Chapter 193: Farewell and Meeting
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 193: Farewell and Meeting
But Eunnamu simply shook her head at me, as if she had already accepted everything.
“It’s okay.”
She said it was okay.
What about this was okay?
As I’d said before, for the Eunnamu who held memories of another worldline, this meant death.
Why didn’t I realize this?
Why only now?
“I told you, Ha-chan.”
As I bit my lip in despair, Eunnamu still managed a smile.
As if she had received the most precious gift, Eunnamu pressed a hand firmly to her chest.
“I will remember everything that happened today.”
Her memories were eroding, fading away.
The scattering memories turned to dust and drifted away, and all I could do was watch blankly.
Because I didn’t have the power to hold her memories together.
“So, I’m okay.”
With those words, Eunnamu slowly approached me.
“Can you hold me just once?”
Hearing her request, my eyes wavered.
Looking at her sorrowful face, all I could do was pull her into an embrace.
As she rested in my arms, the dust continued to drift from her.
I wanted to catch the dust in my hands, but it slipped through my fingers, scattering meaninglessly into the air.
Because all I could do was destroy.
“Don’t worry. Everything I received from you, Ha-chan, is stored safely inside me.”
Tears welled in my eyes as I looked at Eunnamu.
A wave of guilt for failing to protect her in the end washed over me.
Our first meeting at the Hunter Training Academy.
She had been my enemy then, but now she was an irreplaceable friend.
Even if our relationship was just a product of jumbled memories, she was one of the most precious people in my life.
“I’m sor—”
An apology started to escape my lips.
But Eunnamu cut me off, rising onto her tiptoes and pressing her lips to mine.
It was a very brief kiss.
She cupped my face, wiping away the tear that streamed down my cheek, and gave me her usual, languid smile.
As if this was her most precious smile, meant to show me she was okay.
Eunnamu wore the exact same smile she had on the day we first met.
“That promise we made, to start over… you’ll keep it, right?”
She was disappearing.
The Eunnamu before my eyes was vanishing forever.
Realizing this, the only thing I could do was give her the most memorable smile I could for her final moments.
“…Yeah.”
Through my falling tears, I managed to smile back at her.
Not a grief-stricken face for her final memory of this worldline, but the happiest smile she could possibly remember.
“I’m Eunnamu,” she said, introducing herself.
Just like the words she’d spoken on our first day at the academy.
“And you are?”
Hearing her question, I smiled along with her and replied.
“I’m Kang Ha-chan.”
Hearing my answer, Eunnamu let out a slow smile.
“Put our names together, and you get Ha-chan-Eunnamu.”
Her sense of humor, which made her laugh as if she’d said something funny, was still something I couldn’t quite grasp.
But even so, I could smile for her.
“I love you.”
And in that final moment, under the slowly rising sun, Eunnamu once again gave me the confession she had always wanted to make.
“In this world, in any world, even if this world were to disappear.”
Eunnamu repeated the words, pouring all of her being into her confession.
“I love you.”
With that, as the sun finished rising, Eunnamu’s body collapsed.
I caught her as she fell.
The dust no longer drifted from her.
Only the sound of her soft, even breathing told me she was safe.
The edge of the horizon.
I watched the rising sun.
Did that sun signify the dawn of her new life?
I couldn’t be sure, but with that final thought, I too lost consciousness.
After all, I had poured all my strength into a possession-type Brain Thunder.
This was the inevitable result.
*
For some reason, it felt like I had fallen into a deep, deep sleep.
How long had I been asleep? I couldn’t remember.
But the dream I had was incredibly sweet, with a soft, warm feeling.
I’d never felt anything like it in my entire life. The dream was so sweet, I felt I could have stayed lost in that sleep forever.
But the faint, lingering emotion at the end of the dream made my heart ache for some reason.
It stung, it stung so much, like a deep wound that would never heal no matter how many bandages I applied.
But it was different from an ordinary pain.
A wound mixed with longing, joy, and sorrow—it was incurable, yet it was a wound I wanted to cherish in my heart forever.
But a dream is just a dream.
It must eventually come to an end.
A faint light filtered through my opening eyelids.
It seemed to be a hospital room, judging by the distinct, cool smell of antiseptic.
My head throbbed slightly.
How long had I been asleep? To be honest, I couldn’t even remember when I’d fallen asleep.
The only thing I was sure of was the feeling that a lot of time had passed.
‘I am…’
Eunnamu.
Repeating her own name, she slowly lifted her dazed head.
Because she sensed someone’s presence.
“You’re awake?”
A gentle voice drifted to her ears.
Following the voice, she looked up and saw a familiar face.
“…Ha-chan?”
The person she had entered the Hunter Training Academy with. The person she had tried to kidnap for Girasung.
Seeing him, Eunnamu belatedly understood the situation.
‘So I was subdued instead.’
Her memory was hazy, cut off at an odd point.
It seemed she had taken quite a blow when she was taken down.
The pain coming from all over her body must be the aftereffect.
Just then, Ha-chan raised his hand.
She was the one who had tried to kidnap him. Was he going to slap her?
The moment she had that thought, Ha-chan’s hand began to slowly stroke her head.
Blink.
Eunnamu’s eyes closed and opened again.
She couldn’t comprehend what was happening.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
Once again, Ha-chan’s gentle voice reached her.
Seeing him like this, for some reason, she was reminded of that day at the academy when the Evil God had tormented her.
That day, too, Ha-chan had held her and helped make the Evil God’s torment disappear.
That gentleness was still vivid in her memory.
Thump.
For some reason, her heart suddenly began to race.
At the same time, Eunnamu felt her face flush.
She didn’t know why. Her body was just acting on its own.
Was something wrong with her body?
As Eunnamu tried to check herself, she belatedly noticed something strange.
The Evil God’s curse that had bound her for her entire life… for some reason, she couldn’t feel it.
Realizing this, Eunnamu fumbled at her body with her arms.
It was strange.
Too strange.
“It’s okay now. We took care of the Evil God.”
At those words, Eunnamu’s head shot up.
Her eyes wavered.
They took care of the Evil God?
Who?
She wanted to ask, but for some reason, she just knew.
That the man in front of her now was the one who had defeated the Evil God for her.
“…Why?”
A questioning voice escaped Eunnamu’s lips.
She had tried to kidnap him, yet he had fulfilled her lifelong wish and defeated the Evil God for her.
She couldn’t understand it at all.
But regardless, Ha-chan paid it no mind and said,
“Because I wanted to save you, Eunnamu.”
‘He wanted to save me.’
A bitter sadness swirled in his eyes.
Seeing it, Eunnamu’s heart began to ache on its own.
She wished he wouldn’t make that face.
Eunnamu’s hand rose.
It touched Ha-chan’s cheek, and she caressed it preciously.
“Don’t cry.”
The sensation that her body wasn’t her own.
She had definitely felt this sensation when the Evil God had messed with the worldlines.
But now, she didn’t hate the feeling.
Rather, the sensation felt so precious that Eunnamu couldn’t bear it.
Seeing her like this, Ha-chan gave a small smile.
Then he raised his hand and covered hers.
“I’m not crying. Don’t worry.”
His words finally brought her a sense of relief.
Seeing this, Ha-chan smiled slowly and asked Eunnamu,
“Eunnamu, the Evil God that tormented you is gone now.”
Just as he said, the Evil God no longer existed.
Eunnamu felt a strange sense of unease, but at the same time, she was incredibly happy about it.
“So now, you can do whatever you want.”
‘I can do anything.’
What could she do?
Perhaps because she had just woken up, her mind was still foggy, and she couldn’t quite adjust.
But as soon as she heard those words, her heart once again began to beat wildly.
“Is there something you want to do?”
Hearing Ha-chan’s question, Eunnamu hesitated.
Her lifelong enemy was dead, but something didn’t feel right.
Her chest felt tight, and she didn’t feel satisfied.
Eunnamu looked up at Ha-chan.
He might not have been handsome enough to turn heads, but just looking at his face brought Eunnamu a sense of comfort.
And for the first time, Eunnamu was beginning to understand what it felt like to have her heart flutter.
“I…” Eunnamu’s lips finally parted.
A heated sigh escaped her.
For some reason, her voice wouldn’t come out.
Her throat felt tight, as if her pounding heart was blocking it.
And yet, she spoke. She had to say these words.
“I want to confess.”
A confession.
Why had those words, something she’d never even considered in her life, suddenly come out?
She didn’t know, but Eunnamu felt tears welling up.
Hot tears streamed down her cheeks.
“I want to tell Ha-chan that I like him.”
She was confused. But she absolutely had to say it.
Her heated emotions and breath made her head spin, and her heart ached terribly, but she couldn’t bear not to say it.
Seeing her, Ha-chan’s eyes widened before slowly softening into a smile.
And he nodded, as if to say he would wait for her words.
Feeling Ha-chan’s gentleness, Eunnamu carefully opened her lips.
“I like you.”
And before that gentleness, she finally broke down.
“I like you, I like you so much. More than words can say.”
Burying her head in Ha-chan’s chest, Eunnamu continued to pour out her confession.
As if this was the only thing she could do right now.
She couldn’t control the confession that flowed out of her.
But she felt she had to.
Eunnamu confessed with all her heart, so much so that it felt like she had lived her whole life for this day.
Only after that did her heart finally begin to calm down.
Joy welled up inside her, but at the same time, she felt a sense of anxiety.
The thought that maybe something was wrong with her.
Unless she was crazy, it made no sense to love the person she had tried to kidnap this much.
But no one could deny that her feelings were sincere.
“Eunnamu.”
Eunnamu flinched when Ha-chan called her name.
When she carefully looked up at him, Ha-chan patted her head.
“I’m a fool, and I’m stubborn. I live with this petty desire to save people, yet I’m greedy and can’t give up on anything.”
She wanted to tell him that wasn’t true.
It hurt so much to see the person she liked put himself down.
“So the feelings I have right now might just be guilt. Because that’s the kind of guy I am.”
“Guilt? About what?”
“About the person I couldn’t protect.”
Eunnamu didn’t know who this person he couldn’t protect was.
But she could clearly see the sorrow in his eyes as he looked at her.
“So I can’t honestly answer your confession. I don’t want to answer out of guilt.”
Hearing him say he wanted to answer with a more certain heart, Eunnamu couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.
Perhaps it was because she was happy that he was taking her reckless confession so seriously.
So this is why. This is why I came to like him.
Because he doesn’t treat anything carelessly.
Because I’m certain he’ll cherish me more than anyone in the world.
That’s why I fell for him.
With that thought, Eunnamu decided to cherish this moment, for now.
“It’s okay.”
Anything was okay.
Because her body was rejoicing in this very moment.
“For now, this is enough for me.”
A day might come when I get greedy and want more.
But I can think about that when the time comes.
The Evil God is gone now, and we have plenty of time.
“So thank you, Ha-chan.”
She remembered the nights she spent trembling in fear, wondering if the Evil God would come.
But now, held in Ha-chan’s arms, Eunnamu no longer felt that fear.
Even if a new Evil God appeared, she felt that this embrace would protect her, no matter what.
For the first time, Eunnamu spent a truly warm night.