Chapter 131: The Bonds That Cage
Stepping back into the vault room, Seo-jin felt heat coil through his legs and hands. Not everything had gone the way he'd planned, but it was enough. Once the haul got liquidated, the Dead Hands and the Broodlings would be armed to the teeth. Add dwarf-forged armor and weapons, and Shatterbay wouldn't have a heavier fist.
Right now, he really wanted to kill something to celebrate. Preferably human.
His eyes swept the room. The urge stalled. Grimm wasn't there. Seo-jin had called him to the green chamber. The ghost never showed.
[He probably thought your anger was aimed at him.]
'I wasn't mad at him. I yelled, sure, but—shit.'
[Odds are he drifted back to the docks. I wouldn't worry. Not much can hurt him.]
An image flashed, Grimm crashing into his arms on the island, weak, torn, flickering. Seo-jin's skin went cold.
"What if he gets lost?"
"Who gets lost?"
Min shoved past him, rubbing at her reddened arms.
Seo-jin ignored her and locked eyes on Ash. The look alone made the kid swallow.
"You able to detect or track ghosts at range?"
Ash paused, weighing the answer, then went straight.
"Kinda. If I've tagged one, I can follow it for about a day. If it gets too far—"
"Can you track Grimm?"
"That your ghost's name?"
"Yes. He's missing—"
"Hold up—"
Min cut in, quiet this time, head tilted as her eyes scanned the room.
"You've got one too?!"
"Not now. Can you or can you not?"
Ash flinched at the edge in Seo-jin's voice and pulled up his system.
"I should be able to. Give me a sec… yeah—got him—"
His relief died mid-breath. Ash stepped back, brow tightening.
Seo-jin grabbed him, panic breaking through.
"What is it?! Is he okay?!"
"I don't know. One second he was there. Next second—gone. Think he slipped out of range."
"What direction?"
Ash hesitated. Seo-jin's grip bit down harder.
"Ow—north! He was going north…"
Seo-jin spun on Min, smothering the fear clawing up his gut as he strode for the vault door.
"We're splitting up."
"What? Why?!"
"Go back. Tell Gregor what we found, then wait for me."
Min stopped short and shook her head.
"Hold up—what the fuck is happening? Why are you—"
"DO AS YOU'RE TOLD!"
Bloodlight blew out across the room. Seo-jin turned on her, eyes burning red as his aura slammed outward.
It was the first time Min had been on the receiving end of it like this. And for the first time in years, she didn't argue. She didn't even tense.
She nodded.
"Yes, boss."
Seo-jin turned away, jaw grinding as panic churned in his gut.
"Ash, you're with me."
He sealed the vault behind them, locks grinding home as they stepped out into the tunnel. Min hauled boulders into place to hide the entrance.
Seo-jin didn't wait. He grabbed Ash and slung him over his shoulder like gear. She didn't get another word out. The air cracked as he vanished in a flash of speed that left her in his wake. Even she could tell...he'd left her far behind.
Setting the last boulder, unease crept into her chest, while already far ahead, Seo-jin tore through the tunnels, banking hard, plowing straight through a pack of Aruesses without breaking stride. Blood sprayed the walls as he shouted back.
"Still nothing?!"
Ash clung on, eyes forced open by the wind, hair flattened straight back.
"Nothing!"
The glow from the street mouth flashed ahead. Seo-jin throttled down for half a breath, then launched, blasting out of the tunnel like a shell. He hit pavement at full speed, concrete spider-webbing under his feet as he tore forward.
"Which way!"
"That—way!"
Ash barely managed to raise an arm, finger stabbing toward the last place Grimm had shown. He clung to hope that this was nothing. That the knot in his chest meant nothing.
[Don't worry, Ash. This is good. He's always—]
'We don't know shit yet. And his territory's west. There's no way he has him.'
Ash snapped and bucked like a kite in a storm as Seo-jin cornered hard. A sudden jolt drove a sharp spike into his ribs, pain flashing white. Tears leaked out as he fought to keep his eyes open.
"Anything?!"
"Nothing! Wait—he's there! That way!"
Ash pointed left, nearly losing his grip as relief flared. Grimm's blue marker blinked alive on his panel.
Then Ash noticed the direction of travel.
The relief curdled into lead.
"No…"
Seo-jin didn't hear him. He was already redlining, lungs burning, mind stripped down to one thing. He knew he was acting off. He knew this looked reckless.
He didn't care.
Grimm wasn't just another broodling. He wasn't just a ghost.
He was different.
And somehow, against all sense, Grimm was the only thing Seo-jin truly gave a shit about. That made Ash's plea land worse.
"Boss! Stop—please! You gotta stop!"
Seo-jin ignored him. Rage climbed faster as Ash began to thrash and kick. If the kid slipped now, there was no guarantee he'd live.
Skidding to a halt, he flung him aside. Seo-jin was already turning to run again when the kid latched onto his leg, voice cracking.
"Let me do it! Please! I can get him back! Just wait—just wait here, boss! I swear I'm not lying! I'll do whatever you want, anything—just please. Please let me do this."
Claws slid from Seo-jin's fingers. He looked down at Ash. Even through the panic, he could tell, the kid knew something. Something he wasn't saying.
"Human. Tell me what's going on, or I will skin you alive—"
He kicked him off. Ash hit hard, skidding across stone and leaving a smear of blood. He still crawled back, and wrapped both arms around Seo-jin's leg.
"Please, boss. Let me go alone. I'll bring him back. I swear."
Seo-jin tensed his leg—
[Calm the fuck down, idiot. Look at him. Kick him again and you might kill him. Use your mouth, not your fist. And I don't mean eat him.]
The warning cut through just enough.
Seo-jin's leg relaxed. The killing intent didn't.
"This is your last chance, child. No begging. No noise. The next words out of your mouth better be the truth—or you die. That ghost matters more to me than any living thing on this planet. Now speak."
Ash shrank back, scrambling away on hands and knees. Tears poured down his face.
"I'm sorry, boss. I really am. This is my fault. I didn't report in, so he came looking! If I hadn't tried to catch Grimm, he never would've shown! So please—I can talk to him! I can get Grimm back. Just—"
"Talk to who?"
Ash froze. Then began shaking, his entire body violently trembled.
Something about the kid was wrong.
'What's he doing?'
Ash was breaking apart in a way that didn't fit. This wasn't just panic. There was fear layered under it...thick, choking. Not fear of losing someone, or what would happen if he didn't save Grimm.
Kneeling, Seo-jin forced himself level with the boy's face.
"Fear me, boy. I'm right here."
Ash went paper-white. He coughed, hesitated, wiped his face with shaking hands, then looked up.
"It's my father."
The words came out choked.
He shook harder now. His voice came out thin as he crawled forward again.
"Please… let me go. I promise. I'll bring him back."
[There's a story here. I'll be honest—I kinda wanna hear it.]
Seo-jin stood. He didn't like admitting it, but the pull was there. But curiosity could wait. Grimm couldn't.
"Go."
Ash's shaking eased just enough to show through. He looked up at Seo-jin like he'd been spared by a god. He crawled forward again and wrapped both arms around Seo-jin's leg.
"Thank you! I swear on my life—I'll bring Grimm back. No matter what. Just wait here."
Seo-jin let him go. Wiping his nose, Ash backed away, talking fast like reassurance would ease all worries. Then he turned and ran flat out.
Watching him go, Seo-jin frowned as his eyes locked on Ash's ghosts. All three huddled behind him, tight and trembling.
"I shouldn't have let Grimm out of my sight. Now I'm dealing with family shit."
[If he has a father, you'd have had to kill him eventually anyway. Doubt he'd be fine with you dragging his kid into a gang.]
"Yeah. Doubt his reasons are clean."
Seo-jin moved. He didn't rush. He followed the trail the easy way, with his nose. Piss carried. Fear carried farther.
The kid's situation gnawed at him. Something was wrong. The kid's weight alone told enough. If the boy had a father, the man wasn't doing his job. Not even close.
'If I play this right, this might work better than my first plan. Depends on what kind of man his father is.'
He vaulted to the top of a broken structure and paused, sight pushing outward. There...Ash, running hard, lungs burning.
"If the man's interesting, I might take them both."
[Collecting humans now? That title's getting to your head.]
He shrugged and smiled thin.
"Killing them. Breaking them. Making them serve. That's what they're good for. I'm just being true to myself."
Dropping down without a sound, he followed at a distance. Watched. Waited.
But if Grimm came into real danger—
Then both of them would die.
----
In a world choked with monsters, mana, shards, and gods, nothing worked without payment. Potions drank something down. Armor demanded rare hides. Weapons needed cores, bones, metals ripped from things that screamed. Charms, rituals, wards...every miracle bled resources.
People too weak to carve dungeons or survive the freelands learned another way. They gathered. They harvested. They sold what stronger hands needed to stay alive. Entire lives built around scraping magic out of the world piece by piece.
Ash had been born into one of those lives.
And as he ran, blood burning through his veins like molten wire, he cursed it with everything he had.
'Why?! Why did I forget?!'
[There's no point asking that. You've got bigger problems. How are you even planning to do this? You know he's gonna kill you, right? You should've just let him—]
'No! If they meet—I don't want that. I didn't before, but I do now. I wanna be a Dead Hand. I'm done living like this.'
He cut a corner hard, eyes splitting focus between the street ahead and the twin icons on his interface—Grimm's light and his that man's shadow.
[Then why are you doing this?! Let him get what he deserves!]
Skidding to a stop, he slammed his fist into a shattered wall, knuckles splitting open.
"He's my father!"
The words shocked him as much as the pain. He sagged for a heartbeat, dragging a filthy hand through his hair, then forced himself back into motion.
"I'll handle this. This is on me. I have to prove I'm not a coward."
His voice cracked near the end. Seo-jin's stare and Min walking past him burned behind his eyes, and he couldn't shake it. Sure the time capsule was part of it, but for some reason even he didn't understand, he wanted their approval. He wanted to join them.
The icons drew closer.
Ash slowed, lungs screaming, feet careful now. He stretched the seconds thin, pulled a breath deep into his chest, and stepped out from behind the building.
Onto the street.
And there he was.
His breath hitched. Just like always. Ash was already failing.
The man was walking with his back to him, but that was enough. It always was. He never went anywhere without his favorite ghost, the one he treated more like a son than Ash had ever been.
Six feet tall. Torn brown trench coat hanging off a thin frame. Hair brown and ragged, same as Ash's. Coiled around him was a dark green shape, a scaled body shifting slow, wings folded tight along a long, serpentine form. Crocodile head. Serpent body. A bird's wings. The ghost bled despair into the air, an aura Ash had hated for as long as he could remember.
And in his father's hand—
Black and blue fire burned cold. A cage shaped from dark flame, with Grimm trapped inside it.
Ash reached out without thinking. His hand rose. Then fell.
But the world didn't wait.
"Get over here, boy."
His father didn't turn. Didn't slow. The words alone bent Ash's spine. His hands folded together in front of him, fingers twisting.
"Y-yes, father."
Without thinking, the boy crept up behind his father, not walking so much as shrinking into the space.
His skin had gone chalk-pale.