28 – 28.
She had a dream.
She was sitting in an empty movie theater, dreaming of watching her childhood memories as a movie.
The title of the movie was….
When she was five years old.
“Yoo, Yoochan…! Yoochanaaa…!”
Her mother, crying sadly, held onto her as she lay in bed.
Her mother had never appeared in her dreams before.
Seeing her so sad like this, it felt strange.
“…Mom….”
Meanwhile, lying on the bed with only her underwear on, I was drenched in sweat and the sticky heat of fever all over my body.
Come to think of it, when I was very young, I suffered a lot from an unknown illness for a while.
“It’s so hot….”
“Oh no…! Yoochan…!”
It was a moment when my mother couldn’t help but cry out in despair.
As the angle shifted, the light illuminated the bedroom door, which soon swung open, revealing a familiar face.
“Yoochan!!!”
Tall stature, broad shoulders. And a face that seemed to have made women cry wherever he went.
Kim Inchang. Once my mother’s boyfriend, the ‘man’.
“Mr. Inchang…!”
“Sorry for being late! Where’s Yoochan?”
“I-I don’t know. His fever suddenly spiked…! W-What should we do about our Yoochan…! Sob….”
“Damn it…! I should have come faster…!”
In a hurry, the man who seemed to have run all the way, embraced my sobbing mother and examined me from head to toe.
“The fever is too high… Medication won’t work anymore.”
“T-Then what should we do?”
He didn’t answer, but held my hand with a pained expression on his face…
And in that very moment.
Shaking, trembling. I, lying on the bed, began to convulse, twisting my limbs.
It seemed like the convulsion was caused by the high fever.
“aaah!!!!! Yoochan!!!”
My mother clung to my legs, crying out in agony.
And the man who had been watching me with wide eyes, as if in shock…
“…I can’t do it.”
With a determined expression on his face, he suddenly started rummaging through the luggage he had brought.
And from within it, he pulled out an unexpected item.
A flat, black stone with a beautiful yellow gem embedded in it.
It was the ‘gem’ that he had promised to give me when I grew up.
“…I feel like I’ve seen that somewhere before.”
The man with a secretive face let go of my trembling mother who was having a fit.
“Yoon-jeong. We don’t have time! Go outside!”
“No, I can’t! We have to save Yu-chan!!”
Of course, my mother, who had lost her senses, tried not to let go of me.
“Kim Yoon-jeong!!!”
“!”
The man grabbed my startled mother and, suppressing his sadness, said,
“I will save Yu-chan. Please, go outside and wait.”
“……!”
My mother looked back and forth between the man and the ‘gem’ in his hand, in a frantic manner.
Then, with a look of realization, she glanced at me lying on the bed.
“Really… Is it true…?”
In an instant, she ran out of the room, overcome with emotion, at the sight of the man nodding his head with a secretive face.
“Yu-chan….”
The man left alone in the room.
“Oh… I’m sorry, sir.”
To me, who was convulsing with my eyes rolled back, he tried to say something but gave up, and came closer to the bed with an apology.
And as tears streamed down, he gathered magic in his hand holding the ‘gem’…
“…Huh?”
He plunged it straight into my heart…!
“Gah!”
Startled, I woke up from my sleep and instinctively sat up, grabbing my heart absentmindedly.
“W-What kind of dream was that?”
I couldn’t remember it well, but it was a very harsh dream.
No matter how hard I tried to recall, nothing came to mind, like paint being splattered.
All I felt was my heart pounding unpleasantly.
“…Phew….”
As I wiped the sweat off my forehead, soothing my throbbing chest, at that moment.
“Huh?”
I suddenly realized that something was strange.
“Why… am I lying in bed?”
I’m sure I was lying on the sofa. But somehow, I found myself lying on the bed.
It was the bed used in the Ma Yeonseo.
!”
Once again, I turned my head and was taken aback.
Sure enough, Maya was fast asleep next to me.
“Crazy!”
Realizing that she must have moved me to the bed, I quickly got out and checked if anything was missing….
“No, wait.”
Suddenly, I realized that this was an opportunity.
Now that Maya was asleep, it was a chance to use her phone.
“…Without waking her up…!”
Quietly. Quietly. I cautiously made my way to the other side of the bed and reached out towards the phone that was charging near the headboard.
“I’m almost there…!”
Just as I was about to carefully grab the phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Ahhh!!!”
Startled by the sudden voice, I jolted and hit my buttocks on the corner of the bed.
Maya had woken up in the meantime.
“Darn it.”
In the end, it was a failure.
*
After realizing that forcing myself to starve wasn’t the solution, I obediently had breakfast.
Maya led me to the second-floor terrace, where the garden and the city were clearly visible.
For my sake, I wonder if it’s consideration.
I was so grateful that tears welled up.
“This guy…isn’t going out today.”
Seated at the tea table, Mayeonseo seemed to have no particular plans as she leisurely enjoyed the clear weather, reading a book.
If this guy isn’t home, I could try anything.
From Noble mtl dot com
What should I do?
As I pondered for a moment, I casually glanced at her schedule.
“…You’re not going out today?”
In response, she casually answered while flipping through the pages of her book.
“I canceled all my plans.”
“What?”
“I want to be with you for a while.”
I was left speechless, unable to say anything, as I watched Mayeonseo reading her book without even giving me a second glance.
Wasn’t she busy day by day?
She canceled her entire schedule just to be with me.
Her unpredictable personality remained the same.
“No, she might be doing this to keep an eye on me.”
Based on my experience so far, Mayeonseo’s way of thinking far surpasses that of an ordinary person.
She tells me not to talk to her, but then acts as if I don’t exist, offering me “comfort.”
Thinking that there must be some ulterior motive behind canceling her plans, I narrowed my eyes and stared at her intently…
She glanced at me briefly.
In her eyes, as she looked at me with a faint smile, honey seemed to drip drop by drop.
“Ugh.”
Suddenly, the alluring temptation from the previous night came to mind, and I instinctively averted my gaze.
The memories of the time we were together flooded my mind, as if they were an added bonus.
“Do you want me to leave?”
Mayeonseo put a bookmark in the book she was reading and closed it.
I didn’t plan on continuing the conversation like this.
Realizing that I would only end up regretting it if I kept hesitating, I gave a vague response.
“…I was just asking.”
Upon hearing that, Mayeonseo chuckled and pulled something out of her pocket.
“Did you secretly write another one of these?”
“Th-that’s…”
It was the ‘letter’ I had sent yesterday.
“No wonder it was so well-written.”
It was clear that it was not Mayeonseo’s handwriting.
“I think it was a good attempt. Honestly, I never imagined this kind of approach.”
Mayeonseo looked at the letter, laughing as if she found it truly amusing.
I, on the other hand, couldn’t bring myself to smile.
“I’m such a fool for getting my hopes up.”
As she gazed at the letter with a faint smile, she suddenly created a small magic circle on the table.
And from within it, a familiar-looking summon appeared.
It was the lizard monster that she had first awakened and summoned.
“I should greet you, right? You’re my senior.”
The lizard, who had been tilting its head on the table, looked at me and then struck a dignified pose, flicking its tongue.
It felt as if it was telling me to greet it.
“…Should I?”
With a chilly reaction from me, Mayen chuckled and handed the letter to the lizard.
Then the lizard snapped at the letter and quickly set it on fire.
The letter that I had carefully written turned to ashes in an instant.
“Damn it….”
It felt like my own life, and it made me feel melancholy.
“Yoochan.”
After discarding the letter, she gently stroked the lizard on the palm of her hand.
“I’ll say it again, the only way for you to leave here is to start liking me again.”
She murmured in an affectionate tone, as if she had lost her mind.
“Since you and I are in this together anyway. Since we’re living together, it’s better to get along, right?”
Her persuading tone momentarily sparked a rebellious spirit in me.
“Why are you and I in this together?”
I wanted to see her nonchalant attitude crumble for even a moment.
“I’d rather die than live suffocating by your side for the rest of my life.”
As she quietly sent the lizard back, she provocatively challenged me.
“Go ahead.”
“What?”
“If you can die, go ahead and die.”
“Do you think I can’t?”
“You do it and you’ll still be here. But… did I not even think of that?”
With a calm face, Mayeon casually spewed out nonsense.
“Go die somewhere. I don’t know if you can actually die.”
But that’s why it sounded convincing.
If she wanted to, she could easily toy with me.
She could force love through violence, force a relationship.
But.
Except for confinement, she didn’t impose any special restrictions.
Did she just leave me alone, knowing what I was capable of?
From the start, I was even bound by death.
“…Scary woman….”
For a while, we exchanged glances and engaged in a silent fight, but as I realized it was futile, I subtly averted my gaze.
“This won’t work. That won’t work. I can’t even die as I please.”
In reality, I was only free in movement, but practically being forced to love.
I couldn’t understand the meaning of this kind of love.
“… Do you think I really love you like this?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, what?”
“I just feel good when you’re by my side.”
She, still stubborn, threw out expressions of affection without hesitation, blocking my words.
And then, while stroking the slightly cooled teacup, she suddenly asked a question out of the blue.
“… Yoochan. Do you know how I became an S-Rank?”
“How would I know that?”
I know.
The reason why Mayeonseo, who was a C-Rank Awakened, suddenly became an S-Rank was thanks to the higher-level Summoner she accidentally summoned.
Even if I tried to ignore it, I couldn’t, thanks to all the talk in the news.
… It must have been like that.
“On the day we broke up, I jumped off the rooftop of the apartment.”
“……What?”
An entirely unexpected story unfolded.
“I died there. Luckily, I survived.”
“…What…?”
“How painful do you think it would be if you fell from the 30th floor of a building and hit the ground?”
…!
“Flesh torn apart, bones shattered all over. If I hadn’t awakened, I would have died from shock, right?”
“D-Don’t lie. I wouldn’t…”
“…Lie?”
She meets my gaze.
Her eyes that calmly announced death did not contain an ounce of falsehood.
It was all true.
She really broke up with me and jumped off the rooftop.
“W-Why on earth…”
A chill ran down my spine.
“Anyway. After dying like that and coming back to life, I was able to make a contract with ‘Shigloo’s Hand.’ Isn’t it fascinating? If I had died there, you wouldn’t have been summoned here.”
Mayunseo drew an enigmatic smile, seemingly fleeting, and sipped her tea quietly.
“……”
Watching her, my heart became incredibly confused.
Both because of her unwavering decision to jump and the guilt that squeezed my throat, knowing that she did it because of me.
If Mayunseo had died right there…
Thud.
Just imagining it made me dizzy.
“…No. Kang Yoochan. Pull yourself together. I am currently Hanryowon’s boyfriend. We promised to get married!”
For a moment, I felt sympathy for Mayunseo, but I quickly regained my composure, thinking of the deserted Hanryowon.
It has already been three days since I was summoned to this place.
Even though they noticed that Hanyeo-won has disappeared, there is still time for them to worry.
I can only imagine how anxious and restless that delicate child must be…
Just imagining it made my heart ache.
“Yes. I need to regain my composure.”
Now is the time to firmly make up my mind, more than ever before.
In the end, Mayeonseo became an S-class Awakener and lived a successful life, not envying anyone, while I carved out a new life for myself.
Now, let’s leave the past in the past and go our separate ways. That’s the right thing to do, even if it means holding a grudge against her.
“… Yeonseo. No matter what, I can’t like you.”
I said, trying to kill my emotions as much as possible.
“I already have a girlfriend whom I’ve promised to marry. We’ve been living together for quite some time. We’re even planning to buy a new house soon.”
Mayeonseo listened to my story without batting an eye.
“I don’t know why I was suddenly summoned by you… As you can see, I won’t be of any help to you. Really. So, if you truly like me, please… let me go.”
Saying these words to her, who had experienced even death, made me feel a pang of guilt.
I felt like my mind was getting muddled because I was saying things I shouldn’t.
But…
“I can’t afford to be weak.”
I have already become an adult and a man for a woman.
Now, I have responsibilities too.
“I see.”
Mayeonseo showed an unexpectedly calm reaction and averted her gaze.
Then, she hesitated and cautiously began to speak.
“Unfortunately, I can’t just let you go. As I mentioned earlier, just having you by my side makes me feel good. Like a buff… Should I call it that?”
“…You…”
Thinking that she had simply ignored my sincerity, I showed a faint impression.
But then…
“I’m not just saying this, but ever since you appeared, my power has become stronger than before. Maybe magic is influenced by emotions.”
She hadn’t ignored my sincerity.
“As you know, I am quite important. There are dozens of mouths to feed in this house alone, and I have countless staff working for me.”
She approached not as a girlfriend, but from the perspective of ‘S-Class Awakener, Mayeonseo’.
“Naturally, I have to earn a lot of money to support those people. I have to become stronger, so that everyone can live.”
Comparing the life of a single person, Kang Yoochan, with dozens or hundreds of lives.
It was an extremely efficient logic.
“But how can I let you go? To release the summoning contract, one of us has to die. If I die, everyone dies. What will happen to your girlfriend if you die?”
I couldn’t argue against that.
From the moment I was summoned in front of her, it was checkmate.
“T-This… This can’t be real…”
Feeling an indescribable sense of suffocation for the first time in a long while, I lamented my unfairness to her.
“So… So, should I just live like this? Receiving cuteness like a dog for the rest of my life? Without a life of my own?”
And then, Ma Yeon-seo grabbed her collar as if to show off, revealing a glimpse of her chest.
“If you don’t want to live like a dog, then become my master.”
If you don’t want to be dominated, dominate yourself.
She confidently displayed her fighting spirit.
I was speechless with astonishment.
“…Crazy woman….”
“I know. I’m the crazy one.”
She smiled proudly, considering herself impressive.