Chapter 89: In search of Yunsung
Mi-na waited for Yunsung for a long while.
However, when Olcadan came back, the boy hadn't showed up yet.
- Are you still here? – said the owl-man when he saw Mi-na at the same place where he had left her.
- Yunsung hasn't arrived yet. I'm sure something wrong happened to him.
- If that brings you calm, I'll go in search of him. If I don't find him, I could fly over the place tomorrow in the morning.
Mi-na smiled at his offer.
- But you must rest. I'm sure there's an inn around here.
- I'm not sure whether I'll be able to sleep a wink with this concern in my mind.
- You must be exhausted. Just try not to think about it and you'll fall asleep soon.
- I'll try. – she replied, not very convinced.
- Come on, go. - said Olcadan, who would have smiled if he had had a mouth instead of a beak.
- Come and seek me as soon as you find something, okay?
Olcadan nodded and the girl left.
The owl-man was about to start his search when he heard somebody talking to him.
- Hey, you!
It was a man who was probably in his thirties.
- What do you want?
- What do you know about Soul Edge?
When Olcadan saw that man closely, he recognized him: he was the man he knocked out the night he met Mi-na and Yunsung.
- Nothing that I will tell you. – answered the owl-man
- Won't you? – replied Hwang unsheathing a saber.
- Do you think you can beat me just because you have a mere…
He stopped talking because he noticed something: that saber was Yunsung's.
- Where did you get that saber from?
- Nowhere that I will tell you. – said Hwang mockingly.
However, Olcadan reacted quickly: he jumped on Hwang, knocked him down, took the saber and put its blade on Hwang's neck.
- Where did you get it from? – he asked again.
Hwang gulped.
- I took it away from a man. – answered Hwang finally.
- Hong Yunsung? That man?
- Yes.
- What did you do with him?
Hwang didn't answer.
- What did you do with him? – yelled Olcadan.
- I ordered to kill him. – admitted Hwang, who was almost crying in despair. – I ordered to kill him.
Olcadan had a hood over his head to hide his owl-face, but if he hadn't, Hwang would have seen his angry eyes.
- Where is he?
- I don't know.
- WHERE IS HE?
- They took him into the forest.
Olcadan released Hwang and threw the saber to the floor.
- Fortunately for you, I'm not a murderer.
After saying that, he dashed out towards the forest.
However, Yunsung was continuously moving, so Olcadan didn't manage to find him and he decided to go back to the village and look for Mi-na. He was really furious at not having found the boy.
He asked for directions and found the village's inn.
The first thing he saw there didn't make his mood any better: Hwang was there too, drinking a beer at the bar. Luckily, he didn't notice the owl-man.
Olcadan questioned the innkeeper about Mi-na. The innkeeper told him that she was sleeping and gave him her room number.
Olcadan headed to the room and knocked at its door.
- Mi-na! – he said in a low voice.
He didn't get any answer, so he decided to let her rest and tell her the news the next morning.
However, he would become an owl in the morning, so he asked the innkeeper to tell Mi-na to stay in her room when she woke up.
He himself rented a room, although he could barely sleep (because of his worries but also because he hadn't slept on a bed for a long time).
...
When Olcadan woke up (really when he decided to get up, because he woke up many times during the night), he left his room flying through the window and flew over the place as he has promised Mi-na.
However, the forest was thicker than he had thought and he couldn't see anything.
So he had to wait again until it got dark to recover his human form and talk to Mi-na.
Before getting transformed he entered his room through the window again, because the innkeeper hadn't seen him leaving the inn.
As soon as the early moonlight flooded the room and he became human he headed to Mi-na's room.
This time she answered immediately, because it was still early night and she hadn't gone to sleep yet.
Olcadan entered the room, and as soon as Mi-na closed the door, she grabbed his arm and started talking in a loud voice:
- Olcadan! You were worrying me! Where have you been? Do you know anything about Yunsung?
- Something. – he answered sadly, although Mi-na couldn't notice it through his face, which was covered in feathers.
- What?
- I didn't find him, but I know what happened to him.
- Say it at once!
- You'll see…last night I met the man who was talking to you the night I met you.
- Hwang? Hwang is in here?
- Much closer than you think. He's right at this inn.
- Well, that doesn't matter. – lied Mi-na, because she wanted to see him again but, on the other side, she didn't want him to find her and bring her back home. – What does he have to do with Yunsung?
- He had his saber. – retold Olcadan. – I asked him how he had got it, and…
- And what? Tell me, Olcadan!
- He told me he had taken it from him before ordering to kill him.
Mi-na turned pale.
She left the room before Olcadan could react and confronted the innkeeper.
- Hey! What's Hwang Seong-Gyeong's room number?
- What?
- In which room is he?
- In…no one. – answered the innkeeper. – He was here last night, but he has already left.
At that moment, Olcadan arrived.
- Mi-na, what are you doing?
- He's gone. Hwang is gone!
- Take it easy. He can't be too far. He's only looking for two things: Soul Edge and you. The best way he has to find them both is to stay near here.
- You're right. But we have to find Yunsung NOW!
- There's nothing we can do. – said Olcadan. – If he's alive, he'll find the village sooner or later. If he isn't…
- He may be hurt! We must report to the authorities.
- If you mean the handful of scoundrels at the police station, I wouldn't count on them. – said the innkeeper.
- What shall we do? – asked Mi-na desperately.
- Don't worry. I've been at this village my whole life. I know the forest pretty well. I can help you.
- That would be great.
- But I need one of you to take care of the inn while I'm away.
- I'll do that. – said Olcadan.
- Fine. We'd better move now.
Mi-na and the innkeeper left and Olcadan stayed at the inn.
However, there was a hidden intention in his offer. He was sure that Hwang would come back soon.