Min-ah's Verdict
Struck across the face by Min-ah, Ara lost her balance and collapsed sideways. She was so utterly stunned that she barely managed to catch herself before her head hit the floor. For a moment, Ara couldn't comprehend what had just happened. But the sharp, burning sting blooming on her cheek served as a harsh reminder: Min-ah had just slapped her.
Sprawled on the floor, Ara cradled her smarting cheek with one hand. She lifted her head, staring up at Min-ah with a look of sheer shock.
Dohyeon was also slightly surprised by Min-ah's outburst. He had been curious about how she would react upon facing Ara, but this was entirely unexpected. No, actually, this might be the most natural reaction. Although Dohyeon had completely erased her physical scars just yesterday, Min-ah had lived with those hideous marks for nearly ten years. When he considered the decade she had spent enduring the pitying, disgusted stares of strangers, it would have been stranger if she hadn't flown into a rage upon meeting the very person responsible for them.
Moreover, Su-jin's gang hadn't just scarred her; they had subjected her to all kinds of horrific abuse, and Ara had been right there alongside them. Dohyeon believed that even if Min-ah beat Ara half to death right here and now, Ara would have no right to complain. Curious to see what Min-ah would do next after delivering the slap, Dohyeon watched quietly from the sidelines, remaining alert in case Ara made any sudden, desperate moves.
Min-ah stared down at the palm she had used to strike Ara, her face contorting in a grimace of deep dissatisfaction.
"How could you..." Min-ah's voice trembled as she spoke, thick with a turbulent storm of emotions. To Dohyeon's ears, her voice carried a mixture of white-hot fury and profound, deep-seated sorrow.
"How could you people hurt someone else like that and feel absolutely nothing? Just slapping you now makes my stomach churn... How on earth could you do those things to me?"
Min-ah had poured every ounce of her strength into that slap. She had struck Ara as hard as she possibly could, wanting to inflict the maximum amount of pain. She had wanted to experience what it felt like to hurt someone else, to pay back a fraction of what she had suffered.
Seeing Ara lose her balance and crash to the floor confirmed that she had struck her with immense force. Yet, at the same time, Min-ah felt her own palm throbbing with a dull, stinging ache. More than that, a heavy, suffocating discomfort weighed on her chest. For someone who had never raised a hand against another person out of malice in her entire life, this was the very first time she had struck someone with full force.
Having committed an act of violence for the first time, Min-ah felt no sense of catharsis or pleasure—only the stinging pain in her hand. If anything, it made her realize how utterly incomprehensible her tormentors were. She couldn't understand how anyone could find joy in inflicting pain on another human being.
Listening to Min-ah, Dohyeon was reminded of his own past when he was first summoned to Adria. He recalled how utterly terrified and unhinged he had been when he first fought monsters in that fantasy world. Back then, like Min-ah, Dohyeon had lived a peaceful life, never having harmed another soul. Naturally, he had hesitated to attack others, and a lingering sense of guilt and discomfort had plagued him long afterward.
But as he forced himself to keep going for the sake of survival and revenge, his heart gradually grew numb. Eventually, a point came where taking a life felt as natural and effortless as breathing. Come to think of it, I suppose I had a phase like that once, too... He had slaughtered monsters and executed corrupt humans in Adria without hesitation. Even after returning to his original world, he could ruthlessly torture his abusers without feeling a single shred of remorse. Realizing how completely he had changed from his past self, Dohyeon felt a faint sense of self-astonishment.
Perhaps because he had never paused to reflect on it deeply, he realized just how drastically he had transformed. This made him all the more curious about how the confrontation between Min-ah and Ara would resolve. In a way, their conclusion might serve as a mirror for the ultimate end of his own quest for vengeance.
Ara couldn't find any words to answer Min-ah's anguished cry. The shock on her face melted into deep, miserable shame, and she hung her head toward the floor. Just as Dohyeon's magic had read from her mind, Ara was genuinely, deeply sorry. Recalling the horrific deeds she had committed, she felt such a profound loathing for her past self that she wished she could turn back time and refuse to ever take part in the bullying.
This change of heart wasn't merely because Dohyeon had captured her and forced her to confess. Having experienced agonizing torment at Dohyeon's hands, she had truly learned the weight of her sins through suffering. Empathy, after all, is best taught by walking in the victim's shoes. After a tense silence stretched between them, Ara was the first to move. She pushed herself up once more and cried out her apology to Min-ah.
"I'm so sorry, Min-ah! What I did to you in the past... it was so awful that I can't even list everything. I should have never treated you like that... I am so, so sorry!" Ara bowed her head deeply, pouring every ounce of her sincerity into her words, desperately hoping her remorse would reach Min-ah's heart.
"...To be honest, I used to wonder if I could ever forgive you if you gave me a sincere apology. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I couldn't," Min-ah said, her voice quiet and heavy as she struggled to find the words.
"Whenever I saw protagonists in books or movies forgive the people who wronged them, I wondered if I could ever do the same. Could I really just accept an apology from someone who did such terrible things to me? I... I don't have a pure, saintly heart like those main characters." Ara kept her head bowed, hanging on Min-ah's every word. She knew her entire fate hung on what Min-ah said next.
"And the moment I saw your face, I knew for sure. I'm not some perfectly good person. The second I looked at you, all those memories rushed back, and I felt so incredibly angry. Knowing that one of the people who ruined my life was standing right in front of me... it made me furious. So furious that I felt like I would explode if I didn't do something, which is why I slapped you."
Min-ah paused to compose herself. She was trying her best to speak calmly, but the tempest of emotions raging inside her made it incredibly difficult. Both Dohyeon and Ara held their breath, waiting for her to continue. When Min-ah spoke again, her calm demeanor began to crack, her voice trembling with unshed tears.
"You're apologizing to me... but they're just words, aren't they? None of the damage I suffered has been repaired, yet I'm expected to hear a single sentence and decide whether to forgive you or not! It felt so incredibly unfair! A part of me wanted all of you... to suffer the exact same agonizing pain that I did!!"
Her voice grew louder, cracking under the sheer weight of her resentment. Yet neither Dohyeon nor Ara could say a word; they could only listen in silence.
"But... even if I did that, I realized it wouldn't change anything for me. It feels so pointless. Even if you suffer as much as I did, it won't bring back the years of my life that were ruined. I just... I don't know what to do..."
Min-ah turned her gaze to Dohyeon, who was watching her quietly. Realizing he had arranged this confrontation entirely for her sake, she felt a wave of gratitude. She recalled the video he had shown her before—not only were his own tormentors captured, but hers were too. She had been shocked to learn that he was enacting vengeance on her behalf.
Min-ah knew that without Dohyeon, Ara would have never bowed her head and begged for forgiveness. This was her moment to decide: would she forgive this repentant girl, or would she condemn her? Min-ah also had a faint, intuitive feeling that Dohyeon's own fate might hinge on the outcome of her choice. Steeling her resolve, she spoke again.
"But since I have to make a choice right here and now, I'll tell you. Honestly... I can't truly forgive you in my heart. If I could forgive you just because of a few spoken words, I would have to be a saint or some transcendent being. Unfortunately... I'm just an ordinary human."
Ara collapsed in utter despair at Min-ah's words. Despite her genuine remorse, a small part of her had hoped that the gentle Min-ah might accept her apology. Hearing the flat rejection was a devastating blow. Moreover, the realization that this meant she might never escape Dohyeon's clutches filled her with absolute dread.
As Ara sat there, paralyzed by the bleakness of her future, Min-ah spoke once more.
"I'll say it again: I cannot forgive you. But! That is exactly why I will forgive you."
"Huh...?" Ara, who had been drowning in despair, snapped her head up, utterly bewildered by Min-ah's contradictory words.
Min-ah rolled up her sleeve so Ara could see clearly. Revealed beneath was her arm, completely smooth and devoid of any scars, healed perfectly by Dohyeon.
"Thanks to Dohyeon, I've been freed from one of the physical torments you left me with. And... as long as I'm with him, I might be freed from even more. Because of him, I can finally escape the cursed past you chained me to. If it weren't for Dohyeon, I would have never, ever forgiven you."
Min-ah cast a warm, tender smile at Dohyeon before turning back to Ara and raising her voice. "I am forgiving you so that I am no longer bound to the past. I am doing this so that a creature like you no longer occupies a single second of my remaining life!"
Min-ah pointed her finger at the bandaged forehead of the trembling Ara. Having watched Dohyeon's video, she knew exactly what kind of gruesome wound lay hidden beneath those layers of gauze.
"So, since I have granted you forgiveness, you will spend the rest of your life atoning! For as long as you live, until the day you die, repent for your sins! Look at that scar and let it remind you of the monster you were! Do you understand me?"
Ara stared blankly at Min-ah, completely stunned by her words. But regardless of the conditions, the reality that she had been forgiven washed over her. Tears spilled from her eyes as she pressed her forehead flat against the floor, sobbing hysterically.
"Thank you... thank you for forgiving me! I... I will never forget what I did to you... I'll spend every single day of my life atoning for it... Thank you so much for forgiving a piece of trash like me..."
Min-ah stared down at the weeping, groveling girl, unsure of how to respond. Her own heart was still a tangled mess. She had said she forgave her, but to say she no longer felt any anger toward Ara would be a lie. A part of her still thought Ara deserved to suffer much more. Yet, just as she had said, she wondered what the point of endless torment would even be.
And so, she turned her eyes back to Dohyeon, who was watching her from the side. He was the sole savior who had rescued her from a living hell. She believed that as long as she was with him, she could leave her past behind and start anew. She desperately hoped that Dohyeon felt the exact same way.