The End of the Path We’ve Walked (13)
“Hae-geon, this is really delicious. You shouldn’t be an Esper, you should have been a chef. Let’s quit all this and open a restaurant. What do you think?”
“Should we?”
It was a peaceful afternoon as Sa Hae-geon quietly laughed at my compliment-laced joke. Sitting across from him at the dining table, I couldn’t stop the words that kept coming out throughout the meal.
“Everything you make is delicious. I never get tired of it no matter how much I eat. Really.”
It strangely felt like my words were bypassing my brain, but since they were sincere anyway, I stopped thinking about it further. No matter what I said, Sa Hae-geon just nodded with a pleased expression.
While my bowl showed its bottom, the food in front of him hadn’t diminished at all.
“Aren’t you eating?”
“Just watching you eat makes me full.”
“What kind of nonsense is that? You need to eat food to get full. Hurry up and eat. Don’t just stare at me blankly.”
Sa Hae-geon blinked at my words, then burst into laughter. He then picked up his spoon and began eating. Somehow, today Sa Hae-geon seemed excessively obedient. It was nice, but also a bit strange.
“Why are you being so obedient?”
“Do you dislike it?”
“That’s not it… It’s just a bit odd.”
As I mumbled that while tilting my head, Sa Hae-geon reached out and wiped the corner of my mouth. It seemed I had unknowingly gotten something on my face while eating hastily. Sa Hae-geon, who had removed a grain of rice from the corner of my mouth, answered as if it was nothing.
“I’ve always listened well to you. Haven’t I?”
Even though his slick response was so characteristic of Sa Hae-geon, I kept feeling a sense of dissonance. It was as if he wasn’t quite the Sa Hae-geon I knew.
But how could someone who looked at me with such gentle and warm eyes not be Sa Hae-geon? I tried to erase the rising suspicion and smiled at him.
“Yes. That’s right. You’ve always listened well. I must have been momentarily confused.”
“With whom? Surely not someone else?”
I shook my head at Sa Hae-geon’s question.
“How could that be?”
At my answer, Sa Hae-geon made a sulky expression before shrugging and getting up from his seat. He began clearing the empty bowls in front of me. He took his own bowl, which was still almost full from having only eaten a few bites, and went to the sink.
“Aren’t you going to eat more?”
“I’m fine. I told you that just watching you eat makes me full. That wasn’t a lie.”
Sa Hae-geon joked as he put on the familiar chick apron and started washing the dishes. I quietly watched his broad back before wiping the table with a cloth. Then suddenly, a question occurred to me.
…Was I hungry? I don’t think I was particularly hungry when I ate. I just came to my senses and suddenly found myself sitting across from Sa Hae-geon, eating. Very naturally, as if in a dream.
In normal circumstances, this would have passed unnoticed like flowing water, but now it felt oddly unsettling. It felt as though someone had urged me to spend time like this. Sa Hae-geon, who had finished washing the dishes, discovered me standing still in front of the table with a cloth and tilted his head to the side.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ah… I was just thinking about something else. Did you already finish washing up?”
“Yes. There weren’t many, so it ended quickly. Would you like some fruit?”
“And you?”
“I should eat too.”
Sa Hae-geon replied with a smile and sent me to the living room, saying he would bring the fruit. Even as I came to the living room and sat on the sofa, my mind was complicated. Where did this unsettling feeling originate from? What exactly was bothering me?
As I sat rigidly on the sofa, Cream appeared, meowing and rubbing her cheek against my knee. She also made a pleasant purring sound while meeting my eyes. I reached out and gently stroked Cream’s head. But for some reason, I couldn’t feel any particular sensation.
“Cream?”
Despite my call, Cream didn’t respond. The sound of running water from the kitchen gradually faded away, as if someone was adjusting the volume.
Could a dungeon be about to appear? I called out to Sa Hae-geon and Cream again with a trembling voice, but no answer came. Surprised by the sudden situation, I just blinked stupidly, and then the living room scenery, including the sofa I was sitting on, began to disappear like a mirage.
“Uh, uhhh…”
What replaced the living room was a pitch-black space. Somehow, I was standing alone in a completely empty, black space. It seemed I had been swallowed by a dungeon.
“Hae, Hae-geon…!”
My voice echoed throughout the vast space. Being left alone in a dark and desolate space without a single point of light brought an indescribable sense of fear. Feeling like I wouldn’t be able to breathe if I stayed here, I started running straight ahead without thinking.
How many minutes had I run, believing that if I kept going, an exit would appear? Due to the complete darkness surrounding me, it felt like I was just circling in place no matter how much I ran. I was about to give up, sit down, and wait for Sa Hae-geon to come get me.
“…Hyung.”
From the opposite direction, I heard Sa Hae-geon’s voice, faint but calling me.
“Hyung, can you hear my voice?”
“…Hae-geon.”
“Wake up quickly, hyung. I miss you.”
“Hae-geon, I’m here!”
“Hyung, are you listening?”
Despite being out of breath, I sprinted again toward the direction of Sa Hae-geon’s voice. Due to my severe lack of exercise, my calves ached and ankles trembled, nearly causing me to collapse several times during the run. But I kept running, fearing that if I stopped moving, Sa Hae-geon’s voice would completely disappear.
After running for a while, I saw a small light in the distance. It seemed I was approaching an exit. I squeezed out my last bit of strength and ran toward the light. The small light gradually got closer until it was right in front of me. I wiped the sweat drenched on my forehead and stepped into the exit.
And then…
“…Hyung?”
Along with a light so strong it was blinding, I met Sa Hae-geon wearing an ability control device. He quietly looked at me with a tearful face, then embraced me tightly. It was a hug that felt somehow desperate.
* * *
“So… Hae-geon almost went berserk in the dungeon?”
“…Yes. It seems he’s developed some resistance because the suppressant didn’t work, so we had no choice but to temporarily put an ability control device on him. We had to just wait for you to wake up, Do-min. He readily agreed when told that he could only be by your side if he wore the ability control device.”
Through Jong-hyeok hyung, I was able to hear about what had happened while I was unconscious. Apparently, the other Guides woke up quickly after drinking potions developed by the Dungeon Research Institute, but only I didn’t wake up, causing Sa Hae-geon to be in constant fear.
And as soon as Sa Hae-geon confirmed that I had awakened, he greatly relaxed and voluntarily headed to solitary confinement. He said he didn’t want to put me in danger despite wearing the ability control device, and he entered the solitary room obediently without giving me a chance to stop him.
Thanks to this, I was now looking at Sa Hae-geon through a window attached to the solitary room, along with Jong-hyeok hyung.
“Can I go in?”
“He’s wearing the control device, and the solitary room itself has safeguards in place, so it should be fine.”
With Jong-hyeok hyung’s permission, I carefully entered the solitary room by opening the door, and Sa Hae-geon met my gaze. His face had deteriorated significantly in the time I hadn’t seen him. Even though the control device had somewhat calmed his going berserk, it was clear he was suffering because the root cause hadn’t been resolved.
I sat next to Sa Hae-geon and held his hand. After hesitating, Sa Hae-geon carefully held my hand in return.
“Hae-geon.”
“…Yes.”
“Have you been well?”
“You’re talking as if we haven’t seen each other in a very long time. It’s only been two days.”
Sa Hae-geon replied grumpily, avoiding my gaze.
“Why are you avoiding me?”
“…I don’t look pretty right now.”
“Me?”
“No. My face.”
“Why? Let me see.”
When I carefully held Sa Hae-geon’s cheek to check, I saw bloodshot eyes, dried lips, and rough skin. As he said, it would be somewhat unreasonable to say he looked pretty, even as a white lie, but I still liked even this version of Sa Hae-geon.
I silently looked at his face, then kissed his dry lips. As the Guiding wavelength flowed in, Sa Hae-geon’s hand holding mine tightened.
“Hyung, I’m fine, so don’t push yourself. You just woke up.”
“It’s okay. I feel like I just slept and woke up. The examination didn’t show anything unusual either.”
Sa Hae-geon seemed like he had something to say, his lips pouting before closing again. As I repeatedly kissed his lips as if stamping them, Sa Hae-geon frowned. Receiving my kisses with a discontented face, Sa Hae-geon eventually sighed and said:
“What’s this about now?”
“I’m grateful.”
“…For what? I couldn’t even protect you properly; what are you grateful for?”
“I woke up after hearing your voice.”
“…”
Sa Hae-geon’s pupils trembled slightly at my answer.
“I woke up thanks to you, Hae-geon. If I hadn’t heard your voice, I would still be wandering in that nightmare.”
“But it was clearly said to be a happy dream… that without help, you wouldn’t be able to wake up on your own…”
“Well. Maybe reality is happier than the dream.”
I said this and held Sa Hae-geon tightly.
“Let’s go home, Hae-geon.”
“…Hyung, I can’t go. What if you become endangered because of me?”
“What’s the problem when you have the ability control device?”
“Still…”
“If you’re that concerned, let’s do Guiding here before we go. Then there’s no problem, right?”
As I held Sa Hae-geon, who was reluctant and refusing, more tightly and gently coaxed him, he, who had been repeatedly shaking his head, let out a shallow sigh. After hesitating in silence for a moment, Sa Hae-geon soon answered:
“…Only kissing. I don’t want to do more than that outside. I don’t want anyone to hear or see you crying.”
“Uh, uhh… I wasn’t thinking that far either.”
Only then did Sa Hae-geon bury his face in my shoulder with satisfaction. I patted Sa Hae-geon’s back and added:
“And I got vacation time.”
“How long?”
“A month?”
“What are you planning to do for a month?”
“Rest at home with you, of course.”
“But I haven’t gotten a vacation.”
“Right. I got it for you instead so that the three of us—you, Cream, and I—can rest well for a month. If the Special Abilities Department has any conscience, they should at least do that much, don’t you think?”
Sa Hae-geon’s breath became a bit rough upon hearing about the vacation. Sa Hae-geon nodded with his face buried in my shoulder.
“I think so too.”
“Yes. Let’s just stay at home and rest for a month. Ah, but we still need to go grocery shopping.”
“Yes. And there’s a person named Woo Jae-dam.”
“Huh? Woo Jae-dam? Why Esper Woo Jae-dam?”
“He asked you for your opinion during that meeting.”
“Did he?”
Even though I showed little interest in the story about Woo Jae-dam, Sa Hae-geon chattered on enthusiastically.
“He said it didn’t mean anything special. He didn’t ask because he was interested in you, but because among the Guides there, you were relatively neutral…”
Sa Hae-geon continued mumbling. I nodded at his words and occasionally smiled, enjoying a rare moment of leisure. After that, Sa Hae-geon told me that while he felt sorry for Yoon Seon-ho the Esper who was grieving, he had been too busy taking care of me to pay attention at the time and had only apologized yesterday. He also told me how he had easily discovered the hiding place of the monster because he loved me so much.
Seeing Sa Hae-geon chatting so talkatively as if he had just been waiting for me to wake up, I finally felt like I had returned to a perfect normal life. To the ordinary and cozy daily life I had so longed for. As long as I was with Sa Hae-geon, I didn’t think I would dream of being kidnapped unawares by strangers anymore.
Because Sa Hae-geon suddenly appeared in my repetitive daily life and gave it his own variation. And because Sa Hae-geon was someone who would willingly kidnap me and confine me in his embrace whenever I wanted.
The End
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
