MOTD Side Story 2.8

Side Story: Return Episode 8

2. Korea

A week had passed by the time he finished clearing out the remaining food in the refrigerator, tidying up the house, and preparing the necessary documents. Ha-jin and Eden left the house after dropping Pie off with the neighbor.

Upon arriving at Dallas Love Field Airport, they completed a brief entry process and boarded a private jet. Ha-jin greeted the flight attendants, with a fussing Mi-so and Jeffrey trailing behind him.

Shortly after they took their seats, six bodyguards dressed in black suits swarmed onto the plane. The men bowed politely toward Eden and took their seats with practiced ease.

Ha-jin poked Eden’s thigh—Eden, who was already busy handling work on his laptop before takeoff.

“Were the bodyguards coming along too?”

“That’s how it worked out this time.”

“What? Didn’t you say the business trip was simple? [unauthorized copy]Is there something visit our sitedangerous involved?”

Eden wore a curated smile as he stroked the nape of Ha-jin’s neck.

“There’s nothing like that, so rest easy.”

Unable to shake his suspicion, Ha-jin spent a while stealing glances at the group of bodyguards.

Soon, the safety briefing followed, and the plane slowly took off amidst a quiet commotion.

Perhaps it was because he was flying for the first time in six years, or perhaps he was thrilled to be going back to Korea. His heart beat with a small, steady thumping, not enough to be loud, but noticeable.

Ha-jin gazed out the window at the land receding into the distance. He stared blankly down until the massive airport became as small as a thumbnail, then blinked slowly.

About an hour later, after having the in-flight meal, Ha-jin leaned the side of his head against Eden’s shoulder. It was strange; he had stayed up all night with nerves just yesterday, but now that he was actually on the plane, sleep was washing over him.

“Ah, I said no. Jeffrey, you order the champagne.”

“No, Mi-so does it.”

Right behind them, the sound of Mi-so and Jeffrey bickering reached him like white noise.

“No, it’s the champagne you’re going to drink. Not the drink I’m having, you idiot.”

“Or O.J.”

“Whether it’s orange juice or whatever, Jeffrey, you order it. Don’t tell me you’re being shy?”

“…I’m going to Korea. For Mi-so.”

“No, who told you to follow along… I said it was fine, but you’re the one who forced yourself to come, Jeffrey…”

Listening to their hollow, childish conversation, his eyes slowly closed. Perhaps noticing his languid breathing, a steady gaze settled upon his cheek.

“Sleep well.”

Eden’s tender greeting felt like a sweet hypnosis. Ha-jin completely surrendered his body [unauthorized copy]to him, his visit our sitechest [unauthorized copy]rising and falling quietly. The friendly voices of his companions pierced through his muffled ears, playing like a lullaby. He fell into a deep slumber in an instant.

The runway and entry gates seemed to be in the middle of reorganization, as everything was cluttered. Before he could even feel the excitement of stepping onto his home soil again, Ha-jin hurried along with the group, following a guide.

Only parts of the airport interior were open, and the area for entry procedures was a single small room. Ha-jin, the last in the group to finish the process, navigated through the crowd of busy people to reach his companions. With the bodyguards included, the group was conspicuous even from a distance.

Eden was standing slightly apart from the group, talking to a Black woman he was meeting for the first time. The military uniform she wore bore a mark that read MDCC. It seemed she had come to pick them up from the Military Disease Control Center, Eden’s business destination.

As Ha-jin stood quietly before him, Eden lightly tapped Ha-jin’s shoulder. For a while, a stream of unknown technical jargon poured from their mouths. After a tedious wait, Eden turned to the group and spoke.

[We will be staying in a security shelter for today for quarantine purposes. I’m told this is the standard procedure for anyone entering the Republic of Korea, so please bear with it for one day. We’ll head to the resort tomorrow.]

[I just need a bed. There’ll be beds in the security shelter, right? I’d prefer something a bit firm rather than plush.]

Mi-so pushed Jeffrey aside as he continued to spout nonsense and made eye contact with Eden.

“Then I’ll stay in the security shelter for a day and go straight to the traveler’s shelter. The private jet was already a luxury; I think it’ll be too burdensome to be treated to a resort as well.”

“No, Ms. Yun Mi-so will also go to the resort. Shelters are crowded and dangerous.”

“I’m really okay—”

“I am not okay with it. A room has already been prepared, so consider it settled.”

At the firm refusal, Mi-so shut her mouth with an embarrassed expression. It was quite awkward that he didn’t hide his petty jealousy when he was with Ha-jin, yet treated her strictly as a colleague at times like this. Shuddering at Eden’s cold rationality in separating public and private matters, Mi-so quietly stepped back.

Feeling a nudge on his arm, Ha-jin looked aside to see Mi-so silently mouthing words.

‘Just go to the resort together.’

The face saying those words was so innocent. Mi-so let out a soft laugh, as if he were beyond help.

Ha-jin boarded the waiting military vehicle. Immediately after leaving the airport, his eyes widened at the scenery unfolding outside the window.

The roads seemed newly renovated and smooth, but the surroundings were no different from a dense jungle. Outside the windows of buildings that were empty like the eye sockets of a skull, everything was shrouded in lush green leaves.

It was a landscape where the entire city seemed to have been devoured by nature. Ha-jin couldn’t close his visit our siteopen mouth, his charcoal-colored eyes rolling around in wonder. The songs of colorful birds and the [unauthorized copy]cries of unidentified animals drifted through the gaps of the open window.

Even the bodyguards, who had been sitting rigidly the entire time, couldn’t contain their curiosity and began turning their gazes outward one by one.

“It really has changed a lot…”

It seemed the talk of tourists flocking to see the city that ‘had’ perished was no joke. Ha-jin felt a strange excitement coursing through his body and swallowed hard.

Among the countless passing landscapes, there were people in fluorescent work clothes instead of zombies. It was a scene far more vibrant than what he had seen on TV. Watching the busy movements of workers repairing roads, erecting buildings, and constructing transmission towers, his heart beat in a pleasant, off-beat rhythm.

A new world was opening. It was a vision of a brilliant daily life that he could never have imagined before.

The quarantine shelter was located a considerable distance away from the residential shelters provided for migrants and travelers. It consisted of two gray two-story buildings side by side, surrounded entirely by thickets. Ha-jin took a deep breath, feeling an inexplicable tension as he looked at the quarantine shelter, which resembled the Dragon Cloud Botanical Garden.

Near a truck marked with an ambulance symbol, a few people in white hazmat suits were talking. Some were stretching, others were yawning carelessly. They didn’t seem to have any interest in the new arrivals of the day.

To Ha-jin, the boredom of daily life he encountered for the first time after entry felt welcome. At the very least, it was a sign that everything here was flowing smoothly without issue.

Relieved, he lined up to the left of the [unauthorized copy]building entrance with his companions. Inside a makeshift tent that looked like a ticket booth, there was [unauthorized copy]a long table with various documents scattered across it.

“Please fill out the quarantine form.”

A gentle smile bloomed on Ha-jin’s face as he received the document written in Korean. To think it was Korean, not English.

‘I guess I really did miss it.’

He shifted his gaze to the Taegeuk mark printed on one side of the document. A corner of his heart warmed up, like a soup simmering gently. Though it was a homeland filled with painful memories, Ha-jin was simply grateful for this moment of standing upon his own roots.

After completing the paperwork, he hung an identification tag around his neck and entered the building with the group. Perhaps because there were many arrivals today, most of the waiting area was full.

Following the staff’s guidance, Ha-jin sat in a designated chair with his companions. It was a seat far from the rest of the group, except for one bodyguard. After sharing an awkward glance with the bald bodyguard, Ha-jin quietly waited for his turn for quarantine.

“…….”

As the wait grew long, he began to feel restless. Just then, the bodyguard turned to Ha-jin and spoke.

[My wife is a fan.]

Ha-jin’s eyes widened at the sudden greeting.

[Ah, thank you.]

[If it’s not too much trouble, could I ask for an autograph later?]

As he spoke, his ears turned red. It was a request full of shyness, ill-fitting for his fierce impression. In a sudden burst of playfulness, Ha-jin rubbed his palms together and replied.

[I can do the autograph right now.]

Suddenly, a ballpoint pen appeared between his hands. The bald man gasped, covering his mouth like a young girl. He murmured shyly.

[Unfortunately, I don’t have any paper right now… I’ll ask for it on the flight back.]

[It’s okay. I just signed it for you.]

[Eh? Wh-where…?]

Holding back a laugh, Ha-jin pointed to the man’s forearm. The flustered bodyguard hurriedly pulled up the cuff of his dress shirt. While he was distracted, Ha-jin had pulled a piece of paper from the front pocket of his bag and scribbled a signature.

[Just kidding, here you go.]

Realizing he had been teased, the bald man pressed a hand to his forehead.

[You’re really mischievous.]

[Haha, sorry. Could you tell me your wife’s name?]

[Thank you. Please write ‘Rosalyn’.]

After carefully finishing the signature, Ha-jin happened to glance at the bodyguard’s arm while handing over the paper. On the rugged forearm where the cuff had been raised, there was a tattoo of a gun and a knife crossing in an X, along with the initials D.F.

‘…?’

A sudden sense of incongruity flashed through his mind. At the same time, noticing the gaze, the bald man hurriedly lowered his cuff. Read on Read BL NovelsThe tattoo, which [stolen content]looked [visit our site]like blue ink bleeding into water, disappeared beneath the shirt again.

Just then, a staff member in a white hazmat suit abruptly intervened between the two.

“Is Matthew here? Matthew?”

The timing was uncanny. The bald bodyguard stood up immediately, like someone being chased.

“Yeah. I’m Matthew Cole Bennett.”

He left Ha-jin with an awkward nod and disappeared through the disinfection gate with the staff member.

Ha-jin tilted his head, recalling the image of the gun and knife on the man’s forearm. It was too similar to the tattoo on Eden’s forearm, and the initials D.F. were enough to bring Delta Force, the unofficial designation, to mind.

‘Is he a discharged soldier, like Mr. Jeong Tae-geon?’

But why did he fluster about as if he had been caught in a secret? Ha-jin instinctively looked for Eden. Across the room, Eden was talking to other bodyguards with his characteristic expressionless face. The atmosphere surrounding them was quite serious, regardless of what they were discussing.

While he was fidgeting with his name tag, left with a lingering, unpleasant question, stolen contentthe sound of an empty chair to his right scraping the floor echoed. When he [visit our site]turned his head, there was a man wearing dark navy horn-rimmed glasses.

The man, pale and gaunt without a trace of color, gave a faint smile and a nod as their eyes met. Ha-jin naturally shifted his gaze to the identification tag hanging from the man’s neck.

‘John kobylt’

‘…Huh?’

Knowing it was rude, Ha-jin couldn’t tear his eyes away from the man’s face and name tag. He recalled a person from a private newspaper he had received at a crosswalk last week. The President of the environmental group ‘Blue Earth’ and a globally trusted Doctor of Microbiology. If his memory served him correctly, the man before him was definitely that John Kobylt.

He had looked quite young in the photo, but in person, he looked even younger. He looked as if he could be an undergraduate student rather than a doctor.

[Um… is there something you need?]

At the man’s timid question, Ha-jin snapped back to his senses and let out a sigh of “Ah.”

[I’m sorry, you look like a friend of mine, so I did it without realizing. My apologies.]

With a clumsy smile on his face, Ha-jin looked [Read on Read BL Novels]forward again. [visit our site]This time, he stolen contentcould feel the man stealing a glance at his profile.

Should he act like he knows him or not? After pondering, Ha-jin eventually confirmed his own name on the electronic display and stood up.

As he gave a light bow, John Kobylt pushed up his slipping glasses and nodded awkwardly. Ha-jin took his eyes off the man’s slender neck and walked toward the gate.