# Chapter 199
“What the hell…!”
That bastard seemed like he couldn’t see ahead, and it wasn’t just my imagination. Lee Hwan frowned with his heart pounding.
“Focus on driving.”
Just then, Jade remarked in a low voice, as if he didn’t trust him. At that, Kang Dongha’s expression, which had been quite smug until then, changed completely.
“So many complaints even when I’m serving as your driver, how annoying.”
Despite going through a major incident, he was still rude and as unlikable as ever. He didn’t hesitate to speak informally even to someone who could be his parent’s age, and while he smiled sweetly at Lee Hwan as if deliberately trying to annoy him, he often turned serious with others.
“Move aside if your neck doesn’t turn. I’ll just run them over.”
“Am I crazy? To let a cripple drive.”
“If we crash, the passenger seat will die first, so it’ll finally get quiet.”
Still, what was surprising was that he was exchanging words with Jade, albeit harshly. Before, Kang Dongha had always ignored and despised Jade, and in all the repeated regressions, he had never even accepted him as a fellow human being.
Among the ways Kang Dongha called him, “dog” was probably the most toned-down term. At least he wasn’t treating him like an object or tool.
And now, although his words were sharp, he was properly conversing with Jade and even acting as a chauffeur as instructed. Lee Hwan’s mouth fell open at this impossible scene.
Could someone else have entered that shell?
“Jade separately extracted Kang Dongha and treated him.”
As if reading his questioning expression, Taesung answered from beside him while covering his knees with a blanket.
“That guy isn’t an Awakened, so his family might really kill him.”
Kang Dongha knew too much. From various corruptions to the many criminal acts at the bottom of Naru.
With authorities already launching an investigation, the Kang family wouldn’t let a weak traitor who knew all their dirty secrets live.
In front of Naru Group, the source of their status and wealth, family bonds were thinner than paper. Even for siblings without issues, chaebol families would do their best to bring each other down when fighting over inheritance.
So on the day it all happened, Jade received the unconscious Kang Dongha through the Management Bureau and moved him to a safe house first. Not simply out of pity, but because he had mountains of testimony for future investigations.
He received treatment from a doctor Jade had separately called, and spent some time eating, sleeping, and recovering there.
“That guy falling—well, Beolmae, who had been waiting for the signal near Building D, caught him.”
When Taesung satisfied Lee Hwan’s curiosity, Kang Dongha couldn’t help but chime in.
“He could have not caught me. Make that clear.”
“Sure, sure, well done.”
Only after hearing Lee Hwan’s empty praise, like poking his side for a bow, did Kang Dongha finally look properly ahead. Conversely, Taesung looked displeased, as if he really didn’t like him.
Anyway, from what Lee Hwan had heard, although Kang Dongha had a nosebleed that gushed vigorously, making him a bloody mess, fortunately he didn’t have any major injuries except for a twisted neck.
And then he apparently spent a month that was just as terribly boring as Lee Hwan’s. No matter how difficult it was for Jade to drive, for Dongha to come looking for Lee Hwan, willingly driving the car when there were plenty of people trying to catch and kill him…
“Are we going to a safe house too?”
“No, we’re going home.”
As he spoke, Taesung intertwined his fingers with Lee Hwan’s. His large hand was still hot with warmth.
“I’ll have to flee overseas when Kang Dongying gets caught… Insane. Why did I make an enemy of that guy.”
Kang Dongha whined as if he wanted them to hear. As if he had no regrets about his choices anyway.
Jade turned his head with an expression that suggested he found both of them annoying. Unlike before, many emotions were visible in his eyes. He seemed to often forget that he no longer had sunglasses to hide his eyes.
Lee Hwan smirked as he looked at the chaotic car interior, then rested his head heavily on Taesung’s shoulder.
Their tightly clasped hands shared warmth as always. This chaotic peace somehow felt comforting.
Meanwhile, the scenery outside the window smoothly entered a familiar neighborhood, passing through known routes.
* * *
When he opened the door, there was a smell of wallpaper paste. Lee Hwan somehow felt like he was returning to Taesung’s house after years.
Looking around carefully, he found that the interior of the house was quite different from before he left.
The black corners that had made everything in the house seem like it had gone dark were gone, and a much brighter interior welcomed him.
“Whoa…”
The interior scene of the house where they had stayed before the world collapsed was perfectly recreated.
“Wow…”
Lee Hwan exclaimed in admiration as he took off his shoes and entered the house. The furniture, wallpaper—everything was as similar as possible to what they had in the future.
“It’s been a while, that thing.”
When Taesung pointed at something, Lee Hwan saw that the cushion from Taesung’s previous house was placed on the sofa just as it had been.
Lee Hwan, feeling a rush of happiness, approached it.
“…Nice.”
A nostalgic feeling hit him hard. The cushion felt soft when he poked it.
Could there be another sight that made him feel so much longing even while looking at it? Lee Hwan suddenly felt as if he had just dropped by Taesung’s house to hang out after running Gates with him until yesterday.
Come to think of it, they had really come a long way. Their goal had been just a simple wish—to survive together.
Despite going through so many events, it felt somewhat awkward that it was still 2022, and both he and Taesung were still so young.
Taesung, who had been watching Lee Hwan look around for a while, tapped his shoulder to get his attention.
“I set up your room too.”
Lee Hwan’s head perked up. He thought it made sense, but somehow it was an unfamiliar and grateful statement.
Lee Hwan’s room was a space that hadn’t existed here before the regression. Because previously, Lee Hwan had refused it several times.
But now, he felt quite excited. Like he had finally fully stepped into his space. Even though he had already lived here for months, only now did it feel like it was their home.
“Hmm… hmm…”
Humming a tune, he followed Taesung closely until they stopped opposite his room. As if telling him to open it himself, Taesung stepped back completely.
With curiosity and anticipation, Lee Hwan flung open the door, and inside was a ridiculously spacious, neat, and cozy-looking room waiting for him.
Who knows what he had brought, but the blanket on the wide bed looked extremely fluffy.
Moreover, there was a caterpillar plushie placed on top.
How on earth had someone who had only been confined in the hospital with him managed to prepare all this?
Lee Hwan approached as if entranced and threw himself onto it. The sensation that embraced his body was soft and gentle.
Forgetting that Taesung was with him, Lee Hwan rubbed his face against the blanket, then stretched out and took a long breath.
“You jerk… what did you bring? I can’t get up from this bed now.”
It was half exaggeration, but the other half was sincere. When Lee Hwan rolled to the side and curled up his body, for whatever reason, Taesung rolled the plushie up and placed it on top of him too.
“Then how are you going to eat?”
“I’ll eat here.”
“Lying down?”
“That would be hard, wouldn’t it? Sigh, I should have swallowed telekinesis instead of gravity.”
Regardless of whether the plushie on top of him fell or got trapped underneath, Lee Hwan rolled another half turn to look at the ceiling.
As he always felt, it was fortunate he was an Awakened. If he had covered himself with this thick blanket through spring, summer, fall, and winter with a normal person’s body, he would have been steamed to death long ago.
Giggling, Lee Hwan scanned different parts of the room with his eyes. The ceiling, walls, desk, massage chair… There wasn’t a single thing he didn’t like. Even more so when he thought about how Taesung had prepared it for him.
Would it seem too childish to Kang Taesung if he stuck glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling above the bed?
But for once, he wasn’t facing a life-threatening situation, and he wasn’t living in a rented room either, so he wanted to decorate the ceiling to sparkle like it used to. Glow-in-the-dark stars were fun because when they were clear, you could connect them with your eyes to make constellations, and when they became worn out and lost their glow, it was nice to feel the passage of time.
As Lee Hwan was looking for a suitable place to create a galaxy, his eyes landed on a spot on the wall and quietly stopped there.
On the wall next to the bookshelf, far from the window where the sun wouldn’t shine, hung a picture frame with a blue-gray border.
Inside were a smiling man and woman, and in front of them, a young Joo Lee Hwan with the corners of his mouth awkwardly turned up.
“…”
The smile gradually disappeared from his face, and his twitching lips stilled calmly.
But his bouncing heart didn’t freeze cold. Ironically, the emotions of expectation and happiness that had been flying around reached their peak, and Lee Hwan could only stiffen like a statue with his eyes wide open.
Joy that he didn’t know how to express swirled inside him. Unable to speak, he pursed his lips slightly before jumping up from the bed.
The family photo he approached was intact without a single blemish. Faces that he had half-forgotten out of longing were deeply imprinted in his mind.
A woman who looked exactly like Lee Hwan and a man with noticeably light-colored eyes and hair. People he had never met again after losing them in his childhood.
“I brought it from that house. This, you used to carry it folded before.”
His wallet, which had been bulging with photos instead of money, suddenly crossed his mind. He hadn’t wanted to damage it, but back then, he had no choice but to carry it close to his chest.
Unable to throw it away, or even leave it in an empty house.
And now, to see it return in such a pristine condition.
“Th-this, whew, this…”
Lee Hwan suddenly felt something hot welling up in his throat. As if his heart was warning that it wouldn’t leave him alone if he opened his mouth one more time, his breath flowed roughly on its own.
Just then, Taesung, who had been watching him, approached and stood by his side. Then, as Lee Hwan’s red cheeks unexpectedly became wet, Taesung used his sleeve to press and wipe them.
It was strange. Tears welled up on their own, but he could have quickly wiped them and stopped, yet when he thought about Taesung watching, suddenly his breath burst out.
When he hurriedly rubbed his face in embarrassment, Taesung took his hand and gently stopped him.
Then, he pulled out tissues from a nearby box several times and firmly placed them in Lee Hwan’s hand.
“Your legs must hurt. Let’s sit on the bed and look.”
As if an Awakened person would have sore legs.
Despite thinking this, Lee Hwan nodded obediently. Taesung took the hand of Lee Hwan, who was standing still and sniffling, and led him to the bed.
Sitting there, leaning his head on a sturdy shoulder and looking at the family photo, Lee Hwan found himself chuckling without even realizing it.
They say horns grow when you laugh after crying. While thinking this meaningless thought inside, Lee Hwan suddenly turned to the side and hugged Taesung tightly. Then with a soft thud, he fell backward, lying down together.
“You’re in big trouble now.”
Brown eyes with teardrops hanging on the eyelashes narrowed and sparkled with laughter.
“You can’t leave here now.”
Along with this not-at-all-scary threat, the brown hair came close. Even without using his ability, there was a faint scent of fresh fruit that seemed to have permeated his body.
When Taesung laughed with a sound like escaping wind, a salty kiss began.
