Chapter 182.1

Chapter 182.1

A few months later, the charred remains of their honeymoon home still reeked of smoke. Lee Wooshin, dressed neatly, surveyed their devastated honeymoon house with hollow eyes.

It was his first time entering since the fire. Ash scattered across the floor crunched underfoot, and an unsettling chill permeated the air, ill-suited for summer weather.

The kitchen where the fire had started, the remnants of frames burned down, the table melted black…

Left as it was, the once warm honeymoon home had transformed into nothing more than a haunted house. Lee Wooshin’s face contorted in clear pain.

His phone continued to ring in his pocket, but he quickly turned it off. With time running short, it was probably those noisy bastards asking where he had gone, interrupting his rehabilitation.

Instead, he brushed his hand over the dirty wallpaper and furniture.

“….”

Sitting in a distorted dining chair, he stared blankly at the opposite side. He couldn’t directly check if she was eating well, and it gnawed at him.

‘D*mn it, I should have cooked more delicious meals. Not combat rations, but only what she liked, letting her eat to her heart’s content.’

‘I should have eaten slowly. I should have eaten slower than you, keeping your gaze on me longer.’

He ran a hand over his gaunt cheek. Swallowing thorns wouldn’t hurt as much as this.

“…the name of the strongest child. Sonya.”

Whenever he had the time, he read and reread the materials Joo Seolheon had sent him on his tablet. Aside from that, there was nothing left to feel the presence of Han Seoryeong, and reading the reports was the only way he could breathe.

Every time a word that didn’t fit the childhood of ordinary people caught his eye, his eyes crumbled in anguish.

Monastery, communal upbringing, abuse, training, circus, high-ranking officials, diocese, chip, surgery… Yet, he continued to look at them again and again until he memorized them.

‘Seoryeong, I don’t want to part from you. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in regret and pain, separated like this.’

‘I want to meet the child who ran on her own, the shy blind wife, and the stubborn Han Seoryeong. I want to embrace them. I want to love you in the way you desire and reassure you.’

He quietly closed his eyes, enduring the throbbing pain in his chest.

“What kind of feelings did you have when you burned this place?”

However, the thought of being unable to find his wife and being left alone in this world forever felt as painful as water filling his lungs.

Will we be able to come back here again?

“How hot were you back then?”

Lee Wooshin couldn’t bring himself to leave the ruined honeymoon home for a long time. He wanted to be deeply immersed in the ashes that Seoryeong had burned away.

In memory of Joo Seolheon.

Seeing the name on the palm-sized urn made his brow furrow as if he had been waiting for it. Lee Wooshin offered a silent bow with a stiff face.

For someone who had led the operation known as the “Red Veil” through the biting cold of Russia, Joo Seolheon’s end was so shabby and empty. She couldn’t even be buried with the one she loved. The fear that Lee Wooshin felt was right in front of him.

There wasn’t a single photo of Joo Seolheon smiling. Looking at the stoic identification photo, he spoke.

“I will dispose of that document at my level.”

As he voiced his determination, his heart thudded heavily.

“Seoryeong doesn’t want to know who her biological mother is until the end.”

Of course, there was no answer, but he pressed his eyes together as if straining to listen.

“I can’t stand the thought of that child suffering more after having lived such a hard life, Deputy Chief. Let’s just be the bad guys until the end. You wanted to catch the Rigay and show results, and I was ordered to approach the owl and then withdraw.”

His throat tightened as he swallowed hard. The information that she didn’t need to know about the CIA, about being a tool of espionage was nothing but painful.

What if, unexpectedly, Seoryeong found out about this and got angry for deceiving her, for hiding her birth? Lee Woo shin clenched his fist tightly.

“I will live my whole life bearing Seoryeong’s resentment.”

It’s better for me to be hated than for you to be hurt.

He lowered his head once more.

“Please rest in peace.”

‘Thank you for letting me live as the owl’s husband. That alone is something I am grateful for.’

‘Perhaps that will be the one right choice among the countless bad decisions you have made.’

Lee Wooshin tore out the front page of the forged passport and folded it like a note to place inside her columbarium.

‘Joo Seoryeong. Please take even that empty name with you.’

The sign, old and shabby yet polished clean, welcomed him. After an hour and a half of driving, he arrived at a childcare center located on the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province.

The tall trees swayed with a whooshing sound in the wind, and children were playing in the shade. Lee Wooshin silently watched the lush green yard and loosened his tie.

“How did you come here?”

Due to his tall stature and the black suit he wore, he quickly made eye contact with a teacher.

Although extracting information from people was his specialty, strangely, he found it hard to speak. Ever since he set foot in this place, his heart had been tightening.

“…I came to see the director.”