163 – Self-fulfilling prophecy (2)
“That… What do you mean?”
“……”
“W-what do you mean?”
Ise-ah, who had been looking blank for a while, opens her mouth with a blank look on her face.
“My ability… Fixes the future?”
“”……””
“It’s not wisdom, it’s fixation?”
Muttering in a trembling voice, her expression still had an awkward smile on her face.
“Well, it can’t be like that, right?”
“What makes that impossible?”
“How do people fix the future? There are many people in the world with the ability to manipulate reality, but no one with such vast abilities has ever been reported.”
In such a situation, Ise-ah looks at Rumia, who opens her mouth with a sigh, and continues her words.
“Yes, aren’t you misunderstanding something?”
“……..”
“Child, you don’t even know how my abilities work in the first place. What kind of plan do you have? What on earth are you planning…?”
“I’m tired of dealing with paranoia.”
Lumia, who was looking at her, muttered in her even colder voice.
“It wasn’t even in the last few years… I thought you were going to die of frustration even though we had only been dealing with each other for a few days?”
“…What?”
“And why do you think I don’t know much about your abilities?”
“Well, that’s right… I never told you in detail how my powers work…”
Then, upon hearing Isea’s timid rebuttal, Lumia smiles.
“Twice a day. Once when you want to predict the future, a scene you want, and once a completely random scene in your dream.”
“Oh…?”
“When you activate the ability, an image unfolds in your head, right? It’s as realistic as if you were dreaming.”
“Yes, how did you do that…?”
After hearing her surprisingly detailed explanation, Se-ah Lee looks scared and takes a step back from her.
“How long do you plan to backtrack?”
“…….!”
“Well, it wouldn’t do much to give this kind of advice to someone who has been escaping reality their whole life.”
Lumia sarcastically looks at Isea like that, but then smiles.
“But please know that escaping reality has brought things to this point.”
“I don’t understand… I don’t understand. What were you talking about earlier…?”
“Ha… Really. I’ll explain it to you just once, so you have to listen carefully, right?”
Then, her expression slightly distorted, and she soon began to explain with her kind smile on her face.
“As I just said, your ability is not to predict the future, but to fix the future.”
“So that’s impossible…!”
“Didn’t you hear me? Your power is not omnipotent.”
“…….”
“Fixing your variables is not absolute. It just lightly guides the surrounding situation to proceed like the future you imagined. For example, it is like the devil’s whisper that tempts you to continue down a bad path.”
Ise-ah’s face becomes even paler after hearing those words.
“Of course, as I said before, it’s not an absolute ability, so you can get away with just your willpower.”
“Well, then why…”
“There are two main reasons why things have come to this point.”
Looking at her like that, Lumia coldly continues her explanation.
“First, senior Kang Ha-neul’s life was in a perfect environment from the beginning for it to become this dark.”
“Then it’s not really my ability…”
“Second, there was someone behind the scenes who used your abilities maliciously.”
“…….”
Lee Se-ah’s complexion gradually begins to change to an earthy color.
“Behind the scenes…?”
“Think about it. Who was the first person to carefully guess that your ability might be ‘foreknowledge’?”
“…….”
“After that, who was the person who asked for predictions about specific situations every single day and led all situations like this?”
“Wait a minute…”
“And in the end, who was the person who completely took away the title of ‘Child of Prophecy’ from you?”
Soon, Se-Ah Lee’s hands tremble as she goes forward.
“Well, that’s… You, right?”
“Yes?”
“It was you!! It was you!!!”
Her eyes turn, she raises her voice and begins to walk forward.
“You… You planned all of this!!”
“…….”
“Yes, yes…!! It’s all your fault!! It’s your fault!!!!”
Looking at her like that, Lumia scratched her head for a moment.
“Senior.”
“…..?”
“When I think about it, I guess I was a bad guy.”
She soon lifts her head, looks up at the sky over her river, and begins to mutter clearly.
“Please kill me.”
“…….”
“I’m the main culprit who ruined Kang Ha-neul, so I’m telling you to kill me by twisting his neck quickly, right? Senior?”
But there was no answer coming back from her river sky, which was looking down at her like that.
“Hmm… Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“Lumia…”
“hehehehe. But he’s very handsome…”
“Lumiaaa!!!”
“…Ha, it’s really noisy, by the way.”
Still, Lumia was wandering around looking at Kang Ha-neul’s face, as if she was still happy, but when she heard Isea’s shout coming from far away, her expression crumpled and she looked away.
“Hey, shut up.”
As she flashes her one remaining eye and exudes murder, Isea, who was approaching her, hesitates and stops her in her tracks.
“Do you really think everything happened because of me?”
“……?”
“You’re welcome.”
To Ise-ah, Rumia continues to speak with her fierce spirit.
“Let’s be honest. Lumia… No, the only thing I did for you was to ask you to predict the future for a certain situation and borrow the honor of being a child of prophecy, right?”
“Well, that’s…”
“Did I do anything other than that? Did you even show me the future I wanted and force me to imagine the image? You were the one who suggested that I take the title of Child of Prophecy in the first place, right?”
Lee Se-ah’s expression, which was full of anger, begins to gradually become blank.
“Why are you shifting responsibility to me…? Se-Ah.”
“Yeah, but…”
“Everything just happened the way you thought…”
Ise-ah’s body trembles after hearing those words.
“Ah, of course, that doesn’t mean I’m completely blameless.”
“…….?”
“I don’t know the details, but he must have cleverly created the situation he wanted. Even if he didn’t give a direct command.”
“Yeah, that’s right… That’s what I want to say…”
“What, your expression has become much more relaxed? I guess all your guilt has disappeared.”
As soon as her complexion slightly returns, Lumia snuggles in with a creepy smile.
“But you were ruining Kang Ha-neul even before you met me, right?”
“…….!”
“If you hadn’t thought that Kang Ha-neul was a monster in your dreams, things might not have turned out this way…”
Even her breathing stopped for a moment and Ise began to look at the sky of her river with her trembling eyes.
“I think I know the reason. Se-ah. You were so scared of that shadow monster that appeared in your dreams every day, that you wished it was Kang Ha-neul, who you were close with, right?”
“Oh, no…”
“At first, the delusion started as a self-defense mechanism, but as the dream began to actually happen, I came to believe that it was actually going to happen.”
“No… Sky…”
Her eyes, as she looked at her like that, did not contain any emotions.
“As time passed, the defense mechanism of wishing that the monster was Kang Ha-neul would have developed into a persecutory delusion that it would actually happen… And eventually it would have evolved into an obsession that Kang Ha-neul must be a monster.”
“No!!!”
“You’re reacting too harshly for something that isn’t right?”
Lumia glanced at the river sky and quietly tilted her head.
“It was the fandom’s most reasonable theory regarding your unpredictable mental state… I guess this was the correct answer.”
“No!! No!!! It’s not like that, Sky!!!”
“…Hey, I haven’t finished what I said yet.”
Then, Lumia quietly begins to drive the wedge.
“That shadow monster that appeared in your dreams when you were young… What do you think was the reason you hated it so much?”
“…Well, that is.”
“Why are you like that? I know you better than anyone else.”
“Oh, no. No, no, no, no…”
Ise-ah began shaking her head urgently.
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“…The shadow monster destroying the world in your dreams was none other than you, Ise-ah.”
“Ah…..”
“How does it feel to succeed in spinning a bomb?”
After finishing her words, Lumia fired back at Ise Ah, who was speechless.
“”…………””
Soon a deep silence began to flow.
“Then… The reason why the image changed recently… What is it…?”
In that silence, Ise-ah asked a question in a hushed voice, holding out the last hope that all of this might be an illusion.
“I’m not sure because I’m not a psychology major, but maybe I realized it subconsciously?”
“…What?”
But until the end, that hope was filled with zero self-defense.
“You yourself realized that Kang Ha-neul was not the monster you thought.”
“…………”
“It’s quite surprising that I realized the truth I had been ignoring after doing my best to push my once good childhood friend into the abyss…”
With Lumia’s final words, it was completely shattered.
“…Well, I don’t have to say what follows, right?”
This was the moment when Lee Se-ah’s self-justification that all of this was ultimately for Kang Ha-neul’s sake completely collapsed.
.
.
.
.
.
“Ha, sky…”
Just like that, Se-Ah Lee stood still for a long time.
“Sky, wait a moment…”
She suddenly turns behind her and begins to open her mouth, extending her hand towards the river sky, where she began to head towards her companions, supporting Rumia.
“Because I can explain everything…”
“Ha…”
But, as she slightly turned her head, her river Haneul sighed, and the words she spoke towards her.
“…Disgusting.”
It was the last word that Lumia did not need to say.
“Get out of my sight.”
“……..”