Summer Vacation.
In a distant alley, Yeon-woo smoked a cigarette.
Passersby glanced at Yeon-woo and made a huge fuss among themselves, talking about how pretty she was.
"Whoa... did you see her?"
Then Tae-oh, having spotted Yeon-woo a moment later, slowly approached.
Yeon-woo, who must have been crying for a while because her eye makeup was smeared, was pulling a tissue from her bag when her eyes met Tae-oh's.
"".....""
"I'm sorr—"
"Just get lost. I'll break up with you, so..."
"...Sorry."
"That bitch put you up to this again, didn't she? That goddamn bitch..."
It was a little embarrassing hearing my own curse come out of her mouth, but it felt like Tae-oh's fury was reaching me even from here.
"What, you mad because I'm talking shit about your boss? Pisses you off!? Ha! Good! I'm glad it pisses you off!"
A proper, demure lady wouldn't suit a face like that—acting the way she does fits her perfectly.
Watching Yeon-woo finally living up to her looks, I nodded.
But Tae-oh, as if he thought his own balls were on the line, swallowed his anger and bowed his head low.
"I'm sorry..."
"Get lost!!! I know you don't mean it! I know she put you up to this bullshit too. I said I'll get lost for you!"
"....."
"Did you ever, even once, think about how I felt?"
"...Didn't I tell you at the beginning."
"Right to the end, you're the only one who's so goddamn full of yourself... Fine, I, the filth in your eyes, will get lost for you."
"That's not true."
Watching Tae-oh flounder was way more entertaining than I expected, so I turned on my phone and started recording.
People glancing at me weirdly as they passed by...
Yeon-woo crushed the cigarette she'd been holding under her foot on the ground and tried to walk past Tae-oh, but he grabbed her.
"Let go."
"Out of every woman I've ever seen, you were the most captivating. I mean that."
"Now you say that? Bullshit... What about Kim Si-yoon? Hah... Never mind. I don't want to feel even more pathetic than I already do, so I'm leaving."
"When it comes to protecting someone, I don't show emotion because I don't want to become dull..."
"What are you trying to say."
"I took such pride in the mission I was given that at first I didn't even want to form a relationship with anyone, but you were different, Lee Yeon-woo."
"....."
"You... I wanted to protect you."
Just like when he confessed to me, Kim Tae-oh was trying to persuade her with skin-crawling remarks and a nothing-special expression.
Crazy bastard. If he'd spouted that crap in front of me, I would've jammed the taser gun loaded in my left hand right between the philtrum under his nose.
But as if to demonstrate that the probability of 21st-century romance is fully covered by looks.
Judging by Yeon-woo's expression, she seemed to have been completely? won over.
'Crazy...'
Lee Yeon-woo told Kim Tae-oh to wait there and headed for the public restroom.
Yeon-woo came out after fixing her makeup and stared at Kim Tae-oh.
"So, where did you say you were supposed to bring me."
"....."
"You came to get me because Kim Si-yoon told you all that. I know everything, so just say it."
"...You just need to go to the hair salon."
After watching all that, I immediately got into Jong-hyeon's car and headed to the salon.
"Unbelievable... Walking right into a path that's obviously going to be nothing but trouble."
"What are you referring to, ma'am?"
"Hm? Oh, Tae-oh's girlfriend."
"Hahaha. That's just youth."
In a way, Jong-hyeon was around the same age as me, so he shouldn't be from an era that would understand that either... I honestly had no idea.
Not long after I arrived at the salon, Tae-oh came in with Yeon-woo.
Yeon-woo looked me up and down, then stopped her gaze at my hips and clicked her tongue.
I was shorter than her, but my hip height was still show-stealing, so that was probably why.
So this was mixed-race genes at work...
My proportions were something even an average foreigner couldn't match, and on a hot day like this with thin clothes, those proportions really stood out.
Before shaving Kim Tae-oh's head, I checked with Yeon-woo for permission.
"Sis, it's okay if I shave Tae-oh's head, right?"
"Why are you asking me? Do what you want. My opinion never mattered anyway."
"Ayyy~ you're his girlfriend, sis, of course I have to ask you~"
The moment I picked up the clippers at the start, Tae-oh flinched and pulled his head away.
"Oh... so you do care a little about your looks, huh?"
"....."
I used my hands to check the thickness of Kim Tae-oh's hair and how much volume he had.
"So, you said you were joining the Army, why the Navy all of a sudden?"
"They say being on a boat is fun. Food's good, time flies."
"I forgot for a second."
"What?"
"You're just as much of an idiot as Ji-hoon."
Maybe he was offended by what I said, because Tae-oh twisted his expression.
"What would I even say, just do what you want."
I glanced at Yeon-woo behind him and walked over.
"Sis, do you want to do it?"
"I... I've never done it before?"
"Just shave it however you want, I'll clean it up for you. If it gets ruined, we'll just razor it off."
"".....""
Yeon-woo checked Tae-oh's reaction, and when he nodded she walked over and touched his hair.
I taught Yeon-woo step by step, starting with how to hold the scissors.
And of course, I can't miss a photo op at a time like this.
When I took a picture for them, Yeon-woo's mood seemed to improve somewhat.
"Sis, look at this, it'd be perfect for a profile pic. You want me to take a few more?"
"Yeah... you take pictures really well."
"These days I'm also teaching the trainees how to take photos."
"Really?"
"Of course~"
As Yeon-woo cut Tae-oh's hair, her mood lifted and she gradually started to smile.
"Fun, right?"
"...Yeah."
"Now that you've had your fun with it, shave it all off."
"For real?"
"I'll carve a design into Tae-oh's head for you."
"...?"
I recalled the memory of scratching a design into Park Ji-hoon's shaved head.
And after shaving all of Kim Tae-oh's hair down short, I sat Yeon-woo down beside me and carved Yeon-woo's face into the back of Tae-oh's head.
"Oh my god..."
Tae-oh was frozen stiff like some kind of statue, but that wasn't my problem.
He should be grateful I didn't go after his nuts.
"Ahahk. Now Tae-oh is totally yours, sis. Look at that mess."
"Wow... whoa..."
Yeon-woo kept taking pictures of Tae-oh's head, where I'd adjusted the hair length and even properly worked in shading.
If there was one thing I didn't like in the middle of all this...
This bastard, even with his head shaved, the shaved look suited him too well.
Before shaving his head he gave off a male-gigolo vibe, but now he had kind of a macho-man feel.
Yeon-woo smiled brightly when her eyes met Tae-oh's.
Tae-oh responded in kind, moving only his lips to give her a smile.
Under my orders, Kim Tae-oh hung out with Yeon-woo for a while, then took her home and came back.
I handed the Spotted One's keys to the now hairless Kim Tae-oh.
"Drive."
"To where...?"
"Just let's go wherever you want."
Kim Tae-oh focused on driving.
I watched the rapidly changing scenery for a moment before opening my mouth.
"You pissed because I didn't do your hair?"
"No."
"Even back then, you used to kill yourself trying to get my attention."
"....."
"There was clearly no reason for you to get hurt in Korea, but you'd come back injured anyway."
Thinking about it, in this life I'd hung out a lot with Park Ji-hoon, not Kim Tae-oh.
Add Cho-a's appearance to that, and he might have been worrying about his place.
"You've always guarded my back, right? I'm so used to that that now I can't watch my own back without you. Even with Cho-a there. Even with Park Ji-hoon there. My back always has to be guarded by you, don't you think?"
Kim Tae-oh... Park Gi.
Tae-oh and Ji-hoon, myself included, were orphans.
The streets were the parents who raised us.
Unlike me and Park Ji-hoon, Kim Tae-oh stayed in an orphanage for a long time.
Despite the director's violence, he said he struggled desperately to get into that director's good graces.
Then he found out about the director's crimes and ran away.
Well, later on, Tae-oh personally helped that director reach his end with his own hands, but.
Before Tae-oh met me, he got to know Park Ji-hoon on the streets, and I brought Tae-oh in on Park Ji-hoon's recommendation.
That's the entirety of the past I know about Kim Tae-oh.
And I also know that he craves the attention of someone he respects more than anyone else.
That was why I supervised Kim Tae-oh's training even more closely.
Knowing the limits of the Korean style of combat, I hadn't really expected much.
But the two of them were different.
Should I say there was a wickedness dwelling in their eyes?
No matter how much I ran them into the ground, they adapted and improved in order to get stronger.
"Want to spar for the first time in a while?"
Sparring with me.
To Park Ji-hoon and Tae-oh, it seemed to function as a kind of competitive drive—they really liked sparring with me.
Without hesitating over my words, Kim Tae-oh headed straight for the HSW headquarters.
That's where the party room Lee Gi-seok had given me—registered under my name—was, upstairs.
The training room had women's training clothes as well, so we changed and came out.
Though the problem was they were a bit big on me.
Tae-oh gripped a rubber dagger.
I did the same, gripping a rubber dagger.
We finished our warm-up.
As soon as we stepped into the octagon, Tae-oh rushed at me as if he'd been waiting for just this moment.
Kim Tae-oh approached, swinging the model knife with honest but rapid strokes...
Lightly dodging the attacks, I began to memorize Kim Tae-oh's combat pattern.
And then I kicked Kim Tae-oh in the abdomen, putting distance between us.
"Oh... you really aren't trying to inflict a fatal wound anymore, huh?"
"Huff..."
"Don't try to fight like me. You're right to walk your own path, Tae-oh."
Tae-oh, getting faster and faster, seemed as if he wanted to experience the speed of Cho-a that I'd witnessed directly the other time.
To do that, you need to train your lower body even more than your upper body, but he didn't seem to know that yet.
Given that just his upper body alone was flexible and fast, Tae-oh definitely wasn't walking the wrong path.
"Watch closely. How to move so you can become even faster..."
I moved my legs, then propelled my body forward with a motion as fluid and natural as flowing water.
As if I was drawing my muscles back taut, treating them like rubber bands.
Listening to the explanation alone, it probably sounds easy, but when you actually try to move, it leaves you full of openings.
Now I just have to refine that for him.
"If you want to move like this, think about the next motion in advance."
I cut and stabbed rapidly and precisely, coiling around Tae-oh's body.
Even though we'd only exchanged a few bouts, red marks remained all over Tae-oh's body.
"Don't worry. You're doing well. Well enough that I don't need to give you advice."
Hearing my words, Tae-oh snickered.
"Compared to Liu Xuan in the past?"
Tae-oh held Liu Xuan in high regard—the one who'd stabbed me with a knife.
"Hm... it's still early. That guy, unlike you, fought using instinct."
"Which is why he must have inflicted a fatal wound on you..."
"Ah, that, I took that on purpose."
"...?"
With that one sentence from me, Tae-oh understood the whole situation and slumped down to the ground.
"I thought it was strange. That no one knew your true strength... not even your closest associates."
"Cho-a probably knew."
"Why did you hide your skills?"
"Hm? I never hid them. I just fought drunk every time. When was the last time I ever fought sober...?"
"....."
"Why? I was killing people practically every day, nearly insane as I fought, so how could I possibly be normal?"
"Anyway... the fact that you—who was at that level even without fighting seriously—could be stabbed by Liu Xuan's knife was something I could never understand."
"Ahah. I wanted to stop back then. I wanted to quit the disgusting act of putting on a mask and pretending to enjoy murder. I wanted to pay the price for carelessly wearing a mask like that."
I sat down in front of Kim Tae-oh, who was silently brooding.
"You know me. Man or woman, I killed without distinction between good and evil."
"No, you only ever killed evil. Even if it wasn't poetic justice."
"Don't go out of your way to look away. Let's be honest with each other... Even now, I can still see the faces of the ordinary people who died by my hand."
"The ordinary people you're talking about, you mean the Russian government officials who blocked our path?"
"....."
"I don't think there's any need to explain the Russian government of that era."
"There's something you're forgetting."
"......"
"I don't know what kind of flowery garden you're painting in your head, but I'm the one who made Tiger what it is today too."
Seeing Kim Tae-oh trying to lighten my burden somehow, I snorted.
"I know, I know what you're trying to say. What I mean is, I can't... no, we can never be the good guys."
"The Russian government you're talking about? We didn't go after them knowing what their crimes were."
I flopped down onto my back inside the cage.
Then, wanting to change the subject, I stared up at the bright lights and brought up Yeon-woo.
"She really is pretty, though."
"....."
"Honestly, she's too good for you."
"True."
"Why is she too good for you? You just gonna answer without thinking?"
"Uh... well..."
"You want to go see Ji-hoon tomorrow?"
"I made plans with Yeon-woo."
"Oooh..."
He'd taken her home and even made plans with her, apparently.
Whatever it was, it was a positive change.
"Have you ever gone to see Ji-hoon separately?"
"Eight times."
"Oh?"
"We're a lot closer than you think."
Kim Tae-oh mulled things over for a bit, then lay down inside the cage as well.
And then he closed his eyes as if trying to meditate.
"Guess so. But Da-yeon should probably start noticing boys soon, too."
"Suddenly?"
"You know Da-yeon started keeping her distance after you got a girlfriend, right? Even if she acts like she isn't on the outside, she's probably feeling pretty betrayed inside."
"...What are you planning to do?"
"About what? Men?"
"....."
"There's not going to be any bullshit about anyone putting anything in my asshole, and I have no intention of rubbing up against a woman either."
"....."
"Do I finally look pathetic to you now? What it really means for a man to lose his balls."
"You're crazy..."
"I'm just going to bury Amy in my heart and live on, like I did before."
"What about Cho-a..."
"Haaaaaaah..."
"I get it."
"And you?"
"...I have no such thoughts until I understand what making a family really means."
"You little shit, guess going to a top university made you talk all nice and pretty now."
On the way back home.
Tae-oh was driving and seemed to be mentally replaying our sparring session for a while.
I had no intention of disturbing Tae-oh, so I quietly stared out at the darkening world outside.
We arrived home before I knew it.
Tae-oh handed me the car keys he'd been holding and walked me as far as the elevator.
Inside the elevator, I thought about the last thing Tae-oh had said and looked at myself in the mirror.
"A family, huh..."
Staring at the mirror in the quiet space, I saw Amy's face in my own reflection.
"Ha... if you were going to reincarnate anyway, you could at least have done it with me..."