|Weak Hero| Dawn Na

Chapter 65

Gijoo was outside in the yard, smoking a cigarette. He enjoyed the menthol's cooling effect that reduced the harshness on his throat. 

Dawn sat down beside him. "After you fix your dimensional traveling equipment..." She hesitated to ask her question, fearing the answer.

"This is my home now," Gijoo assured her. "Sure, I might go dimensional hopping from time to time again, but I have nothing left in my home universe. I'm glad I got away from there,"

"What about your family and friends there?" Dawn questioned.

"I have no friends in Universe S-01412," Gijoo answered. "And as for family..." His expression shifted to one of sadness. "My older brother's dead," He pointed to his cross earring. "This was a birthday present he gave me. The soul transference bracelet was also given to me by him when I started doing missions for Cheongang,"

"Who was your older brother?" The entire family had decided to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"It doesn't matter since he's gone now," Gijoo said. "His variants, no matter how similar they are to him, can never replace him,"

"Your older brother was obviously Jaeryeong," Doyoon revealed with a bored expression. 

"Huh!?" Jaeryeong exclaimed. "I think you're mistaken, Doyoon. I can't imagine a version of myself in another universe being Gijoo's older brother,"

"Yeah," Gijoo tried to keep a poker face up. "Doyoon, why would you think Jaeryeong's variant was my brother?"

"Why else would you be nice to him?" Doyoon pointed out.

"Because it's better to have faithful followers instead of people obeying you out of fear," Gijoo deadpanned. 

"I bet you have a photo of him in your wallet," Doyoon reached for Gijoo's pocket to steal his wallet.

Gijoo's entire demeanor changed and he grabbed Doyoon's wrist. "Don't you ever try to touch my precious things without my permission!"

Doyoon managed to pull his wrist free but noted the faint redness of the mark left behind. 

"Your reaction is pretty much confirmation that Jaeryeong from your universe is your older brother," Joowon said.

"Was," Gijoo mumbled as he started to leave. "Like I said, he's dead,"

"You guys shouldn't have pushed the topic of his brother," Sophia scolded. "It's obviously still a sore subject for him,"

XXX

A few days later, Orion's health had declined further and he had been transferred to a hospital. Janghyeok bribed the cops guarding his room to allow them in at any time to visit him. They all took turns visiting Orion each day...except for Gijoo. Ever since that conversation about his brother, he hadn't been seen by anyone.

"Gijoo needs to at least visit once," Dawn pleaded. "After Dad...we won't know how long until we seem him again so Gijoo should at least visit and say some things to him. I'm sure Dad wants him to visit too,"

"He's not answering his phone," Changhui said. "Even when I wanted to contact him regarding Cheongang business, I went straight to voicemail,"

"Well, it's a good thing I put a tracker on him before he left," Janghyeok said, earning stares from everyone. "What? I used one of Orion's trackers and put it on Gijoo when he wasn't looking,"

"Why does Uncle Orion have trackers?" Gray inquired.

"He also installed trackers in your phone, Donald's phone, and Dawn's phone," Janghyeok revealed. "He's kinda a bit paranoid of you three getting kidnapped. At least he never actually uses them since none of you were kidnapped,"

"I'm going to have a talk with our brother about this type of behavior later," Sophia mumbled to herself.

"So where is Gijoo?" Dawn asked. "We need to bring him to Dad,"

Janghyeok looked at the device's screen. "He seems to be in the middle of the nearby forest. Let's go,"

XXX

Gijoo was in the middle of a forest, tinkering with a device. "Alright, let me give it a shot one more time," He activated the dimensional traveling device and a portal opened. He attempted to enter the portal, only for the device to explode and send Gijoo flying back several feet and burning him.

"GIJOO!" 

"I'm fine," Gijoo waved off their concerns.

"What were you even doing!?" Sophia knelt down and began treating her nephew's wounds. 

"It's okay, I'm fine," Gijoo tried to get her to stop, but a stern glare forced him to comply. "I was working on my dimensional traveling device so that we'd be able to reunite with Dad quickly,"

"Gijoo, can you take a break?" Dawn requested. "Dad's...Dad's not looking too good. He's in the hospital. Please visit him,"

"Let me...Let me finish my device first," Gijoo picked up the ruins of his dimensional traveling device. "It'll be done soon,"

"We don't know how long Orion has left," Janghyeok said. "Stop for now and go visit him,"

"It's not like it'll be a permanent goodbye!" Gijoo snapped. "It's not like...like he'll be gone forever like my brother. We will see him again eventually, just not until I finish my device,"

Donald karate chopped the back of Gijoo's neck, knocking him out cold. "You guys were taking too long. Carry him to the car and let's start heading to the hospital,"

XXX

"Hey Gijoo," Orion greeted when his son woke up.

Gijoo had woken up in a chair beside Orion's bed. Everyone else was waiting outside in the hallway.

"Hi Dad," Gijoo said softly.

"What happened to you?" Orion noted the fresh bandages.

"I was working on the dimensional traveling device," Gijoo looked away. "These wounds are nothing compared to what I had in the past,"

"Be more careful," Orion advised. "You're lucky those burns aren't worse,"

"I will," Gijoo nodded.

For a brief moment, the two sat in silence.

"They told me about the conversation about your brother," Orion spoke up. "If you want to talk about it, I'll listen,"

"It's really weird," Gijoo admitted. "After my brother died, I had no one else. I continued working for Cheongang in my universe just so I could survive. I became so used to being on my own and living in that type of hell that when I was stranded in this universe, I was shocked that I was able to feel and express emotions again. And then I fell in love with Doyoon of this universe and started dating him,"

"Were you able to properly mourn your brother?"

"No," He answered honestly. "Jaeryeong became a member of Cheongang because it was the only way he could make enough money to support us. After he died, since I was old enough, I took over his duties. Crying is a sign of weakness there so I couldn't let my tears fall. Weakness gets you killed,"

We are nearing the end.

Omake

"It's very strange," Dongha said seriously. 

"What is?" Seongmok asked.

"This story is called Dawn Na yet these past few chapters have been focusing more on Gijoo than our sister," Dongha replied. "I hope the next chapter focuses more on her and maybe Donald,"

"DONGHA BAEK!" Alistair stormed up to him and grabbed him by the front of his shirt. "STOP BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL!"

Dongha chuckled and smirked. "Nah, don't wanna,"

Seongmok decided to just go on with his day and walked away from the two to play with his pet bunny.