Chapter 158

Chapter 158 – Seo Ha-ran’s Wish #2

His sister was waiting for him as he opened the front door . Ha-ran waved her hands with a strange look .

“Wow, I just sent you a message, but you came so quickly!”

“Eh? Message?”

“Yes, I wanted to buy clothes you clothes for my wedding . Didn’t you come running after seeing it?”

Tae-hyuk groaned .

It was just before the wedding . Even though she was surely busy… Was his sister worried about his clothing now? She seriously wanted to talk about this .

She had no one to help with the wedding plans, so she had to do everything herself . Her dark circles reminded him of An Eun-young in her prime studying days . Even so, she was beautiful . She was like a flower that had just fully bloomed .

Ha-ran had started studying at the Wolsang Institute not long ago . She wasn’t even an intern yet, but her face was filled with hope .

“I’m still a student so I can wear my uniform . So don’t worry about it . ”

A small smile appeared on Ha-ran’s face .

“My Tae-hyuk is all grown up . I knew you would say that . But in this situation, I want to buy you some clothes as thanks . ”

“Don’t you have to do more wedding invitations? It looks like there are a lot of pamphlets in the living room . It is hard to do alone, so shall I help you?”

“Of course! This is important too! But first, shopping for Tae-hyuk’s clothes! …In fact, I feel really sorry that you are wearing the same clothes every day . Oh look at this!”

Seo Ha-ran pulled out a folded envelope from her pocket . She showed him the contents with a cheerful expression .

“I saved this to buy Tae-hyuk’s clothing . Let’s find something stylish . ”

10,000 won bills were crammed inside . There were around 50 of them?

At that moment, Tae-hyuk felt a lump in his throat . In the meantime, he had hidden the fact that he made a huge amount of money from his crime skills . He decided to reveal it after changing the future completely . He could use the excuse of winning the lottery or receiving a blank inheritance . If he used the crime skills then he could make a plausible lie .

Until then, he lived sparingly . In such a situation, Ha-ran had collected 500,000 won .

‘…This is obviously something she collected by living sparingly . ’

Tae-hyuk licked his dry lips and asked .

“Noona, if we were rich then what would you like to have?”

“H-Huh?”

“You told me that you wanted to live in a two-story house with a garden while we were watching a drama . That is good . Or do you want something else? Or maybe a wish that you want to fulfill?”

Tae-hyuk decided to confess the day before her wedding that he was rich by showing her the bankbooks . The fight with Mister Park was over so the timing was good .

However, Ha-ran suddenly hugged Tae-hyuk with red eyes .

“My wish? Tae-hyuk . Noona only has one wish…”

“So that wish…’

“W-Why are you asking? I’m embarrassed . ”

“I just want to hear it . ”

Ha-ran took a deep breath and said,

“Yes, my wish… It is to see you and Tae-min living well . ”

“…Is that it?”

“Yes . The end . ”

Ha-ran closed her eyes and opened her mouth like it was time to confess something .

“Mother and Father… they died in an accident… I was always anxious . I confidently said that I would be your parents instead… I always wondered if I was doing well…”

Ttiring .

[The Forgery skill has found an intense image . ]

At that moment, an image appeared in Tae-hyuk’s mind . A scene from his childhood that he had forgotten .

Tae-hyuk’s eyes shook wildly . It couldn’t be…

Did that actually happened?

The scene on the Demon Revealing Mirror was of the accident . A truck carrying steel pipes slammed into a car after a sudden stop . The person sitting in the driver’s seat and the passenger seat died instantly . Only the three children sitting in the backseat managed to survive .

It was a miracle since some of the steel pipes penetrated the car . A girl in a school uniform threw herself around two elementary school students . There was a thick pipe in her stomach and blood was flowing down . Despite that, she smiled at her brothers .

‘It’s okay .

I will protect you, so rest assured— . ’

‘Ugh… W-What…?’

Tae-hyuk swallowed his saliva . Why was the scene so familiar? It was like he saw it directly in front of him .

The facts overlapped in Tae-hyuk’s mind . Ha-ran never went to the swimming pool after the death of their parents .

Ha-ran whispered to Tae-hyuk,

“I want Tae-hyuk and Tae-min to live better lives than before… As if that accident never occurred…”

“…Noona . I’m sorry to say this all of a sudden . Can you show me your belly?”

Ha-ran blushed and asked,

“W-What are you saying?”

“There is something I would like to check . ”

“……”

Ha-ran was very embarrassed by his sudden request .

“Did you remember that time?”

“…Maybe . ”

Ha-ran struggled for a moment in silence . Then she nodded .

“Yes . I understand . Instead, you must absolutely keep it a secret from Tae-min . ”

Ha-ran carefully lifted the shirt she was wearing, exposing her belly . A smooth belly without any fat appeared . However, there was a fierce scar on Ha-ran’s lower abdomen .

“Hehe… Ugly isn’t it?”

Yes . It was there .

Pajik . Pajijik .

Tae-hyuk realized how much Ha-ran had sacrificed for her siblings . She threw away her precious life to save her brother during the accident . How could he have ever forgotten such an important thing?

His head hurt . At the same time, his ears heard the sound of something breaking .

Ahh, yes . He was alive because his sister saved him .

“Eh? T-Tae-hyuk?”

Tae-hyuk literally ran towards the bathroom . He couldn’t stay any longer . Tears constantly flowed from both eyes .

Did Kang-suk know this fact? He couldn’t not know . His sister didn’t have the guts to hide such an important fact . Despite that, they were getting married . Kang-suk really was a good person .

Tae-hyuk wanted to run up to Ha-ran right now and say .

‘I’m sorry Noona .

And― .

…Thank you . ’

It was at that moment .

Pajijijijijik―!

Tae-hyuk realized that something on his face was shattering . He slowly raised his head and looked at the mirror in front of him . There was something really strange .

A blank face with no emotions stared back at him . Then half of it broke and fell off of his face . Mask…?

“…What, since when was I wearing this type of thing?”

He couldn’t understand the situation . Tae-hyuk reached up and peeled off the half mask .

“……!!!”

This…

The Phantom mask . Tae-hyuk made a shocked expression as the mask smiled . Then a voice was heard, like a hallucination .

–Ah, I was discovered .

@

Waaaack!

Tae-hyuk covered his mouth to block the scream that wanted to emerge . Ha-ran was outside the bathroom . He didn’t want to unnecessarily worry her .

‘What is this?!’

Tae-hyuk tossed the mask to the ground and started stepping on it . It turned into white particles and disappeared .

“D-Don’t tell me that until now… Ugh…!”

In the end, he couldn’t endure it and dunked his head over the sink . He hadn’t eaten anything, so only yellow gastric juices were vomited out, but it was better than nothing . After a few minutes, he felt the nausea fading away .

Ha-ran’s concerned voice could be heard from outside .

“Tae-hyuk? What’s going on?”

“All of a sudden, my stomach…”

“Ah! Y-Your stomach hurts? I’ll go and buy medicine straight away!”

“…I think it will get better if I rest a little bit . Don’t worry . ”

Tae-hyuk made an excuse to Ha-ran and sat on the bathtub . Then the illusion of people dying appeared in front of his eyes .

“I-I…killed… P-People… W-What on earth…”

When did he start to cross the line? Tae-hyuk bit his lip and desperately searched through his memories .

“…Yes . It is clearly after I upgraded to a King . ”

There were some signs of it when he was a Noble . The more he used the crime skills, the more numb he became to committing crimes . It felt like he became another person . It became worse after he was a King, and he easily killed others . It was like he was spellbound by something, but the memories still remained intact .

A few hours ago, he was about to kill a couple who hadn’t done anything wrong .

“This, dammit! I am just like a serial killer!”

In the future, he was framed and went to prison . However, he might be punished for the sins he committed .

“But I have the crime skills… Waaaack! Y-Yes! That is the killer!”

Tae-hyuk pulled out the Demon Revealing Mirror .

“This really was a cursed object from the beginning!”

He had barely come back to his senses . But what if he started using the crime skills again?

Tae-hyuk bit his lip and muttered,

“I’m not a criminal… So now I will quit being Phantom . I will return to being the high school student Seo Tae-hyuk, Ha-ran noona’s little brother . ”

He couldn’t throw away the Demon Revealing Mirror but he decided not to use the sinister crime skills .

Woong!

Woong woong!

Woong woong woong!

The Demon Revealing Mirror started to vibrate .

“What? Do you think I will be convinced by that? I’m not going to use the crime skills . So just disappear . ”

At that moment, a message appeared on the screen of the Demon Revealing Mirror .

[It is possible to become the God of Crime by obtaining one million affinity points . ]

The Demon Revealing Mirror showed him the condition required to upgrade his rank .

“Are you saying that you want me to kill one million people?”

He obtained affinity points by changing the fate of others . There was a simple way to do this . It was to kill someone who should’ve lived .

“Damn! I guess you laughed when I was possessed by you!”

Tae-hyuk felt terrible .

“…Yes . I won’t use the crime skills . Then I’ll be able to maintain my sanity . ”

Anyway, the main case was over .

Woong! Woong woong! Woong woong woong!

As if trying to persuade him, the Demon Revealing Mirror kept on raising notification windows in front of Tae-hyuk’s eyes .

“You won’t deceive me!”

Tae-hyuk declared firmly . In the future, it was necessary to protect his important people without using the crime skills . There was only one way to do that .

He left the bathroom and headed to the kitchen where Ha-ran was cooking .

“Noona . ”

“Huh? Yes? Oh, I’m making porridge because your stomach hurts . Just wait a little longer . ”

“I’ve picked a career . ”

“C-Career? Oh, the course you want to go into?”

“Yes . I’m going to being a detective like Kang-suk hyung . I will go into the police department . There is a course at S University . ”

“Omo! W-Wah!”

Ha-ran grinned and clapped with delight . Her brother wanted to be a police officer . It was a wonderful job where he would protect people .

“Yes! Obviously, Kang-suk will support you . ”

Ha-ran gently hugged Tae-hyuk .

Yes, this was surely right . The reason he chose a police officer was simple . Tae-hyuk still remembered the future . Most of the information was about crimes . As long as he had those memories, there was a possibility of being dragged into incidents .

Could he solve those without using the crime skills? However, a police officer was different . He could officially fight against crime .

As he thought this, his anxious mind calmed down . Now there was nothing…

The next day, Ha-ran went missing .