Emerald (2)
“Haah. Kid, are you absolutely sure the Emerald came out here for a walk?”
“I heard Mother and Father from far away saying they were going to the forest! They tried to hide it from me, but still.”
“Why would they try to hide it, I wonder?”
“…I don't know.”
Up close, the fir forest near the fields was far denser than it had looked from a distance. These trees alone stood unshaken by the winter wind, holding their ground no matter what.
I think my hunch is right.
Even as we pressed deeper into the woods, there was no sign of the boy's parents. Just how far had they taken Emerald?
“Mister, are you scared of the lamp?”
“Er, what?”
“Your arm must be aching, the way you keep holding the lamp all weird like that.”
I was gripping the lantern handle with just the tips of my fingers, arm stretched full length to keep it as far from my body as possible—no wonder the boy found it strange. Truth be told, merely holding the lantern at all was a tremendous effort for me. Even so, I couldn't very well hand the lantern to a boy years younger than me and send him walking ahead alone.
This is the Happy Prince's world, overflowing with kindness and sacrifice. Pull a stunt like that in here and I might get severely punished.
Beyond the exhaustion of the long walk through the forest, anxiety had cold sweat beading on my forehead. Wiping it away, I finally managed to speak.
“…I'm afraid it'll catch fire. That's why—”
I was afraid my clothes would burn. Afraid my body would catch fire, my hands burn. I had tried to add at least a little explanation—but the boy scurried off ahead without even hearing the rest.
If you weren't going to listen, why'd you ask?
Kids are exhausting and impossible to figure out. Then again, I was probably exactly like that as a child.
“Mister! Please, you have to find Emerald!”
“Is Emerald getting very old now?”
“Yes. But he'll still get to live with our family for a long time to come.”
“…….”
An old dog who could no longer hunt, in the home of a poor tenant farmer. As I quietly trailed behind the boy, I put words into my mouth that no one should dare say to a child.
“Let me tell you something only someone who isn't your parent can say. It's not the kind of thing you say to a child, but you're clever enough to understand. And I need to hand over the jewel, after all.”
“I'm sorry? I'm receiving a jewel?”
Whether he'd only caught that last part, the boy whipped his head around. Looking at him, I pierced straight to the heart of the matter once more.
“If what you say is true, then Emerald is an old dog, and won't live much longer.”
“…….”
“In poverty like yours, it'll be even harder for him to hold on.”
“Mister….”
They were the sort of words that could have made the boy wail and carry on like before, but they had to be said. Only by understanding where his heart and his future were pointed could I place the jewel where it truly belonged.
“…It doesn't matter if he isn't any help.”
The boy puffed out his cheeks and grumbled something petulant under his breath.
That's only because you don't know what it means to be poor as an adult.
And yet, if his parents were working themselves to the bone so hard that the truth simply couldn't reach their child—
Then his parents had managed a miracle, too. Up until now, anyway.
But from here on, because of this dog, the boy would slowly begin to learn the fear of poverty. That particular sensation of realizing there are things everyone else can so easily possess—things you will never have, not for the rest of your life.
“You'll be moving on from this place soon enough either way. Even so, I hope your ending is one of plenty.”
“A plenty ending?”
“…I mean, that you won't be poor. That you won't live in a freezing house, but live in comfort like the nobles of this era.”
If it were possible, I wanted to see that—whether he was a Component, an NPC, or a made-up virtual child.
“Huh? Wh-what's that sound?”
Just then, far off in the distance, lantern light flickered and a low murmuring drifted toward us.
“Th-that's Mother's voice!”
The boy immediately lifted his head and, wild with excitement, sprinted toward the sound. I hurried after him at a run.
“Rick!!”
So his name is Rick.
A woman who appeared to be the boy's mother swept him up in a desperate embrace. At finding her son in this dark forest, she wore a dazed, bewildered expression.
“You there! Who the hell are you?!!”
The boy's father swung the shovel he was holding straight at me.
“I-I'm not that kind of person!”
“Shut up!!”
I stretched out both hands and mustered the most harmless smile I could, but the boy's father remained murderously tense. From their point of view, an unknown man had dragged their son all the way into the forest—of course they'd react like this.
“Father, Mother! This mister is the one who's been helping me look for Emerald!”
The moment the boy—no, Rick—chattered away in a bright voice, his parents stiffened at the same instant.
There was no dog to be seen beside the parents.
“Emerald…? So, did you find him?”
“No, Mother. Not yet. But I have to find him and go home….”
What is this? Something's off about this conversation.
Rick never once asked his parents where the dog had gone—he only wore a worried expression.
But they were supposed to have gone out to walk the dog….
“Honey, please hold Rick. The child must be sleepy.”
Rick's mother hurriedly pulled the boy into her arms, as if to smooth the whole situation over.
…The flow broke clumsily, then picked itself up and moved on.
“We'll handle this ourselves, so you'd best head back. And don't ever come near Rick again.”
Rick's father kept his shovel leveled at me, threatening, to the very end. The soil caked on the shovel's blade was clumped and slimy with mud.
Staring at that shovel, hesitating, I at last opened the Leaflet's materials window and took out the Emerald Fragment.
“I must give this Emerald Fragment to Rick.”
“To… me?!”
From inside his mother's embrace, Rick—still not asleep—flung his eyes wide open at once.
As the Emerald Fragment emerged from the Leaflet and settled onto my palm, Rick's parents' mouths fell open.
Hand over the jewel, just as the Happy Prince once did.
The Jewel of Plenty
The Jewel of Love
What will you choose?
So I must weigh the practical choice against the ideal one.
The Leaflet pressed me toward my final decision. If I chose plenty, Rick would sell the Emerald for exactly what the jewel was worth and gain a fortune. If I chose love, he would gain a puppy named Emerald.
If Rick chose love with a dog, he'd be happy for now….
But an old dog in this era would find it hard to outlive the boy. Even if I saved the dog today, it would die eventually all the same—and only Rick, poor Rick, would be left behind.
If you immerse yourself in the child, your rational judgment wavers. I need to find the answer to the quest.
Just as the Happy Prince had done. I repeated to myself the words written on the Leaflet a moment ago.
Which jewel did the Happy Prince give away?
He helped the son who wanted to cure his parents' illness with sapphires and rubies, and the writer who wanted to write.
What saved the poor townspeople was the jewel's material worth.
So naturally, the Jewel of Plenty was the correct choice—
“You're going to give our Rick a jewel?”
“Yes.”
Melodrama deserves melodrama. The 'Emerald' Rick longed for could be redeemed by the boy's love, even without money.
“Here, Rick. Take the Jewel of Love. Live happily with Emerald, you hear?”
I placed the small shard of jewel into Rick's hand. The moment the Emerald reached Rick's golden glow, the entire dark forest lit up bright.
Crash—
…….
…….
…….
?!
Then, suddenly, the sound of shattering glass pierced my eardrums, sharp as a blade. My eyes squeezed shut reflexively at the sound. And when I opened them again—
“Wh-what's that sound?”
“?!”
Rick's parents, who had been standing right in front of me, were gone. No—not gone. They stood far away in the distance.
“Th-that's Mother's voice!”
No. They haven't drawn away….
“Rick!!”
Rick's mother caught him in a precious embrace as he came running toward her.
Is the situation… repeating itself?
“You there! Who the hell are you?!!”
“W-wait, just a moment. Can I ask—do you remember seeing me before?”
“What? You're out of your mind. Quit talking nonsense!!”
I'm serious. This is exactly the same as before.
Did the route keep looping until I reached the correct ending? The situation was bewildering, but if I didn't get my bearings now, I was going to take a shovel to the head.
“Father, Mother! This mister is the one who's been helping me look for Emerald!”
“Emerald…? So, did you find him?”
“No, Mother. Not yet. But I have to find him and go home….”
Then, this time.
The next option was already a given. If the Jewel of Love wasn't the answer, then perhaps the material worth that secured Rick's future was.
“I'll give you the Jewel of Plenty, Rick.”
It was the same Emerald Fragment, but the moment I held it out, the jewel changed depending on the meaning I gave it. Rick received the Emerald shard with both hands.
“Mister—”
Crash—!
…….
…….
…….
That's not it either?
“Wh-what's that sound?”
From that point on, it was an unbroken chain of repeated scenarios.
“Rick, you choose. Will you take the Jewel of Plenty, or the Jewel of Love?”
I even wondered if taking away his freedom of choice was what had doomed me, so I tried giving Rick the chance to decide for himself.
Crash—!
…….
…….
…….
“Perhaps you and Rick could think it over together, as a family?”
I tried every other method I could devise. And yet—
Crash—!
…….
…….
…….
“Rick, look out!”
This ending wasn't in the script!!
Passing through one bad ending after another, I became intimately acquainted with every variety—even down to the dead end where Rick's father actually clubbed me with the shovel.
Crash—!
…….
…….
…….
“Agh—”
I clutched my throbbing, ringing head and groaned. Once again I'd come back to the same past, and thankfully hadn't died.
Maybe because I'm just an ordinary human, this is way harder than it looked in the movies.
“Wh-what's that sound?”
Think, Kim Jisan. Keep flailing around like this and you'll lose your mind for real.
Hand over the jewel, just as the Happy Prince once did.
The Jewel of Plenty
The Jewel of Love
What will you choose?
By now, even looking at the Leaflet had grown sickening. As I gazed at Rick, swollen with hope, I shifted my gaze to his parents.
“Tell me something. Is Emerald alive?”
“…What kind of question is that.”
“You're not about to leave behind the very dog your son has been searching for so desperately, are you? Ah—no, surely you wouldn't just leave him.”
“?!”
Rick's father, mid-answer, hid his deathly pale face behind his arm. His wife, holding Rick, was biting down hard on her lower lip.
A lurch—
?! Just now, for the briefest instant, the forest swayed.
The firs had shaken all at once, from leaf to trunk. A rippling movement, like the fin of a fish swimming through water. It didn't seem to be the wind stirring the leaves.
“Mister, why do you keep saying such scary things?”
“Rick! That's enough—don't talk to that man!!”
When I kept stalling instead of handing over the jewel, Rick grew anxious and teared up. His mother quickly pulled the boy tight into her arms again.
“…?!!”
Perhaps because I was holding the lantern at arm's length, its light fell evenly over Rick and his parents—and that let me catch what was wrong.
There's nothing in their eyes….
Crash—!
…….
…….
…….
“Wh-what's that sound?”
From far off came the murmuring voices of Rick's parents. Excited, Rick would run to them, and the whole situation would repeat itself yet again.
“Haah.”
But the moment I let out a deep sigh, Rick stopped dead in mid-sprint. Then he turned only his head and stared back up at me.
“Mister?”
“Yes. Now I understand. Once you've seen it, you see everything.”
“? Mister, what do you mean?”
Once I had grasped the discrepancy, everything after it was plain to my eyes. The world I was looking at—and my field of vision within it—had already changed.
“Rick!!”
Because Rick had halted mid-stride, his mother came running to him herself. She yanked him into a fierce embrace and gazed down at her son with eyes brimming with love.
Checking her eyes one last time, I gave Rick my answer.
“Rick—your mother doesn't see you reflected in her eyes at all.”
Crash—!