1440 - Chapter 44

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 44
42
Yeon-su pushed open the Separate House door, shouldering all the parcels alone, and in that same instant the inner room’s paper doors slid open. A man poked his head through the gap—like a puppy who’d learned that whenever the Separate House entrance opened, it meant Yeon-su had returned.
At his endearing expression, Yeon-su smiled and greeted him.
“You’ve been well on your own, haven’t you?”
The man nodded and smiled back, his gaze settling on the Go Board in Yeon-su’s hands.
His eyes sparkled with anticipation as he looked at it. The moment she saw that, Yeon-su completely forgot that she’d procured this item specifically as a gift for Nam Du-seong-gun, and immediately knelt down to meet his eyes.
“Do you know how to play Go? Do you like it?”
At her question, the man nodded—the most certain gesture he’d made yet, and one that even seemed almost eager.
Yeon-su quickly carried the Go Board into his room. She poured the black and white stones from their ebony container with a soft cascade and handed him the white stones.
Black was probably the opening color. She only understood that much about Go—that the weaker of two players receives black stones so they can place their first piece wherever they choose. That was the extent of Yeon-su’s knowledge of the game.
“I’ve only played Go a few times online, so—”
She was grateful she at least understood the basic rules. As she spoke, she glanced at the man, who was already familiar enough to be absently fingering the stones in the container. His movements were so natural they seemed like an old habit.
Which made sense: this man was from approximately fifteen hundred years ago. Even if he didn’t know Hangul, he was fluent in Hanja, and while he couldn’t turn on a computer to play games, he was perfectly comfortable sitting at a Go board.
Moreover, the way he always moved—so composed, so quiet—suggested he might have been someone of high birth.
Yeon-su picked up one of her black stones and placed it on the board. Yet the feel of the stone in her hand was surprisingly natural.
Puzzled, Yeon-su turned the stone over in her palm.
“Wait—this is actually my first time touching real Go stones, but my hand knows what to do? Why is that…?”
She tried holding the stone between her index and middle finger the way professional players did. She expected it to fly away, but instead it stayed fixed between her fingers. Delighted, she held out her hand to show him.
“Wow. I can actually do this?”
The man smiled at Yeon-su’s face—animated as someone her own age.
He closed his eyes and curved his lips upward, his smile soft and radiant, and Yeon-su let the stone she’d been holding slip right through her fingers.
She’d never seen him smile like this before. It was far more beautiful than she’d imagined.
The long corners of his eyes folded gracefully like the tail of a phoenix, utterly captivating. His pale lips curved in a perfect arc, thin and delicate—like a portrait of beauty itself.
Yet at the same time, there was something tender, almost aching about it. His smiling eyes didn’t appear purely joyful; there was something else beneath.
It seemed as though through Yeon-su he was reviving some memory, one so precious he yearned for it and longed for it, yet was pained because he couldn’t quite reach it. So Yeon-su looked away, pretending not to notice.
How much do I really know about this man? About his past, about what kind of life he lived before he was trapped in this house—I know nothing.
If he were to leave this house one day, if he decided to seek out his old ties… would I be able to let him go?
Lost in such thoughts, a white stone landed on the board. It made a soft tap and settled right beside the black stone—two different stones that looked exactly like a pair.
When Yeon-su looked up, the man studied her expression, then pulled over a book he’d left nearby and pressed something firmly into the blank margin of a page.
Omok.
“…You’re asking to play Omok instead of Go?”
When Yeon-su confirmed what he’d written, the man nodded. He was suggesting they switch to a simpler game since she wasn’t yet comfortable with Go.
“You’ve learned Hangul quite well. When did you get this far?”
They’d studied together whenever time allowed, but she hadn’t realized he’d begun creating words and writing on his own.
The man smiled again, plainly delighted at having surprised Yeon-su. She smiled back and picked up a black stone again.
For a while, the two played Omok and exchanged notes by written words about how they’d spent their day.
***
Kim Hye-won made her secret visit to the Separate House again today. No matter how capable the Young Master was with his hands, a house couldn’t possibly be kept clean by a man alone, could it?
He claimed he would tend to the Dharma Hall himself, but the first floor would at most be kept passably clean—certainly not immaculately maintained.
She had no time to spare from morning until evening when she clocked out, and once she did, the Young Master never left the Separate House. So she thought it best to slip in during these early morning hours when everyone was asleep and help with the housework.
…And of course, she also needed to check on the condition of that mysterious man.
Hye-won tiptoed quietly into the Separate House. She turned back, closed the door, and quietly fastened the latch from inside. Then she turned around again.
Her heart dropped straight to her feet.
“Oh! Young Master…!”
Yeon-su was standing at the far end of the hallway, watching her—though Hye-won could have sworn she hadn’t seen her when opening the door. Hye-won gasped so sharply her breath caught, and Yeon-su slowly approached. The creaking of the floorboards sounded unusually distinct.
“Auntie. It’s good to see you again. You came to bring groceries today too?”
Yeon-su glanced at her wristwatch as if asking what she was doing here at this hour, then let her gaze drift to Hye-won’s hands. Naturally, they were empty.
Seeing her empty hands, Yeon-su’s smile deepened. Hye-won tensed as if caught in a trap and swallowed hard.
***
Yeon-su had driven into Seoul after a long time and parked in front of a building she rarely visited. She double-checked that it wasn’t an illegal parking spot.
There was good reason. The person she’d arranged to meet today was a detective.
She hadn’t come to meet a client regarding the Curse that had entered the Baek house. A detective she knew personally had sent an urgent message.
The detective had said his team members were suffering injuries and accidents in succession, and that it didn’t seem like an ordinary matter. He was asking for her help.
Yeon-su, who’d formed a connection with him years ago as an apprentice through a peculiar incident, held genuine goodwill toward him.
He was someone who’d seen much that was rough and harsh, and yet he possessed a pure and clear spirit. She suspected he accumulated Merit and Virtue through his work.
But not all detectives gained such a clear spirit—some of it surely stemmed from his own nature.
That was why Yeon-su liked this detective. He was a man who understood his own place, harbored no illusions, and had a firm sense of right and wrong.
Besides, she had a feeling he would be invaluable help to her in the work she was about to undertake, so she needed to be in his good graces.
Thus, suppressing her reluctance to leave the Separate House empty, she made her way to Seoul.
Detective Kang, who worked at Jongno Police Station in Seoul, had come out to the parking lot early to wait for Yeon-su. The moment she finished parking and stepped out of the car, he approached her with a warm greeting.
“Why’d you park way out there? Come on in, you should’ve just— wait. Yeon-su! It’s been what, two years? When did you get so grown up?”
Though there was a fair age gap between them, Yeon-su found Detective Kang’s manner always brotherly and familiar, so she smiled at ease and answered him.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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