* * *

Before I could refute his words, Eunsoo hugged me.

Before I could say a word, he pressed the back of my head against his shoulder as if to silence me.

I figured pushing any further wouldn’t do any good, so I stayed still in his arms.

After a brief sigh, Eunsoo handed me something.

“Take this, hyung. I don’t know what to say to you, so if you’re curious, find out yourself.”

With that, he left the hospital room, saying he’d get ready for my discharge and change his clothes.

What Eunsoo left behind was a cellphone—not one issued by the agency for guides but a personal phone that seemed old and worn, with scratches all over and chipped edges.

And it felt oddly familiar.

From the theme park photo of me, Eunsoo, and the espers on the wallpaper to the way it fit in my hand.

“This… Could it be mine?”

It hit me.

Yes, this was it.

The phone Maria had given me as a gift, the one I used while at Polwel.

---

It wasn’t hard to trace Eunsoo’s life over the past five years.

As I’d confidently said, public attention on Ye Eunsoo, the country’s only S-class guide, was relentless and obsessive.

But something felt off.

The interest in him seemed less intense than when I was alive.

There were fewer paparazzi photos, and even fan posts were scarce.

It was likely because what he’d been doing was so simple.

Over the last five years—more precisely, four and a half—Ye Eunsoo had devoted himself to one single task: appearing at every gate site he could.

Not just in the metropolitan area, but across the country.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that wherever there was a gate in Korea, Ye Eunsoo was there.

And his goal was none other than me.

“To search for Yang Heewon’s body…”

At the massive gate dubbed the “Miracle of Early Summer,” where Eunsoo had lost his composure, Rex Hamilton had to restrain and drag him out.

Inside the gate, left behind, was the corpse of the monster that had devoured me.

After losing me, Eunsoo secluded himself for nearly six months.

But then, he began scouring every gate he could find, searching for the body of the monster that had taken me.

He searched relentlessly until he found me, as gates began to appear more frequently, never missing a single day.

“What is this…”

On the phone, there was even a file meticulously organizing the locations of gate occurrences, their internal environments, the espers assigned to them, and whether they had confirmed sightings of the monster’s corpse.

After a year, he seemed to have gotten used to the routine and expanded his scope, with Polwel’s help, to track gate occurrences abroad.

Eunsoo didn’t stick to easy gates either, which meant he often got hurt.

Even when he should have been focusing on recovery, he continued showing up at gate sites.

“Why…?”

I thought he’d eventually give up.

That, over time, he’d live his life again.

Hoping so, I only checked in on him sporadically every few months.

But Eunsoo’s lifestyle didn’t change.

Even as the climax of the story approached, when people feared the end of the world; even when the giant gate opened and he got hurt—Eunsoo’s actions never wavered.

He moved like a machine, devoid of emotion.

“This isn’t just suffering… This is…”

I remembered his hands pulling me out of the shell I’d been trapped in, the warmth of his embrace, and the familiar scent that reassured me.

Yes. It was Eunsoo.

He was the one who found me.

I hadn’t just been miraculously discovered one day.

Eunsoo had searched and searched, over and over, until he pulled me out of the gate.

Because of me, Eunsoo wasted five years of his life.

At some point, I couldn’t hold back my tears anymore.

Just staring at the small screen, barely moving my fingers, I found it hard to breathe.

I gasped for air, unable to make a sound as I cried.

My heart broke.

How could I have raised Eunsoo only to drag him down like this?

I wanted nothing more than for him to be happy.

“See? I knew you’d react like this.”

Eunsoo returned to the room, a bag in one hand, and handed me a tissue.

I pushed him away.

Too angry to hold back, I clenched my fists and swung at him.

Eunsoo didn’t dodge or block my punches.

My fists landed weakly on his chest, making soft thuds.

“Why did you do this?! What is this? You spent five whole years looking for me? Eunsoo, you were only twenty, twenty-one! You should’ve been enjoying the prime of your youth, dating, studying, hanging out with friends—not wasting it like this. Why did you…?”

I knew Eunsoo hadn’t gone to university.

I thought he might have delayed admission after missing exams or because he wasn’t satisfied with his options.

I believed he’d try again and eventually enjoy a happy campus life.

But Eunsoo had done nothing for the past five years.

Nothing but search for my body.

No school.

No happiness.

Just endless, pointless searches for a corpse.

“Your happiness matters too! Your happiness is my happiness! Why did you… I didn’t mind dying then! I smiled, didn’t I? I told you I was fine… So why…?”

My chest ached unbearably. It wasn’t just discomfort; it was pure anguish.

Why would Eunsoo sacrifice himself like this?

He’d seen me die, seen me consumed by the monster.

Why look for a corpse?

Why not move on?

Why… why would Eunsoo give up everything for someone like me?

“Heewon hyung.”

Eunsoo held me as I wept silently, overwhelmed by my own despair.

He wipes my damp cheeks with the tissue in his hand and gently presses under my eyes, even though he knows it’s pointless as fresh tears keep streaming down.

“If it were you, Hyung, would you have given up if I were in your place? Would you have left my body behind in the gate and gone on living happily on your own?”

“I…”

“You wouldn’t, right? You’d have gone back for my body to give me a proper funeral, no matter what anyone said. You’d never have given up. I know that. And yet, you’re asking me to give up? To live happily on my own without even giving you a proper send-off? You’re selfish in such a strange way…”

“Eunsoo, I’m… I’m not like you…”

My life and Eunsoo’s life don’t weigh the same.

Five years of my life are worth far less than five years of his.

Eunsoo is younger than me, more talented.

He can achieve so much more.

Eunsoo knows this too.

He’s the kind of man who understands and cherishes his own worth more than anyone else in the world.

So why?

Why would he make such a choice?

“Hyung, just as you’re important to me, you’re more important to me than my own life. Even if you can’t acknowledge that, it’s true for me.”

“No. What am I? Why would I—”

“I told you. You’re everything to me.”

“…”

“I love you. I still love you so much, Hyung. I haven’t found anyone better than you.”

I’m nothing special.

Unlike Eunsoo, who shines in every way, I have nothing to boast about—not my looks, my skills, or my background.

There are countless people in the world who are better than me.

And yet… Eunsoo says he loves me.

Even now, as a grown man who has stepped out into the world, surrounded by brilliant Espers, meeting countless people—he still loves me.

I can’t understand it.

“Hyung, can’t you just praise me? I found you, didn’t I? And you’re alive. I don’t regret the past five years. I wouldn’t regret fifty years. Right now, this is the happiest I’ve ever been. But if you keep saying things like that, it’ll make me sad. So just praise me, okay?”

“…”

At that moment, I understood.

If Eunsoo loves me more than himself, it’s no surprise that he didn’t give up on me and found me.

That’s just the kind of man Ye Eunsoo is, the man in The Genius Guide’s Melancholy.

A man who doesn’t know how to give up.

A man who seizes what he wants and pursues his happiness no matter what.

I admired that about him. That’s why he was my hero, my protagonist.

He was my beloved Yeo Eunsoo.

“Thank you.”

Even though Eunsoo had wiped my tears, I couldn’t stop crying.

“Thank you for finding me. Thank you for cherishing me more than your own life…”

* * *