Epilogue Chapter 72 - As Always, The Ending (2)

A girl with an IV drip catheter in her left arm sighed as she stared up at the TV on the wall of her VVIP hospital room resembling a hotel room. Despite her young age, she was more fitting of the word

beautiful

than

cute

.

“Haaa... Dad, can’t I just get discharged?”

“No,” answered Kim Si-Hun, firmly shaking his head while reading a book beside Si-Ah’s bed.

Si-Ah covered herself with the blanket in frustration and shook her arms.

“I’m completely fine now,” she remarked.

“Even so, you should rest for a couple of days.”

Si-Ah had suffered from various diseases ranging from the common cold to other serious diseases after being exposed to the Celestial of Musca’s energy of disease. They grew exponentially weaker once Mus died but as a father, Si-Hun couldn’t be relieved after recalling his daughter with a dangerously high fever.

“You’ve been nursing me for days without sleep.”

“It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine. I know how troubled the Guardians members are because you’ve been away from your job for days.”

“That’s...” Si-Hun slurred troublingly.

As Si-Ah mentioned, Si-Hun couldn’t take several days off. After all, he was the leader of Guardians, and the Martial God, the savior of humanity. He could only be by his daughter’s side because Layla had been performing his tasks in his place, but that was reaching its limit.

“I’m right, aren’t I?”

“I-I can stay for a few more days!”

“It’s not like I’ll get better by lying in the hospital. Focusing on cultivation in our garden would be better.”

The garden of Si-Hun’s home was filled with various formations and spiritual items that made the accumulation of pure Qi easier, allowing it to be as clean as an uninhabited island. It would be a better form of recuperation to be discharged from the hospital and go to the garden.

“Haaa. Okay, okay. I’ll call the doctor and proceed with the discharge— hm?”

Vrrrr.

Just then, Si-Hun’s phone vibrated and a message arrived.

“Is it Mom?” Si-Ah asked.

“No. Just a second... Oh, it looks like Kang-Hyun has come to visit you.”

“Huh...?”

“Since you’re going to be discharged, I’ll tell him to go home—”

“W-Wait, Dad! Stop!” Si-Ah quickly stopped Si-Hun. “

C-Cough!

”

“Huh?”

“

Cough! Cough!

I don’t think I’m a hundred percent better yet. Let’s leave the discharge for later.”

Si-Ah averted her gaze from Si-Hun. His wife constantly scolded him about how dense he was but he could tell what his daughter’s awkward acting meant.

“H-Haha.” Si-Hun chuckled as the book in his hand was crushed as if under a hydraulic press. “My princess must have taken a liking to that son of a— I mean, that boy Kang-Hyun.”

“I-It’s not like that! I’m just feeling sick all of a sudden...!”

“Yeah, yeah. If you’re feeling sick, I guess it can’t be helped.”

“Argh! Dad!”

“Hahaha!” Si-Hun burst into laughter as he stared at Si-Ah shouting at him with bright-red cheeks.

‘I knew she would leave my side one day, but I never expected it to be so soon.’

Si-Hun didn’t know whether to be happy or sad about his daughter’s growth.

‘Hyung-nim probably felt the same way.’

He stood up, thinking he should have a drink with Kang-Woo tonight.

“I’ll be off to work, so have fun with Kang-Hyun.”

“I thought you were good for a couple more days...?”

“Oh? Do you want me to stay, then?”

“N-No, that’s not what I...”

“Haaa. I guess it is true when people say raising a daughter only comes with pain.”

“D-Dad!”

“Hahaha!” Si-Hun burst into laughter and patted the reddened Si-Ah’s head. “My baby girl. You’d better tell me if Kang-Hyun ever makes you worry or heartsick, got it?”

“He... already does.”

“What? How dare he? Even if he’s hyung-nim’s son, I should give him a good scolding—”

“I-I’m joking! Just get out already, Dad!” shouted Si-Ah as she pushed Si-Hun’s butt with her foot.

Si-Hun left the hospital room sorrowfully.

“Haaa. Seriously... What's with him and the sudden hospital visit? People would think I was deathly ill if they didn’t know better,” muttered Si-Ah as she put on her slippers and headed to the sink. “Hm, hm~♬”

She lightly washed her face, tidied her hair with a hairbrush, changed out of her wrinkled hospital clothes into a new one, and lay back down on the bed.

Knock, knock.

“Si-Ah, it’s Kang-Hyun... are you up?”

Kang-Hyun’s voice sounded from across the door after a few minutes.

“Yeah, come in.”

Clack

.

Kang-Hyun opened the door and cautiously entered.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“

Cough...

I’m still a little sick, but almost all better.”

“That’s great.”

Kang-Hyun smiled in relief, seeing Si-Ah in much better shape than he had been worried about.

“I should be asking you that too. Are you okay? I heard you were hurting a lot after, uhh... opening the Door, was it?”

“Oh, I’m fine now.”

Kang-Hyun was in so much pain right after opening the Door that he wanted to kill himself but he was completely fine now as if nothing had happened.

“Hmph. That’s what you get for butting in...”

“I couldn’t run when you and Kang-Hee were captured.”

“Hmph.” Si-Ah narrowed her eyes and stared at Kang-Hyun. She slightly looked away and asked uninterestedly, “Who did you want to save more? Me or Kang-Hee?”

“Both of you, obviously.”

“...”

“Ouch! Why are you pinching me?”

“Who knows?” Si-Ah sighed deeply and looked at the black plastic bag in Kang-Hyun’s hand. “What did you bring?”

“Oh, something you’d like.”

Kang-Hyun smiled and confidently pulled out what was in the black plastic bag.

“Tteokbokki...?”

“Haha. I thought you’d only be eating bland hospital food, so...”

“Well, you’re not wrong, but should you be bringing tteokbokki to a hospital patient to eat?’

“Oh, uhh... would that be bad?”

“Hmph. I’m sure I’d be scolded by the doctor later, but... I’ll just say you forced me to eat it.”

“Y-You don’t need to force yourself!”

Si-Ah smirked and pulled out the hospital bed dining table. They transferred the steaming tteokbokki to a plate, filling the room with the mouth-watering scent she had not smelled since she was hospitalized.

“Here, wooden chopsticks.”

“Hmm...” Si-Ah fell into thought as she looked down at the tteokbokki.

“What’s wrong?”

“

Cough, cough.

I feel a fever coming on all of a sudden.”

“R-Really? Should I call the doctor?”

“No.” Si-Ah shook her head, acting coyly. Her cheeks reddened as she mumbled quietly, “F-Feed me, Kang-Hyun.”

“What...?”

Kang-Hyun froze in place, wide-eyed. Si-Ah quickly shook her head and reached for the wooden chopsticks.

“I was joking. I’ll eat it mys—”

“N-No! I’ll feed you!” Kang-Hyun shouted nervously and pulled away the chopsticks as Si-Ah was about to take them.

“O-Okay.”

Kang-Hyun blew on the tteokbokki and brought it to Si-Ah’s mouth.

Nom, nom.

Si-Ah turned away in embarrassment as soon as she ate it.

“...”

“...”

An awkward silence fell between them. Others would have clicked their tongue at the scene, saying it was straight out of a cheap romcom but the people involved couldn’t calm their pounding hearts.

“Pfft,” Kang-Hyun snickered to break the silence.

He couldn’t help but find the situation funny after thinking calmly about it.

“What...? Why are you laughing?”

“No reason.”

Kang-Hyun did not know when Si-Ah had taken up such a large portion of his thoughts.

‘Adults would probably think of this as simply kids playing, but...’

It did not matter— Kang-Hyun did not want to deny his feelings only because he was still young. At least in this moment, Si-Ah was more precious to him than anyone.

“Si-Ah,” Kang-Hyun called.

“Yeah?”

“I like you.”

“...” Si-Ah, surprised by the sudden confession, stuttered, “L-Like? Y-Y-You... l-l-l-like me?”

“Yeah. I like you.”

“Hah! O-Oh Kang-Hyun, you’d better stop with the jokes—”

“I’m not joking.”

Even if others teased him for it or told him he was simply misunderstanding his feelings because he was still young, he didn’t care.

“I’m... not joking.”

“...”

Si-Ah, her face so red that steam was coming off of it, lowered her head. She heard that adults these days started dating without even saying they liked each other. They were simply together one day and broke up just as abruptly— that was just how love worked for adults, from what Si-Ah had heard.

‘Then I guess... I’m not an adult yet.’

She was still far from being an adult since her heart was pounding like crazy just from hearing Kang-Hyun’s confession.

“...too,” Si-Ah whispered.

“Huh?”

“Me too... I—”

SLAM!

Just then, the hospital room door swung open violently.

“G-GET AWAY FROM MY OPPA!”

The meddlesome sister-in-law appeared.