not understand any of this.]
[Why could I not detect his intrusion?]
He recalled the recent “incident.”
At the amusement park, when Joo Eunchan was in danger of being attacked and Dan Haru was dragged into the unconscious space by the Regressor.
Both had been recruited as Hajin’s allies, and with that, a strong security system had been put in place. Yet, he hadn’t detected the breach until Hajin found Haru in the bathroom.
The only time an outside entity could breach a timekeeper’s security without detection was under one condition.
[Why does the system classify ‘him’ as the same type of being as you?]
When the intruder was recognized as either an equivalent or a superior entity.
[The ‘Regressor,’ or rather… Timekeeper 12—what is he?]
For the sake of protecting his “friend,” Timekeeper Number 13 asked the entity.
[What is your relationship with ‘him’?]
It was a question that might shatter his entire world—a question about the very meaning of existence.