Please Give Me A Kiss, Healer! Chapter 32

“I’ll keep working hard and earning money from now on, too. I’ll buy you everything you want. And if there’s anything else you want, anything at all……”

“No, wait. Just—wait a second!”

Ji-woo raised her hand high and cut him off.

She thought it was a heartfelt confession, but the more she listened, the more something felt strangely off.

She couldn’t pinpoint it exactly, but the feeling was really uncomfortable.

“Kang-woo, I’m asking just in case. Please answer as honestly as you can.”

“Yes.”

“First of all… why did you suddenly start speaking politely to me? I mean, using honorifics.”

At first, she thought he was doing it because the Guild Master was nearby.

But now, even though they were alone, Kang-woo was still speaking formally.

If anything, he seemed even more proper than when they were together before.

Kang-woo tilted his head and asked back,

“Do you dislike it?”

“It’s not that I dislike it, but… calling me ‘Hunter’ feels awkward. If anything, calling me Ji-woo like before would make more sense. Why are you doing this?”

He answered without even a moment of hesitation.

“Because Ji-woo said it was burdensome. Because the real me is clingy and burdensome.”

‘And honestly… Kang-woo, you being clingy like this is burdensome. Very much.’

It felt like someone had slammed a frying pan down on her head.

Those were words she herself had said while running away from Kang-woo.

“Th-that was just…….”

She had only said it to make Kang-woo give up.

‘I can’t believe he took those harsh words to heart and kept believing them.’

After they reunited, he hadn’t shown any sign of it, so she thought he’d forgotten.

But what Kang-woo said next made her heart ache even more.

“So I tried to copy someone, so Ji-woo wouldn’t feel burdened.”

“Copy someone?”

Who, exactly?

“…Ah. Don’t tell me.”

She didn’t say it out loud, but Ji-woo realized the answer.

Guild Master Shin Woo-hyuk.

Since yesterday, Kang-woo had been copying Shin Woo-hyuk’s way of speaking and acting exactly.

Kang-woo gently furrowed his brows.

“To be honest, I was jealous. Because Ji-woo got angry at that man.”

It had started when Ji-woo argued with Shin Woo-hyuk.

She treated Shin Woo-hyuk without any distance—getting angry, shouting at him openly.

To Kang-woo, the closeness between the two of them felt enviable.

“If it had been me, Ji-woo wouldn’t have gotten angry. Ji-woo is still uncomfortable around me.”

Kang-woo wondered—

‘What’s different between Shin Woo-hyuk and me?’

That man couldn’t have known Ji-woo for long either.

So what was it about him that made Ji-woo feel at ease?

Kang-woo had fallen into the other world when he was still a high school student.

A place filled with nothing but death and pain.

Wandering through that distant hell for a long time, Kang-woo lost most of his memories.

Because of that, even after returning to Earth, he was clumsy when dealing with people.

The unspoken atmosphere of society.

The hidden contexts everyone somehow just understood.

Whether you should hand someone a business card or an ID when introducing yourself.

In those small, subtle things, Kang-woo struggled.

With time, it would’ve sorted itself out naturally—but Kang-woo didn’t want to disappoint Ji-woo.

He didn’t want to experience her turning away from him again.

That was why.

Without realizing it, Kang-woo observed Shin Woo-hyuk’s words and actions and copied them exactly.

Calling her “Hunter Do Ji-woo,” using polite speech every time, even showing off his strengths—everything.

He erased his original self piece by piece and layered Shin Woo-hyuk’s image on top.

“When I copied that man, Ji-woo seemed happy.”

Kang-woo pulled up the corners of his mouth and smiled. But that smile now looked unbearably lonely.

“…You thought I was happy?”

Ji-woo asked in a half-choked voice.

After hearing Kang-woo’s answer, she couldn’t say anything at all.

“Yes. Ji-woo always avoided me before. But this time, you grabbed my sleeve first, and you showed interest in me.”

“…….”

Ji-woo’s lips slowly stiffened.

What he said was half true. At first, she really had avoided Kang-woo.

His blind devotion toward her felt awkward and overwhelming.

The person he was searching for—‘Jyu’—wasn’t her, yet it felt like he kept asking her to become someone else.

That was why she had thought she never wanted to meet him again, and wished he wouldn’t look for her anymore.

But……

‘Not now. Kang-woo is… my lifesaver.’

When she was about to lose her life to the Ant Queen.

He had broken through that dangerous dungeon alone to find her.

He endured terrible pain to save her, and worried more about her scratches than his own injuries.

‘How could I possibly push someone like that away?’

Her heart had naturally softened, and that was why her attitude toward Kang-woo had changed.

…But how was she supposed to clear up this impossible misunderstanding?

“Kang-woo, I……”

Ji-woo hesitated, then opened her mouth.

But the Kang-woo facing her looked extremely tense, carefully watching her reaction.

His anxious eyes scanning her made her chest feel heavy, like a stone had been placed on it.

‘Who do I think I am?’

Seeing him shaken and uneasy over her every word and expression was heartbreaking.

She felt sorry, pitiful, and unbearably frustrated.

Once her emotions surged up, she couldn’t stop them anymore.

Ji-woo’s lips trembled, and her eyes reddened.

Startled, Kang-woo immediately grabbed her hand.

“Ji-woo, why…… I’m sorry. This is all my fault.”

What was he even apologizing for?

‘If anything, I’m the one who pushed Kang-woo this far.’

Ji-woo shook her head, but Kang-woo didn’t know what to do. Not knowing why she was sad seemed to hurt him even more.

No—maybe he looked like a frightened child who had lost his way.

So Ji-woo simply……

“Come here.”

She hugged Kang-woo tightly first.

So that her feelings could reach him without him having to try so hard.

Their pounding heartbeats overlapped.

From him came a warm, soft, slightly cool scent—like a forest at dawn.

Even while being hugged back by reflex, Kang-woo looked stunned.

“Ji-woo……?”

Hearing his confused voice, Ji-woo lifted her head and met his eyes.

“No one can take someone else’s place.”

How could a person ever replace another person?

Seo Kang-woo is Seo Kang-woo.

Do Ji-woo is Do Ji-woo.

Each of them has meaning just by being themselves.

Like she used to comfort her younger sibling as a child, Ji-woo gently rubbed Kang-woo’s back.

“People are special just by existing. You too, Kang-woo. The Seo Kang-woo I want to know is the Kang-woo right in front of me.”

At such close distance, their gazes intertwined.

“…….”

As he always did, Kang-woo silently studied Ji-woo—like he was measuring whether her words were true.

Ji-woo didn’t look away and gave him all the time he needed.

Kang-woo’s eyelids blinked slowly, and his deep eyes and the lashes beneath them sank into shadow.

Then, at last, a cool, gentle smile slowly spread across his face.

It was such a bright smile—like someone who owned the whole world—that Ji-woo couldn’t help but smile back.

 

 

*****

 

 

 

‘This can’t go on.’

Ji-woo sat down on the ground, holding both of Kang-woo’s hands in hers.

It was the basic posture she’d learned long ago from a TV psychology counseling clinic.

Though, admittedly, the title of that clinic had been
〈A Newlywed Couple in Crisis — Is Everything Going to Be Okay?〉.

‘Of course, Kang-woo and I aren’t a married couple! But communication skills should still apply the same way.’

Misunderstandings always start from poor communication. Ji-woo was sick and tired of digging herself into holes like this.

If you dig the ground, at least you get dirt. Swinging a shovel at empty air is completely useless.

No matter how much she pushed him away, Kang-woo didn’t seem like he had any intention of backing off.

If anything, he’d only chase after her harder, begging her not to abandon him.

When there’s no best option, you look for the next best one. If she couldn’t cut off this relationship, then at the very least, shouldn’t they look like normal acquaintances in front of others?

Ji-woo looked at Kang-woo, who was fidgeting as he laced their fingers together.

“Kang-woo, I don’t want my peaceful everyday life to be broken. That fear is why I avoided you when you came closer.”