NTH 57

In an instant, Euntaek climbed on top of the man’s body, pulled the dagger from his waistband, and held it to his neck. The man narrowed his eyes and sneered.

“A noble master who has learned the ways of a virtuous sage is going to dirty his own hands over a single commoner?”

“I would like to hand you over to the authorities as you are, but if I did, it would be revealed that Yeoheun is Heukyeong. Because you would run that light mouth of yours.”

“I am sorry, but Yeoheun can never be separated from me. We are fated to be that way.”

“Do not talk nonsense. I do not want to commit a meaningless killing, but if I let you live, it is obvious that Yeoheun will continue to be anxious, so I have no choice. Think of it as the price for your evil deeds until now.”

“Are you really going to stab me? You will regret it.”

“I shall not pray for your soul. I hope you go peacefully in one go.”

Euntaek plunged the sharp blade of the dagger into the man’s neck without hesitation. The man glared fiercely at Euntaek with bloodshot eyes and, squeezing out his last remaining strength, said.

“You foolish bastard……, Yeoheun……, it is you who has killed him……”

The man’s head slumped powerlessly to the side with a thud.

It was when Euntaek, having confirmed that his breath had completely stopped, stood up and turned to look at Yeoheun.

“Keoheok……”

Yeoheun, who had been huddled in a corner, suddenly coughed up a gush of blood and collapsed to the floor. Euntaek, utterly panicked, supported him in his arms and shouted.

“Yeoheun! What is wrong, Yeoheun!”

“Keuheuk……, I, I do not know……. He might have cast a spell on me……”

“I will take you to a doctor right now, so get a grip!”

“It is too late……. I am, going to die now……, eut……”

“Why! For what reason! Why has it come to this!”

Every time Yeoheun’s chest heaved, bright red blood flowed from his mouth. To Euntaek, who was holding him with a look of utter dismay as if his eyes would pop out, Yeoheun said.

“The words I said earlier, about getting lost……, I did not mean it……”

“Do not speak! Later, talk to me later!”

“I was shouting inside, crying, begging you not to go……, please, take me with you……”

“Stop talking! You have to survive somehow! Get a grip and breathe!”

“Thank, you……, if there is, a next life, I will definitely……. meet you, again……”

With those words, Yeoheun closed his eyes and his head dropped with a thud.

“Yeoheuun! Uwaaaaaaah!”

Euntaek’s cry, which no one could hear, echoed for a long, long time in the empty forest, already enveloped in pitch-black darkness.

“Ah, he is awake.”

When he opened his eyes, a white, pale face was looking down at him. Jeha felt a pain in his chest that felt as if his breath would stop, and he gasped.

“Yeoheun!”

“What did you say? This man is calling someone else’s name with his lover right in front of him? Are you cheating on me?”

“No……”

“Yeoeun? Wow, who is Yeoeun that you are looking for her as soon as you open your eyes? I was going to thank you for saving me, but now the desire to greet you has completely disappeared.”

Jeha, momentarily bewildered, turned his head and looked around. It was a hospital ward that seemed to be a private room. He was lying on a portable cot, and a pale-faced young man sitting on the edge of the patient’s bed next to it was making an angry face at him.

“Jin……”

“What is the point of calling me now. If you do not tell me who Yeoeun is quickly, I am really going to get angry.”

“Jin. Jin. Is it really you?”

“What is with you, if this is a trick to gloss over it with clumsy acting, then stop it.”

Jeha immediately sat up and got off the bed. Without even putting on his shoes, he pulled Jin’s arm and hugged him tightly in his embrace. Jin pounded on Jeha’s back with his fists.

“You adulterer! Do you think I will let you off the hook for this?”

“……I love you.”

“Shut up! Tell me the truth quickly!”

“Please do not be sick. I thought my heart was going to be torn to pieces.”

“Who is Yeoeun!”

“You.”

“Me? Why am I Yeoeun!”

“Not Yeoeun, Yeoheun. Your past life.”

“What, past life? Are you crazy? Did you happen to hurt your head while I was passed out?”

“I love you. I love you, Jin.”

“Hah……. You have really gone strange.”

Jeha, hugging Jin even more tenaciously and burying his face in the nape of his neck, said in a wheedling tone.

“There is no way I would cheat on you. You are the only one for me. There is not enough time to just look at you. So please do not be sick.”

Only then did Jin let out a sigh and wrap his arms around Jeha’s waist. Like a familiar habit, Jin stepped on Jeha’s instep with his bare feet and stood on top of it, resting his chin on Jeha’s shoulder.

“Chief Jeong told me that Jeha gave me a blood transfusion.”

“Yes.”

“And also that my blood is extremely rare, and that Jeha has the same blood type as me.”

“Yes.”

“I was thinking, just how far is Jeha going to be good to me, and how on earth am I supposed to repay this debt.”

“Just promise me that you will live by my side for a long time. That is all I need.”

“Then I will stay by your side until I die.”

“Do not die.”

“How can a person not die. They will die someday.”

Jeha, without answering, cupped Jin’s cheeks in his hands and kissed him. Unlike his cold skin, Jin’s lips were warm, and the feel of his plump tongue was as vivid as before. Yet, Jeha’s chest just ached as if it had been slashed with a knife.

It seemed that because Jeha and Jin’s bodies had been connected, albeit briefly, due to the blood transfusion, he had dreamed of their sixth past life.

Yes. Such a thing had happened.

He had come to know a beautiful person named Yeoheun, and in trying to save him, had instead led him to his death.

How could he have forgotten that so completely. What did it feel like to have personally buried Yeoheun, who had set off on the road to the underworld wearing Euntaek’s dopo, in the cold ground.

Was it inexpressibly empty. Or was it devastating.

Just as he had completely forgotten Yeoheun’s existence itself, the feelings of that time should now feel distant, but the pain of losing him had suddenly become a sharpened razor blade, slicing through Jeha’s heart.

The person Nam Euntaek had stabbed with a knife was clearly the man with the snake tattoo who had acted as a basket seller. But as soon as his breath stopped, Yeoheun had suddenly vomited blood and died along with him.

At that time, he had no idea why, but now, for some reason, he felt like he knew.

Jeha recalled the words that Cheonsagang had once said to him when he came to the university.

「There are two things you need to keep in mind. First, killing my physical body does not extinguish my existence itself. I will simply change bodies and reappear.」

「And second, if you destroy me, all of Nana’s soul that I have absorbed so far will also disappear.」

「Inside me, there is several times more of that guy’s energy accumulated than what Nana currently possesses. A shaman should know, right? Why his presence is so faint and his body is so hopelessly weak.」

「If you annihilate me, the Nana inside me will also disappear. Because I am Nana.」

By killing the basket seller, Nam Euntaek had also caused the immediate death of Yeoheun, who was connected to him.

However, since Euntaek had not completely annihilated the gisaeng soul but had only destroyed its body in that life, they would have been reborn in the next life. The next life, that is, Jin’s seventh past life seen through the dream, was the one right before this life and Jeha’s last past life.

Jin, who had always died several decades earlier than Jeha, would be reborn around the same time as Jeha, as if waiting for him, but it was also unknown whether he could find the answer to that question in the seventh past life.

For now, he was just immeasurably relieved by the fact that he could hold the living Jin in his arms.

“You, why have you become so light again.”

When Jeha spoke in a scolding tone, Jin pouted his lips.

“I have not been eating well for the past few days because I had no appetite. But is it not good to be light? I can easily stand on your instep like this.”

“Even if you weighed 20kg more than you do now, I could still easily lift you up. It makes me anxious when you are this light. I am worried you might get blown away by the wind.”

“No matter how you look at it, a grown man is not going to get blown away by the wind. Because you are so overprotective, Chief Jeong looks at us with disdain.”

“Who cares.”

“I am quite thick-skinned myself, but when I look at you, I think you are even worse. You really have a strong mentality.”

Walking slowly around the hospital room with Jin on his instep, who was giggling, Jeha vowed that in this life, he would never let him go first.

Jin was only able to return home after being hospitalized for three days.

Jeha washed Jin with warm water, dressed him in his favorite pajamas, and sat him on the living room sofa. As he gently ran his fingers through his fine, soft hair to dry it, Jin, as if in a good mood, hummed a tune.

Jeha, who had deliberately taken his time drying his hair with lukewarm air to fully enjoy the moment, said.

“Are you not a little hungry? I want to eat something. How about kimchi pancake?”

“Sounds good. Are you going to make it, Jeha?”

“Yes.”

Jeha, taking Jin to the kitchen, sat him down on a table chair and started cooking on the spot. He added chopped kimchi to the pancake mix, made the batter, and skillfully fried it. He placed the plate in front of Jin and poured canned beer into two beer glasses. When the white foam rose, Jeha handed one of the glasses to Jin.

“I am sorry, but yours is non-alcoholic.”

“Why!”

“Because beer reduces iron absorption. Alcohol is forbidden until you are completely healthy.”

“That is cheap.”

“But the taste will be almost the same. Here, a toast to celebrate your discharge.”

Jin, with a sullen face, clinked his glass against Jeha’s. He took a sip of the beer, and with white foam on his lips, his eyes widened.

“It really tastes almost the same as beer?”

“Is this your first time having non-alcoholic beer?”

“Yes. I am not a pregnant woman, so when would I have drunk something like this.”

“That is true. Here, say ah.”

Jeha presented a piece of kimchi pancake in front of Jin’s mouth. Jin, who opened his mouth like a baby swallow and promptly ate it, gave a thumbs-up.

“It is really delicious! There is really nothing you cannot do, Jeha. You could open a restaurant.”

“Really?”

“Yes. But if you work at a restaurant with visuals like these, it will cause a stir on social media, and you will eventually end up debuting as a celebrity, so you will not be able to do it for long.”

“I do not think being a celebrity is something you can do with just looks.”