When I Find You (1)
The faint dawn of dawn was illuminating the boy.
The smile of a rose.
A gorgeous flower garden created by a boy.
A boy dyed bright red was walking with difficulty.
Leaving behind the countless roses that he had bloomed.
“······.”
At the end of sweet pleasure, there is always emptiness.
Revenge was sweet, but no one can help the feeling of desperation after devouring it.
Shoara’s soldiers were looking at the boy, covered in blood, leaving the building with a blank expression.
As expected, the boy really cut down 50 people and left.
The soldiers expressed both reverence and fear as they looked at the boy who had achieved achievements that they could not dare approach.
Even Bordan came down to take responsibility for all of this.
The executioner and avenger who exercised his legitimate rights were walking out alone.
Relying only on an unadorned sword.
That moment.
“Vlad! Vlad–!”
There was a sound of someone crying desperately from behind the soldiers.
“Vlad! It’s here! “I’m Haven!”
The boy, who had not yet completely escaped from his own world, turned his head as he heard the voice of someone he had missed.
The look in the boy’s blue eyes.
A clumsy staff was swinging above the soldiers’ heads.
“······Haben.”
The gaze of the boy standing at the edge of the horizon was gradually returning to reality.
Haven’s ugly staff.
It was carved by the boy himself for Haven, who walks with a limp.
“Haven?”
Vlad waved a small hand at the brown-haired man who was desperately looking for him.
The soldiers who saw this quickly cleared the way for the brown-haired man behind them.
“Hey dude…”
The view opens and the road opens.
Haven was at a loss for words when he saw the boy he was looking for in front of him on the open road.
Rather than the joy of seeing each other after such a long time, the sight of the boy turning bright red and looking miserable pierced Haven’s heart painfully.
“It’s okay, are you okay?”
Haven hurriedly made his way through the soldiers with limping steps.
“······Ah, my gosh.”
Vlad put away the unadorned sword he was leaning against and hugged Haven as he approached.
The tension that was holding the boy was released, the feeling of emptiness he was holding was thrown away, and he became truly free.
“madam. It really hurts. “It hurts here and there.”
“what’s this. “What happened?”
Haven naturally had no choice but to let go of the cane he was holding to support the boy who was hugging him.
Vlad relied on an unadorned sword.
Haven relied on an ugly cane.
The two let go of the things that supported them and hugged each other.
We stood in this world like that, relying on each other.
Just like back then, when we relied on each other as a blanket.
“······It looks like he’s finally returned.”
Vlad closed his eyes in Haven’s arms.
※※※※
The morning of Shoara, when the moon in the night sky sets and today’s sun rises.
The back alleys of the city fell asleep again, as if yesterday’s chaos had never happened.
And the boy, who now had to be active during the day instead of at night, opened his eyes to the growing sunlight.
‘······I can’t get used to it.’
I didn’t adapt well.
Because the place where the boy woke up was not a back alley.
Shoah was the boy’s hometown, but the area beyond the back alleys was still unfamiliar.
“Oooh. “Get up slowly, Captain.”
As soon as Vlad opened his eyes, Goth, who was watching from the side, quickly brought him water.
“······My whole body hurts.”
“yes. “It’s worth it.”
Goat, who didn’t even have enough water to drink and even prepared water for washing himself, was smiling as he put a towel on his arm as if he were a butler.
“······Come on.”
“Why? “It was originally like this.”
Vlad frowned as he looked at Goth’s suspicious behavior.
“Do your best.”
“······okay.”
Vlad thought as he looked at Goth, who was smiling awkwardly.
It’s probably worth it to be impatient.
Because Vlad’s connections that remained in Shoara were being revealed one by one.
To a Goth, it will feel like they are a threat to his position.
“If you do a good job, I’ll give you a decent amount of money.”
“······.”
Goat simply nodded as he listened to the boy say that he already knew his intentions.
Goth has not yet entered the line set by the boy.
It will take a little more time for the boy to get within the boundaries he has set for survival.
“When is now?”
“It’s already past lunch.”
After hearing Goth’s words, Vlad looked blankly at the light coming in through the window.
It seemed true that he had woken up with the sunlight dark in color.
“Lord Bordan said he would like to see you briefly if you are feeling well.”
“That’s right.”
One-Armed Jack is dead.
The boy also killed all of his subordinates.
Even so, One-Armed Jack’s shadow was not erased all at once.
He was a man who had been rooted in the back alleys for a long time and was also the man who ruled everything.
“······Lord Bordan must be busy.”
Vlad knew well the process of the organization’s bosses being defeated or pushed out, as he had seen it right next to him.
Whenever a new wave of anything occurred, it became the busiest.
“Keuung… “I guess I should help.”
Vlad got off the bed with a heavy body.
Because finishing everything is always important.
※※※※
“The woman named Marcela was well protected. “It looks like she was a bit distressed.”
“thank you.”
“Take it out later on your own.”
“yes.”
Vlad sighed with relief upon hearing that Marcella was in good condition, but his eyes were wide as he looked at the snacks placed in front of Bordan.
“Would you like one?”
“······Did you eat it all by yourself?”
A lot of sugar cubes piled up, desserts without even a trace left.
The corpses of the sweet things that the fat knight had destroyed were scattered on the desk.
“If you eat like this, you’ll die.”
“I think I’m going to die if I don’t eat.”
Vlad kept his mouth shut as he watched Bordan putting a sugar cube into the coffee he was drinking while answering.
“What are you going to do next?”
“······well.”
The sight of Bordan having his own office looked really believable, but it was just refreshing to Vlad, who knew his true nature.
“Because of you, the job ended faster than expected. “Well, I’ll be busy taking care of the rest, but I can say that your work is officially done.”
“I will help you.”
Bordan smiled as he stroked his thick chin.
“I would have been disappointed if you hadn’t said that.”
“I originally wanted to do it.”
The old knight nodded and took out a piece of parchment from inside the drawer.
“You just need to carry this around and do whatever I ask you to do.”
“What is this?”
The boy, who knew how to read but was not familiar with it, stuttered to read the letters written on the parchment.
“Security unit…Chief authority…Acting.”
“It is the right to arrest.”
“hmm. “Right of arrest.”
“It’s also a license that allows you to take it in moderation.”
Bordan returned the parchment from the boy who nodded as if he understood what he meant, and quickly wrote his signature on it.
However, the name he was actually using was not his own, but that of Mayor Shoara.
“Remnants of One-Armed Jack still remain in the back alleys. Josef wants to use this opportunity to repair the back alleys of Shoara.”
Now that the huge weeds have been uprooted, it is natural for empty spaces to be created.
Rooting out weeds was a great achievement, but filling it with worthwhile things would be an even greater achievement.
Josef was a person who always thought about the next thing.
“If that’s the case…”
Vlad stroked his chin and nodded.
In such a case, the best choice would be to leave it to the boy.
Because Vlad was a person who knew the situation in the back alleys better than anyone else.
“First of all, you are officially on standby until Joseph comes. “You just need to help me with my work sometimes.”
Bordan smiled mischievously as he scooped up the caramels that were lying next to him.
“For now, take a break and visit old friends to relieve your worries. “He also brought out his girlfriend who was in a convent.”
“······Because we’re friends.”
Vlad denied it verbally, but took a few caramels in his hands and looked embarrassed.
“Then take a rest today. “I have a lot of work to do.”
“I said I would help you.”
Vlad wanted to go to the convent right now, but it was not a place he could go just because he wanted to.
Because it was a pious place that was completely separate from the world, there were set dates and times for entry.
Although Goat has applied for a separate visit, he probably won’t be able to visit Gemina within this week.
“So, there are some of One-Armed Jack’s little kids in prison now? Come and interrogate me properly. “Jack’s hidden assets or something like that.”
“······.”
One-armed Jack’s little things.
When Vlad heard that sound, he remembered the time when he escaped from Shoara.
He was a boy who always wanted to live confidently without regrets, but life eventually created situations where he had no choice but to rely on someone.
“Good for you.”
Vlad stood up and said, taking the parchment given by Bordan in his arms.
“I also had someone there to find.”
In a relationship of giving and receiving that was not easily broken, this time it was the boy’s turn to give.
※※※※
A dungeon provided by the security guard.
Jack’s henchmen who were captured this time were sitting close together in a place where there was no proper light.
With the weather getting warmer, the body heat touching each other was extremely uncomfortable, but the people here just sat in silence.
This is because everyone knew very well that there would be no salvation for them as they rolled around like trash on the streets.
“You need permission to come in here…”
“here. “I just received this.”
“······Has confirmed.”
Cheolkeong-
Afternoon sunlight briefly shined in a space where there was no light other than the torch.
A bright color that does not fit in this dark place has stepped forward.
Seeing the man who suddenly entered, some of the people trapped inside the bars began to mutter little by little.
Some people here knew the face of the boy who was coming in.
“······.”
However, the men inside the bars could not easily talk to the boy who was walking outside the bars.
The face was clearly familiar, but the energy it gave off was not.
They were so confident that it was hard to believe that they were just rolling around in the back alley together.
“It was here.”
Ignoring the men who were looking at him with anxious eyes, the boy smiled as he found the person he was looking for inside the bars.
“The black guy is already crouching down so I can’t recognize him.”
The men inside the bars turned their heads to follow where Vlad was looking.
“······.”
At the boy’s voice, a dark-skinned man slowly raised his head from the darkness of the prison.
The man in black looked at the boy in front of him with blank eyes.
Because in all my life living in the gutter, no one has ever found me curled up.
“Otar. Just give me 40 silver. Then I’ll get you out of here.”
A boy playfully sticks his hand out through the bars.
Otar just stared blankly at that hand.
It may not necessarily be because the skin is different from yours.
“We also accept trauma.”
The only shining being in a dark prison.
He was a boy at that time who did not lose his blue color even in a pile of trash.
“······thanks.”
Otar followed the light and, for the first time in his life, held out someone’s hand.
The boy’s eyes were still shining blue.
