Idol of the Heavenly One - Chapter 68.2
At that moment, my heart thudded heavily, as if it had dropped. The kindness I had thought was just a passing gesture of mine had been both hope and despair for Baek Jae-heon.
“So even when I died and was born again, I was actually happy.”
I drew in a breath. I had suspected it from his certainty when he mentioned being reborn, and now it was confirmed.
“I thought, ‘I’ll be able to see you again.’”
“…”
“But you weren’t there.”
Baek Jae-heon gave a faint smile, but inside me, a whirlpool of emotions stirred.
Of course, I hadn’t been there. The adult in his late thirties who used to sit beside that child, share snacks, listen to his stories, and comfort his loneliness, was gone.
That adult, meaning me, had been reborn as Ji Myeong-hyeon, living a new life.
“Still, I thought maybe someday I’d see you again, so I kept waiting.”
“…”
“I became a celebrity again, thinking maybe you’d see me on TV.”
That careless remark of mine back then had become a lifeline for this boy. Knowing full well that his father would come back to threaten him, and that strange stalkers would approach him, he had chosen to walk the same path again. All because he hoped that I—someone who no longer even knew who I was—might see him on TV.
Was it guilt I felt? Or was it pride?
Just as those indescribable emotions began to rise—
“And when I died again.”
“What?”
“I was happy again.”
My mind went blank for a moment. Died again? What did he mean by that? Did this mean this wasn’t his second life?
“I wondered, ‘Will I get to meet you next time?’”
“…What are you talking about?”
“But a year before I could, I ended up dying again, at that bastard’s hands.”
I shook my head unconsciously.
“No, what are you saying?”
“Did we meet? Did I meet the me from my previous life?”
“What are you talking about?”
My ears rang, and a sharp pain throbbed in my head. I couldn’t fully understand what he was saying. No, I did understand—it was just that I couldn’t believe it. What Baek Jae-heon was saying was that…
“When I was born again.”
“…”
“I was already a little tired.”
He wasn’t living his second life, but his fourth.
“So I told myself I wouldn’t wait this time.”
His face as he looked down at me was calm, but just as he said, he did look tired. Baek Jae-heon’s hand rose and gently brushed my cheek.
“But people… we can’t help ourselves.”
“…”
“So I waited again, but you weren’t there.”
Baek Jae-heon’s hollow, empty laugh scattered into the air.
“But then, you appeared—like a lie.”
A faint light flickered in his dim eyes, the light of hope seeping in.
“At first, I doubted it because the age didn’t match, but little by little, I became sure.”
“…”
“That calm tone, your voice, your smile. Even your face.”
“…”
“There was no way it wasn’t you.”
I couldn’t even breathe properly at the overwhelming truth. My eyes burned with tears, and Baek Jae-heon’s eyes looking down at me were already red.
“But I wished it weren’t you.”
My heart sank at his words.
“When you appeared as someone completely different like this…”
Baek Jae-heon paused. In his eyes were tears born of decades of loneliness.
“I was afraid you wouldn’t know me, afraid you’d forgotten me.”
“…”
“But then again…”
His voice broke.
“Please…”
He drew in a trembling breath.
“Please, I wanted it to be you.”
And finally, he let all that loneliness spill out. As I watched the silent tears fall from his eyes, I felt as though I couldn’t breathe from the flood of emotions surging through me.
“I’m sorry.”
I pulled Baek Jae-heon into a tight embrace.
At the same time, he began to sob like a child. I gently patted the back of his head and whispered the words I had never managed to say.
“You must have waited…”
Then, in a trembling voice, I added,
“For so long.”
At those words, his sobs deepened. The hot tears that dampened my neck made me close my eyes.
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