I left home at dawn.
Holding the document bag tightly to my chest.
I only left that one text for Dongmin.
"I'll be ahead of you. Don't worry."
It was a lie. Starting with telling him not to worry.
Before I left the front gate, I brushed my wristwatch, the broken one, once.
Even though it was a thing that no longer told the time, my hand kept going there.
I called a taxi in advance. It seemed better to go by car, faster than walking.
That night I cried on the bench came back to me. So did what he said—that I wouldn't be left alone anymore, that we'd go together.
It wasn't that I didn't believe him.
It was just that, if I got hurt anyway, this time me alone would be enough.
*
The moment I got into the taxi, I looked out the window.
It was early, so the road was quiet.
I tried to reassure myself that nothing would happen.
Every time we stopped at a light, it became a habit to glance at the side mirror.
For the first few minutes, there was nothing. I was just starting to relax a little.
Then, at the third light, I saw that car again.
A gray van. It looked like the same one had been there two blocks back too.
I tried to tell myself I was imagining it.
But at the next light, and the one after that, it was still there.
"...Driver, that van behind us."
"It's been following us since earlier. Why?"
"Could you just take a bit of a longer route, please."
Without a word, the driver turned the wheel.
We turned off the main road into a side street.
And even then, in the rearview mirror, that car kept following us.
My heart started pounding faster and faster.
My palm sweated around my phone.
I almost called Dongmin, then stopped.
If he answered, he'd definitely come running.
"...Please go faster."
The taxi sped up.
The van sped up too, just the same.
The moment we burst out of the narrow alley and back onto the main road, the van closed the distance hard.
It pulled right up alongside us.
Through the window, I could barely make out the shape of the person in the driver's seat.
I couldn't see their face.
"...H-hey, what's that guy doing?"
The driver, sounding flustered, jerked the wheel.
The van kept forcing its way in.
It came so close it looked like it would slam into us.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
It was the same scene I'd lived through in my two lives.
Was this really how it ended again, here?
Was I unable to change the future?
Still, thinking of Dongmin at home made me feel a little relieved.
This time, I can save you.
With that relief, I shut my eyes tightly.
*
At that moment, a deafening crash hit my ears.
Shards of glass flew everywhere.
The taxi lurched wildly and barely came to a stop.
From the other side, another car shot out and rammed straight into the van's side.
The van was shoved aside and crashed into a roadside tree.
Beside it, another car sat at an angle, completely crushed.
It was a familiar car.
"...Dongmin?"
No way.
No way were you here.
You can't be here.
With my legs too weak to walk properly, I barely managed to steady myself and stagger over to the crashed car.
The driver's door was crumpled shut and wouldn't open.
Beyond the window, Dongmin was slumped against the steering wheel, not moving.
Wasn't there a saying that if you say 'no way,' someone dies?
Seeing Dongmin with blood on his head made my chest cave in.
"Dongmin! Dongmin, open your eyes!"
I slipped my hand through the broken glass and touched his cheek.
It was warm.
But there was no response.
"...No. No, open your eyes, please. Please."
No matter how much I shook him or called out, there was no answer.
I couldn't even tell if he was breathing.
My fingertips trembled like aspen leaves.
As if the sound of an engine was drawing closer, a motorcycle screeched to a stop.
It was Wunhak. He ran over without even taking off his helmet properly.
"...Hyung! Hyung!"
The moment he saw the scene, his face went deathly pale.
In the distance, the sound of sirens began to overlap and swell.
"Wunhak, this—"
I held out the bag.
My hands were shaking so badly I could barely grip it.
"You have to hand this over to the FSC today. No matter what."
"...And Yeoju?"
"I'll go with Dongmin. You go. You're the only one who can hand this over now, Wunhak."
Wunhak took the bag. Pulling his helmet back on, he left only one line behind.
"...Hyung, you have to stay alive. Don't make me finish all this alone."
With that, the motorcycle sped off again.
Listening to the engine fade into the distance, I gripped Dongmin's hand tightly.
It was still warm.
The ambulance arrived.
The body being loaded onto the stretcher felt heavier than in any of my lives.
*
I sat in the hallway outside the emergency room for hours.
The doctor came out and said
that there was severe internal bleeding and they had gone straight into surgery.
That, for now, they couldn't guarantee the outcome.
I kept staring at the clock at the end of the hall over and over.
It felt like the hands barely moved.
There was a moment when frantic footsteps and machine noises came from the operating room side.
I thought my heart had dropped out.
It wasn't until I realized it was another patient's case that I could breathe properly again.
The two lives I had lived overlapped all at once.
On the bridge, on that hit-and-run road, every time, he was the first to let go of his breath.
If the third time was also going to be the same, and I would lose him first.
Just thinking that made my vision blur.
I sank to the corridor floor and cried.
Even when a passing nurse asked if I was okay, I couldn't answer.
*
A few more hours passed.
The operating room door opened, and the doctor came out again.
"...He's past the critical stage. We'll be moving him to the ICU."
My legs gave out and I collapsed where I stood.
Even so, I still couldn't fully let my guard down.
The doctor's face wasn't exactly bright.
*
Two days passed, and Dongmin still hadn't opened his eyes.
Whenever visiting hours for the ICU came around, I'd go in, hold his hand, and sit there.
There was warmth in his fingertips, but no response.
"...Please wake up. You have to see that Wunhak ran off with that thing."
There was no answer. Still, I said the same thing every time.
The next afternoon, Wunhak came to the hospital room.
Before he even set down the drink bag in his hand, he looked at Yeoju first.
"...Yeoju, have you eaten?"
"...I don't know. Have I?"
Wunhak let out a short breath and sat down beside me.
"...The FSC got it, no problem. They said the investigation started that very day. We got word that both Chief Manager Seongho and Director Lee Sanghyeok are under investigation now."
"...That's a relief."
There was no strength in my voice. Wunhak quietly looked at that face.
"...Hyung, you have to wake up. I know it too. You're not the kind of person this ends with."
"...How do you know that?"
"Because even after dying twice, you still ended up showing up in front of Yeoju again. This time you didn't even die, so there's no way you won't wake up."
His tone was light, but the corners of his eyes were red.
"...Yeoju, you should rest too. When Hyung wakes up, he'll be even more upset if he sees your face like this."
At that, I finally let out a laugh. It was the first time I'd laughed in days.
*
On the afternoon of the third day, his fingertips moved ever so faintly.
"...Dongmin?"
His eyelids slowly opened.
His unfocused gaze wavered, then gradually settled on my face.
"...Where am I."
His voice was so hoarse it was almost inaudible.
And yet, with that one sentence, my breath came rushing back.
"...You're in the hospital. Dongmin, do you recognize me?"
"...What a stupid question. Of course I do."
It was a weak joke.
And yet tears poured down.
"...Idiot. Why did you come out here and do this? Why."
"...If contact gets cut off, I said I'd come after you."
That made me cry even more.
Holding his hand tight, I stared at his face for a long time.
"...Wunhak said he handed everything over to the FSC. The investigation's underway."
"...That's a relief."
"It's not a relief, you almost—"
I couldn't finish the sentence. Dongmin, struggling, lifted a hand and wiped away my tears.
"...You lived, didn't you. This time, for real."
*
Six months passed.
News about the trial of Seongho and Sanghyeok came on the TV.
Director Lee Sanghyeok of Seonil Holdings, former team manager Park Seongho of Seonil Capital, indicted and arrested after FSC investigation.
The two men's faces passed under the subtitles.
Faces that were no longer frightening.
I set my phone down and looked out the window.
I had been living with Dongmin for half a year now.
Not long after he was discharged, it was Dongmin who said it first.
"...I don't want to leave you alone. Neither me, nor you."
Pretending I couldn't refuse, I moved my things in.
And until now, ordinary days had gone on like that.
At the end of the alley during commute time, Dongmin walked toward me, waving his hand.
It was a pace that didn't run, and didn't hurry.
"...What should we have for dinner tonight."
"Anything is fine. If we're eating together, anything's good."
We walked hand in hand.
Along the main road, on the inside of the sidewalk. That habit was still there.
But now it wasn't because I was tense; it was just because I liked walking while holding his hand.
As we passed the street food stall at the edge of the neighborhood, Dongmin stopped walking.
"...Hey, this is that tteokbokki place from back then."
I remembered that awkward day when we'd had dinner together for the first time.
"...Want to go in?"
"Yeah. This time, let's eat without being awkward."
Sitting across from each other and sharing tteokbokki, we laughed for a long time over trivial things.
On the way home, under the streetlight, Dongmin suddenly stopped.
"...Do you remember? What you said then, that you hoped the morning after tomorrow would just be an ordinary day."
"I remember. But the very next day ended up like that, didn't it."
"Exactly. That ordinary day came really late."
"But it did come in the end. Just like this."
At that, my chest tightened with emotion.
Dongmin touched his forehead to mine, then slowly kissed me.
Three lives, three endings. The first two were death, and this time it was just an evening of having dinner together and going home.
Hello!! It's finally the end ㅎㅎ
Thank you for reading this fanfic too!! I really wanted to write a story about an organization, so it was so much fun planning the plot and writing it ㅎㅎ
I don't think there will be a separate side story this time!!
Next time I'd like to focus on romance... if there's any topic you'd like to see, feel free to leave it anytime!!
Have a happy day today too, and I'll be back with my next workㅎㅎ
Thank you!🩷
