“Jehee, it’s alright. I will be there soon, so please don’t worry and just stay put.”
The ‘Grey Coat’ had a history of saving Jehee’s life.
They had spent quite an intimate time together, and he had even kissed her twice.
I still didn’t know why Jehee had turned pale and left immediately after the kiss on our date, and then later left a firm message of rejection, nor why she had confessed to ‘Im Taehwan’ on that very same day.
Still, she must have held a favorable opinion of the ‘respected Hunter’ for quite a long time.
I had seen her recently mention the ‘Grey Coat’ as the person she admired in an interview.
Therefore… wouldn’t she rely on me in this crisis?
I hoped so.
She had to.
Only then could I safely take Jehee out.
“Jehee.”
“Ugh, h-huk…”
A suppressed sound of sobbing was heard in the darkness.
Jehee was crying. Very mournfully.
My heart sank.
“Jehee. What is wrong? Are you hurt somewhere…”
Hearing Jehee cry, I couldn’t bear it any longer.
I wanted to confirm Jehee’s safety quickly.
I felt like I would go crazy if I didn’t hold her body in my arms.
My body moved before my mind could finish thinking.
I set out on a reckless gamble, ready to sacrifice an arm or a leg if necessary, searching for Jehee’s presence, but surprisingly, Jehee accepted my touch obediently.
Her trembling body felt so small and weak that it was hard to believe this was the being who had tried to tear me apart in the darkness.
But even at this moment, sharp bloodlust was leaking from Jehee’s body.
Intense bloodlust that seemed to hate the entire world. It felt like it could burst my heart at any moment.
My head was reeling from the overwhelming threat to my life.
But it was alright.
If this could help Jehee regain her senses even a little faster, and if we could safely leave this place together, it was enough.
No matter what price I had to pay, it wouldn’t be a waste.
“It’s okay. It’s okay…”
Holding her tightly with both arms so she couldn’t use her powers anymore, I patted her soft back and stroked her head.
Did my desperate effort move her heart?
Jehee’s crying gradually subsided.
The occasional signs of rejection also completely disappeared.
“Jae…”
“It’s Taehwan…”
The moment she called my name, the bloodlust that had been spread throughout the area vanished at once.
As my heart, which had been shriveled up from the pressure, suddenly returned to its original state, my blood seemed to rush through my unclogged vessels all at once, and my whole body felt like it was throbbing at an enormous speed.
Contrary to that, however, my mind was blank.
Did I hear correctly?
Did Jehee just call my name?
As if to make my doubts meaningless, Jehee moved first.
She hugged me. Very joyfully.
“Taehwan, I missed you.”
Her voice sounded so sweet that I nearly answered as ‘Im Taehwan’ without realizing it.
I barely managed to keep my mouth shut, but whether I answered or not, Jehee pressed her face into my chest, busy speaking her mind.
As if she couldn’t bear not to express what had been accumulated in her heart for so long.
“I missed you. I kept waiting. I was so scared…”
“…”
“I guess… I can’t do without you. I tried to move on from my feelings… but at times like this, I can only think of you…”
“…”
“Thank you. For coming…”
Jehee sniffled.
The sincerity in her voice made my chest, my entire heart, feel like it was scorched black.
“I…”
I opened my mouth and immediately closed it.
Should I speak as the ‘Grey Coat’ right now? Or should I be ‘Im Taehwan’?
I didn’t know why Jehee was so sure that I was ‘Im Taehwan.’
In this pitch-black darkness, she definitely wouldn’t be able to see anything, and my voice was undoubtedly distorted.
I was wearing gloves and layers of thick clothes, and even using several artifacts, so my physique should feel different, too.
Was she having a delusion?
Just as the Jehee I found in the mountains was temporarily unable to move her legs and couldn’t see, could the current Jehee be broken somewhere to the extent that she was mistaking people?
‘Even if that were the case…’
Why ‘Im Taehwan’ of all people?
Not the father she respected and loved, nor the mother who supported her for so long as the head of the household, nor the younger siblings she cherished even at the expense of herself, nor the hero she admired, the ‘Grey Coat.’
I was happy that Jehee was looking for me in this situation, but at the same time, I was tormented.
Why, in this darkness, was she looking for the very person who had hurt her?
Perhaps I had been silent for too long, as Jehee lifted her head.
Anxiously, she fumbled her way up towards my face.
“…Taehwan.”
I accepted Jehee’s touch silently, with my eyes closed.
As intended, Jehee’s hands touched the mask instead of my face.
At the cold sensation, Jehee let out a short gasp and flinched.
Now she seemed to realize who ‘I’ was.
“Jehee.”
I hesitated until the last moment, but right now, I didn’t want to be ‘Im Taehwan.’
So desperately that I wanted to find comfort beneath this mask, even though I knew I shouldn’t deceive Jehee anymore.
At least the ‘Grey Coat’ hadn’t hurt Jehee. And certainly not given her trauma.
I wanted the person staying by Jehee’s side to be someone a little more upright.
I wished to be someone she could rely on with a little more peace of mind, not someone who ‘inflicts pain then gives medicine.’
“Let’s go out. People will be waiting. I will carry you…”
“…It was you.”
But Jehee said something unexpected.
“You became my hero for my sake…”
Her soft mumbling voice was filled with clear conviction.
I was speechless.
I should deny it, but the hand stroking the masked face was so affectionate, so clearly directed towards ‘Im Taehwan,’ that I couldn’t utter a word.
“I see. Why didn’t I know? You were always by my side. I’m such a fool…”
“…”
I opened and closed my mouth several times but couldn’t say anything.
I could have played dumb and asked what she was talking about, or what she was mistaken about, but I couldn’t bring myself to lie anymore.
My lips trembled, and I finally forced out the words as if squeezing them out.
“You’re not a fool. Who is a fool? You’re just…”
I thought the words were about to flow, but I suddenly choked up.
My chest felt like it had turned into a solid stone; it was so hard to breathe that I took off the mask.
I didn’t even have the strength to hold it, so I let it fall to the floor.
Instead, with the remaining strength, I embraced Jehee.
Very strongly.
With all my heart.
“It’s because you’re kind. You’re too kind and you care for me, and that’s why you trusted me blindly. The one who made a mistake is me. I knew you would trust me, and I lied. For a long time, I lied a lot.”
“…”
“I’m sorry. I am sorry for everything. I was wrong…”
I poured out the words incoherently.
I didn’t even know what nonsense I was spewing, but all those words were clearly my sincere feelings.
Jehee just listened quietly and only asked after a long time.
“Taehwan, do you like me?”
It was a very nonsensical question, and at the same time, it was the exact point I least wanted to be exposed at this moment.
But I couldn’t utter a lie anymore.
I knew that no matter how plausibly I tried to spin words, it wouldn’t work on the current Jehee.
I squeezed my eyes shut and answered.
“…Yes.”
“Did you want to… kiss me?”
Damn it.
The root of the problem was me being too eager to kiss her while disguised as the ‘Grey Coat.’
The fact that I had succeeded once, that I couldn’t forget the sensation of that first kiss with Jehee, that I kept getting greedy, and that I pushed her even more shamelessly because I wasn’t ‘Im Taehwan’—that had finally come back as karma.
I felt like crying, but once again, I answered honestly.
“I want to.”
“Me too.”
Then, Jehee smiled faintly. I couldn’t see it, but I was sure she did.
Soon, Jehee traced my face with both hands and whispered.
“Let’s kiss.”
I almost kissed her without thinking.
Especially since I hadn’t seen her for so long, and I missed Jehee so much it was painful.
Fortunately, a shred of conscience and reason still remained, and I barely managed to stop just before our lips met.
I tried to compose my ragged, excited breathing and held Jehee tightly in my arms again.
“…I’m sorry. I can’t.”
“Why?”
“I… don’t deserve it.”
“Deserve? What deserve…?”
“Because of me, you… were in pain. You were in pain for a long time. And you’re here like this now because of me too…”
I thought she had completely forgotten the day I was sucked into the Gate.
Perhaps not.
I felt like I had reverted back to the child who was terrified in the pitch-black darkness, cried, and fell asleep in Jehee’s arms back then.
I kept relying on Jehee.
I felt like Jehee would listen no matter what I said, so I indulged in my childish whims.
I couldn’t bear not to speak the words that had been buried deep in my heart for so long.
