# Chapter 108
Late at night.
Geonwoo and Jaehee had numerous conversations. They expressed their true feelings and hidden hearts that they hadn’t been able to show until now to their heart’s content.
“I had no idea… you were repeating it all alone like that…”
Jaehee said, reaching out to caress Geonwoo’s slightly swollen eyes. Jaehee’s eyes were also just as red.
“…You could have at least told me.”
In the previous cycle, Geonwoo had never once spoken about the regression. He kept silent solely for Lee Jaehee, not for himself. That made Jaehee feel even more sorrowful.
“You must have been so lonely…”
Jaehee felt sorry for Geonwoo who had repeated this difficult path alone and in solitude, even though he knew everything. He was also grateful to Geonwoo who had repeatedly gone through such ordeals countless times for him.
“I’m sorry. For not knowing anything… and just relying on you.”
Jaehee apologized to Geonwoo for what happened in the previous cycle.
And also…
“And for only pushing you away…”
He also apologized for this current cycle where he had no choice but to push away Geonwoo who had no memories.
“…Hyung.”
As Geonwoo listened to Jaehee’s carefully expressed sincerity, his eyes twisted slightly, and a faint smile appeared on his lips. While he felt sad seeing Jaehee who couldn’t stop crying with red-rimmed eyes, he also found him so lovable for only looking at him and caring for him. It felt like he had found his true partner again.
Geonwoo carefully held Jaehee’s cheeks with both hands and kissed his reddened eyes. In response, the teardrops that had gathered in his eyes rolled down as his trembling eyelids moved. Geonwoo repeated this action and spoke.
“Come to think of it, you were really cold to me then. No matter how much I begged or pleaded, you pushed me away completely.”
At those words, Jaehee’s body stiffened. His eyes became even redder.
“Saying you didn’t like me, constantly telling me to break the Bond.”
Jaehee’s gaze dropped to the floor. At Geonwoo’s words that seemed hurt, he looked like he didn’t know what to do, feeling sorry for everything that had happened. Geonwoo saw Jaehee like this and hugged him tightly. He held him gently in his arms and spoke.
“But what should I do? When I found out that all those actions were actually to protect me, I like you even more.”
Surprised by those words, Jaehee raised his tear-filled eyes to look at Geonwoo. Geonwoo smiled brightly, lightly brought his lips to Jaehee’s, and kissed him softly. Then he pulled his upper body back slightly and spoke quietly.
“I’ve always liked you, but I like you even more now.”
Firmly holding Jaehee’s waist, he pressed their lips together again and sweetly whispered.
“So now you really can’t run away. You have to take responsibility for me.”
As if telling him to be prepared to also form a Bond between Esper and Guide once his body was well enough, Geonwoo looked at Jaehee and smiled brightly. Then he tightly embraced Jaehee’s waist and nuzzled his face against his shoulder. He had missed Jaehee’s scent.
Thus, after a long time, Geonwoo and Jaehee honestly revealed that their feelings for each other remained unchanged, and fully accepted each other’s emotions. Lying side by side in bed, they also chatted about things they hadn’t been able to talk about.
“Then, all you remember are the previous cycles, right?”
“Yes. That’s all I remember.”
“I see.”
Geonwoo said, nodding his head slightly.
“Geonwoo.”
Looking at Geonwoo who couldn’t take his eyes off him with affectionate eyes, Jaehee spoke.
“I want to hear it too. What the cycles I don’t know about were like.”
At that question, Geonwoo adjusted his position. Pressing his body against Jaehee without any gap, he slowly began to speak as if reminiscing about old times.
“Where should I start? Our first meeting?”
Geonwoo told each story one by one. From their childhood meeting to the long days they had spent together through countless times. One by one, step by step.
“Such things… happened…”
All the memories of every cycle that Lee Jaehee couldn’t remember, but Choi Geonwoo did. While listening to them, Jaehee organized his thoughts.
And for a moment, he thought that the regression that hadn’t existed in the original work might have been an intervention by the world that didn’t want the death of the character who was supposed to lead this story.
How long had he been listening to the stories? Geonwoo’s voice reaching his ears slowly became drowsy. Geonwoo, who had been telling long stories for quite some time while holding Jaehee in his arms, was gradually falling asleep.
Unlike Jaehee who had time to recover his body, Geonwoo had even given his life force to Jaehee while in a state of endless fatigue accumulating with the risk of going berserk. In that state, this time without resting at all, he stayed by Jaehee’s side and took care of him. The aftereffects were gradually setting in.
Only now, having Jaehee completely in his arms and feeling reassured…
Soon, Geonwoo’s voice disappeared, and his eyelids closed.
“…”
Jaehee confirmed that Geonwoo had fallen asleep and carefully brushed back his bangs that had fallen. Perhaps sensing the familiar touch, Geonwoo’s face relaxed even more languidly.
Looking at Geonwoo like this, Jaehee had a complicated expression.
‘Repeating numerous regressions, he saved me…’
He hadn’t thought of that. Having believed that only he had regressed, he had never dreamed that Geonwoo had done the same.
Even once was this difficult, so he couldn’t even imagine what Geonwoo must have felt, repeating it countless times… A sorrowful emotion settled in Jaehee’s eyes as he took in the sight of Geonwoo.
Then soon, the emotion in his eyes changed to an unsolved problem.
‘What should I do now…’
Jaehee’s mouth twisted uncontrollably.
It was a situation with no answer no matter how much he thought about it. Despite continuously changing the future, the world endlessly desired Lee Jaehee’s death. He could tell just by looking at the situation before the regression. Strange events had occurred targeting only Lee Jaehee.
Jaehee’s eyes darkened.
‘What should I do…’
Numerous futures where the ending had never changed even once.
Yet he wanted to change it.
He wanted to change it by any means necessary.
Even if death awaited at the end, even if it ended with an unhappy conclusion, he didn’t want to end Geonwoo’s wish to be by his side, the conclusion of Lee Jaehee and Choi Geonwoo, with the cruel misfortune like before the regression. He wanted to change, even just a little, the sad ending that numerous futures had shown, at least this time, please just this once.
Jaehee had a pained expression.
Then his expression suddenly changed. It was due to a scene that flashed before his eyes. It was a piece of a dream.
-Die, Lee Jaehee. No, Lee Hajin.
The dream was too vivid. It constantly reminded him that it was showing the actual past, and repeatedly showed that scene in a chilling way.
And what the dream was saying was one thing: that there was someone who wished for Lee Jaehee’s death and that person also wished for the death of Lee Hajin, who was possessing Lee Jaehee’s body. And knowing the name of Lee Jaehee before possession meant that he wasn’t the only one who had possessed someone here.
But no matter how vivid it was, no matter if it showed all of the past, a dream was just a dream. It might just be a vain delusion created by his mind trying to grasp onto something.
Still, there was one thing for certain. Something that was not a dream, not a delusion, but real. Jaehee’s eyes changed.
‘Lee Minhun.’
He needed to see him.
An incident that wasn’t in the original work.
An incident that wasn’t before the regression.
But he had occasionally seen people who behaved strangely like Lee Minhun before the regression as well. There were several times when he had almost been hurt because of them. Fortunately, thanks to Geonwoo always protecting him, he had never been hurt even a single hair.
But the reason he couldn’t just let it go like before the regression was because of that scene in the dream and the strange energy he felt from Lee Minhun’s body before losing consciousness. That bothered him. Some aspects that were different from usual also caught his eye. It was also strange that he, who had no Pair Guide, couldn’t properly receive his guiding energy. It was especially so because he was someone who had clearly followed his will in the A-class gate.
Jaehee thought he should go to Lee Minhun as soon as it was daylight. He needed to meet him and hear. He needed to know why he had tried to kill him.
***
The next day, Geonwoo and Jaehee prepared early to go to the interrogation room. Before them was Dr. Yoon, who had come to check on Jaehee’s condition.
“What did you just say?”
But shocking news was heard. Dr. Yoon, who was checking Jaehee’s condition, repeated what he had just said in response to Jaehee’s question.
“Esper Lee Minhun admitted it. That he tried to kill you, Guide Lee Jaehee. And now it’s chaotic because he’s trying to commit suicide, either to avoid responsibility or because of guilt.”
