The Way of Life for a Terminal S-Class Hunter - C115

$115

I usually woke up at dawn, but today I woke up to sunlight for the first time in a while. Feeling a gaze, I turned to see Seo-heon lying beside me, looking at me.

“Did you not sleep again?”

“I slept and just woke up.”

“Then why are you watching instead of waking me up?”

We’ve known each other for a long time, so it wasn’t the first time I showed him my sleeping face. But imagining him staring at me like this the whole time I was asleep made me feel shy. I didn’t have any sleeping habits, but I was worried if I might have snored or drooled.

“You’re pretty, Woo-hyun, so I wanted to keep looking.”

Seo-heon often said embarrassing things. Before, even though I thought there was no sincerity in them, my heart would flutter, so now that I know they’re sincere, it’s even more so. It felt like seeds were sprouting in my stomach.

“Don’t say things like that so casually.”

My face must have turned red without a doubt. I tried to hide my embarrassed face by pulling up the blanket, but Seo-heon grabbed my hand and hugged me tightly.

“Why? We agreed not to lie, right? I’m just honestly saying what I think.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to say everything you think.”

“I haven’t even said everything yet.”

Seo-heon’s feet tangled with mine. He tickled me playfully, and I giggled under the blanket.

“Only you are pretty. Other humans mean nothing to me. My criteria for judging others is simple. Whether they interfere with us or not. Whether they’re useful or not.”

The playful words suddenly gained weight.

“I don’t feel much for anyone but you. My world is made up of slight irritation, anger, and discomfort. Only you make me feel good. I have no one but you.”

“Okay.”

I felt mixed emotions, wondering how I ended up liking such a person, and feeling glad that I like him too.

“If I had been a normal person, you wouldn’t have had to risk your life.”

We’ll be happy like this, but suddenly remember moments when we were unhappily misaligned. I still felt guilty when I thought of my parents. That was separate from the emotions I had sorted out after deciding to forgive him.

“Leave things that can’t be changed alone. You can’t change yourself or the past, right?”

Instead of giving false comfort saying it wasn’t so, I gave a realistic answer.

“I will.”

Seo-heon, who answered immediately like an obedient child, hugged me tighter.

“Where shall we go today?”

“Where… Oh, the date?”

I remembered the promise we made yesterday, a beat late.

“Shall we watch a movie?”

“That’s what we used to do every day. Isn’t there something more special?”

Come to think of it, watching a movie was also what we did when he tried to change my mind about quitting the guild. I had lost more hobbies over the past few years, and Seo-heon didn’t have many hobbies to begin with. We didn’t particularly enjoy sports since we got enough physical activity from work.

“Then is there anything you want to do?”

So I didn’t really expect Seo-heon to answer this question. However, surprisingly, Seo-heon opened his mouth as if he had been waiting.

“Do you want to go see the sea?”

“The sea?”

“Yeah. We’ve been to the mountains a lot, so I thought we could go to the sea.”

Come to think of it, the last mountain I went to was the place I was forced to go when I ran away. It would be natural to not want to go for a while.

“It’s not bad to go after a long time. It’s been a while since we went to the sea for fun.”

“Then let’s drive there.”

It was getting boring just rolling around in bed. It seemed like it would be good to go out and get some sun.

“Let’s stop at rest areas on the way and eat something delicious.”

The plans coming out of Seo-heon’s mouth were not special, but rather ordinary things for most people. They were very everyday things, but to us, they felt like a distant past.

“Yeah. I want to eat walnut pastries after a long time. What was that corn-shaped bread called? I want to eat that too.”

“The one with cream inside?”

“Yeah. That too.”

“Then let’s get up quickly.”

After just talking and cuddling in bed, we started preparing to go out quickly. Seo-heon stopped by his house and came back wearing a white shirt and jeans.

“You look like a high school student.”

It was casual clothing, not his usual combat uniform or semi-formal attire. I also took out clothes from the closet Seo-heon had filled, ending up in a hoodie and jeans.

“You just look like a high school student.”

“How old am I to be called a high school student?”

As soon as we got in the car, Seo-heon fastened my seatbelt before I could even move.

“I’m not someone who needs to be protected, you don’t need to do this.”

“Do I look like someone who would fasten the seatbelt for a person I still need to protect?”

Seo-heon laughed softly as if he had heard an interesting story.

“I do it because it’s you. I did it before because it was you too. It’s just my hobby, so don’t mind it.”

Seo-heon slowly shifted the gear to D. The car on the highway moved at a moderate speed, neither too fast nor too slow compared to other cars. Maybe because I had slept enough, I didn’t feel sleepy even while riding in the car today. Instead, I had various conversations with Seo-heon.

At first, we talked about guild matters, discussing how we were handling the situation and dealing with the remaining forces targeting Seo-heon and me. But when Seo-heon asked, “Do we have to talk about work on our date?”, I felt embarrassed and shut my mouth.

After that, we had conversations without much substance.

“Have you ever tried scuba diving?”

“Yeah. Once when a dungeon appeared under the sea. I’m a fire attribute, so I only participated in exploration, not in the actual raid.”

“Ah, that Egyptian dungeon. So you’ve never done it just as a hobby?”

“I didn’t have time to enjoy it separately. You haven’t either, right?”

“No, I haven’t either.”

The topics of conversation changed rapidly.

“Do you remember our middle school field trip?”

“Right. We were assigned to different rooms, so I forcibly switched rooms with another kid.”

“You forcibly switched?”

“I just made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.”

The conversation jumping between past and present might have lacked substance, but it was enjoyable. It felt like talking to an old friend, and also like ordinary lovers.

“Let’s stop for a bit before we continue.”

As promised, we stopped at a rest area, bought a walnut pastry and a corn-shaped cream bread, and got back in the car. The walnut pastry had sweet red bean paste inside a crispy bread. It was much sweeter than I remembered, and though it should have been cloying, I kept reaching for more. Seo-heon, who had suggested stopping at the rest area, didn’t eat anything. Thinking it might be because he was driving, I put some in his mouth, and he ate it without refusing.

“It’s delicious.”

“Really?”

“Of course, Woo-hyun fed it to me.”

Seo-heon shamelessly opened his mouth as if to prove it was true. He wanted me to give him another one. I picked up another walnut pastry and put it in his mouth. I knew he could eat skillfully even while driving, but it was fun watching them disappear into his mouth.

“We’ll arrive soon.”

Seo-heon said after we had finished nibbling on the corn-shaped cream bread too. I had been thinking that I could see the sea through the window continuously.

“Shall we get out?”

We parked in the empty parking lot and got out. The place we arrived at after a long drive was a beach in the South Sea. Maybe because it was still cool, there weren’t many people, and the sea breeze was refreshing, making us feel light. As the wide-open sea came into view, I felt excited for no reason. I understood why people come to the sea for fun.

“It’s pretty.”

“Is it?”

Seo-heon asked like that again, even though he was the one who suggested coming to the sea. He was watching me look at the sea as if he had no interest in the sea himself.

“If you came for fun too, look at the sea a bit.”

“I am looking.”

It was a complete lie. His gaze never left me. Still, I didn’t urge Seo-heon to look at the sea. I decided to think that everyone has their own way of enjoying a trip.

“Shall we walk a bit?”

“Sure.”

The path next to the beach was narrow, so our shoulders kept touching as we walked side by side. Even that touch was enjoyable. As we walked, chatting casually, we soon reached a dead end. Suddenly, the conversation stopped. Standing at the edge of the sea, we were silent for a while. It wasn’t awkward.

“Woo-hyun-ah.”

Seo-heon was the first to speak.

“Thank you for deciding to live with me.”

The word ‘thank you’ didn’t suit Seo-heon at all, but I believed without a doubt that those words were sincere.

“Seo-heon-ah.”

At my call, Seo-heon’s gaze wavered. He seemed to be preparing himself for something.

“Thank you for trying so hard to save me too.”

I thought I should say this too. Even if trying to save me was a result of Seo-heon’s selfish feelings, the unchanging truth was that I was living now thanks to him. Seo-heon clenched his jaw tightly and hugged me. In his embrace, I tried to gauge the future we would spend together.

“Let’s try living normally.”

I realized now why Seo-heon had chosen such a common travel course. He wanted to talk about us living normally too. In his own way.

“Okay. Let’s love each other normally like other people.”

The sun at its zenith was beautifully embroidering the sea. Happiness came rushing in like waves.

There were moments when I thought I didn’t have much time left to live, and moments when I wanted to throw everything away.

But now, I want to try living with Seo-heon. In a normal and peaceful way.

<End.>