By Zephyria 
90
In that instant, the scent rushed in. The smell of blood, the smell of rain, and Tae-muk’s scent.
At the same time, his solid body was felt. His surprisingly warm body temperature was also felt.
But it wasn’t enough. A little more certainty was needed. The certainty that this person was Tae-muk. Only then could he feel at ease.
“…….”
Ho-eun, biting his lower lip, buried his face in Tae-muk’s chest. His heartbeat tickled his cheek. Thump-thump, thump-thump. Heavy and fierce, it was definitely his heartbeat.
Yes, it was Tae-muk.
It was truly Tae-muk.
“General…….”
Ho-eun called out to Tae-muk, touching him hesitantly. Just like Jeong-woo had done when he met Jeong-i. He was worried that he might be an illusion, that he might be dreaming.
After feeling and caressing Tae-muk for a while, Ho-eun raised his head and looked up at him. Tae-muk was also looking down at Ho-eun. With an expressionless face, but with eyes that were darker than ever before.
“How, how…….”
How did he come? How could he appear at such a perfect moment?
Ho-eun stammered, his lips moving. He couldn’t take his eyes off Tae-muk’s face. Then, boom, lightning struck again. The sound startled Ho-eun. He grabbed Tae-muk’s sleeve and stammered.
“We, we need to go to the hospital. Th, the Devouring Ghoul have swarmed the hospital, and they fired cannons, so the hospital collapsed, and people were hurt, no, no, Officer Oh was in the hospital, he was hit by a cannon, no, not hit, maybe he was hit, but, I, I couldn’t confirm if he was alive or not. Seong-im and I had to look for him, but, but, I, I wasn’t good enough, I was too flustered……. I had no choice but to run, to run away……, Officer Oh…….”
In his haste, his words ran wild. He hadn’t spoken so incoherently even when he was five years old. Now his mind was going back and forth, his tongue was going back and forth, it was a mess. Unable to find a moment to breathe, his thin shoulders heaved irregularly.
After rambling for a while, Ho-eun squeezed his eyes shut, shook his head, and finally uttered one coherent sentence.
“We have to go save Officer Oh. Quickly.”
“…….”
Tae-muk didn’t answer. He just breathed heavily. His already thick chest swelled and shrank as if it would burst.
Ho-eun waited anxiously for his answer, then suddenly realized something strange.
He’s panting?
Tae-muk?
Come to think of it, his heartbeat was also fierce. As if he had been running with all his might. But…… Tae-muk had never even taken a breath while fighting countless Devouring Ghoul……. He had been rather coldly indifferent. But why now…….
Feeling strangely unfamiliar, Ho-eun took a half step back. Suddenly, Tae-muk raised one corner of his mouth and chuckled. Then he tilted his head and met Ho-eun’s gaze. His eyes were full of displeasure.
“The first thing you say after meeting me is about Oh Gil-sang?”
“……Excuse me?”
The moment Ho-eun asked back with a foolish face, someone approached them. It was Seong-im. She bowed slightly to Tae-muk. Tae-muk stared at her silently. Then he spoke quietly.
“Good work.”
Seong-im immediately shook her head as if to say no. Then she looked up at Tae-muk. As if there were words she was waiting for, or words she needed to hear. Tae-muk nodded his head towards the door.
“Go out. He’s probably coming this way.”
At those words, Seong-im’s face, which had been dry despite being soaked in the rain, became damp for the first time. She dropped her sword as if throwing it away and ran out of the church. Ho-eun stared blankly at her receding figure. Then he turned his gaze to Tae-muk.
“Officer Oh…… is he alive?”
“Of course? Do you think he’d die from just a cannonball?”
Tae-muk replied nonchalantly.
“B, but…….”
Ho-eun couldn’t believe those words. He had seen the hospital collapse with his own eyes. There was no one alive in the front yard covered with rubble. He hadn’t looked through all the rubble one by one, but the building had really collapsed completely. Moreover, the Devouring Ghoul had swarmed over it like bees…….
“I think I told you. Even if you threw boxes of bombs here, no one would die.”
Tae-muk said, brushing the Hair Tie that had fallen onto Ho-eun’s shoulder with his thumb and forefinger.
“When did you say that…….”
Ho-eun frowned at the unfamiliar sentence. But before he could finish speaking, he remembered something he had said once. In the distant past, no, not so distant past, Tae-muk, whom he had met at the hotel after the Inyeonje, had said those words.
‘Tell your father.’
‘Even if you throw boxes of bombs here, no one will die, so don’t bother.’
He thought it was a statement to distort his father, but it was true. How, by what means, it didn’t matter. He was alive, and that was all that mattered.
“Ah……. That’s a relief. Really…… that’s a relief.”
Now there was nothing more to worry about. Gil-sang was safe, Seong-im was safe, Jeong-woo and Jeong-i were safe, the girls were safe. And Tae-muk was right in front of him now.
Ho-eun let out a big sigh of relief. And at the same time, he collapsed downwards. Tae-muk quickly supported his waist.
“Ah, I’m sorry…….”
Ho-eun gripped Tae-muk’s arm and tried to put strength into his legs. But his melted legs wouldn’t hold him up. The girls were watching, he shouldn’t be making such a spectacle in front of others, but his limbs were already out of control. Now he couldn’t even hold up his head, and the top of his head thudded against Tae-muk’s chest.
“What did you do that you can’t even stand?”
Tae-muk scratched Ho-eun’s nerves without realizing it. Ho-eun immediately glared at Tae-muk with a fierce look. It’s all because of whom, he thought childishly. Actually, Tae-muk hadn’t done anything wrong. It was all because of the disgusting Devouring Ghoul and those shameless noblemen. He only had him to blame right now.
“Why were you so late?”
“What?”
“You left as if you would come soon, as if we could meet, why did you come so late?”
“……I don’t think I’m late.”
Tae-muk glanced at the Devouring Ghoul that had been turned into mincemeat. He couldn’t say he came early, but he felt a little wronged to be criticized for coming late. How he had run all the way here.
But Ho-eun’s sharply honed gaze did not soften. He squeezed Tae-muk’s arm even harder.
“No. You were late. You were very, very late.”
Ho-eun emphasized by repeating ‘very’ twice. As he recalled the things that had happened, his heart pounded anxiously again. The hospital collapsing, jumping out of the third-floor window, walking the night streets, meeting bad noblemen at the shelter, getting rained on, running away from the Devouring Ghoul, arriving at the church, all those things suddenly rushed in and crushed Ho-eun. His breath was all twisted.
But Tae-muk clicked his tongue.
“That’s why you should have stayed at the garrison. Why did you follow…….”
Ho-eun sighed. He hated Tae-muk for blaming him instead of comforting him. He hated him so much that he was angry and sad. But ironically, the only person he could express that sadness to, the only person he could be comforted by, was Tae-muk. Ho-eun tugged at his sleeve and whined.
“I was scared…….”
“…….”
“Really, I was scared…….”
Ho-eun’s face contorted moistly. Tears welled up in his crumpled eyes. Tae-muk looked down at Ho-eun as if he were pathetic. Then he gently wiped the hair stuck to his cheek with his thumb and said.
“Then you should have called me sooner.”
At the words that sounded like a scolding, Ho-eun’s eyelashes tightened. He glared at Tae-muk without fear and shouted.
“You should have told me! That you would come if I called! That you could hear my voice even if you were far away!”
“…….”
“If you had told me……, if you had…….”
If he had, he would have called him from the hospital. Whether the Devouring Ghoul came or not, he would have called until his throat was hoarse. Then he wouldn’t have had to experience all that fear and despair.
In any case, as a result, everyone Ho-eun wanted to protect was fine, but his heart was not. It was torn and crushed into dozens of pieces, and his ribs ached all over.
Ho-eun looked up at Tae-muk, his lower lip trembling. Then he hugged his waist tightly and buried his face in his broad chest.
“You’re really mean.”
“…….”
Tae-muk blinked slowly. He couldn’t understand Ho-eun, who said he hated him to death with his mouth, but clung to him tightly with his body. Is it because he’s a nobleman, he thought nonsensically, supporting his back and waist even more firmly.
Ho-eun lowered his hand, which had been wrapped around Tae-muk’s waist, and took his hand. It wasn’t because he had promised to hold his hand. He just wanted to.
“…….”
The moment their fingertips intertwined and their palms touched, Tae-muk shuddered. His sternocleidomastoid muscle became so clear that it seemed to pierce through his skin.
But Ho-eun didn’t feel it. He was out of his mind. His vision was blurry and his ears were muffled due to the overwhelming tension. Even in the midst of all that, Ho-eun kept adjusting Tae-muk’s hand. And he rubbed his cheek against his solid chest and mumbled.
“Still……, still, thank you for coming.”
“…….”
“Thank you…… so much…….”