“Are you okay, Han Jae Kyung?”
Seol Ah, who was fiddling with the IV next to him, observed his expression.
Lying on the bed, Jae Kyung raised his upper body after only moving his gaze to observe his surroundings.
As he irritably pulled out the IV needle connected to his wrist, Seol Ah frowned and the medical staff on standby nearby made a troubled expression.
However, none of them could advise Jae Kyung to lie down quietly.
Seol Ah, the only one who could talk to him, timidly approached him.
“The boss told you to rest a bit.”
“What about J.”
“Well… we couldn’t kill him….”
“What are you guys even doing properly.”
Jae Kyung’s cold words as he glared at her were not directed only at Seol Ah.
All the subordinate members of the organization stiffened and straightened their posture.
Although they had worked with Jae Kyung for a long time, Seol Ah, who was lower in rank, was discouraged and sullenly bowed her head.
“You’re saying J, K, and L are all missing.”
When Jae Kyung asked after hearing the brief report, Seol Ah answered.
“Yeah. I think all three of them are secretly resting because of their injuries. They’re the only ones not showing up even though there are terror attacks happening in Busan and Incheon right now.”
“Find them.”
“…..”
At the cold command, Seol Ah stiffened her shoulders. Recently, Jae Kyung, who had been working as if possessed by something, was just like a ghost from a fairy tale.
A man-eating ghost. He was scary, but just as capable, so everyone around him was wary of him.
“As soon as you find them, prepare for the operation and report the situation.”
Even while receiving medication for sleep deprivation, Jae Kyung acted as if he would die if he couldn’t work more. Seol Ah, who knew the source of this eccentricity, hesitated for a moment before speaking.
“You know, those three, could they be with Yoon Na Eun?”
It was scary to bring up the name that had been taboo in front of him for a while, but Seol Ah mustered up the courage.
Work was work, after all. As expected, Jae Kyung’s icy gaze turned to Seol Ah.
“So what.”
“That… I mean, given the circumstances, wouldn’t it be like that?”
“And.”
“…Both Yoon Na Eun and her mother disappeared openly. At that airport. The hero kids must have hidden them tightly, but if we find them somehow, won’t J and L also come out in a line like dried corvina?”
Fiddling with her fingers, Seol Ah continued.
“First, I’ll investigate whether Yoon Na Eun left the country that day at the airport.”
“No need for that. She’ll be in the country.”
At Jae Kyung’s assertion, Seol Ah’s eyes widened.
“How do you know that?”
“They wouldn’t be unaware that it would be more dangerous to send her out vaguely. It’s much easier to kill her if she’s overseas.”
“…..”
“Any traces of her taking a flight that day.”
“None so far.”
Seol Ah shook her head, but Jae Kyung did not let go of his suspicion.
If they deliberately hid it, even if she took a plane or went to the airport, they could erase such traces.
Their organization would also have that level of a system.
“…She’ll be in either Busan or Jeju Island, so search everywhere.”
At Jae Kyung’s order, the organization members who had been standing stiffly at attention bowed their heads in greeting and left the room.
Seol Ah glanced at them and had the medical staff and others leave the room.
After looking around and confirming that no one was there, Seol Ah carefully approached Jae Kyung, who had already gotten out of bed, and asked.
“Jae Kyung. You know.”
She hesitated for a moment.
“If it’s hard for you, should I kill Yoon Na Eun for you instead?”
The temperature in the room, which was already cold, plummeted even further below zero.
Seol Ah, who realized that she could feel a threat to her life just from his gaze, swallowed hard.
Ignoring the cold sweat running down her back, she continued.
“I’m telling you this because I’m worried it might be hard for you. We have to end it before next spring anyway.”
“…..”
“She won’t cooperate with us even if she’s about to die soon, and… if you’re in pain, I’ll kill her for you instead. Okay?”
Seol Ah, who sincerely considered Jae Kyung a close friend, expressed the maximum goodwill she could offer him.
In any case, the boss’s will could not be broken, and no matter what, there was no way for Yoon Na Eun to cooperate with this organization. So there was no way to keep her alive.
Then she had to be killed, but Seol Ah knew better than anyone that it was not easy to kill someone you had already given your heart to.
If someone ordered her to kill K directly, she would also be in agony to the point of death.
“Lee Seol Ah.”
“Y-Yes?”
At Jae Kyung’s cold call, Seol Ah flinched and stiffened. Jae Kyung spoke sharply.
“Even if I kill Yoon Na Eun, I’ll be the one to do it.”
“…..”
“Don’t even think about laying a finger on her.”
Literally, not even a fingertip. Seol Ah stepped back to avoid Jae Kyung’s gaze, which reminded her that she had broken Na Eun’s little finger in the past.
Seol Ah raised both hands in a gesture of surrender and smiled awkwardly.
“Okay. I got it, I won’t touch her. I really promise!”
“…Find Yoon Na Eun separately, and call out the other three.”
“Huh? How?”
He told her to find them, but now he’s telling her to call them out.
Jae Kyung threw a document that was on the bedside table at Seol Ah’s feet as she tilted her head.
Knowing well how to deal with an irritable Jae Kyung, Seol Ah obediently picked it up and read it without complaint. Seol Ah’s eyes sparkled as she read the information.
“Wow. The thirteenth one that came out this time is J’s younger sibling?”
Wow, that family is amazing. What kind of hero spoon is this? As Seol Ah chattered away in her original mischievous manner, Jae Kyung said to her.
“Still inexperienced. A good bait, isn’t it? Use it.”
“…But A is sticking with them and moving together.”
Perhaps due to a shortage of manpower, even A, who was the first hero, had been directly going to the field recently.
Even among heroes, there was a difference in level, and they were not confident in directly confronting A and winning.
“Lee Seol Ah. Fighting from a distance is your specialty, isn’t it?”
“…..”
“Separate them. There are plenty of openings.”
At Jae Kyung’s advice, Seol Ah playfully bit the end of the paper she was holding between her lips. Her eyes lit up as if she had thought of a fun prank, and she smiled like a child.
“Okay!”
[Timeline Separator]Being friends with heroes means getting used to waiting and loneliness.
Those who had been face to face and laughing together just yesterday suddenly lost contact again.
Although she knew they were staying at a place that was only a few minutes away by car, even if she went there now, no one would be there.
Na Eun couldn’t ask what happened or what the circumstances were, and she couldn’t be curious about anything.
She just hoped everyone was safe, and occasionally watched related news, sitting in the corner of the room and habitually fiddling with her earrings.
That day, in the end, she couldn’t return the earrings.
And the answer to that passionate confession, in the end, she couldn’t give it either.
Hee Won did not blame her for cowardly keeping silent, and just smiled and said he would wait.
Even that was so kind that she realized again that the one who should consider the affection excessive was not him, but herself.
The earrings, which had served their purpose, had completely blocked the function of the communication device, so even if she touched them now, they would no longer connect with him. However, Hee Won told her that they had a good function.
‘Even if you can’t contact me, you’ll be able to hear my heartbeat.’
The communication device, which he said was connected to biometric signals, could let her hear Hee Won’s heartbeat just by turning it on.
‘The opposite is also possible. If you don’t want to, you can turn it off.’
If he turned on the communication device, he could also check her heart rate.
Na Eun gladly agreed, so even now that her personal protection had ended, she still had small earrings on her ears.
Na Eun thought it was such a relief that she didn’t return these earrings then.
Whenever she was anxious, she would turn them on and hear Hee Won’s heartbeat.
Then he wasn’t dead. She was grateful to be able to know that he was alive and well like this.
Thump. Thump. She sat on the bed and listened to his heartbeat with her eyes closed. It was quiet, a little fast but stable.
He’s safe. Even now.
Then it’s okay. If he’s okay, there’s a high probability that Sun Jin and Seung Joo are also safe with him.
If the three of them, who were having a hard time moving due to severe injuries, were urgently deployed on a mission, it must have been a serious matter, but Na Eun prayed and prayed that nothing would happen.
Let’s stop listening now and go to sleep. Feeling a little embarrassed as if she was secretly invading his privacy, she turned off the earrings and was about to lie down on the bed to go to sleep herself.
Beep-. A signal that shouldn’t be heard sounded.
…What?
Is it broken? Her thoughts stopped for a moment. Na Eun sat up on the bed and tapped the earrings again.
The function of the communication device, which could be turned off and on just by that, remained the same.
When it was off, no sound could be heard no matter what, and when it was on, an unpleasant mechanical sound continued instead of the familiar heartbeat she always heard.
What is it. Na Eun, who was puzzled for a while, turned pale a few seconds later. Could it be…
No. It can’t be. She kept tapping the earrings obsessively. She wanted to be sure that his heart hadn’t stopped beating.
However, no matter how many times she turned it off and on, the terrifying mechanical sound that kept repeating in the same way was telling her that Seo Hee Won’s heart had stopped.
In the neat room, wrapped in a warm blanket, Na Eun wanted to scream with a terrible sense of helplessness.
She pushed the blanket away and got out of bed, leaving the room. Fortunately, her mother, who was sleeping soundly in the opposite room, did not wake up.
She went out of the pension without even properly putting on her outerwear.
The cell phone, which had already been turned off since coming here, was useless, so she didn’t bring it out.
“Seo Hee Won, Seo Hee Won!”
She desperately called out to him while constantly fiddling with the earrings, but the already blocked function could no longer summon him.
Na Eun felt like she was going crazy.
She looked around. The sea was in front, and the mountain was behind. The surroundings, which were completely surrounded by nature, were so remote that she couldn’t go anywhere without a car.
She knew that if she walked a little further, there would be a car to move, but Na Eun realized that she couldn’t go anywhere and swallowed a scream inwardly.
Really, at this very moment, she felt like she would go crazy if she didn’t do something even though she couldn’t do anything.
The cold outside air began to sting her delicate skin as she came out in her pajamas without caring, but that wasn’t the problem.
Please contact me. Please let me hear it again. Let me know you’re alive.
It was the moment when she was struggling alone in despair, praying and praying inwardly to Seo Hee Won, or to God, or to someone.
“…Why are you out here in the cold.”
A hand in a black glove that came from behind covered her mouth.
At the same time, Na Eun closed her eyes at the feeling of cold metal pointed at her temple.
This time, too, her prayer did not reach the heavens.
“Na Eun.”
The kind call that she no longer wanted to hear was directed at her.
Na Eun closed her eyes tightly when she discovered Jae Kyung’s cold eyes, who had restrained her from behind and was pressing the muzzle of a gun against her head.
Everything was a mess, and death was approaching right in front of her.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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