<Episode 54>
“Marriage? Absolutely not!”
Hunter Lee Hyunwoo waved his hands in denial, sounding unusually flustered. The problem was that he wasn’t looking at Seah… he was looking at me when he said it.
‘Why are you looking at me while saying that?!’
All the customers were watching with fascinated expressions, like they were enjoying a melodramatic soap opera. One of them had even somehow acquired popcorn and was eating it.
Unfazed by Hyunwoo’s urgent denial, Seah continued sobbing.
“Sniff! You really, really lost all your memories. I thought you’d at least recognize me if you saw my face.”
Unable even to wipe away the tears streaming down her cheeks, Seah trembled all over. To anyone watching, she looked exactly like the tragic heroine of a romance drama.
“…Come to think of it, didn’t they say he lost his memories when he Awakened? Then could she possibly be…?”
“Shh! Hey, lower your voice.”
The customers’ whispers seemed unusually loud.
‘That’s right. He said there was a memory he desperately wanted to recover…’
Could that memory be a past connected to Seah? Had they really been people who promised each other a future together? Then why was he…
“Hic! I’m sorry!!”
My endless train of thought was abruptly cut off when Seah suddenly bolted out the door.
Hunter Lee Hyunwoo, wearing a rare expression of panic, strode toward me.
“I truly have no idea what’s going on. I don’t know why she’s saying those things, but…”
Instinctively, I took a step back away from him.
Right now, I don’t know what kind of expression I should wear when looking at him.
“…Shouldn’t you be going after Miss Seah instead of talking to me?”
I muttered weakly.
The woman who might have once promised to marry him had just run out crying. Wasn’t he supposed to chase after her?
But he firmly shook his head at my question.
“Someone I don’t know is far less important to me than Hunter Haneul.”
“…What if she really was someone you knew in the past?”
“That isn’t possible.”
He had admitted that his memories were incomplete.
Then why was he so certain?
‘It didn’t feel like Seah was lying, though.’
Her reaction had been far too genuine and intense for someone pretending.
Holding my throbbing head, I shook it.
“…Could you please leave for now? I still need to run the shop.”
“Hunter Haneul, I truly–”
“You don’t need to explain yourself to me. It’s just that if you stay here any longer, the shop is going to become even more chaotic.”
Stubbornly avoiding his gaze, I looked away.
After hesitating for a moment, he finally turned around.
“Let’s talk later. I’ll wait.”
As soon as he disappeared, I let out a silent sigh and slowly sank into a chair.
“Unni! Are you okay?”
“Mm. It’s just… everything suddenly became so overwhelming…”
Perhaps because of the shocking incident that had just occurred, a strange atmosphere lingered throughout the shop.
Hunters entering to pick up their reserved orders tilted their heads in confusion at the unusual mood.
“Did something happen? Things feel kind of tense in here.”
“No, it’s nothing. You’re Hunter Bae Jeongmin, right? I’ll get your order ready right away.”
Fortunately, as time passed and new customers continued to arrive, the atmosphere gradually returned to normal.
We carried on as though nothing had happened.
That didn’t mean all the problems had been resolved.
“Unni… What do we do about Seah Unni? She still hasn’t come back.”
“I’ll try calling her. Could you handle the customers for a bit?”
Seah, who had run out of the shop, still hadn’t returned.
I tried calling her, but after several rings, the call went to voicemail.
In the end, I went outside to look for her.
Thankfully, she wasn’t far away. She was sitting blankly on a nearby bench.
Handing her a warm canned drink from a vending machine, I spoke carefully.
“Miss Seah, are you alright?”
“…Ah, Boss. I’m sorry. I just ran out without saying anything.”
“No, that’s okay. More importantly, what happened?”
Fresh tears gathered in her reddened eyes.
After barely holding them back, she spoke in a small voice.
“…I’ve kept it a secret from everyone until now, but Hyunwoo oppa and I used to date. Just like any ordinary couple. We loved each other and talked about our future every day.”
She tried to smile, but her expression quickly crumbled.
Fidgeting with the can in her hands, she lowered her head.
“But after he awakened, everything changed. One day, he suddenly cut off all contact, and he became a complete stranger.”
“Did you try contacting him before?”
“I did. But people said he’d changed his number, and every time I tried finding him, he’d already become so famous that I couldn’t even get close.”
Looking up, she gave a lonely smile.
“To be honest, I thought if I worked at this shop, I might run into him someday. I just… didn’t expect it to happen so soon.”
“Then the reason you came to work at our shop was…”
“I genuinely wanted to work here because I was drawn to the shop. But somewhere in my heart, there was also the hope that maybe I’d see him again. Please believe me.”
If she insisted that was the truth, what could I really say?
For now, I simply nodded.
“Thank you for telling me. Do you need a little more time to calm down? Ari’s managing the shop by herself right now, so I should probably head back.”
“Ah! No, it’s okay. I’ll come back with you. I’m sorry.”
When we returned, Ari, who had been handling everything alone, greeted us with eyes full of relief.
“Unni…! You’re finally back!”
There wasn’t even time to talk.
The backlog of orders had to be dealt with immediately.
Although Ari kept glancing at me, clearly curious about what we’d discussed, customers kept flooding in, leaving no opportunity to explain.
And so, the hectic day finally came to an end.
“Everyone worked hard today.”
“Thank you for your hard work. See you tomorrow!”
“I’m really sorry about today. See you tomorrow.”
After closing the shop, I trudged back toward the dormitory.
As I walked, the events from earlier resurfaced in my mind.
“Do you think Hunter Hyunwoo and Miss Seah really had that kind of relationship? Hanyang, do you sense anything?”
“This great one doesn’t possess the ability to read minds, nya. However, I could definitely sense Seah’s emotions fluctuating violently, nya.”
“Her emotions were fluctuating…”
Was it simply because she’d reunited with an ex-lover she’d never expected to see again?
Both of them were attractive people, so it wouldn’t be strange if something like that had happened in the past…
“Ugh! Why is this bothering me so much?”
I ruffled my hair roughly.
Maybe it was because I’d grown closer to Hyunwoo lately.
No matter what, thoughts about their past wouldn’t leave my mind.
Lost in my complicated emotions, I continued walking aimlessly.
Then…
“…Hunter Haneul. Could we talk for a moment?”
“Hunter Lee Hyunwoo.”
In front of the Management Bureau dormitory.
Hyunwoo, who had been sitting near the entrance, spotted me and slowly stood up.
“Hanyang, go inside first. I’m going to talk with him for a bit.”
“Don’t stay out too late, nya.”
After sending Hanyang ahead, the two of us began walking slowly around the dormitory grounds.
An awkward silence enveloped us.
Finally, Hyunwoo spoke in a low voice.
“About what happened earlier. I felt that I absolutely had to tell you.”
“…Tell me what?”
“That woman and I truly have no relationship whatsoever. I don’t care whether other people believe me, but I want Hunter Haneul to.”
I stopped walking and looked up at him.
The bright glow of the streetlamp contrasted sharply against the darkening evening sky.
“…Honestly, I don’t know. You said I gave you a ‘nostalgic feeling,’ didn’t you? What if that person is actually Miss Seah?”
“Absolutely not.”
“But you said you don’t have your memories. How can you be so sure?”
To my question, he hesitated and couldn’t answer immediately.
Had I asked something too cruel of someone who had lost his memories?
‘Why do my words keep coming out so sharp…?’
Just moments ago, I’d been telling myself that it shouldn’t matter whether he’d known Seah in the past or not.
Yet once again, a strange impatience stirred inside me.
I was about to apologize for my thoughtless words when…
“…When I looked at her, I felt nothing. No sense of nostalgia. No desire to protect her.”
He looked at me with unwavering certainty.
“Since my Awakening, the only person who has ever made me feel those things is you, Haneul.”
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