NOVEL NEXT chapter 49
The children, unaware of the consequences of their own power, were savagely tearing at each other. Uichan picked up a pebble nearby and threw it toward them. The moment the rock landed, the children turned their heads in unison. Their gazes met Uichan’s.
Then suddenly, the ground began to shake. His breath caught, his vision went dark, and the earth beneath his feet gave way. A sinking sensation, like falling down a cliff, overtook him, followed by the feeling of his consciousness sinking deeper and deeper.
And when he opened his eyes again—
“Hah…!”
Uichan was lying on his back, staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. The silence in the room was absolute. Gasping for breath, he clenched whatever his hand could grasp—thin, white sheets. An air purifier was humming softly somewhere nearby.
The curtains were drawn, and from beyond the barely open door, muffled voices could be heard.
“From the looks of it, they’re planning to hold a banquet in two days. It’d be such a shame if this Phantom Thief Kill were to be left out of such a grand party. There should be something worth stealing, I hope…”
“Be careful, thief. You’ll get caught.”
“How troublesome, how troublesome… Joker isn’t smiling, so it feels like I’ll have to stake my life on this one. And since what Hyde asked for happens to be there, I can’t just ignore it, can I?”
“That’s for you to decide, Thief. I told you before, didn’t I? ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) As long as you bring the result I want, I don’t care what methods you use.”
—Screech! And then you dump all the hard work on us! If you’re going to steal a show, you’ve got to end it with an even grander show! Do you know how much effort that takes?! You only care about the results! You heartless boss! Screech!
A finger puppet perched on Phantom Thief Kill’s shoulder opened its mouth wide and shouted furiously.
“My, my, looks like our Komi’s in a bad mood again. Shh, Komi. You have to be quiet, remember?”
—Screech! Don’t ‘shh’ me! Give me a vacation! Hey, everyone, look! Hyde’s working us like cattle! Are we livestock now? Screech?
“Livestock, really? How cruel. We’re thieves, obviously.”
Kill soothed the puppet as though calming a pitiful daughter, wearing an expression of exaggerated sympathy. Hyde, watching the one-man, two-voice performance, rested his chin on his hand and laughed.
“Ha, so that’s what you’re upset about? A vacation, huh. Fine. Once this job’s done, you’ll get one, Thief.”
—Screech! Good! Vacation! Vacation! Thief, let’s go somewhere Hyde can’t find us this time—overseas, to a tropical island! And we’ll take the youngest one too, screech!
As the puppet raised its little hand in triumph, Kill pressed Komi’s head down gently.
“Splendid, splendid. Then I must send a truly grand invitation. Please keep this a secret from the brothers.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ve already assigned them to other tasks.”
Then, from inside the room, came the sound of someone collapsing. Both Hyde and Phantom Thief Kill turned toward the door at once. Hyde rose from his seat.
Kill narrowed his eyes, staring carefully at the door where the noise had come from. Through the small gap, only darkness could be seen. He seemed about to say something but merely shook his head and flicked a card into his hand.
“…May your day and night be like a cradle.”
With a flurry of flamboyant petals, Phantom Thief Kill vanished from sight. Only after the presence disappeared did Hyde grasp the doorknob and open it. Light spilled into the dim space.
At the end of the long beam of light lay someone collapsed on the floor, trembling. His body, wearing only a shirt, rose and fell violently with every breath.
“Haa… haah…”
“Why are you lying like that.”
Uichan’s eyes fluttered open the moment he heard the voice. He had hoped it wasn’t true. Even after confirming it again and again last night, he had kept denying it.
But now it was certain—
the person he had slept with last night really was Hyde.
Gasping for air, Uichan lifted his head. He saw footsteps approaching. Hyde reached out a hand to help him up, but Uichan’s hand moved first.
“Ha… Hyde… please…”
The hand clutching Hyde’s clothes trembled violently. Uichan’s face had turned ghostly pale, his lips drained of color to the point of bluishness. Sweat soaked his entire body, dampening the hair around his ears. Drops of sweat slid down his neck and clung precariously to his chin.
Uichan whispered desperately.
“H-hospital… please… ngh…”
“…Where. Where does it hurt, Uichan?”
Hyde sounded alarmed. His large hand immediately pressed against Uichan’s burning forehead and cheeks. He had expected some aftermath from their night together, but not this. The doctor had even told him that sex could help ease the pain—so why was it worse?
Uichan clenched his eyes shut and hunched his shoulders, enduring the wave of pain that surged through him. He curled up, clutching his abdomen.
“My stomach… it hurts… I think I’m going to die…”
His stomach, his whole body—it felt like he was being torn apart. Were the children inside still fighting each other so violently? Or maybe the two were working together to protect the third?
Uichan sobbed uncontrollably until a hand lifted his chin. Through blurred vision, Hyde’s face came into view. Tears spilled down his cheeks without him even realizing.
Hyde’s image wavered in front of him, and then his vision rolled back. His eyes shut tight.
His limp body collapsed onto the cold floor. Hyde caught him, but Uichan’s head fell helplessly to the side. A chilling silence lingered over Hyde’s rigid shoulders. Then his hand, filled with anger and fear, clenched the sheets and pulled them over Uichan’s body.
The veins in his forearms bulged sharply as he lifted Uichan in his arms. Cradling his head, Hyde quickly tore open space itself. The air around him seemed to freeze.
When they vanished, only a black door remained behind, trembling faintly—like a dying ember refusing to go out.
***
When Uichan finally regained consciousness, the world felt faint, like the border between life and death. Though his eyes were closed, sounds reached him clearly at times—the voices of two people speaking, the soft rustle of sheets brushing against his skin, the clink of curtain hooks sliding along a rail.
Hyde’s low voice was the first he recognized.
—…This person.
There was a sharp crack of grinding teeth, and the other man flinched audibly.
—Stabilize him, no matter what it takes.
“W-what are you saying, sir? This isn’t an emergency ward, it’s—wait. Ha Uichan?”
The voice exchanging words with Hyde belonged to obstetrician Oh Juhyuk. The moment he saw Uichan, he rushed over to examine him. He drew the curtain and laid Uichan on the bed inside, activating his Ability—Extreme Vision.
“What the—why are the babies fighting this much? At this rate, the patient will be in terrible pain. We need to administer painkillers right now.”
A flurry of noise followed. Uichan wanted to open his eyes, but his body refused to move; even his fingers wouldn’t obey him. Clinging to his fading consciousness, he prayed desperately for his children.
Be good, please…
Curled up, imagining himself holding his belly, he hummed a lullaby he didn’t even know. The next time he opened his eyes, a blurry white ceiling came into view. The sight was so familiar it almost felt comforting. Turning his head, he saw the privacy curtain beside the bed.
Just then, an angry male voice came from beyond it.
“The painkillers aren’t working. La Épée, do you even understand what this means? If this continues, the babies in Ha Uichan’s womb will be in danger. And not just them—the patient himself could die! And you’re saying… what? Only one? It’s shocking enough that you’re the biological father, and now you’re saying that?”
“I’ve been saying it all along, haven’t I? I don’t have the heart or capacity to raise three kids. I thought I made that clear.”
Uichan saw a shadow moving beyond the curtain. Footsteps approached him, slow and deliberate. Black shoes stopped just beneath the curtain.
“Then find a solution… don’t lecture me.”
“……”
“You’re making me want to dig into your brain.”
Uichan had never once thought that La Épée and Hyde were the same person. He had only met La Épée three times at most. Sure, La Épée had sometimes reminded him of Hyde, but never enough for him to connect them as one and the same. Why hadn’t he realized it sooner? How could he have seen La Épée and not recognized him, after knowing Hyde for so long?
But Hyde possessed the ability of brainwashing—and no one had ever broken free of it on their own. And as far as Uichan knew… that brainwashing also worked on Hyde himself. In other words, Hyde could cast it on himself.
And right now, he was playing the role of La Épée’s persona.
“Isn’t that right, Uichan?”
Shrrk—
The curtain was suddenly yanked open. Uichan winced under the harsh fluorescent light and slowly lifted his gaze. The man standing before him loomed tall, like a mountain. When their eyes met, faint constellations of the Big Dipper flickered and faded within his pale gray eyes.