Chapter 226.2

Chapter 226.2

“Can you hear me?”

“….”

“Please… I still have so much to say. From now on, don’t overdo it worrying about me. Think of yourself first.”

“.…”

“You have to survive first! You can leave me behind, it’s fine. I’ll keep chasing you, I won’t give up. I’m okay now. You can go as far as you want, so please…”

“Seoryeong. If I leave you behind…”

A low, strained voice broke through a groan.

“…that just means I’m walking behind Han Seoryeong.”

He slowly opened his eyes.

“I’ll always be standing right behind my wife.”

Lee Wooshin pulled her head toward him and pressed their lips together again. Seoryeong’s hands trembled as she traced the taut line of his neck, then buried her fingers in his thick hair. Their kiss, an unspoken vow, grew deeper and fiercer as time passed.

“Mm… ha…!”

His tongue pushed deep inside, tangling wetly with hers. Their mingled body heat burned so fiercely that she no longer felt the pain of the fall, only heat spreading through her skin. He devoured her mouth with relentless hunger, then opened his wider, sweeping his tongue over hers.

It was a fierce vow shared in the moment between life and death. Seoryeong’s thighs trembled. Sometimes, she threw her clumsy, sharp-edged feelings without care, but there was someone who always took them without flinching.

It felt like the ice lodged in her throat was finally melting. Her trembling hands managed to rise, wrapping weakly around Lee Wooshin’s neck.

“Team leader, are you all right?”

After several kicks, a familiar voice burst out through the dented car door. “Agent Han Seoryeong!” The familiar title made her shoulders sag with relief.

She didn’t know how they had made it all the way here, but when she heard someone clutching one ear and shouting for Channa, a faint smile crossed her face.

The last thing she saw before her head dropped limply was the hardened expressions of Special Security Team members Ki Taemin and Jin Hojae, whom she hadn’t seen in half a year.

“Seoryeong, wake up! Seoryeong!”

Urgent but gentle hands brushed her frozen cheeks. The relief of being alive washed over her, and only then did the pain from her dislocated elbow flood in. Seoryeong blacked out.

‘Live long, Han Seoryeong.’

But Kia, what did you mean by that? Was that supposed to be his one good deed, his final goodbye?

As her body was lifted, Seoryeong looked one last time at the monastery blazing in the distance.

‘I’ll bury you in that monastery. Among the living, you’re the only brother I’ll lay to rest.’ Her eyelids slowly closed.

‘You threw away your chance, there will be no eternal rest for you.’

*

‘I know. I’m nothing but the one who makes you fall.’

Kia couldn’t take his eyes off the two as they disappeared from sight. Then, slowly, the corner of his mouth curved upward.

He watched them fall together; two shooting stars, beautiful in their descent, and turned his back without hesitation. Humming softly, he walked through the flickering flames as if they didn’t exist.

‘I am Sonya’s only brother, her only pair. The shadow that will never leave your feet. The cross that will carry all your darkness and fall with it into the abyss.’

Blood from the cult leader’s robes dripped down, pooling beneath Kia’s shoes and leaving a trail of red. Humming a slow, monotone tune, he pushed open a side wall.

Inside was a cold room overflowing with liquor and naked, entangled bodies, some still moving, others long dead. It was where the real party had taken place.

Kia staggered toward an American man smoking a cigar wrapped with a tiny Stars and Stripes flag.

“Hey, my game’s over.”

Kia thought of the old man Sonya had taken with her, the unforgettable sight of her choosing and carrying him, the Kia who had lived long enough to look aged. A dry laugh slipped out.

Sonya, we were always the same. Same height, same weight, same face, same strength. That’s why we became a pair.

Sonya and Kia; the strongest of the children. The twins who shared everything.

“Enough. Take my head instead.”

When Kia lifted his blood-soaked red robe, his crotch was already drenched in scarlet. ‘The blood was flowing from his scrotum. If I can’t have Sonya, then I’ll become her instead.’ His expression still looked almost cheerful.

“What you’re looking for is right here, too.”

He jabbed a finger into his own temple as if stabbing it.

‘If Lee Wooshin gave you his heart, then it’s only fair I give my head. The head’s always the tastiest part, after all.’

Kia had never been able to grow up, but watching the man who fell for Han Seoryeong alone made him finally understand why he existed.

There was only one thing he could do for Sonya, to make her complete, to make her the true Han Seoryeong.

‘Sonya, I’m your spare.’

“Go on, take my head.”

Kia, who had already stabbed himself in the groin, spoke like he was giving an order. Then something descended over his head, and his vision turned completely white.

Beyond his vision, a young Sonya wearing a mask was tugging on his hand. Now smaller himself, Kia grasped her hand tightly and stepped out onto the endless field of snow stretching to the horizon.

For the first time in forever, his chest felt open, and his palms tingled.

With his small feet, Kia ran across the hill. It was eternal darkness, an abyss.