Saebyeok Arrives
At dawn, when everyone else was still asleep, Han Yeoreum set out alone toward the dungeon where Saebyeok waited. I was wrong, she thought. Just as Saebyeok had said, what mattered wasn't the past but the present. She needed to tell the girl left behind that the life ahead of her wouldn't be terrible. That she would find happiness with family and friends. Instead, blinded by foolish vengeance, she had slipped out without telling her anything. Even though Saebyeok was the most important person of all.
How lonely she must have been, all by herself. Even now, in the middle of the night, she was probably sitting there in solitude. In a dungeon where not even monsters existed. How many years had Saebyeok's grudge kept her trapped alone like that?
Han Yeoreum stepped into the dungeon, took a deep breath, and knocked on the glass door where Saebyeok sat. "…Hello."
Tap-tap. She rapped on the glass, but Saebyeok didn't lift her head. She simply sat there hugging her knees, like a child who had abandoned every last shred of hope.
"Ah…" Come to think of it, this child wasn't called Saebyeok yet. Han Yeoreum regretted calling her "Winter" the first time she entered the dungeon. Of course she wouldn't look up if someone arbitrarily changed her name.
"I'm sorry. I was such an idiot, wasn't I?" Han Yeoreum let out a sigh. It was a sigh directed at her own pathetic self. "Hey… could you tell me your name?"
"…Saebyeok."
Saebyeok slowly raised her head. The jet-black hair and eyes suited the name perfectly. Even with the glass barrier between them, their conversation flowed. Han Yeoreum instinctively realized that Saebyeok wanted to talk.
"Yeah. Saebyeok, I'm really sorry." "For what…?" "I went and ran off saying I'd get revenge for you. Without even asking what you wanted."
Han Yeoreum had heard from the Guild Master that Saebyeok had worried about Park Mingyu—the man who had tormented her right up until the moment of her death. She was kinder than any saint in the world. Would a child like that truly wish for revenge? Han Yeoreum couldn't be certain, but the odds seemed low.
"I said I'd get revenge and just ran away. I should have stayed and talked with you more." "…Yeah. I'd rather talk than get revenge." "Ah…" So that was it. Saebyeok really was a good kid who didn't care about revenge at all. Only then did Han Yeoreum understand what Saebyeok's "grudge" truly was.
"Saebyeok, do you know something?" "What?" "You're going to be incredibly happy very soon. You'll have a family, and tons of friends."
Han Yeoreum decided to tell her about the happiness waiting in the near future. What Saebyeok truly wanted wasn't revenge, but a happy life. Dungeons of the sixth stage, laboratories—those were adult concerns. A child shouldn't have to worry about them.
"Family… Sofia and Levinas…?" "Huh? You know about them?" "I've been watching everything through the eyes." "…I see."
Han Yeoreum placed her hand on the glass. She wanted to stroke the girl's hair, but the reality that she couldn't was heartbreaking. This glass tube was the dungeon's core. It would only disappear once the dungeon was cleared. She must have been so frustrated, just watching. She probably wanted to be held and play together, too. Han Yeoreum felt sorry for Saebyeok, who was content with so little.
"Thank you for becoming my family." "You don't need to thank me. You're always making mistakes." I should have done better. She had that regret several times a day. Han Yeoreum wrapped her arms around herself, bitterness welling up.
"Still, you tried really hard. No one has ever treated me this well before." "Yeah…" "I was glad we talked. I'll disappear now. I'm not supposed to be here, right?" "N-no! I want you to stay with me, Saebyeok…!"
Han Yeoreum frantically knocked on the glass. Saebyeok, who had always worn a blank expression, showed surprise for the first time. "You… don't hate me…?" "Of course not. I like you a lot. I'll come visit every day, so won't you stay with me?"
Stay with me. At those words, Saebyeok lowered her head with a bitter expression. She vaguely understood that she was someone who had to disappear. "It's okay. I'm still out there, after all." "Ah…" Right. Fundamentally, they were the same child. Han Yeoreum understood it in her head, but her heart still ached.
"Saebyeok." "Yeah…?" "I'm really sorry for asking this, but… how did you lose your memories?"
Saebyeok couldn't help but pause at the question. She couldn't easily explain that she was the "strongest mental fortitude" from another dimension. Or that the original her had been a boy. "To survive, I had to change myself… become a completely different person." "…It must have been that shocking?" "Yeah."
Winter had lived through hardships greater than her own. Saebyeok had decided to pass on the suffering she had endured so that the child could receive love instead. This kind girl before her would embrace the child all the more because of how much pain she had suffered. "I was too weak. To survive, I erased all my past memories and created a new me." "That's Winter?" "Yeah. Unlike me, she's really strong. She can overcome anything." "Ah…" Winter really did have that side to her. Despite her appearance, she was incredibly tough. "This is really the end. I'm going now." "…I hope we meet again someday." "Me too."
Han Yeoreum placed her hand on the glass. Saebyeok reached out toward her in response. Crack! The glass shattered. Han Yeoreum desperately tried to grab the child's hand, but— "Ah." Before she could feel that warmth, Saebyeok vanished along with the dungeon core.
**
That morning, I carefully opened my eyes in bed. "Mmmnya…" Levinas was clinging to me like a doll, still fast asleep. It was a little cramped, but being able to stay like this with her wasn't so bad. "Hehe." I had to get up carefully so I wouldn't wake her. As I slowly tried to pull away, I felt something strange. "Huh?" Levinas was definitely in front of me, so who was grabbing my tail from behind?
With my heightened senses, I examined the presence and found something odd. It felt familiar, yet unfamiliar at the same time. I whipped around and couldn't help but widen my eyes in shock. "What the—?" A girl who looked exactly like me was sleeping there. Even her ears and tail were identical in shape. The only difference was that hers were black while mine were white. Aside from the color, she looked so much like me that we could have been twins.
"Um… excuse me?" I poked her shoulder. As she slowly opened her eyes, I scooped up Levinas and backed into a corner of the room. Levinas remained asleep through it all. "Mmm…" "Who are you…?" "……?" Blink, blink. The girl stared blankly for a moment, then looked down at her own hands. She glanced back up at me and said, "Saebyeok." "Saebyeok?" "Yeah." "…What are you doing here, Saebyeok?" Did she eat some item that turns people into beastkin like me? I swallowed nervously.
"I was going to leave, but the adults saved me." "The adults?" "Yeah. The adults I was with said it was okay now and told me to come play some more." The adults saved her? What did that even mean? Her words were confusing, but she didn't seem threatening. "So… who are you, Saebyeok?" If she was a bad person, I'd run right away. Just as I made that resolve, shocking words came out of Saebyeok's mouth. "I'm the original owner of that body."
**
Anxiety and guilt mixed together, leaving me speechless as I stared at Saebyeok. She kept her blank expression while absentmindedly stroking her ears and tail. "This feels weird." "First time?" "Yeah." "…Of course it would feel weird at first. You'll have to get used to it." I glanced at Saebyeok's condition. Her expression was so cold it almost looked angry. The problem was that her tail was swinging wildly from side to side. I knew that was an expression of joy and happiness. "It won't stop." Saebyeok grabbed her swaying tail with her hand. Her arm swung left and right along with it. "That's not something we can control with our will." "Really?" "Just think of it as a natural disaster. It helps." "I see." Saebyeok lowered her hand and looked at me. She was scary, but the swaying tail told me she wasn't actually angry. "Hey, um…" "Yeah." "You… don't hate me? I suddenly showed up and took over your body…" I said this while checking on Levinas. Thankfully, she was still asleep. "I don't hate you. If anything, I'm the one who's sorry." "Sorry for what?" "Because I'm the one who brought Winter here." "Huh…?" Saebyeok deliberately brought me here? My tail curled into a question mark from confusion. "Living was too hard, so I called someone who could live in my place." "Ah…" The first day I opened my eyes in this body, I had been buried underground. This child must have gone through something even more terrible than I had. Remembering the pain Saebyeok must have endured, I couldn't bring myself to resent her. I simply patted her back. "You don't resent me?" "No. I don't." What good would resenting this small child do now? I just comforted her, telling her it was okay. "But why did your body change like that?" "My body grew bigger because of the side effects from the experiments. When I came here, the adults made me small again." "Oh…" Human experimentation. She had been through something horrific. But who were these "adults" she kept mentioning? Just as I was about to ask, I heard the sound of the front door opening. Click. My ears perked up. It was Yeoreum's footsteps. But for some reason, they lacked their usual energy. They sounded like someone who was completely drained. Did something happen? I needed to comfort Yeoreum. But how was I supposed to explain Saebyeok? I stood frozen in place, at a complete loss.