Flashback of the Past (1)
“Cho Hyejin, this is so sudden....”
“Master, Jung Hayan is dead. The cause of death isn’t certain yet, but judging from what we’ve been able to gather, it appears to be—well, a suicide.”
“What? What do you mean....”
“I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true.”
“There must be some kind of mistake....”
“……”
“She really is dead.”
“Yes. This morning, the Mado Guild members found her in her room, hanged.”
“Is it possible it wasn’t suicide? What about the possibility that assassins got inside....”
“No. It was unquestionably suicide. A farewell note was found as well, and... this isn’t certain either, but supposedly a number of unidentified letters were discovered in Jung Hayan’s room. Of course, they’re encrypted with magic, so no one has been able to decipher them yet, but since the news broke, other guilds have begun to wonder whether there was some connection between her and them.”
“Did you just say connection?”
“It’s only speculation.”
“That can’t be right. Look at the achievements the genius mage of Lindel has shown us until now—it’s absurd even to consider that possibility. If she’d really been working with them, she would’ve been on their side long ago.”
“The Master is right, Cho Hyejin. Without Lindel’s genius mage, the front line itself would never have held. It’s no exaggeration to say we’ve survived this long because she was there. The Ramadel Mountains battle, the northern Frost Wall battle, even the defense of Benignore—all of it was won thanks to Jung Hayan. The talk of collusion is probably false information. Maybe someone is trying to divide us....”
“……”
“Cho Hyejin, the note... what did it say?”
“I was told it said, ‘I’m sorry. I was wrong.’ Of course, the Mado Guild has refused to release it publicly, so we haven’t been able to verify the full contents, but... there were traces of severe physical abuse on her body.”
“Are you certain she wasn’t assassinated?”
“Yes. The injuries on her body were much older wounds. Since there were even wounds that looked like they’d festered from lack of treatment, some people have speculated that she may have done it to herself. I heard there were also injuries she could have healed with potions or holy power, but she left them untreated.”
“Self-harm....”
“Yes. It may really have been self-harm, Master. I’ve heard that Jung Hayan always struggled terribly with taking lives. After battles, she always had nightmares, and she also strongly disliked joining fights in the first place. Someone who didn’t even want to kill an ant was suddenly forced to stand on a battlefield, so it wouldn’t be strange for her to feel guilty.”
That sounded reasonable.
Thinking about Jung Hayan, the great mage of Lindel, that sort of conclusion seemed only natural.
Standing on a battlefield in the first place....
It had been too much for her.
“If that’s true... then it really is entirely my fault. I shouldn’t have called her to the battlefield.”
“That’s not true. It isn’t the Master’s fault. Master wasn’t the only one who persuaded Jung Hayan. Everyone in the Holy Empire, the Republic, and the Kingdom Alliance wanted Jung Hayan to move as well. Even the final decision was hers. She didn’t act because of the Master’s persuasion. Jung Hayan herself always said she was indebted to the Holy Empire and the free people of Lindel. If she had chosen to run and hide, no one would have found her. Jung Hayan joined this war for her own reasons, too.”
“……”
“The reason she took her own life still hasn’t been properly determined. Master, it’s probably true that she felt guilty, but I don’t think that’s why she ended her life. There’s no denying that she suffered... but she was also proud of what she protected. The Jung Hayan I first met was definitely that kind of person.”
I had seen that with my own eyes.
The image of her, someone who had never been good at dealing with people, faintly smiling after a battle and shaking hands with the soldiers whose lives she had saved was etched into my memory.
And so was the conversation we’d had.
‘It’s rewarding.’
‘You made a difficult decision.’
‘No, Hyunsung. I- it’s not like it wasn’t hard, but everyone’s fighting, so... and I’m not entirely unhappy either. Seeing everyone smiling makes me happy. Hehe... thank you for calling me.’
‘Not at all. I’m the one who should be grateful.’
There was no doubt that she had felt guilty.
But as Cho Hyejin said, Jung Hayan had already understood that this was the pain she had to endure.
At this point, saying she had taken her own life because of guilt just didn’t quite add up.
“Then why....”
“We’re still trying to determine that. We suspect there may be clues in the letters encrypted by magic, and mages from all across the continent are still trying to decipher them, but it’s not easy.”
“I see.”
I was looking at Cho Hyejin with a somewhat bitter expression when it happened.
BOOM!
For a moment I wondered if enemies had attacked from somewhere, but the next voice I heard made it impossible to keep my sword lowered.
“Kim Hyunsung!”
“Kim Ayoung-nim! Please, this is....”
“Shut up and open the door. I know Kim Hyunsung is in there, so open it!”
“First, please calm down... t-this is a meeting right now.”
“You’d better open it before I say something nice. My patience is hanging by a thread.”
After another resounding crash, the face that appeared in my view was a painfully familiar one.
“Ayoung.”
“Kim Hyunsung, you bastard!”
A giant blade surged toward me in an instant, closing in fast.
I reflexively raised my sword, and once again a deafening impact rang out with a shriek of sliced air.
In the blink of an eye, objects around us flew in every direction, and the windows, unable to withstand the pressure, shattered apart.
“You bastard! You killed my sister!”
“……”
“You’re the one who dragged her into the war, you filthy son of a bitch! It’s your fault my sister died!”
“……”
“Ayoung-nim... what do you think you’re doing? This is wartime. Bursting in here all of a sudden and pointing your sword at our guild master like this! I’ll be lodging a formal complaint with the guild over this!”
“Shut your mouth, Cho Hyejin. Even if it’s you, keep running it and I won’t stay quiet any longer. A complaint? Go ahead and make one. What does complaining even matter in a situation like this? Do whatever you want... we’re all going to die anyway, so what? Go choke on it!”
“But....”
“I told you before, Kim Hyunsung. My sister wasn’t supposed to join the war... and it’s your pathetic greed that got her killed.”
“If Jung Hayan hadn’t stood on the front line, countless civilians would have died, Kim Ayoung-nim.”
“Didn’t you hear me when I told you to shut up? I’m asking Kim Hyunsung.”
“It was an unavoidable decision. Of course, our Master persuaded Jung Hayan, but it was also because she was there that we won so many battles....”
“Those so many battles are why my sister is dead. She’s dead! You should’ve listened when she said she didn’t want to take part in the first place!”
“The exact reason she took her own life still hasn’t been determined. It also hasn’t been confirmed that she killed herself due to the shock of battle. We need to verify the farewell note and the sealed letters properly.”
“Do you even hear yourself? You’re talking like that with a mouth already far too full of lies. You filthy hypocrites. You should’ve listened to what that person said.”
“That person....”
“You don’t need to know!”
“I’m sorry.”
“So now ‘I’m sorry’ comes out of that mouth of yours, huh? Kim Hyunsung, you bastard... a hero? Don’t make me laugh.”
“But if you could just calm down a little and think....”
“Shut up. Our guild is leaving this damn alliance. The whole idea that people who were at each other’s throats could somehow become one was ridiculous to begin with. Joining hands with the bastards from the Republic and the Kingdom Alliance was a stretch from the start. Even listening to you was the kind of joke that isn’t funny. Kim Hyunsung, the hero who saved hundreds of thousands of people? Spare me. What the hell does that matter? My sister is dead... she’s dead! I don’t care how many people survived because of her help. Do you understand?”
“……”
“You won’t be seeing us again.”
“Please wait a moment, Kim Ayoung-nim.”
“Cho Hyejin.”
“Jung Hayan’s reason for taking her own life wasn’t guilt.”
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
“Even if it were, I’m sure Jung Hayan wouldn’t want you acting like this. It’s true that she suffered terribly, but I clearly remember Jung Hayan being happy about the people she’d saved.”
“……”
“We still don’t even know the exact contents of the farewell note. We haven’t fully ruled out the possibility of assassination either. Maybe there are clues in the sealed letters or the note. If, after all the investigations are over, it turns out Jung Hayan’s death was connected to us....”
“……”
“I’ll take responsibility for this with my own death.”
“I don’t care about your life.”
It was strange that she still didn’t seem to realize what Kim Ayoung wanted.
I could only slowly meet her eyes and speak.
“Nor do I. Once everything is over, I’ll atone with my death as well.”
“Master!”
“This is right, Cho Hyejin. I’m sure I bear responsibility too. In any case, once this war is over, I was planning to put an end to things in my own way.”
I thought I might not deserve to be alive.
On the way here alone, I had already made countless mistakes.
Honestly, even pretending to repent now was ridiculous. And yet I had no choice but to do this.
Because I still believed there was something left for me to do.
It was only natural that Kim Ayoung’s expression in front of me looked complicated. She was probably thinking about many things herself.
It was right then, while she was still waiting for an answer, that it happened.
BOOM!!!
An explosion from somewhere.
Along with the immense roar that followed, we had no choice but to realize that they had actually breached the city.
“What?”
“It’s a surprise attack!”
“Master!”
“It’s an ambush! Cho Hyejin-nim, behind the wall right now—Aaahhh!”
What poured down from the unseen darkness was a familiar but alien magic power. It was only natural for me to move toward the unknown force surging straight at Kim Ayoung.
I held my sword horizontally to block it, and the severed current of magic immediately began smashing apart the walls to either side.
“I’m heading to the city wall now.”
“I-I’m not ready yet!”
“We need to gather our strength first. Once all of this is over, I’ll leave my own punishment to Ayoung. For now, please lend me your strength.”
“Damn it....”
“Cho Hyejin, is Cha Heera still inside the city?”
“Yes. Reinforcement signals have been coming nonstop from the twelve o’clock direction. Red Mercenary must be heading that way as well....”
WOOOAAAMMM!
A blinding white light swallowed Lindel.
The light bursting from somewhere filled the world around us, and at the same time, my tightly shut eyes began to open.