Island: The Legend

Chapter 19

The ride back to the villa felt tiring and longer than the way up although they ended up in that accident and had to walk up the rest of the way. Van was sitting in the back with Mi-Ho resting against his shoulder, she fell asleep pretty fast on his back and they weren't able to wake her up when they reached the car. Whatever happened in the barrier must have tired her out immensely. He only heard a bit of what Mi-Ho told the others but it seemed that her mother told her a way to turn him back human completely. After everything that happened he almost gave up on that but now it seemed there was a small glimmer of hope for him, for them. This thing between them, all the feelings they had for each other didn't feel hopeless anymore. Something changed for him after Mi-Ho simply took the initiative and kissed him like that. At first he was pretty taken back and surprised but he could feel her desperation, her fear but also her longing for him. He couldn't deny that he was well aware of his feelings for her even before he was trapped in the barrier but after he got out, it felt very natural to be with her, they naturally grew close and it didn't even feel weird when she kissed him like that. Sure he was surprised, who wouldn't be? But it felt incredible right even in that situation. Van never thought that Mi-Ho could actually be that careful but also rash at the same time. He was well aware of her temper that's why it came even more as a surprise that she was so careful and even hesitant although she kissed him first. She even appeared to be a bit shy about it. He looked a bit to his side where she was leaning against, her peaceful sleeping face somehow calmed him down. She looked quite content like that, resting her head on his shoulder just like she did one year ago in the cave. The only difference was that she was asleep right now and wouldn't catch him looking at her this long. Even back then it looked like she wanted to kiss him and if he wasn't hurting that badly then he would have probably let it happen.

Van felt her stir a bit next to him, she started to fist her hand in her blazer, her face was contorting slightly. Was she having a bad dream? His hand slowly reached up and he hovered it in front of her face, silently mumbling a few of the Buddhist sutras that had a calming effect on the person they were used on. He did that once before the night they met when she didn't want him to leave. Although she took sleeping pills that night she was still feeling unrest in her sleep. Back then she eased up immediately but right now it seemed to take a bit longer, she went through a lot today after all. After some time her face started to relax and her hand loosened up on her clothes. Van's gaze traveled further to her side where Yeom-Ji was also sleeping soundly leaning onto Mi-Ho's shoulder, no wonder his shoulder started to hurt a bit with both their weights against him, although they probably weren't weighing the same as him together. His face turned back towards the window with a small smile.
They were now passing the accident side and Van was able see that Mi-Ho's car wasn't down the hill anymore. Did those people who claimed to be after Baek as well take it away? But why? That confrontation still sat wrong with him. It was just strange, why did they only appear now and why didn't they try to make contact with Mi-Ho earlier? And how did they know about what were Yohan and butler Jang up to in the first place?
''Yohan, did someone follow you up the hill?''
The young priest turned around in his seat to face Van with a confused expression.
''Apart from you two? I don't think so.''
When Van didn't say anything more Yohan followed his gaze out of the window where an accident seemed to have taken place. He remembered how Van told them that they crashed, was this the place? But did something else happen here?
''Why are you asking?''
''There were some people, they knew what you were up to.''
''What kind of people?''
With a heavy sigh, Van adjusted his position a bit, trying not to move too much so he wouldn't wake up Mi-Ho or Yeom-Ji, then he faced Yohan.

''I don't know, they said that they were some kind of group that chased down Baek for centuries.''
''But isn't that great, they can help us then.''
''No, I am not sure if we can really trust them.''
''Van, you normally don't trust anyone.''
For a very short moment Van couldn't suppress the small smile that crept onto his lips by his remark, though he wasn't wrong. It was a huge problem for Van to actually trust or open up to anybody but he somehow got used to this small group of people around him, even Yeom-Ji was by now part of this strange life and he didn't feel uncomfortable with it. Still new and especially strange people just gave off an untrusting vibe to him.
''We should try to listen to their side of the story we can use all the help we can get.''
For some reason butler Jang's voice had a soothing effect on Van and he probably was right about it. After all they did not really know anything about Baek and these people as strange as they might have been must know something about him. They could really need some push here, they were stuck and had no idea how to go on with this whole situation. But there had to be a way, a way to get rid of him somehow and bring an end to this nasty being.