Chapter 175

"Then, Hunter Lee Ayoung, have all your hurt feelings been resolved?"

"Yes... Ah, no wonder Soram oppa's face looked so bad earlier. To have the person you're dating get hurt right in front of you."

"Right? Ayoung knows that, but Han Tae-un doesn't."

"..."

"Tae-un oppa was wrong... Anyway, so you two are going to rest together for about a week more and then come back, right? There's nothing else?"

"Yeah. If you're uncomfortable staying in another team for long, I'll give you some leave."

"No. Everyone's treating me well. Look at this. They're checking on me because I didn't come when it was time. Hello. Yes, unnie. I'm on the 1st floor. Main entrance. I'll come up soon. Ah, okay."

A call from Ga-eul came at the right timing. Ayoung, who ended the call, got up from the railing.

"Do you have to go up?"

"Yeah. I've been learning something from unnie these days......"

Ayoung dusted off her clothes and looked at the two alternately before suddenly grinning.

"I won't ask where you two were going. Rest well, but come back soon. Team 1 is good too, but I like our original team with the team leader who took care of me throughout school better."

"...Really?"

"Huh? Of course. I'm going now."

Ayoung waved both hands and went inside. Soram, who had been sitting on the railing until Ayoung's back was out of sight, muttered.

"A kid is a kid after all. The dating talk was a direct hit."

"...That's right."

"Did you think I was going to tell Ayoung about repeating the same time earlier?"

"..."

"As if I would. Why would I give her such a burden?"

"You did well."

"Yeah. I think I covered it up well without hurting her feelings..."

Tae-un had been watching Soram's facial expressions change all along. It was an expression that made Tae-un have to cover Soram's crown with his palm.

"...Han Tae-un."

Soram finally covered his reddened face with his sleeve.

"Ayoung said she likes me better than Ga-eul. That she likes being in our team more than being in Team 1."

"So you're happy?"

"Yeah."

It was a relationship he had regretted a lot but didn't know how to handle best. Ayoung probably threw out those words lightly, but they made Soram feel like the accumulated solid guilt was easing. For the first time in all those countless repetitions.

He realized it more clearly only after regaining his memories. The world Tae-un had sacrificed to create was this perfect.

"...It would have been nice if we could keep living in this life."

A dream-like life where he fell in love with Tae-un and somewhat fulfilled his role as a team leader. The floating emotion quickly plummeted back down.

Depression was like an ember that didn't know when it would burst. It would die down at unexpected times, then flare up when he was off guard, spreading flames around.

Ah, I ruined everything.

Today's "pretending to be okay," which he had done his best at in front of Ayoung, was all used up.

"I want to go back to the room. Let's go next time."

"...Okay."

"Make me not think about anything."

***

It was three days later that the two could go out of the dormitory together.

Soram holed up in the bedroom a bit longer. Tae-un watched over him and forcibly pulled him out whenever he tried to sink into too deep a swamp, regardless of what Soram said. Thanks to him, meals entered Soram's mouth on time, his face swollen from tears was washed, and when he couldn't fall asleep, he was put to sleep even if it was like fainting.

There were times when he cried to just leave him alone, but as a result, he became able to go out again.

Near Jamsil Station.

"...It's around here."

The place where Soram stopped was in the middle of a typical bustling area. A large department store and shopping center, tall officetel buildings and commercial buildings, a 10-lane road where cars never stopped. Finally, beyond that, the mascot character of an amusement park could be seen.

Tae-un, who looked around, asked Soram.

"Aren't you scared?"

"It's okay here. If I were scared in this state, I wouldn't be able to go anywhere in the city."

This area was a place he had been to hundreds of times while going on dispatches. He was never afraid of this place itself. Rather, what remained as a strong afterimage was something else.

Soram grabbed the brim of his hat and looked up.

The sky blue without a single impurity, and the black crack that looked even clearer because of it.

Now, though the day was clear, it was the murky sky color between late spring and summer. Perhaps because of that, this place didn't feel like an immediately dangerous place. It just felt a bit bleak. Tae-un, who was looking in the same direction as Soram, drew a long crack from the sky to the ground with his fingertip.

"The Great Rift appears like this over there, right?"

"Yeah. Oh, how did you know the shape of the rift?"

"I took a picture."

"That's a lie."

"I saw it briefly at the end of the previous life."

Tae-un admitted it right away. Soram didn't ask how such a thing happened. The fact that he was by his side with memories of the previous life was already an impossible miracle.

But that was all.

"Then you should know. There's nothing we can do now."

"Well. I saw it was around here. Ah."

Tae-un, who had been looking around, pointed to a sign across the diagonal street.

"Found it."

<Original Red Rockfish Spicy Soup>

It was written in white block letters on a red background like thick soup.

They took seats in front of the menu board with stickers plastered over the price displays to reflect inflation. The state of the plates in front of the two sitting face to face was very different. Tae-un sipped the soup a few times and nibbled on the hand-pulled dough pieces. The menu board didn't even have the grilled short rib patties usually sold as an add-on.

"I told you you could eat something else."

"To date someone much older, I have to endure this much."

"Don't mind me and just do what you like."

As Tae-un, who was picking up some enoki mushrooms, stopped his action and looked at him, Soram hesitantly added an explanation.

"I don't mean I'll force myself to match you, but I like what you like too."

Still, Soram's meal portion had clearly increased compared to when he ate in the dormitory, with the medium-sized spicy soup he ordered half gone. It seemed his appetite was returning as the spicy food touched his palate after having simple meals for a long time. Enough to eat while dropping a few spots of soup on the navy apron the restaurant owner had carelessly provided.

"No. Why should you have all the fun of watching someone eat well?"

"..."

"We'll go eat spicy soup, blood sausage hangover soup, rice soup, everything."

While saying this, Tae-un continued his meal moderately with the side dishes of stir-fried fish cakes and seasoned bean sprouts.

"..."

Soram felt the strength draining from his hand holding the chopsticks. He poked at a piece of fish with his chopsticks. Then he peeled off the gray skin, leaving only a thick piece of white flesh, and stretched out his arm to place it on top of Tae-un's rice bowl.

"The fish smell here isn't that strong."

Tae-un immediately scooped it up with rice, put it in his mouth, and swallowed it without chewing much before declaring.

"You're seducing me right now."

"Are you still seduced by this kind of thing?"

"I am."

"..."

Soram picked off more flesh and placed it on top of Tae-un's rice. Tae-un, who had barely touched the fish in the soup, put it in his mouth just like that again. It was the same even when Soram gave him more. Without adding any other side dishes, he put everything Soram gave him into his mouth with rice.

That was all, but it felt like he had heard something from that stoic face. Soram tried giving him a piece of radish from the stew on his rice too. This time, Tae-un's eyes twitched slightly, but he still put it in his mouth.

"Do you dislike radish?"

"I don't like it when it gets mushy."

"I like it."

Then Tae-un took out a radish from the spicy soup, cut it into bite-sized pieces, and placed it on Soram's spoon.

"...This is definitely seducing."

Just as Soram was about to bring the spoon to his mouth.

"Huh? Is that Jin Soram?"

Their meal stopped, and they both pulled up their turtlenecks or hoods at the same time. But there was no approaching presence. Three office workers chatting were looking at the TV, not at them.

"Would that be Jin Soram? Doesn't he live his own way without caring about anything from the start?"

"That shadow looks like Jin Soram."

"It just looks like they used any random male silhouette image."

The news, which the restaurant owner had muted, could only be seen through video and subtitles without sound. The main headline was about large-scale protective measures being implemented for hunters. Whether it was obstruction of official duties or insults online and offline. As part of this, some regulations that had been holding back high-grade hunters until now were also relaxed.

"...Ha, that surprised me."

While Tae-un let go of his hood and sighed in relief, Soram continued to take in the news with his eyes.

Tae-un might not have noticed, but Soram, who had sat in the director's seat a few times, could tell. This was a price. Received in exchange for this incident that couldn't surface above water.

If so, the reduced number of people in the Rift Phenomenon Management Headquarters building wasn't simply for the purpose of guarding against outsiders, but because there was something being quietly carried out internally in relation to this. For example, they might be investigating the parties involved on this side.

There was only one person who could push through something like this. While he had been holed up in the dormitory, there must have been many fights.

...There's no need to go this far.

Because it's a life that will end soon due to what he did anyway.

"..."

The meal, which had continued for a few more spoonfuls, ended as Soram put down his spoon. Tae-un, who came out of the restaurant, pulled Soram's hand that had darkened during the meal.

"Now let's date in the younger style."

"Do whatever you... What are you going to do?"

"We're going there."

"...There?"

Soram's eyes twisted slightly as he looked at where Tae-un was pointing.