Chapter 185.2

Chapter 185.2

“Hey, give that back!”

“Want to make a bet with me? The winner gets to keep wearing the command armband.”

At the unexpected suggestion, the members’ gazes turned to the first and second in command of the unit. The second in command, her, pondered while licking her lips and finally asked,

“What’s the bet?”

“You know that photo the instructor always carries in his chest pocket?”

At those words, the other members also exclaimed, “Ah,” as if they knew. It was a photo that one couldn’t possibly not know about.

The only time the instructor, who was constantly working out and training, ever got distracted was when he looked at “that photo.” Although no one openly admitted it, they were all curious about what kind of photo it was.

“Whoever sneaks into his room and steals that photo wins.”

“…!”

Gasps escaped from the previously silent trainees.

***

The Gurkha mercenaries from Nepal, raised in the world’s highest mountain regions, were world-renowned.

They had significantly higher lung capacity compared to ordinary people, which meant many of them were physically capable mercenaries.

The British Army operated its own Gurkha mercenary unit, and Brunei in Southeast Asia also recruited them to form the Sultan’s personal guard. The Indian Army and the Singapore Police had similar situations.

“D*mn…”

Lee Wooshin had been traveling across Asia, South America, and the Middle East for the past three months and was currently infiltrating a training camp in Nepal.

However, it was a dead end, dead end, and yet another dead end…

He was going around in circles to the point where he didn’t even know how many months he had been doing this.

Ultimately, the terror warning from Syria turned out to be fake. By the time he realized it was someone’s distraction, the second warning message had already arrived.

Similar messages poured in from various places through the Owl’s voice. Although it was deepfake technology, the ambiguity of the perpetrator meant that the counter-terrorism units of various countries remained on high alert.

Around that time, Lee Wooshin instinctively sensed that all of this was Kia’s doing.

Just like the time he received a voice file under the name “Kia.” He was convinced that he was interfering with and mocking his search for his wife, but there was nothing he could do but be dragged along helplessly.

The countries pointed out by the messages; Cuba, Bolivia, Ethiopia, Chad, India, Turkey, happened to be places with many female soldiers, which made him even more anxious. He couldn’t shake the thought that she, who had declared she would become Sonya, might be among them.

“….”

In the worst-case scenario, he feared he might be caught by another intelligence agency instead of his own. The overlapping misunderstandings and haste made him worry that he might even be shot. Lee Wooshin had to travel to each country indicated by the messages.

He rolled around in war-torn areas like in his childhood, traversing battlefields on the other side of the globe. He entered the locations marked by the coordinates, confirmed that Seoryeong did not appear, felt relieved, and then repeated the process of moving to another area.

It had been three months like that. A whole season had passed since he lost her.

He developed chronic migraines and sometimes just wanted to lose his mind. Day by day, his teeth rattled, and his words diminished. His expression had grown chillingly cold, and he couldn’t rest for a moment.

Yet, the reason he couldn’t stop this was…

If he ignored the shepherd’s lies, and on the third or fourth time, she was gone.

One terrifying possibility kept Lee Wooshin from taking even a single step out of the trap.

‘Not appearing before me means you’re doing well.’

It felt like proof that he was living well without being swayed by Kia. Perhaps not meeting her was the safest option.

He wanted to see her so badly, but fortunately, she had never been found in the warned areas, and each time he felt pain in his throat, he repeated to himself that he was grateful. Above all, losing his wife forever was the scariest thing.

“Seoryeong…”

The man lived day by day, unable to die. The feel of her skin slipping through his fingertips, the scent that made his mouth water, the voice that pierced his eardrums.

All of those things were gradually fading. Now she had become a wife who existed only in his head. It was a life like punishment.

Waking up in the middle of the night, Lee Wooshin could no longer seek sleep and rubbed his face.

At first, she appeared every night, making him reluctant to wake from the dream, but at some point, she abruptly stopped coming.

When he opened his eyes, she was not there, and when he closed his eyes, she was still absent. As another sense of loss washed over him, he felt not just unfairness and sorrow, but outright anger.

Eventually, falling back asleep became a torment. The dry longing drove him mad. He loved her so much that he felt the pain of being alive every moment.

“I did everything wrong. So please…”

Call me like you used to.

Find me once more.

His futile prayers dissolved in the air.