Mission: Failed

My Treasure

Jisung sat up, pushed off with both hands and nimbly jumped down from the tree.

He was so scared that he missed his footing and almost fell to the ground. This resulted in him crashing right into that man's arms.

Chan looked at the young man who threw himself into his arms, stretched out his hand and gently held him by the shoulder. His voice was low and he smiled, "Be careful."

"Uncle Chan, why are you here?"

Chan stared at the young man's eyes, resting on his active and vibrant face. A kind of complex nostalgia surfaced faintly in his eyes. He paused for a long time, and said, "I just finished speaking with your father, and saw you here..."

He paused in the middle of the conversation, his lips raised slightly in a playful way, before continuing, "I just wanted to see how long you were going to stay in the tree."

Fortunately, he didn't have the bad habit of talking to himself alone. He looked at Chan' gentle doting expression and felt strangely creeped out all over. His body couldn't help but stiffen slightly.

Chan sensed Jisung's unease and said apologetically, "Sorry, did I scare you?"

Jisung bit his lower lip and shook his head. In front of the old fox, the more you said, the higher the risk of slipping up was.

However, he saw Chan's eyes suddenly darken, like he was deeply repressing something, and his hand also pressed down on his shoulder slightly.

Jisung couldn't understand Chan's expression, but he felt somewhat anxious. He blinked uneasily and said, "My friend is calling for me."

Chan's expression didn't change.

"Go ahead. Don't keep them waiting."

"Then I'll be going first. Goodbye, Uncle Chan."

As soon as he spoke, he flew away, not looking back once the whole way.

He strongly felt that if he turned to look, he'd meet that person's line of sight.

It didn't take long for Jisung to see Jeongin's slightly rounded face. He smiled and asked him where he'd gone. Being surrounded by the familiar noise finally, helped Jisung put that suffocating environment from before behind him.

At the very least, Jeongin was much better than Chan.

--------

Chan looked briefly at the figure of Jisung going away, then turned and left the hall.

His housekeeper, Doyoung, had been waiting outside for a long time. He bowed respectfully and opened the car door for him.

"I had already prepared the gift in advance as you ordered. Why did your honour come in person?"

Nobody knew of Duke Chan's actions today in advance. Doyoung was very surprised and didn't understand his intentions. Moreover, when anyone expressed interest in buying Moonlight Star from Duke Chan before, he would ignore it. Today, however, he suddenly gave it to Jisung. This puzzled Doyoung.

Chan looked back at him, and said lightly, "I know what I'm doing."

Doyoung was scared stiff by this expression and bowed his head. "My apologies. I was too nosy."

Doyoung suppressed the curiosity in his heart and respectfully closed the door for Chan.

Chan sat in the car with his hands clasped. His index finger tapped on the top of his silver cane.

Closing his eyes, he saw the panicked teenager when he jumped down from the tree and fell into his arms. He was just like a fairy falling to the human realm. Those transparent eyes reflected his own face as if he could see right through him all the way.

He was still alive and calling him Uncle Chan.

Nobody would understand how this one phrase, "Uncle Chan", had created waves in his heart.

After his rebirth, the first thing he did was come here to see for himself, to see if he was still here, living without a care or a worry in the world, instead of like how he was in the last scene of his previous life, lying weakly in Hyunjin's arms. He remembered his powerless body hanging with a bloodstained arm, gradually nearing his last breath, and finally becoming a cold dead body in the end.

Chan slowly opened his eyes; his brown pupils dyed a cold tint.

In his last life, he fought with Hyunjin his whole life. In the end, he fell short because of a moment of carelessness. However, at that moment, he found what he regretted the most was not his own failure, but the involvement of an innocent teenager in his struggle with Hyunjin. He regretted that he let Felix escape because of carelessness. He regretted that he didn't recognize the teenager, and even killed him with his own hands.

The young man stood firmly in front of Hyunjin. The scene when he slowly fell and penetrated Chan's cold heart like a sharp thorn. His heart had discarded all weakness, kindness, hesitation and other qualities of the lower beings.

For the first time, his heart had learnt what it was like to lose something.

This innocent and simple boy who depended on him, this boy who knew he had betrayed and abandoned him before, yet still chose to trust in him and look at him with such pure sincere eyes.

Was he just too simple and too stupid? No, it was probably because he believed and cared.

However, he once turned a blind eye to this trust and even used it as a bargaining chip, pushing him out at will to achieve his own goals. He made Jisung a victim of his power struggle with Hyunjin. Never did he think he'd regret it because the foolish and weak should be used and discarded, just as he'd always done.

But on that cold night, when the boy showed up in front of him ungrudgingly, he suddenly realized, did he really feel contempt for the young man's trust? No.

In fact, he'd never seen anything so moving before.

Only after seeing this, he realized how precious it was.

When he finally understood, that was also when he lost him.

He had killed him by mistake.

Chan pursed his thin lips, and his body let off a cold and ruthless aura. His grip slowly tightened.

'If it weren't for Hyunjin, you wouldn't have committed mistake after mistake. You even lost your life for him in the end.

That man was more merciless than you believed. He didn't care about anyone, and he would never have loved you. You didn't understand that until you died. Even after your heart was humiliated like that, you were still willing to give your life to him. He was not worthy of your love.'

But now, he was back.

This time, he wanted not only the kingdom but also the boy who would simply look at him and call him, 'Uncle Chan' with a smile.

This time, he hoped to never see those flawless eyes covered in dust. That young man's smile would forever be directed to him, and he would trust in him and rely on him again without fear.

The look in Chan's eyes slowly deepened.

'You are countless times more beautiful and flawless than the planet, Moonlight Star.

You will be my most beautiful treasure.'