A Side Character's Mission ↠ Solo Leveling

Chapter 53: Farewell (End)

Jin-Woo looked at Se-Yoon with visible confusion.

"I'm moving out. There's no meaning even if I stay here until I die. He will never come back."

"Moving out? What about Seung-Eun? He is still a hunter here and he said that he will join Ahjin guild..." Jin-Woo asked.

Se-Yoon couldn't contain his frustration. "Did you become fucking stupid or something?!"

He glared at Jin-Woo but then fell silent as he looked at him closely. Something was off about Jin-Woo.

"Why the hell do you look worse than me?" Se-Yoon finally said.

His body was here, however his eyes seemed to be empty and lost.

Jin-Woo didn't respond, and an uncomfortable silence hung between them.

During the Jeju Island raid, Se-Yoon arrived at the scene too late. He could see Jin-Woo standing alone under the rain and there was a motionless body in a pool of blood on the ground.

Se-Yoon couldn't recall what happened after that, but when he came home, he found a letter on the dining table.

Hyung, I don't know how to write a proper letter. Is the format supposed to be formal or informal? Do I need to include an address as well? But we live at the same place though.

Ehem. Anyway, I don't know how to say it but I hope you understand what I want to convey.

I'm sorry. And thank you for everything. If there's a next life, then I want us to be family again.

Farewell, Han Seung-Eun.

Ps. Please don't blame Jin-Woo hyung.

'Ungrateful son of a bitch. If you are sorry, then why the hell did you do it?!'

"He's dead." Jin-Woo said.

"What are you trying to say?"

"I... don't remember that he had died."

"Cut the crap. I don't want to see your face again."

"..."

Se-Yoon felt that it was pointless to continue venting his anger.

"Han Seung-Eun is dead. So you have to move on, hunter Sung Jin-Woo."

He felt like he was actually trying to convince himself.

Se-Yoon left. His hand was stuffed in his pants' pocket, holding the worn letter.

Jin-Woo looked at the rain falling.

...

Hwan Jae raised the wooden sword and brought it down. He heaved a sigh and looked at the spot next to him.

"Even if you glare until a hole is formed on the floor, he still won't appear."

Song Chi-Yul entered the dojo with a sigh.

"I don't think I have anything else to teach you. Won't you be busy after graduation?"

"Yes, I'll join my father's company and enter an internship."

"I see..."

There was a momentary silence in the room.

"If I had known what he was going through, I would have tried to help him. Hwan Jae, you knew him at school, right?"

"Yes."

"I want to hear his story."

So they sat on the floor and talked the whole afternoon.

...

'The world is beautiful.' Lanze traveled around the globe, and he went to both the human and monster world. He met many kinds of creatures and interacted with them.

He had asked him what he wanted to do once he was free from the contract.

After losing him, Lanze began to think carefully and then he came to a decision that he wanted to see the world that his sire had sacrificed himself for.

So he continued to live.

...

Hyun-Su drew on the notebook and scratched the drawing.

"It's so ugly. Seung-Eun hyung-nim can draw better." He grumbled. "But hyung said he would not come here again. Is it because I annoyed him? No, it must be hyung's fault."

...

"Even after several months, your face still appeared on the news. They said that you are a traitor of humankind."

Hae-Seong looked at the sea. There was no one that replied to him. He didn't know where else to talk when Seung-Eun didn't have a funeral. No, rather, there was no deserving peaceful funeral for a criminal that people condemned to death.

"You always talked about being a side character of a story. A character that isn't important and can be discarded anytime. Then I hope I can be the main character in the next life."

He made a declaration.

"And I won't ever let you die again, my stupid best friend."

[END]