Chapter 275
Chapter 275
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Now, Goodbye
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"What if we spend a long time together like this?"
"Who knows?"
Jang Chaeyeon looked down at the man leaning on her shoulder.
Why was he suddenly asking something like this?
She brushed his black hair back with her fingertips and smiled.
"It'll be that good."
...
The man didn't respond to her words.
He just gazed at the ashen sky with a complicated expression, untouched by either morning or night.
A long time passed.
No matter how much they loved each other, no matter how blissful their time together was, they were still human.
Sometimes they fought, and there were even times when they had nothing left to say and spent over a week in silence.
"Let's forget."
One day, at the man's words, Jang Chaeyeon widened her eyes.
"Huh...?"
"And let's escape."
The idea of escaping had been abandoned long ago.
No one was waiting for them, and though they'd tried multiple times, they'd never succeeded.
"What do you mean, forget?"
"Exactly what I said. Let's forget."
The man replied to Jang Chaeyeon's question in a calm voice.
"If we go on like this, we won't be able to live normal lives."
Human emotions don't wear out, but they do develop thresholds.
The older people get, the more blasé they become and the less they struggle—that's the same principle.
Because they've endured so many harder things.
The trials faced at five years old and those at twenty-five aren't on the same level.
And once that threshold rises, everything feels less enjoyable.
"...No."
At his words, Jang Chaeyeon shook her head and refused.
"Alright, if you don't want to, then we won't."
The man just shrugged as if he understood, holding the manual he occasionally read.
*
"Guh... hack...!"
He clutched his festering wound and breathed raggedly.
The escape had failed.
No matter how strong Jang Chaeyeon was, wounds still hurt, and pain was unavoidable.
The monsters lurking on escape routes that resembled humans would slow them down like that, and eventually, one day, the man got pierced by a claw.
The fever wouldn't break.
Jang Chaeyeon knew it.
He was going to die.
And the man, breathing heavily, drew in a sharp breath, squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them and looked at her.
"Make me a promise."
Sweating coldly from the fever, he looked straight at her.
...
Tears flowed from her eyes.
"...Will you?"
Ignoring her tears, he pressed as if urging her on, and Jang Chaeyeon nodded.
"...I will."
"Good."
He smiled and said exactly what she'd expected.
*
...
Song Arin looked up at the sky with a complicated expression after hearing the Observer's words.
"That must have been tough."
Jang Chaeyeon looked at her too, and the Observer looked at Jang Chaeyeon.
Then the Observer spoke.
"You probably went through the same thing."
"What are you talking about?"
The Observer ignored Jang Chaeyeon's puzzled question and looked at me.
"You two were together inside the Cube too, right?"
"Yeah...?"
"You two must have forgotten memories as well. And... from what I see, the current 'me' is different, but..."
She pointed at Jang Chaeyeon, then directed her finger toward me.
"'You' seem the same."
...
I understood what she meant.
The current me... even if I don't remember, the me who spent a long time with Jang Chaeyeon must have told her to forget too.
And unlike the Observer, Jang Chaeyeon had ultimately listened to me.
"So we forgot what—"
"No idea."
The Observer shook her head.
"But it's your thoughts and decision, so it must have been for her sake."
"What was it?"
"No clue. Maybe something you weren't supposed to know but found out anyway?"
Something I wasn't supposed to know?
That didn't ring any bells.
"You seem to know a lot about me."
"I suspected it, but now I'm sure."
She smiled at my mutter.
"You're always you. No matter what happens in the world, you can stay yourself."
...
I looked up at the sky, and a massive eye was gazing down at me.
"Did you see it with that?"
"No? There was no eye back then."
"Of course there wouldn't be."
The giant eye in the sky kept staring at me, which was a little creepy.
The eye that had been watching me turned to Song Arin, who glared back at it, looking annoyed.
"Say it out loud. What are you staring at?"
"You never change."
"Who said you could act friendly? I'll shoot that eye."
The Observer burst out laughing at Song Arin's prickly tone.
She seemed even softer and more relaxed than the current Jang Chaeyeon.
"But it's good that you're fine now."
"...Now?"
Song Arin looked at her, and the Observer shrugged.
"You'll figure it out. There are plenty of things in the world it's better not to know."
"Look at you, acting all wise big sis."
"I am your big sis, aren't I?"
"Damn, why do you even sound like this guy now?"
"We lived together a long time?"
"Even the shamelessness is the same."
Song Arin crossed her arms in irritation, then looked back at the Observer.
"So what's with that eye? You usually use telekinesis."
"That's not something I learned."
"Ah, here comes another one of your annoyingly cryptic lines."
"That was something the younger me you saw figured out. That kid went through tough times a lot. I mostly just slept."
"Ah, that dimwit?"
"...Younger me."
"If she was younger, you should've raised her right. The kid's nuts."
Maybe because she'd been hit by that eye, Song Arin's words were full of thorns.
The Observer smiled awkwardly and looked at me.
"By the way, where's that kid?"
"That kid?"
"You know. The one who instinctively creeps me out."
The one who instinctively creeps her out?
Who was she talking about?
I stared at her as if asking what she meant, and the Observer continued her explanation.
"You know, black hair, slightly weird look in her eyes."
"Yoo Daon?"
"So that's her name."
"Yoo Daon has black hair, but her eyes aren't weird."
They're more like innocently pure, right?
...
The Observer looked at me like I was strange, then nodded.
"She's by herself right now."
"Where?"
"Near the cave. Since the exit's through the cave, you can pick her up on the way."
"Got it. Then we'll go together—"
I started to speak, but paused at the Observer's faint smile.
...
"You know. I'm staying behind."
"...Can't you just get left behind?"
This place had no meaning anymore.
The Cube incident was over.
"Yeah, you could."
The Observer looked at me with a troubled smile.
"...But there's no point in that."
"Huh?"
"I love you."
"...!"
"It's not just words. After countless days, even after forgetting myself, there wasn't a single day I didn't love you."
"Hack, hack!"
What the hell was this?
Her words caught in my throat, making me cough, and Song Arin and Jang Chaeyeon, who'd heard it, froze like statues, staring at the Observer.
The Observer herself just smiled silently at me.
"How is it that after over a decade, I get confessed to by you and react the same way?"
...
It was a bit confusing, but I cleared my throat awkwardly and looked at her.
"Yeah."
"Right. So that's why I can't go with you."
"...Hmm..."
My lukewarm reaction made the Observer add more.
"What if I asked you to abandon those three for me and stay with me?"
"...Ah."
"The ends of the earth. Even beyond that, I'd follow you, so abandon everything and come with me—could you do it?"
...
I couldn't answer the Observer's words.
She smiled as she looked at my silence.
"Yeah. The Kim Jaeheon I know would say of course and stand by my side."
"...I'm sorry."
I had nothing to say.
"It's not that I don't like you. No, I still love you even now."
She looked at me again, smiling.
"But that would only make things harder for you."
...
My mouth tasted bitter.
I felt sorry for not being able to affirm her words, and sorrier still for not finding a way to make her happy.
"If you came with us..."
"I know my condition best."
The Observer closed her eyes.
"I'll definitely be classified as a Containment Object."
...
Someone who's occasionally unstable in management, and wakes up summoning a giant eye that triggers everyone's fears.
I couldn't deny it.
"I know—the Management Bureau would lock me in a tiny basement room for life."
The Observer laughed.
"So I'll stay here."
"...You could hide..."
...
She smiled as she listened to me, and I knew my words were just wishful thinking.
"...I understand."
I nodded, and the Observer smiled.
"Yeah. But I won't disappear."
...
"Go ahead with Arin. I... need to have a talk with myself."
"...Chaeyeon."
"Hurry. We'll meet again."
She smiled.
...
"Let's go."
In the end, Song Arin dragged me away, and I had no choice but to leave.
*
...
Jang Chaeyeon looked at the mound of earth in front of her.
"I'll be direct."
She locked eyes with the figure bearing a large scar on her neck and smiled.
"You like that guy, don't you?"
...
She hadn't even thought to hide it, but she sure saw through it quick.
Jang Chaeyeon nodded, and the Observer smiled at the sight.
"But Jaeheon is so oblivious—or maybe intentional?—about romance that he never listens on that front."
...
Jang Chaeyeon stared at the ground, feeling like everything had gone dark, and the Observer nodded.
"I'll help you."
Jang Chaeyeon looked at her gentle smile and nodded.
*
The way back was easier than expected.
The Observer just twitched a finger, and the cave path returned to normal.
The problem wasn't that.
"S-s-s-s-sorry..."
It was Yoo Daon, muttering like she'd completely lost it while staring at my arm.
"It's fine. I don't have any sensation there anyway."
I really didn't now.
Song Arin, hearing that, made a huge fuss and contacted the Management Bureau, while Jang Chaeyeon kept me levitating in the air until we reached the hospital.
Not long after.
The branch chief clenched his fist, and the apple shattered into pulp that flowed into the cup.
*Crunch... cruuunch...*
"Here, apple juice."
The branch chief handed me the glass with a bright smile.
"I wiped my hands, so it's clean."
"Ah, no, Branch Chief. I don't really like juice..."
"I'm crushing apples instead of your head right now—will you drink it?"
"Yes, please."
The apple juice was sweet.