When I was in my third year of high school, I fell asleep and woke up to find myself in my final year of university.

It sounds like the title of a popular novel from the past. Na Eun thought to herself as she sat blankly on the sofa.

If one were to ride a time machine into the future, wouldn’t it feel like this?

Her last memory was a day in March when she was meticulously planning a study schedule to do well on her first midterm exam of her third year in high school, but suddenly she had become a university student.

Moreover, it was time for her to graduate. Jae Kyung told her that due to circumstances, she would have to take a leave of absence next semester, but there would be no problem as she had been diligent in managing her grades and preparing for graduation.

As soon as she realized that she had lost her memory, the first thing she was curious about was whether she had done well on the college entrance exam.

Fortunately, thanks to the reward for her efforts, she was told that she had been admitted to the university she wanted.

She thought that if she could achieve just that, she would be the happiest person in the world, but instead of joy, she had to experience a hailstorm of sadness and frustration first as Jae Kyung slowly explained the situation to her.

She sat on the living room sofa and stared at the TV screen with sore eyes.

The evening news was playing on the screen, detailing one by one the atrocities committed by those who were once hailed as heroes and how they sacrificed people.

Even as she listened, her hands on her lap trembled with disbelief.

“Are you still very confused?”

Jae Kyung asked as he sat down next to her, placing a cup of warm tea in front of her and taking her trembling hand.

Na Eun lowered her gaze and made a pained expression for a moment.

“Honestly, I still can’t believe it.”

Na Eun bit her lip and made a gloomy expression.

“That it was all staged.”

Saving dying people, stopping bad people who carried out terrorist attacks.

She thought it was all the path of a hero, but she couldn’t believe it was staged for stock manipulation and regime change.

Moreover, her parents were being threatened by those after money.

So for her safety, Na Eun had to stay with Jae Kyung for the time being, away from her family, which was also hard to accept at first.

Especially for her, who was close friends with two of the heroes, it was a fact she didn’t want to believe even more.

Jae Kyung, who had been quietly watching Na Eun not hiding her disappointment, asked,

“Some of the heroes are said to be missing.”

At the codenames K and L, deliberately thrown out as if to probe, Na Eun’s shoulders trembled.

Jae Kyung’s sharp gaze swept over her reaction in an instant.

“People are all curious about the true identities of the fake heroes.”

“……”

“Really, what could it be.”

Jae Kyung muttered as if he was genuinely curious. Na Eun avoided Jae Kyung’s gaze for a while and smiled awkwardly.

“I don’t know. How would we know that.”

“……”

“You must be shocked too, Jae Kyung. You were a fan of the heroes.”

Na Eun comforted Jae Kyung, thinking that he must have been hurt, and squeezed his hand that she was holding.

However, Jae Kyung had to console himself alone as his heart was hurt for a different reason.

Already, the news, the internet, and numerous media outlets had packaged them well as villains.

Although there were groups in some small communities that supported them, it was not easy to overturn the public opinion driven by the press.

Nevertheless, even though they were blatantly labeled as bad guys,

…Na Eun kept her mouth shut about her friends to Jae Kyung until the end.

Even now when she loved him.

Feeling a little disappointed in Na Eun, who seemed as if she would never choose him until the end, Jae Kyung grabbed her other hand as well.

As Jae Kyung’s face came closer to her because he was holding both her hands, Na Eun lowered her gaze as if she was embarrassed.

Looking at her, Jae Kyung kindly asked,

“Na Eun, do you love me?”

At his question, Na Eun widened her eyes like a rabbit and looked at him.

Soon, her cheeks turned a blushing pink and she shook the hands that were holding Jae Kyung’s for no reason.

“Why are you asking that……”

But Na Eun, who was always honest with her feelings, didn’t drag it out any longer and gave the answer Jae Kyung desperately wanted.

“Of course I love you so much.”

“……”

“I still can’t believe that I’m dating you like this. I’m so happy.”

Jae Kyung gently kissed the eye corners of Na Eun, who was smiling happily, twitching her nose.

Na Eun, who had no experience of Jae Kyung approaching her first, was surprised by his action of briefly kissing her eyes and pulling away, and blinked.

Soon, with a face that was incomparably redder than before, she mustered up her courage.

Smooch. She kissed her boyfriend’s lips and quickly pulled away, then looked at Jae Kyung’s reaction with beet-red cheeks and said,

“D-did we do this often?”

Even this was too stimulating for Na Eun, who had no physical contact other than hugging during the more than a year they had been dating, and she didn’t know what to do.

Jae Kyung quietly smiled and asked back,

“What do you think?”

“……”

At his question, Na Eun rolled her eyes. She seemed to be imagining it in her own way.

She seemed to have now realized that even if it was plain, if they were lovers who had been dating for such a long time, they could do much more than this as much as they wanted.

Jae Kyung hugged Na Eun tightly, pulling her hands that he was holding, as she became even more embarrassed and didn’t know what to do with herself.

Feeling Na Eun hugging him back as if it was natural to be embraced by him, Jae Kyung buried his face in her shoulder and slowly inhaled.

‘You’re pulling a stunt you never used to even as a child in a situation like this, Jae Kyung.’

The voice of the man who was like a father to him, who sometimes truly treated him like a son, echoed in his memory.

The leader of the organization looked down at Jae Kyung, who was kneeling in front of him again, with slightly complicated eyes.

Then, after stubbing out the cigarette he was smoking in the ashtray, he said with a sigh,

‘This is the only time, Jae Kyung.’

With the face of a parent reluctantly buying a dangerous toy for a thoughtless child, the man said,

‘Know that there will be no more exceptions.’

It was an opportunity he had barely grasped in the end, even while receiving an icy warning.

Jae Kyung had no intention of letting go of this chance he had barely gotten instead of killing Na Eun with his own hands.

Originally, he really intended to kill her.

Even if life was so hard that it felt like dying, in the end, it was lived.

If he killed Yoon Na Eun right away with his own hands, he would be miserable enough to die, but in the end, he would live.

Jae Kyung, who never forgot that life was inherently harsh, considered that level of suffering to be his share to bear.

So he went to kill her. He really went to Jeju Island that night to put an end to it.

He even meticulously prepared anesthetics so as not to hurt her in the process, but there, Na Eun made a confession to him that she should never have made.

‘I love Seo Hee Won.’

At Na Eun’s sincerity, which she uttered as if she was vomiting while sobbing, Jae Kyung had to laugh with a feeling of wanting to cry.

It was because he pitied her for always choosing what she shouldn’t in front of him.

Na Eun, you shouldn’t have said those words.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know. It was Jae Kyung who deliberately kept Seo Hee Won by Na Eun’s side.

Thanks to the boss who didn’t like the fact that she was alive, and thanks to the hundreds of organization members who tried to please such a boss, Na Eun’s life was always in danger.

He thought a minimum safety device was necessary, and Seo Hee Won was a suitable person for that purpose.

If he used the guy’s guilt towards Na Eun well, wouldn’t he become a high-quality airbag?

He thought it would go awry to the extent that Hee Won would come to like Na Eun.

After all, he knew better than anyone that she was a woman who was hard not to like if she stayed by your side.

He also knew that from some point on, she relied on Seo Hee Won more than he expected, but he didn’t pay much attention to it.

Although it was annoying, it was okay. Because he believed it wouldn’t be sincere anyway.

No matter what she did, it was impossible for her to give someone the amount of heart she gave to him.

Was that why? Even when Seo Hee Won didn’t come out of her house all night, Jae Kyung kept silent and didn’t get angry.

Jae Kyung, who had been observing all the CCTVs on her moving route, guessed what had happened between Na Eun and Seo Hee Won, but it was okay.

Because he thought that level of wandering was possible for her as an adult.

His sins against her were too great to get angry over just that, and his heart for her was too grand to be disappointed.

But not the heart.

Jae Kyung recalled Na Eun, who cried and confessed her love for Seo Hee Won to him, with a pitiful heart.

What will you do if you give that, Na Eun?

…Then I’d really go crazy.

I didn’t want to go this far, but in the end, it was you who drove me to this point, so I have no choice.

After finishing his momentary self-justification like a villain, Jae Kyung finally grabbed the temptation that Seol Ah had presented to him in the past.

“I love you.”

He confessed his love to the nineteen-year-old girl he held in his arms.

Na Eun, who had lost all the miserable times that had passed, nestled in his arms with an innocent face and mumbled, “Me too.”

Jae Kyung, who had been observing her eyes that now contained only affection for him, with the gaze that had glared at him with hatred beyond loathing completely gone, hardened his expression at the words that came out of her mouth.

But, Jae Kyung.

“When can I meet my mom and dad?”

“……”

Na Eun asked Jae Kyung, who was silent, with clear eyes without a hint of suspicion.

“They must be very worried. They know I’m here, right?”

Jae Kyung, who had been silently watching her with a smile for a while, opened his mouth.

“…It’ll be difficult to contact them right now because it’s a dangerous time. But I’ll try to let you see them soon so they won’t worry.”

This penthouse is a space for her alone.

She can access the internet, TV, and messenger, but she can only obtain set information.

The same goes for sending contact.

“You know how they said those heroes are after my mom and dad, could it be a misunderstanding?”

Jae Kyung was now starting to get a little annoyed by Na Eun’s wisdom in not wanting to believe his lies until the end.

Jae Kyung kept silent with a smile for a moment, then picked up the cup of tea that had long gone cold on the table.

“The tea has gone cold. Shall I warm it up again?”

“Oh, no. It’s okay. …But do I have to drink this?”

It’s so bitter… Jae Kyung smiled kindly at her as she complained in a small voice.

“I steeped medicine that’s good for recovery in the tea. I’ll make it a little sweeter next time.”

Let’s bear with it and drink it today. Okay? At his coaxing words, Na Eun’s expression melted.

Jae Kyung’s cold eyes swept over Na Eun, who obediently nodded and brought the edge of the teacup to her lips.

‘You must follow the usage and dosage perfectly. Don’t forget that there are side effects.’

Jae Kyung didn’t forget what the doctor had told him as he handed over the medicine bottle.

‘Don’t tell me, you have such a shallow heart that your love will cool just because Yoon Na Eun is a little crazy?’

‘So what if she’s mentally ill. You love her.’

He recalls the words Seol Ah had muttered jokingly when she first handed him the medicine.

Jae Kyung thought that perhaps the one who understood him best was Seol Ah, who had been with him since childhood.

Her words were truly right.

Jae Kyung could love Na Eun no matter what she became.