Baran returned ho late at night after tending to all his guests.
“Baran!”
As soon as he stepped inside, soone called out his na.
It was the voice of Laura, the woman he was promised to marry.
Startled by her tone, Baran rushed into the house.
“What’s wrong?”
But Laura stood frozen in the room, her health seemingly intact. She was rely staring down at sothing, her hand covering her mouth in shock.
“…What’s the matter?”
Baran’s sigh of relief was short-lived. He quickly approached Laura, who was fixated on a small postcard.
“…This… was here when I got ho.”
“…”
Baran had spent a long ti helping Berg practice reading and writing. Although he still wasn’t completely fluent, he had reached a decent level. Laura, too, was literate.
The astonished Laura spoke first.
“…Baran, don’t be shocked.”
“What is it?”
She handed him the postcard.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t attend the wedding.”
The words froze Baran in place.
It felt as though Berg had returned to life and written those words himself. Baran felt a choking sensation in his throat, but it didn’t last long. No one knew better than Baran that Berg was dead.
Anger surged within him as he thought about who could have played such a cruel prank.
“...Which bastard…”
The postcard felt like an insult, a mockery of his bond with Berg. Their relationship wasn’t one to be trivialized or used for gas. The mories of saving each other countless tis on the brink of death weren’t so easily erased.
Bang!
Unable to contain his rage, Baran stord out of the house, determined to find whoever was responsible.
“Captain Baran!!”
The mont he stepped outside, he saw a group of his subordinates approaching him. Each one carried a torch, their faces filled with urgency. Even Gale was running toward him, gasping for breath.
“…What’s going on?”
Baran’s anger was montarily replaced by confusion as he asked.
Gale answered.
“…Lady Sien has disappeared.”
“……What?”
Baran frowned deeply, sensing this was just the beginning.
Gale continued hesitantly.
“…Lady Ner and Lady Arwin are gone too.”
***
I was hiding in Stockpin under the cover of night.
There was one last thing I had to do. However, I could feel that my ti here was running out as chaos erupted in the village.
It seed that Sien, Ner, and Arwin had left the territory with Flint’s help.
“…Damn.”
I clicked my tongue in frustration. The thought of parting weighed heavily on . Deep down, I wanted to stay here a little longer. There was still so much I wanted to say to Adam Hyung.
But perhaps this was my bad habit—holding on to people when it was ti to let go.
Maybe it was ti to set them free.
“…”
I knew I would never return to this place. Nowhere else was my face as well-known as it was here.
And that ant one thing.
I would never see Adam Hyung, who would remain here forever.
This was the end.
“…Hyung.”
I stood before Adam Hyung’s gravestone, gazing down at the unmarked slab.
But now, I finally knew what words to inscribe on it. Perhaps it was because I had avenged him or because I was leaving in search of happiness. I wasn’t sure.
Still, the ssage I wanted to leave was simple. There was no need for complex explanations—that could wait until we t again.
“…”
I picked up a nearby rock.
-Scrape.
And with it, I began carving words into the blank gravestone, one letter at a ti.
Once the inscription was complete, I tossed the rock aside and dusted off my hands.
“…”
I quietly looked at Adam Hyung’s gravestone before resting my hand on it. The cold stone felt strangely comforting. Thinking back, it had been quite so ti since Hyung left my side.
I was probably around the sa age now as Hyung was when he passed.
“…”
I knelt down on one knee in front of his grave, leaning my forehead against the cold stone.
This was my final farewell to Hyung.
As I opened my mouth to speak, my emotions, which I had been holding back, began to waver. mories of eting Hyung and all the monts we shared together ca flooding back.
-“Want to try rcenary work with ?”
-“Hey! If you do it like that, you’ll get killed!”
-“Berg!”
“…Ha.”
I let out a soft laugh.
Slowly, I was releasing the hand I had held onto for so long—the hand of my savior, my steadfast friend, Adam Hyung.
A single tear rolled down my cheek.
It was the first tear I had shed since Hyung’s passing, as if the reality of his absence was finally sinking in.
Though I had agonized over what to say, our farewell, like always, was brief and bittersweet.
“…See you later.”
With that, I said my final goodbye to Adam Hyung.
I stood up and turned away.
It was ti to go et my wives.
****
“Haa... Haa...”
Baran sprinted through every corner of Stockpin, but he couldn’t find anyone—Sien, Ner, or Arwin. They had all vanished without a trace.
He was sinking into confusion. The fact that they had disappeared so suddenly was strange, but even stranger was that there wasn’t a single clue as to where they could have gone. It felt as though their disappearance had been ticulously planned.
Guilt began to overwhelm Baran.
What would Berg think if he saw him like this? Berg had entrusted his family to him, yet here he was, failing to protect a single one of them.
Baran ran through the village again, his desperation driving him forward. The Red Flas rcenary group was already turning the village upside down in their search, but Baran refused to stop.
“There’s no sign of them!”
Every report ca back the sa. No one had found a single lead.
“...”
In this chaos, there was only one place Baran hadn’t searched yet—the cetery. It had been temporarily closed to the public because of the overwhelming number of visitors paying their respects to Berg. Even without many hiding spots, it was the last place left to check.
Gale, standing nearby, seed to have the sa thought.
“...The graves—”
“—Let’s go,” Baran answered without hesitation.
Perhaps the three of them had gathered in front of Berg’s grave. It wasn’t unreasonable to think they might be there to mourn him together.
Baran reopened the restricted area. The flickering light of their torches illuminated the darkness of the cetery as they stepped inside.
Though he felt guilty about disturbing the peace of his comrades’ resting place, Baran knew they would understand the urgency of his actions.
“...”
“...”
But when Gale and Baran reached Berg’s grave, they let out heavy sighs.
There was no one there.
“...”
Baran couldn’t bring himself to look directly at Berg’s gravestone. Instead, he muttered under his breath, almost as if making a promise.
“…I’ll find them soon.”
Of course, Berg wasn’t actually resting beneath this grave, but it felt as though his presence lingered, listening to Baran’s words.
Whoosh!
As the torchlight shifted, sothing caught Baran’s eye. Even in the darkness, the change was unmistakable.
It was sothing Baran had seen countless tis, and his familiarity with it made the difference stand out.
The change was at Adam’s grave, right next to Berg’s.
“…Huh?”
Baran noticed it imdiately, and Gale slowly approached the spot as well. Baran nearly dropped his torch in shock.
Adam’s gravestone, which had been blank just days ago, now bore a short inscription. It was undeniable; soone had engraved it during the brief ti since he last checked.
“...This... this is…”
Gale fell to his knees in front of the grave, whispering in disbelief.
“…No… but…”
He kept shaking his head, as if trying to deny the reality of what he was seeing.
Baran glanced at Gale, then reached into his pocket and pulled out the postcard he had received earlier.
The words on it sounded different now. Before, it might have seed like a cruel prank. But no one would defile Adam’s gravestone for a joke.
[I’m sorry I couldn’t attend the wedding.]
Baran read the ssage again, this ti feeling a chill run down his spine.
Baran handed the postcard to Gale.
Gale’s expression deepened as he read the postcard, his face twisting with even greater emotion.
“...This... postcard… when…”
“I found it earlier,” Baran replied. “It was left at my house. I thought it was just a prank...”
Gale let out a shaky, hollow laugh, his face on the verge of tears.
For a while, he trembled, glancing back and forth between Adam’s gravestone and the postcard in his hand. Finally, he spoke.
“...This is Berg’s handwriting...”
“.....................”
Baran blinked slowly, a cold realization creeping over him.
Suddenly, everything seed to fall into place.
Why Sien, Ner, and Arwin had seed fine before their sudden disappearance.
Why they had vanished together.
Who had delivered the postcard?
Who had engraved Adam’s gravestone?
“How is this even possible…!” Gale’s voice grew louder, rising with disbelief.
But the “how” didn’t matter.
No matter how impossible it seed, all the signs pointed to one undeniable truth.
Baran fell to his knees.
-Thud.
Co to think of it, he had never actually seen Berg’s body cremated.
“.................Is he alive...?”
He whispered the words, his voice barely audible.
Baran looked back at Adam’s gravestone, his gaze locked on the newly engraved words.
He read the simple inscription once more:
“My eternal brother.
Adam, rests here.”
– – The End of The Chapter – –
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