Chapter 57: The Dust Settles

[The winner is… Chae Seok Team!] “Waaaaah!” It was the appearance of a dark horse that had defeated the Meal Service Team by a hair’s breadth.

The stadium was filled with the cheers of the audience, who were excited after eating plenty of delicious food.

As if they had expected the victory, the winning Chae Seok Team athletes bowed politely with composed faces!

They greeted the audience with a 90-degree bow in a humorous gesture.

That scene was naturally broadcast through the live Video, and the Comment Section was flooded with laughter once again.

@narunaru : Ahahaha

@ThreePeopleThen : What kind of concept characters are those? So funny.

@FourSeasonsHell : Why is everyone in Seocheon so ambitious about entertainment? lol

[As expected of the Chae Seok Team, famous for being the coolest in Seocheon. This is a celebratory method that needs no words.]

It was Hallakgoong, who had calmly exploded the tension of the game even in a crisis situation.

With a much more relaxed attitude, he congratulated the winning Team.

Mujae, who was waiting, handed the trophy and a flower pot to the Chae Seok Team as they stepped onto the platform to receive their award.

“Congratulations! It was really cool.”

“…Thank you.”

Unlike Mujae, who was hopping around even more excitedly, the Chae Seok Team members just bowed their heads bluntly.

However, after receiving the trophy and the flower pot, a close-up was shown of a Chae Seok Team athlete’s face standing with their back to the sunset.

In that moment, a very minute sparkle passed by their eyes.

“!!”

Capturing this, the audience seats erupted in cheers all at once like a giant wave.

“Waaaaah!!”

“Chae Seok Team, you’re amazing!”

“It was a truly wonderful match!”

Regardless of victory or defeat, it was a festival where everyone was woven into one.

“Sob…!”

Hearing the cheers, the Chae Seok Team athlete finally couldn’t hold back the surging wave of emotion and burst into tears.

At that moment, dazzling fireworks soared into the darkening sky.

-Bang!

Red and blue, dazzling lights scattered, illuminating both the athletes’ tears and the audience’s emotions together.

“When did they prepare all this?!”

Listening to the audience’s cheers, Mujae and Hallakgoong checked the rapidly rising Comments Section.

The viewers watching the live stream were also letting out gasps of admiration.

@StarGrave : They said it was their first Seocheon Flower Garden Outdoor Event ㅠㅠ Why are they filming a youth sports movie? ㅠㅠ

@BottomTown : Wow, I want to go to Seocheon right now…

@LongTermBusinessTrip : I heard it’s hot lately, but the scale is insane.

-Bang! Bang!

Large golden flowers bloomed wide.

All the heat, tears, and sweat of the day… all of it spread across the sky and vanished.

Hallakgoong felt once again that there were still many things he hadn’t tried yet.

Mujae felt that now his previous life didn’t matter at all.

And so, the first hectic day of the Outdoor Event was passing by.

That night.

The Seocheon Flower Garden night market was bustling with crowds and splendor.

The simple and warm Food Market was hung with various lanterns along every path.

And the smell was different too.

Instead of fragrant flower tea, it was overflowing with fruit syrups, sweet rice punch, and unfiltered rice wine made from various syrups as sweet as a dream.

Instead of flower pancakes, more oily and stimulating kimchi pancakes, green onion pancakes, and meat pancakes took the lead, tempting customers with sweet preserved fruits, medicinal crackers, and rice cakes.

However, it wasn’t the food that everyone anticipated the most.

Before the lingering sparks of the fireworks could even fade, a new resonance appeared.

-Zzzzzzzing~!

-Kung-da-da! Kung-da-da!

-Boom~boom~boomboom!

It was the , which was said to be gaining popularity on the Hell Board lately.

Specially invited for today, they formed a procession wearing blue silk vests and red sashes.

Mingling among the people while beating drums, hourglass drums, and small gongs, they once again raised the excitement that had almost died out after the Outdoor Event ended.

“Yeah~!”

When the person at the front with a large Dragon-patterned drum shouted loudly, the small gong rang sharply as if tearing through the sky.

-Clang-clang-clang! Clang-clang! Clang!

“Boom-boom in Seocheon, everyone’s excitement becomes one then scatters!”

-Du-boom-boom-boom! Boom-boom-boom!

This time, the hourglass drum took over the rhythm joyfully, vibrating the air.

“For the rest of today, let’s bounce our shoulders again~”

“Boom-boom, let’s walk to the beat of the drum!”

“Yeah!”

“Great~!”

People began to sway their shoulders to the rhythm.

That heat overflowed even outside the night market, making even the bare persimmon trees look like they were dancing.

However, there were those within it who couldn’t enjoy themselves at all.

Mujae and Hallakgoong, sitting at a table in a corner, were only staring into their Phones.

“…Goong.”

“Huh?”

“By any chance, is this a hidden Camera prank on me today?”

Everyone had worked hard for two weeks for the Outdoor Event.

How much had they worried just to make sure they didn’t ruin the event.

But on the day of, besides Mujae who kept the center, everyone disappeared one by one without a word.

Looking only at the time, Zack had been gone for 3 hours and Hallakgoong for less than an hour… but from the perspective of Mujae, who was guarding the spot alone, it was frustrating.

“Why is every single person disappearing one by one except for me? Do you guys have some plan without me?!”

“…I’m sorry.”

He hadn’t been able to check his Phone because he was running around, but Hallakgoong, who had nothing to say, let out a small sigh.

As soon as the second match ended and the event was somewhat wrapped up, they had gone around looking for Zack.

Fortunately, there was some spare time because other Teams had volunteered to run the night market.

‘We really want to try it too!’

They were other Shinsomis from departments that were relatively less busy.

On top of that, the Security Team was helping them look for Zack.

But….

Now there was barely an hour left until the night market closed.

“…He clearly said he was going to find Juun.”

Hallakgoong fell into thought as he recalled the last time he saw Zack.

Whether it was good luck or bad, the Beggar Juun hadn’t appeared again after the boiled pork and wine terror.

In the frustrating situation, Mujae gulped down some water.

“How about we try looking for Juun first instead?”

It was at that moment, just as Hallakgoong was reversing his thoughts.

“Yeah!”

A voice that was strangely out of harmony with the surroundings pierced Mujae’s ear.

Instinctively, Mujae stood up from his seat.

“Mujae?”

“Shh.”

Mujae’s eyes rolled around as he looked at his surroundings.

Amidst all this noise, something was definitely bothering Mujae’s ears uncomfortably.

While concentrating for a long time, Mujae’s ears twitched again.

“Kyahahahaha!”

The sound of someone deliberately scratching their throat.

Mujae walked with a confident stride through the excited crowd.

Although he didn’t know exactly what the situation was, Hallakgoong followed him.

Bounce, bounce….

Under the colorful lights, people were laughing joyfully without exception.

Amidst everyone looking happy, Mujae lost his way again.

‘What if something went wrong?’

If something happened to Zack.

If the Beggar Juun was actually a more dangerous person.

‘If I made a wrong choice….’

Worry trailed long in Mujae’s head.

The clue of the sound vanished too quickly.

Like a puppy spinning in circles looking at its own tail, Mujae didn’t know where to go.

Seeing Mujae like that, Hallakgoong approached, huffing for breath.

“Ah, why do you walk so fast~!”

“Sorry….”

“I already feel like I’m going to die from running around all day. Phew….”

Grumbling, Hallakgoong whispered in Mujae’s ear.

“Hey, there’s a strange old man over there.”

“…?”

“He suddenly grabbed me and asked to play together, but I barely escaped. Let’s stay far away.”

Sure enough, looking where Hallakgoong was pointing, an old man with graying hair was dancing rhythmically.

Watching that sight, Mujae tilted his head.

“……That’s strange.”

“Huh? What is?”

Mujae moved his steps again.

Toward that strange old man Hallakgoong just said to stay away from.

Seeing this, Hallakgoong was horrified and called Mujae in a low voice.

“Where are you going! Not that way! Ah, seriously….”

But Mujae approached the old man without even pretending to hear.

However, unlike when he asked Hallakgoong to play with him earlier, the old man ignored Mujae.

“Old man! I want to ask you something~!”

“…….”

“Just a moment~!”

“…You’re gonna make my ears fall off!!”

Finally unable to take it, the old man yelled out.

But then, the old man closed his eyes Jigeusi again and shook his shoulders.

In the distance, the joyful rhythm of the folk music troupe didn’t end.

-My shoulders bounce

-Your shoulders bounce

-The Seocheon neighborhood is bouncing!

But Mujae didn’t give up.

“By any chance~! Did you see a Beggar?!”

“…….”

“His hair is all disheveled like this! His pants legs are torn unevenly! And he smells sour!”

“What are you talking about~!”

In the end, a second outburst.

The old man shouted at Mujae, spitting as he did.

“Don’t say such useless things and you shake it too! Like this!”

A brazen expression, exaggerated movements.

And earlier, surely….

“…Old man.”

“…….”

“You were staring at us the whole time earlier, weren’t you?”

“……Ha.”

“And you’re closing your eyes and pretending not to know because our eyes met.”

Mujae began to recite the things he felt were strange in a clear voice.

And this strange sense of deja vu.

“…Right now.”

Those eyes that opened sharply toward Mujae.

“Did you come here to ruin my fun, kid?”

‘Why does it feel so similar to that Beggar?’

It was definitely a different person.

However, the intuition felt throughout Mujae’s entire body was getting a similar feeling.

It was the moment Mujae was about to ask bravely once more.

“It’s not that….”

“Mujae!!”

-Grab!

Hallakgoong, who was standing behind Mujae, urgently grabbed Mujae’s shoulder.

Unfortunately, because he pulled him just like that, Mujae fell backward.

“Ugh?!”

Crash….

Although Hallakgoong had caught him, Mujae ended up landing on his butt.

Because it hurt, Mujae complained in an aggrieved voice.

“Wow, that really hurts! What’s going on?!”

“Look over there!”

The moment he tried to look where Hallakgoong was pointing, the screams of people echoed along with a roaring sound.

-Kaboom…!

“Kyaaaak!”

“?!”

A small hole had appeared in the spot where Mujae had been standing.

With an immense amount of dust, all the sounds of the night market stopped.

“No way!”

Mujae and Hallakgoong knew very well who could do such a thing.

As the dust settled, a familiar figure appeared in the spot where the old man had been.

‘Sorry I’m late.’

It was Zack.

Zack apologized to his friends with his Hand gripping the chains.

The end of the chains he was holding led into the deep darkness beyond the dust.