Chapter 124
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 124
Dokyun watched Eun-seol with a tense expression.
The moment Eun-seol opened her eyes, she said nothing, first checking her own wrists.
She lifted both arms, turning her wrists this way and that. Next, she scanned the living room until her eyes landed on the aquarium installed on the front wall. She stared at it for a long time before finally speaking.
“…How was she?”
The question was about Eun-chae.
Dokyun’s lips parted and closed as he chose his words, then he finally answered.
“She was a good kid.”
A good kid.
The Eun-chae that Dokyun knew was a truly good and pure child.
Leaning back against the sofa, Dokyun stared blankly at the aquarium as he searched for his next words.
“…Not in the sense that she’s immature, like Eun-ji. More like… a literal newborn.”
“Is that so.”
“Mm, she really seemed to like the fish. She likes meat, too, and fairy tales. She also sleeps a lot.”
Dokyun carefully explained every detail he had observed about Eun-chae, choosing his words to persuade Eun-seol.
“She was… a very, very pitiful child.”
Feeling Eun-seol’s gaze on him, Dokyun turned to meet her eyes.
Her gaze was deep-set. At a glance, it could feel cold.
Eun-seol stared at him with that same gaze, maintaining her silence, before she finally spoke in a very small voice.
“…As you know.”
“She’s a personality that needs to disappear.”
He had a good idea of what she wanted to say.
But he couldn’t bring himself to accept it. Just as Dokyun was about to open his mouth to protest—
“I’m not just talking about Go Eun-chae.”
Eun-seol continued, her voice tinged with a slight hesitation, a hint of sadness.
“That applies to all of us. For Eun-ah’s sake, we all have to disappear.”
He had heard this warning several times already.
“That was the original plan. The moment Go Eun-ah separated from Go Eun-chae and her delusion ended, we were to begin the integration process, one by one, starting with Eun-chae.”
He had sensed as much. She always seemed to be preparing for a farewell, trying to keep her distance from everything.
“As for Go Eun-chae… yes. I admit my judgment was flawed. I never even considered the possibility that she was a personality capable of conversation.”
“Then…”
“Even so, it’s not possible.”
The moment Dokyun tried to argue, Eun-seol cut him off, her tone firm.
Dokyun flinched and looked at her. With a hardened expression, Eun-seol added another word.
“For your sake, it’s not possible.”
After saying that, Eun-seol’s lips trembled for a moment before she posed a question he couldn’t easily answer.
“If you get that close only to be separated, do you have the confidence to handle it then?”
At her question, Dokyun’s lips pressed into a tight line.
She wasn’t wrong.
Even though a part of him was always thinking of their eventual separation, the mere thought of that moment made his heart clench. Perhaps he would never be ready to say goodbye.
“We alone will be hard enough for you. With that soft-hearted nature of yours, just bearing what you’re already carrying is a struggle.”
Her words pierced right through him.
Dokyun had to admit she was right. Given his personality, no matter how hard he tried, he knew he would be heartbroken when that moment came.
He would grieve over all the things he could have done better, and he would ache with the fact that he could never see them again.
He couldn’t answer.
To lie and say he would be fine was impossible; Eun-seol knew him too well.
His lips only trembled.
After hesitating for a long time, unable to form a response, Dokyun clenched his fists and steeled his resolve.
“…Please.”
He said, his face firm.
It was stubbornness.
Or maybe, it was just selfishness.
Perhaps he was just throwing a tantrum because he lacked the courage to accept their imminent separation.
But even so, he couldn’t let go yet.
“I want to show her so much more.”
It was just one aquarium, after all.
Eun-chae still didn’t know the feeling of hot summer sand under her feet, the rustling sound of stepping on fallen leaves, or a pure white world covered in falling snow.
All Eun-chae knew was the cold air of early spring.
“She’s a child who doesn’t even know how to smile properly yet.”
She always tried to smile, but she was a child who didn’t know how, her expression just crumpling instead.
“…Eun-chae is Ms. Eun-ah’s most painful memory, isn’t she?”
She was the most painful part, a child who never even had the chance to be comforted.
“So, no matter how hard it is for me then, I want to stay with her, just until the day she can truly smile.”
His lips trembled again.
It was hard to read any emotion in Eun-seol’s expression as she watched him. After meeting her gaze for a long moment, Dokyun managed to add one last thing.
“Ending it like this would leave such a bad taste in my mouth, wouldn’t it?”
He tried to say it with a smile, but his face kept scrunching up.
If he looked in a mirror, he was sure he’d see a truly strange expression.
Dokyun watched Eun-seol, who had been listening quietly, and waited for her answer, hoping she would grant him just a little more time.
The reply came after another long stretch of silence.
“You pathetic fool.”
He flinched.
His body trembled at her words.
As he hung his head, Eun-seol rose from her seat and walked over to the aquarium, staring at it blankly as she continued.
“Well, I didn’t expect anything else.”
She let out a deep sigh as she spoke.
When Dokyun lifted his head to look at her, Eun-seol turned to him, let out a smirk, and continued.
“But I guess a guy like you wouldn’t have run away by now if you weren’t.”
Her answer was a bit roundabout.
Dokyun took a moment to decipher her meaning, then realized it was her way of giving permission. A bright smile spread across his face as he shot up from his seat.
“Thank you!”
“For what? You’re the one who’ll be doing all the hard work.”
Eun-seol shrugged at his words, then tapped the aquarium with her fingertip and continued.
“It will be much harder if we leave Go Eun-chae as she is.”
Eun-seol then added an explanation in a low tone.
“We are all fragments of memory that broke off from Go Eun-ah. If we remain, Go Eun-ah’s memory will still be full of holes.”
Dokyun nodded.
She was right.
Alternate personalities were formed from fragmented memories, so even if the delusion was resolved, the gaps in her memory would remain.
“Once Eun-chae’s separation is complete, the delusion will end with it. But what if her memory is riddled with holes? The stress Go Eun-ah will experience will be far greater than if we were to integrate Eun-chae immediately.”
Dokyun had anticipated this to some extent. That was why Eun-seol had intended to proceed with the separation and integration simultaneously.
Dokyun looked at Eun-seol, who was waiting for his response, and a cool smile formed on his face before he answered.
“Isn’t that why I’m here?”
He would never let her suffer like that.
Eun-ah wasn’t alone anymore. He was by her side now.
If Eun-ah were to collapse upon realizing her life had been a lie, he just had to be the one to help her back to her feet.
With that resolve, he spoke to Eun-seol, who simply shrugged and replied.
“I just thought I should warn you that it’s going to be harder.”
She said it as if it were no big deal.
Dokyun let out a small laugh, then it occurred to him that Eun-seol had agreed far too easily. He looked at her.
Her gaze had already shifted back to the aquarium.
Eun-seol was surely the personality who had suffered the most because of Eun-chae. How could she agree so easily?
As he pondered this, he found a hint in her next words.
“Did you know I would react this way?”
Her reaction was definitely not that of someone facing a sudden, unexpected situation. She had accepted his words far too smoothly. It was the reaction of someone who had already anticipated this.
The question arose from that thought, and when he asked it, Eun-seol laughed and replied.
“When you said you wanted to try talking to her, I had a pretty good idea.”
It was an affirmation.
Eun-seol tapped the aquarium again and added.
“I figured you’d get attached out of some misguided sympathy. And I could predict that if you succeeded, I would emerge without a scratch.”
At her words, Dokyun let out a groan and slumped back onto the sofa.
She really was always one step ahead of him.
Am I that simple?
Eun-seol’s powers of observation were so sharp they made him wonder.
He’d never been outwitted by anyone when it came to reading people, but in front of Eun-seol, he always felt completely exposed. A dry laugh escaped him.
He stared at her with an exhausted expression for a moment. Eun-seol had already walked to the kitchen, opened the cellar, and brought out several bottles of liquor, setting them one by one on the table in front of the sofa.
They were the strongest spirits in the cellar.
As Dokyun tilted his head in confusion, Eun-seol uncorked one of the bottles and spoke.
“Come to think of it, it’s not fair.”
As she said that, she began to chug straight from the bottle. Dokyun’s jaw dropped. Eun-seol took a long swig, then pulled the bottle from her lips, shook it at him, and added.
“I’m always the one who suffers for it. You should experience it at least once.”
“What?”
“There’s nothing shittier than waking up to find your body is a complete wreck.”
At her explanation, a look of bewilderment spread across Dokyun’s face.
“Is this retaliation?”
“Call it revenge.”
As Eun-seol began to chug from the bottle again, Dokyun let out a series of disbelieving chuckles. In no time, Eun-seol, having already finished half the bottle, spoke to him.
“Alright, tell me about her. It looks like quite some time has passed. Let’s hear what she’s been up to.”
Dokyun, who had been wearing a dumbfounded expression, let out a smirk at her words and nodded.
Where should he begin?
As he mulled it over, Dokyun decided it was best to start from the first day and began his story.
“So… the first day was really tough. The moment she came out, she tried to bite her tongue off.”
“Sounds like her.”
Eun-seol replied with a smirk.
Dokyun laughed along with her and began to recount the events of the past two weeks, providing Eun-seol with stories to go with her drinks.
*
“Honeybee…”
A trembling voice.
Dokyun felt his consciousness being pulled back by it.
“Honeybee…!”
He felt a hand shaking his body back and forth.
“Ugh…”
After shaking him for a while, the hand suddenly gripped his arm tightly.
Dokyun slowly opened his eyes and groggily shifted his gaze toward the source of the sound.
He saw Eun-chae, her face deathly pale, wearing a bizarre expression.
As Dokyun blinked blankly, Eun-chae clutched her stomach and let out a pained groan.
“My tummy hurts…”
Another groan.
It was only then that Dokyun belatedly recalled the events of the previous night.
“Ah.”
Last night, Eun-seol had chugged eight bottles of hard liquor.
She had passed out on the floor, dead drunk, and he had somehow managed to drag her to bed.
A hangover.
The memory instantly explained why Eun-chae was moaning in pain.
As Dokyun let out a dry laugh, Eun-chae shook him again and groaned.
Her brow was furrowed. Her nose was scrunched up, and her eyes were opened strangely. The corners of her mouth trembled nonstop.
Realizing he was looking at the most bizarre expression he had ever seen on Eun-chae’s face, Dokyun let out a grunt and sat up. He patted her back and said.
“Looks like you have a bad hangover.”
“Hangover…?” she mumbled, tilting her head despite the pain.
Dokyun let out a small laugh and added.
“It’s what happens when the wicked witch torments you.”
Her head tilted again.
Dokyun watched her for a moment before lifting her into his arms. As he headed for the kitchen, he thought of the Eun-seol from the night before.
…She really is a witch.
How could anyone who drank that crazily be human?