Invitation (1)
The chirping of birds and the warm sunlight that dazzled the eyes. “….”
Waking with a strangely refreshing feeling, I slowly opened my eyes and gazed blankly around. An unfamiliar room, yet one I felt I had seen somewhere before. It was a hotel.
I shot upright and checked the bedside clock.
Time until the illusion shatters
Morning, seven o’clock. It had already become morning.
“...Haa...”
I felt utterly pathetic for failing to overcome my lust and ultimately being devoured by it. Last night, even though I knew I had to push my wife away, I had taken her into my arms. As if trying to avert my eyes from a horrifying reality.
The result? I had solved nothing. I had simply burned the hours away in desire.
“...”
The problems still loomed like a mountain. Suddenly my breath felt trapped in my throat. There was the issue with Soyeon, and I had no idea how to explain any of this to my wife. How on earth was I supposed to unravel this mess?
Should I start by distancing myself from Soyeon? And if so, how much? How far, and for how long?
Soyeon had been serious. Did I have to wait until her feelings cooled and our memories faded away?
...I’m losing my mind….
While I clutched my throbbing head, lost in worry, a rustling sound came from beside me.
Rustle—
I turned my head quietly and saw my wife’s bare skin exposed by her tossing and turning. Even after time had passed, the red marks remained on her hips. The traces I had left.
“...Haa...”
Pointlessly depressed again, I carefully reached out, pulled the blanket over her, then slowly lay back down and simply watched her.
If I told my wife what had happened with Soyeon, how would she react?
...She would probably fall into an even greater shock than I had.
Even so, it wasn’t something I could keep hidden from her. After all, it concerned her daughter; she had both the right and the duty to know.
But.
I couldn’t dump all the chaos I had created on her and demand she share the responsibility. No matter how pathetic a man I was, I wasn’t that much of a piece of trash.
“...Mmm...”
My wife tossed in her sleep, groping across the bed as if talking in her dreams. I quietly drew closer and embraced her. Only then did she seem relieved; she wrapped her arms and legs around me and sank back into deep sleep.
...Get a grip….
Sighing softly at the sight of her, I gently patted the wife in my arms and once more fell into an endless spiral of worry.
Beep-beep-beep— Beep-beep-beep—
The alarm blared through the room. My eyes snapped open. I killed the alarm, stretched long, and slowly rose from the bed.
“Haaam…”
I yawned softly, dragged my weary body into the kitchen, and checked the secret passage my family used. A yellow envelope lay on the floor.
“...”
It had arrived today as well.
Without hesitation I picked up the envelope, scanned its contents, and returned to my room.
The contents were nothing special. Several photos of Jihwan and a single sheet describing what he had done. That was all.
Click—
Back in the room, I sat naturally at the desk and spread the photos across its surface.
Jihwan leaving the academy and running somewhere in a hurry. Jihwan entering Min Soyeon’s house. Jihwan leaving Min Soyeon’s house with a devastated expression. Jihwan walking down the street. More photos of him walking down the street.
Every single one showed a poor expression. I began to worry.
Had something happened between him and Min Soyeon…? It looked as though Min Soyeon had troubled his heart, but I couldn’t tell exactly what had occurred.
“...Tsk…”
I clicked my tongue in displeasure and set the photo down. Then I froze.
In one of the shots, a woman stood affectionately holding Jihwan’s hand. It was probably the ‘Sword Empress’ Ju Yeonhee.
Harboring suspicion, I kept flipping. In the end Jihwan had entered a hotel with her.
“...Hmm…”
Seeing him go into a hotel, it really was Ju Yeonhee. She had said she would come to the academy as a teacher, yet it seemed she intended to lay her hands on him openly.
I swept all the photos of Ju Yeonhee aside and began selecting the ones of Jihwan that pleased me most.
“...This one.”
After long deliberation I chose a single photograph, rose from the desk, and walked to the bulletin board on the opposite wall. I pulled out a thumbtack, then pinned the chosen photo neatly into an empty space.
“...Perfect…!”
Extremely satisfied with the growing collection of Jihwan photos, I stared at them in a trance. Once I had sorted the rejected pictures into a separate storage box, I began preparing for school.
Shower, school uniform, bread for Jihwan, and finally…
I took out the milk I had prepared for him as well.
I had made it last night just in case… but I wasn’t sure whether Jihwan would attend school today.
There were no photos of him leaving the hotel, so the odds were high he was still inside. If he remained there until it was time for class, he probably wouldn’t come.
“...Hmm…”
Still, one never knew. If he did show up and I failed to give him the milk, it would be a disaster.
...Yes. Even if I have to throw it away, I’ll prepare it anyway….
With that thought I opened the milk lid, then pop— took out the ‘powder’ I had obtained from my sister from the secret drawer.
Pure-white particles wrapped tightly in plastic. A fine powder made from monsters that emerged from high-ranking Gates. It was said to be good for the body and far more effective than ordinary potions. Its only flaw was a ‘slight’ addictive quality, but if the dosage was controlled properly, no better seasoning existed in the world.
I retrieved the electronic scale from the shelf and placed the white powder on it.
1 g
A little too much. At this amount Jihwan’s tongue might go numb.
I focused slightly and removed some of the powder.
0.5 g
I had adjusted it to the proper 0.5 grams.
...Done….
I poured the measured powder straight into the milk, sealed the lid, and shook it slowly so no foam would form.
It was a milk that required effort from beginning to end, but if Jihwan drank it with pleasure, that was enough to satisfy me.
After finishing the milk and cleaning up, I finally left for school.
“...I’m off…!”
I had a dream. No—I created the dream.
After falling asleep as if I had fainted, I found myself in a place where nothing but black stretched in every direction. From the very first moment I recognized that this was a dream.
At first I hated it. I thought how wonderful it would be to forget, even briefly, the terrible thoughts that filled my head.
But my mind soon changed. Inside the dream world, everything moved exactly as I wished, exactly as I imagined.
The Yu Jihwan I had created was as gentle as the one in reality, yet unlike reality he loved me without reservation. It felt like pouring water into a bottomless jar, but being loved by him still made me happy.
...Yes. This is reality.
The idea that Yu Jihwan could love any woman but me was nonsense. I never wanted to dream that horrible nightmare again.
“...Soyeon. Does it feel good? Hm?”
“...Yes, it feels good. Do more….”
Jihwan kept doing something to me, but I felt almost nothing. Still, I continued acting as if I liked it so he wouldn’t be disappointed. Encouraged by my reactions, he loved me even more fiercely.
Was it because I had never experienced it? No—the one thing I had never experienced was the dream itself, right?
“...Ugh… Soyeon…!”
The moment Jihwan was about to reach his peak.
“...Huh?”
The world stopped.
“...Ji, Jihwan…?”
I called to him desperately, but he remained frozen in place. The dream had halted.
And then, a moment later…
Rumble…
The world I had built began to collapse. The sky flashed violently.
“...N-no…”
The newlywed home Jihwan and I had made, our little nest, vanished.
“S-stop!! Stop it!!!”
“...So…yeon…”
In the end, even Jihwan disappeared.
At that instant I sat bolt upright in bed, gasping.
“...Haa… Haa…!”
I slowly looked around. The room was a complete mess.
“...”
I had returned to the real world.
...A dream….
The moment I realized everything I had just shared with Yu Jihwan was only a dream and was about to sink once more into unbearable sorrow—
Flash— Flash—
Something began to flicker before my eyes. It looked like a hologram, or perhaps a game interface window.
Hello.