90.
The person who was just in this room with us.
Though the message was delivered in English rather than his native language, it wasn’t difficult to understand.
However, Choi Jae-won needed twice as long as usual to hear that short sentence spoken into the air, parse the structure of the words, and finally comprehend it.
It was because the statement was so far outside his expectations.
Facing Choi Jae-won, who remained frozen like a still life without even blinking, Grant hurriedly continued with desperate excuses. He wanted to quickly offer a different target for the ominous-looking man’s anger or revenge—anything but himself.
“I don’t know what this is about, but I, I…! It’s true that I momentarily succumbed to greed and took that ring to sell it. But I didn’t steal it from you. When I saw it, it was clearly on Won’s finger… it was on Won’s hand!”
His desperate voice fired like rapid bullets. Choi Jae-won, looking down at Grant’s miserable state, remained frozen in place.
“So, uh, if you lost it, I’m not the one who stole it from you. It must have been Won. It’s unfair that I’ve been brought here like this!”
Throughout the past few days they’d spent together, Choi Jae-won had never once addressed the Guide he’d encountered in this foreign land by name. But he knew that others called this Guide “Won.”
“…How did you come to know Won?”
His lips felt awkward pronouncing the name he’d never used before. His mouth was becoming parched, probably because of that.
“A few years ago, I was doing volunteer work and found him by chance. I carried him to the hospital after finding him unconscious with injuries all over his body. While doing so, the ring he was wearing happened to fall to the ground…”
Strangely, Choi Jae-won felt short of breath. Strangely, his mouth felt dry.
Though it was absolutely impossible, implausible assumptions kept welling up.
Come to think of it, Won’s height and build had seemed similar from the beginning. Due to the scars covering his entire body, his face and body were completely wrapped up, so Choi Jae-won hadn’t been able to confirm his exact appearance, but even his raspy voice, as if suffering from a severe cold… If one listened carefully, it seemed vaguely similar.
“That’s really all there is to it. I really just picked up that ring and resold it!”
Still, Won couldn’t possibly be Ryu Ho-yeon. Because he wasn’t an Esper.
But why was his heart so agitated?
It wasn’t excitement, but rather a feeling closer to rotting decay.
“Injuries… all over his body, you said.”
“Yesss. It took a long time for him to wake up, but once he regained consciousness, he said he couldn’t remember anything. Anyway, it wasn’t me! At the very least, I haven’t done anything wrong to you!!”
After hearing that much, Choi Jae-won couldn’t endure any longer. Leaving Grant to continue pleading, he immediately turned around. After just a few steps, his hand reached the firmly closed doorknob. It was the exact spot where Won had stood just minutes ago, shoulders slumped under Choi Jae-won’s harsh criticism before walking out.
“Hey, what am I supposed to do if you just leave like this? You’re letting me go, right? Huh? Huh?”
Grant’s screams filled the room but didn’t meaningfully register in anyone’s ears. Choi Jae-won needlessly gritted his teeth once before forcefully turning the doorknob in his hand.
“Oh, you’re finished already? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to deceive you from the beginning, but the situation was so sudden…”
Won, who had been crouching in front of the tightly closed door, raised his head with a start and spoke. His small head was still heavily covered by a wide-brimmed hat casting shadows down to his nose and a mask completely concealing his face.
Instead of answering Won verbally, Choi Jae-won abruptly grabbed his wrist and pulled him up. Won called out to him once in a confused voice, “Choi Jae-won-ssi…?”
The texture of the skin on his wrist, covered with burn marks, was completely bumpy. It was totally different from the smooth skin Choi Jae-won remembered. Even pushing as much guiding as possible, none of it was transmitted but instead returned to him, confirming that this completely, completely nonsensical assumption was correct.
Nevertheless, wanting to verify something, Choi Jae-won abruptly removed Won’s hat. The eyes revealed at last were filled with confusion.
Beneath the unkempt hair that hadn’t been groomed for a long time, the gradually exposed forehead and eye area were simply tragic. The bright red, bumpy regenerated skin, the eyes that were uneven in size because one side of the skin had excessively curled up… And one eyebrow was half gone, having disappeared completely along with a large scar from some kind of scrape.
The delicate and beautiful appearance like a porcelain doll that Choi Jae-won loved and everyone remembered was nowhere to be found.
But.
“Why are you suddenly, why are you doing this…?”
Although they had been working together for several days already, Won’s eyes, which Choi Jae-won was facing for the first time, resembled the color he missed so much. Pale blue eyes. Choi Jae-won’s heart was already overwhelmed with premature emotion.
Won, not knowing the reason, kept squirming as if trying to get his hat back, even with one wrist still held. Choi Jae-won didn’t return the hat but instead removed the mask as well. Won startled and immediately lowered his head, trying to cover his face with his free hand.
“Just a moment, just a moment is all I need…”
Choi Jae-won’s voice was now trembling terribly. He muttered with a terrible feeling as he used his remaining hand to lift Won’s chin. Won seemed reluctant to raise his head and tried to resist in his own way, but the difference in basic strength was too great for it to work.
“Ah…”
“Choi Jae-won-ssi?”
The inside of his eyeballs felt burning hot. Thinking he shouldn’t cry already, Choi Jae-won bit the inside of his cheek firmly and widened his eyes even more.
He almost wished that this implausible assumption that had crossed his mind was just a momentary illusion or a happenings of layered coincidences and misunderstandings. In other words, he hoped that the man standing before him now was not Ryu Ho-yeon whom he had been searching for so desperately.
It wasn’t because of the strangely twisted bridge of his nose, which must have gone wrong somewhere in the process of breaking and healing. It wasn’t because the terrible scars covering his entire skin, blurring the boundary between face and neck, were unsightly.
While it was true that what first captured his young gaze was Ryu Ho-yeon’s beautiful appearance, after living together and truly falling in love with Ryu Ho-yeon, such things had long ceased to matter at all.
It was just that these wounds, which looked painful even to onlookers despite several years having passed… The thought that Ryu Ho-yeon had to endure alone in such a harsh environment without Choi Jae-won, without anyone to properly care for him, having lost his memory and not knowing who he was—it was devastatingly, terribly sad.
Choi Jae-won had imagined countless scenarios. Though everyone said Ryu Ho-yeon must be dead, that it was time to let go, Choi Jae-won had wondered: if Ryu Ho-yeon were alive, if he had survived but wasn’t returning to him, where and how would he be living?
In all the numerous imaginings and assumptions accumulated over nearly ten years, this scenario had never occurred. And it wasn’t just about physical appearance. Being such a precious and talented S-class Esper, Choi Jae-won had assumed that Ryu Ho-yeon would have settled somewhere his abilities were needed, found another Guide, and would be living well.
While the probability of him being alive was very low to begin with, that had seemed the most plausible scenario if he were alive.
“Choi Jae-won-ssi, what’s wrong? Are you alright?”
“…”
Won anxiously asked as he faced the troublesome client who had suddenly grabbed him, performed all sorts of strange acts, and finally burst into tears.
“No.”
“What?”
“I’m not alright at all.”
Choi Jae-won wept sorrowfully.
Ryu Ho-yeon was alive. He had survived.
That fact alone made Choi Jae-won live again. And that fact alone pushed him back into an abyss of despair and guilt.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
