122 – The Beginning of Salvation – Na-yeon Park & Hye-seo Kim
ㅡ Anger!
“Huh?”
I just closed my eyes once and the scenery had changed.
You can see a sharp spire built from a stone wall, and a black flag is waving at the tip of the spire.
“W-this place…” ?”
The city was a familiar sight, with low walls surrounding the city and the walls surrounded by a moat of blue waves.
“It’s the Elysion capital city… ?”
And then I was looking down at the capital city, sitting at the foot of a fairly high mountain.
I was leaning back under the shade, and it seemed to be under a fairly old old tree.
“Dream… is it?”
I looked around in confusion and muttered.
The sight unfolding before your eyes is clearly the Elysion Capital City.
And that black flag was the flag symbolizing the royal family of Elysion.
It felt too realistic to be a dream, and I had vivid memories of entering the tower, so this must have been closer to a hallucination.
At that time.
“You took a long nap, but I guess you’re still dizzy?”
I heard a familiar voice next to me.
I was able to realize it at the same time.
This is the past created by hallucination or illusion.
“Eloden… ?”
When I turned my head, I saw Eloden, who was also leaning against an old tree.
No, I saw our Taejin.
“Raffia. Did you sleep well?”
“… Well, okay.”
Dark black hair that does not fit in with this world.
I didn’t know it was a common color in Korea, but the black hair that shines even under the shade was definitely Taejin’s.
That damn tower, the entry conditions seem to be quite strict.
To create an imaginary world so naturally.
But, if that was going to happen, the memory would have to have been distorted as well.
After all, hallucinations and illusions have to be as elaborate and perfect as magic.
Because this poor world cannot cause me any trials or chaos.
Instead.
“It’s nice to see your face after a long time. L, ah… Hmm. No. Taejin.”
“Huh? Taejin?”
Elroden asked back with a puzzled expression.
It has to be that way.
Because we were transported to another world and had our memories sealed, we knew nothing other than extremely limited information.
“Well, if my memory was this clear, it wouldn’t have taken so long to find it.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“There is such a thing.”
“Are you talking in your sleep?”
“No, my mind is clearer than ever.”
The only thing I was obsessed with, not dwelling on the past or regrets, was Taejin.
But I found Taejin, and although there may have been partial memory loss due to the dimensional shift, and even if there was something else in it, as long as he remembered that I was ‘Rafia’, he was ‘Eloden’ to me.
That’s why.
This kind of regret did not give me much inspiration.
But it’s a little surprising.
When I first saw it, I thought it would be very sad and tearful, but it turned out to be strangely calm.
Well, I guess that’s because I found Taejin.
If I hadn’t found it, I wouldn’t have been crying and making a fuss by now.
“… What are you thinking like that? Feeling a little strange today? Raffia?”
“It’s bound to be strange.”
I smiled and smiled.
Taejin asked the same question once.
No, the current situation itself was not a fiction in the first place.
There was a time when we sat on a high hill overlooking the Elysion capital city, took a break, and talked about various things.
At that time, Taejin asked.
“Anyway, should we just run away and hide?”
This is in a situation where the decisive battle with the black dragon is about to happen.
They assumed that they would not recognize each other when they returned to Earth.
Hmm, how did I answer then….
I don’t know.
Forgotten means that it was an answer that was not necessary to remember.
I smiled and stood up from my seat and shook my butt.
“There is no need for that. Because we will meet.”
Well, the timing was a bit late, but the fact that we were reunited was enough.
Elroden followed suit and stood up.
“I guess you’re pretty sure?”
“Okay then. Even if you forget me, I will remember you. “We will meet again.”
“… Is it. “I heard it’s really cool.”
I don’t know how to end this fantasy world.
I just felt like I knew roughly what the method was.
“I have to go back.”
“Has it already been that long? Hmm? “There’s still a lot of break time left?”
“I promised Lesha.”
“Lesha? “Who is that again?”
“I will protect Han Tae-jin’s side.”
Elroden’s expression changes in complex and subtle ways.
She looked as if she was well versed in something.
“Leshara, that name sounds somewhat familiar.”
“So I have to go back. I am a person who attaches great importance to promises. “You know?”
This time, Eloden sighed and laughed.
She then nods her head, looking at the black flag that is still waving.
“Cancer. “I know.”
“Anyway, it was nice to meet you.”
I shook Eloden’s hand.
The promise I made to Lesha was by no means a vain promise. It is a promise made with the determination to endure any temptation, hardship, or trial.
So, all I have to do is cover up the regrets and sadness that remain in me under the name of promise.
Just as I fulfilled my promise to find Taejin.
It is time to fulfill the promise to protect Taejin.
“Well, even if it’s just sleep talk, the rhythm has to match.”
Elroden held my hand.
At the same time, the fluttering flag stops like ice.
In the frozen time, we were the only ones moving.
“Goodbye. “Raffia.”
“Goodbye. Eloden.”
And now there was only one place for me.
Soon, my vision began to darken.
#
“aaah! Hey, honey! “It’s an attack-!!”
From noble mtl dot com
… Uh? Is this your mom’s voice?
“Damn-!! Hyeseo! “Hurry up and pack your bags!”
Uh… ? Is this your dad’s voice?
What? What happened all of a sudden?
“Come to your senses! Hyeseo Kim!”
ㅡClap!
My father, who was only a glimmer before my eyes, is clearly pictured. Dad, even the hand that slaps me is warm.
I was so envious of his stylish mustache that I used to beg him to become a man too.
“… Dad?”
“There is no time! “Hurry up!”
He stretched out his hands and looked down.
I know what time this moment is.
When I was 9 years old, it was the day my parents died in a villain’s air raid.
Disprove that.
The hand he looked down on belonged to a 9-year-old boy.
I had to bend my neck as much as I did back then when I looked at my parents.
As soon as you enter the tower, it is clear that some trap has been activated.
If it wasn’t, that day wouldn’t be reproduced so vividly.
ㅡQuaang!
A huge explosion was heard from a distance outside the house.
Shockwaves strong enough to shake the ground shattered the windows.
ㅡWow!
A fear that is no different from then.
My heart is pounding, and the faster my heart beats, the slower time passes.
I know the fear because I have experienced it.
A fear that is fearful because it is buried.
I paid a heavy price to escape that day.
So I thought I was out of the woods now.
Completely.
From the horror of that day.
But.
“Oh, Dad? Mom?!”
The day that came again made me realize that I was not free from fear, but that fear was just neglecting me.
“Hyeseo!! Run out the back door with mom!! Hurry!!”
“Honey-!!”
“Wow! Hyeseo’s mom, go quickly!!”
My father shouted, blocking the pounding front door with his whole body.
The door is shaking as if it will break at any moment.
The power of my father, an ordinary person, and the villain were like that of an egg and a rock.
Soon.
ㅡKwasik!
The door was broken and a villain came in.
A large man filling the front door frame.
Kietun was the enemy who killed my father and mother, and who would later be crushed by my hands.
The ones being crushed at this moment are my mom and dad.
He grabbed my father by the collar with one hand.
Dad floats in the air and shouts at us.
“Come on! “Hurry and run to the underground shelter!!”
Ordinary citizens suffering from threats from monsters and villains each had their own shelter.
It is a vault-type shelter that can withstand most attacks, and we, as upper-class citizens at the time, had a shelter in our homes as well.
I run away there with my mom, and in the process, her dad dies, and her mom sacrifices herself to buy the time needed for the shelter door to close.
For me… Everyone died that day.
So I was locked in the safe, urinating, and waiting for the binge drinking and screaming to end.
All the 9-year-old child could do was be protected and run away.
“Come on-!! Run away-! hehehehe!”
Dad’s desperate cry shakes our bodies.
“Go, let’s go! Hyeseo! Hurry-!!”
But I shook off my mother’s hand.
And then I ran in the opposite direction of the shelter, towards my dad.
“Hye, Hyeseo-!!”
I’m not a 9-year-old kid anymore.
Even though his limbs may have become shorter, he is not the stupid kid who survives on his father and mother’s life like back then!
I don’t know what this fantasy that appears so rudely and arouses fear wants from me.
The days when I lived in regret and poverty were no different from life than death.
I don’t want to repeat the foolish act of slitting my wrists out of longing!
Even if your toddling steps seem to widen the distance between you and him, it’s much better than running away with those toddling steps!
I heard a scream like my mother’s from behind me, but before I knew it, I was running, holding tightly onto the dagger in her hand.
These weak forearms won’t even put a scratch on his side.
But, I don’t want to run away anymore, and I don’t want to collapse at this point when the destruction of the illusion is right in front of me.
The sacrifice of father and mother once is enough… !
I held the hilt of the sword firmly with both hands and thrust it towards the guy’s side.
Even if your back is turned, nothing will change, but this one advance will prevent two retreats.
“aaahhh!”
Letting out a scream that is no different from a villain.
ㅡPhew!
I plunged the dagger into the guy’s side.
The guy’s skin, which didn’t seem to have even a single scratch, was pierced to the point of vain, and time soon stopped.
Stopping, unable to even breathe.
Inside it, the guy is spewing out a fountain of blood from his pierced side.
After that.
ㅡWhat an enemy!
The space was broken, and I was able to experience complete liberation from hidden regrets.
ㅡ Anger!
And when I opened my eyes again.
“Hye Seo-yang-! “You’re awake!”
“I believed it-!!”
I was able to see Nayeon and Lesha hugging me and being happy.
The hug between the two, which I felt for the first time since losing my parents, felt like a hug from my dad and mom.
Taejin and Ercia are also looking at me happily.
…Ugh.
Am I the last one?