98.
“Are you sure you’ll be okay alone?”
Was it his improved posture or his better physique? Though the man’s facial features hadn’t changed much, there was a strange overall intimidation that Ryu Ho-yeon didn’t remember.
When he nodded emphatically while saying yes to reassure him, a bleak curtain fell over the man’s face. The man asked again in a subdued voice.
“Are you really sure?”
“Yes. Really, really sure.”
“…”
Ryu Ho-yeon’s answer remained firm regardless of how desolately the man’s face hardened. They had already been having this non-argument at the front door for what felt like hours, long past the time when he should have departed.
“But honestly, I really don’t understand.”
Usually, it was best not to speak when such thoughts crossed his mind, but this time he simply couldn’t hold back. Ryu Ho-yeon continued speaking deliberately.
“It was you, Choi Jae-won, who first suggested leaving me here and going alone, so what exactly are you unhappy about?”
As Ryu Ho-yeon’s distinctly sharp words continued, the man’s expression steadily blanched. Ryu Ho-yeon quickly added the magic word that could dissolve all tension.
“Hyung.”
Hmm. This worked as expected this time too. Whether he was conscious of it or not, the man, Choi Jae-won’s face melted into goo as soon as he heard “hyung.” It was like giving someone a hard knock on the head first and then applying medicine separately, but if the recipient was that happy with it, fine. Ryu Ho-yeon finished his calculations.
Today, Choi Jae-won was going out to support a guiding request that had come in after a long time. Actually, it wasn’t that long. Small requests had been coming in continuously since their return to Korea, but Choi Jae-won had unilaterally rejected them.
Until now, it hadn’t mattered because there were enough replacement guiding personnel for these tasks, but the request that came in fresh this morning was a bit different in nature.
It seemed that an A-class natural ability user had just awakened and escaped in a panic while being escorted to the Center. An Esper who hadn’t properly received guiding yet and didn’t know how to control their abilities was literally a ticking time bomb.
The gist of this support request was to come to the central branch quickly and stand by so that guiding could be performed whenever the whereabouts of the Esper in question were discovered. Though Choi Jae-won had insisted he absolutely couldn’t go to the central branch in Seoul and had the standby location changed to the Sejong branch, which was geographically closest to their location… Choi Jae-won had no intention of taking Ryu Ho-yeon outside this island. Who knows, he might provide even the tiniest pretext for someone to recognize Ryu Ho-yeon.
In reality, the probability was very low since even Choi Jae-won hadn’t recognized him at first sight, but it was purely a psychological issue.
“Aren’t you going?”
“…”
“Your pager has been going off for a while now.”
“Hah…”
Seeing that blank expression as if asking why he wasn’t leaving quickly, Choi Jae-won simply couldn’t bring himself to step away. Even while knowing it was an irrational imagination, he felt that the moment he turned his back and left the island, the image of Ryu Ho-yeon that he had barely found would disappear without a trace.
He just couldn’t leave. If Ryu Ho-yeon disappeared again to a place beyond reach after losing sight of him even for a moment, he truly wouldn’t be able to endure it. Having experienced how terrible and difficult it was to survive and endure alone without Ryu Ho-yeon, such thoughts became even stronger.
“…Would you like to come with me?”
In the end, Choi Jae-won decided to give more weight to the immediate fear in front of him than to the vague fear of the future.
“Uh… is that okay? Really?”
“Yes. Really, really okay.”
Returning the exact words Ryu Ho-yeon had answered with earlier, his previously impassive face instantly brightened. Choi Jae-won felt both pleased and somewhat bitter that this complexion, which to his eyes seemed only pale, couldn’t be satisfied even by the comfortable paradise he had meticulously created for a memory-less Ryu Ho-yeon.
In fact, Ryu Ho-yeon was simply happy that he could finally end this tedious argument.
“Ah. It would be better for you to go as just ‘Won’ outside. It’ll be tiring if people recognize you and crowd around. How about revealing your identity later, when your body has fully recovered?”
Ryu Ho-yeon struggled to hold back a sneer. He thinks he’s cleverly coming up with all sorts of excuses. Given the thorough facilities that would allow him to live without any inconvenience even without leaving the island, his desire to hide and monopolize Ryu Ho-yeon was transparently obvious, yet he talked about it being tiring if people recognized him and crowded around.
“Okay. I’ll do that.”
A large exclamation mark flashed on Choi Jae-won’s face, which had clearly been struggling to figure out how to persuade if Ryu Ho-yeon asked why he should do that. He apparently hadn’t expected Ryu Ho-yeon to comply so readily with his words.
Ryu Ho-yeon could bet everything he had that Choi Jae-won would never publicly reveal the fact of his survival until he pretended to have regained his memory at an appropriate time. Though it was problematic that all he had was Choi Jae-won.
“T-then wait a moment! Just wait a minute!!”
Just a moment ago he seemed like a different person with his matured impression and sharp atmosphere, but instantly he became the twenty-year-old Choi Jae-won busy floundering in unrequited love.
Choi Jae-won rushed to pressure his subordinates. The content was mainly about tracking the current movements of Lee Han-seo, Kim Jun-young pair, and the Laboratory Director in real-time to ensure they absolutely wouldn’t cross paths, with immediate reports.
‘Pretending to have lost my memory is more convenient than I thought…’
Casually eating pieces of prepared melon from the refrigerator, Ryu Ho-yeon thought peacefully. Originally, Choi Jae-won would have handled matters out of Ryu Ho-yeon’s sight so that he couldn’t know, but since he now believed that Ryu Ho-yeon wouldn’t understand the situation even if he heard, he seemed strangely off guard.
‘Maybe a year is too long? Should I say I remembered after a couple of months? I miss mom… and Han-seo and Jung-hyuk hyung too.’
Ryu Ho-yeon continued his thoughts while still eating melon. Choi Jae-won, moving busily, looked as happy as if he owned the whole world.
It was an amusing sight. After all, the ways of the world don’t flow according to people’s wishes—that’s why they’re the ways of the world.
* * *
The blocked vision and skin covered by long sleeves felt completely stifling. The mask he had worn like a second skin for years was the same.
As soon as the outing was decided, Ryu Ho-yeon pushed his hat down low and pulled his mask up to the tip of his nose before Choi Jae-won could tell him to, not to mention the long-sleeved T-shirt that covered even the backs of his hands with room to spare.
“Ho-yeon. Isn’t that uncomfortable?”
“I’m used to this much, so it’s fine.”
It had taken a long time to get used to hardship, but becoming accustomed to tranquility happened in an instant. Contrary to his words that he was fine because he was used to it, Ryu Ho-yeon gained a fresh realization from the fact that the layers of clothing he had put on after so long felt completely uncomfortable.
“Do you want to take them off for a bit? At least until we enter the Center.”
“…”
Ryu Ho-yeon glanced sideways at the expressionless faces of the driver and attendant sitting in the front seats of the vehicle, then just silently shook his head.
Just because “Won,” whose only wish had been to find a proper residence in the city, had become “Ryu Ho-yeon,” who had saved the world and had an enviable chaebol lover, didn’t mean the ugly duckling had instantly transformed into a swan. Only Choi Jae-won could look down at the ugly scars covering his entire body with loving eyes as if they were nothing.
People who first saw Ryu Ho-yeon’s appearance would all frown and hurriedly look him up and down. Whether intentional or unintentional, most did so. Occasionally, humans with exceptionally kind hearts would look at him with pitying eyes rather than frowning, but in reality, that was only slightly better than the former and not a particularly welcome gaze to receive.
“It’s fine, so don’t worry. Really, it’s fine.”
Ryu Ho-yeon answered while unconsciously pulling his long sleeves even further down. Watching that action which the person himself wasn’t even aware of, Choi Jae-won felt as if one side of his heart was being painfully seared. He felt as cute and pitiful as a rain-soaked puppy encountered by chance on the roadside.
And he felt an unfailing certainty.
Indeed, he should never let this heal completely.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
