Our Untold Love Story (3)
I rose before dawn on the morning of our trip, moving about the kitchen with restless energy. Rolling kimbap with one hand was still a struggle, but a little hum kept slipping from my lips. Tuna kimbap, stuffed with plenty of mayonnaise—Dohyun’s absolute favorite.
“All packed?”
Dohyun shuffled into the kitchen, his hair still tousled from sleep. He wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and rested his chin on my shoulder.
“You should’ve slept more. You’ll be exhausted if you’re driving.”
“I’m too excited to sleep. Like a kid on a field trip.”
He chuckled and pressed a kiss to my cheek. His body heat, the clean scent of soap, and those gentle eyes that looked at me like I was the only thing in the world—everything was perfect. It felt too good to be true.
We gathered our things and headed down to the parking lot. The white convertible he’d rented in advance waited for us.
“A convertible? Isn’t that a bit much?”
“We’re going to the sea. Gotta let your hair blow in the wind.”
He opened the passenger door and winked. “Hop in, princess. Today I’m taking you to the East Sea.”
The way he treated me like royalty made the corners of my mouth lift. The car slipped out of Seoul and onto the highway. The sky was a vivid, paint-splashed blue without a single cloud. We cranked up upbeat music and sang along at the top of our lungs.
“Hey, tone-deaf. You can’t even hit the high notes. Guess the gods really are fair, huh?”
“Shut up! I’m singing with feeling!”
We laughed until our stomachs hurt over the silliest things. He kept one hand on the wheel and the other firmly holding my right hand. His thumb gently stroked the back of my hand.
“Sia.”
“Yeah?”
“After we see the ocean, where do you want to go next?”
“Next?”
“Yeah. In autumn we’ll go to Seoraksan to see the fall colors. In winter we’ll hit the ski slopes. Oh, can you even ski? If not, we can go sledding instead.”
He spoke about our “next” as if it were the most natural thing in the world—next year, the year after, and far into the future. The fact that I existed inside his plans made my chest swell with overwhelming joy.
“I… I like everything. As long as I’m with you, I’d even follow you to hell.”
“Say something nicer. Hell? Really?”
He let out a soft laugh and kissed the back of my hand. “I’ll make sure we only go to heaven. I’ll create that heaven for us.”
Bursting with happiness, I turned to look out the window. The passing scenery was breathtaking. After living through five hundred lifetimes, this was the first time I truly felt the world was beautiful. Foolishly, I believed this happiness would last forever.
We were almost in Gangwon Province when a rest area sign appeared.
“Want to take a break? You hungry?”
“Yeah. Let’s eat the kimbap I made.”
We settled on an outdoor bench at the rest stop. A cool autumn breeze brushed past us. The moment I opened the lunchbox lid, he let out an impressed “Whoa~”
“The shape’s a little squished, but it looks tasty.”
“Hey! What do you expect from someone rolling it with one hand?”
“I know, I know. Just kidding.”
He picked up a piece and popped it into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. Then he put on a mock-serious face and gave me a thumbs-up.
“Passed. You could totally marry me.”
“What are you even saying…”
“I’m serious. Marry me.”
The sudden words nearly made me spit out my water.
“……Are you for real?”
“Yeah. I can’t live without you. And you can’t even eat properly without me.”
He said it playfully, but under the table his leg kept bumping against mine, trembling. He was nervous.
“After we see the sea, let’s go greet my grandfather properly.”
“……What if he objects?”
“Then we’ll run away. Grab some cash and disappear to somewhere no one knows us. Maybe an island, where we can fish for a living.”
Just imagining it made me laugh. A third-generation chaebol heir living as a fugitive? Ridiculous.
“Okay. I’d like that.”
The moment I answered, his face lit up with a smile brighter than sunlight. We got back in the car. Just thirty more minutes and we’d reach the sea—the place where our future and our promises waited.
But that promise would never be kept.
It happened while we were driving through a tunnel. The song playing on the radio suddenly cut off.
[Static… crackle…]
“What the—? Is the signal dead because we’re in the mountains?”
He reached out to adjust the volume. That’s when it came.
[Citizens… currently above Seoul… crackle… massive dimensional rift… beeeeeep—!]
The broadcast died with an eerie mechanical screech. We looked at each other at the same time. A wave of dread, pure instinctive terror, crawled up our spines.
Rumble—!
The ground shook violently. The car swayed wildly from side to side. An earthquake?
“D-Dohyun…”
“Hold on tight!”
He gripped the wheel and sped out of the tunnel. What we saw next stole the breath from our lungs.
“Ah……”
The sky was blood-red. The clear autumn blue had vanished, replaced by swirling clouds the color of rotten blood. And at the center of it all, a single colossal eye tore through the heavens and stared down at us.
Dimensional Rift Detected.
The King of the Apocalypse descends.
“This can’t… be happening…”
Maybe it was because I had finally tasted love and happiness after so long—perhaps for the very first time. I had forgotten that this world was hell. Or maybe I had known all along and simply chose to ignore it.
I covered my mouth. No matter what, only six months had passed. The catastrophe was supposed to arrive in a year, after we had time to prepare. Why now?
Ah. It was because of me.
In this life I had failed to do everything I was supposed to. This was the backlash. I had grown complacent, thinking, This life will be different. Dohyun is here, so it’ll be fine. The price for sparing the dark forces I should have killed.
My happiness had hastened the world’s destruction.
“Damn it! Turn around!”
Dohyun yanked the wheel into a sharp U-turn. But the road had already become a nightmare. Cars ahead exploded. Flying monsters pouring from the rift snatched people into the air.
“Krrraaaah!”
A wyvern dove straight toward our car.
“Duck!”
Dohyun wrapped his arm around my head and swerved. With a sickening crunch, the convertible’s roof was ripped clean off.
“Get out! We have to run!”
We abandoned the car and sprinted—into the forest, toward the mountains, anywhere we could hide.
“Huff… huff…”
My stamina gave out almost immediately. With only one arm, keeping my balance was nearly impossible, and I kept falling. Each time, Dohyun pulled me up, sometimes even carrying me on his back as he ran.
“Dohyun… leave me… at least you can survive…”
“Shut up! Don’t say that. That’s never going to happen.”
He shouted as he ran. From his pocket he pulled out items he had secretly collected and hurled them—bombs, scrolls, barrier stones. Hundreds of billions of won detonated in the air. He had been preparing for this day all along. Even while we laughed and talked, he had been quietly getting ready without me knowing.
But our enemy was the King of the Apocalypse, a being no different from a god.
BOOM—!
A massive black lightning bolt blocked our path. We were thrown backward, tumbling across the ground.
“Cough!”
Dohyun vomited blood. His leg was bent at a grotesque angle.
“Dohyun!”
I crawled to him and held him close. The area around us had become a sea of flames. There was nowhere left to run. This was the end. The five-hundredth life was ending just like this.
Then, with a trembling hand, Dohyun pointed toward the rubble of a collapsed building. A small iron door led underground—a one-person bomb shelter.
“There… get in there…”
“What about you? You can’t even walk with that leg!”
“I’m done for… but you can still live…”
“No! I’d rather die with you! I won’t live without you!”
I shook my head, sobbing. He grabbed my collar with a terrifying look in his eyes.
“Yoo Sia! Please, just listen to me!”
“……”
“I worked so hard to keep you alive. If you die here, I won’t even be able to close my eyes in peace.”
He forced himself up and pushed me forward. Limping on his broken leg, he shoved me through the iron door.
“Get inside. Hurry!”
He pushed me in and tried to close the door from outside.
“Wait! Come in with me! It’s narrow but we can both fit!”
“I can’t. The door’s broken. It only locks if someone holds it from outside.”
A lie. He was lying. He just didn’t want us to die together—he was trying to save me at least.
“Stop lying! Open it! Open the door!”
I pounded on the door from inside. With a heavy clunk, it locked. Through the small reinforced glass window on the iron door, I could see his face—bloody, but still the most beloved face in the world.
“Dohyun… please… open the door…”
I pressed my forehead to the glass, begging.
“I’m scared… I don’t want to be alone… please let me stay with you…”
He placed his hand on the glass, matching mine.
“We made a promise.”
He smiled through the blood.
“I said I’d be your left arm. I said I’d block everything for you.”
“Don’t… I don’t need that kind of promise…”
“I’m sorry. We couldn’t go to the sea together.”
He took the couple necklace from around his neck, put it in his mouth, and kissed it. Then he mouthed his final words to me.
I love you.
He turned around. In the distance, an overwhelming darkness that threatened to swallow the world was approaching. The King of the Apocalypse. Even in the face of that absolute terror, Dohyun did not retreat. He staggered to his feet. Then, squeezing out the last of his magic power, he roared.
He charged like a moth into the flame. The back of a man with something to protect looked larger than any hero’s.
KWAAAAAAA—!
The world turned white. A tremendous explosion shook the bunker. I clung to the glass window and screamed.
“NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”
He vanished before my eyes, disintegrating into dust within the light. My love. My salvation. My entire world died.
“Aaaah… aaah…”
I clawed at the floor, howling like a beast. Why? Why only me? Why couldn’t we just die together? Why leave me alone in this hellish world?
“Give him back… give me back my Dohyun…”
If there was a god, I wanted to kill it. I wanted to burn the entire world to ash.