Chapter 34
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Heaven Sent 4
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"......"
"...Oppa."
Ibi, who had been carefully peering into the diary, lifted her gaze. There was Haewon's stiffened face. As she parted her lips, fumbling for words of comfort, Haewon unexpectedly let out a wry chuckle.
"My mom... She's exactly the same inside and out. How can she be so consistent with the face she always showed?"
"Um......"
"It's fine. Nothing new here."
With that, Haewon took the diary back from Ibi's hands and read through it meticulously. He looked genuinely okay. But Ibi couldn't help feeling sorry for him.
"At least there's one good thing."
"Good thing?"
Mina was the one who echoed the question. Haewon glanced at her once, then opened the diary for everyone to see and laid it down.
......My son has never made a true and eternal vow of love to any woman.....
"Why is that good?"
"My mom wasn't interested in me. Except for what I would become. She probably didn't even know what I was up to on a daily basis."
As he spoke, Haewon pointed to the date written in the diary with his finger. His words came after a slight hesitation.
"This date..."
"You had a girlfriend?"
Mina blurted it out. After a brief pause, Haewon ambiguously nodded.
"You vowed eternal love."
"......"
"Hardcore dating at that age."
At Mina's words, Haewon made a face like he didn't know what to say, then let out a self-deprecating chuckle.
"Well, I was full of youthful vigor back then."
And sure enough, that was around the time Haewon had been dating his first girlfriend, Saetbyeol.
What Haewon was doing at school, at the academy, out of his mother's sight— she had no idea. That's why she pushed forward with this arbitrary engagement.
But ironically, that ignorance gave him a chance after her death to nullify this marriage. It was hard to call it fortunate outright.
"Well... eternal love sounds nice. It does... But how do you prove it? Just telling them won't make them believe you."
Haewon rubbed his forehead with both hands.
He still missed Saetbyeol. The embarrassing vow he'd blurted out as a young boy hadn't been said lightly.
It felt like a cruel joke. A feeling that had been real back then was now reduced to just a means of survival. He never could have imagined this life waiting for him.
But there was no choice.
"I have a video."
Haewon pulled his smartphone from his pocket.
"A video of me saying those words to her."
He remembered that day on the academy rooftop, stargazing and fooling around, when they'd somehow exchanged those words.
Saetbyeol had insisted on recording a video since he'd said something like that—it had to last forever... And it still remained.
He could grit his teeth and erase other traces of Saetbyeol, but he could never touch that one. Even now, when he missed her, when he ached to see her bright face again, he played it. But the dead wouldn't return.
"So... I can prove it. If this engagement really hinged on that condition, it has to hold weight."
Ibi blinked. Was that it? Was it over now? But who did they need to prove it to? Did they have to go back up to the precept temple and meet that woman again?
The thought sent an involuntary shiver down her spine.
At that moment, Mina, who had been quietly sitting, spoke up abruptly.
"Contract."
"Huh?"
"Don't you need a contract for something like this?"
"That's......"
Haewon fell into thought again at Mina's words. It was a valid point.
Ibi glanced back and forth between Haewon and Mina before cautiously chiming in.
"Is there... such a thing? A contract?"
Haewon pondered a bit more, then nodded.
"There is."
Haewon recalled a memory. A lingering afterimage from the past.
It was shortly after Saetbyeol's death. A few days at most, he remembered.
Back then, Haewon was barely functioning. He went to school, to the academy, came home—outwardly, his daily life seemed intact.
But the reality was different. Food had no taste. He barely reacted when called. Sleep brought endless nightmares.
That day, he woke from another nightmare. But seconds later, he thought he was still trapped in it.
First, he felt pain in his left hand's fingers. All five. Like they'd been sliced off at the tips. Groaning, he turned his head.
And locked eyes with his mother, crouched by the bed.
The familiar mother he'd known all his life—yet in that moment, chills ran through him. At the same time, he realized the pain was real. A small knife was in her hand.
His mother had pricked his fingertips with it, drawing blood.
His mouth gaped open, but shock silenced him. Then she grabbed his hand and pressed each finger onto a piece of paper.
Afterward, she stared at him blankly and left the room without a word.
It was too bizarre. Like he hadn't woken from the dream. Or wishing he hadn't.
So he'd consciously shoved it into a corner of his memory, never wanting to touch it.
"......"
But now it was time to open that drawer.
"There is such a thing."
That paper his mother had stamped with his blood that day—it had to be it. That's why the bogus result claimed he'd consented to an engagement he never agreed to.
"It's here... somewhere in this place. Definitely. My mom wasn't one to store important things carelessly. But it's just a single sheet of paper. We can find it quick."
"......"
Ibi clamped her mouth shut. Mina, meanwhile, squeezed her eyes shut and opened them.
"It's been weird since we came in here."
"Weird how? What do you mean?"
"This room. It's eerie."
With that, Mina stood and circled the shrine. She even punched the wall. Thud thud.
"It reeks... of that woman."
At her words, both Ibi and Haewon tensed. 'That woman' clearly meant the one from the precept temple.
Ibi was a bit scared, but she rolled her eyes and said,
"So... that means the contract's probably in here?"
"Dunno."
Mina shrugged it off irresponsibly but didn't deny it. Either way, what needed doing hadn't changed.
They had to search the shrine thoroughly again. Find that contract. If they did, there'd be hope to nullify the engagement.
After a short break, Ibi and Haewon resumed the search. Mina left, saying she was too drained to stay.
The next day. September 14th.
They started again at dawn. Mina didn't come today.
Hours flew by like arrows. But no results.
They'd turned the shrine upside down over the past few days. Finding the diary was something, but the crucial paper eluded them no matter what.
Finally exhausted, Ibi slumped to the shrine floor. Her chest rose and fell with her breaths.
"Just... a little break, Oppa. Where the hell is that scrap of paper hidden...? Should we rip up the floorboards?"
"Ibi."
"Yeah?"
"Should we call it quits?"
"What?"
Ibi shot up in shock. Seeing her, Haewon gave a bitter smile. It wasn't a joke—his face was on the verge of giving up.
"No way. After coming this far? It has to be here. There must be some corner we haven't checked!"
As she spoke, frustration boiling over, Ibi punched the wall behind her.
Thud.
"......"
Suddenly, Ibi froze. Haewon looked puzzled.
"What's up?"
"No, wait......"
Ibi sprang to her feet. She touched the wall a few times, then paced the narrow shrine, observing. To Haewon, who'd been here for days, her sudden scrutiny was baffling.
But Ibi's face was grave. Something was on the tip of her tongue. Something important...
"It's cramped."
A few days ago at the snack bar, she'd thought the room had the same layout. Natural enough—same building, same floor.
And returning here... the sense of it being cramped hadn't been an illusion.
"Hold on."
Ibi dashed to the wall she'd just punched. Come to think of it, Mina had hit this same wall yesterday—and it had sounded the same.
Ibi punched it.
Thud.
Again.
Thud thud.
"It's hollow."
Ibi turned to Haewon. Only then did he catch on to what she was doing.
"There's space behind this."
"Move."
Haewon, who moments ago had suggested giving up, now pressed against the wall like it was nothing. He kicked it a few times—solid thunks, but not sturdy. A makeshift partition of boards.
Haewon stopped kicking and looked around. He grabbed a metal standing rack and smashed it against the wall. Ibi shrank back a few steps.
Finally, with heavy crunches, the flimsy partition gave way.
And the hidden space within was revealed.