Chapter 118
The time they spent as lovers, not as Guide and Esper, not as Saebyeok’s parents, ended in the blink of an eye. And so the day came when they had to return to everyday life.
They were going through check in at the airport counter. The staff member was explaining the fast track and lounge location to Hyeji, then glanced with her eyes toward Kanghyeon, who was busy putting the suitcase onto the belt, and then…
[ And your… ]
She trailed off. Koreans do not combine surnames when they marry, and marital status does not appear on the passport, so she hesitated, unsure of their relationship. Kanghyeon tried to answer, but Hyeji was faster.
[ He’s my husband. ]
After finishing the process, they headed toward the fast track security line, but Kanghyeon was acting strange.
“What’s wrong?”
He looked dazed.
“Did you forget your power bank and checked it in?”
There was still plenty of time, so they could just go back to the counter. But he did not turn back. He stopped there, standing blankly, and looked down at Hyeji with an odd expression.
“I’m asking what’s wrong.”
“You called me your husband.”
What kind of random thing was that.
“…Then what should I call you?”
“Do you know it was the first time?”
There had never really been a chance to call him that before. But thinking about it, there had been chances, and she had still not said it. Only now did she realize that in front of the housekeepers who came by, she had habitually called him Saebyeok’s dad instead.
“You’ll hear it often from now on.”
If the Han Kanghyeon from a few years ago, the T jerk who said marriage was a business where you only lose out, saw this F human Han Kanghyeon getting emotional over being called husband for the first time, he would say the guy had been shot in the head.
“Mr. Husband, snap out of it and let’s go.”
It was just as Hyeji grabbed the still absent minded man’s hand and tugged him along.
[ GAAAHH! ]
[ RUN! ]
Screams erupted from a counter in the direction they were heading, and people began abandoning their luggage and rushing toward the exit. The moment they sensed an emergency, ominous shouts announcing a terrorist attack burst out along with gunshots.
“Ah, why of all times. This way!”
Kanghyeon, who had taken part in counterterror operations enough to be sick of them and was used to situations like this, wrapped an arm around Hyeji’s waist and started running. Instead of the exit already clogged with people trampling over one another, he dashed down a nearby stairwell.
Passing through the arrival level, which was still quiet because people did not yet know what was happening, they escaped in an instant.
As soon as they got outside, Kanghyeon grabbed a taxi that was still standing there, unaware of the situation, and pushed Hyeji inside.
“Go back to the hotel. Message me when you arrive.”
As he was about to close the door, Hyeji suddenly grabbed his wrist.
“You’re not getting in? Where are you going?”
“I have something I need to do.”
He was planning to join the local counterterror response team as he was. Espers registered with the International Esper-Guide Center were eligible to participate in counterterror operations even if the attack was not in their own country. There was no country that would not welcome help from an S-Class Esper. But that was eligibility, not an obligation.
She knew very well that even knowing that, this was the kind of man who thought helping was his duty. She had always seen him up close.
So while she thought he was admirable, she had always been anxious, afraid that this man might die someday. Now she was angry.
Just like when he had been kidnapped by an armed group in Libya. He had nearly escaped on his own, but he could not turn his back on the hostages and got captured again. When she heard that, she thought it was so very Han Kanghyeon, but at the same time she was angry, wondering why this man could not be selfish.
Yet she had never told Kanghyeon not to go, and she had never acknowledged to herself that she was afraid of his death. Noh Hyeji the Guide had no right to do that.
But Noh Hyeji the wife did.
For the first time, Hyeji gave in to a selfish desire, grabbed Kanghyeon’s arm with all her strength, and refused to let go.
“Don’t go.”
This was something the country’s military and police would handle on their own. If the damage became greater because Kanghyeon did not intervene, Hyeji was prepared to carry that guilt for the rest of her life.
But she did not have the courage to regret for the rest of her life not holding on to this man in this moment.
Caught between conscience and love, Hyeji appealed to the man who was left helpless, unable to choose either.
“You asked why I didn’t have anything I wanted, right? I do. I did. But you did everything I wanted first, so there was no need to say it.”
But now, as he was about to turn away from her wish, she had to say it.
“Don’t leave me.”
“……”
“I only need that one thing.”
