By Zephyria ■
“Mr. Lee. Mr. Lee?”
I opened my eyes to the voice calling me. It felt as if I hadn’t slept, but merely closed my eyes, waking up instantly and clearly. She was standing at the open rear door, looking at me.
“We have arrived.”
At her seemingly urging gaze, I got out of the car.
I had wondered if the word ‘resort’ engraved on the van was a disguise, but the surroundings had the appearance of a luxury resort built deep in the forest. A resort that would cater to wealthy clients who wanted to rest in nature but refused any inconvenience. Of course, this was probably not a real accommodation facility.
The van was parked in front of the lobby building.
It had an open structure with no walls, like a pavilion nestled in nature.
Looking up, luxurious tent villas in a glamping style were sparsely lit among the untouched tropical rainforest. It looked like a resort that undoubtedly existed in reality.
There was only one puzzling thing.
The rain that had been pouring down had stopped as if it were a lie.
There was no trace of the humidity from the rain that had fallen just moments before. Not a drop of moisture could be found on the ground or the leaves.
“Where is Hong-seo?”
After a brief assessment of the surroundings, Lee Hae-sung asked her that first.
“He is waiting in his room. We will take you there by Buggy.”
A white buggy was waiting where she pointed. A buggy. It really looked like a resort.
Lee Hae-sung swept his hand over his face and got onto the buggy without a word. The buggy began to drive up the winding uphill road, waiting for her to take the front seat. At first glance, it seemed like nature in its raw state, but in reality, it was the very picture of a meticulously managed luxury resort.
“To resolve the issue, Mr. Choi must move locations soon. There isn’t much time.”
“Move? Where else does Hong-seo have to go from here?”
How much longer would that child have to suffer?
Lee Hae-sung asked again, his tone weary and pressing, and she, seemingly unbothered, replied in a level tone.
“Ah, he won’t be leaving this place. It seems you two would want some time together, even if brief, before the ritual, so I’ve postponed it as much as possible… but further delays are impossible.”
It must be because of Yoon Hye-an’s lifespan.
If Choi Hong-seo’s soul hadn’t entered, Yoon Hye-an would have died from his comatose state. She had explained in the van. Before Yoon Hye-an’s body reached its death, Choi Hong-seo would need to be given a new lifespan.
The buggy stopped in front of a lodge.
Where were they taking Choi Hong-seo now? How was that ritual performed? Was it a method that would hurt the child…
He had many questions, but seeing Choi Hong-seo’s face was the priority.
As he descended the stone steps, each one carefully chosen and assembled, a suspension bridge appeared. Crossing that bridge led to the lodge’s main gate, and below the bridge was a sheer cliff. Opening the main gate, embossed with traditional Balinese patterns, led to a lodge that offered a view of the forest on the opposite side, beyond the cliff they had just passed.
She stepped forward and opened the entrance door.
Is he really here? The child who had a fever of 43 degrees Celsius, with blisters all over his body, so ill he couldn’t recognize me…
“Uncle!”
While he hesitated, unable to step inside readily, Choi Hong-seo suddenly burst out from within. He caught the lover who leaped into his arms with both his arms, taken by surprise.
“Hong-seo…”
He had thought the child would still be lying in bed, ill, just as he had seen him last before leaving the villa.
“Hong-seo…”
As if embracing someone who had died and returned to life, Lee Hae-sung repeated Choi Hong-seo’s name with a dazed expression. Then, as if suddenly regaining his senses, his gaze changed in an instant.
“Are you okay? Has the fever gone down?”
He pushed her shoulder back, separating himself, and cupped Choi Hong-seo’s cheeks in his hands.
“Let me see. Let me see your face.”
The blisters on his face remained. Disappointment welled up, but he didn’t show it.
“What happened? When… how did you get here before me? You didn’t get wet in the rain, did you?”
“I went to the lodging… and was waiting for you, Uncle. Then I felt that feeling again and started to get sick.”
“Yes, I know. I came back out after seeing you sick.”
Choi Hong-seo shook his head.
“I didn’t know that.”
“You wouldn’t have. You couldn’t even open your eyes properly because of the fever. But… how did you get here?”
“When I woke up, I was in this room’s bed.”
Still held within Lee Hae-sung’s hands, Choi Hong-seo shook his head again. His face was confused.
There were too many parts that couldn’t be explained.
If this was truly Agung Mountain, it was a two-hour drive from the rented villa. It was impossible to get Choi Hong-seo out of there, past the surveillance of the escorts who had been strictly ordered to guard the VIP.
A child who had been hovering between life and death couldn’t have been walking and talking in the meantime.
Perhaps this child now was an incomplete being, a manifestation of Choi Hong-seo’s soul summoned and visualized.
Perhaps his body was still lying ill in the villa bedroom, and only his soul had temporarily taken form here. In a place like the Bardo, anything would be possible.
It didn’t matter. Whether it was just his soul or not, he was still Choi Hong-seo.
He affectionately stroked the blister-covered face and rubbed their noses together.
“Were you scared?”
“I’m okay… but you must have been very surprised, Uncle?”
Before his reincarnation, Choi Hong-seo had spoken of wandering here and there without a body or a voice. He had gazed at Earth from space and had even visited that rooftop in Bangkok. Choi Hong-seo had also witnessed Lee Seo-kyung being offered a proposal for revenge at Yi-han’s house.
So perhaps this situation wasn’t entirely unfamiliar to Choi Hong-seo. If so, it was a relief.
“Shall we go inside and talk? Your fever has gone down, but you still need to be careful.”
As Lee Hae-sung began to move inside, putting his arm around Choi Hong-seo’s shoulder, she called out to him.
“Just a moment.”
“……”
“Mr. Choi must move with us. Mr. Lee can rest here and wait.”
Several burly men entered through the open gate.
Lee Hae-sung turned towards them, hiding Choi Hong-seo behind his back. Even though he knew such resistance would be futile against them, he couldn’t let Choi Hong-seo go easily.
“Where are you taking him?”
“To a separate space within this resort. There’s no need to worry.”
The men stood in a fan formation, awaiting her command. Lee Hae-sung reached behind him, gripping Choi Hong-seo’s waist tightly.
“What exactly is that ritual? I can’t send him off without knowing what you’re doing to the child.”
“I cannot explain the entire process in detail. As I mentioned on the way here, we are trying to stabilize Mr. Choi by creating a new lifespan for him. I don’t understand why you are suspicious.”
A hint of irritation was evident in her expression and voice.
“I’m okay. I’ll be back.”
“……”
At Choi Hong-seo’s voice, Lee Hae-sung looked back over his shoulder.
The eyes looking down were not fearful. Even if the shape of his eyes was different, the light within them was the same as the Choi Hong-seo he remembered. Eyes that calmly accepted the immense wall approaching him, eyes that were resolved.
He felt as if this child must have had the same expression when he stood on the rooftop in Bangkok.
In front of such a child, he couldn’t speak of his fear.
Because he had lost you once, the mere thought of the possibility of losing you again felt like burning. He couldn’t confess his terror.
“Then, I will go with you.”
“That is impossible.”
She replied instantly, her voice firm.
“Even in the places you come from, you can’t accompany someone into the operating room, no matter how close you are, can you? Mr. Choi is such a special case that we have made some allowances, but we cannot go any further than this. Coming this far with us is already a great deal.”
Lee Hae-sung rubbed his face several times. Then, he pleaded,
“Then… then I will wait in front of it.”
His life had never required him to use such a voice to get what he wanted. But as Lee Jong-ik had said, his worldly reputation, his money, could not save Choi Hong-seo in the slightest.
From behind his shoulder, Choi Hong-seo grasped Lee Hae-sung’s side. His forehead touched the upper part of his back.
“Don’t. You don’t have to. I’m really okay. I can do it.”
He murmured in a voice only Lee Hae-sung could hear. It must be painful for his beloved to see him become weak and beg.
No one had ever loved Lee Hae-sung in this way.
He couldn’t send this child alone into a frightening place again, without even a struggle.
“You mentioned an operating room, didn’t you? Even if I can’t go inside the operating room, I can wait in the hallway, can’t I?”
“Hmm. You are a truly difficult person.”
Looking at Lee Hae-sung, who stood like a wall with his intense, heated gaze, she sighed. She pursed her lips for a moment as if deep in thought, then spoke to the waiting men.
“We will escort him to the Sanzu River.”
Passing the suspension bridge, climbing the stone steps again, they boarded the buggy. Lee Hae-sung held Choi Hong-seo’s hand tightly and pulled him close. He buried his lips in his hair, not letting go for a moment.
“I’ll be waiting. You know that, right?”
He nodded.
“Hong-seo, you are a truly strong person. Stronger than me. You can overcome anything. Right?”
He nodded.
The buggy descended endlessly along the deep valley. Beyond the valley below, a small hut nestled among the dense foliage came into view.
He had a premonition that this was their destination. Lee Hae-sung tightened the arm around Choi Hong-seo’s shoulder, so hard his bones felt like they would shrink.
“Why haven’t you been watching movies lately?”
He hadn’t expected such a question before a momentous event.
Surprised by the unexpected question, he lowered his head and looked down at Choi Hong-seo.
“Hmm? You’ve been busy. Go Ji-woon, Park Dong-ha, Jo Seong-hyeon… We haven’t had a moment to breathe. When we get home, let’s watch lots of movies together then.”
“I haven’t seen you taking pictures either.”
“That…”
Within Lee Hae-sung’s hands, Choi Hong-seo wriggled. He enclosed Lee Hae-sung’s right hand within his own. The hands, which looked neat but were thick and large, couldn’t be fully enclosed by Choi Hong-seo’s two hands. He clasped them as if in prayer and brought them to his lips.
“Let’s watch movies again, and take pictures again. Smoking… quit.”
“……”
“It doesn’t have to be right away. Just promise you’ll quit.”
The buggy was now crossing the bridge leading to the hut. From a distance, the plaque hanging above the hut’s entrance, not visible before, caught his eye.
The cold smile of Lee Jong-ik, who had mocked his disbelief, flashed in his mind.
“Go to Ubud and find Taripa.”
To prevent it from being taken away, he pulled Choi Hong-seo closer. Kissing his hair, forehead, and temples, he glared at the plaque straight ahead.
“I can’t promise. So you watch over him yourself.”