[5] Oppa, you’ve really been through a lot all this time.

Of course, I had been completely sincere when I told Sia that I would buy her enough spicy rice cakes to make her sick of them.

But ten servings of spicy rice cakes?

‘Can I really eat all of this?’

“I’m sorry, but is that ten servings, customer?”

“Yes, that’s right. I’ll write down the additional ingredients I want on a separate note, so I’d appreciate it if you could prepare them that way.”

“Ah, yes, yes!”

Fortunately, the order went through without any problems.

I had thought it might take a little longer, but thankfully, the spicy rice cakes came out on time.

“Here are the spicy rice cakes you ordered.”

There was so much spicy rice cakes that just looking at it was enough to make me feel full.

Seeing all the containers piled high with spicy rice cakes on the table, I was amazed once again.

I had thought about it earlier too, but how were we supposed to eat all of that?

After paying, we headed toward my studio apartment with both hands full of spicy rice cakes.

But then—

“Oppa. To get to your apartment, shouldn’t we normally turn in the opposite direction here?”

Since we were taking a different route from the one she knew, Sia asked me suspiciously.

“Ah, I moved my apartment a few months ago. If you find out where I moved, you’ll definitely be surprised, Sia.”

“Surprised?”

She looked doubtful, but deep down, I was certain that Sia would be surprised.

And that certainty soon became reality.

“Oppa, is this by any chance……”

“That’s right. It’s the apartment you used to live in.”

Ever since the day Sia died,

I had desperately tried to preserve every trace Sia had left behind in this world.

And this place was one of them.

It was the studio apartment where Sia had lived during her lifetime.

Although most of the clothes and other belongings that had been in the apartment had been handed over to Sia’s relatives, the apartment itself had not disappeared.

I simply couldn’t bear the thought of someone else moving into this room, which was filled with memories of Sia. So I contacted the owner of the building where Sia had lived, and eventually moved into this very apartment.

Of course, the apartment was completely different from how it had been when Sia used to live there.

Almost all of Sia’s belongings were gone.

But that was okay.

It was still a place where I could reminisce about my memories with Sia, even if only a little.

When we returned home after so long, tears welled up in Sia’s eyes.

“Oppa……”

The scenery of the studio apartment where she had once lived was familiar, yet unfamiliar.

Perhaps because the person who had filled that familiar space again was not some stranger but me, Sia began shedding tears of relief.

“Sniff, sob. Why am I, why am I crying so much today, Oppa? Sob.”

“Sia, it’s okay. Those aren’t tears of sadness. They’re tears of happiness.”

I gently patted Sia as she continued crying, unable to stop her tears.

“Sniff, even though I’m trying not to cry, sob, when I see that doll, sniff, I just can’t help crying, Oppa.”

Sia, who had naturally ended up in my arms, pointed toward the teddy bear in the corner of the room.

It was the teddy bear Sia had given me along with a letter on our first anniversary.

Even though several years had passed since I received it, the teddy bear still looked exactly as it had when she first gave it to me, without a single sign of wear, thanks to the care I had taken to preserve it so that I wouldn’t forget my memories with Sia.

Ah, of course, I had kept the letter just as carefully as the teddy bear.

“Oppa, you really tried hard, sob, to not forget me too.”

“Of course.”

Her tears of happiness soon turned into tears of relief.

Only after hugging me tightly and covering my shoulder with her tears did Sia finally stop crying.

“The spicy rice cakes are going to get cold. Hurry up and eat.”

“Mm-hm… sniff.”

***

After our long meal finally came to an end, we roughly cleaned up the spicy rice cakes we had finished and then lay down on the floor of the room.

Our stomachs were full, and the feeling of satiety was setting in. Being able to lie cozily together in the apartment after so long, with just the two of us, made me feel like I wanted nothing more.

How could I possibly become any happier than this?

“Oppa, your stomach is really full.”

“Sia, how come your stomach isn’t sticking out at all after eating that much?”

Even though Sia had eaten almost all ten servings of spicy rice cakes by herself, her stomach looked perfectly normal, as if she hadn’t eaten anything at all.

“Hmm, secret!”

We leisurely enjoyed the moment, playing with each other’s stomachs.

After resting for a while and rubbing each other’s stomachs to our heart’s content,

“Oppa.”

Sia called out to me.

“Come to think of it, ever since we met again, I haven’t even heard your story. We’ve only been talking about me. How have you been all this time?”

Come to think of it, I had been so happy to see Sia again that I hadn’t had a chance to talk about myself.

Realizing that only now, I slowly began telling her about the life I had lived without her.

“Well, saying I was doing fine would be a lie.”

***

The one year after Sia’s death had been a year in which the trauma left by her death caused me to become unable to function as a Hunter. Every time I entered a Gate, I would have difficulty breathing.

At the same time, it had been a year in which I was so consumed by suffering and guilt that I could barely live like a normal person.

After hearing about Minjun’s bleak year, Sia fell deep into thought.

How difficult must Oppa Minjun’s life have been during that year after I died?

‘At least I had a sliver of hope that I could meet Oppa again while researching dimensional transference magic. But Oppa Minjun didn’t even have that tiny bit of hope.’

In a situation this terrible, although she hated to imagine it, he must surely have thought of taking his own life at least once.

But Minjun had desperately held on in order to protect his memories of her.

He hadn’t dated anyone during that time, and he hadn’t even forgotten the anniversary of her death.

That was the kind of man Minjun—the man she loved—was.

‘How much pain must he have been in for that entire year?’

Sia quietly reflected on two emotions: gratitude that Minjun had somehow endured despite such difficult circumstances, and guilt that she had been unable to come to him sooner.

Then she felt something welling up inside her.

‘Why? Why did I make such a fatal mistake at the very end?’

If only she hadn’t made that one mistake in the equation before casting the dimensional transference magic, Oppa wouldn’t have had to suffer this much.

Because of her, an entire precious year of Oppa’s life had simply vanished.

Idiot. Jeong Sia, you idiot.

Even if she had been excited at the thought of going to meet Oppa, how could she make a mistake in such an important place?

Jeong Sia, you stupid woman.

But it was okay now.

From now on, she would make sure Oppa walked only down a flower-filled path.

No.

She absolutely had to.

“Oppa, you’ve really been through a lot this past year.”

Filled with guilt and remorse over her mistake, along with her sincere apology, Sia spoke to Minjun.

Now that they had met again, they would live happily together from now on.

“It wasn’t me who went through a lot. It was you, Sia. You said you spent two thousand years researching only dimensional transference magic so you could meet me again.”

“If it meant meeting Oppa, I could do at least that much. If Oppa had been in the same situation as me, you would have made the same choice, wouldn’t you? I believe that, Oppa.”

“At least that much? I only suffered for one year, but you……”

Unable to finish his sentence, Minjun’s eyes filled with tears as he tightly embraced Sia.

How much pain and hardship must our Sia have endured during that incredibly long time?

As she gently patted Minjun, whose tears had finally broken free as well, Sia thought:

I really was right to come back to meet my boyfriend.

Now she would truly make Minjun, who had thankfully endured that long tunnel of one year, happy.

Even if she had to use every means at her disposal.

***

And so, after spending a sweet and affectionate night together, the second day with Sia since their reunion dawned.

Along with a soft sensation against my cheek came a small smack.

“Oppa, are you going to sleep more?”

I woke up to Sia’s sweet morning kiss.

“Sia, I’ll sleep for just five more minutes and then get up.”

“It’s twelve o’clock right now, Oppa. Isn’t it about time you got up?”

“Five minutes. Sia, just five minutes.”

When I whined sleepily, Sia kissed my lips this time.

“Then I’ll keep kissing Oppa until he gets up.”

“Then I guess I’ll have to sleep for another five hours instead of five minutes.”

She seemed to be trying to annoy me into getting up, but honestly, I didn’t mind at all.

I had always welcomed Sia’s sweet kisses.

And even if she kept kissing me, she would eventually get tired, right?

‘Then I’m curious what Sia will be like at that point.’

I didn’t know when she would get tired, but surely after about twenty minutes, she would give up and wake me with a coquettish voice, saying, ‘Oppa, I admit defeat, so get up now.’

Just imagining it made me smile.

But then—

“Even better.”

Contrary to my expectations, Sia gave my cheek another deep kiss, then pressed her cherry-like lips against mine.

‘What? Is she seriously planning to just kiss me for five hours?’

Come to think of it, for Sia, who was a Dragon, five hours really wasn’t even a fraction of a moment.

Then there was nothing she couldn’t do…… was there?

Huh?

W-wait.

Sia then kissed the back of my neck deeply before gradually moving downward.

Her white hand tugged at the hem of my shirt.

‘This is dangerous!’

I mean, putting aside everything else, this was going to be problematic from a genre standpoint.

Getting goosebumps all over, I immediately got up.

“Oppa got up?”

When I sprang to my feet, Sia’s lips had turned into a pout, as if something hadn’t gone according to plan.

“You can sleep more if you’re tired.”

“No, I’m really fine! I’m not sleepy anymore.”

I had originally been somewhat drowsy, but thanks to Sia’s barrage of kisses, I was now completely awake.

But Sia seemed genuinely disappointed that things hadn’t progressed as she wanted, and she tried to force me back down.

“Then shall I put you back to sleep?”

“No, I’m wide awake now. Really.”

“No. If you’re tired, lie down a little longer, Oppa.”

Normally, the scene would have ended with me somehow resisting through my physical strength.

But now that Sia had become a Dragon, that was no longer possible.

Completely overpowered by Sia’s terrifying strength and forced back down, I had no choice but to endure her one-sided, passionate affection for five minutes. Only after Sia finally relaxed her strength could I barely manage to sit up again.

Even though I had only been kissed for five minutes, I felt as though my head were spinning.

The kisses had certainly been sweet.

They had been sweet, but……

Strangely, something about it had been frightening.

If things had really come true and I had been kissed for five hours, I probably would have passed out somewhere along the way.

After barely pulling myself together, I asked Sia, who was gently caressing my body, which had reddened from her affection:

“……Sia, wasn’t what we did yesterday enough?”

“Mm!”

We had already shown each other more than enough affection yesterday, at least by my standards, but perhaps Sia genuinely felt it wasn’t enough, because she answered with a bright smile.

Well, from Sia’s perspective, I suppose that was understandable.

She hadn’t been able to share affection with her lover for two thousand years.

I gently embraced Sia.