Date with Yuna (1)
"Yuna, are you really sure about this?"
"Of course, Cheon Seong~ It's been so long since we went out together, I'm really happy~♡"
What Yuna wanted from him was simple. She just wanted to go out and spend time together for the first time in a while.
It wasn't difficult, and being with Yuna felt good to him despite the lingering unease in his chest. Even if it hadn't, he owed it to her to grant her wish, so he'd readily agreed.
"But Yuna, how long do we have to keep doing this?"
"Just a little longer! Cheon Seong, this is all because you never wear proper clothes."
And now, having finally stepped outside, they had been shopping for clothes for three hours straight.
When he'd pulled out his usual clothes to go out, Yuna had stared at the closet full of identical black garments and declared he didn't dress properly at all. Before he could protest, she'd dragged him straight to a clothing store to pick out something suitable.
"Sir, how about this one? It's been very popular with men lately."
"Wow! This one looks great too! Cheon Seong, try this one on!"
After three hours of trying things on without buying anything, one would expect the staff to say something — but instead of that, the clerk was somehow even more enthusiastic than Yuna herself, leaving Cheon Seong completely at a loss.
Murmurs of conversation swelled around them.
What had started as a quiet store had somehow filled with customers, the atmosphere growing noisy and crowded. For someone who disliked such commotion, it was nothing but uncomfortable.
*Grab.*
"Hey, you. What do you think you're doing with your hand?"
"Eek!! Ahhh—!"
Of course, his dislike for crowded places wasn't without reason — it was precisely in such environments that trash like this tended to appear.
He'd caught a man's hand trying to slip under Yuna's skirt in the chaos, twisted his arm hard to subdue him, and dragged him outside to the police waiting nearby.
"Excuse me, could you take this guy away?"
"Sir, this is how many times now… I understand. Thank you for your help."
"Hehe~ Thank you, Cheon Seong."
This was already the seventh incident at this store alone. The officers stationed outside had grown so weary of it that they took the pervert away with resigned expressions, and Yuna thanked him warmly.
"Yuna, let's go now. That's seven of those guys already."
"Tch~ But all the clothes look so good on you, I can't decide!"
"Still, three hours is pushing it…"
"No, sir! It's no trouble at all, please feel free to browse as long as you like!"
"Oh! Then… could we maybe look around a little more?"
"Of course!"
Just as he was about to persuade Yuna to leave, the clerk stepped in to block him, and Yuna's face lit up as she dove back into picking out more clothes.
When is this ever going to end…
"You seem truly weary, my dear."
Something rested on his shoulder, and Beatrice's pleasant voice sounded in his ear.
"Beatrice? You've been following us this whole time?"
"Not quite. You had been gone so long, yet your presence continued to linger here, so I came to look for you."
"…You can sense me from home all the way here?"
"Naturally."
The distance from his home to this store was a ten-minute drive — yet she'd sensed his lingering presence all the way and come looking. He could only marvel once again at Beatrice's strength.
"But Beatrice, didn't you say you'd grown weaker?"
Beatrice was the one who had sent him back in time.
Reversing time meant twisting causality, and twisting causality always demanded a tremendous price.
The last spell he had used was proof of that.
The apocalyptic magic End: Eclipse had been far beyond his level. It was a spell that had killed that Celestial in an instant — but only at the cost of his remaining life force, the Celestial's own Celestial Power, and all his mana, permanently consumed. He had barely managed to cast it.
And yet Beatrice had twisted time itself, sending him back to the past — while preserving his memories of the regression.
She had suffered greatly from that act and told him she was weakened. And yet she was still strong.
Strong enough that the causality of reversing time had only weakened her, not destroyed her.
"Indeed. I suffered greatly in sending you back to the past, and I am now significantly weakened."
"If you're this strong even weakened, how powerful were you at your peak?"
"Do you remember the Celestial you faced last?"
"…Of course. That bastard is someone I'll never forget, even in death."
"That Celestial's name was Afinity — a 6th-class Celestial. And before I was betrayed, my rank was 1st-class. At my peak, even dozens or hundreds of Afinitys attacking together could not so much as scratch me."
Cheon Seong's jaw dropped.
That Celestial — Afinity — had been extraordinarily powerful. Even he, who could absorb magic stones and was considered to have the largest mana reserves in the world, had been no match for Afinity.
Afinity could shake mountains with a single punch and overturn the earth with two. Even as an enemy, his power had inspired awe.
And Beatrice was saying that even dozens or hundreds of beings like Afinity couldn't defeat her at her peak? He couldn't help but be stunned.
And if she was this strong even weakened, he couldn't even begin to fathom how vast the causality of reversing time truly was. Yet even so, Beatrice — who far surpassed his pre-regression self — was nothing short of a heaven beyond heaven to him.
"Why the look? Is it only now that you feel reverence for me?"
"Heh. I've felt that since the moment I first saw you."
Betrayed by her own kind, stripped even of the freedom to end her own life — Beatrice was in a state where going mad would have been the natural response.
And even beyond that, he had dimly sensed that she was hiding something from him. He didn't know what it was, but whatever it was, it was causing her pain greater than the agony of losing her freedom.
Could he have done the same?
If he had been betrayed by Yuna, stripped of the freedom to end his own life, and forced to spend his days searching for someone who would kill him — could he have endured it?
He didn't know.
He was human, with a finite lifespan. When Yuna had been about to be killed by a monster while shielding him, she hadn't abandoned him and fled — she had been captured in his place, and even then, she had comforted him rather than worrying about her own safety. And he still had the freedom to end his own life.
Compared to the life Beatrice had lived, he was blessed. Could he truly understand her despair?
Of course not. No matter how dark and hopeless his own life felt, he still possessed the minimum freedom to end his own existence. Beatrice had been stripped of that.
He had a finite lifespan. Beatrice's was infinite.
Despair deepened and poisoned with time. Great despair devoured lesser despair, growing in size like a gu毒 — a parasitic poison.
He had been foolish. He was merely… a foolish human who had thought he could understand Beatrice's despair.
And he had no choice but to feel reverence for such a Beatrice. He was her disciple, and he had no choice but to admire her.
"Thank you! Please come again!"
"Thank you for your help."
They finally left the clothing store an hour later.
"But Yuna, are you really sure you want to pay for everything? I think it'd be better if I covered half…"
"Tsk! That conversation is already over. I want to buy them for you! I said I'd give you what you wanted today, so that's it — no more talking about it!"
He carried bags full of clothes in both hands and suggested they split the bill, but Yuna firmly refused and ended the discussion.
"But these tight-fitting clothes are a bit uncomfortable…"
"That's the point, Cheon Seong."
"But everyone's staring at me like I'm weird."
After changing into the clothes Yuna had picked out, he tugged at the fabric, uncomfortable with the eyes on him. Yuna slapped his hand away.
*Slap!*
"What are you doing, stretching the clothes out?"
"But it's uncomfortable… Fine, I won't stretch them."
He preferred loose clothing, so tight-fitting garments weren't his style. He'd been trying to loosen the collar when Yuna's scolding stopped him.
In the end, until he got used to the clothes, he followed Yuna while silently fuming at the stares from passersby and the lecherous glances of horny dogs who looked at Yuna with filthy eyes.
"Oh? Cheon Seong, want to try that over there?"
"What are you talking about?"
"That! That thing over there!"
Where Yuna pointed was a photo booth labeled "Life Photo." Before he could even answer, she dragged him inside.
I'm not really into photos… but Yuna likes them, so I guess there's nothing I can do…
"Cheon Seong! Say cheese!"
Yuna made a V-sign with her fingers, facing forward with a bright smile. He copied her, and the machine's flash fired.
"Ugh… What's that, Cheon Seong! Don't make that face, smile a little!"
*Press.*
As Yuna lifted the corners of his mouth, he was about to say something when the flash fired again, capturing the moment.
"Oops! That one got taken… But you know, this one's nice too."
Seeing Yuna giggle and smile, the corners of his mouth slowly turned upward. He checked the photo and said,
"You're right."
"…"
*Click.*
The machine's flash fired again, capturing the two of them — him staring at the photo, and Yuna silent beside him.
"Hmm? Yuna, what's wrong? Are you hurt somewhere?"
"Huh!? Ah… No, nothing. Nothing at all. Wh… Wow, this photo turned out great!"
The photo displayed on the screen showed him looking forward, and Yuna staring at him with a flushed face.
He said nothing, just watched it. A moment later, the final countdown appeared on the screen.
"Ch… Cheon Seong. Wh… For the last one… let's… let's… hug…"
When the screen reached 2, Cheon Seong had said nothing. Yuna, interpreting his silence as a quiet refusal, was about to sigh in disappointment — when suddenly her body was pulled toward him.
*Whoosh.*
*Click!*
Yuna nestled into Cheon Seong's arms as the countdown hit 1 and the flash fired. The screen displayed the image: Yuna held in Cheon Seong's embrace, and Cheon Seong holding her with one arm, a small smile on his lips.
It was the signal that marked the beginning of a date that would be perfect for Yuna — but for Cheon Seong, nothing more than a source of quiet unease.