Chapter 172.2

Chapter 172.2

As time passed, his senses became increasingly unclear, and it felt like at least an hour had gone by.

The smell of rotten moss and mold pierced his nose. The damp mud quickly soiled his slippers, and the lack of oxygen constricted his breathing.

Still, Yuri pressed on without resting. Occasionally, he stepped on something that felt like gravel, and he hesitated to turn back, but he couldn’t stop here.

The passage was eerie, no matter how far he walked; nothing was visible, and no sounds could be heard.

Every once in a while, he would step on fallen cotton dolls or broken rocking horses. Yuri gasped for breath like an asthmatic, gritting his teeth as he moved forward.

At this point, it was a battle with himself. His damp hair clung to the nape of his neck, and the unpleasant air suffocated him.

His tense legs stumbled over stones now and then, but he silently leaned against the wall. The slippers with worn-out soles were now useless, and his bare feet stung as if they had been cut by something.

How long had he walked through that pitch-black darkness?

“Damn… what is this?”

The flashlight illuminated a wall that was no longer open. A metallic taste of blood lingered on his pale, cracked lips.

The path had ended so emptily.

Yuri couldn’t even muster a laugh and threw the flashlight at the wall.

Damn! He plopped down onto the icy ground and began to curse with all sorts of profanities he had never dared to use in front of others. Yet, it didn’t bring him any relief.

What was I expecting? The secrets of the winter castle, my parents’ last words, Maxim Solzhenitsyn’s weaknesses… No, that wasn’t it. None of it was.

Yuri wanted to grow up quickly. He wanted to become a fully grown Solzhenitsyn overnight, even if it meant taking a shortcut. But the wall was blocked, as if it were saying that it was impossible.

“Th…”

“…Ma-”

‘Did I hear that wrong?’

Yuri narrowed his eyes. He picked up the stethoscope around his neck and began to tap it against the wall here and there. Was it wrong? Was it just a hallucination? It was the moment he closed his eyes in exhaustion.

“You can’t die.”

A child’s voice pierced directly into his eardrum. A chilling sensation ran down his spine at the vivid sound.

“Why do you keep going out without saying anything? You’ll get caught again and starve like last time!”

“Yeah… I was going to die… I wanted to do it like my siblings…”

“You’re really bad. I really hate you…!”

“I was going to try falling from the highest place this time… without a rope.”

“Please, no.”

“It was amazing. I forgot about it for a moment.”

“…”

“I was surprised. My eyes… they’re like this… I don’t know how to explain it….”

“Did you say there’s a lot of snow?”

“Uh…! It’s similar… the snow poured on me… and I got buried in it…”

“Are you hurt?!”

“It was clean and pretty.”

Yuri, who was eavesdropping, grimaced. No matter how well he had attached the microphone, the sound was too faint and often crackled. Moreover, the mix of Russian and Korean made it hard to understand intuitively. Damn, I should have attached it better!

“For the first time… it didn’t hurt. For the first time…”

“….”

“I got hit, but it didn’t hurt. Wow, there are people in the world who can hit without hurting.”

“Who does that?”

“There really are. Want me to show you? Turn your back…”

“Ow! That hurts!”

“Brother… Sister… my head hurts…”

“Ugh… Sister…, me too…”

“I’ll come find you again until we meet.

“Don’t go!”

Soon, several voices followed one after another. They were definitely not adult voices.

Yuri wanted to hear more clearly and moved the stethoscope around, but the interruptions only worsened.

‘Who were those kids?’

His cold mind first recalled a word. Human trafficking.

It seemed there couldn’t be a worse scenario than that.

***

“You don’t look good this morning.”

Maxim said, looking at his pale grandson with a hint of reproach. Yuri casually sipped his black tea, feeling the roughness in his mouth. After tossing and turning in bed for the past few days, even he could see that his complexion wasn’t good.

“I hear you’ve been replanting the garden for Daria lately?”
“Yes.”

“It’s more important to ask the right questions than to dig for the answers, Yuri.”

“…!”

Yuri froze and looked up. His grandfather was watching him steadily, expression unreadable. Even as he set his teacup down with calm precision, it clinked against the saucer with a sharp, unpleasant sound.

“If you dig up the ground carelessly, everything falls apart. Even disturbing an anthill can throw the entire system into chaos.

What belongs underground should stay buried.”

“…”

“If not, you’ll find your hands stained with poison before you ever get the chance to plant a single flower.”

Yuri shifted in his seat, suddenly aware of how stiff the chair felt beneath him, like sitting on pins.

“You’re quick to understand how the world works. I trust you grasp what I’m saying.”

“Yes, Grandfather.”

Under the table, the boy quietly clenched his fists, then smiled.

“I will become a true Solzhenitsyn.”