.｡.:✧ Chapter 4 ✧:.｡.

—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
—————————————————————–

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

 
Ha Ye-na.

She, with her neat bobbed hair, was looking at me and Si-hwa with an expression full of contempt.

As my gaze met hers, she swiftly turned her head and went down the stairs.

There was no way to confirm whether she reacted that way after seeing me and Si-hwa, or seeing the other students passing by us.

As I, startled, stopped the conversation and blankly looked in the direction Ye-na disappeared, Si-hwa tapped my shoe with her foot.

“Choi In-wook.”

A hint of annoyance seeped into her voice.

“…Oh! Yeah! Why did you say we should go home together?”

“Because it’s the same way.”

Do you really think that’s a valid reason right now…?

As I made a face that showed I didn’t understand, Si-hwa grabbed my wrist and started moving forward through the hallway.

The eyes of the surrounding students were drawn to us.

[Whoa. Unbelievable. They’re already dating?]

[Wow. But the girl is super pretty. Who is she?]

[It’s Yoo Si-hwa…! Didn’t you see her at the entrance ceremony?]

[Then who’s the guy?]

[I don’t know. But one thing’s for sure, the girl seems better?]

[Wow… I think I’m better than him though.]

Excuse me, students. We can hear everything.

And in my previous life, I married women you couldn’t even dare to look down on, not once but three times.

…Though I also got divorced three times.

It seemed like they were treating us as if we were absorbed in our own world and couldn’t hear anything, but at least I was not like that at all.

I felt like I would go crazy because I was so conscious of the reactions around us.

Si-hwa let go of my wrist only after we left the academy building.

“Choi In-wook.”

She called my name after stopping.

“Yeah?”

“Do you…”

She hesitated for a moment.

I wondered if she had anything to hesitate about when she had dragged me all the way here on her own.

“What about me?”

“Do you like girls like Yoon Ha-rin?”

Cough.

Her unexpected question made me choke.

“Who’s Yoon Ha-rin?”

It was only the second day of entering the academy.

It wasn’t strange at all to not know the names of all my classmates.

In fact, I could confidently say I knew Ha-rin better than anyone else in this academy, but I kept my mouth shut and pretended not to know.

Rather, I wanted to ask more.

Si-hwa, who came to me out of nowhere, knew my name and also knew Ha-rin’s name.

Perhaps Si-hwa…

Just like me…

“Is that so? You’re saying you don’t know?”

I think she just smiled now.

Maybe it’s just my feeling.

There was no way Si-hwa would smile at a man who saw her smile for the first time.

“Got it.”

Si-hwa twisted her body and headed towards the back gate.

“…But that direction isn’t the way to our houses?”

“Ah. My house is this way.”

No. So when you said it was the same way, it was just from the classroom to the building entrance?

The more I heard, the more dumbfounded I became and couldn’t speak.

Even in my previous life, Si-hwa was certainly a person who did as she pleased and didn’t care much about others’ eyes.

But on the contrary, that aspect of her definitely played a part in placing her at the top as a hunter.

She was a person who achieved what she wanted, her goals, in any way possible if she had something she wanted to accomplish.

“See you again.”

Without even looking my way, she turned her back on me and walked forward.

I couldn’t shake off the feeling that this life was somewhat very different from my previous life.

* * *

On the way home.

I vaguely remembered what I did in my first year at the academy, but I couldn’t clearly recall what incidents and accidents happened that year and what was popular.

Actually, I could have just searched the internet, but I liked going to the bookstore.

Just by looking at the store’s display stands, you could see the interests of all sorts of people at a glance.

When A-Tube was popular, books related to video editing filled the shelves, and when people who made a fortune with Bitcoins appeared here and there, investment-related books sold like hotcakes.

[Welcome.]

Entering the bookstore, I proceeded while quickly scanning the shelves at the front, as I always did.

I definitely felt the information about what kind of year it was that I had returned to accumulating one by one.

I was just skimming the book titles while recalling my memories when a familiar silhouette of a young lady caught my eye.

After a quick glance around, she hesitated for a moment and then jumped, stretching out her arm to try to pull out a book from a high spot on the shelf.

Despite gaining considerable momentum, her hand didn’t reach the book, and she seemed to be looking for someone to help her, as if realizing she couldn’t do it herself.

“Shall I help you?”

I might have passed by if it were someone else, but I couldn’t do that.

Because she was…

The person who was my very last wife. And the person I felt the most sorry for at this point.

Ha Ye-na.

* * *

[I could endure it once or twice.]

Ye-na told me with a cold face.

[Even if you divorced several times. Even if you couldn’t have children. I had the confidence to love you.]

Ye-na was my last hope.

Before meeting Ye-na, I was already in a state where I couldn’t maintain my sanity due to two divorces.

After my divorce with Si-hwa was made public by the media.

I declared a suspension of my hunter activities and went on a trip.

I had no confidence to live in the city where Ha-rin and Si-hwa lived.

I wanted to hide and live in a place where no one knew me.

That’s how I met Ye-na in a rural village I had never even heard of before.

Ye-na was the owner who ran a small coffee shop alone in a quiet village.

I don’t know if she knew my identity or not, but she always greeted me without fail whenever I came to drink coffee there.

The shop had fewer than 10 customers a day and probably had little income, but Ye-na never missed a single day of business.

Perhaps it was because she was always there without asking about my identity.

In the shop where only the two of us remained, we slowly began to have conversations.

At first, they were just ordinary daily conversations.

The weather is nice. This village is a place where the autumn leaves turn beautifully.

Rather, drawn by these conversations, I also visited her shop every day without fail.

On the first anniversary of starting my life on the run.

I asked her one question I was really curious about.

[Ye-na.]

[Yes?]

[Did you know that I’m an S-rank hunter?]

[Yes.]

She answered so calmly.

I wondered if she really knew.

[Really?]

[Really. Actually, I graduated from the Hunter Academy the same year as you, In-wook.]

[But why did you pretend not to know?]

Did she think I was pitiful? Did she think I was a poor single man who had divorced twice?

Ye-na tilted her head.

[Does that matter?]

It was an answer I never imagined.

And perhaps it was the words I wanted to hear so badly.

Apart from titles like being an S-rank hunter. Apart from my miserable marriage history.

Someone who looked at me purely as a person.

[Ah. By the way, I also graduated as an S-rank. Hehe.]

Pff.

I almost spit out the coffee I was drinking.

No. While I had unavoidable circumstances to come down here, if what she said was true, Ye-na’s actions here were causing her an enormous loss.

[But why are you here…]

[Because this was the life I wanted. It was also my dream.]

I thought she was living a much more dazzling life than someone like me.

And so, after spending another year with Ye-na in the village, I made up my mind to confess my feelings to her.

[Ye-na.]

[I have something I must tell you.]

[What is it? Between us. I thought we already ran out of things to talk about.]

Indeed, having opened up to her, I had already told her most of my stories about Si-hwa and Ha-rin, my family matters, and my heroic tales from my days as an active hunter.

Except for just one thing.

[I have a body that can’t have children.]

With a trembling heart, I revealed my deepest wound to her.

[Ah.]

It was her sigh that seemed to fit the last puzzle piece of the stories I had told her.

[I love you. Ye-na. But before I convey my feelings, I felt I had to tell you this…]

I closed my eyes tightly.

We already knew we had feelings for each other, but I had repeatedly reminded myself that I could be rejected.

Still, it was a moment that made me so nervous.

[Me too. In-wook.]

As if such worries were just groundless, she accepted my heart with a bright smile.

At that smile like a warm spring day, I shed tears, not knowing if they were tears of joy or relief.

[In-wook. Are you crying?]

She smiled and hugged me.

[I love you. In-wook.]

And so, I held my third wedding ceremony with her in a small church in the village.

I bit my lip.

Perhaps because I bit it too hard, it felt like it would bleed.

[Ye-na…]

[I… endured a lot. Even when you called me Si-hwa while hugging me in your sleep. I endured it. I pretended not to know.]

Ye-na’s anger was like cold frost rather than a burning flame.

[But this is hard to endure.]

Ye-na lifted up my cell phone.

And the names of people left in the search history of my SNS account.

Yoon Ha-rin.

Yoo Si-hwa.

[I never intended to contact them…]

It was the truth.

I was just curious if they were doing well. If they were happy. That was all.

Ye-na laughed bitterly.

[You’re not a fool, are you?]

In fact, I knew it too.

But if I didn’t make excuses like this, I would… once again…

[I’m sorry. I’ll make sure this never happens again.]

[Choi In-wook.]

Thump thump.

I could feel my heart beating fast.

I prayed that Ye-na’s lips wouldn’t move.

Those small, cherry-like lips were more terrifying than any monster.

And so, I lost Ye-na, the woman who loved me unconditionally for the first time.

* * *

“Is this the book you were looking for?”

I took out the book Ye-na was trying to reach.

Actually, since I met Ye-na after I turned thirty, this was the first time I saw her appearance during her academy days.

“Thank you.”

Ye-na bowed her head to me and then tried to move to another place right away.

“Excuse me… I think we’re students from the same academy… What’s your name…?”

Curious about what kind of person Ye-na was when she was young, I tried to strike up a conversation with her.

But was the kind Ye-na only her future self?

Ye-na turned her head and answered me.

“Please don’t pretend to know me.”

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇