Chapter 130
Chapter 130
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 130
Chapter Title: Something That Happened Someday
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Dry breath drifts upward into the sky and fades away.
In front of the funeral hall, flower beds.
White wreaths adorn the side of the line of mourners.
Bowed heads in solemn respect, hands clasped politely.
Some passed through with lighthearted faces, as if it had nothing to do with them.
"......"
I stare blankly at them.
Lee Se-young. The three characters of her name written in front of the funeral hall.
After the disaster. Under the leadership of the family she was born into, a grand funeral was held.
Lee Se-young, who had whined that Emperor Oaks didn't have pretty flowers, departed wrapped in beautiful blossoms.
Strangely, Lee Se-young seemed to be treated like a hero in this country.
To the point where even people completely unrelated to the incident joined the mourning procession.
She was a woman who had mocked herself as trash over and over, but as I thought, her true nature was kind.
See? I told you I was unworthy of her.
I glance sideways at the people from the broadcasting station, then drop my eyes to the ground.
[Contacts]
The phone screen glows faintly in my limp grip.
The contacts list has fewer people than before.
I scroll down and stop at the three characters: Lee Se-young.
"......"
It's a dream. I'd long since abandoned that thought.
Even after days passed since that day, I couldn't return to the past.
I had to watch firsthand the process from Lee Se-young's death to becoming a dead person myself.
"......"
The contacts list had many empty entries.
No phone number for Master. No phone number for Cornus.
I couldn't bring myself to ask anyone what happened to them.
Because whenever her name came up, the faces of those around grew cold.
"......"
A bug lands on the back of my hand. Crack—its shell splits, wings unfolding.
A bug with one torn wing, unable to fly properly.
I stare at it vacantly.
Grr rumble.
A thunderous growl echoes from my stomach.
My mouth is parched. My insides feel hollowed out like a massive hole was drilled through.
My stinging eyes show no sign of healing.
The sky is blue. Still high.
The usual noise of outdoor units clutters my ears.
The rock is hard.
The dirt is rough.
The faint city gas smell stings my nose.
Everything flows on as usual.
As if proving this is just another part of daily life.
Recalling the lingering fishy feel of her skin still on my hands, I blink.
Flash.
My mouth tastes bitter.
Blood.
Groooowl.
I look around again.
Dark clouds hang in the sky.
The tree I'm sitting against feels rough.
The ground sand is damp.
The outdoor unit here is off, making no noise.
Occasional voices of people. Laughter that sounds like mockery.
An environment changing without regard for the occasion.
Unable to adapt, I smack the side of my head with my hand.
Thwack!
My eardrums go numb; the noise finally stops.
Now it's quiet.
I can space out without stray thoughts. But then blood drips from under my nose.
Did I stay up too long?
I wipe it with my sleeve.
"Here."
Someone's hand thrusts in front of me.
I creak my head up.
Azalea stands there holding tissues, looking at me.
"How long are you going to stay like that?"
"......"
"...Sorry. You probably haven't even sorted things out yet."
I take the tissue and wipe the blood.
Azalea places her hand on her suit skirt and sits beside me.
Ten minutes, twenty minutes.
A long silence stretches between us.
Only after a while does Azalea cautiously start speaking.
"The professor said... from a long time ago. She planned to die."
"......"
"Sorry for this story, but I think you need to know."
Azalea gives me a bitter smile.
"Even back at the academy, she planned to subjugate Flower assuming she'd die."
"......"
"Telling you to meet other women... was because she needed someone by your side when she died."
"......"
"I thought it would never happen. But in the end..."
Come to think of it, Lee Se-young.
"Was really someone who only knew you."
She never once said she loved me.
Not even during all-night trysts, or when she received the ring.
Lee Se-young had never told me she liked me.
She must have been preparing to part from one corner of her heart already.
"......Is that so."
Words spill from my cracked lips after days.
A thicker, rougher, more muffled voice than before.
Azalea widens her eyes in surprise that I'd spoken, then gives a sorrowful smile.
"This is the third time already.... It's not your fault."
Third time...
My dry eyes turn to the ground.
I had to endure the endlessly flowing time alone.
Night falls, morning comes. Then the moon visits again.
Fewer and fewer visitors come.
I still hold that spot.
Fortunately, the mourners' voices occasionally snapped me back to awareness.
Some grateful words, some that carved into my aching heart like knives.
-At least it's a good funeral.
The one I hated most to hear.
***
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ I thought I could pull it off.
That I'd overcome anything and eventually reach a happy ending.
I was confident.
Without realizing it was arrogance, I left things to those around me... thinking it'd be easy from start to finish.
...I thought I was the unhappy one.
Because my situation—kidnapped, life threatened—kept grating on my nerves.
I wasted energy on useless things.
Well, no need to worry about that now.
Something irreparable happened. And now I understand my situation better than anyone.
That events don't revolve around me.
I know. It's a lesson from a children's fairy tale.
I could have figured it out with a little thought.
That clichéd adult reality lesson—I bought it at too high a price.
'...Not even one photo left.'
Few memories of properly making any.
In that sense, ours was a very young, green love.
We didn't really know each other.
Sex. And a bit of feeling.
We staked our lives on a puppy love fit for middle schoolers.
...I didn't hate that.
But recalling the past only intensified my emotions inevitably.
I even start resenting her for leaving me.
Why make such plans?
"Kuh."
A hollow laugh escapes.
Call me a pathetic bastard; I'd have no retort.
Thinking back, I've always been powerless.
From the studio apartment where trauma kept me holed up, to now.
This damn indecisiveness and poor judgment led to this outcome.
Like sand grains stuck to a window.
Clinging desperately to the glass to hold on, only to be washed away by raindrops. Frail sand grains.
That's exactly me now.
What a joke. Pathetic wretch.
In the dark room, I grip the broken glass shard with all my strength.
Suppressed emotions exceed their limit, slowly bursting.
-You've got something good, huh?
Our first meeting was a crime.
We each harbored bad intentions. A sleazy romance from a low-budget film, not a good encounter.
-Tasty? That's how you brew tea, idiot.
From there, we slowly grew closer.
Sometimes worrying for each other.
What started as occasional flings turned into mutual feelings at some point.
-Fine, rapist. You're a rapist. Got it?
A story anyone would scoff at.
-Eat up. Extra rice cake for the jerk. Figured you hadn't eaten, so I bought some.
-No, I ate.
-Shut up and eat. Gotta eat to grow.
From start to finish.
-Seriously, how would you survive without me?
-I'd do fine without you, miss. Lived 20 years without a woman.
-With that face.
-......
One after another.
-Still, it's nice seeing you after so long. Hehe. Wanna just kidnap you like this? No returns, but I can give a lifetime warranty.
-Teacher, you losing it?
-Fuck, you get it!
-......
"Ha."
A smirk crosses my lips.
-I'm collecting rings now.
-Don't like it?
-As if.
I sort my emotions.
-Thanks.
All those memories and built-up feelings dissolve like sea foam.
A past I can't grasp with my hands, can't turn back.
Without regret, just longing, I slowly watch the ticking clock hand.
Plop.
The tissue wiping my tears falls to the room floor.
Everything feels empty.
'Damn... Others shake it off easy.'
How many days has it been?
Am I the only pathetic one?
So clingy that dead Lee Se-young might come back.
Smack my head and tell me to stop moping, idiot. That into me?
I can almost see her saying it with that cheeky grin.
I wish.
Really.
'...No way she'd change.'
Snap.
Something snaps in my mind.
'It's already over.'
Crack crack.
Something that shouldn't break bursts with a pop.
"Guh, guh... Hic. Haaa."
I exhale a trembling sigh.
Cold breath spreads through the room.
The air is cold.
Winter.
A year later? This year? Longer?
Who killed her? Flower.
Lee Se-young died targeting Flower.
The ones who targeted me.
Cheon-do and Cornus are missing too.
I open my hand with the glass shard.
The sharp piece I thought would shred my skin had crumbled to powder in my grip.
'Need motivation, you said.'
I recall the Heavenly Demon's words from sometime ago.
'......'
I scatter the glass dust into the air. Finally realizing.
Everything blurs.
The room's furnishings turn to dust one by one and vanish.
My derailed mind snaps back.
'...Ah.'
......A dream.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Have you opened your eyes?] The World Tree's voice reaches me, and I immediately curl up.
Chirrup, chirrup, chirrup, chirrup.
The cricket sounds echoing on saturated steam feel right next to my ear, even inside the room.
Relief washes over me.
Sincerely.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Jiiirrr.
The mountain where I awoke still echoes with crickets.
The blood pool where I lay has soaked into the ground, leaving only a dark stain.
A faint light begins to dawn in the sky.
'......It really was a dream.'
It felt so real.
I thought I'd just blacked out from shock and lost some memories.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Are you alright?] The World Tree of Time's voice is fainter than before.
Like a candle flame about to flicker out, boasting its last light before fading.
I ask her.
'Was that just now something that actually happened?'
[......]
No answer comes.
That's answer enough.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [You should head back now. Sorry for showing you a scene you couldn't handle.] 'Not going.'
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Lee Si-heon. Now's the time to meet someone precious—] 'Do I look anxious right now?'
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [...No.] I exhale the held breath as if the ground might cave in.
Under my cooled mind, emotions don't surge.
This much, I can control.
Compared to the brutally forced acceptance of reality during that long dream time, it's nothing.
What's important now is one thing.
Did I properly witness the future?
I won't let everything so far go to waste.
'A lot of people died.'
I thought there was no way it would happen.
'Time.'
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Yes.] 'How many more days can you hold out?'
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [By real-world time... two days.] It's dwindled a lot.
The dream she showed me must have been a huge burden on her.
Then all the more reason to stay in this past longer.
Here, the World Tree of Time's lifespan extends.
Step, step.
Perfect timing.
An old man approaches from afar.
"Have you steeled your resolve?"
"Yes."
I answer.
No hesitation.
"You won't break under the same torture as yesterday, right?"
Surprise flickers on the old man's face.
Let's see about that.
He murmurs and pulls an old-looking vial from his pocket, placing it on the rock.
"A rare elixir hard to find even searching the world. It'll restore your body in an instant."
Mana swirls around the old man's hand.
"Now, let's test it."