[TOMORROW X TOGETHER Beomgyu] To the point of aching

Episode 11. In Search of Him

After spending the night wide awake, clutching a wooden token in her hand, the heroine finally made up her mind.

She could no longer stay holed up in this room like this, wavering only between resentment and longing.

 

As soon as day broke, the heroine got up and set out.

 

"Dana, get me ready. I'm leaving."

"What? Where to, miss!"

"I'm going to find that person."

 

Dani's face went pale, but in the end, unable to withstand the heroine's unwavering gaze, she could no longer stop her.

 

"...Understood, miss. I'll go with you too."

 

At Dani's words, the heroine finally felt a little more at ease.

The heroine left a short letter for her father. It contained only a request that he not look for her, because there was someone she absolutely had to meet.

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

Her destination was only a guess.

The things he had let slip carelessly while staying there as a guest, the rumors from the boatmen shuttling back and forth at the ferry landing, even the whispers that Jo Seunghak's remnants had been spotted for the last time — the heroine gathered every one of those clues.

 

She packed the emergency money she had saved up and left home with only Dani.

Days passed as she went around the market and the inn, asking about the appearance of a strange man.

Each time the scar on her arm, where the bandage had been wrapped, brushed against her collar, that day's memories came back in a sharp, tingling pain.

 

On the fourth night of fruitless searching, the heroine sat down in a corner of the inn room and, for the first time, let her tears fall.

 

"Miss, rest for today. We can search again tomorrow."

 

Even with Dani's comfort, the fear that she might never find him again weighed on her chest.

Still, the next morning, the heroine would always put on her shoes and head back out.

 

"...If it's that kind of person, someone said they saw him near the ferry landing a few days ago."

 

At the stranger merchant's words, the heroine quickened her pace.

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

By the time they reached the ferry landing, the sun was already sinking low.

After searching even the back alleys among the old inns lined up along the riverbank, the heroine finally found an old abandoned house.

A faint light was leaking through the crack in the door.

As she pushed the door open with trembling hands, the shadow inside sprang to its feet in an instant.

"...Who is it."

 

At that low, subdued voice, the heroine's breath caught in her throat.

 

"It's me."

 

Bumgyu's eyes widened. The dagger he had been holding slipped helplessly to the floor.

Beneath the faint lamplight, his face looked shockingly gaunt, as if he had aged years in half a month.

 

"Y-young lady Yooju... how did you... get here..."

"I found you. I finally found you."

 

The tears she had been holding back burst out of the heroine's eyes.

Bumgyu took a few steps forward, then stopped. The urge to go closer and the urge not to collide sharply across his face.

 

"I heard everything from my father... the truth about that day, and who you are."

"......"

"So now, I want to help too."

 

Bumgyu's face froze in an instant.

 

"No."

 

At that firm refusal, the heroine was left speechless.

 

"This is a job where you have to gamble your life. It's not a place for you, miss."

"It's my matter too! My father's silence is what did this to your family, isn't it? I'm not free of this either."

"That's exactly why you can't."

 

Bumgyu's voice trembled low.

 

"I already put you in danger once, miss. I don't have the confidence to endure a second time... a second time."

 

The heroine could feel the sincerity in his words, but even so, she could not step back obediently.

 

"Then what about doing it alone? Is it fine to keep going like this alone while wasting away?"

 

Bumgyu was unable to continue for a moment.

 

"...It's fine. There are already people moving together with me. You don't need to step forward, miss."

"That's not what I mean. I just..."

 

The heroine's voice trembled.

 

"I just don't want to leave you alone anymore."

 

At those words, Bumgyu shut his eyes tightly. As if trying to steady his wavering heart, it was only after a long while that he opened his mouth again.

His voice had softened considerably.

 

"Please stay here tonight. Going out onto unfamiliar roads at this hour would be even more dangerous."

 

Given their situation of hiding, they could not come and go from an inn where they would draw other people's eyes.

Inside the old abandoned house there were only two rooms. One was a small nook that had been barely fixed up from a shed.

After Dani hurriedly took over that nook, all that remained was the room Bumgyu had been staying in.

 

"I'll sleep in the yard."

 

As Bumgyu tried to gather his things and leave, the heroine hurriedly grabbed his sleeve.

 

"Where are you going at this hour? Just sleep inside the room."

 

"...A man and a woman should keep their distance, so how can we... in the same room..."

"Is this really the time to worry about that? You probably haven't slept properly for days."

"Even so, this isn't proper."

"What does propriety matter! If you freeze to death outside tonight, that'll be an even bigger problem."

 

Bumgyu stared at the heroine, speechless.

In the end, after the argument, Bumgyu sat with his back against a corner of the room, and the heroine spread out her bedding on the opposite side.

Without a folding screen, there was only awkward silence between them.

 

"...If it's uncomfortable, I can go out and..."

"No need. Just go to sleep."

 

The heroine answered with deliberate coolness, but the presence she felt behind her back made it hard to sleep at all.

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

After a long while, the heroine's breathing gradually evened out.

Only then did Bumgyu turn his head and quietly look at her sleeping face.

 

Seeing each other this close was truly a long time ago.

Her gaunt cheeks, closed eyes, the faint breath slipping through her slightly parted lips.

The desire to protect her and the conviction that he should not keep her by his side collided again in his chest.

 

He desperately wanted to stay together like this, but the more he did, the more it would only bind the heroine to greater danger.

 

"...I'm sorry."

 

Leaving behind those words that would never reach her, Bumgyu quietly rose to his feet.

 

Before dawn, with only a short note asking Dani, who was asleep in the next room, to look after the heroine, Bumgyu hid himself once more into the darkness.