Mixed-Blood in a Gender Role Reversed World - Chapter 48

 Chapter 48 : One Step (2)

"You don't know what the Federal Security Service is? And you're Russian? No way you've forgotten even basic common sense, right?"

My aunt made a troubled expression.

"I told you. I don't remember. Any of it."

My tone was curt. And why wouldn't it be? Even if she was my aunt, she'd dragged some stranger here to attack me.

I couldn't understand the reason, and it could have gotten me killed. Swinging a knife one moment, shoving a pistol in my face the next.

And anyway, she wasn't even my real aunt.

"Ha.."

It was all so vague. A beam of light from above was slowly seeping into the hallway.

The weapons scattered on the floor had long since been collected by the woman who'd attacked me, but I didn't want anyone to catch us like this.

"..Let's go inside for now. You too, Aunt. And that person.."

I pointed at the woman standing rigidly with her head bowed.

"She's my servant. Call her Pecha."

"Greetings, Young Master. I am Pecha, affiliated with the Russian Federal Security Service."

What the hell was with that embarrassing title? Pecha lifted her head, her eyes sparkling uncomfortably. In her green eyes, I saw myself burning.

I let out a small sigh and placed my hand on the door lock. Lately, it felt like I was sighing more often. Was that just my imagination?

Life never gives me a quiet day.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Clunk—

"....?"

"Ah.. h-hello. That nephew.. no, Young Master. Hello, Young Master."

...As soon as I opened the door, another uninvited guest popped out to greet me. Brown eyes. Woman. Western features.

My head throbbed.

"Who are you?"

"Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Yuri from the Federal Security Service. Hehe."

What even was this Federal Security Service? Just from the name, it sounded like something like the National Intelligence Service.

Did they have nothing better to do? Yeah, they must not. Otherwise, why would they come barging into the quiet life I'd been living?

Noticing my discomfort, the woman who'd introduced herself as Yuri scratched her head awkwardly.

"How long have you been here?"

"..Sorry. A while now. It wasn't on purpose.. Ah, and I didn't see anything weird, so don't worry!"

"..Just sit down somewhere for now."

Yuri's voice made my head ring. I let my aunt, who was standing there like a statue, and Pecha into the house.

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Once inside, my aunt looked around the room and gazed at me with pitying eyes.

"..You're living in a place like this? Back in the day.."

"Back in the day?"

"..Never mind. I just mean the house you lived in when you were in Russia was nicer."

Another glimpse into a past I didn't know, so I shut my mouth. For now, with guests here, I had them sit in the chairs.

I perched on the edge of the bed and searched on my phone for the organization my aunt had mentioned.

『Russian Federal Security Service』

The origins of the Russian Federal Security Service trace back to the State Security Committee (KGB) of the Uni Soviet. (Omitted) After the collapse of the Uni Soviet, it was renamed the Federal Security Service (FSB) and has continued to this day.

'..The successor to the KGB?'

Whether in the past or now, my knowledge is shallow. I never bothered to learn or cared. But I'd at least heard of the KGB.

A name that reeks of bloody intrigue. So the Federal Security Service inherited that. I could roughly guess what kind of vibe it had.

I scrolled down the page.

『It carries out missions such as espionage, assassination, intelligence gathering, etc.』

My eyes flew to the word 'assassination' and stuck there. I blinked. Then I looked up at my aunt and asked.

"So, to sum it up. The Federal Security Service is like Korea's National Intelligence Service, right?"

"....?"

My aunt let out a low, incredulous chuckle.

"National Intelligence Service? Haha, yeah. Something like that."

"No, Young Master. Even so, that's a bit.."

"Just stay quiet, Yuri. He might not know, so it's understandable."

My aunt kept laughing, her expression tinged with a slight hurt pride.

Anyway, now I knew what that place did. An organization like that could probably get their hands on pistols, somehow.

But..

"Why would people from such an impressive place come to attack me? One broke into my house. The other pulled a knife and even a gun, trying to kill me."

Of the three, only my aunt maintained her rigid posture while hearing my reprimand. The other two clasped their hands together in shame.

Seeing that, I intuited it. My aunt seemed like their boss, so she'd probably ordered it.

"I'm asking you, Aunt."

"We wanted to check if you were pretending to have lost your memory."

"Even to the point of nearly killing your nephew?"

Even when speaking to my aunt, my tone was still laced with dissatisfaction.

And wasn't that justified? I'd just gone through a life-or-death ordeal. And she'd ordered it.

My aunt opened her mouth gravely.

"Depending on whether you had or not, our future actions would change."

"..I don't get it. I'm only 18. What have I done to warrant that?"

I could see the suspicion fade from my aunt's eyes.

"First off, correction. You're 22. We laundered your identity to make you 18."

"....?"

Question marks filled my head.

All I could do here was ask why. At that, my aunt let out a hollow laugh.

"We thought that way.. you'd forget. In the end, it was all for nothing."

"Aunt. I have no idea what you're talking about right now. From beginning to end, not a single thing."

My chest tightened, like I couldn't breathe. It was so frustrating I wanted to stab myself with a knife just to punch a hole in it.

"All I can tell you right now is this. That I'm on your side. That I love you very much. I don't want to lose you too, after your sister.

Do you know what you were like when your sister died? You, who didn't even cry when that one passed you, when your sister died. She still haunts my dreams, tormenting me."

My aunt's eyes reddened as she suppressed her rage. I silently waited for her to catch her breath in her agitation.

"It, it was my fault. I still regret it every night when I sleep. Because I pulled her down from that unchecked power? No!

Because I raised that bitch. But she's blood, after all. Your sister was the one who messed up first, that's what I kept telling myself! Fuck!"

Bang!

My aunt slammed the table as if to shatter it. Two streaks of tears ran down her cheeks. The emotions forming those streams I knew them all too well.

Whether they were infecting me too, my head started to heat up.

But it's weird. I have no reason to empathize with my aunt, so why are my eyes welling up?

The answer came quickly.

Because it wasn't mine. More precisely, it was Sasha's, still lingering inside.

I clenched my fist. A sharp pain like a honed blade. Thanks to that, I could remain Ryu sehwa.

I averted my gaze from my panting aunt and sank into thought.

This won't do. I'd been letting myself blend into Sasha's psyche all this time.

The emotions from when she tried to shoot earlier they were chilling. What the hell was Sahsa, really?

To live normally, I needed a way. A way to stay as myself.

Deliberately hurting myself to feel pain? That'd leave my whole body scarred eventually.

I clenched my sore palm again, pondering. Then, suddenly, that movie came to mind.

The movie where he used a spinning top to distinguish dreams from reality. Maybe something symbolic for me would help. Like a tattoo.

There was a ring too, and other things, but whether from Sasa's influence, all I could think was getting a tattoo.

I looked at my palm. Wrapped in bandages, but the wound inside felt vivid.

I shook my head. A palm was too big for a tattoo, and hard to check in a pinch.

Then what was left? My finger. The one I'd smashed the mirror with before, leaving a scar. It was still there.

My eyes lit up. If my guess was right, I wouldn't need to squeeze out pain just looking at it could keep my mind anchored.

I rubbed my pale, slender finger, mulling over what to engrave, when—

"Sorry. I went on and on about things you wouldn't even know."

Having composed herself, my aunt returned with a face like forged steel, impervious to scratches.

Flames still flickered in her eyes, but she seemed aware she was in front of her nephew and kept them banked.

In response, I decided to pull out the question I'd been holding inside. Carefully.

"...Out of what you said earlier. What did you mean by 'blood relative'?"

"....!"

I could see my aunt's body stiffen, as if she'd let something slip. Her eyes, like she was staring at a monster, turned to her trembling fist.

"You.. don't need to know about that. Just live happily like this."

"I think I do need to know. If you can't even tell me this... I won't know what to do going forward either."

My gaze piercing for the truth clashed wildly in the air with my aunt's desperate one trying to block it.

Like that, for a long while. We dueled through the windows of our emotions. In the end, the one who yielded was my aunt.

"If you promise not to ask any more, I'll tell you."

Was that the best offer? I still had a mountain of questions. It felt like I'd be buried under that weight and turn to dust.

But the choice was already made.

"...Okay."

"Hoo…. Fuck. There was an older sister born before you."

"...A sister? In the family photos…"

"She wouldn't be there. You are family, but not family. Just remember that."

The vague answer stirred an impulse to break my promise. But as if refusing to allow it, my aunt changed the subject first.

"From now on, we'll protect you. You don't need to leave the house. We'll erase any traces of you here, until we find a safe place."

"...What are you saying, Aunt? Locking me in the house? And what do you mean protect—"

"I get that you hate it. In exchange, I'll solve all your problems. The prosecutor was going to sue you? Don't worry. I'll make it disappear by tonight.

But if you insist on going out…. I won't help you at all."

My aunt's words carried a veiled threat. Even as she said it, the worry in her eyes didn't hide.

But that didn't excuse anything in my book.

Why protect me all of a sudden? I've been fine on my own, and now she shows up out of nowhere barking orders.

I tried to correct her misunderstanding first before proceeding.

"It's already been resolved ages ago."

"What? How?"

"She died in a car accident. The prosecutor."

"Ha…. Haha. So she already kicked the bucket…. But why…."

My aunt let out a utterly deflated chuckle, muttering toward someone.

It was the moment when Yuri and Pecha, sitting beside her, looked on worriedly.

Rumble!

My aunt shot up from her seat. She threw on her coat haphazardly, muttered something low, and turned her back.

"Wait here…. Everyone. Yuri, Pecha."

"Yes!"

"Yes."

"Load the live rounds first."

Beep! Rumble!

No sooner had my aunt stormed out than Yuri and Pecha fetched a case from somewhere.

They pulled something out, and before I knew it, they slammed a pistol on the table clack and popped open the magazine.

I watched in disbelief as they deftly loaded the bullets, then sighed.

I wasn't even sure if this was my house anymore. Resigning myself to the role of host, I spoke up.

"Would you like some tea?"

Even in this shithole of a place, we had green tea or something. It was the best I could offer.

As if they were thirsty too, their slender hands, busy until then, flinched.

"Ah, no. I don't really.. like tea."

"Me too…. That's right, Young Master."

They didn't seem to like tea much; their faces soured.

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Translated by Reversalmanhwa.web.id  

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