Chapter 101: Family Time [1]
"So... the princess is a Weaver just like us?"
Kai, who was staring at the wall, shifted his gaze to Hari, a frown playing on his face. "Yeah..." He lingered for a moment, then his gaze turned cold. "I'm done waiting, Ha-rin. Tell me, what happened inside Deerheart's lab?"
Hari's smile darkened at Kai's question. "When was the last time you used my real name?"
She lingered for a moment, then pushed her knee close to her chest while sitting on the floor. "I don't remember it that much... but."
She rested her back firmly on the chair. "I saw Ji Eun Unnie."
Kai's eyes turned extremely cold and dark, but his cracking voice hinted at something else. "Nonna was there?"
Hari nodded. "She was the one that kidnapped both Rachel and me. After that, she told me about the Weavers and how the angels are trying to take me in, then began to say things about the past life and things that happened when I was an Awakened."
She flinched slightly, gripping her temples.
Kai sighed, his gaze turning back soft. "Just let it be, Hari."
She looked at him for a brief moment, then nodded, burying her head slightly into her arms that wrapped around her bent knee.
Kai looked at the ceiling for a brief moment. After taking a minute or two to swallow Hari's words, he began explaining to her everything he had found out so far.
From what Weavers were, to their shared bloodline, and to how Weavers were created and how he thinks that she is under a specific branch of Weavers that he thinks are shackles to a specific otherworldly order or faction.
Hari took some time to take in the information, in the mean time, Kai entered the kitchen to cook something.
The room and the scent of lilac and roses his mother loved, brought back the nostalgia he hadn't felt for some time.
'I missed this place,' he thought, while holding in his urge to smile.
Without being directed, he brought out the utensils, and just as he had thought, the house was exactly like theirs.
As if to confirm his thoughts, Hari called out his name, warranting him to leave the kitchen. "You called me?"
He cleaned his hands on the white apron he wore over the black shirt he had seen in the wardrobe that used to belong to Hari's father.
Hari, seeing Kai, called him over and handed him a framed picture. Kai, seeing the picture, couldn't help but have mixed feelings.
Pain, relief, happiness, sadness, loneliness, loss. He didn't know which of these emotions he felt at that time.
But all he knew was that the little photo of seven people was enough to make him feel like that.
Their entire family. Kai clicked his tongue suddenly, then placed the photo down next to the television.
"I don't know why everything had to get so complicated."
Hari's expression carried both darkness and sadness. "We were happy, weren't we? Now I'm hearing about Devils and Angels and Weavers. Why did things not just stay the same way they were?"
Kai could see his cousin on the verge of breaking down. He bent low to where she sat, still hugging her knee, then brought her closer to his chest. "I thought you had grown? But it seems you are still a crybaby."
Kai's attempt at taunting her only worsened the situation as she began to cry loudly on his apron. "Oppa, I just want things to go back." She tried to make out words through her tears. "I thought having powers or this Isekai stuff was fun, but I just want to go back to the way things used to be."
Kai gritted his teeth. There was no way he would cry in this situation where he was the one meant to comfort.
"There, there." He tapped her back, then smiled. Pushing her back a little to see her red face, he asked, "What about I make your favorite meal?"
Before Hari could speak, though, a voice rang out. "Yeah, we will eat too."
Kai's eyes turned dead as he slowly turned to face the six figures who were at the door.
One of them was someone he had expected to come and was actually waiting for, the best friend of the owner of the body, and as he had anticipated, Matt had possessed his body. But the remaining ones that surrounded him, though, shook both Kai and Hari to the core.
"Mom..."
Before he could finish, a gust of wind passed him, as Hari, who was beside him a moment ago, dashed past and caught the six figures in a warm embrace.
Her father, who was Kai... or rather Cha Jin-sung's uncle, shrieked back and put his arm on guard. "Yeah, what the hell did you eat, kiddo? Jin-sung, what did you feed your baby sister?"
Kai's eyes widened as he squatted on the floor, frozen. Then the young woman, who didn't look any older than twenty-five, passed the door with three grocery bags clenched in her hand.
"Jin-sung, come help Mom," she said, her voice brimming with warmth. "Oh, did you know that your classmate Jinah is working in the supermarket close by?"
Kai felt tears stream down his cheeks. 'Damnit.'
His mother narrowed her eyes with a frown. "Why are you two crying? Did you break something?" She then gasped. "Or did... did you two commit ince..."
Her words were cut off by an extremely handsome man who held another bag in his hand. "Babe, don't say anything crazy."
She closed her mouth, then pouted.
"Dad, you should know that Jin-sung is emotional because he didn't see his Nonna for so long. Right, little cupcake?"
A hand wrapped around his neck before he could even react. No, he could have reacted to it pretty easily, but at that moment, he didn't have the energy to. He didn't feel like it.
And even though he knew that this was nothing but an illusion made by Reni's soul sea, he didn't want to be Kaiser Vanguard or fight against it. He wanted to be...
He smiled, his eyes red from tears. "Welcome back."
... He wanted to be Cha Jin-sung, the ordinary guy from Seoul.