Guardian Star and the Last Sin (4)

Finally calmed, Ellie pulled away from my embrace — and then quickly drew back from me altogether.

At some point, her appearance had shifted from the girl in the yellow dress of her childhood back to how she had looked before entering the Nightmare Trap.

While I patted and soothed Ellie's back as she sobbed in my arms for a long while, I turned my head to locate Yeon.

Glancing over, I found her lying with her eyes closed, close beside me.

Thankfully, Yeon showed no visible external injuries.

As I was assessing her condition, I felt Ellie squirming in my arms, so I looked down.

Ellie lifted her face toward me.

Her eyes were far redder than before, and even their rims had grown noticeably bloodshot.

"Your eyes are pretty swollen."

"Well, what would you do...? My father, who was already dead, stood right in front of me and smiled and said, 'I'm counting on you.' Who wouldn't cry at that?"

"It means that even though he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠should have passed on with nothing left, he was thinking of me until the very end..."

I stroked her hair as she slowly settled her emotions, and Ellie gradually steadied herself.

Once her tears stopped and her feelings had fully calmed, Ellie glanced around ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as if searching for something — and her gaze landed on Yeon, lying at my side.

"Hyun-ah. If Yeon is trapped in the same kind of nightmare as me..."

I nodded and quickly began preparing to enter Yeon's nightmare.

She would be facing her most painful nightmare all over again.

There was no way Yeon knew that was how it worked.

Or perhaps she had simply lived too busy a life to ever have the time to learn it.

After all, Yeon had confessed to me, embarrassed, that she had been nothing but a beggar wandering the streets.

Her childhood must have been utterly miserable and harsh.

Thinking that, I realized Yeon's situation could be very bad indeed — and just as we closed our eyes to plunge into her nightmare as quickly as possible,

my vision inverted in an instant.

The sky was dark and heavy, so it seemed to be the middle of the night.

The architecture around me was, naturally, completely different from anything in the Holy Empire.

What filled my eyes was not the half-domed buildings of medieval Europe, their ceilings shaped to the structure itself, but rows of tile-roofed houses and streets steeped in an Eastern air — the feel of old Joseon.

Just as Yeon had described, lights lined the eaves of shops, each one advertising its wares.

"Wait — where's Ellie?"

I should have entered Yeon's nightmare together with her...

But for some reason, my instinct reassured me that she was safe, wrapping me in a quiet sense of relief.

Right... Ellie's nightmare gave me information too, so it should be fine to trust that.

— Pit-pat... patter-patter!

Before I knew it, heavy raindrops came pouring from the sky. I wrapped myself in the Authority of Wind, keeping my body only slightly damp.

The reason I didn't keep myself completely dry was deliberate: I had no idea how the people of this nightmare might react to seeing a man untouched by the rain.

And so I walked through the streets of the country called East, the hems of my trousers and the front of my shirt soaked halfway through, until a strong feeling overtook me — that I needed to enter the endless alley beside me.

Without even activating my instinct, something told me I had to go in, right now.

Trusting that feeling, I broke into a quick run down the dark alley.

Dirty refuse lay soaked in the rain, leaking strange, foul-smelling water across the path.

Paying it no mind, I stepped over the trash and deeper into the alley's darkness.

Buried beneath the sound of rain, I could somehow make out a human voice.

"You little bitch! I fucking told you to shut your mouth!"

"Ughhk...!!!"

A man shoved a girl away without hesitation, sending her flying.

Then, with brutal force, he was stomping on her as she lay sprawled on the ground.

He wore ragged clothes, and his hair was greasy and matted, as though he hadn't washed it in days.

And the target of his rain-soaked kicks was a small girl with red hair.

It was Yeon.

The moment I saw that it was Yeon, the maxim about never interfering too deeply with a nightmare vanished from my mind in an instant — and before I knew it, my blade was pressed against the throat of the man stomping on her.

"Stop."

"Hiiik!!"

Naturally, the instant the blade touched his throat, the man froze in terror and raised both hands above his head.

I never told him to raise his arms. The fact that he did it on pure reflex told me he'd done this sort of thing to someone more than once.

"Keep your hands down quietly and don't even think about looking at me. Understand?"

"Yes! Yes sir!!"

"Turn around."

Soon enough, the man spun around hastily, and I turned my back to Yeon to face him.

"Get lost. And never think of doing this again."

"B... but—"

I pressed the blade harder against his throat.

"Hey. Does it look like I'm asking?"

"I... I understand!"

"Run."

At my order, I lowered the sword, and the man bolted, fleeing down the alley for his very life.

When I turned back, young Yeon lay where she was, unable even to think of standing — worn down by the blows she'd taken and chilled to the bone by the rain.

She's lived like this... all her life.

The past cannot be changed.

But the future can — I could make sure she never lived this way again. So I would do everything I could.

For now, treating Yeon and getting her out of the cold came first.

Then—

The Status Window...?

No, it didn't even appear during Ellie's nightmare... why now?

Seriously, what on earth did that bastard build?

He constructed a machine capable of suppressing the Status Window — the single most broken trait in existence — even for a moment?

Yeon's condition was serious, so I shelved the thought for later. Quickly, I used the Authority of Wind and stripped off the cape I was wearing to shelter Yeon from the rain.

On top of that, I summoned Jeongryeong and — rather than leaving it in spirit form — materialized it, wrapping the two of us in its embrace.

— Fwoom.

Jeongryeong showed not the slightest objection. It padded over to me, wrapped itself around Yeon and me, and curled up on the ground.

That should make things a little warmer.

"So — what exactly is Yeon's nightmare?"

When I asked quietly into the empty air, the Status Window unfurled a translucent pane and left its answer.

So... I'm supposed to endure fifteen days in this nightmare alongside Yeon?

What on earth was she living through back then...?

...Even with the Status Window, some situations remain maddeningly opaque.

Fine — the Status Window isn't omnipotent either.

So where is Ellie right now?

My instinct says she's safe, but I can't be certain, and that leaves me a little anxious.

So the reason I felt she was safe was that she had never entered the nightmare at all — she had stayed behind with only me crossing over.

For now, time passed. Fifteen days, it said...

Even though it felt like about a day had gone by... the sky was still pitch black.

And the rain showed no sign of letting up.

It was enough to make me wonder whether a flood was about to break loose.

But all that worry proved pointless — the ground simply stayed soaked, always.

The water never, ever overflowed.

An agonizing stretch of time crawled by.

Then, slowly, I felt movement from Yeon in my arms.

Squirming, she threw off the cape that had been covering her face —

and glared at me.

"...What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Ugh... here we go again.

Ellie didn't remember me at first either...

For now, I'd trust the Status Window's word — and make sure she couldn't run from me.

When I said nothing, young Yeon kept prodding at me.

"Wait... don't tell me you're some pervert who's into a body like this?"

She pointed a finger at her own body as she said it.

Honestly, I'd been staying quiet because she looked ready to bolt, but that much I had to answer.

"Do I look like that kind of guy?"

"...Ha! Any man who could hold me like this and just sit there would have to be thinking exactly that, wouldn't he?"

".....Think about it carefully. If I were that kind of man, do you really think you could have run from me just now?"

"You never know. Maybe I'm a lunatic who'd try something even with his wits about him."

Every single word out of her mouth laid bare exactly how she had survived.

"Then what should I do to make you believe me?"

"....."

Yeon studied me up and down — then her eyes landed on the ring on my left hand.

"Hand over that ring. Then I'll let it slide."

"That's not happening."

"You don't get a choice. If I call the vigilantes, you'll be behind bars before you know it."

Vigilantes or not, I doubted they could beat the Successor of the Divine Beasts.

Scowling at me with narrowed eyes, Yeon spun around and darted off, shouting that she'd report me to the vigilantes.

Jeongryeong — I wanted to summon it as wind to catch her, but I had no idea what harm it might do her.

This young Yeon wasn't a hardened, trained body; she was still just a little girl's body.

Realizing that, I had to give up on materializing Jeongryeong into wind to grab her, and quickly unsummoned it instead.

Then I moved to go after her myself.

"Yeon! Where are you going!"

I tried to close the distance fast, but the alleys were so cluttered with obstacles that even I, cloaked in the Authority of Wind, couldn't advance quickly —

while Yeon, who knew every corner of these back alleys, vaulted over them like a parkour runner, quick as a flash.

In the end, I lost her.

But I couldn't give up here.

The only reason I'd held onto her was to keep that earlier scene from ever repeating...

Still — taking off the ring was truly not an option.

This ring held not only Yeon's feelings, but Ellie's as well.

The only time I would ever take this ring off was when both of them gave their permission together.

No matter how long I waited, the red-haired girl was nowhere to be seen.

"Where did you go?"

Following the Status Window's guidance, I turned — and found the red-haired girl standing in the rain, looking at me.

Even as I slowly began walking toward her, she stayed rooted to the spot.

Has she recovered all her memories?

Just as I thought that and started toward her —

Yeon began backing away from me.

She wasn't running. She simply stepped backward, little by little, putting distance between us.

Every step I took forward, she took one back.

".....Why are you running away? Come here, Yeon."

At my words, Yeon answered in a choked, trembling voice.

"No... I don't want you to see me like this. I don't want to show you how filthy and foul-smelling I am...!"

So her memories really had come back.

"...Don't come any closer..! I... I! I stink..! I haven't bathed in days....!"

Yeon backed away from me until, at some point, a wall stood behind her — her escape cut off.

But I kept a careful distance, refusing to press closer, so that she could come to me of her own will — so she could discard her past by her own choice.

"Hurry up~ Or are you going to throw me away?"

At that, Yeon cried out:

"Don't say that! Why would I ever throw you away..! It's just... I'm such a mess... that's all..."

"And yet I've been holding you this whole time, until you came to your senses?"

"...That's exactly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠why it's worse. Right now the smell of rain covers it a little, but once the sky clears..."

I sat down right in front of her and spread both arms wide, gesturing for her to come.

"Hurry. My arms are falling off."

"...Uuuh..."

Slowly, step by step, Yeon crept toward me at my words — and before I knew it, she had walked within arm's reach.

"Got you."

".....Even if I stink... you won't let go?"

"It's fine. Smelly or not, you're Hwa Yeon. That's all that matters."

".....You're too good with words."

And so I trailed after Yeon, holding her hand, wandering the streets with her.

The fluorescent glow of a certain shop — the place she'd told me about when she confessed to me, where the light had seemed so bright.

The spot where she'd often slept — not warm-looking, exactly, but with a small, lingering sense of comfort.

Even the obstacle-riddled streets she'd used as her playground, her "exercise."

And with each of them, Yeon seemed to drift further and further out of her past.

Until they appeared.

"Well, well. Look who it is~ So now you've landed yourself a decent-looking man and plan to live the good life?"

An unfamiliar voice called out from behind me.

But what was it about that voice... that made Yeon tremble so violently?

"Who are you?"

When I turned my head, what I saw was a middle-aged woman dressed so lavishly it was hard to believe she belonged to the East Country —

and a black-haired woman with a bob cut, holding an umbrella over her.

Behind them stood countless men of imposing build, guarding the pair.

"Ahh~ You don't recognize her, do you? That girl is mine."

The woman pointed a finger at Yeon, whose body was still trembling violently.

"Yours?"

"Yes~ Mine. Which means you've laid hands on my merchandise, so you'll have to pay for it, won't you?"

The currency of the East Country was, of course, different from that of the Holy Empire.

And naturally, I carried none.

But I did have something that could be shown as payment.

I raised my left hand and showed them the ring.

"Will this ring be enough?"

Seeing the ring, the woman smiled with evident delight.

"Oh, absolutely~ That ring, and I'll throw the girl in for free."

At my words, Yeon turned white as death. She released my right hand and seized my left instead, gripping it as though she would never let go.

"No... not that! Anything but that! It's the only thing that binds us together..! Not the ring!"

"If you want the ring, come take it yourself. The girl won't listen to a word I say. Surely you can manage that much?"

"Of course~"

At that, the woman waved her hand cheerfully and sent three broad-shouldered men toward me.

Men who towered ten centimeters over me, whose weight alone dwarfed mine — beyond merely imposing.

"Hand it over."

The man at the front stretched out his hand and stepped toward me — and the moment he did,

Lightning wreathed my yellow-hued blade. I seized it in my right hand and swung it toward the man — then swept Yeon up into my arms and fled.

"Hiiik..! Grab them!!!"

The woman who had been smiling until a breath ago was gone; in her place stood only a witch consumed by fury.

The broad-shouldered men were surprisingly agile for their size —

but they were no match for me, wreathed in the Authority of Wind.

— Close your eyes. I'll hear the whole story later.

Sending that message to Yeon, I darted through the obstacles and finally shook them off.

The place we had reached was the sanctuary Yeon had introduced to me just a few hours earlier — her own private haven.

When we arrived there, I asked her:

"Why were you trembling like that back there?"

"......"

"You won't tell me?"

".....What if you think I'm dirty?"

"I would never think that about you."

".....I once poured drinks for the high and mighty of this country. Only once."

"I never suffered the kind of 'bad things' you're imagining, Hyun. Mostly because the madam forbade the other customers from touching me — told them I was too young."

"......"

"I hated it. And on the days I refused, I was beaten half to death. I kept resisting, again and again — and in the end, it was only after being beaten to the edge of death that they finally let me go."

"And when I was finally freed... what met my eyes was..."

Not the shining sunlight. Some other light entirely.

Just the glow of the fluorescent signs that lit up the city.

Gazing at that light, Yeon had sworn she would never give up — that she would survive this place and escape it — and had clung to it as the signpost of her life.

In other words, that woman had come not merely to seize Yeon and force her back into pouring drinks — but to shove her future, her whole life, down into a pit of darkness.

Yeon had never told me this. I hadn't known.

The reason she had longed for light was that she had lived her whole life hoping that one day, she too might have a future as bright as those fluorescent signs.

And to keep evading that madam's gaze, she had gambled her life — throwing herself onto the very road the Sword Saint walked, a desperate, reckless wager.

In the end, the story wasn't so different from what I'd heard.

Only far, far bleaker and darker than the version Yeon had told me before.

"Why didn't you tell me? Why hide it? Why hide the truth? What good did that do?"

".....But—"

"You're not dirty. You had no other choice. You said you were beaten to the brink of death. You survived something that nearly killed you — who could possibly curse you for that?"

"After that, did you ever pour drinks for anyone again?"

— Shake, shake.

She turned her head left and right, saying it had never happened.

"See? It didn't. Even while crossing the brink of death, you held to your own will. You wagered your life on a gamble just to catch the Sword Saint's eye."

"And in the end, he did see you. And you became his disciple."

"....."

"Then it's settled. Honestly, I'm not exactly calm about it. The fact that you hid something like this from me does make me angry."

"....."

"But if you grant me two things, I'll forgive you. The first — from now on, you will never try to hide this part of yourself from me. Who you were, what you endured. Don't hide it."

"Just say it. You're going to marry me someday anyway, so what's the harm?"

"And the second."

As those words left my mouth, her pupils widened —

and somewhere along the way, the eyes that had been filled with fear were now brimming with hardened resolve.

Before long, the madam found Yeon and me.

The only difference was that she'd come hunting me with a veritable army of underlings.

"You dare deceive me — and then kill my men? Do you know how much I've overlooked until now...? Enough. That bastard dies, and you go to the brothel."

And so the broad-shouldered men, blades in hand, closed in on me to kill me —

while I took no action whatsoever.

Closer and closer they came, until one more step and the blade would pierce me.

And in that moment, what appeared — wielding the very sword I had created, swinging it at them — was her. Yeon.

— Shseok-seok!

She cut down the underlings rushing to stab me in a single breath.

Then she walked slowly toward the madam.

My second request to her had been this:

"Settle your past with your own two hands. Then I'll forgive you."

At my words, she had borrowed my sword — and at last swung her blade at the one who had filled her with terror.

"Don't you dare... touch my man!"

With that cry, Yeon cut her way through the underlings one after another —

until even her one and only secretary had fled, and the madam stood alone.

".....You... what... are you...? What in the world...?"

The madam stared at Yeon in utter incomprehension — at her men cut down by a mere girl, at this impossible situation —

but Yeon only said:

"Goodbye. My filthy past. Now — disappear."

And with a single sweep of the blade, she cut the madam down. With it, Yeon's past was overcome — and the nightmare ended.

Yeon dropped the sword, walked to me, and spoke.

"I've... done it. Both requests. So you'll forgive me... right?"

"Nope? You left out one thing — spending the rest of your life beside me, telling me nothing but the truth. Only when you keep that promise are you truly forgiven."

At those words — as though declaring she would not be beaten by the filth or the stench of her past — she ran to me, faster than before, and threw herself into my arms.

Only now, it wasn't the child from her memories. It was her adult self, returned.

"For loving even my past... for forgiving me... for saving me... thank you..! I love you, Lee Hyun!"

And so, as Yeon's nightmare shattered and my sight returned, we were released from Bret's fourth trap as well.

With that message, we emerged from the darkness.

We told each other everything that had happened inside the nightmares — and above all, Yeon, true to the promise she'd made, laid out her entire past without leaving out a single detail.

Watching her, Ellie said she'd worked hard, and the two of them patted and comforted each other in turn. It had ended well, and there was an oddly cleansing feeling in the air.

But for me, it was different.

The fact that they had to face their nightmares all over again hasn't changed.

If it hadn't been for me, both Ellie and Yeon might have lived out countless hours in those nightmares, reliving their pasts on an endless loop.

Suppressing the rising fury for now, I watched the girls descend the fourth peak ahead of me —

and I, too, began to walk.

Hoping that they would never be hurt again, I pressed straight ahead.

Of course, watching Yeon apologize to me over and over did have its effect...

"I'm sorry..."

"I said I forgive you...?"

"But still..."

Seeing her fidget and hesitate, watching me with an attitude so unlike her usual self —

for some reason I felt laughter bubbling up, so I stroked her hair, and she seemed to brighten a little.

"Stay by my side for the rest of my life. Understood? You too, Ellie."

"Yes...! Of course!"

"Who else would the Lord of the Cumul Family live with, if not the Successor of the Azure Dragon..?"

Smiling at their answers as we descended together, the hours slipped by in an instant —

and at last, we arrived at the fifth peak, where Bret made his home.