Chapter 265
Chapter 265
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 265
Chapter Title: Snowfield (5)
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“Ugh.”
A throbbing headache.
A dull pain shot through his entire body, as if he were being beaten with a club, and Oh-jin let out a low groan.
‘Where am I…?’
Pushing himself up in bed, Oh-jin glanced around.
White walls and the stuffy smell of medicine.
It was a VIP hospital room, complete with rather elegant furnishings.
“After that…”
After he had declared he would become the Cheonma for her.
Cassia’s reaction had been a little different from what Oh-jin had expected.
If his plan had worked, he thought she would have tearfully nodded. If it had failed, he expected her to scoff at him for spouting nonsense.
But for some reason, Cassia had taken a step back, flustered, her face flushing red as an apple.
—H-Honestly, you just say whatever you want, like the liar you are! Do you really think you can become the Cheonma?
After shouting sharply, she had turned and left, as if she’d had enough.
‘I can’t tell if this went well or not.’
His initial plan had been to perfectly impersonate the Cheonma, making her distrust the real one instead.
But that plan had been exposed for the rather absurd reason that he was ‘overly kind.’
‘Well, it is my fault.’
It was his mistake for failing to properly grasp the Cheonma’s personality and acting in a way that didn’t suit him.
But he couldn't just give up.
Oh-jin had changed his strategy, using the memories of Cassia that had flowed into his mind to soothe the trauma she held.
To put it simply.
He had offered her a sweet lie instead of the bitter truth.
‘Though… I don’t know if it worked.’
In any case, Cassia had found out he wasn't the real Cheonma.
It was obviously a failure in the sense that all his lies had been exposed.
“Haa.”
He leaned back against the headboard and let out a deep sigh.
Thinking back now, he was filled with regret, wondering if he had gone too far, no matter how sweet the lie.
Even sweet things could turn bitter in excess.
“……”
But.
Even knowing that.
When he saw her collapsed in the white snowfield, weeping, he found it difficult to contain the bursting emotions inside him.
‘She looked just like… Nunna did back then.’
After she had been blinded by the Heavenly Dragon’s curse.
The image of Ha-eun, lying in a hospital bed, crying.
Her pitiful, trembling form seemed to overlap with the image of Cassia, abandoned in the snowfield.
Ha-eun had him.
He had Ha-eun.
But, for her…
“Tsk.”
Oh-jin clicked his tongue and shook his head, cutting off the thought.
Who was he to feel sorry for her?
‘Well, at least I didn’t die. That’s what matters.’
What happened next was ultimately up to Cassia to decide.
“By the way…”
With a hardened expression, Oh-jin retraced the events of that day, the memories of the past.
The side effect of using Gaecheon.
The memory loss pressed down on his heart like a heavy burden.
What memories had he lost this time?
What cherished moments had he forgotten now?
‘I remember… being Nunna’s boyfriend.’
Human memory doesn't retain every single thing that has ever happened, so it was difficult to know exactly which parts had disappeared.
As he was recalling his memories of Ha-eun one by one.
*Click.*
The door to the hospital room opened, and Isabella stepped inside.
“You’re awake, Oh-jin?”
Isabella approached Oh-jin, who was lying in the hospital bed, with a worried expression.
“Ah, yeah. I’m up.”
“Are you in any pain?”
“Well… it’d probably be faster to list the places that don’t hurt.”
“Just a moment. I’ll call a doctor and have them administer more painkillers.”
“No, it’s fine.”
Enduring pain was one of the things he did best.
“…Are you really okay?”
Isabella grasped Oh-jin’s hand, looking as if she might burst into tears at any moment.
The soft touch of her hand seemed to slightly soothe the pain that was savaging his body.
“Yeah. It’s just some minor muscle aches.”
It was far more than simple muscle aches.
But he didn't want to worry her by saying so.
“Phew. That’s a relief.”
Isabella let out a breath of relief and lightly swept a hand over her chest.
Even that small movement caused the two formidable peaks to stir noticeably.
*Ahem.* Clearing his throat unnecessarily, Oh-jin turned his head away. Isabella watched him and spoke in a low voice.
“Oh-jin, what did you and my sister talk about back then?”
She was bursting with questions for him.
How did he resist her command? How did half of his body turn into a black storm cloud? And so on.
Countless questions, like stars in the night sky, filled her mind.
“That’s…”
Oh-jin trailed off with a troubled expression.
How on earth could he rephrase his conversation with Cassia to come up with a plausible excuse that completely omitted any mention of the ‘Cheonma’?
Even for him, a master of lies, it wasn’t an easy task.
An awkward silence followed.
Isabella, who had been calmly waiting for his answer, eventually sighed deeply and shook her head.
“If it’s difficult to talk about, you don’t have to.”
“Sorry.”
The unresolved questions clung unpleasantly to Isabella’s mind, but she didn't want to force it out of him when he looked so troubled.
“After you two talked… my sister said something to me before she left.”
After the wall of black clouds had vanished.
Cassia, who had walked over while carrying the collapsed Oh-jin, gently placed him down in front of Isabella and said.
“…I’m sorry.”
She didn't know what had happened in there.
But Cassia, the black jewel on her forehead gone, had looked at Isabella with a somewhat sad expression before vanishing with the shadows.
“Does this mean my sister is completely free from the Cheonma’s control?”
“I don’t know.”
Oh-jin slowly shook his head.
For now, she seemed to have escaped the Cheonma’s grasp, but there was no guarantee it would stay that way.
The Serpentarius Queen was a valuable asset, one the Cheonma wouldn't want to lose.
“And that power of hers.”
She recalled Cassia fighting by summoning shadow serpents.
Cassia had been so powerful that even she, known as the Leech Queen and ranked third among the Heukseonghoe’s Executors, had been defeated without being able to put up a proper fight.
For an Awakened with such immense power to have remained unknown to the world until now was nearly impossible, which left only one possibility.
“The Serpentarius Queen… was my sister.”
Isabella let out a faint sigh with a self-deprecating smile.
To think she had been in the same Heukseonghoe, yet had no idea that the Serpentarius Queen was the sister she had been searching for so desperately.
A dry laugh escaped her lips.
“She seemed to know you, Oh-jin… Have you met the Serpentarius Queen before?”
“Yeah. I ran into her briefly when I was trapped in the Magyeong. I never imagined she was your sister, though.”
He had heard that she had a missing sister.
But he hadn't heard her name or anything about her appearance, so he hadn't been able to recognize her.
“…So that’s what happened.”
Her questions weren't fully answered yet.
But she felt her chaotic thoughts settling down a bit.
“Haa. With things like this, I can’t even bring that up with Ha-eun.”
“Huh? Bring what up?”
“Ahem. You know… what we talked about on the Ferris wheel.”
“……”
In an instant.
Oh-jin’s expression hardened.
He lowered his head and ground his teeth.
“Oh-jin?”
“……”
Isabella cautiously approached Oh-jin, whose mood had suddenly changed, but he was staring blankly into space, lost in thought.
“What’s wrong?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. It’s nothing. Sorry.”
Oh-jin shook his head with an awkward smile.
“……”
Isabella’s eyes narrowed.
Why?
For some reason, his awkward smile and the way he shook his head made him seem fragile, as if he would shatter at a touch.
“Oh-jin.”
She caught his cheek, turning his gaze, which had been avoiding hers, back to her.
She could see his pupils trembling with anxiety, like a cornered con man whose lies had been exposed.
“You remember what we talked about on the Ferris wheel that day, right?”
“……”
A brief silence descended upon the room.
Isabella let out a small laugh and lightly pinched his cheek.
“Why, you said it yourself. That you wanted to go to Lotte World with your sister sometime too. Have you already forgotten?”
“Ah, right. I did. Sorry, I just woke up, so my head’s a bit foggy. I forgot.”
“……”
The moment she heard Oh-jin’s reply, Isabella’s gentle smile vanished, her expression turning ice-cold.
Seeing her sudden change, Oh-jin flinched.
He let out a deep sigh and ran a hand through his hair.
“We never had that conversation, did we?”
“…No.”
“Haa.”
To think he’d fall for such a simple trick.
A self-mocking laugh escaped him.
“Tell me, Oh-jin. What happened?”
This time, Isabella’s voice was cold, making it clear she wouldn't let it slide.
It seemed.
There was no way out.
“You saw… my body turning into a storm cloud back then, right?”
“Yes.”
Oh-jin debated whether to tell her about Heukcheon but decided to be vague about that part for now.
Heukcheon wasn't the important thing at the moment.
“It’s kind of like an ultimate move… I guess. When I use it, a part of my memory disappears as a side effect.”
“Y-Your memory disappears?”
Isabella’s eyes widened as she shot up from her seat.
“Why would you use such a dangerous technique…?!”
“Because I had to save you.”
“……”
His unhesitating reply left Isabella speechless.
As he said, if he hadn't come then, she would have died on the spot.
“How many times… How many times have you used that technique until now?”
“Twice… no, about three times.”
Including this time, it was the fourth time he had used Gaecheon.
“So, your other memories are…”
“Only a portion of my memories disappear. This time… I remember going on the date.”
And this was the first time he had lost memories concerning Isabella.
“……”
Isabella slumped down, looking as if she were about to burst into tears.
The fact that he had to use a technique with the absurd risk of ‘memory loss’ to save her cut her heart like a knife.
“Don’t tell Nunna.”
Oh-jin turned his head away with a bitter smile.
“Have you… ever lost your memories of your sister?”
“……”
A bitter smile spread across Oh-jin’s lips.
The dizzying despair he had felt when he lost the memory of being her lover came flooding back.
Closing your eyes doesn't make the world disappear.
But still, a world shrouded in pitch-black darkness felt alien and terrifying.
“Anyway. Keep this a secret from Nunna.”
“But.”
“Please.”
“…Yes.”
Just as Isabella nodded with a heavy expression.
*Creak.*
The tightly closed door of the hospital room swung open.
Revealed in the gap was—
“What… did you just say?”
—Ha-eun’s deeply distorted expression.