Biting my lips in nervousness, I went round and round the room incessantly. The time was already approaching nine o’clock at night.
In about an hour, Ha Tae-heon would come to my room to sleep, but in that situation, I couldn’t say to go back to Korea out of the blue…
‘I’ll go find him first.’
I couldn’t postpone it any longer. With a firm heart, I opened the door slightly and looked around. If nothing else happened, Ha Tae-heon would also be resting in his room, so I should go to him and knock on his door.
“Haa…”
Even though that was all, it wasn’t easy at all. After hesitating for a while, I stood in front of Ha Tae-heon’s door and raised my hand. I was about to knock on the door, swallowing dry saliva.
Clack!
“……!”
Suddenly the door opened and Ha Tae-heon appeared. As if he already knew I was coming, he looked down at me without showing any surprise.
“Ha, Ha Tae-heon-ssi.”
I quickly lowered my knocking hand and smiled awkwardly as he raised an eyebrow.
“What? You’re not going to sleep already.”
“That’s, um.”
Touching the nape of my neck for no reason, I gathered up the courage and asked carefully.
“Are you busy right now?”
“Say it.”
“Would you like to go for a walk together?”
Perhaps my suggestion was somewhat unexpected, Ha Tae-heon, who blinked for a moment, checked the clock hanging in the room.
“It’s too late to go for a walk.”
“It’s dangerous to go far, but isn’t it okay to be nearby? The night sky is pretty cool too.”
I added detailed explanations because I was afraid that Ha Tae-heon would refuse. He looked at me with a strange gaze, and fortunately, he nodded his head.
“Put it on.”
Ha Tae-heon took a thin cardigan from the closet and threw it to me. As Elohim said, it was always warm here, but I didn’t refuse to take a cardigan and put it on.
I couldn’t see Elohim anywhere as I passed the living room and came out the back door. I looked up at the sky with my back against the light shining through the window of the house, and I saw countless stars.
There were so many unknown things, but it was acceptable to say that it was a beautiful place. On the other side of the darkness, the apple tree I saw last time was shining with a golden light.
I started looking at the apple tree with a strange energy.
“Isn’t time really fast? It has already been ten days since I left Korea.”
“Right.”
Ha Tae-heon, who gave me a loose cardigan instead, looked around the sky and the apple tree like me.
“What are you going to do when you return to Korea?”
“First, I have to announce the SS-class coat.”
“What is a reasonable reason to put it up?”
“Found it.” (찾았다)
He frowned and changed his words.
“No, I think I find it here. They will find out when I return to Korea.” (아니, 찾은 것 같군. 한국으로 돌아가 보면 알게 되겠지.)
“What?”
“That man, the Prophet has information.”
Surprised by the unexpected story, I grabbed Ha Tae-heon’s arm.
“Did Elohim tell you? Did you even pay the price?”
“No. I didn’t even ask, but he told me at will.”
Elohim… did he tell him first? There was certain information he needed to know, was this one of them?
“Originally, when I went on a business trip to the Chinese gate, I thought about what I found here. I have already discussed with the China guild, which is a cooperative relationship.”
“A Chinese gate? But then…”
“Yeah. Relationship with that Chinese guild become needlessly complicated. There is a risk of changing words later. Even Master couldn’t make a decision easily.”
“If the information Elohim told you was true, did you decide that it wouldn’t be bad to use it?”
“I’m not very satisfied, but it’s better than getting entangled with other countries.”
I silently agreed. The owner of the SS-class coat was Ha Tae-heon. It was unpleasant for something else to intervene.
“I hope the coat problem is resolved well.”
Like ‘Abyss’, I wanted to see Ha Tae-heon wearing the coat proudly. As I spoke with a bitter smile, Ha Tae-heon narrowed his eyes.
“When it’s resolved, I will let you know right away. It was you who saved the coat.”
“I…”
“Han Yi-gyeol. Look straight at me.”
The wind with the scent of flowers blew and gently brushed Ha Tae-heon’s hair, who was staring at me.
“Why do you keep looking at me?”
“……”
My shoulders stiffened with tension. My head was tangled in an instant as to how to start the conversation.
I clenched my fists and pondered, swallowing dry saliva and opening my mouth. However, Ha Tae-heon was one beat faster.
“Do you not trust me?”
“Actually I, what?”
What is this sound? I quickly shook my head without hiding being flustered.
“Why can’t I trust Ha Tae-heon-ssi?”
No one had trusted and relied on Han Yi-gyeol as much as Ha Tae-heon during my time in Han Yi-gyeol’s body. Although he didn’t trust me… it was only natural because I was so suspicious.
Ha Tae-heon paused for a moment and said.
“Because I’ve done so many things.”
“I beg your pardon?”
What did you do? Was there more than one slap in the face? Ah, and there was one that he forced me to eat a sandwich. At the hotel party, he pretended not to know me and ignored me.
Anyways, these were just trivial things that were difficult to even argue now.
“There are some things I did wrong. And I understand all your doubts.”
I answered with sincerity, but Ha Tae-heon’s hard expression didn’t go away.
‘I can’t do this.’
From now on, I had to tell him to leave me and go to Korea, but it was harder to persuade him if he got depressed before the start.
I couldn’t help it. After taking a deep breath, I grabbed Ha Tae-heon’s wrist.
“Ha Tae-heon-ssi.”
His eyes were no longer cold, unlike before when he was suspicious of me and looked at me.
“I’ve always envied you.”
A person with excellent mental strength who always maintained his balance and wasn’t easily swayed. He was a hero who felt responsible for dealing with great powers and moved to protect people.
“I respect you as much as I envy you. When I was having a very difficult time, I was comforted by seeing Ha Tae-heon-ssi.”
“……”
“Even if you haven’t met them in person, there may be people you trust and rely on. For me, that was Ha Tae-heon-ssi.”
The more I tried to express my feelings to him, the more heat rushed to my face.
Damn, this was why I didn’t want to do this. I coughed for nothing, suppressing my embarrassment.
“So, don’t say that I don’t trust you. Do you understand?”
“I see.”
“Rather, it would be burdensome to trust too much… Ha Tae-heon-ssi?”
Ha Tae-heon, who was listening to me with a complicated expression, grabbed my face. He stroked my bangs, which were blown in the wind, with a gentle hand and shifted his gaze to my left cheek.
He stared at me tenaciously on the cheek and whispered in a low voice.
“Did it hurt a lot?”
It was then that I remembered that the place where Ha Tae-heon hit me was on the left cheek. Oh man, I told you it was okay. His behaviour of constantly looking at my reactions seemed cute and I laughed mischievously.
“It’s quite sturdy compared to what I look like now. Never mind. I also will do the same…”
“Then what about the hotel?”
“Yes?”
As he did a few days ago, he touched the corner of my eyes where he had kissed me.
“Aren’t you going to care what happened at the hotel?”
“What…”
What happened at the hotel. There was no exact explanation, but I knew immediately what it meant.
My head stopped stiffly like a broken machine at the unexpected question. Ha Tae-heon, who looked at my reaction, put on an expression that he knew it would be.
“You must have thought I made a mistake.”
“No, that…”
The exact words made it even more embarrassing. Licking my dry lips, I pondered then narrowed my forehead and pointed out the most important part.
“You mean it wasn’t a mistake?”
“Who kisses the face by mistake?”
“I thought you were drunk.”
“I can’t get drunk just because I drank some beer or wine.”
“That, that’s true.”
But did you have to keep talking while holding my face like this? It was so burdensome. I gently pushed Ha Tae-heon’s hand away and opened my mouth.
“We just passed the gate and we had a lot of work to do, so I thought you could get drunk because you were tired. SS-rank can get drunk, too.”
“Even if I’m not SS-rank, I wouldn’t have gotten drunk after drinking it.”
Ha Tae-heon, who responded in a simple way, wrapped his arms around my waist and hugged me. He quickly noticed my act of sneaking away.
“Therefore?”
“Yes?”
“I wasn’t drunk and it wasn’t a mistake. You still don’t care?”
“……”
I pushed Ha Tae-heon’s body with all my strength to free my caught waist, but he didn’t even move like a stone.
“Let me go, Ha Tae-heon-ssi. Let’s talk about it…”
“Don’t try to escape from it.”
“…I don’t know what you want from me.”
This wasn’t the conversation I was supposed to have with him. The plan had already collapsed and it was difficult to understand what the hell was going on.
“I am a man.”
“I know.”
“Ha Tae-heon-ssi is also a man.”
“I don’t know what gender has to do with my desire to kiss you.”
“Yes? Kiss?”
Ha Tae-heon, who sighed as he looked at me in shock, slowly released his arm.
“I’m not trying to force my feelings. No, it’s just something I brought up because I want you to know.”
I quickly distanced myself from him and covered my eyes with my hand. I didn’t know how to solve this problem and couldn’t speak properly out of my embarrassment.
“I’m…”
I didn’t want to hurt him. But that didn’t mean that it was a problem to just accept it and move on as I had done so far. On the contrary, it would hurt Ha Tae-heon even more if I did.
“……”
Reject… I have to do it. I took a long breath, trying to stay calm.
‘…it could be a light feeling.’
Now, a lot had changed from ‘Abyss’. So, even if Ha Tae-heon suddenly wanted to date, it was good enough. In the meantime, he had been with me for nearly ten days, so he must have misunderstood his feelings.
Whether it was a woman or a man, there were people around Ha Tae-heon who were much better than me. If I explained my situation and persuaded him well, he would understand.
I barely cleared my head and lowered my hand to look at Ha Tae-heon. But the moment our eyes met, I couldn’t spit out a single word I had thought of at all.
“I don’t necessarily want to hear an answer right now.”
“……”
“But seriously… I want you to think about it.”
Ha Tae-heon gave an awkward smile for the first time at me, who was standing blankly. His red-hot ears were clearly visible in the dark.
I muttered to myself, feeling miserable.
‘Now what should I do…’
T/N :
I think Tae-heon said that purposely so Yi-gyeol can go back with him wwwww
Somehow I don’t believe all of candidate MLs from this series that they have pure thoughts about Yi-gyeol wwwww
I’m sorry. When they talked about the coat problem, I actually couldn’t understand how to translate them. The words and the lack of subjects kinda confused me… u.u
You know I already read the spoiler but ugh… I have a thought that I can stop translating this series if I KNOW that Tae-heon will be the end game. I will accept that fact if there’s IMPORTANT reason why Yi-gyeol chooses him, not because he is the protagonist of the novel he read but something else. More precious than the whole thing… okay, this is only my rant and I try not to be biased wwwww *slapped
Next week, we will see how pathetic Sa-yeon can be without Yi-gyeol. I will laugh at him inside while hugging him lol *slapped
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