There are always tall stairs on the path leading up to the house.

The steps climbing the uneven, irregularly sized stairs were more tiring than before.

Hee Won anxiously gazed at Na Eun’s back as she climbed one step at a time, standing far behind her.

At midnight, with the moon in the southern sky, Na Eun finally stumbled in the middle of the dark stairs lit only by a few streetlights, without even holding onto the railing.

Hee Won ran over as soon as he saw that sight.

Hee Won, who supported her arm from behind, said, “This won’t do.”

“Get on my back.”

Na Eun raised her head at Hee Won’s firm voice.

After finishing such an indistinguishable argument with Jae Kyung on the academy rooftop, whether it was poison or words, she was completely drained.

Emotional exhaustion is related to physical strength, making her body unable to move as she wished, even though she hadn’t been that tired all day.

In fact, Na Eun, who had to make an effort even to take one step, slowly blinked her eyes and looked at Hee Won, who was worriedly staring at her, then slowly nodded.

As if he had been waiting, Hee Won approached her, turned his back, and bent his knees.

At his signal to get on his back by lowering his body, Na Eun obediently entrusted her upper body to Hee Won’s back.

Even on the considerably steep stairs, Hee Won stood up carrying Na Eun without showing any sign of difficulty.

Na Eun wrapped her arms around Hee Won’s neck as he trudged up the stairs at a speed incomparable to how she had been walking earlier.

Na Eun rested her cheek on Hee Won’s nape. She blinked slowly and chuckled. You know what?

“You’ve completely shattered my view on relationships.”

“…”

“Borrowing clothes and getting piggyback rides from someone you’re not even dating… I used to curse at such things, saying I couldn’t accept them.”

How can there be eternal friendship between a man and a woman? Na Eun had always been of that opinion.

And she had always thought that the ambiguous attitude of people who claimed to have such friends deserved criticism.

But now she was doing all those ambiguous things she had cursed at with Hee Won.

Despite the dangerous situation she was in and the special circumstance of him being her personal bodyguard, this behavior didn’t align with her principles.

“Make an exception for me.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m a bad guy.”

“…”

Still on his back, she tilted her head.

“You’re not bad.”

“I’m only not bad to you. To all other women, I’ve always been a bastard.”

“…”

“So feel free to use me. I won’t misunderstand.”

I won’t misunderstand that you’re leaning on me or giving me your heart just because you act spoiled or beg me to do something for you.

He just wanted her to use him as she pleased. Hee Won said sincerely, and Na Eun giggled softly.

“What would change if you misunderstood? Even if I came to like you, you wouldn’t like me back.”

“…”

“No, you’ve been pestering me from the start too.”

She teased him to try to lift her mood that had fallen to the ground.

Na Eun, unaware of the true feelings of the man sincere to her, spoke with utter innocence.

“Then am I also on the list of your potential girlfriends?”

Hee Won didn’t answer.

“No, wait. Didn’t you only go after women with boyfriends? Then I’m excluded from the list, right?”

“I don’t do that anymore. That kind of thing.”

Though he had tried to just listen silently, it was too hard to hear such words from the woman he liked, so Hee Won finally opened his mouth.

Na Eun nodded with a smile. Her chin rubbed against Hee Won’s shoulder as she was on his back.

“Yeah, you thought well. You shouldn’t hurt others like that, as if it’s a joke. It’ll all come back to you later.”

Although it was already coming back to him, Hee Won chose not to inform her with his silence.

Na Eun, still hugging Hee Won’s neck, fell into deep thought for a while before speaking.

“I wish you had been my first love instead.”

“…”

“If it had been you, I could have just been rejected normally, gotten hurt, …and forgotten about it while cursing with my friends, saying ‘that bastard was a bad guy.’ Normally.”

She, who couldn’t even experience getting hurt in a normal way, smiled bitterly.

“Oh, but it would have been hard for you, right?”

Na Eun giggled.

“What if I had liked you and we dated? It would have been really hard for you to break up with me. When I like someone, I have no pride, so I cling on even after being rejected. You would have gotten really annoyed with me, right?”

Na Eun laughed out loud, imagining Hee Won pushing her away in annoyance, and herself stubbornly insisting that she liked him.

Hee Won, who had heard everything that happened on the academy rooftop today, couldn’t say anything.

“I clung to Han Jae Kyung like that too. Begging him to keep liking me.”

“…”

“I really, really liked him.”

The confession she couldn’t make to him came to Hee Won instead. He remained silent, and Na Eun buried her face in his shoulder.

“That day when I was dragged to the abandoned building, I begged him not to abandon me, but in the end, I was abandoned.”

“…”

“And then he says he loves me.”

Hee Won felt his shoulder getting damp but didn’t show it. The arms around his neck trembled faintly.

“How can someone be so horrible?”

Even for a villain, even for a bad guy, there should be a limit to cruelty, right? Na Eun sobbed.

“Whenever I remember liking him, I think of my dad.”

The memory of her kind father, who loved her more than anyone else in the world, came to mind, and when that happened, she felt suffocated.

That pure feeling from back then made her feel so sorry towards her dad.

“Yoon Na Eun.”

Hee Won, who had silently carried her up all the stairs, called out to Na Eun.

Towards her, who had finally burst into tears unable to hold back, Hee Won said.

“I told you before. If you were taken hostage, I’d ask them to kill you.”

“…”

“Change the target. I’ll kill Han Jae Kyung for you.”

At his resolute voice, Na Eun bit her lip. She shook her head.

“No. You’re a hero, aren’t you?”

Asking someone who saves and protects people to kill someone? I shouldn’t make such a request.

No matter how he treated civilian lives as less valuable than roadside pebbles, that was his problem, and she didn’t want to directly ask for such a thing.

But Hee Won’s answer was cold.

“Why can’t I do it?”

You easily asked me to kill you, so why can’t you ask me to kill Han Jae Kyung?

Do you still like that bastard? Intentionally provoking her to make her angry, she immediately reacted.

Still on his back, Na Eun lightly hit Hee Won’s shoulder. Don’t say such things carelessly. At her quite stern warning, Hee Won said.

“I’ll kill that bastard for you, so you make plans to be happy later.”

“…”

“You like superhero movies, right? I’ll make it an unconditional happy ending.”

“…”

“I promise.”

Why does this feel so reassuring?

Whether it was because of his low voice speaking with such certainty, or because of his strength in carrying her up all those stairs without even breaking a sweat.

Na Eun felt like she might cry for a different reason. The Seo Hee Won she had known for a long time was strangely warm.

She wondered if this is what it would feel like to have an older brother.

“…Can I act a little childish with you?”

She felt embarrassed asking this while already doing so plenty.

She didn’t understand herself for doing this when he wasn’t actually her brother, they weren’t dating, and they weren’t in any kind of relationship, but strangely, she wanted to be pampered.

This and that, she wanted to ask him to do everything for her.

She knew it was selfish. But subconsciously, she believed in Seo Hee Won’s strength.

She trusted his firmness, never getting hurt by anyone, always relaxed, and always in the position of a predator.

No matter how much she clung to him, he was more reliable than anyone else in the world, able to withstand without wavering.

“Go ahead. I like it when women act spoiled.”

It’s cute, isn’t it? Hee Won, who seemed to have read her thoughts and deliberately chose his characteristic rascal-like light answer, made Na Eun laugh.

See? You’re laughing.

Without revealing his rotting insides, Hee Won decided to focus solely on the fact that Yoon Na Eun, riding on his back, had stopped crying and was now laughing.

Only after confirming that the moisture had completely dried from Yoon Na Eun’s eyes and she was smiling again did Hee Won let her into her house.

After watching her safely enter the front door, Hee Won turned his back and silently went down the long dark stairs again.

And he looked with a chilling gaze at the figure standing at the end.

He slowly approached the other person. The guy, who seemed to have no intention of hiding, stood leisurely and smiled at him.

“You’re not surprised.”

Jae Kyung sincerely advised Hee Won, who didn’t even pretend to be surprised at seeing him.

“At times like this, you should either pretend to be surprised or pretend to be angry. One of the two, or it becomes awkward.”

−Otherwise, you’ll reveal that you’ve been observing me all along, kid. As Jae Kyung followed up with a sneer, Hee Won snorted, not backing down.

“You’ve shown all your cards, you idiot, yet your tongue is still long.”

He put one hand in his pocket and scratched his forehead with the other as he continued speaking.

His tone was as if dealing with something utterly bothersome.

“So what if you knew? What can you do to Yoon Na Eun?”

At his words, Jae Kyung’s eyes briefly hardened. Not missing this, Hee Won laughed.

“If you knew I was eavesdropping, you should have watched your words today.”

Thanks to your precious confession, I found out today. Hee Won’s eyes, colder than a midwinter dawn, turned towards Jae Kyung.

“You can’t do anything to Yoon Na Eun even if you die.”

“…”

“Right?”

At Hee Won’s question, asked as if confirming a kill, Jae Kyung shrugged.

“It’s sad that it’s you believing my heartfelt confession, not Na Eun.”

Can you tell Na Eun that I’m sincere? At that nonchalant voice, Hee Won burst into laughter.

Hands in his pockets, he chuckled for a while before asking.

“You’re trying hard to pretend it’s not sincere, aren’t you?”

“…”

“Well, don’t worry. I have no intention of telling Yoon Na Eun that you’re crawling on the ground alone.”

That overly kind girl would faint in shock, in a bad way, if she knew that Han Jae Kyung truly loved her.

At least for Yoon Na Eun, love was an emotion that could never act like Han Jae Kyung.

Even if told the truth, Na Eun’s reaction would probably be similar to now.

She would be creeped out, find it horrifying, …and be sad. For that reason alone, he had no intention of telling her.

“Yoon Na Eun didn’t really need revenge.”

You must be in hell right now even without doing anything, right? Towards Hee Won, who was openly mocking him, Jae Kyung, who had been frozen, quickly composed his expression and opened his mouth.

“The reason you’ve been able to stay by Na Eun’s side until now is because I allowed you to be there.”

This time, Hee Won furrowed his brow. What?

“I welcome the fact that you’re sincere enough about Na Eun to realize that my confession is real.”

“…”

“You’re a pretty good shield that I’ve given to Na Eun as a gift.”

As if he had never been shaken, Jae Kyung smiled, putting on a mask of composure over his face.

“Please continue to take good care of our Na Eun as you have been.”

Make sure she doesn’t get hurt. You know what to do, right? Jae Kyung smiled gently as if admonishing. Hee Won wiped the expression from his face.

The temperature between the two men dropped rapidly, making a mockery of the cool weather.

Jae Kyung exaggeratedly shrugged, raising both hands in surrender at Hee Won’s expression, which looked as if he might stab him to death at any moment.

He slowly backed away, speaking leisurely.

“Let’s not fight today, shall we? If there’s a commotion outside, Na Eun won’t be able to sleep.”

“…You think you’ll be a nightmare haunting Yoon Na Eun for life.”

Hee Won, who had been quietly staring at him, asked. The corners of Jae Kyung’s smiling mouth stopped. Hee Won said.

“You’re just a fleeting bad dream during a nap, you son of a bitch.”

“…”

“As you said, I’ll let you off today, so get lost.”

Don’t disturb Yoon Na Eun’s sleep. He pointed somewhere in the distance with his chin, hands in his pockets, urging him to get lost.

Jae Kyung chuckled and winked.

It meant he would get lost.