Three years later.
“Now. Straight ahead. That is Emerald Canyon.”
The clear, watery hue caught the sunlight and glittered like glass.
The water flowing through the deep, silent canyon was, true to its name, emerald in color.
I was holding a megaphone and leading the tourists.
A face tanned bronze.
A Hawaiian shirt and shorts.
And a fedora.
The perfect guide outfit.
And also my favorite outfit.
Here, no one thought of me as Alex.
No, they couldn’t connect me to Alex of the Alex Group.
Here, I was comfortable, and I was smiling.
“I’ll give you plenty of time to take photos later.”
“For now, look with your eyes. With your eyes.”
“Keep it in your mind. You’ll never forget it for the rest of your life.”
“We’ll rest here for thirty minutes, then move by boat.”
“In the meantime, those who want to take photos, take photos. Those who need to use the restroom, go use the restroom.”
“Drinks and alcohol are prepared over there, so anyone who wants some, please help yourselves. It’s all free.”
“There are snacks and ice cream too, so enjoy.”
“Waaah~~~”
At my words, the tourists cheered.
They must have liked it.
Seeing the tourists happy,
for some reason, made me feel good too.
Emerald Canyon was still as popular as ever.
Even now, you had to break through bloody competition just to book a tour.
For those who had made it through that fierce competition and succeeded in reserving a spot, I could hand over spoils like these as much as they wanted.
They fully deserved to drink for free.
Now that the tourists had scattered in all directions,
I went and sat down at the spot with the best view in Emerald Canyon.
This place never got old, no matter how many times I saw it.
Every time, it felt new and beautiful, as if I were seeing it for the first time.
For a moment, I set down all my thoughts and gazed at Emerald Canyon.
Nature changes every time.
So there’s no chance to get bored.
Just then, someone silently held out a bottle of water.
It was Allen.
“Thanks.”
I gulped down a mouthful of the water Allen offered me.
The cold water slid down my throat.
It felt as if the humid heat of the Philippines was washed away all at once.
But Allen’s expression didn’t look refreshed at all.
He looked like he’d chewed on shit.
“What? Why the face?”
“Can you please stop coming here now?”
“Why? This place is great. I get to see Emerald Canyon, do Lumina Lake, work as a guide—how great is that?”
“Do you not see us?”
Allen spoke as if sighing.
I casually turned my gaze and looked around.
Disguised as couples, tourists, and families,
more than thirty members of the Obsidian Unit were conducting covert security.
“Hey! Aren’t you overdoing it a bit? Who’s going to come here that you need this much security—”
“The safest place is where you must be the most careful. That is what you taught us, sir.”
Cheap bastard.
Just because he was having a bit of a hard time, he was grumbling at me.
I am not generous enough to put up with that kind of whining.
“Enough. I’m going to keep doing this.”
“The staff are uncomfortable too. So please return now. Haven’t you done enough?”
“I said I’m doing it. This is fun.”
I spoke to Allen as if throwing a childish tantrum.
Just then, someone came running over, panting.
It was Scott.
This bastard had gained weight again.
Seriously, the moment I let him be even a little, he puts on weight.
I’ll have to roll him again.
“Huff… huff… B-boss… just a second… let me catch my breath… huff… huff…”
“What is it?”
“You need to move now.”
“What are you talking about? Can’t you see? I’m in the middle of guiding.”
“You have to go to the Cannes Film Festival.”
“Cannes? Why Cannes?”
“The film that was submitted to Cannes last time. They invited you because [My Lord Alex] is considered a strong contender for an award.”
My Lord Alex was a film made by a kid who had taken classes at K-ORIGIN, adapting the story of Unity Town.
Even though it was a fictional story, critics were praising it for its sincerity.
“I’m not the one receiving the award, so why should I go?”
“Aren’t you the producer?”
“The producer isn’t me, it’s Daehoon. I’m the person who opposed making this movie. What the hell is My Lord Alex? It’s embarrassing. Ugh, gives me chills. Tell Daehoon to go to Cannes.”
“Daehoon hyung is coming too.”
“Then that’s settled.”
“The director says he really wants to be with you, sir. And you are Alex, so shouldn’t you go?”
“…I don’t want to. I’m not going.”
I threw another tantrum.
But it seemed no one was listening to me.
“And after Cannes, you have to stop by Mexico as well.”
“Why Mexico?”
“Sin Junggi says he has something to tell you.”
“If these bastards have something to say, shouldn’t you be the ones coming here?”
“I’m sorry. He says there’s something he needs to show you.”
“Ahem… Is that so? Then I should go.”
“How’s Sin Junggi?”
I asked casually.
“His forces have already grown larger than Rodrigo’s were. In particular, the drugs Edward made are apparently incredibly popular there.”
At Scott’s answer, I gave a faint laugh.
“You really never know.”
Three years since the Rodrigo incident.
We returned to our daily lives.
Everyone did what they were good at.
Edward made drugs,
Chen Zhihao manipulated Gogo Casino’s odds even more craftily,
and Leon was selling weapons internationally.
Simon went beyond being a rebel leader and became the mayor of Zamboanga,
while Patrick was still president.
His chances of reelection in the upcoming presidential election were very high.
Anna grew Taerim Insurance into an international insurance company.
Once they began paying out insurance money based on their enormous capital,
from that point on, insurance subscriptions started surging to a level that was hard to handle.
Taerim Insurance became a global brand.
Magiting was also appointed Minister of Energy of the Philippines and was managing not only the country’s electricity but all of its energy.
Sin Junggi said he wanted to pioneer South America himself,
and left for South America with Toto.
The result was a great success.
He now encompassed not only South America, but also Mexico, the United States, and Canada.
Sandro completely unified the organizations in the Philippines.
With many subordinate groups under him, he ruled the darkness of the Philippines.
Du Mansik of the Triads and Kurokawa of the Yakuza had also firmly built their own forces.
The three of them operated separately, and at times together in alliance,
maximizing their influence even further.
They took Asia in hand and moved it.
There were times when Sin Junggi moved with them too.
CEO Kang Jaeho was doing construction in the Philippines,
and Im Yuna continued making goods and turning them into products.
And the fact that those two looked like lovers was probably just my imagination.
Scott had gotten fat,
and Allen still never strayed more than ten meters from me.
He was always by my side.
Everyone was doing their own work,
while also remaining gathered together.
As for me, I felt that being a guide was my calling and tried to keep doing it, but it wasn’t easy.
If I worked even a little, Scott and Allen would soon come looking for me.
For one reason or another, they would say I had to stop and attend to my schedule.
Under Scott and Allen’s threats,
I had no choice but to come down the mountain.
I wanted to stay longer,
but there was nothing I could do.
When I came down, Anna was waiting.
“Anna? What brings you here?”
“I stopped by on my way back from Mexico.”
“Why? Is something going on? Did you come to meet someone?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“You, sir!”
“Huh? Me?!”
“Yes. Since the major shareholder won’t attend meetings, this lowly CEO came personally to seek an audience.”
“I gave you all the voting rights. Then you can just handle it yourself.”
“Never mind that. Our sales increased by a large margin this time.”
“Why? Again?”
“Thanks to Junggi, we launched insurance products in South America, and they’re incredible. The investments we made with that have also yielded quite high returns.”
“What kind of product is it?”
“It’s called Integrated Conflict Zone Risk. It covers kidnapping, explosions, firearms, and even armed clashes.”
“Who designed it? Sin Junggi?”
“No, they said Toto did this one.”
I smiled faintly.
It looked good, seeing that everyone seemed to be living diligently.
Everyone was working hard,
so I wondered if it wouldn’t be fine for just me to live roughly.
But,
not a chance.
No one around me would leave me alone.
I had to get through a packed schedule.
I didn’t like that,
but I also did.
I hated having a lot of work,
but I liked being able to be with these people.
Suddenly, I thought of my father’s funeral hall.
The guys who had seen my father off at the funeral hall were still by my side.
The vow I had made, that I wanted to live while rubbing shoulders with them,
seemed, perhaps, to be being kept well.
I felt a little relieved.
******
Cannes, France.
A hotel near the venue where the Cannes International Film Festival was being held.
On the day [My Lord Alex] was screened.
In Cannes, the standing ovation continued for more than ten minutes.
We congratulated the director who won the Grand Prix,
then quietly slipped out.
We found a place to sit by the sea in front of Cannes.
Moonlight shattered over the gentle waves.
On the table, there was wine instead of soju.
Caviar sat there instead of freshly sliced raw fish,
but our hearts were no different from back then, when we had drunk soju while looking out at the sea off Gunsan.
We were still young, still immature, and still loved the sea.
“Thanks.”
“For your movie winning the Grand Prix? Say that to the director. The director is seriously high on Alex.”
“Not that.”
“Then what?”
“Just… for coming this far with me?”
“You crazy bastard.”
Daehoon gave a faint laugh and took a sip of wine.
With that one phrase, it felt as if all the days we had spent together came back to me.
Starting from Special Warfare School,
to the time we took over Gunsan,
to the time he handled my father’s funeral.
The conquest of Busan, Geunsu’s wedding, and K-ORIGIN SCHOOL.
So much had happened,
and we had gone through it together.
We had entrusted our backs to one another without hesitation,
and fought our way through a jungle-like world.
As memories flashed by in an instant, I found myself thinking of soju.
“Why is this booze so bland? Don’t you have any soju? In front of a sea like this, it should be soju. What a shame.”
Daehoon grumbled.
“As if.”
I took a bag out of my inventory.
To be precise, it wasn’t a bag, but an icebox.
Inside, it was packed full of soju and all kinds of side dishes.
Crack.
I took out a bottle of soju, twisted off the cap, and poured Daehoon a glass.
I received a glass myself, clinked it against his, and drank it all down in one go.
The sharp thrill of alcohol slid down my esophagus.
As expected, soju is the drink for the night sea.
That rule held true even in Cannes.
“Kyaa~ That’s it.”
“This is so nice.”
The cold soju suited the sea of Cannes far too well.
Daehoon took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and asked casually,
“What about marriage? Aren’t you going to do it?”
“Marriage, huh…”
“You should. You need to think about Jua too. If you’re not going to marry her, continuing to date her is selfish.”
“I know. But… I don’t have confidence.”
“Crazy bastard. Who gets married because they’re confident? You just do it. You just live day by day, adjusting to each other.”
“If you know so well, why don’t you do it?”
“Kekeke. If I get married, I’d have to settle down. I think I’d have a hard time because I can’t settle down. There are too many women looking for me.”
“You crazy bastard.”
By the sea in front of Cannes, we kept tilting back glasses of soju until the sun rose.
We reminisced,
giggling and talking all night long.
And yet, in one corner of my heart, thoughts of Jua would not leave me.
.
.
.
Sagaing, Myanmar.
In front of a temporarily erected clinic.
A red cross was drawn on top of the white tent,
and countless patients were lined up before it.
From people who had suffered gunshot wounds due to the civil war, to those with colds.
People injured by shrapnel, children burning with fever, elderly people coughing.
All kinds of people came to the clinic.
Compared to that, the number of doctors at the clinic was hopelessly insufficient.
The doctors were moving busily, but treating this many patients was overwhelming.
Even today, they had already been treating patients for more than twelve hours,
but patients still filled the area in front of the tent.
But that sight was nothing compared to the inside of the clinic.
Inside the clinic was like a battlefield.
The smell of blood and disinfectant stung the nose.
Groans and cries never ceased.
People injured in the civil war complained of pain.
Emergency patients kept pouring in.
There was no system,
no order.
The only thing certain was that if they were not treated now,
they would die. One hundred percent.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Gunshots could be heard even inside the clinic.
And after those gunshots rang out, patients naturally came flooding in.
Gwon Jua was seeing patients in that treatment room.
She stopped bleeding, stitched wounds, administered painkillers.
That was all she could do here.
Equipment and medicine were desperately lacking.
But what they lacked most was sleep.
Her eyelids drooped shut.
She probably hadn’t slept in thirty hours.
Even when she worked in the emergency room, it had never been this bad.
Even so, there was no helping it.
If she slept now, the patient in front of her would die.
That was why she could not sleep.
Of all the many regions she could have come to, why here?
She regretted it, and yet she also felt proud at the thought that she could save this many patients.
.
.
.
At some point, the gunfire that had been ringing out continuously stopped.
As if by a lie, the gunshots vanished.
The patients stopped coming too.
A peace so sudden it felt unsettling arrived.
“What is this? Why is it like this all of a sudden?”
Gwon Jua asked the doctor beside her uneasily.
“You. That...”
“What?”
“When you say things like that, something always happens.”
The moment he said it, the site manager responsible for the clinic’s security came in.
The doctor working with her squeezed his eyes shut at the sight.
It seemed something had happened.
“A VIP is coming now.”
“A VIP?”
“They said a VIP is coming, so even the civil war has entered a temporary ceasefire. Apparently, they decided to cease fire for at least forty-eight hours.”
“What? Really?”
“Someone impressive must be coming. Just because that person is coming, they’re calling a ceasefire on their own?”
“I don’t know who it is, but I’m incredibly grateful.”
“Yeah. So now take turns getting some rest.”
“Yeah. I should. I need to sleep. I can’t keep my eyes open.”
At the site manager’s words, her fellow doctor spoke.
Gwon Jua was sleepy too, but she decided to yield after hearing what he said.
Her colleague looked far from all right himself.
“Fine. Sleep and come back to switch with me.”
“Okay.”
The doctor was about to head to the lodgings when an Escalade suddenly glided to a stop in front of the clinic.
Agents in tactical gear got out and secured the surrounding area.
“What is this? Who is it?”
Her colleague asked in a whisper.
But there was no one who could answer.
Once safety was confirmed, the door of the sedan in the middle opened.
Gwon Jua’s eyes widened when she saw the person who stepped out.
A familiar silhouette.
“Inbae.”
.
.
.
Jua and I headed to a nearby restaurant.
The dim atmosphere was nice enough, and the food was decent,
but Gwon Jua was barely touching it.
“Why can’t you eat? Does the food taste bad? Should we go somewhere else?”
“No. I’m just sleepy. Sleep comes before food right now.”
Gwon Jua’s eyes were half-closed.
“You look exhausted. Let’s eat this and move right away.”
“Okay.”
Gwon Jua forced the food down bite by bite.
The sight made my heart ache.
“If it’s that hard, how about going back to Korea?”
“I like it here. I want to stay here a little longer.”
Gwon Jua shook her head.
“It’s hard, though.”
“Still, I’m saving people. I became a doctor to save lives. That’s enough.”
I laughed softly.
“Ohh. You really do sound like a doctor now.”
“I was always a doctor, you know.”
Gwon Jua pouted.
Even that was so cute and lovable.
But I kept circling around what I wanted to say, unable to say it.
I only kept talking about useless things.
That was when it happened.
“You have something to say. Hurry up and say it.”
Gwon Jua spoke first.
“Huh?”
A little surprised, I looked at Gwon Jua.
“You came to talk about marriage, didn’t you?”
“Huh? How did you know?”
“I’ve known you for five years. How would I not know?”
Gwon Jua spoke calmly.
“You knew? That I was putting off marriage too?”
“Why wouldn’t I? I know everything.”
“Then why didn’t you say anything?”
Gwon Jua thought for a moment before speaking.
“I figured you had your reasons.”
“Then? Are you okay with us continuing like this?”
“This isn’t bad either, but I think it would be okay if there were a change.”
“A change... even if that change turns negative?”
“What’s negative in life? It’s just a direction. There are only directions that suit me and directions that don’t. You’re going well in your direction, and I’m going well in mine too. If there’s a road where we overlap, and we can walk it together, then that’s enough. If not... well, we’ll walk different roads and ask how each other is doing from time to time.”
I was surprised by Gwon Jua’s answer.
It was such a bold, brave thing to say.
“Aren’t you afraid of breaking up?”
“Of course I am. It’s scary, and I’m afraid. But I don’t think dragging our relationship on just because I’m scared of that would be better for us. I don’t want to hold on by force.”
Gwon Jua’s words were light, but firm.
“...I don’t have confidence.”
“Confidence in what?”
“I’ve never experienced a proper family. I grew up under a mother whose face I’ve never seen and a father who beat me whenever he drank. So there are a lot of times when I don’t know what to do, or how to do it. The work I’m doing now can never be called safe, either. I keep wondering whether it’s right to drag you into a life like mine. I’m afraid I’ll lose you.”
I spoke honestly.
I was trying not to lose the people around me,
and that was why I paid the most attention to that part,
but the experience of losing the people closest to me did not heal easily.
Even now, the first thing I worried about was whether getting close to me would put someone in danger.
“Hehe. My boyfriend really is something, isn’t he? A boyfriend who can stop a civil war just by visiting. What’s there to worry about?”
Gwon Jua laughed.
“I’m dangerous. I do dangerous work, and I don’t know what could happen or when. You could become a target too. That’s what scares me most.”
“I know. But you’ve never been the one to create that danger first. It’s better than getting beaten and doing nothing. And you’re going to protect me.”
“That’s obvious, but...”
“Then that’s enough.”
Come to think of it, the only person I could feel most at ease with, the only person I could tell everything in my heart to, was Gwon Jua.
Gwon Jua had not changed.
She was the same as she had been in high school, and the same now.
Her appearance, her personality, her loveliness.
The words came out before I knew it.
“Let’s get married.”
Even I was surprised.
At my words, Gwon Jua looked into my eyes.
She must have thought about it, but it still seemed unexpected.
Her eyes grew round.
Before long, she slowly nodded.
.
.
.
Seoul Unity Village.
It was the day of Jua’s and my wedding.
Unity Village was covered entirely in flowers.
White and pink flowers continued along the path,
and decorations had been placed on the buildings and trees as well.
This place no longer felt like reality.
It had transformed into a village from a fairy tale.
My wedding was not a simple event.
It was becoming a national occasion.
The government had requested that the wedding be held to coincide with the G20 summit.
It was to coordinate the attendance of state guests.
Former President Gim Minsu, and current President Choe Jinseok.
Chinese President Wei Zhonglin,
Philippine President Patrick,
and this time, even the president of Mexico was said to be attending.
Not only that, influential figures from political and business circles had also announced their attendance.
We had not invited anyone, yet many people said they would come.
Our wedding was becoming something beyond a promise between the two of us.
Security was that strict.
From the outskirts of Unity Village to the inside,
thorough security and vigilance continued.
But the moment people stepped inside, no one felt tense.
They felt happy.
Scott and Daehun took care of the wedding preparations on their own.
I stood there in a tuxedo.
People came to find me and congratulate me.
Sandr, of course, and everyone I knew attended.
I was so overwhelmed by all the congratulations that I could barely keep my head straight.
Unity Village was not small, but just for today, it felt cramped.
Then someone took my hand.
It was Gwon Sangyeol.
No longer the chairman, but the man who would become my father-in-law.
He said nothing.
He simply held my hand tightly.
I bowed my head slightly.
“...Please take good care of me.”
“I’m the one who should be asking. Please take care of our Jua.”
It was brief, but many meanings were contained in those words.
Music began to flow,
and people’s gazes gathered in one direction.
At the end of those gazes stood Gwon Jua in a white dress.
It was not flashy, but she was so beautiful I could not take my eyes off her.
We held hands.
In that moment, all the time that had passed until now flashed by.
Gunfire and explosions.
Blood and death.
The endless incidents and accidents.
All of it felt as though it had existed for this very moment.
I looked at Gwon Jua and smiled.
I was truly happy.
And so, we slowly walked down the aisle.
Hand in hand, slowly.
“I hereby declare the groom and bride husband and wife.”
Applause erupted.
Flower petals flew, and fireworks burst.
Some laughed, and some cried.
I held Gwon Jua’s hand even tighter.
And we walked out together.
In the same direction.
- The End -