The Weight of a Hero's Lie
The next evening, I couldn't focus on cooking at all. The kimchi stew was simmering, but my eyes were glued to my smartphone screen, which kept lighting up.
The media was merciless. The bereaved families' cries from yesterday's joint memorial were being packaged as "group selfishness" and "truth-mongering," spreading in real time.
The articles were sly. They premised a non-existent fact—"despite the evacuation alarm sounding"—to point fingers at the families' safety negligence.
"..."
I bit my lip. There was no alarm. I knew better than anyone, having heard it straight from the bureau chief. But all I could do was turn off the screen with trembling hands.
I finally plated the meal on a tray and headed to the master bedroom. Oppa was watching TV alone in the dark room. The bluish glow from the screen illuminated his rigid face.
"There's some backlash against this incident, but we're overlooking something crucial. Korea—no, all of humanity—is living on the brink of extinction. Look at North Korea! Ten years ago, a single S-rank monster toppled the regime, turning it into an uninhabitable contaminated zone!"
He raised his voice even higher.
"We can enjoy our daily lives because of sacrifices. It's the tireless blood spilled by the Management Bureau and magical girls that makes this peace possible!"
The screen switched. A photo from right after Necroa was defeated. Amid the ruins of the collapsed apartments, Shining Ruby flashed a bright V-sign at the camera.
"Especially in this operation, without Shining Ruby's decisive action, all of Seoul would have become a second Pyongyang. The loss of a few is tragic, but she's the hero who saved millions."
Hero.
Oppa's shoulders trembled visibly. The debris Ruby was standing on in that photo—that's where his parents and Yeon-ah were buried. Yet the world was praising her as a hero.
Ding.
Then, my phone on the table rang. Oppa's gaze shifted to it. The screen showed the comment section from the article I'd been reading.
"No...!"
I snatched the phone in a panic, but it was too late. Oppa had already seen it. How the world was slandering him and his family.
"Why..."
Oppa's voice scraped out like rusted metal.
"Why is everyone... insulting our family? What did we do wrong?"
"O-Oppa! Don't look at this crap! It's just idiots with nothing better to do yapping!"
"It didn't ring..."
Oppa shook his head, voice breaking.
"There was no alarm! No announcements! We were just... in the middle of a birthday party! You know that, Da-in! You were there too!"
Oppa's desperate cry was on the verge of collapse. I grabbed him as he seemed about to crumple, blurting out without thinking.
"Yeah, I know! There was no alarm. I know, Oppa!"
At those words, life flickered in his dead eyes—like a castaway spotting the last lifeline.
"R-Right! Da-in, you're a magical girl! You're Spica!"
Oppa seized my hands. They were hot, desperate.
"If you... if you speak up, wouldn't they listen?"
"Huh...?"
"Da-in, help us. Please. You're a hero upholding justice! People will believe you. That we're not lying, that the bureau messed up!"
He buried his face in my hands, pleading.
"Why do Mom, Dad, and Yeon-ah have to be insulted even in death? It's so unfair. So infuriating...!"
I was speechless. If I could, I wanted to. I wanted to storm a broadcast station and spill the truth right then.
But... what power did the words of a mere C-rank magical girl hold?
More than that, the bureau chief's words—that cold logic—choked me like shackles.
'If the truth comes out... the magical girl system will be doubted.''Then who stops the next monsters? Another Necroa?''It was a choice to save 5,000 lives...'
I bit my lip until it bled. And in the end, with his hands in mine, I uttered the cruelest words.
"Oppa... I'm sorry."
"Huh...?"
"People need a hero right now. Ruby and the bureau are symbols of hope protecting this country."
My voice shook.
"If the bureau's lie is exposed... people will distrust all magical girls. The system will crumble. Bigger chaos will come."
Tears streamed from my eyes. Sorrow for Oppa, but also disgusting tears rationalizing my cowardice.
"So Oppa... please..."
Avoiding his gaze, I begged.
"Can't we... just endure this grief together? For the world... if we just bear a little..."
"..."
Silence. Strength drained from his hands. I cautiously lifted my head.
Oppa was... in despair. Not anger, not betrayal—just perfect, lightless void.
"Ah..."
Fear gripped me. Would he shatter like this? I rummaged the drawer for my last card. The bureau's "escape" for us.
"L-Look at this, Oppa. I-I got recommended to the Royal Academy in the UK!"
With shaking hands, I unfolded the letter.
"The UK's the home of Fortress-types like me! I can get way stronger there. They'll give money, a house—everything!"
I babbled desperately.
"H-Hate Korea, right? It's awful. Let's leave together. Somewhere no one knows us... just happy, us two..."
"This..."
Oppa's eyes fixed on the letter.
"You took this... and decided to shut up?"
"...Huh?"
I froze. To him, that paper wasn't a ticket to hope. It was dirty bribe money bought with his family's lives.
"N-No! Oppa, it's not like that...!"
"I see... so that's how it was..."
Oppa smiled. So sadly, so poignantly. Tears like beans poured from his eyes.
Slowly, he raised his left hand and removed the silver ring on his ring finger. The promise I'd given him.
Clink.
The ring fell onto the recommendation letter.
"O-Oppa...?"
He gathered his clothes and headed to the door. Panicking, I grabbed his arm.
"Don't go! Where are you going? I was wrong! Oppa!"
But he didn't shake me off. He just... stopped and turned.
His eyes were so pitiful, I couldn't hold on.
"Please..."
He choked up.
"Please... don't hold me back."
"..."
"Da-in... I... really don't want to hate you too."
That was the end. Oppa opened the door and left.
I stood frozen, staring at the closing door.
The empty room. On the table lay the lone recommendation letter and the orphaned ring, glinting.
... ...
After Oppa left, I visited the joint memorial several times. With home and family gone, it was his only refuge.
From afar, I watched his dazed silhouette.
I wanted to run, kneel, beg. Admit I was wrong. Rip up that damn letter and plead for him to come back.
But... I couldn't.
Every time bereaved families grabbed bureau staff by the collar screaming "Save them!", I clutched my chest.
Accomplice covering the truth. Traitor who took blood money for family lives.
Did I deserve to face Oppa? Could I bear his hatred?
"..."
In the end, without even calling his name, I turned and fled.
Days later, clutching the chief's recommendation, I boarded a flight to Europe.
Leaving Min-woo Oppa alone in hell.
As the plane took off, gazing at Seoul's receding nightscape, I shed inexplicable tears.
My heart ached. I finally knew what "heart-wrenching pain" meant.
Guilt choked me, like I might die.
Thump—
But... strangely.
Thump— Thump—
Amid that excruciating agony, a faint relief and strength welled up in a corner of my heart.
'I... sacrificed myself.'
The thought struck suddenly. Rejected by my beloved, leaving alone. Bearing all blame and sorrow for justice, for the world.
'Yes... I sacrificed for the world.'
That tragic narrative forcibly patched my torn heart.
My image—so noble, so wretched. That self-pity as the "tragic heroine" ironically gave me the strength to live and grow stronger.
Thus, I became the protagonist of my self-made tragedy.
—
Back to 9 PM. In front of the redevelopment zone.
"Haa..."
Da-in gripped the fence tightly. The cold, rusted iron dug into her palms.
She pulled out the necklace she wore. A thin silver chain with a small diamond-studded ring.
The very one Min-woo had left on the recommendation letter three years ago.
Gazing at the ring sparkling in the moonlight, her eyes welled up.
She clasped the ring to her chest, like a prayer.
"Min-woo Oppa."
Tears trailed down her cheeks. But her face wasn't drowned in sorrow.
Not yielding even to this cruel fate, rising to reclaim love... herself.
"Wait for me. I'll save you."
She kissed the ring.
"Only I in this world can make Oppa happy."
Whether this was pure love or twisted possessiveness, even she didn't know.
But one thing was certain.
She was stronger now, and she wouldn't run anymore.
Only she could protect Oppa.
And she and Oppa needed each other.
Whoooosh—
The wind blew. The sound whistling through the ruined apartment complex echoed like Oppa's sorrowful sobs that day.