Prophetic Dream of Marriage
I had thought such a thing would never exist in this, my second life. The betrayal from my first life had left too deep a wound, and I believed someone like me could never truly love another.
"The groom and bride are entering. Please welcome them with applause!"
But in this moment, I was walking down the aisle with her, receiving blessings from all the people around us who had watched our relationship blossom over the years... Yes, the light shining on us in that instant was incomparably beautiful and radiant.
"Embarrassed?"
Was it that nerve-wracking for her? When I asked the girl gripping my hand tightly, she replied with a faint smile.
"Yeah, a little... Standing in front of so many people makes me nervous."
"Come to think of it, you were like that at the entrance ceremony too. You grabbed the mic wrong and it let out this huge screech."
"Yeah, and that's when you came out to save the day..."
As we reminisced, her smile grew clearer on her lips. And it gradually widened, revealing her true feelings.
"I was really grateful back then. And after that, and even after that... I'm always just grateful to you."
Yes, she felt gratitude toward me. And because of that gratitude, we had come to this moment. As her desk mate, she had always seemed so fragile that I often reached out to help, and through that process, we became aware of our feelings for each other.
Or maybe even before then.
"Um, it might be weird to ask this now that we're here, but... can I ask you something?"
"Anything."
She turned to me.
"Do you like me?"
She was asking if I liked her—if my heart in accepting this moment was truly sincere.
"I do. More than anyone else in the world."
"Yeah, me too."
When I affirmed it, she nodded in agreement, whispering her own sincerity.
"I think I've liked you since the first time we met. I..."
"...I see."
Love at first sight, and from there, true love. Like the protagonist of some fairy tale, she had finally met her partner—me—and was preparing for the ceremony that would unite us.
Just one more moment ahead. Once this fleeting instant passed, I believed our future held the genuine happiness we would build together.
"Then, groom Kim Cheolsu and bride Yoo Soeun, here at this altar, seal your vows with a kiss..."
As I slowly reached for her head to lift the veil, her lips came into view—soft and warm-looking. Fixing my gaze on them, she closed her eyes and drew closer. Without hesitation, I prepared to kiss her.
To recreate what had happened on that subway that day, but this time through my own will, not hers...
"So it ends like this, after all."
But in that instant, a voice rang clearly in my ear—someone's voice, so familiar that I froze mid-motion. I whipped my head toward the source.
There stood a mixed-race woman with blonde hair cut to a bob...
-Static crackle!
The moment I recognized her, noise flooded my mind, and soon a scene began to play out in my head. The same moment as now—receiving everyone's blessings, confirming our bond.
"Mary...?"
Mary Christine. The woman who should have been united with me.
But her face, watching this scene, was twisted in anguish, and even that didn't last as her footsteps turned toward the exit.
"Mary, wait!!"
I couldn't let her go. She was the lover I cherished so deeply.
But why had it come to this?
"Mary, wait!!"
Amid the confusion, I caught up, and she stopped. When she turned to face me, her face bore no trace of the rough, angry expression I remembered.
"Why'd you come out?"
Her eyes were puffy as if she'd cried for days, filled with exhaustion. Maintaining that look, she whispered her resentment toward me.
"You got what you wanted with Soeun. Why, do you have regrets now?"
"What are you..."
"No, you couldn't have any regrets. If you did, you would've confessed long ago."
No, it wasn't resentment. This emotion wasn't aimed at me—it was self-directed. Regret over her own actions, self-flagellation—what you'd call self-reproach.
"Yeah, I was wrong to think we could end up together just because we've known each other so long."
Wasn't that really the case? Hadn't we tried to build on our childhood friendship?
"I thought you must have feelings for me deep down... That's why I dragged it out, and now it's come to this."
But as if denying that reality, her face contorted in deep sobs, hideously distorted.
"If I'd known it would be like this..."
"If I'd known, I would've said I liked you first... I was such an idiot back then, wasn't I?"
"Mary..."
"Goodbye."
Her back turned to me. She began walking away, farther and farther.
"We'll probably never see each other again. Since we didn't end up together, it'd just hurt every time we met."
"Mary, wait! I...!"
I reached out to grab her as she left, but suddenly someone seized my hand from behind, her voice trembling as it spilled out.
"Are you... going?"
Yoo Soeun. The woman I had united with.
Our bond had started as desk mates, just like with Mary—clearly, she was my lover too.
"Are you really... going?"
At her quiet cry as she held me back, my mind reeled in chaos, and I shook off her hand.
"Sorry...!"
I just ran. To find her—the one who should have been mine.
"Mary, wait!! I didn't want it to be like this...!"
But no matter how much I called, there was no answer. It was as if she'd vanished forever beyond my reach...
By the time I realized chasing her was pointless, I noticed that the precious thing I'd been holding in my hand had also disappeared.
"Soeun."
She was gone too. The one who should have been united with me.
"Soeun, where are you!! Answer me!!"
No, which one was real? I clearly remembered being with both of them.
But those were memories of just one or the other.
"Someone, anyone... answer me..."
In the end, I lost them both. I just ran through the empty darkness until exhaustion forced me to collapse to the floor.
-Isn't this good? This is exactly what you wanted.
As I gave up everything, a distorted voice echoed. I jerked my head up toward the source.
There loomed a black shadow without a clear form.
But it had a personality, and it spoke to me through that— as if it knew me all too well.
-Not uniting with anyone, living in solitude until you're buried in a grave... Isn't this the future you've always wanted? No need to feel impatient now, right?
"This... is what I wanted?"
"Yes, you saw it yourself. What happened to the girls you united with."
Yes, choosing Soeun meant Mary left me forever. Chasing Mary meant Soeun vanished too.
I realized that choosing one made the other unhappy. Chasing both meant grasping neither.
"If you stay true to your heart, someone will be happy. Like in your past life, pouring love on your lover—you'd make your chosen one happy this time too. But the one you didn't choose would live her whole life in misfortune."
"If she doesn't... unite with me..."
"Exactly. And now you realize it. What your choice will bring."
Kekeke. Laughter echoed.
With it, a vortex swirled around me, and the distorted voice reverberated in my trapped ears.
"The flow without awareness and the flow after knowing are different. Think carefully. What future should you ideally dream of?"
"Wait, who are you...!"
-Whoosh!
Swept into the storm, everything went black.
Flailing in that sensation, I realized the wind around me had died down and gasped out ragged breaths.
"Hah!"
In the storm's wake was the familiar ceiling. A familiar room. And a familiar voice from outside.
"Oppa~ It's morning~ Hurry and wash up, come eat breakfast~"
Recognizing my little sister's voice, I panted deeply, staring down at my sweat-soaked hands.
I'd definitely been gripping something, but now my fists held nothing...
"A dream..."
No, not that I no longer held it—but that I hadn't yet.
What I'd seen before wasn't the past; it foreshadowed the future.
"It wasn't some illusion. That was..."
A meticulously crafted precognitive dream, built on visions of the future.
A new anomaly in this second life, following my reincarnation.