171 – Simulation (4)
“Noona…”
“Cough…”
As dark red blood flows out of the mouth of Kang Maru, who was hugging Kang Ha-neul, Kang Ha-neul’s eyes, which were slowly coming to his senses, begin to waver.
– Purrr…
“…I’m fine.”
Then, Kang Maru’s cold body shivers for a moment and then starts patting him on the back.
“It’s been hard so far, right?”
“……..”
“I’m sorry that my sister didn’t pay much attention to me…”
She begins to mutter in her weak voice, embracing the sky of her river, where her shadow is gradually beginning to shrink.
“…I should have been nice to you a long time ago from the beginning.”
– Gooooo…
“You had a hard time because of your sister…?”
At the same time, Kang Ha-neul begins to shed tears.
“Am I, after all, a monster?”
– Purrr…
“I was the one who killed my parents…?”
As he screams in a pitiful voice, Kang Maru’s lips twitch quietly.
“And now you’re trying to kill my sister too…?”
This was because Kang Ha-neul’s eyes were stained with pitch-black darkness.
“I keep getting strange thoughts…”
“…….”
“I want to destroy everything I see in front of me, and I want to kill everyone… Lord…”
From his mouth, a terrified voice bursts out.
“I tried to hold back… But now I can’t hold back even if I try…”
– Crackle, crackle…
“Ji, even now… Still… Even though my sister is in such a dangerous situation…”
At the same time, more and more tentacles begin to protrude from his body.
“Now it’s the limit…”
The shadow was slowly shrinking, but as it continued, Kang Ha-neul’s body was also collapsing faster.
“So, before my sister’s treatment is delayed any further…”
In such a situation, Kang Ha-neul suddenly grits his teeth and raises one of his tentacles high in the sky.
“…I’ll finish it.”
He muttered in a weak voice and brought his tentacle down towards his own neck.
– Kwasik…!
Soon, the sound of flesh being cut into pieces echoed throughout the quiet stadium as people evacuated.
“Oh…?”
Kang Ha-neul, who had closed his eyes tightly, opened his eyes again with a bewildered expression when his mind did not stop even after a few seconds had passed, and then his face became blank.
“Listen carefully, sky.”
Kang Maru, who stretched out his hand to block the attack, began to whisper to him, forcibly enduring the pain of having his palm pierced.
“It was late for me to realize that my sister is hundreds of times more selfish and foolish than the kind Haneul, but I can say this for sure at this moment.”
“Sister…! Stop…”
“No matter what happens, you are my little brother.”
At the same time, she began to wrap her tentacles around her own arms.
“So, I will save you.”
– Kkukdeukdeukdeuk…
“…Until the real hero arrives.”
When she heard the news of Justia’s departure coming from the small radio attached to her ear, she gritted her teeth and tightened her arms that were holding her river Haneul.
– It’s not easy…
Then, Kang Maru’s hands slowly start to turn black.
“Put this down.”
After only a few seconds, the black energy spread to Kang Maru’s arm, and Kang Ha Neul, who was sweating coldly with an expression of uncertainty, began to shout urgently.
“Let go of this…!”
“…….”
“I’ll take responsibility! So, my sister, just go away!!!”
It was because she realized that the reason the black energy burning in her own body began to subside slightly was because that energy was flowing into her older sister, who was in contact with her own body.
“Ugh…”
“Please!!!!”
As her river floor, which has already absorbed more than a significant amount of her river sky’s shadow, begins to make a dreamy expression, her river sky, which was holding and shaking her, cries out with earnest eyes.
“Stop it!!!!”
“…No.”
– Kuuk…
“I won’t quit.”
However, even when she was in a dazed state due to excessive blood loss, Kang Maru hugged Kang Haneul even more fiercely.
“And then… Then my sister becomes a monster too…”
As soon as half of Kang Maru’s body is covered with a black shadow, Kang Ha Neul begins to let out a tearful voice.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Why…”
“For you, I’m willing to become a monster.”
But the moment Kang Maru whispered that in a dying voice, Kang Haneul stopped crying and started making a blank expression.
“I… I’m not actually your younger brother, am I?”
He asks Kang Maru, who is on the verge of fainting, a question with an expression that he truly does not understand.
“But why are you doing this…?”
“That’s…”
Kang Maru was about to burst into laughter at those words, but before she could reply, she closed her eyes and lost her mind.
“Sister…?”
It wasn’t that she couldn’t find the answer like she had been doing all along, but that her body couldn’t withstand the pain any longer.
“Noonaaa!!!”
Thanks to this, it seemed like a black energy was starting to bloom again from Kang Ha-neul’s body, which had almost disappeared.
– Greasy, crunchy…
At that moment, red sparks began to fill the surroundings from a distance.
– Kugwagwagwagwagwang!!!
Soon, a loud roar began to fill the stadium.
.
.
.
.
.
“…Hmm.”
How much time has passed since then?
“This is…?”
Kang Maru, who barely opened her eyes as she personally felt that not only her entire body but also her eyelids had become heavy, muttered with a puzzled expression on her face.
“Sister?”
“…Ah.”
“Hey, did you wake up?”
A trembling voice coming from right next to her.
“Sky…”
“Noonaaa!!!”
Her river sky looked down at her with an incredulous expression on her face, but then she hugged her river ridge with tears streaming from her eyes.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”
“…Huh?”
“I… I made my sister like this…”
Only then does Kang Maru quietly look down and look around his body.
“Ah…”
About half of her body was still stained black.
“The doctor said… Ah, it will interfere with my future hero activities…”
“…….”
“My nerves are burning… I’m having trouble moving as fluidly as I used to…”
When Kang Maru looks blank for a moment at that sight, she doesn’t know what to do and Kang Haneul lowers her head and continues her words in a trembling voice.
“Well, that’s what I’m talking about… Sister.”
He looks at Kang Maru’s eyes and opens her mouth.
“I’m planning to quit the Academy…”
Then, Kang Maru’s blank eyes quietly shift his gaze to his younger brother.
“I’ve already been suspended from the academy… So I’ll quit and get a job at my sister’s office.”
“……..”
“Ah, I’ll take care of all the inconveniences in your life from now on. Huh? I’ll cook you, wash your clothes, and do the dishes…”
“…Sky.”
Kang Maru, who had been silently listening to his tearful voice for a long time, slowly opens his mouth.
“Are you not hurt much?”
“…What?”
“You’re wearing bandages here and there… Is it because Justia can’t control her strength…? I should have resolved it somehow… I’m sorry…”
“……”
“But fortunately, there are no scars on my handsome face.”
She eventually stretched her hand forward and began to gently stroke his cheek.
“Heaven, listen carefully.”
When the hot tears of the river sky were flowing down the back of her hand, the river maru began to speak in a low voice.
“Over the past few years… I have been faced with many choices.”
“……..”
“Every moment was a difficult moment. Especially when I saw that monster appearing behind you… No matter how much I tried to forget, that moment came to mind.”
At those words, Kang Ha-neul’s complexion instantly turned pale.
“Oh, as expected… I saw it with my sister…”
“I’ll be honest with you. There was a time when I went beyond resenting you and hated you. No, there were times when I felt even worse than that.”
“Sister…”
“I tried to hide it somehow, but it was so obvious that even young you could vaguely notice it.”
Avoiding his gaze, Kang Maru continues speaking.
“I don’t know how many times I thought about it alone. Sometimes I came close to crossing the line.”
“…………”
“No, that’s my standard… From your perspective, it may have been a long time since you passed it?”
Then she took a moment to catch her breath with a tired expression on her face, and then continued her words again.
“But my older sister raised me like a monster for years without saying a word… Trained me… And paid all my tuition…”
“……”
“I am the one who crossed the line…”
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As she cries and mutters, River Haneul pats her head and smiles faintly.
“But why? When I get pushed to the point where I cross the line… I always end up stopping just before that.”
“……..”
“At first, I didn’t know why, but now I know for sure.”
She speaks as she holds the hand of her river Haneul with her confident eyes.
“…Didn’t I ask you last time? He’s not your real brother, so why are you doing this to me?”
“…….”
“It’s a little late, but I’ll answer you.”
Hearing her words like that, Kang Ha-neul’s eyes widen.
“Because you and I are connected by something thicker than blood.”
“Well, what is that…?”
“…Love.”
Silence finally falls in the hospital room.
“My beloved younger brother…”
In the silence, Kang Maru, holding Kang Ha Neul’s hand, begins to whisper in a low voice.
“My sister locked away the bad monster that is bothering you.”
“Uh, uh…”
“Actually, I wanted to bring it all, but I was limited to absorbing half of it…”
At the same time, Kang Ha-neul’s tears began to fall down.
“Now, let’s bear the burden together.”
“Noonaaa…”
“I won’t make it difficult for you anymore…”
Then, when he buried his head in her and burst into tears, Kang Maru patted her younger sister’s back and quietly finished her sentence.
“I love you…”
And soon the world began to turn upside down.