By Zephyria 
There was no way to compare the physical strength of Kwon Rae-i and Woo Tae-hwon, who were ten years apart in age. Teasing him, knowing full well. Kwon Rae-i smiled innocently and wiped the sweat from Tae-hwon’s cheek.
“Last night too. I asked if we could do it just one more time, but Tae-hwon was like, stop, stop… You always want to stop.”
“Why are you suddenly talking like this outside?”
“We’re the only ones here. It’s not outside, it’s the garden.”
“That’s the same thing. And I’m telling you clearly, you were being excessive.”
“That’s not true. We’re newlyweds, so we can be even hotter. And, stop making excuses with your age. Tae-hwon’s youngest day isn’t tomorrow or the day after, it’s today.”
“……”
Tae-hwon pursed his lips. He understood the regret, but he knew what would happen if he let Kwon Rae-i have his way every night. He didn’t want to be bedridden all day, unable to even get out of bed. Besides, Kwon Rae-i would rush to take care of his every need if Woo Tae-hwon showed even a little weakness, so even more so.
“You always talk so well. Yeah, I’m the youngest today.”
Tae-hwon stared at him and replied. Kwon Rae-i reached out and swept back Tae-hwon’s bangs.
“Of course. So we have to spend today without wasting it.”
His forehead was revealed through his slightly sweaty hair, and Kwon Rae-i lightly touched it with his fingertip. Tae-hwon stared at him for a moment, and feeling the subtle gaze, he came closer and kissed his lips.
Soon, they held hands and intertwined their fingers. Their palms were covered in dirt, but even that felt comfortable and didn’t bother them. Kwon Rae-i laughed first, and Tae-hwon followed suit. Both chuckled and were immersed in laughter.
“Do we have to stick together like this when it’s so hot?”
“Of course. We can’t waste a single moment of our time.”
“Is that so.”
“What do you want to do? Shall we go inside and wash up?”
“Well… Did we finish planting?”
“I don’t know, maybe a little is left? We can finish it tomorrow.”
He said they had to spend today without wasting it.
Kwon Rae-i playfully winked and turned away from the remaining sweet potato sprouts. He seemed more eager to look at Woo Tae-hwon, who was sitting next to him, than the carefully dug vegetable garden.
In the afternoon when sunlight and spring breeze scattered, the chuckling laughter of the two people spread on the wind. It was a languid time, like a dream.
Tae-hwon suddenly wished that this moment would last forever.
Then, as if hearing that wish, the surrounding scenery began to distort.
The beautiful illusion became a mirage and slowly melted away, and the spring day crumbled like dust.
Following that, a blackened sky and lifeless, withered land replaced the world.
An endless wasteland.
The parched earth was roughly cracked, and the sky was red. Under the dim sun, a desolate and dry wind blew. Dust and ash swirled in every place the wind passed. A thick stench of blood was felt.
Beneath Woo Tae-hwon’s feet. Corpses were piled up in layers.
Looking down at his hands, he could see the blood that had seeped into his palms slowly hardening. Whose blood was this? Did it belong to those lying here?
At that moment, black hands sprang up from all directions. The hands of the dead. Countless hands burst through the mounds of dirt and tried to overwhelm Tae-hwon, and somewhere, a sound that was neither a scream nor a cry echoed, tearing at his eardrums. And the persistent sound of gunfire began to be heard without fail.
Taang!
The cold smell of metal and the burnt smell of ashes filled the air.
The space shook, and the ground beneath his feet crumbled as if to swallow him. And, at that moment. He saw someone approaching from the other side.
A figure slowly approaching, cutting through the rough wind. Under the red sky, the figure became clearer and clearer. The face was all too familiar. It was the face he faced every day in the mirror. But at the same time, it was also a completely unfamiliar face.
Another self.
Woo Tae-hwon, thirty years old, ten years later…
He was much bloodier than the current Tae-hwon. From head to toe, he was soaked in bright red blood, and with every step he took, dark red bloodstains were imprinted on the wasteland. It looked as if he had just cut off someone’s breath. His expression was unmoving and indifferent, and his eyes were as deep as darkness and unwavering.
He stepped over the fallen corpses and countless outstretched hands and stopped in front of Woo Tae-hwon.
Now, it was a distance where he could reach out and touch him.
Tae-hwon instinctively took a step back. But he couldn’t easily run away because the ground was shaking and he felt like the ground beneath his feet was collapsing.
Anyway, it was time to face it now.
“Yeah. I’m you.”
He said.
The thirty-year-old Woo Tae-hwon, his future self, was whispering to him.
“How is it, Woo Tae-hwon? Do you think you’ve lived your life wrong?”
“……”
“Are you disappointed?”
At that moment, the wind became even stronger. The ash and dust piled on the ground swirled and flew into the sky. The withered hands, like corpses, reached up even higher. In every place the wind passed, the stench of rotting flesh filled the air, and the cries of the dead surged like rough waves.
“Look. This is the life you chose yourself. Rather than living righteously in the sunny place where the light shines, you escaped to this dark underworld. You tried to preserve your life even by committing crimes, and you tried to survive even by exploiting others.”
“Yeah.”
“You should have been prepared for this when you knelt in front of the Gyeongjeong’s gate.”
“That’s right. It’s the path I chose.”
Tae-hwon replied quietly. Now he didn’t try to back down. He didn’t waver either. He stood still and silently swallowed his breath.
Then, his thirty-year-old self slowly raised the corners of his lips and asked.
“But are you going to condemn me anyway? Because the corpses lying on the ground are cruel and miserable?”
His smile was eerie yet strangely familiar. He himself had also yearned for life and pursued power.
“You are the one who cut and stabbed them. The blood on your body is the price you have to bear.”
“……”
“So I’ll tell you in advance. You’ll be tormented by nightmares for the rest of your life. You won’t be able to rest comfortably even in the most enjoyable and happy moments. You won’t be able to erase the anxiety that someone is after your life even inside your house, and you won’t even be able to become attached to or trust the subordinates who follow you.”
“……”
“A life with death always by your side. That’s the memory you have to be prepared for, and as you can see, it’s your future.”
Tae-hwon swallowed his breath. The dying people, the blood-stained hands, the endless gunshots and screams. Everything was a part of himself. The wasteland that he had thought was desolate and chilling, the land where blood flowed incessantly, and the threatening wind that blew fiercely. All of that was all Woo Tae-hwon.
How many lives had he taken so far?
What kind of battles had he fought, and what kind of battles had he survived?
The path he had walked, the blood scattered behind him… That smell…
“It’s your responsibility from beginning to end. Don’t turn away.”
Tae-hwon hardened his expression. And he quietly shook his head.
Turning away.
There was no way he could dare to avoid it. Now that the memories had returned, he could only accept it. Even if it was terrible, he had to endure it and hold on so that he wouldn’t collapse.
“…There’s no way. You’re me.”
At that moment when Woo Tae-hwon accepted Woo Tae-hwon, the incompletely divided memories slowly began to find their place. The headache that had been tormenting him with endless pain gradually began to subside.
Tae-hwon began to match the memories that came to his mind one by one like a puzzle and began to have a one-on-one conversation with himself. Without regarding himself as a monster, but acknowledging himself as himself.
“You certainly wouldn’t have shot Chairman Kwon Jung-il, would you?”
When Tae-hwon asked that, his future self replied heavily.
“There’s no way I would dare to.”
“You wouldn’t have betrayed Gyeongjeong, would you?”
“Not for a single moment.”
“You wouldn’t have abandoned Kwon Rae-i and run away, thinking of living alone….”
“Yeah. Absolutely. No.”
Ha! As soon as the question and answer were over, a rough breath was exhaled.
Murderer.
Traitor.
Fugitive.
The weight that had been pressing down on his shoulders… Only then did it turn as light as a feather and fly away.
‘It was a false accusation. It was a misunderstanding.’
This was the result of the worst situation overlapping in the worst way.
It was Kwon Tae-oh who murdered Chairman Kwon Jung-il, and Woo Tae-hwon had no choice but to take the blame. He barely managed to survive, but unfortunately, he lost all his past memories, so he couldn’t even explain the inside story.
That’s how the truth fell into a mystery, and it came to this point.
Imagining what kind of monster the thirty-year-old Woo Tae-hwon was, how terrible a son of a bitch he was, with only the given clues, this result was inevitable. It was like losing a map and looking for a way in the fog.
‘I didn’t even trust myself….’