Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 362



Only Noblemtl

#Episode 1. – Sharing daily life (1.0)

Sharing my ordinary daily life with others has a different meaning than just a normal day that can be passed by. And this could truly be said to be the essence of the love that one individual can give to another individual.

Sharing is an act of willingly sharing something that I have with others. Think of sharing what you wear, eat, talk, and listen to with someone precious. Then you can understand to some extent.

In other words, the fact that another person is melting into the ordinary time of my daily life can be a medium that can lead to something incredibly special in life. It can be said to be the most basic and certain means and purpose to express love.

And there was another reason why I was saying this now. It was probably right after the war ended, not long after we had welcomed the new year of 1907. In the original world, the army would have been disbanded and the Jeongmi Righteous Army would have vowed to fight a last battle, but fortunately, I ended that tragedy with my own hands.

“Director! Our navy needs battleships in the long run. Didn’t you see in the last war? The mere presence of battleships can completely suppress enemy activities! When the Russian fleet arrived, even the mighty combined fleet had no choice but to give up the battle. For our country, which is surrounded by the sea on three sides, the existence of a battle group consisting of 33 fleets is inevitable!”

This was the cry of the only admiral in the Korean Imperial Navy, Minister of the Navy Jang Gi-ryeom. It was one of the gifts the emperor gave to the Navy for their outstanding performance in the last war. In addition, the title of Tongje-yeong, which had completely disappeared since the abolition of barracks and swimming pools in 1895, was also revived and given to the Navy. It was meant to emphasize that it was a direct descendant of the Joseon Navy that had repelled the Japanese navy in the past.

Of course, the Navy had great respect for Admiral Yi Sun-sin and the Joseon navy, but they still doubted the Emperor’s intentions. They thought that it was a feudalistic way of thinking to try to gain the loyalty of the military, or perhaps it was a formal attempt to tighten the leash by using a title based on the old system.

Anyway, I was watching the time pass by without a trace, as if I was listening to his story while rolling the pencil between my fingers. It would be time to get off work soon.

“Admiral, look at the state of the Navy. We are already struggling with just one protected cruiser from Russia. In fact, expanding the Navy right now is out of the question! Both manpower and funds are limited. Of course, in the long run, sea defense is important, but right now, we cannot overlook the need for sea defense!”

The one who raised his voice next to him was Lee Gap Jeong-ryeong, who had been appointed as the head of the first division of the Operations Bureau. To some, it might seem like Jeong-ryeong was being rude to Admiral Postin, but he was a friend who often did this. No matter who he was talking to, if he thought it was ridiculous, he would just take it out on them.

Because of this, many generals had a strong dislike for him, and because he was a graduate of the Japanese Military Academy, people looked at him with colored glasses, so he was the type that was quite disadvantaged. Of course, the reason I picked him right away as the head of the 1st Operations Department was because his abilities were so outstanding.

“Does the Operations Bureau of the Marshal’s Office value the importance of liberation and new rooms?! After all, the enemies have no choice but to come from the sea. Are we going to let the enemies trample our seas like last time?”

The reason the two sides are fighting like this today is only one thing. They wanted to see if I would support the Army’s division expansion plan or the Navy’s shipbuilding plan while drafting next year’s budget. That’s probably why they’re raising their voices like that.

If you’re going to fight, I wish you would go somewhere else and fight. Last time, I tried to mediate a fight like this, but it took two hours past closing time to finish it.

“Admiral, the situation has changed drastically. In order to protect the newly acquired South Manchuria and to stop the vile bandits like Zhang Zuolin, we need an even larger expansion plan for the Army Division than we have now. The fleet can only protect the sea, but the Army Division must protect the incomparably vast land area. Therefore, the budget should be focused on the Army, and the Navy is a secondary issue!”

“what?!”

After the war, the Marshal’s Office had become a fairly strong organization, and even the Emperor had acquired authority that he could no longer do anything about. Although the Emperor was nominally the Generalissimo of the Army and Navy, this was only a formality, and in reality, all authority was held by the directors and section chiefs of the Marshal’s Office.

“If the Operations Department is going to do everything, why are the Army and Navy divided?!”

As soon as the war ended, Sunmuyeong was disbanded, but its staff organizations were transferred to the 2nd Division of the Operations Bureau and reorganized into a specialized group related to the war against Japan. And I, along with him, became an army general and took charge of the Operations Bureau, which was now expanded into three divisions.

In fact, I did not want to take on this troublesome position, but I had no choice but to take on the position because the cabinet and military elders warned me that if I were not the one to hold a firm central position between the military, the cabinet, and the imperial family. Since I had succeeded in two coups, there were many dreamers who were plotting a third or fourth coup.

In any case, since I took office, the Operations Bureau has become one of the most important posts in the military, and it can be said that it is where all the central and talented people are concentrated. As such, it has often been caught in the middle of a war of nerves over the budget allocation plans of the Army and Navy.

But strictly speaking, this was not my job, and it was a clear infringement on the authority of the Accounting Bureau. In the first place, I had no intention of messing with the budget. Even without that, my position in the military and the cabinet, whether intentionally or not, was very strong, and if I was swayed by something like this once, bad habits and absurdities would become chronic.

And those chronic inefficiencies soon settle into the system. I have found many things in the past century that have deteriorated in this way and have been ruined in a way that was not originally intended. So, it was right to cut these things off from my line.

“Let’s stop here for today.”

“Director!”

“And from now on, I want you to go to the Accounting Director and discuss these issues with him, not me. I’m the Operations Director, not the person in charge of the budget… … .”

“But if it’s not the Chief of Operations, who is the backbone of the military… the Chief of Accounting won’t even listen.”

“If the heads of each country privately listen to the complaints of those who hold military power, why did we separate each country and pursue specialization of the Marshal’s Office? This goes against my intentions and the laws of the international military. If those who hold the budget are easily swayed by the words of others, they will easily be crushed like the Qing army during the war of the year of Gap-o.”

I spoke to them, scolding them. I was tired of having to stop the army and navy officers who fought every day, asking me to take their side. It wasn’t as cold-blooded a factional fight as the Japanese army, but I couldn’t stop them from grumbling at each other.

Of course, this kind of power struggle between the various groups is a long-standing tradition that still remains to this day, so it can’t be helped, but I thought that at least keeping that line in check was an extension of my job.

“So, everyone, I’ll be getting up now. I’m almost done with my work for today, and more importantly, I have a very important appointment with the headmaster.”

I stood up, hitting the player. Then, without anyone having time to say anything, I looked at the soldiers of the Operations Department around me and spoke softly. Today is Saturday, and they were all on their way home after working the morning shift. It was a little disappointing that Saturday wasn’t a perfect holiday, but what can I do? Life in this day and age is like that.

“Everyone in the Operations Department can leave work except for those on duty.”

“No, Director-”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Even if Your Majesty calls, I have a really important appointment that I cannot cancel. And from now on, please contact the secretary’s office in advance and make an appointment time before you come.”

I stood up, cutting off their words more firmly than usual. The Minister of the Army and the Minister of the Navy seemed to want to tell me something more, but I intentionally ignored them. And the most important reason why I couldn’t listen to their stories any longer was because today, as I mentioned earlier, I had to meet the most precious person with whom I could ‘share my daily life’.

I left the adjutant who was obviously cheering, the officers and staff in the operation division who were excitedly preparing to leave work tomorrow because it was the weekend, and the soldiers who were groaning and carrying the last of the documents to the warehouse behind me, putting on my outer garment and going out of the Marshal’s Office building.

Outside, there was someone standing there who had been waiting for a very long time.

***

“… Even so, Rohaya… Aren’t you clinging too close to me? After all, men and women shouldn’t sit together when they’re seven years old… … .”

“So you don’t like it?”

She smiled more gently than ever as she watched me in my awkward state. She was discharged as soon as the war ended, and after that, she returned to her hometown and taught children at school. In this day and age, it would have been a great charm for a woman to be able to read and write, and to be able to speak not only her own language but also a foreign language freely.

Thanks to that, she taught children in her hometown of Pyongyang for a while, and then received an offer to teach children from noble families at a government school in Hansung. She was also asked to teach English and French.

Actually, even before the war, it was difficult to find qualified teachers at the government-run English and French schools, so they were desperately trying to recruit them. But if her skills were such that she could share with me stories that were a little embarrassing to tell in front of others, or stories that were personal, then… it was even more strange that she had not received such offers before.

At that time, I was also very busy as the new director of operations in Hansung, so I couldn’t go to Pyongyang often. So, she accepted the offer and came down here to surprise me.

One day, I was surprised to see her come down without saying anything on my way home from work, but I didn’t ask her anything. I just ran to her and gave her a hug. After a while, people around me teased her that even the chief of operations, who was almost the only bachelor in the Marshal’s Office, was finally getting married, and I almost died trying to cover it up.

“There’s no reason to tell you every little detail about that kind of daily life.”

“Don’t you know that I want to know every little thing, even the smallest ones?”

Then she skillfully placed her hand on my waist and said mischievously. No, maybe she was a little impatient. She had been chasing me since before the war, and I’m not stupid, so there’s no way I wouldn’t notice. I just thought about gradually reducing the distance between us and sharing the smallest things.

Even if it is not a daily life filled with love and joy, but a heavy and dark daily life, she said that she must share. At least, just sharing can lighten the heavy heart a little.

“Thanks to that, there are a lot of eyes watching me from all over the place.”

“Well, if you want to see it, then go ahead and see it. The world has changed now.”

“The essence has not changed. The essence of war and life is always the same.”

“Tch, you speak well.”

Of course, even light bickering like this was fun in its own way. After the war ended, we started to open our hearts to each other and ‘share’ our daily lives. At first, we started sharing really simple things.

Whether it was late at night or working overtime, we would end the day by walking together down the street. For some reason, it felt like it had to be that way. Most days, we spent time talking about what happened that day, things that made us happy or sad, but sometimes, when we were feeling emotional, we would quietly walk around the city and share our feelings.

In winter, I enjoyed walking through the snow, and in spring, I walked feeling the ground softened by the rain that fell the night before.

And the evenings in this city with her were always quiet and peaceful. I, who was exhausted from the heat of the battlefield and the countless conspiracies and schemes, was able to find salvation in this precious resting place that I had not felt in a long time.

Of course, it was not easy to get used to it, with the memories of the past war and the harsh reality, but at some point, I thought that the time I spent watching the twilight of the evening with her would no longer be connected to the fear of death and destruction, or the distrust, or the coldness of a conspiracy that came from the deepest part of my heart.

Unlike the dark nights of the past, which had been oppressed by fear and oppression, this was a silence that came from true peace. And this was a place so beautiful that it could sometimes be called sacred.

At least that’s what it felt like to me.

#Episode 1 – Sharing the daily life (1.1)

“Still, there are a lot of people out for a walk today.”

“… I didn’t know this city was this beautiful. The description of Paris as the city of light is beyond words.”

As if she was fascinated by her current appearance, Lohan looked around her. Whenever she walked down the city streets, she quietly but with eyes full of joy, admired everything around her.

Of course, it may seem plain and simple compared to other cities of the great powers. However, it would be a completely different feeling to see the city, which had been quiet since ancient times, finally step into the world’s ocean and become full of energy.

Sometimes, my heart would swell as I watched the trams running through the streets, packed with people, soldiers in uniforms marching through the streets when the time came, smoke rising from factory chimneys, and the mountains, rivers, and fields being developed.

When the last war was in full swing, the front line had been pushed back to Hamheung, and the Japanese army’s scorched-earth operation against the three southern provinces had begun, and morale was at rock bottom, Army General Lee Kyu-tae, the current Minister of the Army, said this.

-Now, when this war is over, we will be able to say this. The shining cities of our homeland have been trampled under the enemy’s bayonets and boots, the beautiful mountains and fields are shivering, and even the rivers that once flowed proudly are dyed red with the blood that flowed from the battlefields and are mourning.

However, there is a reason why we must reclaim the lands of our homeland that have been broken and distorted, and that is because our great people of Korea and our sons and daughters who will one day be born after us and live in the future must each pursue the happiness they deserve while living a simple life in their hometowns… –

And just like he said, I felt that it was worth it to fight and cross the line to open a future where I could live such a small and simple life.

Even I, who had personally set foot on and experienced many cities that were much more splendid than this in the original world, felt the same way, but she, a contemporary who had to live in this era, must have felt a much stronger impression than I did. However, unlike me, she respected the daily life and ordinariness of the present in her own way.

When my heart was pounding, unlike me who tried to control my emotions by talking to her for no reason, she always respected this moment with silence. Depending on the person and the situation, silence could be respect or could lead to a great disrespect, but her silence, as I felt now, was not a bad thing.

It was completely different from the bold appearance she usually showed or thought of. Perhaps she longed for this kind of ordinariness. Maybe I don’t know, but she may have been deeply wounded in the last war. Many people died, and several times as many people had to live with the wounds for the rest of their lives.

And the scars did not only mean scars on the body. They also meant losing loved ones and having to bury the nightmare of war itself deep in their hearts. The scars they received in this way did not just remain deep in one generation, but perhaps affected an entire era that spanned generations.

“I…….”

“huh?”

“Isn’t it about time for dinner now?”

After walking for a while, I realized that it was getting dark, not just twilight. It was definitely late afternoon when we had lunch together, chatted at a cafe, and decided to take a walk outside for a while.

Now I could see that the streetlights erected here and there were shining brightly, and underneath them, people were waiting for the tram to take them home from work or buying side dishes to have a quick dinner before going home.

Or, you could go into a shop with a delicious smell and have a drink after a hard day. On the other side, deliverymen on bicycles were taking orders and skillfully carrying a lot of dishes on their heads as they headed somewhere.

“Every store is packed with people.”

“That’s because tomorrow is the weekend.”

Tomorrow, I can rest well anyway. It was a familiar sight to me, who usually enjoys drinking and dancing on Friday nights. I could see some familiar faces in some stores, but it seemed like the officers from the Operations Department were not going home right after work and were just hanging out here. I was wondering what to say, but I stopped.

If those guys see you hanging out together now, word will spread to the lowest officers in the accounting department before the end of next week.

“Haha, but I guess the places that only we know about will be okay?”

However, Roha, who was next to me, seemed confident and grabbed my arm, and we started walking briskly toward the stores she had found out about. I was amazed at how she could walk like a light soldier while wearing such a fluttering skirt, and I followed her for a while.

“I’m sorry. As you can see, we are very crowded… … .”

“to……?”

And, to her delight, the stores she had chosen were all packed with customers.

“Wherever we go… aren’t these stores that only we know about?!”

She spoke with a puzzled expression for the first time in a long time, not knowing what to do. The last time we came together, it wasn’t this crowded. Actually, there was a reason for that.

The reason was that my destinations in Hanseong were practically an open secret. In the first place, there was no one here in Hanseong who didn’t know my face. Of course, after the war, my face was in the newspaper in a photograph, and it was reported as far away as the United States and Europe.

It was a small story, but the places I went to after work with Roha had become a place that I went to, and the reputation of being a good restaurant spread far and wide. Maybe that’s why it became quite famous through word of mouth, but the person who first discovered it, me, and I ended up in a situation where we couldn’t enjoy the taste.

… Anyway, for the above reasons, wherever we went, the place was packed with customers, and even if we tried to go in and eat, we had to wait more than 20 minutes, so Roh was upset and started to cry. Well, it makes sense since this happened in front of the person he likes.

I thought about it for a moment and then suggested an alternative to her. A good commander must prepare several alternatives before going into battle in order to ultimately win. It was the same in real life.

“Then do you want to eat at my house before you go?”

“… … ?”

I spoke quietly to her, who had been quietly looking around the street for a while, and at first she nodded without thinking, but then her face turned bright red like a child with a fever and she stuttered.

“Th, that, that, that… Do you know what that means when you say that?!”

“I told you to just eat and leave.”

“On a late night like this, at another man’s house… … .”

“If you don’t like it, then don’t say anything.”

It was a bit teasing. She was always confident and bold, so it was rare to see her flustered and flustered like this. In addition, her face, which was usually always smiling because her mood swings were rare, was also quite cute with a blush on it.

“It’s not that I don’t like it… I’m just not mentally ready yet… .”

“Be quiet.”

I said as I gave her a chestnut punch on the head.

“Ouch!”

“Don’t say those strange things you heard somewhere.”

Then she grumbled at me, saying that she was a grown-up now and that I should treat her like one, but instead of responding, I just shrugged my shoulders and started walking home. And she followed me, holding my arm.

… Of course, I didn’t just go home. Before going home, I did a quick grocery shopping to make her favorite dishes. I bought a bunch of meat that looked delicious and vegetables that looked fresh. There happened to be a pretty good stove in the house, so I could cook with it.

“Huh? I’ve never seen this before.”

“I just bought one.”

I said this while turning on the stove with pride. In the past, we had to buy charcoal and firewood separately to cook rice, which was not an easy task. Not only did we have to go back and forth between the stove and the stove, but when we lit and put out the fire, the heat control was not good enough, so we often burned our rice.

Every time that happened, my mother would say, “What kind of food would a grown man cook?” and nag me to bring people into the house. But I couldn’t bring people into the house right away, and since my younger brother, who had become the commander of the assault infantry regiment and had a temper, wouldn’t cook meals for me, I had no choice but to take care of it myself.

“Just sit over there and wait. I’ll be done soon.”

“Haha, let’s look forward to it.”

She was staring intently in my direction, her eyes sparkling. It was like the way a house cat looks when it finds something tasty or smells something fragrant, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Huh? Brother, you use gochujang instead of soy sauce in your stir-fried meat?”

“Just stay still. I will show you heaven.”

“…If you don’t even believe in God, what kind of heaven is this?”

Come to think of it, it was also a time when many people in the northwest region were devout Christians. She stuck out her lips and seemed slightly disappointed that it wasn’t the kind of pork stir-fry she had imagined, but she didn’t have to worry. When I was at Sunmuyeong, I made it this way once and it became quite popular.

This was said to be one of the favorite meals of Korean men in the 21st century. The rice had a mouth-watering smell, and the soup, which was a bit salty but had become familiar by now, was boiling briskly. When they were presented in a plate as pretty as possible, the woman’s eyes, which had been pouting earlier, came alive.

“Oh my… The food looks really nice. I’m being treated to a meal prepared by my brother who fought so hard in the war.”

“Should we start by eating before talking about that?”

I spoke while picking up my spoon. If someone who didn’t know who I was were to pass by, I would probably look like a newlywed bride, sitting in front of a deliciously prepared table, enjoying a simple but happy meal together.

“omg…….”

“What’s wrong? Should I get you some water?”

“No, this is really delicious.”

As I watched her stuffing meat into her mouth, I felt like a squirrel putting in acorns. It had been a long time since I had a meal with someone, so I couldn’t help but feel happy.

#Episode 1 – Sharing the daily life (1.2)

Most of my meals were spent alone and in silence, either because others felt uncomfortable eating with me, who had distinguished themselves greatly in the previous war, or because my subordinates, exhausted from carrying out my orders for a long time, left the table so that they could at least fully enjoy their meals.

Sometimes I would eat with other people, but I felt more uncomfortable because they were too formal and polite. Even so, the only people I could openly eat with were my mother or my younger sibling.

But at home, sitting across from the person I feel most comfortable with, there was no other paradise in the world. I had no idea that sharing even the most basic of daily routines, such as a meal, could be so blissful.

… Thanks to that, I was feeling pretty good, so I had a simple drink, two glasses. The spicy taste went down my throat and into my stomach, and I felt hot. And then, in front of me, she said that she was now a proper adult and handed me a glass of alcohol. She said that she learned to drink from her father.

“No. This is something you can only drink when you’re older. You go and get that bottle of cider from the kitchen cupboard and drink it.”

“Why does my brother always treat me like a child?”

“… You’re a kid, right?”

I wonder if she was angry at my words, she puffed out her cheeks, which was not an ordinary cute thing. Suddenly, the theory of broad frontal simultaneous contact that Tukhachevsky had talked about, and that would probably be talked about in this world, suddenly came to mind. It was about mobilizing a large number of troops to maintain contact with the ‘enemy’ over as wide an area as possible, keeping the enemy from switching reserves to the expected breakthrough, and thus concentrating on a narrow area as a mobile force, breaking through the enemy’s defense line, and advancing deeply.

… I thought maybe that was also applicable in the love front. Right now, Roha, she was making direct and direct contact with me, and it seemed like she was breaking down the line that I could mentally resist. Before I knew it, I poured her a drink, then two, and before I knew it, a whole bottle of alcohol was gone.

And before I knew it, I was just eating until my stomach was full. After eating a pound of stir-fried pork, two bowls of rice each, and even half a bowl of soup, I enjoyed the silence for a while, washing away the rising intoxication with the cool summer breeze.

Unlike the unpleasant silence we experienced on the battlefield, where we had to count casualties every day and reflect on despair, not knowing when the enemy would attack, the current silence could be said to be something that respects each other’s daily lives.

“Ahh… It’s already 10 o’clock.”

Roha took out her pocket watch, tried to turn away her flushed face from the alcohol, and stretched as she spoke. If she hurried a little, she would be able to catch the last tram to her house, but she just looked up at the sky as if she was deliberately delaying it.

“Just wait, I’ll just do the dishes and bring you home.”

Amidst the clanking of dishes and the sound of water trickling down, she was lying down in the clothes I had given her to eat casually, and she just looked up at the sky without saying anything. Then, all of a sudden, she said this to me.

“Brother, do you remember what you said at the beginning?”

“what?”

I replied while putting on my apron and washing the dishes. It seemed like it would take longer than usual to finish the dishes because they were so greasy that I had to scrub them until they squeaked.

“Sharing your daily life is… the best expression of affection.”

“That’s right.”

“And today, I entered the innermost part of my brother’s daily life.”

And then, her face, smiling bashfully at me, had a strange combination of sadness and joy. It was like she had an expression that made her look like she would cry for any reason if you prodded her. Maybe it was because she had a few drinks, but her usually very stable mood swings seemed to explode.

“I also wanted to feel this kind of everyday life, this kind of normalcy, like my comrades. Thank you so much, Brother. Can you continue to make me feel this way in the future, no… for the rest of my life?”

Then she came up to me and touched my rough hands as she spoke. It felt strange to have her soft, white hand rest on my rough hands, which were calloused from handling swords, guns, and documents pouring in every day.

“Don’t say something like that so casually.”

“I’m not joking, brother.”

She spoke to me in a slightly annoyed voice.

“Do I have to say it myself if I like you that much?”

“Rohaya.”

“I’ve waited for too long. It’s been so many years since before the war, since I promised myself that I would make you mine when I got a little older. How long do you plan on making me wait?”

“I’m too old. I’m already thirty-three this year… … .”

“That doesn’t matter. You said you were so good at understanding the enemy’s intentions on the battlefield, but how come you don’t know a single thing about my emotions? No, you’re pretending not to know at all?”

It wasn’t that I didn’t know. I was a man, and a proper human being, so it’s not that I didn’t want to surrender to my feelings and be faithful. But even so, the reason I did this, to be honest, was because I had no confidence.

Not only was there an age difference between us, but I felt it was a waste of her talent and life to let her alone handle the storms that would come my way, right next to me. Maybe she would have to face tragedies and wounds that she didn’t need to experience in the middle of the whirlpool.

I was so afraid that the hurt and loneliness she would feel during this whole process would ruin her emotions.

“That’s not it. Whether by choice or not, I have no choice but to live at the center of the world, and I’m afraid of the wounds you might receive unintentionally in that life.”

“coward.”

She said with a deep sigh. Then she lifted her hooves and put her arms around my neck, whispering in my ear.

“Do you think I entrusted my life to you without being prepared for something like that?”

Then, she gently placed her lips on mine. It was a completely different feeling from when she kissed my cheek during the last war. For a moment, I felt as if I was melting. I couldn’t help but feel like my rationality was crumbling to the point where I thought, “What if this is the theory of simultaneous frontal contact that I had thought about earlier?”

And with a thud, she and I fell to the floor as if we were melting.

“Really, is it okay for me… …?”

“Of course.”

She grabbed my hand and bit my earlobe. I barely managed to pull myself together and opened my mouth to her.

“…I might not be able to come home often.”

“Then I’ll wait. I don’t know what your favorite food is, but I’ll learn about it one by one as I wait.”

“Sometimes it may make you sad.”

“That goes for me too. We are not emotionless objects.”

“What if I go to the battlefield and don’t come back for a long time?”

“Then… I’ll write to you. I’ve waited for years, but I can’t wait that long.”

And when our eyes met again, she answered with the happiest face I had ever seen.

“I love you, brother. I fell in love at first sight. And… this is the best confession… I can make.”

It felt like my emotions were running high.

“I, I can’t express this feeling in words. Even after reading and devouring so many books… I can’t even express the feeling I had when I first got on the saddle and rode without my father’s help. But this is definitely… … .”

She too looked at me from above, breathing heavily and clutching her heart as if it were going to burst. It wasn’t enough that her face was now flushed.

“Love is something that cannot be expressed in words. Yes, love is something that no scholar can express. So please hug me. Even you, brother, cannot express this moment.”

The sound of each other exhaling and whispering filled my house. I had a strange thought that maybe there was a scene like this in the romance novel she had first read. That’s how we poured out everything we had been holding back during the early morning hours. Whether it was our emotions, our inner feelings, or whatever.

Only after the next day dawned did the emotions that had been heightened the previous night finally turn into gentle waves. She was fast asleep, not knowing what had happened the night before, and I woke up clutching my aching head. It seemed that the alcohol I had consumed the night before was stronger than I had thought.

“Ugh… This is a mess.”

I couldn’t tell if last night’s events were a dream or my imagination, but when I pinched my cheek, it hurt, so I thought it was probably real. I got some warm water to wash my face, and as I was roughly preparing breakfast, she woke up to a rustling sound and came out, rubbing her eyes. She was a little queasy, maybe because of last night’s events.

“Uh… yeah, good morning. Did you sleep well?”

“My head hurts… … .”

She whined a little. The alcohol she drank yesterday was definitely strong.

“Yesterday was a bit of a dangerous day, but… … .”

“Thank goodness… that’s not it. You really… … .”

“Well, it’s fortunate if it doesn’t happen… … .”

She smiled as if she felt good, dipping her hands in the warm water I had prepared for washing.

“If it happens, it will be very clear evidence that we existed in the world, so wouldn’t it be good either way?”

And then she smiled faintly and playfully sprinkled water on me. I smiled and stroked her head, and that’s how I greeted the weekend.

Maybe it was just the first of many weekends I would have with her in the future, but it was also one of many days that would one day disappear from everyone’s memories without a trace, but that didn’t matter.

Even those days that would be forgotten would be enough if they were spent with her, no longer sharing daily life, but rather living together from now on.