“Are you happy after getting married?”
That expressionless face looked angry, or perhaps sad. But behind it, his gaze was filled with an unnatural interest in Seoryeong. Look at that. Talking about chastity and devotion… what exactly was he after, constantly trying to flirt like this? Seoryeong didn’t avoid his gaze and replied calmly.
“I seem to resemble someone named Sonya a lot, don’t I?”
Kiya slowly blinked his eyelashes.
“Is that why you said that back then? That you like being with people who look like me?”
“What?”
Clang! Lee Wooshin dropped his spoon and immediately asked in a sharp tone. Wow…. The special team members could only gape, looking at each other, then starting to read the situation from Wooshin’s expression.
“If you’re curious about marriage, why don’t you try getting married yourself? Find that woman too and sleep with her as much as you want. But―”
The corner of Seoryeong’s eye twitched slightly. She brushed off the man’s arm and pushed the chair that was too close to her legs. Thud, thud, the sound of the chair legs scraping as she widened the distance. Kiya’s expression turned bewildered.
“Marriage, husband, don’t casually mention such things when we’ve just met. I’m sorry, but I can lose control when it comes to my husband. I don’t like my personal life being suddenly discussed by strangers, and I especially don’t like being called ‘biscuit’ or ‘wild boar,’ Father.”
“…What do you mean?”
Kiya furrowed his brow. That genuinely clueless expression made Seoryeong even more dumbfounded. You could be rude then. But now you’re pretending not to know? I even clearly remember you saying it while crying and grimacing in pain. ‘You little biscuit…! Your husband is really like a wild bo…’ That’s right. Haa… Just remembering it makes my blood boil. Since their first meeting, she had felt something was off. For someone devoted to God, his words and actions were truly far from polite. Seoryeong continued to push Kiya’s chair away. The man, annoyed by the increasing distance between them, began to reach out and ramble with his hands.
“Sonya, wait, that’s not what I meant…―!”
“My name is Han Seoryeong.”
“…….”
“It’s true I’m married and have a husband, but I have no religion, and no friends either.”
“……!”
“Father, I can overlook one instance of rudeness. But if it happens twice, I’ll also have a hard time. So, from now on, call my name correctly.”
As that boundary was drawn, Kiya’s expression subtly changed. He brushed his eyebrow with his fingertip and closed his mouth. Seoryeong turned back to her food tray as if nothing had happened. But Kiya’s thoughtful gaze remained fixed on her until she put down her spoon. After finishing their meal, the team members followed Kiya to the basement. The weather outside had dropped below freezing. Inside, children sat huddled tightly together, shivering violently. Their heads drooped weakly. Their clothes were torn, and they had no shoes. The place was called a monastery, but in reality, they were confined to a windowless basement. The members tried to maintain blank faces, but there was one question they couldn’t hold back.
“What… what is all this?”
The children wore something on their heads like masks. They resembled jester hats with two horns sticking out to the sides, and they were brightly colored and varied. But the face was completely covered like a helmet. The masks looked very heavy. The children were unable to hold their heads up and just kept nodding from exhaustion. At first, Seoryeong thought it was just to hide their faces. But the more she looked, the more something felt strange. The children looked very uncomfortable; some were whimpering, even trying to scratch the surface of the masks with their fingernails. The masks looked more like torture devices that tightly pressed down on the head to control someone. Unconsciously, Seoryeong spoke: “Those masks… look painful. Do they have to keep wearing them?”
“Yes. They are indeed painful.”
“…….”
“Can’t stand to look at them? Want me to take them off?”
Before Seoryeong could answer clearly, Kiya suddenly jumped closer and began to remove the children’s masks one by one. Seoryeong, only then realizing his intention, immediately turned to Lee Wooshin. The man’s face was deathly pale, unable to say anything. Clang. Clang. The sound of heavy metal hitting the floor echoed each time a mask fell. Seoryeong observed Lee Wooshin’s face, which now looked ashen. His jaw was tense as if forcibly pulled, and his breathing looked irregular. The children cried loudly, clutching their foreheads, which were covered in bright red marks. Amidst all this, only Kiya smiled broadly.
“If they’re decorated like this, negotiations become easier. But I have no bad intentions…! Tomorrow they will be moved to the annex across from the monastery, so please escort them safely, okay?”
“…….”
Suddenly, Lee Wooshin’s Adam’s apple bobbed slightly. As if seeing a ghost, he bent his knees and reached out to grab one of the fallen masks. Kiya responded with a wry smile.
“That’s a mask I wore when I was little. Why?”
“……!”
The hand that was about to pick up the mask stopped mid-air. Lee Wooshin’s gaze, which had been vacant, now sharply returned to Kiya—as if reassessing the person in front of him.
“I finally went to that beautiful castle. This is the mask I wore at the Winter Castle.”
Among all of them, I was your favorite, right? That kind of gaze was now directed at Lee Wooshin by Kiya.
---
The man suddenly opened his eyes. As soon as he threw off the blanket and sat up, beads of sweat the size of pearls rolled down from under Lee Wooshin’s chin. It had been a long time since he had woken up terrified by something, his back soaked in sweat. In the silence of the monastery, where not even the sound of insects could be heard, he wiped his face. Kiya and Sonya… Those unfamiliar names pierced his chest. Names that felt heavy and frightening, even to utter casually. Sonya… Kiya… Kiyara…
“――.”
Perhaps because he hadn’t returned to this land in a long time, his mind was easily disturbed, and he had felt uneasy all day. The connection between the Winter Castle and the Russian Orthodox Church, and their connection to the black-haired children, was becoming clearer day by day. And Rigai’s act of terror, which blew up all the evidence in an instant… was indeed very significant. With tangled feelings, he got out of bed. It felt like he was finally standing at the starting point. The questions he had constantly kept to himself about the Solzhenitsyn family residence. An incident at the Winter Castle involving a religious group and scientists—. If there was a commonality among them all, it was… the power to change the world. Lee Wooshin staggered as he suppressed a throbbing headache. He wanted to see Seoryeong immediately. An inexplicable anxiety, wriggling from within his stomach, made his steps quicken. This sudden feeling he couldn’t suppress… where did it actually come from? Was it since he saw that mask? His heart pounded loudly as if after drinking caffeine, and it wouldn’t calm down. If he let his guard down even for a moment, it felt as if something terrible would definitely happen— “What…― what kind of nonsense is that…!”
Suddenly, a high-pitched scream, sounding broken, echoed. What was all the commotion at this hour of midnight? The voice was also very familiar. With a hardened face, Lee Wooshin immediately ran towards the door of the women’s room.
“…―Sir, I told you to stop talking nonsense…!”
A fractured voice sounded again. Sonya, Sonya… a low, hurried voice followed, like an argument. Thump, thump, the dull sound of something being thrown. Hik, a sound like someone suppressing sobs. The commotion was clearly audible from behind the door. The vibrations could be felt even on the old wooden floor. Just as Lee Wooshin twisted the doorknob as if to yank it off— “Let go…! Let go!”
The blood in his entire body instantly felt cold as he saw what was in front of him.
“Don’t…―! Don’t touch… ugh, don’t…. Get away, get away…!”
“Sonya, calm down, Sonya…!”
“If you’re just going to talk nonsense, just leave…! Hhik…!”
“Don’t cry, I’m sorry. Don’t cry.”
Inside the room filled with scattered belongings, two figures were grappling with each other as if fighting. From lips forced open, something bright red was being forced in. The wet sound of flesh being sucked was disturbingly real.
“――.”
What is this, really? His consciousness seemed to flicker. Like being hit on the head with a hammer, his vision went dark and then light again. Kiya continued to coil his tongue around the woman’s. Her lips were swallowed so deeply that her cheeks became hollow and her jaw hung open. Seoryeong scrunched up her face and tried to push Kiya away, but she couldn’t stop her sobs and could only slump down silently. Lee Wooshin immediately lunged towards them. Emotion blazed like fire burning through all his blood vessels. He swiftly bent Kiya’s neck and roughly separated the two.
“Han Seoryeong―!”
As soon as he shouted, silence fell like a thunderbolt. When he saw Seoryeong’s lips swollen from being sucked by another man, rage boiled up from within. Damn it…! With a terrifyingly stiff face, he reached out to grab Seoryeong—but slap! his hand was rejected before he could even touch her, stinging painfully. He couldn’t comprehend what was happening. As his face contorted with emotion, his gaze met red and swollen eyes. That gaze… felt somehow twisted, as if looking at something disgusting.
“I just… heard something very strange…”
That empty gaze was now filled with a strange, dark light. She muttered as if chewing on something bitter.
“You… actually―”
Sobs turned into a crooked laugh, like a pitiful smile.
“You are… Kim Hyeon, aren’t you?”