NTH 77

When he awoke from his sleep, Jeha realized that he was trembling. It was not because he was cold. It was because his heart was chillingly pained and afraid.

Coming to his senses with a start, he looked around and saw that the space beside him was empty. Jeha shot up from the bed and shouted loudly.

“Nana! Nana!”

After confirming that no one was in the bedroom or the bathroom, Jeha, still in his boxer briefs, rushed out to the living room. He saw the back of someone standing on the terrace, looking out the window.

Jeha flung open the terrace door and exclaimed.

“Nana!”

Jin turned around and smiled brightly.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been called by that name. Did you sleep well?”

Instead of answering, Jeha walked over in a single stride and pulled him into an embrace. He was so choked up, as if he had met the deceased Tsubame again after a hundred years, that he could not say a word. Jin wrapped his arms around Jeha’s waist and asked quietly.

“What’s wrong? Did you have another nightmare?”

“Yes.”

“You have them often. It seems like you get so anxious every time you have a nightmare. Did I die in your dream or something?”

“……Yes.”

You always died just like that, before I could do anything. In the most miserable and lonely way, enduring everything all by yourself.

Jin wrapped the blanket that was draped over his shoulders around Jeha’s bare upper body.

“You keep having those dreams because you’re too overprotective of me. They say that dreams are the opposite of reality.”

“Why were you out here?”

“I was curious to see how much it snowed overnight. Look at that. The whole world is white.”

“……You’re right.”

“Aren’t you hungry? Should I make you something?”

“No. I just want to hold you a little longer.”

“Then let’s go inside. I’m fine, but you’re practically naked and you might catch a cold.”

Jeha had possessed a strong constitution since childhood, to the point where he had never suffered from any minor illnesses, but not wanting to worry Jin, he obediently went back inside.

After getting dressed, Jeha lay down on the bed again, held Jin tightly, and caressed his hair, recalling the events that had occurred after the scene he saw in his dream.

Immediately after losing Tsubame, Seo Suhyun desperately tracked the whereabouts of Hayashi Ryomu. He strove to find a clue to his location with the sole determination to tear his body to shreds. Like a man possessed by madness.

However, no matter how much Suhyun had people search every corner of the country, he could not find even a shadow of Hayashi. No one knew where Hayashi’s hometown was, or where and how he had lived before working in Matsuyama.

He was like a person who had fallen out of the sky from another planet, but in that chaotic era, such a thing was not particularly unusual. It was a time when many people immigrated overseas to find a way to live, so there was a possibility that Hayashi too could have secretly slipped away to somewhere like China, the Soviet Union, or the United States.

After three or four years passed like that, Suhyun gave up on finding Hayashi and devoted himself solely to his work. He greatly expanded Shinhwa Tailors and amassed a vast fortune, and with that money, he continued to support the independence movement.

As time went on, Suhyun’s grandfather, the founder of Shinhwa Textiles, passed away from old age, and his father met an untimely end in an accident just before the country achieved its liberation. Seo Suhyun inherited everything from them and became the chairman of the Shinhwa Corporation.

After liberation, he was almost put on trial as a pro-Japanese anti-national collaborator, but the fact that he had long funded the independence movement was revealed, allowing him to avoid the humiliation of being listed on the roster of pro-Japanese figures like his grandfather or father.

Seo Suhyun never married in his entire life. Instead, he poured all his affection into a species of bird, the swallow. He donated a large sum of money every year to academic institutions that studied swallows and environmental organizations that protected them. He also purchased expensive works of art with a swallow motif and established a museum named 「Museum Yeon (燕)」.

After building the Shinhwa Group into a world-class corporation, when he passed away in 1989 at the age of 86, Seo Suhyun returned all the private property he had amassed during his lifetime to society through his will.

Since the 1980s was only about forty years before the 2020s that Jeha currently lived in, the memory of his last past life was as vivid as if it had happened yesterday. Nevertheless, when it came to ‘Tsubame,’ he had completely forgotten about him in this life, just as he had with Jin’s other past lives.

If Jeha had possessed all the memories of Tsubame in this life, he should have fallen into a panic upon hearing that Jin’s name was ‘Nana’ when they first met. This was because the phrase 「Let’s meet again as Nana」 had been seared into Seo Suhyun’s heart his entire life, like a brand made with a hot iron.

Therefore, it was certain that for some unknown reason, only the memories of Jin’s past lives had been erased from Jeha’s mind.

But chronologically speaking, Jeha had no past lives left. The clue as to why Jeha and Jin’s connection began and how it had continued to this day must lie in their oldest past life, which he had been unable to see through his dreams.

“By the way, Jeha, why did you call me by my old name earlier? You haven’t called me Nana once since I changed my name.”

Jin, who had been lying silently in his arms, asked with his cheek pressed against Jeha’s chest. Jeha kissed his forehead and answered.

“Jin. Do you believe in things like past lives?”

“Past lives?”

“Yes. If someone, whether a shaman or a fortune teller, told you and me that we have past lives, and that we met back then too, would you be able to believe it?”

“I think I would.”

“Really?”

“Yes. And I’d feel good about it. I’d be happy that the connection between you and me is that deep-rooted.”

“What if they said it was an ill-fated connection in our past life? For example, what if you died because of me?”

“I still wouldn’t mind. An ill-fated connection is still a connection, so I can just think that we became lovers this time around. Unless I have to break up with you because of it, the past is already gone, so it’s okay.”

Jin, as expected of him, gave a bright and uninhibited answer. When Jeha just fiddled with the nape of his neck without a reply, Jin seemed to sense something was off and asked again.

“But why the sudden question about past lives?”

“……I heard that a lot of movies and dramas with those kinds of occult themes are coming out these days, so I just asked.”

Jin let out a short sound of understanding, “Ah,” as if he accepted the explanation. Jeha gave Jin’s lips a light kiss.

“I want to do it.”

“What? Again? We did it until dawn yesterday, to the point of being sick of it!”

“Are you already sick of me? That’s so shocking.”

“No, it’s not that I’m sick of you, it’s just an expression. Are we really going to do it?”

“Just once, and then I’ll make you breakfast.”

“Ugh……”

In any case, Jeha was so anxious right now that he wanted to feel the living Jin vividly, and all he wanted was to delve inside him and become one.

Jeha kissed Jin and unbuttoned his pajamas. Tsubame, like Jin, also reacted particularly strongly to his right nipple.

No, is it the other way around? Should I say, ‘Jin, like Tsubame’?

“Hngh, ah……”

When he gently licked the nipple, which was slightly swollen from being tormented so much last night, Jin let out a low moan. While uninhibitedly stripping off his lower garments, Jeha thought about how he could live the rest of his life most peacefully with Jin.

Right now, Jin is not a servant, not a lowborn, not a retainer, not a pickpocket. It is now an era where Japanese police or patrolmen do not exist at all. Jeha has the financial resources and ability to comfortably provide for Jin for the rest of his life. Jin is a little sick now, but he can be made to regain his health somehow with modern medicine.

In this life, several conditions that they could not control in their past lives are already favorably established. With one exception: the existence of the parasitic soul.

The only information he had on how to get rid of the parasitic soul was what he had obtained from Hwang Juyeol.

「It does die if its neck is severed or if it is suffocated, but it is not completely annihilated. It is reborn, following its host when the host reincarnates in the next life. For it to be completely annihilated, the only way is for the host to personally tear out its heart with their own hands while the phallus is inserted into the host’s body during intercourse, when the two are connected as one…….」

The procedure that came after was several times more difficult and arduous than revealing to Jin that Cheon Sagang’s true identity was a parasitic soul and making him believe in the connection from their past lives.

The thought of making Jin have sex with Cheon Sagang was, of course, unimaginably horrifying, but having Jin rip open Cheon Sagang’s chest and pull out his heart during sexual intercourse was practically close to impossible.

How, just how can I…….

“Jeha, hngh, I think, I’m about to come now.”

Jin, who was receiving oral sex from Jeha, said with a flushed face. Jeha, with Jin’s penis in his mouth, put on a condom with lubricating gel on his fingers and gently rubbed the inside walls of Jin’s rectum.

“Then come.”

When Jeha continued without stopping his mouth and fingers, Jin fidgeted and whined.

“Hngh, stop, stop that and put yours in now. I want to come with you.”

Honest Jin always drove Jeha crazy like this. Unable to hold back, Jeha pulled out his fingers, aligned the tip of his own penis with the entrance of Jin’s hole, and pushed it in firmly.

Jin, who let out a labored breath, extended his skinny arms toward Jeha.

“Come here. Let’s do it while holding each other tight.”

Jeha lowered his body, embraced Jin tightly without any gaps, and thrust his penis in more forcefully and violently. Jin, wrapping his legs around Jeha’s waist as if in response, whispered in his ear.

“Jeha, I love you.”

To keep from bursting into tears, Jeha moved his hips even faster and more relentlessly. When Jin’s face contorted in pleasure and he closed his eyes, Jeha kissed him on his eyelids and made a vow.

I will never lose the warmth of this small, warm body. I will never again just stand by blankly and watch Jin leave so emptily.

Unlike in his past lives where he had forgotten everything, there must be a reason why Jeha has recalled all the memories related to Jin in this life, so he will get the necessary information even if he has to go to hell for it.

In this life, at least, I will never let go of Jin’s hand.

A few days after the heavy snow, Jeha had to attend a university meeting regarding the new semester. Around that time, Jin’s anemia had worsened, so he was periodically going to the hospital to receive platelet transfusions.

“I was determined to go with you this time, can’t it be postponed until tomorrow?”

Chief Jeong answered Jeha’s question.

“Mr. Jin’s body is much weaker than before, so I don’t think it would be good to delay the transfusion schedule.”

“I see. I was being shortsighted. What a case of bad timing, it’s truly difficult to go to the hospital together just once.”

“Please don’t worry and go. I will safely escort Mr. Jin there and back.”

“Then I’ll be in your care.”

Jeha went into the room and hugged Jin, who had finished getting ready to go out.

“I really wanted to go with you this time, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay, it’s already the nth time I’m going for treatment, so I’m used to it. I’ll be back soon with Mister Yoonsoo.”

“Let’s have a delicious dinner at L Hotel in the evening. I’ll tell Chief Jeong to bring you over there.”

“Okay. Have a good day at the university.”

After that, Jeha attended a meeting about opening courses for the next year’s new semester. In the evening, he met Jin at the hotel restaurant and they had an intimate meal in a private room overlooking the night view of Seoul.

After they had looked around the observatory and returned home, Chief Jeong spoke to Jeha in the underground parking garage.

“Young Master. I have something to tell you in private, may I follow you up?”

“Please do. Let’s talk in my study.”

After going up to the apartment and sending Jin into the bathroom first, Jeha sat down facing Chief Jeong in the study.

“You can speak comfortably now. Did you hear any bad news at the hospital today?”

“That is not the case. Mr. Jin has not improved much compared to last time, but fortunately, his condition has not worsened either, so they said to continue with the current treatment for the time being.”

“I see.”