# Chapter 172
That afternoon when Lee Hwan turned away from him and left the house, Taesung learned through Jade that he had headed to Naru.
His final destination was Kang Dongha’s office, where he barely did any work. A secluded location where even if something happened, rumors would only spread much later.
It felt like something sharp was scraping against his nerves. After Lee Hwan left, Taesung sat on the sofa like a statue, waiting for him to return. It wasn’t a long time, but it wasn’t short enough to just sit in one place doing nothing.
What would they talk about there? Since he was stepping up to prevent the apocalypse, nothing strange should happen. Even as he tried to reassure himself, Taesung somehow found it difficult to ignore the sight of Kang Dongha and Lee Hwan together.
Time passed slowly. Lee Hwan’s image flickered before his eyes. It was annoying to think of him meeting Kang Dongha with a bright, shining appearance, but the thought of him going with slightly messy hair and casual clothes made him go crazy.
He wished Lee Hwan would only show his comfortable side when with him. After multiple regressions, he felt like his strange obsession and stubbornness were only growing.
Then, after the long wait, when Lee Hwan finally opened the door lock and came in, Taesung was about to demand where he’d been but froze.
Lee Hwan, who had returned from meeting Kang Dongha, was crying.
“Lee Hwan…? What’s wrong? What happened?”
This was the first time he had cried like this in front of Taesung. He had always been strong-willed, and even if he couldn’t hold back tears, he had never openly shown them to anyone.
But now this dejected appearance. What the hell had happened with that bastard Kang Dongha? Several ominous assumptions crossed his mind. Kang Dongha was someone who could do anything when his survival was at stake.
Whatever he had attempted, it couldn’t have been good. Looking at Lee Hwan’s face, Taesung gritted his teeth until his jaw hurt and muttered to himself.
Indeed, his judgment had not been wrong. Kang Dongha had to be removed. He should have been eliminated long ago.
Despite his face frozen with shock and anger, his mind was working quickly. Kang Dongying’s business card falling from Lee Hwan’s phone in the car flashed through Taesung’s mind.
‘…He just dug his own grave today.’
Today Lee Hwan visited Naru. Since Kang Dongha had provoked him first, if he diligently stimulated Kang Dongying from behind, the repercussions would directly affect Kang Dongha.
In timelines where Taesung hadn’t laid hands on him directly, he had always used Kang Dongying to remove him. This time would be no different.
The fallout shouldn’t reach Lee Hwan until Kang Dongha collapsed and disappeared on his own. So how far should he keep Lee Hwan away from Kang Dongha? A month? Two months? Would Lee Hwan listen to him?
However, while worrying about how to shield Lee Hwan’s eyes, Taesung suddenly felt his stomach twist in pain.
Thwack!
With the impact sound, a fist drove into his stomach. Taesung grimaced at the pain churning his insides and looked at Lee Hwan with a dazed expression.
He was still crying. His reddened eyes delivered as shocking an impact as his fist. While clutching his throbbing stomach with a bewildered look, Lee Hwan wiped his wet cheek once and suddenly extended his arms to embrace him.
Taesung awkwardly fell into his arms with his waist half-bent. Though he didn’t know what was happening, he quickly wrapped his arms around Lee Hwan’s back, taking advantage of the rare hug.
‘…’
He could feel Lee Hwan’s warmth. Where had his mind gone, burning with anger just moments ago? Taesung’s heart had already settled.
He simply drifted between worry and joy, holding Lee Hwan tight. Until he stopped crying. Until he calmed down and released his arms first.
* * *
Since his first regression, Lee Hwan emitted a fresh fruit scent whenever he used his ability. Though it made him sick thinking about the danger it posed to Lee Hwan, Taesung couldn’t completely dislike that smell.
It was Lee Hwan’s scent, after all. As if born with it, his laughter somehow resembled the fragrance of that penalty. Sweet, tangy, making the underside of his tongue ache dully, just wanting to savor it.
Sometimes, even without using his ability, that scent clung very faintly to Lee Hwan’s skin. Places like his heated neck, wrists, or the sensitive skin behind his knees.
It was such a subtle scent that monsters wouldn’t react to it, but an S-class Awakened person could barely detect it. The scent blending with his body’s natural fragrance, entering through the nostrils, sometimes drove him crazier than monsters did.
“Joo Lee Hwan.”
The man in his arms flinched at the meaninglessly called name. Taesung groaned, using his still aching stomach as an excuse to lean on him.
A warm, sweet scent came from his nape. As he adjusted his arms, brushing against his neck, a soft sensation wrapped around his hand.
Would he taste exactly that sweet if he bit him? Taesung felt his teeth ache at the absurd thought.
By now, Kang Dongha had long been erased from his mind. He didn’t even have the mental capacity to think about him. The dark anger that had clouded his eyes melted like snow, replaced by a different kind of heat rising from the pit of his stomach.
…This wasn’t good. Even while muttering to himself, Taesung made no move to separate their bodies. Through countless repetitions of the same year, had there ever been a time when he held him this long? When an uninjured Lee Hwan pressed himself fully against him, crying and refusing to let go?
As soon as he realized this, the patience he had built over a long time began to waver. As if enchanted, Taesung turned his head and gazed at the reddened tip of Lee Hwan’s ear. When he gently stroked it with his thumb and index finger, he felt its softness at his fingertips.
“Haa….”
When Lee Hwan’s moist breath touched his neck, Taesung’s gaze wavered wildly, unable to find focus. He closed his eyes. His breathing, which remained steady even during endless sprints inside gates, began to falter.
The breath grazing his neck. At some point, the ticklish sensation transformed into excessive stimulation, making him feel like his entire body was burning hot.
Hot. Would it feel like this if they jumped into a furnace and burned together? It was a heat he had never experienced since his awakening.
Between slightly raised eyelids, he could see the top of Lee Hwan’s head resting on his shoulder. He was unbearably lovable, leaning against him with his face buried. Taesung clenched his teeth so hard his jaw might break.
‘I’m going crazy.’
It felt like a thorny impulse was rolling around inside his ribcage, wreaking havoc on his insides. Lee Hwan’s sweet body scent seemed to turn into toxic fumes, melting his lungs.
He wanted to run his fingers through his hair and massage his scalp. He wanted to kiss him and move down to bite his neck, leaving marks deep enough that they wouldn’t fade.
As desire released steam on its own and an uncontrollable heat burned hotter than his ability.
“Argh! The more I think about it, the more pissed off I get!”
A sudden thunderous outburst shattered the warm atmosphere.
And then.
“Die!”
With that shout, Lee Hwan’s left knee shot up and struck his stomach again. It happened in an instant.
Thwack!
Pain like a spear being thrust into him immediately cut off Taesung’s desire.
“Ugh!”
As he bent over, smack, slap, slap! Consecutive blows landed, stinging his arms and back.
“Wait, ack, Lee Hwan…!”
Raising his head with a surprised face, he saw Lee Hwan, whose cheeks were still wet though his tears had stopped, throwing punches filled with rage.
‘What is this….’
The punch approaching like slow motion.
Though it was a beating without explanation, if he dodged it, Lee Hwan would truly be furious. After a moment’s hesitation, Taesung stood still and silently took his punch.
Whack!
Only after one side of his face flared with pain did Lee Hwan’s assault stop. With his brain rattled and vision spinning, Taesung staggered and grabbed the sofa for support.
When he raised his gaze again, he could see Lee Hwan’s tightly clenched fist.
“I’m… kind of in pain…”
Having been beaten up again for no apparent reason, Taesung licked his split lip with a dazed expression. As his tongue touched it, blood spread across his mouth.
Perhaps finding the sight pitiful, Lee Hwan’s harsh breathing gradually settled as he glared at Taesung. But that wasn’t the end. After wiping his face with his sleeve, Lee Hwan grabbed Taesung’s arm, dragged him up, and roughly threw him onto the sofa.
The leather sofa made a thudding sound.
“You bastard, do you really take me for an idiot?”
Taesung shook his head while licking his stinging lip again as Lee Hwan grabbed his collar and pressed down. He couldn’t even crack a joke in response to the fierce question.
As Taesung looked up at him with a questioning expression, trying to assess the situation, a sharp question flew at him.
“Which time is this?”
‘Which time’…? Though the question was abrupt and without context, Taesung immediately understood it. He felt as if all his blood was freezing from the top of his head.
He had recently told Lee Hwan that this wasn’t his first regression. Could he have remembered something about that?
If so, had he figured out which timeline this was, or was he just guessing and fishing for information?
While Taesung was frantically trying to assess the situation based on speculation.
“The regression, which time is it? Don’t think about lying. I won’t let it slide a third time.”
As if warning him not to mess around, Lee Hwan leaned in close and pressed him, pinpointing the core issue.
It’s over. He seems to know. Under that sharp gaze, Taesung felt his heart solidify and sink heavily.
Lee Hwan had an uncompromising side. The recent warning meant he truly wouldn’t be lenient. If he tried to deceive Lee Hwan clumsily at a time like this, their relationship might be permanently damaged even in this final timeline.
But if he told the truth, memories of beating Lee Hwan like a punching bag and kidnapping him flashed before his eyes like a panorama.
The body struggling and choking under his grasp. The eyes staring at him with shock while half-leaning against a wall with legs too weak to stand.
Would Lee Hwan be able to treat him the same as before if he knew all that?
‘…Either way leads to catastrophe.’
A difficult choice lay before him. Lee Hwan had blocked his escape route. Taesung realized that things wouldn’t go as planned—no, that they were already crumbling.
‘Since it’s come to this, should I tell him and then keep him confined for a while?’
Even amid these dangerous thoughts, Lee Hwan still looked satisfyingly handsome. His wet eyelashes cast long shadows, making him look full of sorrows, and his cheeks were red, either from anger or from crying.
His red lips looked soft and supple. His disheveled brown hair glowed like straw under the fluorescent light. Forgetting the atmosphere, Taesung almost grabbed his hand that was clutching his collar.
A faint body scent wafted again from his body, which had come close. The hand pressing down on his chest was still there.
That hand twitched. Taesung stared blankly into Lee Hwan’s eyes and opened his mouth as if entranced.
“Eight times.”
The truth he had intended to hide slipped out casually. Lee Hwan’s eyes slowly filled with shock at the unexpected number.
“…Eight times?”
His brown eyes, asking again, suddenly became transparent and glossy. Tears slowly gathered, trembling precariously before falling down his cheek, and his face gradually contorted.
“Why, why did you…”
When Taesung instinctively reached out to wipe his wet face, smack! Lee Hwan struck his chest again. And then.
“Why didn’t you say anything, you crazy bastard…!”
After rebuking him with a scream, he began to cry audibly like a child for the first time.
Like someone who had realized all of his past time.
