M 176

Ki Tae-jeong would grab the innocent Captain Na and change his words dozens of times a day. On days when he secretly read Sehwa’s diary, the intensity of his tantrums only grew fiercer.

It was a first, Ki Tae-jeong acting like such a fool. But because it was about Lee Sehwa, and something that would only burden Lee Sehwa’s body without him doing anything, he couldn’t make a decision easily.

Sehwa had been using this method of contraception because he said it was much more certain and safer for him to get injections and take medicine than for Sehwa to take pills. Ki Tae-jeong wondered if he had been too complacent, relying only on medication and condoms, and even hesitated about having sex, which they always did.

What was absurd was that even in the midst of all that, he would occasionally let out a chuckle. Lee Sehwa, who would rather die than be by his side, now wished to create a new family with him. He would quietly sink into himself, watching his every move, but then bravely knock on his door.

Lee Sehwa was indeed like a flower. Infinitely weak and soft, but he overcame the seasons and tirelessly bloomed again. It goes without saying, Ki Tae-jeong couldn’t help but love Lee Sehwa in any form.

Anyway, since they had only been kissing for several weeks, Sehwa seemed noticeably puzzled, and he himself could no longer bear it. But if they were to become intimate again, the talk of a second child would likely resurface… What should he do then? What should he do from now on?

Ki Tae-jeong hadn’t been able to reach a conclusion since reading Sehwa’s diary. It seemed difficult to oppose it as firmly as he had at first, but he couldn’t simply agree either.

Another world that Lee Sehwa and he would create together.

Family.

The thought alone resonated deeply with Ki Tae-jeong, but the idea of harming Sehwa’s body was still unwavering. Something he could never concede and a beautiful ideal he wanted to touch at least once were clashing intensely in his mind every minute, every second. Choosing one meant the other would be forever irreversible, making him even more frantic.

Moreover, there was something else that bothered him.

“Daddy!”

The child who ran into Ki Tae-jeong’s arms after he returned from work kissed his beloved big daddy’s face all over and then smartly gave a salute. Seeing him already showing such discipline because he was attending the training center was both absurd and adorable.

Ki Tae-jeong didn’t want to admit it, but Hae-rim seemed like a child born to be a soldier. His growth rate, his physical abilities, his concentration, everything was extraordinary. Looking at his fair face, he was undoubtedly a baby, but standing him up, he looked three or four years older, so tall and lanky. It was definitely an unusual growth rate for Hae-rim’s age, if not for a teenager.

His intelligence was as outstanding as his physical abilities. His pronunciation was still a bit clumsy, but the words he had learned and the sentences he used were hard to believe for his age.

Well, whatever the visible indicators, to Ki Tae-jeong and Lee Sehwa, Hae-rim was still a small and tender little one.

“Daddy… I missed you.”

“You did? I’m sorry. Daddy was a bit late today.”

“Uung. It’s okay.”

“Why weren’t you asleep? You seem sleepy.”

“Uung? What?”

“Hae-rim, I mean. You seem very sleepy. Why weren’t you in dreamland?”

“Uung, sleepy. But Daddy… I wanted to give big daddy a kiss, so I waited.”

Chu. Hae-rim’s chubby finger squeezed Ki Tae-jeong’s cheek. He was a little taken aback by the strong grip that pinched his skin, but the moment the child’s soft lips pressed against his cheek, he felt no pain.

“Daddy too, Daddy too. Give Hae-rim one too. Kiss, here.”

Perhaps sensing the awkwardness between him and Sehwa these days, Hae-rim had become increasingly affectionate. Of course, he had always been a lovely and kind child.

“Here?”

“Uung. Here too!”

Ki Tae-jeong supported the much grown child in one arm and gave him the most affectionate greeting he could. As he pecked his forehead and cheeks, the child laughed so hard he could barely breathe.

“What did you do today?”

“Today, I made a castle with blocks. Hae-rim made a castle.”

“You made a castle? At the training center?”

“Yes, but, uh… it can’t fall down.”

“I see.”

“Like… pew pew, and stuff comes, can come, uh, but, still, it’s a castle that can never collapse… Uh, the name is, Afi’s House.”

“You named the castle Afi’s House?”

“Yes, because, uh, it’s the same as Apie!”

“It was the same as Apie?”

“Uung. Here, here.”

“Ah, the color of the blocks was the same as Apie?”

“Yes!”

Apie was the protagonist of an animation series that Hae-rim was constantly enthusiastic about, and the species was Apatosaurus. In Ki Tae-jeong’s eyes, it was a detestable fellow who discovered a treasure island as a dinosaur and lived luxuriously while exploiting his stupid friends, but Hae-rim would wake up in a flash even in his sleep if it was Apie.

“Hmm… a castle that must never collapse. That must have been difficult.”

“Uung…, no? Hae-rim had so much fun!”

Listening to the child’s story, who was even stuttering, perhaps because he had so much fun with creative air defense design with blocks, Ki Tae-jeong firmly decided that a second child would not do.

It goes without saying that if Sehwa were to have a child, he would take care of him with utmost devotion. He could guarantee that his feet would not touch the ground until he fully recovered. Since he couldn’t lie on the operating table in Sehwa’s place, he would shower him with everything he had like a bombardment.

And naturally, in every such moment, this child would inevitably come to mind. He couldn’t do anything for Hae-rim when he was Saessak. No, rather than doing something, he had broken Sehwa’s heart by leaving the newborn outside the castle and saying he would live like him, hadn’t he?

Until now, Ki Tae-jeong had been trying to repair his past mistakes by retracing and repainting them one by one. There was some coercion, but he was confident that the effect was quite good.

However, this problem, this child in his arms, was irreplaceable. Even if he gave Sehwa the whole world when he had a second child, he couldn’t repaint the time when Hae-rim was in his belly with anything.

As if awakening Ki Tae-jeong from his reverie, the dim light had already grown much closer. Even though he had announced that he would be landing a little while ago, a communication swallowing astonishment flowed in. Was it because they were training and mostly inexperienced guys were assigned? It seemed like they were making more of a fuss than usual.

The descent distance, speed, and runway length were all abnormal, but Ki Tae-jeong, as always, ignored all the adverse conditions and lightly pulled the landing gear. It would be a luxury to expect a smooth landing and takeoff while flying a fighter jet, not an airliner or cargo plane.

The world, which had been as small as a dot, quickly grew as if he had pressed the zoom button, and the sound of the wheels hitting the ground rang loudly. The noise was loud, but it was a fairly smooth and quick landing.

“Lo, Loyalty!”

Ki Tae-jeong threw away all the cumbersome things he had wrapped around his body and swept back his disheveled hair. At the same time, the subordinates who had hurriedly followed began to report hesitantly.

“Aren’t you paying attention? Our military is about to die, and you’re sending signals like that?”

Unable to bear it, he rebuked in a low voice, and only then did he hear a creaking excuse. Well, the content was obvious. It was impossible to catch up with the Lieutenant General, but they had improved a lot compared to the beginning after repeated training… It was a report that was worse than not hearing it.

He thought it would be faster to wait for Hae-rim’s commissioning than to wait for those bastards to follow in his footsteps.

“We will correct it!”

“Okay, when is the research institute meeting?”

“Next week.”

“Move it up sooner.”

“By sooner, you mean… No, sir. I will definitely confirm it for tomorrow.”