Chapter 143.2

Chapter 143.2

Wooshin’s eyes trembled out of fear. Wooshin pushed through the crowd of onlookers gathered below his eye level. Among the people being shoved aside by his large, sturdy frame, he suddenly spotted a few familiar faces.

Those guys must be NIS agents, but why?

The reason became clear immediately.

This villa was undoubtedly their property, and since it had been a place to monitor the owl, they would have been notified the moment the fire broke out.

Once the fire investigation was completed, they would handle it from their end, but the problem was that Han Seoryeong was nowhere to be seen.

Instinctively, Wooshin touched his neck and exhaled harshly. The only trace she had left behind was this faint evidence.

At that moment, the screams of the onlookers pierced his ears.

“――!”

The villa’s window shattered with a loud bang, and sharp shards fell to the ground like rain. People instinctively covered their heads and crouched down, but Woo-shin swallowed his curses and continued to move resolutely.

Each second felt like a year in its horror. As he frantically searched the alley with eyes bloodshot from desperation, police officers waved their flashlights and blocked his path.

“Sir, it’s dangerous here, you can’t go any further!”

“I’m fine.”

“There may be residual explosions, so please follow the instructions…! You can’t go in!”

“Move aside.”

“You can’t, step back!”

“Damn it, my wife is in there!”

As he shouted in anger, his lips trembled. He didn’t realize how long he had been clenching his jaw, and hischin felt numb. There was no time to waste arguing; he gripped the shoulder of the person in front tightly.

“――!”

Another window shattered with a deafening crash from a higher floor. The chaos of people controlling the scene and extinguishing the fire mixed with the sound of whistles.

The fire was so intense that the old exterior walls were already charred black. He felt breathless again.

‘I need to call her again.’

From that moment on, he felt like he was losing my mind.

Despite the flames, all Lee Wooshin could see was the darkness creeping to him.

Her voice had been calm. Moreover, hearing the murmurs nearby suggested she was outside, not inside the house.

“Is someone going to come out dead?”

“What? They say there are casualties?”

“It’s a residential building; surely there can’t be no one!”

With stiff hands, he took out his phone but dropped it helplessly. It was a mistake he shouldn’t have made.

Cold sweat dripped down his skin as the heat seeped in. Wooshin sat down heavily, staring blankly at his belongings being jostled by the crowd.

“Instructor.”

As something like soot boiled inside his throat, the voice he had been waiting for pulled at the back of his head.

Looking up, he saw Seoryeong standing there, her face smeared with black grime, wrapped in a blanket.

She wore a hospital gown that didn’t fit, and her oversized slippers were so large that her toes poked out. It was an absurd sight.

“You…” He couldn’t think of anything. He simply pulled her close, swallowing the acrid smoke like a savior. It was only after he had tightly held her, as if to crush her bones, that the breath he had been holding burst out uncontrollably.

His whole body was trembling. Perhaps she felt that ridiculous vibration, as she let out a dry laugh.

“I’m not hurt.”

“If you think you can brush it off with just that one sentence, you’re mistaken.”

“…”

“Damn it, I’m furious inside. No matter what you say, this isn’t something I can overlook.”

“Is that so?”

Her dry response made Wooshin feel strangely anxious and frustrated. It had been a long time since someone’s accident, death, or crisis had ceased to matter, but he found himself easily angered by even the smallest speck of dust that might touch her.

He scanned Seoryeong’s face, shoulders, neck, hands, and limbs in turn, his eyes wide open, searching for any signs of blisters or injuries. The sensitivity of someone who had just escaped death was etched into his brow.

“Instructor, will you marry me?”

It was then that he froze, lifting his head. Like a bird soaked in grease, she was smiling brighter than ever.

What did she just say…?

Her face, radiating affection and shyness, made his heart, which felt like it was about to burst, feel utterly crushed this time.

The owl he had left behind had returned, transformed into Han Seoryeong. No matter how he thought about it, having both women felt like a miraculous occurrence.

Yet, why did that smile, which made him want to pull her close and kiss her, felt like it was aiming for the nape of his neck?

“I want to marry you, Instructor.”