Side Story 5. A Midsummer Night's Letter (2) Main Text: The Island of Runaway Lovers (9)

***

Tae-un's eyelids opened at the time when the dawn light was faintly invading. He first checked the presence in his arms. Then, looking blankly at the unfamiliar wall beyond the fluffy hair tickling under his nose, he realized this wasn't the dormitory.

The habit of getting up to prepare breakfast made him wake up early even at the resort. Moreover, the image of Soram eating retort pouch meals the day before lingered like an afterimage. Tae-un resolutely got up as if possessed by some sense of mission.

In the dormitory bed, if he stretched his legs while lying down, the edge of the bed would touch his shins, but here he had to retreat quite far, patting the sheet. They used the oversized bed very narrowly in the middle, and Tae-un greatly enjoyed this discomfort, just as he did in the dormitory bed.

He slipped out of bed, minimizing the sound of rustling sheets. Meanwhile, Soram, in his sleep, was clutching the blanket where Tae-un had left.

"Sleep more."

Tae-un whispered, not taking his eyes off Soram. When he told Soram, who had slightly wrinkled his eyes, "I'll wake you when it's time to eat," he nodded vaguely before falling back into his dream.

Soram no longer fell asleep at any time. Instead, he slept very soundly at night. Tae-un, who had stayed by his side for a long time, happily watched this slow change.

When he quietly opened the door and went outside, he acutely felt how comfortable the indoor environment had been thanks to the air conditioning. An unfamiliar heat and humidity hit him.

Tae-un's steps headed towards the restaurant area in the main building of the resort. There was no Korean food, but surely there would be Chinese or Asian fusion cuisine.

Looking at the comprehensive menu written on a wide panel, he found a picture of a meat soup that looked similar to tang-guk. Upon searching, he found that it was a dish that Koreans often sought abroad, saying it tasted like galbi-tang. That, along with some dumplings, fried rice, and stir-fried noodles should be edible.

Just then, as the sun rose outside the window, the boundary between the sea and sky that had disappeared in the darkness gradually revealed itself. Neither he nor Soram had properly seen the sea from their room yesterday. In Korea, it was difficult to have a leisurely meal out because his face was too well-known, but it would be nice to enjoy the scenery while eating in a place like this.

He leaned on the railing outside the restaurant for a moment and canceled all the plans he had for crossing over to another country today. He also had to tear up the suffocating schedule for exploring honeymoon destination candidates. He couldn't leave Soram behind after he had followed him here. He wasn't sure how many days of vacation Soram had gotten, but they should play together here and then go back.

After making various calls and paying some cancellation fees, some time had passed. He walked briskly along the path where the twilight had disappeared. It was a bit disappointing that it wasn't as clear blue as yesterday, but this slightly overcast day might be better for sightseeing.

"Where did you go?"

When he returned to the room, Soram was already awake, sitting up in bed. Dissatisfaction at waking up and not seeing Tae-un hung heavily on his puffy face.

"Sorry. Did you look for me? I took my phone, you could have called."

"Mine ran out of battery."

"I went to check out the breakfast lounge. Let's go when you're hungry. There's something you can eat too."

"Why are you still taking care of my meals even here... Ah, if we eat and get ready to go out, the timing would be just right."

"Is there somewhere you want to go?"

"Mmm... work."

"Are you not fully awake? This isn't the dormitory."

"I know. Still, work."

Soram shook off his sleep with a cat-like wash and swung his legs out of bed. The blanket drooping from his waist seemed like lingering attachment to sleep.

"If this country were in its right mind, would they accept a tourist trip from two overseas S-class hunters? I came here on official business."

"...Huh?"

"Here... they have a lot of cliff-like terrain but no flight hunters. I was dispatched on the condition of clearing five or six unprocessed rifts in such places. I also pestered the Director a bit, saying I'd follow you."

Soram, who had been stretching this way and that, tapped his waist, making an "Egugu" sound.

"If we had gone for round two in bed, I'd have been 100% late. Let's go eat. Don't go anywhere, just play around here. I'll be back quickly after smashing them."

"..."

"We'll do fun things together after I get off work."

Soram put on a robe over his T-shirt and walked out languidly. Only then did Tae-un recall yesterday's rather formal attire for what was supposed to be a casual outing.

"..."

That figure walking away with his back turned was once what Tae-un had fallen for, and now what he hated and feared the most. Tae-un moved his feet in large strides and grabbed Soram's arm.

"I'll go with you."

Soram turned around. Shhiik, a wide smile bloomed across his entire face.

"Of course, the uptight scholar Han Tae-un wouldn't let me go alone. You fell for it."

***

Soram had a perfect plan from the start.

'I will work the runaway Han Tae-un to the bone in a foreign country.'

So, during the entry condition negotiations, even when the number of rifts sneakily increased to six, he readily agreed, thinking, 'What the heck.'

As the first step in executing his plan, he spread both hands wide to point at Tae-un in front of the civil servants who had come to pick him up at the resort. Tae-un was loaded into the seat next to Soram, bearing the infamous title of 'He is Korean Best Fighter'. The car carrying the Korean Best Fighter headed towards the city center on the opposite side of the mountain, following the coastal road around the cliff.

"S-class Hunter Jin Soram. We warmly welcome you. Um, we didn't know he would come along."

"Thank you for your hospitality. He begged to come along, saying he absolutely wanted to help his respected leader's work. Is that alright?"

"We're grateful! Korean hunters are indeed as close-knit as we've heard."

"..."

His perfect plan was going smoothly until they exchanged brief greetings at the agency managing this country's awakened individuals.

The civil servants who had loaded Soram and Tae-un into the back seat again parked the car about halfway up the mountain and pointed upwards. A black rift had opened on the steep rock face above. Soram pointed upwards just like them and looked at Tae-un. Tae-un blinked blankly, showing his empty hands.

Tae-un shattered Soram's plan with a single sentence.

"Unless you came on official business, there's no way weapons could be brought in..."

Tae-un, a mere tourist, hadn't been allowed even a lighter, let alone a sword, on the plane.

Soram raised his sword with a frustrated expression and charged towards the rift.

Thud!

The sword plunged into the gap of the rift. His skills were still sharp, and the rift gap quickly shrank. The two foreign civil servants exclaimed "Ooh" in admiration, while Tae-un stood next to them, nodding as if in agreement, which was strangely infuriating.

In fact, Soram had two more daggers on him. He thought about handing one over and proceeding according to plan, but soon abandoned the idea. I might as well just finish it quickly myself. Giving him an unfamiliar weapon and telling him to break the rift would really be spiteful.

Soram glanced down. Tae-un was looking up at him from below, craning his neck. His expression was no different from usual.

'Sigh, I guess he's no longer upset about me splurging recklessly.'

Soram felt slightly relieved and struck down on the rift again.

The upright person was both simple and complex.

Some might think money is the most valuable commodity, but not for Soram. Rather, it was natural that the one who took meticulous care of him, who had become distant from normal life, was far more precious.

Among those, what was beyond valuation would be the devotion and love of giving one's own life to save another.

Having given such things without any hesitation, why on earth couldn't he receive even trivial things?

'I'm the one holding back from wanting to do so much more.'

Soram wrinkled his nose at the runaway youth. Tae-un, with his good eyesight, made a puzzled expression, but Soram ignored it and finished dealing with the rift before coming down. The first rift required of Jin Soram as an entry condition was successfully completed.

"Korean Esper cool, fly high and strong."

"Next Dungeon 30 minutes away. Want drink Coffee on way? Know good owner's place."

"Just speak in English. I can handle simple conversations too."

"No, I study many, know. Watch K-pop Idol every day. Watched Jin Soram ssi, Han Tae-un ssi <Going to Work> too."

The civil servants speaking broken Korean were as kind as if they were dealing with tourists, not dispatched mercenaries.

Unless the rift was extremely difficult to the point of risking serious injury, it was easy to break through, just in inconvenient locations like the top of a huge tree or under a cliff. They even got comfortable rides by car right up to the front of every rift. It felt almost like they were on a free tropical forest tour package.

"This is the last one."

After roaming through nature-made lush forests and cliffs, the last tourist spot was a cave not far from the national park.