The Boy Who Was Her Hero
To the girl, the boy was a hero—a prince on a white horse straight out of a fairy tale. They had only known each other for a single day, yet she fell completely, irreversibly in love with him.
Whenever the other children ran into trouble, he was the first to step forward and fix things, even when it wasn’t his problem. His friends trusted him because of it, and more than a few girls harbored secret crushes. The girl both envied and marveled at the boy who stood at the center of every group.
“The kid from the next class… so that’s why…”
“…How did you manage that?”
The girl whispered so softly the boy couldn’t possibly hear.
“Okay~ See you next time!”
As the sun dipped low and the children began drifting away from the playground one by one, the girl finally approached him.
“How did you do it?”
“Huh…? Eunah, what’s wrong?”
“Hanseong… how can I become someone like you?”
“Like me?”
The boy looked slightly flustered by her question.
“Yes. I want to be strong like you… and special, too.”
“I’m special? …Well, I always figured I was just odd. There’s a thin line between special and strange, after all. Besides, you’re already incredibly special yourself, Eunah.”
“…Me?”
Now it was the girl’s turn to look bewildered.
“Of course. You’re beautiful without even trying, and you’re kind. The others just haven’t noticed your charm yet… but soon they’ll be seeking you out more than me.”
“No, someone like me could never compare to you, Hanseong…”
At her words, the boy’s expression grew serious. He took her hand in his.
Whoosh—
He hadn’t gripped it hard, yet the girl felt her face burn scarlet in an instant.
“H-Hanseong…?”
“…Eunah.”
“Y-Yes…?”
He looked straight into her eyes and spoke each word with quiet emphasis.
“Don’t belittle yourself like that. You’re a wonderful friend. No matter what anyone else says about you, I will always cherish you. Never think that way again.”
The girl was moved by his sincerity, but her face only flushed hotter, turning the color of a ripe persimmon.
“Huh…? Eunah, your face is…”
Only then did the boy sense something was off. He pressed a hand to her forehead.
“Are you feeling sick?”
She had always been weak to stimulation. The sudden overload was too much—her mind short-circuited.
Hiss—
“Heu… heung…”
“Eunah? Eunah!”
The boy caught her as she collapsed.
Beep———Beep———
When the fallen girl opened her eyes, a pure white ceiling filled her vision.
“…Where am I?”
“You’re in a hospital, dear.”
At the deep, resonant voice she turned her head. A middle-aged man in his forties or fifties stood beside the bed. She had never seen him before, yet something about him felt strangely familiar.
“Um… who are you?”
“I’m your… sigh… father.”
The man let out a long breath before finally revealing his identity.
“Father…? That’s a lie. I don’t have a father.”
The girl’s voice turned icy, as though the words themselves were taboo.
“It must feel sudden and confusing. If you want proof, I’ll take a DNA test right now.”
“…If you really are my father… why have you only come to me now?”
Her body began to tremble, unable to accept what she was hearing.
“Because I never knew you existed…”
“What? What do you mean by…”
“I only learned about you recently. Your mother had been hiding you from me.”
“It must have been so hard all this time. Come here—let your father hold you.”
Tricking one little girl is as easy as eating cold porridge.
Despite the pitch-black thought, the man wore a gentle smile and opened his arms wide.
“…Dad… I-I missed you so much.”
Sob—
“Uwaaaaaah…”
The girl buried herself in his embrace, tears streaming down her face as if overcome with emotion. Yet even as she cried, her mind kept spinning.
There are too many holes in what he just said… Even if he truly didn’t know about me, the fact that he never once looked for my mother, the fact that he would have met her if he came for me, and the fact that he said nothing about me stabbing out her eyes… No matter how I look at it, this man is suspicious…
Even if he really is my father, the only family I need is Hanseong… But I can’t keep burdening him. So I’ll play along. I’ll act like an innocent child who knows nothing.
Like mirror images, father and daughter deceived each other with identical cunning.
After that day, the girl became the successor to the Yukseong Group. With their vast resources supporting her, she was able to spend many joyful days with the boy.
The girl ended her long reverie.
She had always wanted to resemble the boy. Every word he spoke, every action he took, shone brilliantly in her eyes. When she looked at him, the darkness lurking inside her heart seemed to recede just a little.
Yet apart from him, her heart only grew darker. Watching the boy who had sacrificed everything for her, love and crushing guilt existed side by side within her.
And when that guilt reached its peak, voices would whisper in her ear.
You’re worthless trash.
Why are you even alive? All you do is burden everyone around you.
I can’t use you anymore.
Sometimes it was her mother’s voice. Sometimes it was her own. But what truly destroyed her was—
Eunah… save me…
You’re the reason I died… It’s all because of you!!!
—when the boy’s voice came.
His voice cursed her like a dying man’s final scream. Her heart was already fracturing from the other whispers; hearing his only accelerated the collapse. Day by day she grew more broken.
She sat alone in her room, lost in thought, searching desperately for an answer. Yet the sharper her mind had once been, the more clouded her eyes became.
After a long time, the girl rose from her bed. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the object she had hidden there.
While the girl was making her terrible decision, the boy was spending another “happy” moment with his older sister. Once again she had him trapped in her arms, rubbing her cheek against him without restraint. He let out a silent sigh.
Haa… when is this going to end?
“Hanseong, hehe… Why don’t we just sleep together like this tonight?”
“What?! No… Sis, that’s a bit…”
The boy panicked at her bold suggestion.
“Why not? We’re family~”
Using family as an excuse, she had already touched him in all sorts of places far too many times. He began refusing with everything he had.
“Sis, I’m fine on my own now… and I’ve grown up plenty. I’m not a little kid anymore…”
“Aww… but our Hanseong is still so small and weak… If I’m not holding you, someone might steal you away… hmph.”
Watching her puff out her cheeks, the boy felt cognitive dissonance. Was this really the same woman who had brutally beaten him a few days ago? On the outside she was stunningly beautiful, which only made it cuter—and more infuriating.
Damn it. The second Eunah gets better, I need to get out of here.
“Come on, you’re all grown up. A-Anyway, I should get going!”
Escaping the dangerous woman, the boy fled to his room. Once there, his thoughts drifted until worry for the girl surfaced again.
“I wonder if Eunah’s doing okay…”
After her seizure and the strange obsession she had developed toward him, facing her again felt incredibly awkward.
If I see Eunah again… what am I supposed to do?
While he was pacing back and forth, unsure what to do—
Slice—
A small sound, like something being cut.
“Huh…?”
An uneasy feeling washed over him. He headed toward the girl’s room.
Squish—
This time the sound was louder—something being stabbed.
“No… Eunah!”
He burst into the room and saw her slicing her own wrist.
“Eunah!!!”
“Hanseong… you came?”
Seeing his worried face, the girl smiled as if greeting a long-awaited guest. Blood poured freely from her wrist as she waved at him without concern. The sight sent a chill down his spine, but he quickly pulled himself together.
“Eunah… why are you doing this? Did I do something wrong? Just put that down first…”
“Hanseong… I can never repay the grace you’ve shown me… I always wanted to give you something in return, but I only ever took from you.”
She looked at him with a sad smile. The boy spoke urgently.
“That’s not true, Eunah… I’ve received so much from you too… So please put the knife down. Let’s talk this out, okay?”
“Someone like me would be more useful dead… I’m sorry. And… I love you.”
“Eunah! Eunah!!!!”
Stab—
“Ah…?”
“Ah…?”
Both of them let out the same sound at the same time.
Before she could plunge the blade into her stomach, the boy had moved quickly to stop her. But he had used more strength than he realized. With nowhere else to go, the knife sank deep into his own abdomen.
Pouring—
“Ah… shit. F-fuck.”
It was the first time in his life he had ever been stabbed. The foreign object lodged in his gut made him slowly look down at himself. An old, rusty utility knife that looked like it had been used for years at a stationery store. A memory that would never fade for the rest of his life was being carved into him at this very moment.
“Ughhhhh…”
The scream finally tore out of him, a beat behind the pain.
“───!!!”