The protector

It smelled like death

Prologue

Blows. Sharp and ceaseless.

Bom. Bom. Bom.

Were they coming from outside, or were they just inside his head?

Definitively inside his head.

A searing pain in the temples had him squeezing his eyes. Only to discover, then, that it only increased the ache.

The air in his nostrils was different from everything he'd ever smelled in all his life. Not the home's lavender scent. Not the dusty, musty of his apartment. Not the stinging marble cold of the N.O., nor the sweaty humidity of the dojang. And least of all that smell could belong to his mother's immaculate place.

It was acid, like rancid humanness.

He tried to open one eye, then both. Discovering he couldn't. With the hand, he tried to touch his lids, yet he felt like if there were encrustations that weren't coming away with the simple brushing of his digits. The hand fell on his side as he was knocked unconscious again.

Seoul, 2028, February

"Mind if we fly to Jeju this weekend?"

"Seo-jin ssi, what is this Jeju thing these days? We've just been there, and the gala is in ten days."

The woman lazily raked his hair, like a puppet which needed to be calmed down because it was being too vivacious. He'd asked her to sleep together on that night – as if it wasn't what they did every night – because he was having some difficulties in falling asleep. He wasn't falling, indeed.

"I know, but I need to go."

His tone sounded somehow so definitive that she didn't feel like rebutting. And by the way, it wasn't as if she had other plans. Besides, the electricity he was emanating, the fact that there wasn't staff in the house in Jeju: Se-ri got the impression that he wanted to go there to talk.

"Of course, let's go."

Jeju, 2028, a few days later

Her mom had warned her. Her own common sense had. And damn, it was years that she herself was making plans for that precise moment. However, while looking at Seo-jin's lips that moved ad produced sounds she couldn't get anymore, Se-ri couldn't believe it was happening for real.

He had invited her to dine at their favourite restaurant as soon as they had landed. Though he had been silent and nearly moody through the entire dinner.

"I can't get how you manage to always find a table, you're magic, Jin-ssi," she'd told him only to cheer him up.

"I've bought a share," the man had replied, dry. "It's yours. You can come here whenever you want, there will always be a table for you."

It must have been a joyful surprise. It had sounded like the first line of a testament.

On their way home, Se-ri had made him stop at the first kiosk she'd been able to detect, suspecting they would have been in need of soju. There always was a 100 – 100.000 won – folded in her wallet for that specific emergency. And once at home, she had sent him to wear comfy clothes. If he wasn't having the gut to talk, then it was up on her.