Unable to properly react to content he never imagined would be revealed so easily, he just stared with wide eyes. Choi Gang-hu lightly pressed their shoulders together.

“Since I unintentionally peeked at Ryu Seo-ha’s secret, I’m sharing one of mine too.”

A large palm covering the back of his hand on the bouquet conveyed a warm feeling.

“Actually, I knew.”

Once again, as always, his lips moved on their own.

“That Choi Gang-hu had been to the Abyss.”

The man who had unknowingly read his years of pain didn’t ask how.

“What else do you know about me?”

“…That you dislike showing bare skin to others?”

“And?”

Surprisingly, he just smiled pleasantly and demanded more explanations about himself, as if urging.

“That you don’t sleep lying down in bed.”

“What else?”

“That you’re the world’s richest person even without inheritance.”

With each moment of confessing what he knew, starting from trivial things, the anxiety heavily weighing on his chest faded.

“Don’t tell me you approached me aiming for the magic stones and items piled up in my subspace.”

Choi Gang-hu pretended to make a stern voice. But his eyes were still sweet like melted honey. His crescent-shaped eyes and deliberately pulled-down corners of his mouth held his gaze like a magnet.

“I think your face was more important than money.”

Choi Gang-hu burst out laughing at the exaggerated confession.

“Come to think of it, I was more captivated by Ryu Seo-ha’s face than abilities too.”

His voice, carrying a gentle laughter, caressed his ears kindly.

“Aren’t you uncomfortable?”

“Not at all. However you collected that information, it means you were interested in me, doesn’t it?”

Could it be interpreted that way? Well, as a reader, he did focus attention on the protagonist’s actions while reading the original novel. In a sense, it was an act of looking with a more secretive and persistent gaze than stalking.

“Ryu Seo-ha.”

“…?”

“Aren’t you disgusted by me? A monster hundreds of years old.”

The words referring to himself as a monster were painful to hear. Because he knew how much anguish he had endured through those years. He quietly looked up at the night-black eyes and shook his head.

“You’re stronger than anyone.”

It didn’t just mean physical strength.

“How many people crumbled unable to bear even 5 years?”

He could have worn away without a trace in that suffocatingly long time. It was an environment impossible to endure with a sane mind.

“I admire you.”

But even if he was a little twisted, he didn’t lose himself. When reading it as a novel, he just accepted it as the setting, but realistically it was a toughness hard to even imagine.

“Me too.”

Choi Gang-hu lifted their now-intertwined hands and kissed each white fingertip with a smack.

“I’m newly amazed.”

Thumb, index, middle, ring, pinky. After kissing each without exception as if in praise, he hugged Ryu Seo-ha tightly in his broad embrace.

“If I had grown up in such an environment, I wouldn’t have been able to bear it without hating the world.”

The warmth stroking his head seemed to caress his heart too.

“Thank you. For growing up to be such a wonderful person.”

Suddenly a crazy thought occurred to him. That being taxidermied wouldn’t be so bad if he could feel this warm peace forever.

“…Why are you thankful?”

As if shaking off that dangerously reckless thought, Ryu Seo-ha gently pushed him away with the rose bouquet. Seeming to notice his shy grumbling mood, the large body obediently moved back.

“Because you’re mine now.”

“Are you openly treating me like property?”

“Isn’t that naturally allowed when dating?”

The upper body that had been pushed back pretending to let go easily came forward again, embracing Ryu Seo-ha as if pouncing.

“That’s an outdated notion. You need to relearn dating.”

“Can’t Ryu Seo-ha exclusively own me too? Equally.”

He wanted to argue, but since this was his first romance too, he didn’t have any words to retort. The words giving a sense of strong belonging also sounded good.

“…It’s all good, but I have one request.”

Choi Gang-hu slightly nodded his chin resting on Ryu Seo-ha’s crown nestled against his chest, as if saying to speak as many as he wanted.

“You can do whatever you want to me, but please don’t touch my sister.”

Choi Gang-hu’s eyes narrowed at the earnest plea that came out in a calm tone. He pulled his upper body back slightly and met eyes with his young lover.

“Are you afraid I’ll harm Ryu Seo-ha’s family?”

“No. I mean I hope you’ll give up even the idea of using her lightly.”

It was a pointed remark about how he had manipulated Ryu Jeong-ah by taking advantage of Go Young-hoon’s text to bring Ryu Seo-ha into the neighboring apartment.

“If both I and Ryu Jeong-ah fell into water, who would you save first?”

He slightly turned his head at the childish question that made him doubt his ears. However, once triggered by jealousy, Choi Gang-hu didn’t allow escape.

“Ryu Seo-ha, answer.”

The hand enveloping his slender chin and soft cheek fixed the direction of his face, urging an answer. The cool voice full of pressure felt like a child’s whining for a gift.

“…Choi Gang-hu.”

Only when he obediently gave the already determined answer did a smile spread across his face, exactly like an immature boy. Where did all the charisma shown in the original work disappear to?

“Why?”

When he gave an extremely rational reason instead of the answer he had secretly hoped for, saying “Because Choi Gang-hu could save my sister much faster than me even if he moved a beat later,” his handsome face crumpled unpleasantly. Judging by his expression alone, one might think he was a villain about to coolly ruin a whole country.

“It also seems like my feet would move first.”

He sighed shortly as if unable to stand the additional comment.

“At times like this, I want to lick your brain thoroughly.”

Choi Gang-hu, who casually spat out the chilling words, soon nodded.

“I’ll make sure there are no more incidents of involving Ryu Seo-ha’s sister.”

It was very like him to not promise to stop scheming.

“What should we do about your past life parents?”

“…”

“My offer to find them and take revenge wasn’t a joke.”

Perhaps he had gauged the wounds received in the past life from his affection for his current family. His eyes became particularly fierce whenever mentioning the parents from the past life.

Ryu Seo-ha quietly shook his head. He didn’t have the leisure to worry about that now. Whether revenge or forgiveness, one had to be alive first to do it.

Status: Remaining lifespan 6 days 6 hours 6 minutes

The numbers tightening their pressure with each passing day brought on a feeling of depression. Facing the sorrowful gaze at breath’s distance, Choi Gang-hu suddenly snapped his fingers.

The numerous candles softly illuminating the surroundings all went out at once. As he turned his head in confusion, he saw Choi Gang-hu fiddling with his phone.

Down.

He caught a glimpse of the text sent to someone presumed to be Secretary Jang. Just as he wondered what was to be brought down, the night view below the railing changed its appearance.

“Huh?”

The brilliant lights began to turn off one by one. Like doing the wave, from nearby to as far as the eye could see, sequentially.

Offices where employees were working overtime, apartments and villas emitting TV sounds, even the lights from cars on the roads.

In the blink of an eye, the whole world was plunged into darkness. Only faint moonlight dimly illuminated traces of scientific civilization. Suddenly he worried about hospital facilities.

Even if a blackout occurred there, emergency power should operate, so why couldn’t he see even a single point of light? His heart sank, fearing something might have happened to the patients.

“Where are you looking?”

The man who had completely extinguished the lights on the ground with a single order cupped his cheek with his large hand, making him lift his eyes. To the sky above.

“You should look at the stars.”

Ryu Seo-ha’s eyes widened like the full moon. It was because the sky brilliantly embroidered with starlight as if about to pour down on their heads was unfamiliar.

He unconsciously looked around, wondering if this really was the middle of Seoul. Thanks to the rain that had swept through the atmosphere earlier, the clearer sky was reminiscent of a desert.

“You like it.”

He snapped back to his senses after staring at the night sky unable to take his eyes off it. He could vividly imagine the expressions of people thrown into chaos by the large-scale blackout following the flood.

“The blackout, on purpose…”

“Why do you think I bothered to give instructions by text?”

As he quietly tried to argue, Choi Gang-hu preempted him as if he had expected it.

“When it could have been done with one EMP bomb.”

Thinking about it calmly, that was true. It was strange that he, who hated wasting energy, had manually instructed the timing instead of using a more efficient method. Even setting aside law-abiding spirit or aftermath cleanup.

“No humans will be injured or die due to this blackout, so don’t worry.”

Could it be that he had sent people in advance to take measures at facilities like roads and hospitals? For this brief sky-viewing? He couldn’t even laugh hollowly at the scale that was impossible to handle.

“Why on earth…”

“At first I thought about renting a dungeon, but you’d probably refuse to enter.”

“No, what did you go to such lengths for?”

He couldn’t understand at all the action of making unreasonable efforts just to see the stars clearly. Especially knowing his tendencies in dealing with goals and means.

“Because I wanted to see Ryu Seo-ha’s expression smiling happily while looking up at the stars again.”

For a moment, Choi Gang-hu’s eyes looked more beautiful than starlight.

“Do I need any other reason than that?”

It felt like a meteorite had fallen right in the middle of his heart.