Reyners, unusually smiling despite having sent his two registered sons to the heavens first, hugged Johannes and patted his shoulder.
“Johannes, happy birthday. You’re my only blood relative now. With the Skills you have, our Cult will become the strongest in Gyodam City.”
That scene was so strange it gave me chills. Johannes merely nodded expressionlessly, but perhaps because he missed denial, he faithfully followed Reyners’ orders afterward.
Was he really growing fond of Reyners? There was no way to guess what Johannes truly felt inside. One thing was certain, though— following Reyners’ orders was very beneficial for Johannes.
Now, Johannes was the only child of Reyners, and if he kept obeying faithfully, he would become the next Master of the Cult, gaining the enormous fortune of this family along with it.
No matter the truth, James, who was genuinely affectionate, felt sorry for Johannes, who had a miserable childhood in many ways.
So, even when Johannes occasionally used his powers to either sulk or do things close to killing people, James pretended he couldn’t stop him. Honestly, he really couldn’t.
“Wa….”
While lost in thought, James mechanically tidying Johannes’ room suddenly heard a heavily cracked voice. It was a small voice, but James, who acted as Johannes’ hands and feet, understood it instantly.
He poured water from the purifier by the door into a cup and brought it to Johannes. Johannes hesitated, poked only his face out from under the blanket, and moved his lips to take the water and drink.
‘When I see this, he’s still just a kid… If he’s actually twenty-two, he’s just a lump of flesh, damn it.’
At that moment, the sluggish, blinking red eyes welled up with tears. Soon, clear tears rolled down the cheeks reddened from being covered by the blanket all day long. Unfortunately, it was a sign of an impending seizure.
Following Johannes’ gaze, James, whose neck creaked, flinched at the wall covered entirely with photos of Iris.
No, could those be called photos? They were so densely stuck that the wallpaper itself was barely visible— it was more like wallpaper than pictures.
‘No matter how many times I look at it, it’s pure horror.’
James carefully inhaled. If a startled gasp slipped out, Johannes might start sulking or worse, using his powers recklessly again.
Turning thirty, James was struggling more and more to pretend to put up with Johannes’ ever-developing powers.
While breathing in short, divided breaths, Johannes began to cry aloud.
“Ugh… I’m done for. I’m ruined… It’s all over! Ugh… It’d be better if I just died… sob!”
Covered with a goose-feather blanket draped over one shoulder, Johannes lay face down on the bed like a tragic male lead, sobbing loudly.
At first glance, he looked pitifully like a white-robed male god from mythology.
Only at a glance, though— on closer inspection, it resembled a scene from a horror film.
The photos of Iris plastered all over the wall, the Indoor Slipper Pouch that seemed stolen, the Jacks Stones used for games, discarded tissues after blowing his nose, the tangled Hair Ties he constantly complained about losing— he was known as the one who collected Iris’ things at school— school Lunch Spoons, even the Fishcake Skewers touched by Iris at the snack stand near the school, and the Baton Iris once held during the class relay… Seeing all that wiped away any sadness and left only a desperate urge to leave this room.
Maybe he should have come back in the evening. Johannes happened to walk in during the day and saw the photos of Iris, only to witness his seizure.
The entire room was filled with photos and memorabilia so densely that it was almost impossible not to see them, but if James had come at night and quietly offered some words of comfort without turning on the light, perhaps he could have avoided this situation.
“Johannes-nim….”
James, who had nearly been killed once for ignoring him, put on as pitiful a voice as he could and called quietly.
Fixing his gaze on the floor to avoid eye contact, he stiffened his neck. Johannes was extremely sensitive at times like this and would sulk or throw a tantrum over nothing.
James tried not to curse even silently at his long-served Heir and bit his lip tightly.
At times like this, it was necessary to respond in a way that neither ignored nor provoked him.
‘When I tried to take down those photos that seriously affected the Heir’s mental health, I almost lost my head.’
James half listened to Johannes’ tragic cries and half let them slip by, thinking about the origin of the photos on the wall.
There were at least thousands of photos, taken by Johannes himself during elementary and middle school days, taken by the Cult’s minions who attended the same school during high school, and then secretly taken by James himself, risking being reported as a pervert, capturing Iris from age twenty to twenty-two—the current age. Including unprinted photos, there might even be over ten thousand.
“Sniff, sob…”
After a long time, Johannes’ crying began to subside. James lightly patted his shoulder, thinking this was the right time.
After once nearly dying for saying the wrong thing, he had changed tactics to quietly staying by his side, and it had worked.
Johannes wiped his reddened eyes with the back of his hand, staggered off the bed, and looked at himself in the mirror while touching his face.
“She’ll despise me now, won’t she?”
“…Huh?”
“Iris… she’ll despise me. Despise…”
Once again, like a tragic lead, Johannes punched the wall and tears dripped down relentlessly. Each time his fist hit, one or two photos of Iris fell.
James picked up the fallen photos and firmly taped them back up, then spoke.
“Is something wrong? You need to tell me what happened so I can help you…”
“Well… uh, that’s…”
Johannes rubbed his cheek against one of Iris’ photos on the wall and explained the day’s events in a deeply emotional voice.
Hearing Johannes’ extremely one-sided version, James’ eyes went blank.
“You even held hands and hugged? And Iris was the one who started it? Then that’s literally a ‘something going on,’ or even more, right?”
But despairingly, Johannes said he got an erection in front of her, panicked, and ran away. He looked utterly drained as he slid down the wall and sat on the floor.
“I’m sure Iris noticed. No matter how much I think it over, that’s what happened. What if she thinks I’m disgusting… The atmosphere was so good that day; I thought it was going well, but I ruined everything.”
“…I see. Ah, just a moment. I’m thinking.”
James gave an indifferent answer but raised his hand before Johannes’ gaze could grow dangerous, signaling he was thinking of advice.
Johannes looked at him with hopeful eyes. James forced a smile but averted his eyes, worried Johannes might read his mind.
Is this really going well? From Johannes’ perspective, it sounded like a sweet beginning, but there seemed to be holes in the story.
Reflecting on Johannes’ past actions, it was hard to believe what he said. And did he really get caught with an erection?
Iris couldn’t have known unless he openly showed it. It was puzzling in many ways.
‘It probably wasn’t going well from the start, but it’s not exactly a desperate situation either. It’s basically nothing. Still, I have to comfort him somehow.’
James clenched his fist. But what both he and Johannes overlooked was that James himself had never dated and had been married by arrangement.
He was better than Johannes but hardly an excellent love counselor. Still, he came up with the best advice he could.
“That’s all just your thoughts, Johannes-nim. Ah, no, I mean not that the atmosphere was your thought! I mean, Iris probably didn’t know about your… lower situation. No, even if she did, hmm, she might have liked it. That you’re very big, big… Ah, maybe not. Anyway! Avoiding it like this won’t solve anything. You’ll only know by meeting her. All male-female relationships have to be tested by clashing.”
“Re-really? She liked it because it was big? B-big… Iris, that was her preference…”