The Price of Forgiveness
“Yeah, no. If you’ve done wrong, you have to pay for it, right?”
The picture in front of me was a little different from what I’d expected. Feeling a flicker of puzzlement, I asked her,
“Forgiveness? That doesn’t sound like you at all. What are you talking about?”
“…Exactly what it sounds like. Ever since you left, oppa, I haven’t slept a single night in peace… I couldn’t get any work done, and even when I tried to game I couldn’t focus at all. Once the person who’d stayed by my side for four straight years was gone… I couldn’t do anything normally. The only things that came to mind were the memories of everything I’d done wrong to you.”
Jiseon spoke with her head bowed, tears running down her face.
Looking at her like that, I could tell this wasn’t some cheap performance—it was coming from the heart.
“I… I didn’t know back then. But only after you left me did I finally understand how completely insane the things I’d been doing were… how hard you’d been putting up with it all this time. Once I realized that… I desperately wanted to apologize. At the very least… at least to make up a little for the wounds I caused you. That’s why I came looking for you like this—to apologize. To tell you I’m sorry, oppa.”
“….”
“Please… I’ll do anything. So please… forgive me for all the wrongs I’ve committed up until now. Please…”
It was a somewhat rambling speech, but I could at least tell what she was trying to say.
In short, she had finally—belatedly—come to feel guilt over everything she’d done to me, and had come seeking forgiveness for it.
And as I listened to her…
I felt absolutely no desire to simply forgive her.
As I’d told her before, if you could put someone through four years of life-threatening hell and then wipe the slate clean with a single apology, there would be no need for laws or police in the first place.
Even so, the only reason I hadn’t gone out of my way to broadcast every last one of her misdeeds from those four years to the world, or file a formal suit, was one thing.
Because it was obvious that the A-, B-, and C-rank hunters of Guild 28 who’d suffered alongside me would end up taking the hit for it.
I’d been doing my best to bury the feelings in one corner of my heart—and now one of those bitches was crying and begging me for forgiveness, promising she’d do anything.
Haa… That said, the timing on this is a little unfortunate.
If I’d heard this while alone with her, I probably would have poured every last scrap of the grudge I’d been holding into beating this bitch within an inch of her life.
She was a hunter, so her physical durability would be tougher than a normal person’s. No matter how hard I pounded her, there was almost no chance of serious injury—I could have used her as an excellent punching bag and driven my fists into her face to my heart’s content.
But… unfortunately, standing right beside me at this moment was none other than Are.
A woman I actually wanted to get closer to, unlike this bitch—and someone whose mood had already improved quite a bit thanks to today’s events.
No matter how much the person in front of me was a bitch not even worth chewing up and spitting out, I couldn’t show Are a side of myself like that.
What do I do… Call her out separately later and give her a proper thrashing… No, that feels a little off too. This kind of thing needs to be done when the mood is right…
On top of that, when I actually thought about it, even though this rage-control psycho was currently sitting in front of me in a submissive posture, if she impulsively had another episode midway through, I could end up on the receiving end instead.
Hmm… What to do. At this rate, actually beating her up is a bit much… Yeah—maybe I should use her that way instead?
A single decent idea suddenly rose in my mind.
A method that would let me milk her guilt for everything it was worth, while at the same time slipping a collar around her neck she wouldn’t easily escape—and one that could benefit Dreamouth, the company I belonged to.
I looked at Jiseon again, my expression turning cold once more.
“Forgiveness, huh… So you’ve finally realized what you did wrong, is that it? But you know full well yourself that the wrongs you’ve committed up to now are far too severe to just forgive you like this, don’t you?”
“Y-Yeah! I… I know that well… That’s why I said it. I’ll do anything. I-If you need it… I could even give you my first time…”
—Crack!
The next moment, a sound like something grinding came from behind me.
I had no way of knowing what that sound was from where I stood, but that was beside the point. Since I had zero desire to hold this appetite-killing woman in the first place, I frowned at Jiseon’s words and said firmly,
“I don’t need anything like that. Even so, I’m not that much of a scumbag. What I want is something else.”
“Something… else?”
She asked in a voice that somehow seemed to carry a hint of disappointment.
Looking at her, I made the demand I’d been thinking of…
Jiseon seemed to ponder seriously for a moment, then nodded and said,
“…Really… if it’s just that… it’s fine, right? For the next four years… if I just do that, then truly…”
“Yeah. I don’t want anything more than that. Like I said, this is simply me receiving compensation for what I went through over four years.”
“…Okay. Then… I’ll do it. That way… however you tell me to, oppa.”
She still showed hesitation, but she accepted it.
And so, at the fact that I’d just acquired an excellent informant I could put to use going forward, a slight smile began to form at the corners of my mouth.
“Well then… I’ll go. Next time… next time, see you again, oppa.”
“Yeah, yeah… Go on. Don’t forget to keep in touch.”
“Okay. Get home safe, oppa.”
With that, Jiseon disappeared from in front of me with a somewhat lighter expression as she boarded the bus.
Watching her go, I began to feel a sense of relief at finally sending off the burden that had been stuck to me.
And right after that…
I carefully turned my gaze toward Are, who had been standing quietly beside me the whole time, watching the situation unfold.
She wore the same dry, expressionless face as always, with no particular change to speak of.
Looking at her, I first offered an apology.
“I’m sorry. I ended up dragging you into a bothersome situation against my will.”
“No… I’m fine. However…”
The next moment, Are looked at me with a slightly regretful expression.
At that look of hers, I honestly began to feel puzzled…
And then she spoke to me in a quite serious voice.
“Honestly… I feel the way you handled things just now was far too merciful. If it had been me, I would have started by using that dog of a woman as a punching bag and driving my fist into her face, then repaid every bit of the suffering you’d gone through one by one with force…”
“…Yeah. Maybe that would have been better after all.”
Are was practically reciting the exact same thoughts I’d had earlier.
Listening to her, I began to feel a slight regret that I hadn’t realized sooner that Are had been thinking along those lines.
Of course… even so, my belief that pursuing practical benefits this way suited me better than that method remained unchanged.
“Anyway, it’s getting late, so we should head back.”
“Yes. To be honest, I’d like to walk around a little more for the time we spent, but… it really is getting a bit tight on time.”
If we returned to the company too late, we’d have to open the front gate ourselves and go through complicated security procedures to get inside, so it was better to keep curfew as much as possible.
And so, feeling a slight sense of regret, we headed for the parking lot just like that.
At some point, naturally—
with our hands tightly clasped together “so we wouldn’t get pushed around by the crowds.”