The damn novel ended there. Ending with Kim Haewon looking at me after planting a kiss. It told me absolutely nothing about Pamundong. It only made my face flush and my heart flutter. This chapter 21 gave me no help whatsoever.
A kiss. Kissing. I suppose the author had no choice since readers were making a fuss demanding development. I decided to think of it that way. The real Kim Haewon wouldn’t do such a thing anyway. He shouldn’t.
The readers’ reactions were completely enthusiastic, just as I expected. It was almost at party level.
Reader 1: Sound the drums!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The main lead finally started moving!!!!!!!!!
⤷ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Reader 2: Ihyeon being angry is fucking cool…get angrier! More!
Reader 3: Nam Ihyeon, you’re the slowest one. Turn the pages of opening the book, wall slam, and kiss, hurry up.
Reader 4: Ah Haewon why didn’t you use your tongue.
⤷ Tongue fuckㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
⤷ You’ll wake the baby!!!
⤷ What if he was already awake? What if he was waiting for the tongue?
“These people have no sense…”
It was a stroke of luck that this writing wasn’t rated 19+. If it had been adult content, I could already clearly see what level of comments would have been rampant. I shook my head and closed my phone.
I turned my body to the side. My hand went to my lips for no reason. They were just ordinary male lips. I wondered if they’d gotten a bit chapped from being in bed continuously these days, or maybe not, and also wondered why I was even caring about such things.
This novel had nearly mastered the art of making people feel unsettled. Stirring people up over things that won’t even happen…
I had never felt so wronged that only I could read this novel. If Kim Haewon had read it, he might have found the HatefulCat author through his many informants. And he would have definitely held them legally responsible.
Even if the HatefulCat author wasn’t from this world, Kim Haewon would have definitely found them. He would have. Certainly. After reading this, he wouldn’t have been able to endure it and would have reacted in some way.
“He definitely would have been upset.”
Thinking that way didn’t make me feel very good. But it’s not like he would read this novel and say ‘They read my heart perfectly!’ and be happy about it either. If he did like it that way, wouldn’t I be the one in trouble instead? I was in trouble thinking this way, in trouble thinking that way.
‘I’m troubled. So troubled.’
Thinking that, I forcibly closed my eyes. There absolutely shouldn’t be a situation like the novel’s description where I couldn’t sleep and tossed and turned all night with my eyes wide open.
I had just finished guiding, and my whole body was in a languid state right now. So I would fall asleep soon. No. I would make it happen by all means. I closed my eyes while thinking that.
But as time passed, my mind was too wide awake. As if, like the novel, I wouldn’t be able to sleep all night tonight.
* * *
“Yawn.”
I barely scraped the sleep from my eyes and finished showering. I couldn’t even remember what time I fell asleep. I lay on my side, lay face down, tried sitting up to sleep, sprawled out spread-eagle—I put on all kinds of shows but sleep wouldn’t come. It wasn’t like I had many thoughts either. I didn’t worry about how to deal with Pamundong or how to dig into the other organizations.
My head was full of thoughts about having to prevent the airplane kiss. Pathetically, that thought came up so much that I did a complete re-read of the novel from the beginning, counted sheep, counted stars. Nothing worked.
Time kept passing and only around dawn did I pass out as if fainting. It was exactly like what came out in the novel. Kim Haewon asked if I was okay while looking at me sitting there like a sick chicken.
“Didn’t you get an IV yesterday?”
“I did. I couldn’t sleep. Yawn.”
Within an hour of guiding Kim Haewon, a nurse would come and administer a special recovery medicine. When I got that, I felt like my energy came right back to life. That was also a reason for the insomnia. Thanks to getting that shot, sleep ran even farther away. Kim Haewon asked as if he didn’t understand.
“Why couldn’t you sleep?”
“What? Ah… well, you have days like that…”
“Is your condition that bad?”
Kim Haewon examined my complexion as if worried. I continued while avoiding his gaze sideways.
“I’m, I’m fine. I can sleep on the plane.”
“I brought coffee, do you want to drink it now?”
“What? Yes!”
In the novel, I definitely drank coffee inside the airplane. But this was still the hospital room. Right. Let’s drink the coffee now. Then Kim Haewon won’t take the coffee cup from my hands and cover me with a blanket and such.
Thinking that, I accepted the iced latte. It was the same taste from yesterday.
“Mm. This is it. This place is amazing. It’s really delicious.”
“Don’t drink it too quickly.”
“This isn’t something you can control the speed of. It’s really delicious. Esper Kim Haewon, do you want a sip?”
“No. Please drink plenty.”
I looked at Kim Haewon while quickly drinking the latte. He looked at me drinking coffee then turned his gaze to his tablet PC. His gaze was no different than usual. There was no special time allocated to linger on my lips like in the novel. Not even for a moment. I continued while biting the straw with my teeth, tapping it.
“Is there any more news?”
“Wang Feng requested rescue from the Chinese government.”
“So the gate hasn’t closed.”
“Yes.”
“Did Wang Feng go in?”
“It doesn’t seem so. He said he’s alone outside the gate.”
Cowardly bastard. I barely held back the words from leaking out. He was determined to protect the Alliance Leader’s ring. What kind of efficacy did that ring have to make him act like that? I pondered deeply while sucking up the coffee.
“VENT isn’t the only one after the ring. The Alliance Leader will try to recover it too, and maybe Kuhne or MK could target it too.”
Kim Haewon nodded and continued.
“I’m also considering other forces. Emily and Gabriel will handle clearing the gate. I’ll be deployed to capture Wang Feng alive.”
“Isn’t Esper Akutagawa coming?”
“He said he had something to do.”
“That’s an excuse, right?”
“It’s always like that. I’ve attached someone to him for now.”
I nodded. The latte was already empty. After finishing the coffee, I changed into the mission uniform he brought. This time I thought I tied the waist strings fairly well so Kim Haewon’s help wouldn’t be needed. But it seemed that wasn’t the case from Kim Haewon’s perspective. He approached me and brought his hands behind me as if embracing me to adjust my appearance.
‘Wouldn’t it be easier to go around back? Why does he have to do it like this?’
As I stayed still, ending up being held, Kim Haewon finished organizing the clothes and checked the knee guards and the medicine in my pockets.
“How to use the gun is the same as I told you then. It’s not for attacking…”
“Yes yes. When it’s dangerous, at a right angle as high as possible. I know.”
“Of course I won’t leave you alone but… Guide Park Garam has reckless aspects on site, so you especially need to be careful.”
“When was I reckless?”
“The fact that you don’t realize it is reckless too.”
Kim Haewon finished speaking as if no further explanation was needed. I wanted to grumble, but thinking about it, Kim Haewon seemed to be right. The behavior I showed to Suo Weiqian really seemed like someone crazy desperate to die.
Looking back at that time, I couldn’t remember why I did that. Somehow it just felt like I had to. Should I say it felt like there was nowhere to retreat? It wasn’t something I could explain logically. I let out a small snort. I thought, wouldn’t this make me no different from that C-class guide who decided to become a hero?
When we boarded the plane, a different person greeted us this time. It was Director Kwon Jinho of Diplomatic Management Department 2.
“Hello. I’m Kwon Jinho. Since Diplomatic Management Department 1 entered full system inspection, Department 2 was inevitably dispatched. I ask for both of your understanding.”
Director Kwon Jinho was called the male Kim Jeongseon. Because his actions were almost identical to Director Kim Jeongseon of Diplomatic Management Department 1. Kim Haewon and I bowed our heads.
“Please take care of us.”
“Yes. I’ll do my best.”
Even to my light greeting, he responded in an FM manner. Somehow it felt a bit more suffocating than Director Kim Jeongseon. When Kim Haewon and I sat down, he continued.
“I’ll proceed with a simple briefing after takeoff.”
“Please skip the briefing. I’ve directly shared the relevant content with my guide.”
“Yes, understood. I’ll do that.”
“I plan to proceed with guiding right after takeoff. I’m sensitive to the guiding environment, so please make sure no one approaches this section as much as possible.”
“Understood.”
Director Kwon Jinho answered Kim Haewon’s words and crossed over to the Management Bureau section. After he crossed over, the lighting in only our section dropped dramatically. The windows also automatically lowered. The surroundings became dark. There was only a small amount of orange lighting. I rubbed my arms up and down while saying:
“It’s kind of suggestive.”
“What is?”
“Huh? Oh, nothing.”
I smacked my mouth and turned my head. Then Kim Haewon completely flipped over the armrest that had been between us. Since the bed-like seats were already like that, it became no different from a complete king-size bed.
“Es-Esper Kim Haewon?”
“Let’s start guiding.”
He came a bit closer to me. I gulped.
