NT - 14

A hand slipped through strands of hair and gently tapped her earlobe. The fingers lightly pinched and rubbed the soft flesh—a touch so subtle and intimate that even the one initiating it seemed unaware of the motion.

As the slow caress traced along the curve of her ear, Hae-soo’s eyelids fluttered open. Her body was reclined at an angle, leaning against the bare shoulder of Lee Ho-beom, who lay beside her on the bed. Seated with his back against the headboard, he absentmindedly stroked her ear while reading a document. When she lifted her head slightly, as if noticing she had woken up, he tilted his head toward her. Their faces drew close, and their foreheads bumped lightly.

“Your fever’s gone down a bit.”

After the chaos in the rain, Hae-soo had fallen into a severe fever the moment they arrived at the hotel he had taken her to. Her temperature had refused to drop, confining her to bed for days. Through it all, Lee Ho-beom never left her side, not even for a moment. He nursed her with nourishing meals at every meal and cared for her far beyond what was necessary. Thanks to that, by the fourth day, her fever had nearly returned to normal.

As she shifted beneath the blankets, her bare skin brushed against his. She was sure she had fallen asleep wearing a robe, but at some point, he must have removed it while she slept. It wasn’t surprising—Lee Ho-beom had a habit of walking around naked, and the bed was no exception.

His body radiated warmth where she rested against him, making Hae-soo blink drowsily.

“What time is it?”

“Nine.”

The typhoon had passed, and at some point, the sky had cleared. Beyond the large windows, the outside world was bright and sunny. It was earlier than she had expected. But it made sense—after four days of doing nothing but sleeping like the dead, barely waking to eat whatever he fed her, it was only natural that she would wake up early now that she felt better.

As Hae-soo lay still, Lee Ho-beom resumed reading his documents. The soft sound of pages rustling filled the room. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, she asked,

“What happened to Hae-seung…? Do you know?”

His hand, which had been flipping through the pages, came to a stop.

“A psychiatric hospital.”

“……”

“It wasn’t me. Director Seo was the one who put him there.”

“……”

“If he had shown any mercy just because he was my brother, I would’ve killed him with my own hands. So, in a way, it was the wiser decision.”

Despite speaking about wanting to murder someone, Lee Ho-beom’s hand continued to idly comb through Hae-soo’s hair, his touch almost lazy. His attitude was so indifferent—like he was discussing something as routine as a meal.

“Are you still working with Director Seo?”

“That deal was dead a long time ago. The moment that bastard Seo Hae-seung laid a hand on you, it was over.”

Hae-soo lifted her head slightly. Reading the question in her expression, Lee Ho-beom added,

“Seo Mu-won only brought me in because he wanted to show off that you were by his side.”

“……”

“For all that, he didn’t even have any real use for me—no dirty work he wanted us to take care of, nothing. Just that petty reason. It was so ridiculous I couldn’t even be angry.”

So that’s how it was.

Seo Mu-won had known everything about her and Lee Ho-beom from the beginning. No, he had likely been watching her for far longer than she had realized. Even before her family collapsed, he had people tailing her, digging into her life.

There were still many things about Seo Mu-won’s actions that remained unclear. But Hae-soo no longer cared. From start to finish, his relationship with her had been built on nothing but deception and concealment.

Now that everything had been laid bare, Seo Mu-won was nothing more than a lingering question mark in her mind.

She no longer knew him, nor did she have any desire to.

The terror she had felt in the raging storm was still fresh, pulsating through her veins.

“Are you fully awake now?”

“…Yeah.”

“Then get up and get dressed. We have somewhere to be.”

Lee Ho-beom pressed a kiss to her temple before getting out of bed.

“Where?”

“You’ll see when we get there.”

A shopping bag with a women’s brand logo had been placed on the bed—most likely something his men had prepared. Hae-soo pushed aside the blanket and got up. After a quick wash, she dressed in the clothes from the bag.

It was her first time leaving the hotel in four days. She followed Lee Ho-beom outside, stepping into the black sedan waiting at the hotel’s back entrance. As the car merged onto the road, the passing scenery blurred into a grayish haze.

They drove for a long while before finally arriving at their destination—a dock. More precisely, a place densely packed with shipping containers. Even in broad daylight, an eerie chill hung in the air, making Hae-soo instinctively shrink into herself.

Lee Ho-beom wrapped an arm around her waist and led her forward.

“Why are we here…?”

At some point, he had fallen silent. With no answer coming, she followed him into one of the containers.

The moment they stepped inside, a group of burly men straightened up and bowed respectfully to Lee Ho-beom.

“How’s the condition?”

“He’s starting to regain consciousness.”

Lee Ho-beom nodded and nudged Hae-soo forward. The men, who had been standing in a huddle, moved aside to clear a path.

There, in the middle of the container, a man sat slumped on the ground, looking like he might sink into the floor at any moment. His appearance was utterly wretched—filthy and ragged, as if he had been dragged through the gutters.

Hae-soo instinctively stopped in her tracks.

Lee Ho-beom nudged her forward again, but she grabbed his arm, resisting.

“Who is he? Who is this person, and why are you…?”

Hae-soo stopped speaking as if she had bitten her tongue, the moment she suddenly met the eyes of the man who lifted his head. Her eyes slowly widened, and her fingers, which had been slightly curled, turned cold. It felt as if her nerves were numbing, like someone faced with something utterly unbelievable.

As if nailed to the ground, Hae-soo hesitantly took a step forward. Lee Ho-beom no longer pushed her, so now, moving toward that figure was entirely her own will.

“…Ah.”

Her lips, filled with tension, shock, and disbelief, stiffened, making it difficult to move them properly. Slowly, Hae-soo bent her knees in front of the man—someone so ragged and wretched that she might have passed him by on the street, mistaking him for a beggar.

“…Dad.”

Hae-soo covered her mouth.

The man who had vanished one day like smoke, leaving behind not a single trace, was now right in front of her. In a form she had never even imagined.

How much suffering had he endured to become like this?

A vivid image flashed in her mind—her mother, hanging from the ceiling, her feet limp and lifeless.

It had been years since she last saw her father. Somewhere deep down, she had begun to think that perhaps he had followed in her mother’s footsteps. After all, if he were alive, he wouldn’t have abandoned her to be so utterly alone.

But he was alive. He was still breathing in this world.

There was an overwhelming sense of relief in knowing that she hadn’t lost all of her family. But at the same time, she felt an unbearable sorrow and devastation.

Hae-soo remembered better than anyone else how her father had once been—a distinguished businessman in a well-tailored suit, respected as “President Ahn” by those around him.

And now, here he was, reduced to this unrecognizable state.

A wave of sorrow so immense it was beyond words crashed over her.

“…W-water. Please… give me some water.”

The man, failing to recognize her, reached out blindly toward her feet, his voice filled with desperation.

A sob burst out of Hae-soo before she could stop it.

She was struggling to breathe, her hands still clamped over her mouth, when she suddenly noticed his pitiful, searching hands. Hastily, she turned around.

Kneeling beside her, Lee Ho-beom handed her a bottle of water.

Hae-soo quickly took it and placed it in her father’s hands.

His trembling fingers snatched the bottle away, and the hands that had once embraced her now seemed shockingly thin.

“He’s severely addicted,” Lee Ho-beom said, pulling Hae-soo to her feet and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

Hae-soo looked up at him, her eyes trembling.

“The first time I found him was at a greenhouse gambling den,” Lee Ho-beom continued. “Looks like he got involved hoping to win back his lost investments and pay off his debts… But in this world, taking money from a clueless amateur is easy. The results were obvious—his debts only grew, and as he kept moving from place to place, his gambling turned into an addiction.”

Her father drank the water not in gulps, but in desperate, frantic chugs. It spilled down his chin and onto his clothes.

He looked no different from a helpless, lost child.

The sight made Hae-soo’s insides churn with anguish.

“Then, at some point, he started using drugs too.”

“…Drugs?”

“Narcotics.”

Now that she thought about it, her father—who once had such a solid presence—looked so frail he could be blown over by the wind.

No wonder she hadn’t recognized him at first.

The drastic change in his appearance was staggering.

For the first time, Hae-soo truly understood her mother’s pain—the nights she had spent weeping after her father had disappeared.

She had spent years resenting him.

But now, standing in front of the grim reality, she found that even her resentment felt meaningless.

She turned her head away, unable to bear looking any longer.

“What do you want to do?”

Lee Ho-beom cupped her cheek and gently turned her face toward him.

Her tear-streaked eyes were filled with him.

“I’ll do whatever you want,” he said.

“….”

“If you want him to keep living like this, I’ll fund his gambling. If you want him treated, I’ll send him to a hospital. If there’s anything else you want, tell me.”

It was a clear, definitive statement.

To Lee Ho-beom, this man was nothing more than a stranger. The only reason he had taken him in and provided care was because he was Hae-soo’s father.

If not for her, Lee Ho-beom wouldn’t have spared him a second glance. He wouldn’t have cared whether the man rotted away in some back alley or lost his life in a gambling den.

If not for Lee Ho-beom, her father might have died an even more miserable, anonymous death. And she would never have even known.

The realization hit her hard.

Tears welled in her eyes again, spilling freely down her cheeks.

“…The hospital.”

“You want me to send him to a hospital?”

She nodded with difficulty.

Lee Ho-beom pressed a kiss to her damp cheek and pulled her into his arms.

Then, he turned to his men and gave a quiet order. “Take him to the hospital.”

Hae-soo trembled in his embrace.

Lee Ho-beom ran his fingers through her hair, holding her tightly.

There were times when Hae-soo felt like sand slipping through his fingers.

No matter how hard he tried to grasp her, she never seemed to truly be his.

But today was different.

Today, as he held her, he knew she wouldn’t disappear.

“…Why?”

Hae-soo’s voice was thick with tears.

“I only ever tried to run away from you. So why…”

Her breath hitched as she spoke.

Though her words were fragmented, Lee Ho-beom understood her question.

Why had he taken care of her father, despite everything?

“…Maybe because I love you like a damn fool.”

Fine. To be honest, from the very beginning, he hadn’t taken her father in with good intentions.

That wretched man had merely been a tool—a means to keep Hae-soo from running away. In other words, he was leverage.

But as circumstances shifted and the game board changed at a relentless pace, the need to keep using him for coercion had faded.

No, this was a time to think more strategically.

And the outcome he had arrived at was nothing short of spectacular.

The exhausting cycle of taking and being taken from—he was finally done with it.

Seo Mu-won had foolishly set the stage, Seo Hae-seung had made a misstep, and as a result, Ahn Hae-soo was now his to hold.

The tangled, twisted threads of their relationship had reached their inevitable conclusion.

The triumph of his love.

The End.

Keep an eye out for Epilogues and Extras :)