Ep.7 - Promises, and Lies (1)
Ep.7 - Promises, and Lies (1)
As if waking from a weary sleep, Delin regained his god-senses with a kiss from Riko.
Riko's tongue entered his mouth, wandering as if savoring the interior, and through it her desperate breath came through.
For the first time in her life, Riko continued a gentle, tender kiss; then, soon, she pressed Delin's tongue with her lips and pulled away without lingering.
"Listen up. That's how the world is. You don't trust people. You just use them—like a Dragon."
Riko's arm slipped behind Delin's back, which was pressed flat against the wall. That arm, which supported both his back and head as if embracing them, soon pulled Delin's body toward Riko once more, making it impossible to escape without kissing her.
Their mouths held each other again.
Delin accepted the slippery kiss.
Not only did he lack the strength to resist, but because the atmosphere was completely different from the previous kisses, he didn't feel like resisting.
"Paha..."
Riko pulled away again.
At the moment the long strand of saliva broke with a tuk-, she muttered again.
"And if you have no power, you get taken advantage of. Even those with power get taken sometimes, but if you have none, if you have no strength to resist, you live life just getting used."
Again, a kiss.
She alternated between short words and kisses as she claimed the back alley with Delin.
"Smack... In this shitty world, huh? If you want something, you gotta ignore everything else and charge in like crazy and grab it. You know what I mean?"
"..."
Delin shook his head.
Riko grabbed that shaking head again and kissed him.
"Smooch... Friendship, loyalty, love—all of that changes."
A short word, and a deep but brief kiss.
"Smooch... Know what doesn't change? Power. Power alone never changes."
"...It does change."
Delin said, turning his head slightly as if refusing.
"...Don't talk back. It doesn't change. If you crush someone properly with power, they can't even think of crawling back up. They crawl up because you didn't crush them properly. Now I'm strong enough those bitches can't even rub against me, so let's finish them all off and leave together."
Riko boldly dove for Delin's lips, which were slightly turned to the right, and kissed him again. The back alley's sour, musty smell was utterly replaced by Riko's sweet, sticky scent.
This kiss, unlike the previous ones, was passionate. Riko's firm leg slipped between Delin's thighs, lifting him; both arms held his forearms tightly as if to subdue him... Her tongue moved as if to devour Delin.
The two kissed like that for a long while.
Until the moon tilted and the day gradually began to brighten...
"Cough, hack..."
When the long, long kiss finally ended, Delin coughed, shaking off his dazed head. Still collapsed on the ground, he began crawling painfully, trying to escape the alley.
He poured out resentful words, choking up, to Riko, who silently watched him and wiped her lips.
"You promised. You promised..."
Riko didn't even let out a breath. She merely drew the dagger she had taken after causing a ruckus at Raven's headquarters.
"Well. You made that promise on your own."
"No...!"
The sight of him clinging to her leg was nothing short of desperate. Looking at Delin, who crawled over sluggishly and hugged her goddamned leg tightly, crying, Riko...
"Don't resent me. You'll understand someday. It's for us, and for the baby in my belly."
She muttered as if making excuses, and walked with him still hanging onto her leg. Her feet headed for the lodging. The heart to cherish Delin, the heart to love him, all set aside until after she removed every obstacle first.
"It's an unavoidable thing. If you had just listened to me from the start, there wouldn't have been any need to kill like this. They're all dying because of you. It's because you seduced those other bitches that I'm killing them."
She deliberately spoke even more coldly. Just as she had to her goddamned subordinates, Riko unleashed cold words on the one who tormented her own goddamned self. It was for his sake. Because if she didn't cut things off coldly, happiness of any kind could never be obtained—so Riko had to make a decision.
The world was always full of scavenger dogs rooting through trash, and if you didn't clean up in advance, everyone would only become more unhappy as time passed. Riko's world was like that. There was no such thing as a world where everyone lived together. Everyone was always scrambling to claim their own goddamned share, and to survive in such a world, a young girl had to become cruel.
Power is absolute. As long as power exists, order is maintained. She had been goddamned betrayed in her youth because she lacked strength, and the reason her subordinates were captured and pointed their swords at her own goddamned self was also because she lacked the strength to prevent it. Losing one eye was also because she lacked strength, and failing to stop other bitches from swarming around was also because she lacked strength. And the fact that Delin, squirming and trying to get away from her own goddamned self, resented her and called out other women's names—that, too, was because her own goddamned self lacked strength.
If she had been stronger, and killed those bitches before they could interfere in their relationship, none of this would have happened.
So Riko entered the lodging, dagger firmly in hand. Ignoring Delin, who clung to her leg, she dragged him along into the room where those loathsome bitches were all sleeping.
"Please stop! Please!"
Delin cried out.
"Don't do this! No!"
He hung onto Riko's leg and wailed his throat raw, but the slender man's body just kept being dragged along. Riko might have stopped for a moment as she looked at his tear-streaked, delicate face; but instead, as if her resolve had hardened, she walked even more coldly onward.
A thief must stick to her own goddamned way of life. An indecisive fool cannot grasp a treasure. The more it tries to slip from your grasp, the tighter you must hold. That's the world. If you don't push forward strongly, you'll lose everything.
"No, I said no. Hik, keuhuk..."
But right in front of the lodging, seeing Delin, who couldn't even overpower her, desperately clinging to the doorframe and holding on, she stopped her steps briefly.
"There's no need for this. Please..."
No need for this, he said. Hearing that stupid remark, Riko looked up at the sky and sighed.
"It has to be this way."
"I hate it! I'll hate you forever. If you lay a hand on the other noonas, I'll hate you forever!"
With a voice trembling in fear, Delin shouted. That desperate voice tore through the night. Dawn was approaching. Day was gradually breaking. The small man, arms spread wide and trembling, poured out all sorts of words to stop her somehow.
"You can't go up. Save! You heard me? I saved...! If you try to go up, I'll just Load. Even if hundreds of years pass here, I'll just keep Loading. I'll never let you go. Never."
Those words didn't reach Riko's ears. She only engraved Delin's earnest expression into her eyes with searing clarity.
"..."
"I can endure it too. I can do it...!"
He recalled his inner dragon, which he'd seen in a movie once. The protagonist in the movie had surely made the same choice, and defeated a monster so powerful that no one dared even think of challenging it. But he was no cool movie protagonist. Not a hero saving the world, and he didn't have that hero-like goddamned mental strength.
"I can do this forever! Forever!!"
But his willpower alone was absolutely no less than a hero's desire to save the world.
"Try it then."
Riko tried to push him aside and enter the lodging.
"Load!"
Once again, their positions returned to the original state. Delin was blocking the entrance with his arms spread wide, and Riko in front of him closed her eyes tight, swallowing anger that made her fists tremble.
"I can do it. I can hold out forever..."
Anyone seeing the furious woman and the trembling man would think the woman held the upper hand, but their situation was the exact opposite. Delin was shouting that he wouldn't let Riko go, blocking the way.
"I'll never let you go!"
He wanted to go back. He wanted to return to his original world, so he needed Riko...
"Please don't do this... Just, please let's go together..."
And, more than that, he felt both pity and love for Riko, who fucked him like a goddamn dog. It might be laughable to say that he, who was always on the receiving end, pitied Riko, but Delin pitied Riko, who was prickly, violent, rough, and wild... He pitied Riko like that. He had compassion. He felt sorry for her, and though he hated her, he still loved her.
"I... I love you, noona..."
"Don't spout that shit. Love me? If you really love me, move aside."
"It's because I love you, because I love you...! That's why I don't want to hate you! Please don't do this..."
"If those bitches are alive, nothing matters! Why can't you just love me alone? Why should I keep those bastards alive!"
"Why do you have to kill them! There's no need for that! Please!"
"No need? Then should I watch you walk around with those bastards, them playing with your dick right in front of my eyes? Should I watch those bitches shake their hips on top of you? Should I watch them bear your children?"
Delin couldn't refute her words. If he had a girlfriend himself, could he stand the sight of that girlfriend in another man's arms?
"Yes, I know. I know, but..."
"If you know, move. Don't make trouble."
"Still..."
Delin blocked Riko from passing.
"If you kill all the other noonas, I'll hate you forever. Forever..."
"...If I don't kill those bastards now, I'll never have you for the rest of my life."
She had no intention of yielding her own goddamned treasure. Never. Even if she didn't kill them now, she would watch for opportunities every time, looking for a chance to kill them.
But.
"Please, don't make me hate you, noona..."
Just as Delin was an endlessly beautiful treasure to Riko, Riko was also a beautifully shining rose to Delin—did Riko know that?
"You promised. That you wouldn't torment me..."
Everyone had their own goddamned treasure. The treasure settled deep in one's heart, the beautiful gem that belonged to one's goddamned self alone and could never be surrendered to another—if someone tries to take it, you must protect it even at the cost of your life.
But, like that treasure, everyone had their own goddamned wound. Unlike a treasure, if you suffer alone holding it, it always creates only tragedy; but if you meet a precious person who will embrace that small wound...
"I'll love you, noona. I'll love you forever. I'll never leave you. Never..."
Sometimes, it comes to have a meaning greater than any treasure.