Chapter 224.1

Chapter 224.1

She made no promises. After hearing Yuri’s story from the old woman, she openly shared everything about the now fully grown Lee Wooshin.

How he looked now, what foods he liked, the phrases he often repeated, and even what words he had carved into his skin.

She didn’t mention where, mindful of the shock it might cause, but Daria seemed unable to picture her grandson as an adult.

Watching that lingering sorrow in Daria’s eyes, Seoryeong left without making any promises.

While waiting for the tides to open the path, she patted the children who ran to her after kicking a ball. The beads of sweat sparkling on their foreheads were a joy to see.

A ball was certainly better than a bear. Those harmless drops of sweat felt like the purest fruit borne from the previous generation’s efforts.

She gave a faint smile toward the siblings who still looked at her with wariness.

If only they could live like this forever, forgetting everything.

She bowed her head to Rigay, who had cleansed the children through her own eyes.

Their farewell was brief. As soon as Seoryeong left the island, she collected the luggage she had left in Asha’s truck and went straight to the airport. Every step she took was firm with conviction.

If she couldn’t find Lee Wooshin, she would track down the one who had fallen with him.

—You’re going there?

“I’m already here. I rented a car, and I’m on my way.”

She heard Channa’s panicked voice on the phone, but Seoryeong didn’t flinch. Kia, who had tried to drag her down together.

Toward that sibling who longed only for Sonya, her emotions had cooled to nothing, then boiled over again, over and over.

—You almost got the whole team killed last time when you rushed in without thinking!

“When cornered, every creature tries to return to the land where it was born. People are no different.”

Driving past the endless sugarcane fields, she tightened her grip on the steering wheel. The uneven road jolted the tires now and then, shaking her body with each bump.

“We all instinctively think of the place that feels safest.”

The broken heater blew lukewarm air across her skin. The road back to the monastery was so quiet and dark it felt like driving into a tunnel that had no end.

The farther she traced the past, the more the shattered fragments of Sonya’s abused childhood clung to the windshield like shards of glass.

Feeling herself being sucked into that horrific time, Seoryeong clenched her teeth and shook her head hard, struggling to keep her focus.

‘Keep chasing love to the very end.’

She had just woken from an astonishing dream beside the surviving siblings. Even if old memories tried to crush her, she still had one fragile, foolish hope that could push them away. Without slowing down, Seoryeong pressed harder on the accelerator and charged forward.

Crash!

The massive iron gates burst open, and she drove straight over the rocking wooden horse the siblings once played with. The toys shattered beneath the wheels, leaving her oddly relieved.

She tucked her gun and magazine into her back pocket and picked up her phone. The moment she turned on the screen, the display read “No Signal,” and a sharp, chilling smile spread across her face.

Maybe the signal was being jammed again, just like before. The thought that Kia might really be hiding here made Seoryeong’s heart pound violently.

She stepped into the monastery, now desolate like a ruin, and climbed the stairs again and again. She passed the chapel where harsh scriptures had been shouted at the children, then hurried through the hall where the brothers had once been hung up and kept awake for days.

The more she retraced her steps through those memories, the stronger the nausea grew. One misstep here, and she felt she’d fall into a panic. Her feet weren’t injured, yet her soles burned like fire, and whip marks seemed to sting across her back.

Cold sweat dripped down her face as she moved through the dead silence like a hunted animal. Just then, phantom pain surged through her body.

“You’re later than I expected, Sonya.”

A familiar voice stopped her in her tracks. Her vision blurred, as if submerged underwater, and a blinding white light flooded her eyes.

It was the cult leader.

The same cult leader who once wore a red robe to greet the military trucks alive… No. That couldn’t be.

Seoryeong bit her lip and forced her eyes to focus. Beneath a mural of cherubs, a man stood wearing the Sakhalin cult leader’s robes as neatly as if they were his own.

Kia stood before the towering stained glass that reached the ceiling. The brilliant glass reflected in her eyes, sharp and cutting.

Seoryeong’s bloodshot gaze fixed on him as she aimed her gun. No more words were needed.

“Where’s Lee Wooshin?”

“So cold. That’s all you have to say to a brother who survived the fall?”

“Kia, I’m not joking.”

“…”

Their gazes locked, cold and unflinching. Kia’s face was gaunt, his eyes sunken and hollow. Even when he looked at Sonya, there was no trace of longing left. His empty pupils only made him more terrifying.

“The brothers are alive.”

Seoryeong steadied her grip on the gun as she looked at Kia’s vacant expression. Maybe it was because she had just seen those same brothers living simple, peaceful lives on that nameless island.

After all this time guarding the monastery alone, collecting rocking horses like relics, Kia looked utterly desolate.

“They’re out there, Kia. The brothers. They’re still alive.”

“So that’s why you’re late?”

Seoryeong’s brows lifted at the faint smirk curving his lips. That reaction–

“You already knew?”