After finishing their meal, they cleaned up the messy living room. Cheon Geon-young went into the bathroom, filled the tub with water, and then returned to the living room. He gently lifted Yoon Tae-ha. Yoon Tae-ha, who let out a short sound of surprise, unexpectedly wrapped her arms around his neck obediently.

Checking the moderately adjusted water temperature, Cheon Geon-young slowly lowered Yoon Tae-ha into the tub.

“Do you have bath salts too?”

“Lavender and citrus. Read them and choose.”

Yoon Tae-ha alternately read the descriptions on the two clear glass bottles, pondering which one to put in.

“‘What could be the fresh and cool scent of oranges encountered at the beginning of a journey?’ It says you can experience yuzu flowing down your entire body like raindrops.”

“That’s grand.”

“Right?”

Huddling her flushed body, she read the bath salt descriptions and opened the bottle filled with purple granules. As she poured it into the tub, a subtle lavender scent gently spread. Yoon Tae-ha leaned her back tightly against the tub wall and curled up.

For a moment, she felt the warmth of the water heating her body. Cheon Geon-young slyly stretched his legs under the foamy surface. When his foot touched her soft thigh, Yoon Tae-ha glared at him as if she had been slapped in her sleep.

She maintained an indifferent expression when a monster lunged for her neck. But she reacted strongly when he touched her. That was cute. Cheon Geon-young pulled her towards him.

Thanks to the slippery bathtub floor, Yoon Tae-ha easily reached him. Looking at her wet face, Yoon Tae-ha turned her gaze to his knee that jutted out right next to her.

“You have a surgery scar?”

“I fell into the river when I was young. I got hurt then.”

Cheon Geon-young pulled her hand and made her wrap it around his scar. Yoon Tae-ha carefully traced the white scar.

“So that’s why you don’t like water much.”

“I used to like it when I was young, but I’ve stayed away from it since then.”

“You said you did a lot of underwater training at school. How did you endure that? You said they tied your ankles with cable ties and dropped you in the water.”

“I had to. It was work.”

It was work. Yoon Tae-ha repeated his words softly.

“How many people know? That you have bad memories of water.”

“I’ve never told anyone directly, but I think my grandfather knew. The rest of my family doesn’t care about me.”

“You have to be careful of such memories.”

Yoon Tae-ha, who had been gently touching his scar, raised her head. Now she didn’t seem to have any intention of hiding her feelings. She was hurting as if she herself had fallen into the water.

Cheon Geon-young felt naked at her pure pity. Even though he was already in the tub naked with her, it felt like he had lost even his last remaining shield. But rather than being afraid, he felt relieved.

Conversely, he couldn’t stop the guilt from deepening over deceiving the woman who trusted him about his affiliation.

“Now you’re not free from such shocks either. Since you can use both, your abilities might be stabilized, but there’s no guarantee of that. It’s literally the first time.”

“Will I lose consciousness if I overuse my abilities?”

“You might. It’s not verified, but take this medicine if it seems like an extreme situation is coming.”

“The one you take?”

“No, you might die if you take it as is. I’ll give you the emergency suppressants I carry around for now. They’re safe for C-class and above, so you should be fine. There are hardly any reported side effects. You’ll sleep a lot for a few days, but it’s better than wearing restraints.”

“You……”

He paused for a moment. Yoon Tae-ha splashed water on his scar, indicating for him to continue.

“How do you control your memories?”

“Rather than control, I try to remember just one thing.”

Espers were vulnerable to love and hate. Like two sides of a coin, they were attached and would rise from the depths of the unconscious, often manifesting in extreme behavior. Yoon Tae-ha had always lived wary of that.

If I lose my reason and cross a river of no return.

If that happens, who will come to deal with her, who has become a madwoman? It was an easy question. Seo Do-jin and Choi Bo-mi would come first. If they and Alpha Team couldn’t handle it, Lee Hae-kyung would be the last resort.

That was what she thought before meeting Cheon Geon-young. But things had changed lately. Would he, who had even started using fire, stay still? If she went berserk, the last person she would see might not be Lee Hae-kyung, but Cheon Geon-young. Just imagining that sent a cold sensation down her spine.

“The face of the person who will come to kill me.”

Having finished speaking, she gathered lavender-scented bubbles in her palm. The cotton candy-like bubbles rose over Cheon Geon-young’s scar. Level 1. Level 2. Level 3. Cheon Geon-young quietly watched her build a tower with the bubbles. Yoon Tae-ha blew on the built-up tower. The tower swayed but didn’t collapse.

She didn’t want to break their current irresponsible rest. But time was running out. Less than a day remained. Looking at the small analog clock hanging next to the sink, Yoon Tae-ha’s face became resolute.

“After this mission is over. That is, if we clear out Orca’s lab in the Green Sea and gather evidence of the evil deeds your great-uncle is committing. Let’s go back to the hideout.”

“Your hideout where you felt scammed?”

“Are you going to keep doing that? I told you it was a place I carefully chose after selecting candidate sites.”

It would be a very long story. To do that, she had to destroy Orca’s lab as a member of the Black Lizard. She wanted to prove that they were different.

Not all those living hidden in the underground city committed crimes like kidnapping people and using them as weapons.

There were also people for whom living like this was the best option. A choice made not because they wanted to harm someone, but because it was the best way to protect themselves…….

No matter how she thought about it, it sounded like a criminal’s excuse, but right now, even that excuse was desperate.

“It won’t be much fun.”

“Nothing you’ve said has ever been boring.”

Cheon Geon-young scooped up some water and playfully splashed it on her. A small splashing sound echoed in the bathroom.

“Everything is important. I even thought about writing it all down as I went, but I knew you wouldn’t like that.”

At those words, she let out a dry laugh. The bubbles around them trembled.

Yoon Tae-ha’s hideout. Cheon Geon-young recalled the space where they had first revealed their true selves to each other.

The place where he had gotten off on the wrong foot. Yoon Tae-ha seemed to be trying to fix their twisted encounter there. If so, he also had to reciprocate her efforts. His parents’ death. His suspicious meeting with Professor Yoon. He would reveal everything.

Just this once. Just get through this.

Changcheon needed a way to prove Yoon Tae-ha’s trustworthiness. He might trust her but not Kwon Hyeok. Clear evidence to classify her as White Team. If he couldn’t find it, he would create it and bring it.

He had no desire to demand anything from a woman whose childhood had been butchered, telling her to assert her own innocence. He didn’t want to relive her nightmares.

\*

Having finished their bath, they changed into neat clothes and went out to the balcony. A weak breeze always blew in Cocytus.

Yoon Tae-ha felt the lukewarm breeze and told him about the background of the city’s construction and the stories of the people who lived there. And, waiting for a moment when Cheon Geon-young seemed to be in a good mood, she brought up the fact that she would have to leave the hotel for a while.

Cheon Geon-young immediately realized that her plans to go out were the main point.

“Where are you going?”

“A friend of mine asked for a little help.”

“A little?”

“Can’t you just let it slide this once?”

He stared intently. Yoon Tae-ha placed her hand over his on the railing. Like when Cheon Geon-young was guiding. At the subtle movement, he frowned.

“This is the first time you’ve asked for something like this.”

“I’m using my first time properly.”

“I’ll be back soon. It won’t take longer than 48 hours at most.”

“Are you sure?”

“It’ll be even shorter than that.”

“And you’re going to write in the company records that you spent private time with your guide?”

“It’s a violation of regulations to pry into what happened during private time.”

The worry that settled on his handsome face made her heart beat. She could tell even without words. He was worried about her. He had a composure that seemed like he would silently overcome even the bizarre tasks of a god, yet he was upset by something like this. He was angry at her saying she would leave his side for a while.

“Didn’t you consider that I might not let you go?”

“You’ll let me go.”

Perhaps he was the only person in the world who could understand her. Hopes that she had discarded like childhood fantasies blossomed. The more she was with him, the more sick she became of her life full of secrets. Her desire to be comforted seemed to have grown more than her worry about being hated.

Could they become one complete entity if the secrets disappeared? She no longer wanted to worry about what might be in the gaps of the bed or inside the drawers.

Yoon Tae-ha traced his veins with her fingertips. Cheon Geon-young was focusing all his attention on her every move. He reacted sensitively to the touch and asked back.

“Why do you think that?”

The raised temperature of his voice. The gaze that had lost its composure. The reversed position of their hands. An atmosphere where leisure and equanimity had disappeared. The distance between their bodies that had become close enough to kiss. Every element of him was surprisingly clear.

“You’ve always waited for me.”

Cheon Geon-young seemed to ponder her answer for a moment. And then he opened his arms as if asking for a hug. Yoon Tae-ha smiled softly like an evening primrose and pulled the large man towards her. He embraced her. It felt strangely thrilling, like being inside the cage of a beast ready to bite anything except itself.

“Just tell me if it’s dangerous.”

“I don’t think I can say I’m just going to a cafe to have tea quietly.”

“It’s dangerous then.”

“Not for other people.”

“I don’t like it every time you slip away like that.”

She shrugged and laughed. Cheon Geon-young pressed his lips again on her reddened collarbone where he had kissed. He caressed her neck and led her back into the room. Yoon Tae-ha skillfully closed the glass door with psychokinesis and even drew the curtains. Thud. It was Cheon Geon-young who turned off all the lights with the flick of a switch.