Chapter 171
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 171: How to Deal with Betrayal (7)
Contrary to Choi Sujeong's expectations, getting close to Lee Hana was easy.
Because Lee Hana's appearance and inner self were completely different.
She was a person who hid the kindest soul within cold blue eyes and a frozen expression.
"So I scolded them! Did I do well?"
"Yeah."
Choi Sujeong always stuck to Lee Hana's side.
If she was with Lee Hana, other children didn't mess with her easily.
Besides such petty and calculated benefits, she liked her calmness, her silence.
"Here."
"Huh…?"
"You said your device was taken before. Until it's reissued, let's watch the class with this together."
"Great! Hana is kind!"
"Is that so?"
It was strange.
When Choi Sujeong was with Lee Hana, she became ordinary Choi Sujeong, not an orphan of the back alleys, not a limb of the Balder Family, and not the pet cat of the damn twins.
Choi Sujeong was thinking of herself as 'Choi Sujeong' before she knew it.
That was a very strange thing.
One day, while walking on the promenade, she walked under a path lined with cherry trees.
Since it was her first time taking a leisurely walk, Choi Sujeong, looking around, looked up at the sky as if bewitched by the pink light that day.
Cherry blossoms fluttered. Small petals fell like rain.
Beautiful. Very much so.
Choi Sujeong couldn't take her eyes off the scene.
"Do you like cherry blossoms?"
When she came to her senses, Lee Hana, who had picked a cherry blossom petal off her cheek, was looking at her with a gentle smile.
Did I look too sentimental? Worried that her excited self might look foolish to Lee Hana, Choi Sujeong acted grumpy for no reason.
"Yeah, well, I don't hate them. What does Hana like~?"
Lee Hana smiled.
"You."
"…Wh-wh-what…."
Her face flushed as red as her hair.
"Thank you for being my friend."
"……."
Choi Sujeong couldn't hold back and whispered softly.
"That's what I should say."
Cherry blossoms bloomed.
It was the season when cherry blossoms bloom.
In that season, a small flower bloomed in Choi Sujeong's heart too.
It was a small miracle in a life like a wasteland.
And as always, Choi Sujeong's life wasn't easy enough to obediently allow her happiness.
"Good! I think it's done!"
"Good. It seems done."
Gemini, who called Choi Sujeong after a long time, said that.
"We'll free you!"
"We'll throw you away."
"But!"
"But."
"The plus of freeing you needs a minus of that magnitude!"
"It means a misfortune of that magnitude is needed to remove your shackles."
Ominousness crawled up Choi Sujeong's spine.
Chaeng-geurang—
Like the sound of something breaking, a dagger hit the floor and made a noise.
Gemini, who threw the dagger, smiled.
"Now! So!"
"Now, so…"
"Stab your friend with this sword!"
"Stab Lee Hana with this sword."
Choi Sujeong stared blankly at the sword.
A sword shimmering with red light.
Gemini does not lie.
If she just betrayed her friend, Lee Hana, Choi Sujeong could be freed from pain.
What she had to choose was clear.
Because Choi Sujeong was an existence that always moved for her own survival, to hurt less.
What she would choose was naturally….
Even so, Choi Sujeong realized again that moving to betray someone was this despairing.
"Hey."
"Huh?"
"The pet cat's despair. What will be at the end of it?"
"Want to bet?"
"Okay. If I win, let me go once when I want, Left."
Leaving Gemini's faintly audible voice behind, Choi Sujeong left the place.
A cursed dagger was gripped in her hand.
It rained that day.
Choi Sujeong trudged through the rainy streets and returned to the Academy.
Even though going straight to Lee Hana and stabbing her was the right judgment, Choi Sujeong couldn't do it.
She went to her room and curled up.
Because she was lonely and cold, Choi Sujeong turned up the boiler until it was hot.
Even so, it was strangely cold.
Choi Sujeong didn't go to class after that.
No, she erased her existence from the Academy.
Information Erasure.
Her skill that reached LV.20.
With that, she could completely erase her tracks anywhere.
Even so, there is one thing she couldn't erase.
"Choi Sujeong."
"……."
"Choi Sujeong!"
Even though she wanted to erase it, she left the memory, using the excuse that it was efficient to keep it.
And yet, she didn't have the courage to meet, so she avoided her.
It was Lee Hana who came to find that Choi Sujeong.
"What on earth happened?"
Lee Hana grabbed Choi Sujeong with an expression she had never seen in her life, yes, an expression like… she was about to cry.
Choi Sujeong,
"…Hana."
Just wanted to run away.
"I'm sorry."
That must have been why.
That she stabbed her.
Because she wanted to end all this and run away.
Because she wanted to accept the farewell that had come, rather quickly.
"Ah…?"
The cursed dagger that stabbed into Lee Hana's stomach engraved that curse inside Lee Hana.
She could tell.
Choi Sujeong stammered, as if making an excuse.
"I, I… Hana, I… don't want to hurt anymore."
But why, I shouldn't hurt, but why does it hurt so much?
Choi Sujeong realized belatedly that the pain of the heart could be this painful.
"I, just, get out, and, with you,"
Ah. Right.
I wanted to be happy with you.
Choi Sujeong thought she realized it too late.
Until Lee Hana wiped away Choi Sujeong's own tears with a trembling hand.
"It's okay."
She said.
"Everything, will be okay."
Her words were neither a curse nor resentment.
They were words to reassure Choi Sujeong herself.
They were words for Choi Sujeong.
Seeing Lee Hana collapse with those last words, Choi Sujeong cried.
It rained. Red light mixed and flowed down through the transparent rainwater.
Choi Sujeong carried Lee Hana and took her to the hospital.
"It's a curse. A conditional curse… something strange seems mixed in."
I knew. At least that much.
Because Choi Sujeong was the one who cast that curse.
Because it was Choi Sujeong herself who plunged the dagger.
It rained.
Rain flowed down Choi Sujeong's cheeks.
Feeling the salty taste of rain, Choi Sujeong returned to where she had to return.
Lee Hana, who had regained consciousness even faintly, was watching Choi Sujeong's retreating figure.
"I did it."
"Yeah. I know! You felt it too, right? The magic circle being lifted!"
"Yeah. That's right. You know now, too, right? That you're free."
"…The dagger you gave,"
Choi Sujeong grit her teeth.
"Can't you cleanse the curse of that dagger?"
"We can, but I don't want to!"
"We can. But I don't want to."
They giggled.
Choi Sujeong ultimately couldn't hold back her anger and fired blades of wind at them.
Kuuung—!
Sharp blades of wind embedded in the concrete wall, creating marks.
"…Huh?"
"…Hm?"
And only when Gemini looked at her with smiling mouths but unsmiling eyes did she realize what she had done.
Primal fear engraved from childhood crawled up from her toes.
Choi Sujeong froze, feeling Gemini's gaze looking down at her with outstretched hands.
At Gemini, who was about to reach out to such Choi Sujeong,
"Stop."
A sharp spear of ice was fired.
Choi Sujeong knew the owner of that detailed and strong, shining spear of ice.
She looked back.
Calm aquamarine-colored eyes were looking at Choi Sujeong.
"If you bully my friend any more, I won't forgive you."
Those eyes were full of anger.
But that anger was not directed at Choi Sujeong.
Choi Sujeong thought that fact was very strange.
Gemini giggled.
"Good! My victory!"
"No... my defeat...."
They whispered something, tilted their heads in the same direction, and waved their hands at Choi Sujeong.
"We said liberation, right? We'll really let you go!"
"We said we'd throw you away. We won't touch you this time."
"Then disappear quickly."
Lee Hana hugged Choi Sujeong.
Only then could Choi Sujeong breathe, little by little.
Gemini was laughing.
But that laughter wasn't as scary as before.
She saw Gemini, who had been cackling for a long time, turn into dust and disappear into the air.
Soon, only the two of them were left in that space.
"…Why did you come?"
"Because I was worried."
"This isn't the time to worry about me! Did you not hear the explanation of your condition!? You are now…!"
"I know."
Lee Hana answered calmly.
"I know."
Choi Sujeong realized only then.
Lee Hana knew her situation well.
Even so, she still cherished Choi Sujeong.
"…You know, Sujeong."
She smiled.
"We're still friends, right?"
"…You're really a fool."
"That's the first time I've heard that."
"You're a fool, you."
Choi Sujeong felt her vision blurring.
Because she hated Lee Hana's figure becoming blurry, wondering if this was a dream, she wiped her tears furiously.
Lee Hana carefully held Choi Sujeong's hand.
Warmth was felt.
It was reality.
"We're friends."
So Choi Sujeong cried her eyes out.
"Until you don't want it, I'm your friend…."
"That won't happen."
"You're really a fool..."
"I'm not a fool."
Choi Sujeong gained everything that day.
“So I'm not in a position to say anything to you~”
She said calmly.
“I've already betrayed a friend once.”
Choi Sujeong then smiled at me.
That smile was still overflowing with affection for me.
I turned my head away and avoided her gaze due to an unknown embarrassment.
“So…”
“……”
“Whatever reason there is, I'll be waiting for you.”
I felt a gentle hand hugging my shoulder.
“Junior, Kang Nahyun. I believe in you.”
It was warm.
At that warmth, I felt tears welling up.
“…Even if I,”
Because that trust was so kind,
“Even if I tell a story you can't believe?”
“Of course.”
Tuk, tu-tuk...
Water droplets flowed down, one by one, making a sound as they hit something.
It was my tears.
Feeling the sensation of liquid starting to flow uncontrollably, I finally opened my mouth.