Episode 306: Boundary Line

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…Lee Sa-young opened the firmly shut bedroom door. The pitch-black room was eerily silent, as if time itself had stopped. On the neatly made bed lay a figure, hands gently folded over their chest.

It was Cha Eui-jae.

There was no trace of life in him, yet his appearance still resembled that of the living. Well, if one ignored the bandages wrapped around his head and his deathly pale complexion. The preservation stone placed beside Cha Eui-jae’s head shimmered faintly. Lee Sa-young tilted his lips into a crooked smile.

“…Have you been well?”

No answer came. Not even the faintest rise and fall of his fingertips or chest. Lee Sa-young had long since grown used to this one-sided conversation. He gazed down at Cha Eui-jae’s closed eyes for a moment before letting out a small sigh.

He wanted to see Cha Eui-jae alive and moving. Not like this— a lifeless doll. Lee Sa-young reached out toward him but pulled back before his fingers could make contact. The moment he touched him, he would be forced to acknowledge his death all over again.

The dead were cold.

‘…This isn’t something I can bear doing twice.’

Lee Sa-young sat down beside the bed, resting his head against the mattress. He didn’t dare to lie beside him. This distance was just right, close enough to feel his presence, yet far enough to ignore the reality of his death.

Lee Sa-young closed his eyes.

In the silent room, only one person’s breathing could be heard.