Chapter 118
Chapter 118
For the Final Battle
****
Whether or not the world called Earth knew it had faced a great crisis once again, the stars were sparkling above in the night sky.
The darkness of the night sky, deeper than her own jet-black hair.
For some reason, my stuffy chest felt a little clearer as I looked at the vast universe.
Why was it stuffy?
Was it because I was worried about Tae-jin, who had jumped into danger to save Renia?
No, I believed he would return safely with Renia, so I wasn't particularly worried.
Or was it because of the pressure brought on by the final battle with God R'hell?
No, that too, I believed we would succeed if we were with Tae-jin, so I wasn't worried.
“….”
Na-yeon, looking at the starlight with sunken eyes.
It felt like that bright star was right in front of her, but in reality, it didn't feel real that it was a place she couldn't reach even if she repeated eons of time.
She reached out her hand as if to grasp the starlight.
Naturally, it couldn't be caught.
Starlight that seemed within reach but couldn't be caught.
She grasped the empty air with longing eyes, but all she caught was a hollow heart.
“Tsk.”
Na-yeon, who clicked her tongue bitterly, lowered her hand and leaned against the back of the bench.
At that moment.
“Here, have a drink. It's a warm herb tea that's perfect for a chilly night.”
Tae-jin’s mother, Mi-hwa, handed Na-yeon a mug and sat on the bench.
“Ah, Mother.”
“Can't sleep, I see?”
“Ah… well. That's right.”
“Hoho. You seem to be very worried about Tae-jin and Renia?”
Na-yeon nodded her head.
Mi-hwa looked at her with a pleased smile.
“It's a bit much for me to say it myself, but since it's a joint work of two geniuses, they will surely save Renia and return safely.”
“I believe so too. It's just, simply….”
Na-yeon, trailing off her words and stroking the mug on her thigh.
She didn't know what words would follow, but for some reason, it was hard to spit them out.
Mi-hwa took a sip of the herb tea and looked at the starlight.
The image of Na-yeon, who had been grasping at the empty air while looking at the starlight, was clearly drawn in her mind.
“When you get older, you see a lot of things you don't have to. It's strange, but that's how an old person's meddling begins.”
“Yes…?”
“Ah, come to think of it, I haven't been able to say thank you. I heard that Tae-jin has been growing rapidly since you took him in as your exclusive disciple. Thank you, Hunter Park Na-yeon.”
Mi-hwa looked at Na-yeon and offered a handshake.
At that, Na-yeon waved her hands with a surprised expression.
“What? Ah, no. He was already growing rapidly before that. All I taught him were a few skills.”
“Hoho. You're more modest than I heard. Anyway, I wanted to thank you.”
“Ah… yes.”
Excessive refusal can lead to misunderstanding.
Na-yeon politely accepted Mi-hwa’s handshake.
It was a strong yet warm hand.
“Thank you.”
“Thank you? Did I do something to deserve a thank you from Miss Na-yeon? Ah~ For giving birth to Tae-jin?”
Mi-hwa shook their clasped hands with a sly smile. It was a joke to draw out Na-yeon’s inner thoughts.
“Ah? Ah, no. It's just….”
“What kind of child is Tae-jin as an exclusive disciple?”
“What? Ah, it was the first time I took in a disciple, so… I think he was a good disciple. He learns quickly, has good innate traits, and also… he's cool.”
Na-yeon, who had been thinking of Tae-jin without realizing it, quickly closed her mouth.
As she spoke so fluently, she almost let out an unnecessary compliment.
Of course, it was the compliment Mi-hwa wanted to hear the most.
Therefore,
“and handsome.”
Mi-hwa, who slyly added the words Na-yeon had swallowed, took a sip of the herb tea.
“What?”
“Mmm~ The herb tea in Cheollihyang Village is strangely sweet, isn't it? Don't you think so?”
“Ah, yes. It's sweet.”
Na-yeon followed Mi-hwa and took a sip of the herb tea.
It was not sweet.
It was just an ordinary herb tea with a bitter and fresh grassy scent.
But she had agreed with her opinion.
“….”
“….”
A light silence that had come for a moment descended upon the two of them.
It was Mi-hwa who broke the silence.
“A person’s face is a very convenient tool.”
“Is… that so?”
At the words whose meaning she couldn't understand, Na-yeon replied with a puzzled expression.
“It conveys richer and more certain emotions with far less muscle movement than when you act or speak. That's why, just by looking at a person’s face, you can know their true feelings and lies.”
“….”
Mi-hwa crossed her legs and pulled her upper body forward.
She rested her right elbow on her thigh and scratched her chin with her right index finger.
Then, she looked at Na-yeon with the eyes of a detective interrogating a suspect.
“Hmm, it wouldn't be a cliché morality like ‘You’re the student, and I’m the teacher’…, and our Na-yeon is not a shy girl… or could it be a motherly love like ‘I’m happy just watching them be happy’?”
“…Y-yes?”
At Mi-hwa, who seemed to be reading her mind completely, Na-yeon’s eyes widened.
“Pfft. That's not it, since our Na-yeon is still unmarried. Hmm… what could it be? Or could it be something like ‘altruistic consideration’?”
“What? Wh-what is that….”
Na-yeon instinctively lowered her gaze and avoided it.
Mi-hwa, who pinpointed the reason behind her stifled heart, was sharper than any detective.
Mi-hwa smiled warmly and leaned back against the backrest again.
“Na-yeon-yang’s eyes seemed to be full of stories. Affection, lingering feelings, pride, pleasure, joy, sadness, and so on. There were so many things in them… Did something happen with Tae-jin?”
The feeling of being dragged into an inescapable room of truth.
It felt like she was tied to a chair and could only leave the room if she told the truth, and strangely, it seemed like there would be an unexplainable sense of relief when she left the room.
Her heart had already been completely read.
Mi-hwa’s skillful way of speaking had laid bare all her hidden feelings, and even her lingering feelings of just watching the distant starlight had been exposed.
She decided not to hide it anymore.
“Yes. We did something wonderful. We had a wonderful adventure and saved a world in danger by caring for each other.”
“Hoo, that's a really wonderful thing.”
“But… I think Tae-jin has forgotten a little. I think it's possible. Memories are not always perfect, are they?”
Mi-hwa nodded her head.
“That's right. Because memories are beautiful because they are not perfect.”
“At first, I was sad. It felt like half of my memory had been erased. But now I’m happy. Because I at least found the owner of that memory.”
“Are you really happy?”
Na-yeon hesitated for a moment.
It didn't take long to come up with an answer.
“Yes. I don't want to interfere unnecessarily. Their current relationship seems even stronger than the relationship in my memory.”
“You don't want to interfere, huh….”
Mi-hwa drank her herb tea with a groan.
Then, she chuckled.
“Renia—no, Miss Bersha—wouldn’t see it that way, you know?”
“What?”
“You heard everything from Tae-jin, didn't you? That Renia will be leaving for a ‘while’ someday.”
“…But I don't want to take advantage of that gap.”
Mi-hwa looked at Na-yeon with a proud and pleased expression.
“On the contrary, Renia would want you to fill that gap.”
“…What?”
“Would there be anyone in the world who would want to see their loved one break down in the uncertain sadness they left behind?”
“…!”
Na-yeon’s face looked as if she had been hit by a hammer.
She couldn't equate a general belief with an individual's idea, but she thought that at least if she were in Renia’s position, she would do so.
Of course, Renia’s and Tae-jin’s opinions were the most important, and she didn't know if she could fill that gap even for a little while.
Just.
A vague and small wish like [If I could, I would want to] had just formed.
“Besides, it seemed like she trusted and relied on Na-yeon-yang more than anyone else here.”
“Renia… did?”
Na-yeon asked back with a bewildered expression.
Mi-hwa nodded with a confident expression.
“Let's see, just from what I've seen so far, she has consulted and talked to Miss Na-yeon about all the trivial matters related to Tae-jin….”
Mi-hwa, who playfully frowned her brow and counted on her fingers.
She opened her mouth again only after nine fingers were folded.
“Nine times, wasn't it?”
Na-yeon looked back on the past days.
‘Come to think of it… she did tell me all the trivial news about Tae-jin and the stories they had. She also consulted with me.’
She had been aware of it for a while, but she thought it was because her position was Tae-jin’s ‘exclusive teacher’.
She hadn't thought that those things were because she was relying on her.
Because there was no reason for Renia to rely on her.
But after learning that Renia was a succubus named Bersha, that she had to leave someday for some reason, and hearing from Mi-hwa that she was relying on her.
‘It could be….’
The thought came to her.
That the one who had to leave was preparing to leave.
Of course, even though they had shared a fiery love once as Elroden, she had no intention of taking Renia’s place.
If Elroden’s side was hers, then Tae-jin’s side was rightfully Renia’s.
Just…
She just thought that maybe she could narrow the distance she had kept for Renia’s sake a little.
“Thank you for your kind words.”
Na-yeon thanked Mi-hwa.
Her stuffy chest, her inexplicably gloomy heart had been relieved by Mi-hwa’s comfort and encouragement.
“Hohoho. You don't have to thank me, since both of you are such good people that I would be sad to lose you.”
Mi-hwa stood up from her seat.
At this point, her feelings must have been well conveyed to Na-yeon.
“Well then.”
An old person whose role is over must also make a clean exit.
Na-yeon stood up with her and bowed her head deeply at Mi-hwa’s back as she walked away.
Then, she sat on the bench again.
She picked up the mug that still had a warm heat.
Sip—
Na-yeon drank the herb tea in it.
The bitter herb tea had strangely become sweet.
“Na-yeon-Unnie! Oppa and Renia-Unnie are back safely!”
The dark night sky was breaking into a vibrant dawn.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Thank you all. For worrying about me… and for understanding this side of me.”
The next morning.
Everyone was gathered in one space.
Renia, who was standing in the center, thanked everyone.
To everyone who, without prejudice, even called her form, which could be called a monster, beautiful.
But..
“On the contrary, I should be the one thanking you, Miss Renia. Thank you so much for saving our Yu-ra.”
“If it weren't for Unnie, I really wouldn't be here. Thank you.”
The thanks came back.
Especially at Mi-hwa, who hugged her warmly, Renia felt as if all her heartaches were melting away like butter on a hot pan.
Yu-ra, who approached her friendly and asked if she could touch her horns, Tae-jin and Ercia, who were looking at her with a touched expression, Hye-seo, who was as blunt as ever, and Han-na, who asked her to tell her the story of the succubus clan.
Na-yeon, who grumbled that she had gone through a lot, but that it was a foul to become even prettier.
Everyone was treating Bersha as Renia.
“Alright, now that we’re all gathered, let’s talk about business. We've been delayed, so we need to hurry. It will be quite troublesome if he goes into hiding.”
Tae-jin concluded the touching scene.
The touching moment could be enjoyed after the final battle was over.
Now, they had to talk about the final battle with the head of Illusion, God R'hell.
Although Illusion was showing a lull due to the failure of the Chimera raid, the villains and monsters that had poured out with the Chimera were reoccupying even the areas that had been subjugated.
That meant.
That Illusion’s eyes and ears had increased, and that there were more risk factors to move in large numbers.
<w:pgmar w:bottom="1440" w:top="1440" w:left="1440" w:right="1440" w:header="720" w:footer="720"><w:pgnumtype w:start="1"><w:r w:rsiddel="00000000" w:rsidr="00000000" w:rsidrpr="00000000"><w:rpr><w:sz w:val="28"><w:szcs w:val="28"><w:rtl w:val="0"><w:t xml:space="preserve">For the final battle, they had to split into teams.