One week later…

Namjoo thought that after Hayoung had woken up, she would be able to relax her worries a bit. But that hadn’t been the case.

Hayoung was temporarily paralyzed from the waist down, and it killed Namjoo more than anything seeing Hayoung so depressed about it. The doctor had said that Hayoung would likely be able to walk again after months of rehabilitation training, but Hayoung didn’t want to wait that long. Namjoo knew that Hayoung hated being inactive, and this period of immobilization would be agonizing for Hayoung.

Today was Hayoung’s first day of rehabilitation training, and Namjoo was going to her there. Hayoung hadn’t asked her to, but Namjoo wanted to. Namjoo had been expecting Hayoung to be surprised when she showed up at her room, but it was Namjoo who got the surprise. She’d been expecting Hayoung to at least be getting ready to leave, but when she opened the unlocked door to her room, Hayoung was still in bed. She was still dressed in her pajamas, and her wheelchair was sitting vacant next to her bed.

“Hayoung-ah,” Namjoo questioned curiously. “Why aren’t you ready?”

Hayoung looked up from the book in her hands in mild surprise. “Unnie? How did you get in?”

“The door was unlocked.”

“I must have forgotten when I was trying to maneuver my wheelchair through those doors.”

Namjoo shut the door behind her and walked towards Hayoung’s bed. “Don’t you start your rehabilitation training in a few minutes?”

“Is that today?”

“Yes. At nine every morning.”

“It must have slipped my mind.”

“Hayoung-ah, you’re one of the smartest people I know. You couldn’t have forgotten something like this.” Namjoo sat down on Hayoung’s bed and gently lowered the book in Hayoung’s hands. “Why don’t you want to go?”

“I’m not ready.”

“Your wound has healed and you’ve rested long enough to start training,” Namjoo said. “You can’t prolong this.”

Hayoung sighed and closed her book, setting it down on her lap. She looked troubled.“No, I’m not ready because I don’t want to see how weak I truly am. I don’t want to feel how weak I’ve become.”

“The Oh Hayoung I know is far from weak,” Namjoo said. “You’re strong and perfectly capable of getting through this. It’ll be difficult at first, but that’s how all things are. You will overcome this, just like how you’ve overcome every other obstacle in your life.”

“This is one damn big obstacle.”

“It is,” Namjoo agreed. “But it’s nothing you can’t handle.”

“How are you so sure?”

“You took down ten men all on your own, all while keeping the princess safe.”

“Nine,” Hayoung corrected.

“Okay fine, but the point is that it took that many men to bring you down. The man who did this to you…he probably thought that he got the last laugh and that he and his comrades had defeated you,” Namjoo said. “But they didn’t. You’re here and you’re alive. They’re not. Show them, wherever they are in hell, how strong of a person you really are. Show them that they will never be able to keep you down. Rise up and walk again, Hayoung-ah.”

Hayoung stared down at the book in her laugh in solemn thought. She murmured, “Show them that they will never be able to keep me down…You’ve gotten better with your words.”

“I think it’s a side effect of hanging out with Eunji-unnie for too long.”

Hayoung chuckled and looked up from her book. To Namjoo’s delight, she looked more at ease. “Thanks, Unnie. I’m probably going to be late to my first session, though.”

“I’ll text your trainer that you’ll be late.” Namjoo immediately got out her phone.

When she was halfway through writing the text, Hayoung abruptly said, “I heard what you said in the hospital.”

Namjoo’s thumb froze and hovered just over the send button. “What did you hear?”

“Everything,” Hayoung replied. “You’re in love with me.”

Namjoo set down her phone. The message was still unsent.

“Was it true, Unnie?”

For some reason, Namjoo couldn’t find the words to reply. She felt like she had just been found guilty of a crime. 

“You asked me to wake up so you could tell me things,” Hayoung tried again. “I’m awake now. Tell me what you want to tell me.”

After a moment of warring with her own troubling thoughts, Namjoo forced herself to say, “Yes, it’s true. Everything that I said was true. I’m in love with you, and I have been for years.”

“Namjoo-unnie…” 

“I know you’re in love with Princess Naeun. I know you’ve loved her ever since you swore to protect her when you were young,” Namjoo said, finally voicing what had been sheltered inside her heart for too long. “But that doesn’t change the fact that I will always love you. It will always be you, regardless of whether it’s reciprocated or not. That is something I have come to accept.”

“I’m sorry, Unnie,” Hayoung murmured gently. She looked genuinely guilty.

“Don’t be. This is nothing you have to apologize for.”

“Still…I’m sorry that you’ve been hurting and I’ve failed to notice it,” Hayoung said. “Unnie, I don’t―”

“You don’t have to answer me,” Namjoo cut in. “I already know your answer, and I’m fine with that. I just want us to continue as we were before.”

Hayoung looked like she had something else to say, but she kept it in. “Of course. Nothing’s going to get in the way of our friendship.” Namjoo tried to ignore the stab in her chest when she heard the word “friendship”. Hayoung looked down at her fingertips and muttered, “I think my quest for the princess and my childhood love has ended. She’s happily in love with Eunji-unnie.” 

“Has Naeun-unnie come to speak with you yet?” Namjoo asked. “About your last interaction?”

Dejectly, Hayoung shook her head. She didn’t sound resentful at all; she just sounded sad. “No. I don’t blame her. She’s been really busy.”

Namjoo didn’t deny that Naeun had been bombarded with new responsibilities since the fall of the Shadow Clan, but Namjoo also speculated that Naeun was also scared to speak with Hayoung. 

“I’m sure she’ll come when she can,” Namjoo assured, and Hayoung nodded absentmindedly. She was still obviously thinking about the princess, and though Namjoo couldn’t do anything to take away all of Hayoung’s pain, she would sure as hell try to lessen it.

Namjoo stood from the bed and maneuvered Hayoung’s wheelchair around. She gestured to the seat. “Come on.”

“Are you kidnapping me?”

“No, we have to go somewhere.”

Hayoung winced. “Rehabilitation training. My trainer probably already hates me.”

“I’ll tell her that something important came up and you can’t start today.”

“I’m not going? So you are kidnapping me?”

“If you want to see it that way,” Namjoo said. She came around the wheelchair and held out a hand. “I’ll take you to one of my favorite restaurants. I think we can both go for some food right now.”

“I didn’t do anything particularly straining to reward myself with food.”

“No, but our souls need some healing.” Namjoo urged her open hand forward. “Let’s go.”

Hayoung hesitated, but she eventually gave in and accepted Namjoo’s hand. “Alright. Where to?”

Namjoo helped Hayoung into her wheelchair, and once the maknae was safely in her seat, Namjoo smiled and said, “Don’t worry. It’s a surprise.”

One more week later…

“You’re late, Unnie,” Hayoung said without looking up from her stretches.

Naeun frowned and sat down on the bench next to Hayoung. “I didn’t know that I was to come at a specific time.”

At the sound of Naeun’s voice, Hayoung’s head snapped in shock. “Princess Naeun. I’m sorry, when I heard the door open, I assumed that it was just Namjoo-unnie.”

“I understand why,” Naeun said. “Namjoo has been helping you a lot with your recovery, hasn’t she?”

“She comes to every training session,” confirmed Hayoung. “It’s like I have two trainers.”

Naeun looked down at Hayoung, who was sitting on the mat with her legs sprawled in front of her. She was dressed in comfortable clothes, and her hair was loosely tied back. Naeun was glad to see the color back in her cheeks. She hadn’t had the chance to talk to Hayoung privately yet, but she’d been keeping track of her progress from the side. She knew that Hayoung was still unable to walk on her own, but she was making great progress. Her attitude had greatly improved, and Naeun suspected that Namjoo being by Hayoung’s side constantly had something to do with it. 

“How have you been?” Naeun asked.

“I’m getting better, but I don’t see myself running miles anytime soon.”

“I’m glad to hear that you’re getting better,” Naeun said a bit awkwardly. She had come to talk to Hayoung about something, but trepidation snuck up on her as she tried to find the courage to bring it up. “I’m sorry I haven’t been very attentive of you.”

“Don’t worry, Namjoo-unnie has been keeping me company. Besides, you’ve recently been bombarded with dozens of new responsibilities. I figured you were too busy to spare some time.”

That was true, but it was no excuse for Naeun to have held off visiting Hayoung for so long. “Hayoung-ah, we need to talk about what happened before you were taken to the hospital.”

Hayoung stiffened mid-stretch, but that was the only sign of her discomfort. She eased back and looked at Naeun with a sad expression. “I know that you and Eunji-unnie are happy together. I couldn’t ask for more.”

“You told me you loved me.”

“I did. I do,” said Hayoung. “I do love you, but I don’t expect you to return my feelings. I just wanted to tell you once. I thought that I was going to die, and I didn’t want to go without letting you know. I’m sorry, it was selfish and horribly timed, but I thought that I would never get the chance again.”

“Don’t apologize,” Naeun said. “This whole time, you were my childhood love. I’ve spent years trying to find you, and you were right in front of me this entire time. Why didn’t you tell me who you were?”

“When you first recruited me for this team, I thought that you remembered about our promise. I was excited to see you again and tell you everything about what I did after we parted as teenagers. I wanted to tell you how I worked as hard as I could to graduate at the top of my class so I could secure a high-level position by your side. When you called for me, I thought that the time would finally come for me to protect you. I thought that everything had come full circle, but when we met for the first time again in your conference room, you didn’t seem to recognize me. I thought that maybe it was because you were trying to maintain professionalism, but over time, it became apparent that you truly did not remember me,” Hayoung explained. She had a reminiscent tone in her voice that sounded both tender and sad. 

“I did remember you, even if I couldn’t recognize you.”

“I know. We’ve both become very different people from when we were teenagers. I didn’t think that it was worth it to remind you of a sappy childhood promise that probably held no meaning, so I tried to let it go. For a while, I did, but as we spent more time together, I fell in love with you all over again,” Hayoung said. “The person I’m in love with now is the person you are now, Naeun-unnie. Not the fifteen-year-old you were a decade ago.”

“Hayoung―”

“But you’re in love with Eunji-unnie, and she’s in love with you. You’re happy, and I’m not going to get in the way of that,” Hayoung said, and Naeun swore she could hear the heartbreak in her words. “I only have one request, and that’s for nothing to change between us. I want us to remain friends and not feel awkward with each other.”

“You don’t have to ask for that,” Naeun replied. “Of course nothing is going to change between us. Our friendship is too important to me to let this break it.”

“Good,” said Hayoung. She looked like she was struggling to maintain herself. “Thank you, Unnie.”

“No,” Naeun shook her head. “Thank you, Hayoung-ah. For everything.”

“I only saved your life.”

“You’ve done a lot more.”

Hayoung smiled, but it was still restrained. Naeun knew that it would take a while before she’d be able to smile freely. Hayoung bent over her waist and continued her stretches.

“Some people are just that worth it,” Hayoung said and switched to her other side. “You were worth it.”

One month later…

“I bet you never would have thought that Eunji would end up dating the princess of our nation,” Bomi said teasingly. “Talk about moving up the ranks, huh?”

Eunji elbowed Bomi in the ribs. “And I bet you never would have thought that Bbom-ah would end up dating Park Chorong.”

Bomi rubbed her ribs sourly. “Let’s just say that we’ve both managed to surprise Yookyung-ah.”

Eunji laughed as the breeze carried her hair away from her face. They stood in front of Yookyung and the rest of Bomi’s teammates’ graves, where they had placed fresh flowers by their tombstones. It had been a while since Bomi had been able to visit them, and for the first time in two years, she was able to look at them without a devastating feeling of remorse. Above them, the clouds had parted, revealing a bright blue sky.

“It’s over now,” Bomi said to her teammates’ graves. “You guys can rest easily.”

“You can too,” Eunji told Bomi.

“I know,” Bomi said. It was funny. Two years ago, Bomi couldn’t have even imagined being able to rest easily, but now here she was, standing in front of something that had once haunted her, without overwhelming guilt.

They gazed at Bomi’s teammates’ graves for a while longer, then Eunji asked, “What are you going to do now?”

“Right now? Try to live my life as I should have all these years. I spent so long trying to chase down the One-Eyed Man. I think it’s time for me to slow down and take it day by day.”

“Will you stay?”

It was slight, but Bomi caught the underlying apprehension in Eunji’s question. She gave Eunji the best reassuring smile she could. “I’m done running away.”

“Are you returning to the agency?”

“Yes. I’ve spoken to Naeun about it. It seems that she intends to keep the team together, even though we have completed the one task that we were assigned.”

“She doesn’t want to break apart a team that works so well together,” Eunji said. “No one can argue against that.”

“She also doesn’t want to be too far from her girlfriend.”

Eunji blushed. “She didn’t say that.”

“She didn’t have to,” Bomi chuckled. “We’re all back together now. It looks like things are going back to normal.”

“Things are changing too,” Eunji pointed out. “Haven’t you seen how close Namjoo and Hayoung have gotten lately?”

“Namjoo-ah has been helping Hayoungie with her training.”

“It looks like they’ve been enjoying it too much for it to just be about the training.”

“I can definitely see something developing between them,” Bomi said. 

“Who’s to say it hasn’t already happened? The winds of change have been sweeping across all of us.” Eunji looked off to the side, and Bomi followed her gaze towards Chorong and Naeun, who were approaching them from afar. They had just come from a meeting, and they had promised to come find Bomi and Eunji when they finished. Bomi hadn’t told Chorong where she’d be, but apparently Chorong didn’t need to be told where to find Bomi.

Chorong wasn’t wearing anything too spectacular, but she still managed to take Bomi’s breath away with her simple outfit of jeans and a leather jacket. Suddenly, Bomi remembered how Chorong had appeared the last time Bomi had visited her teammates. The leader had been dressed all in black and had an emotionless expression on her face. The Chorong that was now walking across the grass looked nothing like that woman; this Chorong was smiling warmly as she approached Bomi

As Chorong and Naeun neared them, Bomi saw Chorong and only Chorong. How she had fallen so deeply in love with someone whom she had found exasperating in the beginning was beyond Bomi, but now that Chorong had essentially become the light of her life, Bomi couldn’t question it any longer.

“Yes, things are changing,” Bomi said to Eunji. She smiled back at Chorong and felt the steady drum of her heart. “But I’m completely fine with that.”

Eunji murmured something in response, but Bomi couldn’t catch it. She had a feeling that she was looking at Naeun in the same way that Bomi was looking at Chorong. Bomi nudged Eunji’s shoulder and said, “Come on. Let’s go.”

Eunji snapped out of her trance and smiled at Bomi. She squeezed Bomi’s wrist lightly, then returned her attention to Naeun.

Together, Eunji and Bomi took a step forward―towards their loved ones and the promise of the future.