April Fool’s Special: Seo-ha Wants to Build a Soccer Team
Translator: RaidenTL
April Fool’s Special: Seo-ha Wants to Build a Soccer Team
“…Me.”
My head was spinning.
“…Hey, wake up.”
I have to get out of this trashy world quickly. I’m the only one left who can save Ha-neul.
“Hey, Kang Seo-ha, I said wake up.”
I know he’s happy right now.
But is happiness the end of it…? Even if he’s happy, this place is just an illusion. It’s not a world that actually exists.
“…This is my final warning. Get up now.”
Rather than dying while running away into a delusion, it’s better to return to the reality where the two of us endured together, no matter how trashy it was…!
“Ah! I said wake up!”
Suddenly, I felt a sensation of floating.
“Ow…!”
“How do you fall off the bed along with the blankets just because I pulled them away…? Do you know what time it is? Get up already.”
“Wha—what…! Ha-neul? No, Kang So-hyun, why are you here…!”
“…Are you sick? What kind of nonsense is that all of a sudden?”
He looked at me with pity, and then, seemingly deciding I was just drunk on sleep, he trudged off somewhere as if it were a chore.
“Wha—what is this…? Where am I, really? What was the last thing I was doing?”
I searched my surroundings to figure out what was going on, but I couldn’t find anything useful.
One thing was certain: this place wasn’t the Academy dormitory, it wasn’t my hideout, and it wasn’t even the orphanage. It was somewhere else entirely.
“Right, are you finally awake now?”
While I was looking around, he returned, holding a plate and a glass.
“…What on earth is happening?”
“…Good grief, I’m busy as it is, and you’re still in a dream. Well, I suppose that happens. Forget it, just open your mouth. Say ‘ah’—”
“…Ah—? Ack!”
Inadvertently following his lead, I opened my mouth, and a small piece of toast was popped inside.
The scent of heated butter and strawberry jam was simple, but the flavors melded so well that my heart felt at ease.
“Next, warm milk. You’ll spill this, so hold it and drink it yourself.”
“…Okay.”
“Now, chew thoroughly. Swallow. Moving your tongue and jaw should wake you up.”
I munched and swallowed the food, but I still couldn’t understand the situation.
But it was nice.
How long had it been since something like this happened…? Back then, he used to do this often when I whined about not wanting to get up.
“Hmm.”
He stood there watching me quietly, then for some reason, he leaned in closer.
Thinking he was going to check my temperature, I stayed still, only for a soft sensation to touch my lips and then pull away.
“…Huh? You—you—you! You! What are you doing!?”
“Hm? Was that not it? You were whining so much, I thought you wanted a morning kiss.”
No, this never happened. Ha-neul and I never went beyond a kiss on the cheek…!
“Goodness, Princess. Get your head together and come downstairs. Did you forget what day it is?”
He hurried me so much that I had no choice but to get up and head out the door.
As I went down a set of stairs I’d never seen before, what greeted me was a scene that was also unfamiliar, yet for some reason, it made me want to cry.
Children I’d never seen.
Yet, they looked strangely endearing.
“I know your writing is important, but you agreed to help prepare for the kids’ birthday party.”
Kids? Did he say kids? Does that mean those children over there are the ones I gave birth to after marrying him?
“What, don’t tell me you can’t even recognize our little princesses now?”
Oh my god.
Now that I think about it, it seems plausible.
In truth, Ha-neul and I had already gone all the way long ago, so it’s possible we’d have this many children between us.
“No, there’s no way.”
For a brief moment, my delusional circuit burned so hot it almost paralyzed my reason, but no matter how I thought about it, this was strange.
“Ha-ni! Ga-eul! Come here! Mommy’s out of it.”
…What? Who?
I looked closely at the children who came running to his side, and indeed, though they were very small, they resembled them.
The boy playing with a long spear-shaped toy on the sofa, and the boy laughing beside him with a shield and sword, were the same.
The eldest daughter, who looked a bit older than them, had blonde hair and green eyes. After checking each face one by one, weren’t they all faces I knew well in one sense or another?
Suddenly remembering, I looked over, and the child called Ha-ni, who had approached at his call, was hesitating for some reason and couldn’t bring herself to come to me.
No, more than that—the moment our eyes met, she immediately hid behind him.
“Ha-ni, what’s wrong?”
When he asked in a gentle voice, the child peeked her head out slightly from behind So-hyun and whispered softly.
“Mommy… hates me…”
…To be honest, my conscience pricked a bit.
My hatred for the characters in my novel was one thing.
But like So-hyun, I also had a soft spot for young children.
“Wh—why would Mommy hate Ha-ni? Come here.”
I conflicted for a moment, but no matter how I thought about it, getting angry at a young child wasn’t right.
Even if I didn’t know the reason, they said she was my child.
“…Really?”
The child, who asked back cautiously, slowly approached and leaned into my arms. The sensation was more vivid than I expected.
“Wow…!”
“See, why would Mommy hate you? Kids, Mommy’s just sharp because she’s tired from writing all the time. You know how much she loves you.”
At his words, not just Ha-ni, but all the children who were doing other things began to stare at me quietly.
And then, one by one, they came over to hug me.
…I’m sorry, So-hyun, but you’re wrong.
I hate these children.
I hate them because they’re trying to take you away from me.
I hate them because they feel so alive despite not being real, making me fall for the illusion.
I wanted to make them even more wonderful, people who would be loved by everyone, but I couldn’t, so I hate them.
I hate them because looking at them reminds me of all the mistakes I’ve made until now.
I hate them because looking at them reminds me of the guilt of giving up on them, and of my own foolishness in losing even the So-hyun who stayed by my side until the end.
I wanted to act like none of it ever happened, but I failed at even that, so I hate them.
And even after all that, I’m so disgusted with myself for not being able to let go and having such a stupid delusion.
To think I’d imagine being loved in a delusion like this after what I’ve done.
I really have broken down quite a bit.
The more I hugged the approaching children, the more my self-loathing grew.
Stop.
I wasn’t sure what this was, but now I am.
This is a dream.
It’s a familiar yet still terrible and nauseating delusion, a desire so dark it makes me want to laugh.
Let’s end this now. It was obvious that such a fantasy would soon turn into a nightmare.
Would the children melt away and condemn me, asking if I thought they’d ever forgive me? Or would So-hyun, covered in blood, mock me?
I was already prepared.
Did they think I’d only had this kind of dream once or twice? No matter how terrible the nightmare, I could endure it if I steeled my heart.
Even though the dream lasted longer than expected—playing with the children on the swings in a house with a garden, playing in the sand together, riding the seesaw, making and eating lunch together, and getting drunk on the lullaby So-hyun sang for the first time in a long while…
“No, when is this going to end?”
Even after all the children fell asleep and I lay in bed, the dream showed no sign of ending, let alone turning into a nightmare.
Seriously, what is this?
My mind was hazy because of the warmth of the children who had been holding my hand tightly until the moment they fell asleep.
“The kids are all asleep. Let’s go up too.”
It was about time for him to start insulting me, but the still-kind So-hyun seemed to have misunderstood my dazed state for something else, as he chuckled and picked me up.
“Huh!?”
“Why is our big princess being so clingy today? I thought you’d matured a bit after having the kids. Can’t you make it to the bed?”
No, Nightmare, just how high are you planning to drop me from that you’re giving me this much service?
Being carried to the bed in his arms—this was a new kind of physical contact I’d never experienced before.
Are you going to throw me out of the second-floor window now…?
Contrary to those worries, he laid me on the bed and sat down beside me.
“Why? What are you so worried about that your face has been dark all day?”
“…It’s all a dream.”
“Hmm?”
“All of this is a dream. Stop it. I know better than anyone that I don’t deserve this. I know I used the excuse of it being for you, Ha-neul, just to monopolize you. So stop it.”
It’s sweet.
It’s a sweet dream, and that’s exactly why I have to end it here.
If I keep going, my resolve will soften, and after I wake up, I’ll want to die from self-loathing and despair.
Because morning will come eventually, even if I never want to wake up from the dream again.
I won’t fall for an illusion.
Even if I’m cursed and hated, I’d rather return to a trashy reality with So-hyun than stay in a sweet fantasy.
“So, you’re saying this is all a dream, an illusion?”
He should have stopped by now, but the illusion hadn’t given up on deceiving me yet and reached out toward me.
“I wonder what I have to do to make you believe this isn’t a dream.”
His voice and expression were so much like his that I almost fell for the trick that this wasn’t a dream, but it was impossible to deceive me now that I’d made up my mind…
“We only need three more for a soccer team.”
“Pardon? What do you mean by that?”
“Why the formal speech? You’re the one who said you wanted to make a soccer team with the kids.”
Well, it was true that I had such a minor desire.
“It’s been a while since the kids have been sleeping so peacefully. How about it?”
“Uh, uhhh…? Huh?”
“…No, why are you acting like it’s your first time now?”
Mr. Illusion… I was a bit arrogant, wasn’t I? Between us, there’s no backing out now, right? I don’t care if I die of self-loathing after I wake up, so we’re going all the way, right?
His familiar yet unfamiliar touch stroked my hair, my cheek, my neck, and my collarbone in order.
They were all places he had touched before, but this was the first time he had touched them with such clear sexual intent.
To think the day would come when I’d be happy that the sensations in a dream were so vivid.
“Ah, seriously. Why are you so cute today? It’s like the first time we did it.”
He kissed my cheek once, and then he kissed my lips again.
And between my slowly parting lips, his hot tongue…
— Dear, shall we stop there?
…was about to enter.
* * *
“…Ah?”
— That was close. If it weren’t for me, you would have fallen into the dream and never woken up.
The timing today is truly, spectacularly cursed.
— Don’t look at me like that. Setting aside the issue of self-loathing, you know why you had this kind of dream.
“…Shut up.”
— He won’t even recognize your efforts, so why are you acting harsh to his face while paying the price he should be paying behind his back? Why don’t you just ask him to make a soccer team with you to his face?
“I said, shut up!”
— …Are you that disappointed? Should I have woken you up a little later?
“Ha, who’s disappointed? No, it’s not like that. Uh, just. It’s that. That.”
— …Right, your excuses seem to be getting more pitiful by the day, but I’ll pretend not to notice.
“…Whew.”
— Masturbating right after waking up isn’t good for your body, you know?
“I’m not going to do it!?”
Seriously, for a god, she says the most outrageous things.
To be honest, I did consider it for a moment, but I’m not going to do it.
…Still, I thought it might be better to do it while the sensations from the dream were still lingering, even if just a little.
— Shall I play the recorded video for you?
“…Yeah.”
Afterward, at the same time the video of him kissing another woman began, a disaster occurred where the Red Butler knocked on the door.
Fortunately, she left quietly out of consideration for me.
— …Are you sure that’s a good thing?