Legs Frozen in Terror, Tears That Won't Fall
Why are you guys like this? How did things end up this way?
"Ah... Aah... O-Oppa..."
I couldn't do a damn thing. I'm a top-tier awakener with the power of the Catastrophe-grade ghost story [Fox Shrine]...
"What the hell have I been training for all this time...?"
Ever since I got utterly wrecked in the [Forgotten One] incident without even landing a proper hit, I'd been training relentlessly. I'd etched absolute remorse into my heart, forging my skills through blood, sweat, and tears. All so I wouldn't lose to another ghost story. All to protect the people I cared about.
But was the fear still lingering inside me? That trauma from ghost stories I'd felt now and then on deployments—it had to rear its ugly head today, of all days. In this life-or-death moment when I needed to protect Oppa most of all, it shackled my ankles.
I'd unleashed the Fox Shrine's power, cloaked myself in blue flames, ready to fight... but suddenly my legs started shaking, and I couldn't take a single step.
I have to protect Oppa. I, the awakener, have to—
'Move... Move, damn it!'
No matter how much I screamed inside, my body wouldn't listen.
—Kiririk, kiririk.
The ghost story's pale hand crept closer toward us, but I couldn't budge an inch. The moment I tearfully begged my body to move, it wasn't me who acted—it was Oppa.
—
"Emilia, Ga-eun! Everyone, run!"
—
"Oppa?! What the hell are you doing? Why are you heading that way?!"
—
"This ghost story labeled 'Slaughterhouse'—the broadcast said it only needs one more human to reach 444. You get what that means, right?"
—
"O-Oppa! No!"
—
"Ga-eun, don't worry. Everything's gonna be fine."
Oppa stood in front of the ghost story without a second's hesitation—for me and Emilia. The despair when that long, white hand seized him... it carved a pain into me beyond comparison. It felt like someone had shredded my heart to pieces.
"Ah... Aah..."
Time seemed to stop. Even watching the ghost story drag Oppa away, I couldn't do anything. My heart pounded like mad, but I couldn't twitch a finger.
The sight of Oppa's back as he charged at the ghost story without hesitation to protect me—that was everything I'd desperately wanted and yearned to safeguard.
"Oppa... Oppa..."
I'd lost the most precious person right before my eyes. I'd trained to protect Oppa, to never lose again... and it was all meaningless.
What's the point of getting stronger? If I can't even save the one I love.
It took five years from meeting Oppa to realizing I loved him, and then ten more years of unrequited pining. We were together every day; I'd sabotage things to keep other girls away from him.
—
"Ga-eun, stop hanging out with just me all the time and play with other friends too. You don't have a crush on me or anything, do you?"
—
"Wh-what the hell? Why would I like you!"
—
"Haha, if not, then why jump like that?"
The truth was, I wanted to say it. That I liked him. That I loved him so much. That I'd been in love for ten years. But the bigger my love grew, the bigger my fear became.
'If Oppa doesn't see me as a woman... I wouldn't have the will to live...'
I was terrified of rejection. Scared he'd only see me as a little sister. The more the fear piled up, the less I could confess my true feelings. So I just orbited around him like an idiot... and in the end, I let him go without ever saying I loved him.
—Stumble.
"Haha... Why... why move now..."
Only after Oppa was fully swallowed by the ghost story did my frozen legs finally obey. Too late. Horrifyingly too late.
I staggered forward. But it meant nothing. The spot where Oppa had been was empty.
My bruised heart thundered against my eardrums. Breath caught in my throat; nausea churned in my gut.
"Urp... Uwaaagh..."
My knees buckled, and I collapsed face-down, wailing.
"Ah... Aah... O-Oppa, I'm sorry...! Hic...! S-sorry I'm alive...!"
My voice was a creeping wail, half-scream, half-lament. Being able to move only after he died felt like a cruel verdict. I couldn't move when I could have saved him, but now that it was impossible, my body worked.
I wasn't an awakener or a hero. Just a coward who couldn't save the one she loved.
"I... really couldn't do anything..."
I prayed endlessly inside. Take my life, just turn back time. Take my soul, just bring Oppa back.
"Please... I'll give everything I have..."
If I could start over. If I could hold his hand just one more time—
I'd become a ghost story. As long as I could see Oppa again, I didn't care if I wasn't human anymore.
As I repeated that over and over, —Shoooo...
The blue flames of the Fox Shrine cloaking my body slowly turned pitch-black and crimson. Bit by bit. It felt like the ghost story power I wielded was devouring me.
But I didn't resist. A world without Oppa was pointless anyway.
"Shin Oppa...? No way... this isn't real...?"
Oppa got grabbed by the ghost story. And died. Right in front of me. To protect me... Oppa sacrificed himself without hesitation.
—
"Emilia, run—now!"
His shouts urging me to flee were still vivid in my mind. The sound of his footsteps charging the ghost story to save me still echoed in my ears.
"Shin Oppa... I think I'm broken... I can't make any expressions..."
Even in this situation, I couldn't feel sadness. No—more precisely, I couldn't express it.
"Why... why won't the tears come...?"
My heart felt like it was being torn apart, so why...? It burned with the flames of grief, so why...?
I wanted to wail out loud like the pink-haired girl crying her eyes out in front of me. I wanted to scream and thrash, demanding they give back the hand I'd let slip away.
But I just stood there, my face cold and blank like a lifeless puppet doll.
"I... can't even cry when Oppa's dead...?"
Ever since [Day of Beginnings], my body could feel emotions but not show them. I had no idea why. Maybe some curse from a ghost story-like entity.
At first, it was awkward as hell, but eventually it became normal. I even thought it wasn't so bad— I could still feel everything inside, just couldn't show it. It let me focus on research without distraction. A convenient delusion.
But no. Inability to express was a horrific curse. Unshown sorrow cut deeper than anything.
"Ah... Aah... Shin Oppa..."
I want to grieve your sacrifice, your death... but I can't even shed a tear. Not a single drop... I can't even twitch my lips.
"Am I... not human anymore...? Did I become a monster that day...?"
—Crack.
Something inside me split with a sound, and pain began to bloom. But what terrified me more—
Was that even my suffering didn't show on my face. I hurt so much, so sad, crumbling apart... but in the mirror, there was just a stranger girl with no expression.
That girl was me. And I... hated that girl like mad.
"Send me back... to those happy days laughing with Oppa..."
—
"Little miss, why do you keep following me?"
—
"You always call me little miss... I'm a lady now too!"
—
"Hahaha, a lady? Our little miss becoming a lady... I wonder how pretty you'll be?"
—
"Um, Shin Oppa... Even when I grow up into a lady... you'll still play house with me every day, right? You'll be the husband?"
—
"Of course. When you grow up, come find me."
—
"Hehe, promise?"
Shin Oppa, you promised. I... came back as a proper lady.
"But if you leave like this... what about me...?"
—Thud.
I collapsed to the ground, staring blankly at the bloodstained floor. Where Oppa was taken, thick, dried bloodstains remained.
'Shin Oppa got grabbed here... protecting me...'
—Swipe.
I dipped my finger in the blood on the floor and slowly smeared it across my eyes. Left, then right.
"I want... to cry like normal people too..."
Could this be my tears? If I could cry even borrowing Oppa's blood, how great would that be?
But even faking tears with the blood, none fell.
"Why... why do I have no tears...?"
The crusted blood on my cheeks wouldn't become my tears. My heart ached so much, so why couldn't I cry? It was crumbling inside, suffocating pain... but I couldn't express a bit of it to the world.
"Shin Oppa, did I... really become a monster...?"
I wanted to act human, laugh human, cry human—but in the end, I was just a monster.
What's the point of living like this? Losing the one I love and not shedding a single tear—what's the point?
"Turn me into... a ghost story that can't even feel emotions..."
So I feel no sorrow. So I can escape the reality that Oppa died.
—Shoooo...
The moment I wished to not be human anymore, ominous black energy rose around me. I don't know, don't care what this is. In a world without Oppa, nothing matters—what happens to me, anything.
Right after getting deliberately snagged by the 'Slaughterhouse ghost story's' white hand, per my genius plan,
"Beginner Package, activate! Help me!!"
I immediately hit the panic button on the notification window.
If it activated even a second late, I'd be dead meat!
『Oh come on, Si-hyun! I know the beginner package I made is OP as hell, but how can you be this reckless?!』
"I'm no genius like Emilia— this is the best I could come up with on the spot! Activate it already!"
『Si-hyun... Sometimes it feels like you only think of me as a convenient tool when you need me... Right...?』
"Hahahahaha, what're you talking about? I tell you every time—you're the only one for me."
『Hmph... You say that every time...! Not falling for it!』
『( `ε´ )』
"Fine, whatever—just activate it! There's a human blender right in front of me!"
—Splash!!
Right before the mixer that grinds captured humans whole could get me, I barely transformed into Phantom.
[Wh-what... is this...?]
That instant, a flustered voice came from the speaker... but what could you do about it?
"Hey, Disaster-grade ghost story."
[......??]
"I'm gonna kill you."
[Wh-what...?!]
—Kaboom!!
The pitch-black mengmang energy cloaking my body dismantled and obliterated the slaughterhouse truck in an instant.
"Hah, what a nothing burger trying to act tough."
Now, if I just pop up in front of Emilia and Ga-eun like 'Whoa, I got super lucky and survived,' everything's peachy.
"Oh, right—gotta wipe out the other ghost stories scattered around the amusement park first."
『S-Si-hyun... All the other ghost stories' energies have vanished...!!』
"What? Did I just take 'em all out?"
『No. Two incredibly powerful energies made all the nearby Illusion- and Disaster-grades vanish...!!』
"What the—"
That's when I saw the scene unfolding before me and lost my words.
There was Ga-eun, cloaked in pitch-black crimson Fox Shrine flames, shedding endless tears.
And Emilia, emanating ominous black energy, blood smeared across her eyes.
The moment I saw both girls with their dead, unfocused eyes, it hit me.
'Fuck... we're royally screwed!'
If I don't fix this now, it's all over!