* * *
“Huh? What’s terrifying? Oh.”
Seohwa was about to ask what on earth he meant by such a sudden statement, but by the time she finished asking, she realized exactly what Kang Yigeon was talking about.
“Are you afraid of me? Because I cut ties as cleanly as slicing a radish?”
“I am terrified by the fact that you do not like people.”
Seohwa remembered hearing something similar in the past.
The setting back then wasn’t inside a comfortable, peaceful car like this.
It was during those gruesome, desperate moments just before the world’s first destruction that he had said it.
‘You do not believe in the emotion called love. You seem to love people, but in truth, you are cynical toward them. You seem to love the world, but in truth, you distrust the natural order of things.’
‘You’re making me out to be some kind of misanthrope.’
‘Is it not a type of misanthropy to have zero expectations of humanity?’
She felt like he had struck a nerve.
She didn’t hate people.
She didn’t loathe them.
She was definitely not a hater of humanity.
But if asked if she liked-them, it was hard to give a positive answer.
She had tried very hard to like them, but in the end, she hadn’t succeeded.
It was still the same now.
She had no expectations of people… but it wasn’t that she hated them… yet she didn’t like them either… what was truly in her heart?
“I’m definitely not a misanthrope. If I didn’t like people, I wouldn’t have turned back the timeline five times.”
“I know. That is why it is more terrifying.”
“Everything is scary to you. You’re such a coward. I should call you Gam Yi-geob (Coward) instead. Good grief.”
Seohwa tilted her seat back by pressing the button on the armrest, pretending to be sulky.
It was a different model from six years ago, but since it was the same brand she had bought for him in the first timeline, she knew all the functions by heart.
“Sit up.”
“I don’t want to. I’m done talking to Mr. Gam Yi-geob.”
“We are getting out now.”
“Huh? Already?”
Outside the window, they were still in a busy district.
Kang Yigeon’s residence was in a much quieter neighborhood.
“There is no food at home. I am stopping by a nearby grocery store; do you have your disguise tools?”
“I have my hat. But really, do we have to? We can just eat ramen.”
“There is no ramen.”
“You have eggs, right? We can just make soy sauce egg rice.”
“There are none.”
“Then we can just mix rice with red pepper paste, soy sauce, and sesame oil…”
“I have absolutely nothing.”
Seohwa squinted at him.
“Liar. You just want to go on a grocery store date. I can see right through you.”
Kang Yigeon silently parked the car in the store’s lot, pretending not to hear.
Seohwa pulled her hat down, and Kang Yigeon put on an actual disguise item.
They filled their cart with ingredients and all sorts of snacks.
Since Seohwa found the grocery date quite enjoyable, she decided to overlook Kang Yigeon’s ulterior motives.
It was only after arriving at the house that she realized Kang Yigeon hadn’t been making things up.
“Wow… how can a Korean house have no rice, no kimchi, and no red pepper paste? I should report this to a show like ‘How is this Possible?’. People would watch and feel so bad, and then they’d be shocked when Vice Guild Leader Kang Yigeon appears as the owner.”
“No. They would not be shocked.”
“What do you mean? Everyone would be horrified that there’s nothing but water in the fridge.”
“I doubt it. Everyone knows my life has been desolate while searching for you, so I doubt anyone would be surprised. They would be more shocked if I told them I had been eating well.”
“……I’ll organize the groceries. I’ll cook, too. Steamed cabbage sounds good. Wait for me.”
As she pulled a few frozen items out of the shopping bag on the table, a tiny smile touched the corners of Kang Yigeon’s mouth.
“I will organize them. I also need to clean since I have been away for a long time, so please rest.”
He gently escorted her to the living room sofa and left to tidy up.
As far as Seohwa could see, there wasn’t even anything to tidy. It was too desolate.
Kang Yigeon’s home was lonelier than any house she had seen in previous timelines.
Unlike the villa, which was decorated colorfully and cutely from the ceiling corners to the socks on the chair legs, this place was achromatic, bleak, and empty.
It looked like the home of someone whose heart had been hollowed out.
-Ggyuu.
Kobami crawled out of her sleeve after a long nap.
Ggyung, ggyueu, ggyuuuung.
It rubbed its body against the back of her hand, saying something.
Seohwa, knowing exactly what Kobami wanted right after waking up, gripped its head and tail and stretched it out.
It was like a snake version of a morning stretch.
-Ggyu-iiing.
Kobami shivered in delight and wrapped itself around her wrist.
Seohwa sat there playing with the snake before finally standing up.
Staying still was one of the things Seohwa was worst at.
She hovered around Kang Yigeon as he was fixing the bedroom, and he stopped smoothing the sheets to ask:
“Do you want to play with the keyboard?”
“The one that sounds like gravel? Later.”
“Then I will give you some clothes; do you want to shower?”
“Later. Let’s shower together. The tub is huge. I’m already looking forward to ‘bath play’.”
“…….”
Watching Kang Yigeon, who was so used to her now that he didn’t even massage his temples anymore, Seohwa smiled—then suddenly realized something.
“But why are there clothes in my size in this house? Were you planning to let someone my size stay here?”
“I simply prepared them because I did not know when I might catch you. The villa is the place for your confinement, but I thought you might end up visiting this house as well.”
“…….”
“…….”
“It’s a complicated feeling… being both scared and pained for you…”
Seohwa became even more troubled after that.
On the bedside table, various psychiatric medicine bottles—anti-anxiety meds and antidepressants—were rolling around.
Kang Yigeon knew Seohwa was staring at those bottles, but he didn’t hide them.
While he tidied every other clean spot to perfection, he left those bottles exactly where her eyes would land.
As if to say: My life was this devastated and lonely because you weren’t here.
-Ggyuung.
Kobami spotted a familiar-looking medicine bottle and circled it.
It was the same kind Seohwa had been prescribed recently.
Seohwa snatched up the bottle.
“This is the medicine they gave me because I said I had social anxiety.”
Kang Yigeon glanced at the bottle and replied.
“It is the same for me. Because I hated people and was afraid to face them.”
“You were just nagging me earlier for not liking people…”
“I never nagged you.”
“Why do you hate and fear people? You used to find dealing with them bothersome, but you never hated or feared them.”
“When I thought about how those people must have hated and loathed Seohwa, I couldn’t help but feel hatred myself.”
“…….”
“And when I thought about how I was one of those people, I became afraid of how to face them.”
“…….”
“When I told the counselor that honestly, they gave me those meds. So I am indeed a coward.”
‘Everything is scary to you. You’re such a coward. I should call you Gam Yi-geob.’
Unlike in the car, Seohwa couldn’t respond with a joke.
When Seohwa went quiet, Kang Yigeon turned around.
He stood before her and looked down with tender eyes.
“Hunter Seohwa. This is a question I ask because I am a coward. Is love still ‘not yet’ in our relationship?”
“……Love is not yet. The incident isn’t over.”
Without showing any sign of disappointment, as if he already knew the answer, Kang Yigeon nodded.
“I understand. Please rest.”
Seohwa went back to the living room sofa and sat down quietly.
Looking closer, there were medicine bottles on the living room table as well.
‘……I am the reason for all this medicine.’
As Wolf had said, he had simply loved, yet he ended up a wreck.
If the ending of this unfinished incident is a happy ending for me, it will be a sad ending for Kang Yigeon.
How will a person who is barely holding on by taking so much medication survive after that?
Coming to this house felt like she was doing something cruel to him.
Yet, pushing him away out of guilt would be just as cruel…
Seohwa was sitting on a seesaw of a giant contradiction.
Until the day of the entry into the Incheon Port Dungeon, the two spent time that was as hot as an adult movie and as childish as kids playing house.
Seohwa declared she could not tolerate such a bleak house and ordered all sorts of cute decorative items.
Instead of stopping her, Kang Yigeon unboxed them and placed them in the house as soon as they arrived.
Beige curtains replaced the dark blackout ones in the living room, and two snake-shaped cushions took up residence on the sofa.
An oil painting of flowers and snakes was hung on the empty wall next to the TV, and a fantastic galaxy mood lamp took over the bedside.
Even then, in Seohwa’s eyes, it was still bleak and lonely.
“How is your security? A lot of packages will arrive while we’re in the dungeon; no one will steal them, right?”
“That will not happen. Do not worry and keep ordering.”
In three days, the money spent reached 63 million won.
The oil painting alone was 40 million won, and Seohwa planned to hang paintings by the same artist in the bedroom, study, and hobby room.
All costs were charged to Kang Yigeon’s card.
When Seohwa showed him if the price was okay, Kang Yigeon didn’t even check the amount. What he checked was the shipping duration.
“This one takes three months to arrive.”
“It’s an overseas custom order.”
“Excellent. Let’s get this one.”
Kang Yigeon welcomed items more if the delivery time was long.
Knowing what he was thinking, Seohwa intentionally chose and ordered things that would take a long time.
Just like that, three days passed in a flash, and the day of mobilization arrived.
Seohwa and Kang Yigeon left the house at the scheduled time.
In the car to Incheon Port, and even until the very last moment heading to the assembly point, Seohwa continued to order interior decor.
* * *
