29 – I have a reason to live
The cell phone that Iare showed me.
Inside, there was Iare, who had a slightly younger appearance than now and was smiling shyly.
Next to it were the images of people I had never seen before.
There are a total of six people in the picture.
However, everyone except Are..
I could tell at a glance that they were smiling brightly and had different characteristics from Are.
Unlike Are, who was an Asian, the other people had Western appearances.
Blonde hair and blue eyes. And he was a white man with white skin.
“This is my family in America. The tall man next to me is my father, and the one smiling beside me is my mother. And.. all three of the other little ones are my younger brothers.”
“ah..”
Hearing those words, I was finally able to clearly grasp what Are’s past was like.
The reason why Suyeong-noona and her sisters were able to appear only 2 years ago.
The reason why she uses a different last name from Soo-young noona.
Are was sent to the United States for adoption almost immediately after he was born.
“At the time, my parents said they hadn’t had children in five years of marriage. Because of that, those who judged me unable to have children adopted me. I didn’t know that I would have so many children in the future, but…”
“okay. Still, looking at the photos, it seems that the younger siblings followed Aressi well.”
Looking at them smiling brightly, sticking close to Are, I said in a bright voice.
In general, I thought that even if they were family members, if they were Asians who looked different from me, there would be some concept of racial discrimination, but they didn’t seem to show that kind of thing.
Rather, Are, who is feeling a little awkward, seems to be comforting them.
But.
In response to my words, Are started to smile a little heavy.
“yes… That’s right. For me, it was a really good family. Even though they are no longer in this world.”
At her words, I began to feel deep regret, recognizing that I had unintentionally touched a sore spot.
“… .sin..sorry..”
“No… it’s okay. There is no need to apologize.”
Are, who responds to my words with his usual expressionless face.
Then, after recovering the cell phone, she couldn’t take her eyes off her ‘family’ that remained in it.
“It was an accident.. by accident.. by the Abyss that was brought through the container by accident. My family members who were nearby passed away without any resistance. Leaving me alone.”
“… ”
As if her emotions were slightly intensified with those words, Aree pauses to calm herself.
Seeing her like this, I, too, began to feel a tingling sensation in my heart.
Similar to her, I was the one who lost my parents in a childhood accident.
As much as the sadness of that time still lingers in a corner of my heart, at this moment I could understand a little bit what kind of pain she was feeling.
“Immediately after that incident… I was delirious for a while. By the time he calmed down to some extent, he had already become a US Army Hunter and was aiming a gun at the Abyss who were invading the Middle East.”
With those words, Areh puts his phone back in.
At that moment, I could perceive that the emotion of sadness on her face had turned into flames of hatred.
“To get revenge on the enemies who took away my family… At that time, only that remained for me. At one time, the sound of the screaming and dying in front of my eyes felt like a prayer to my family. The thought of throwing Mari into the bottom of hell even more in the Abyss… that was all.”
“… ”
Are’s words, speaking with the flames of hatred.
At this, I was able to recognize for the first time what was contained in her usually expressionless face.
It was… the burning flames of hatred, determined to become ashes…
It is the remnant of a woman who, obsessed with vengeance, was slowly killing her enemies… and herself on the battlefield.
However, right after talking to that point, Are began to regain his composure while calming down the emotions he had shown for a while.
And within that… I was able to recognize that there were emotions that were different from just before.
No sadness, no hate. A very small but clearly felt ray of emotion.
that..
“In the meantime. That person appeared in my life. Very coincidentally… with a picture sent by a colleague who moved to Korea…”
With those words, Aree carefully shows off the pendant that was hanging around her neck.
I immediately recognized who these people were in it.
“Sooyoung noona..”
“Yes, a sister who broke up with me when I was young… a sister who shares the same blood as me. Knowing that such a person still exists, I immediately flew to Korea as if possessed by something and met that person. And… maybe you know what’s next. our older sister That you are a really nice person.”
“..Yes, I know that, really.”
The only person who became my family when I lost my parents.
The person who became the only resting place in my life, which was like a thorny road of hardship.
Such a sister, Soo-young, lost her long-lost brother…
Also, what kind of reaction he would have had when he met such a younger brother who was suffering from the loss of his family.
I could imagine without difficulty.
“After meeting my sister and my lovely nephew, I had one goal. I have to live.. I must live. The goal is to protect my precious people who are still left.”
Along with those words, Aree shows a slightly resolute will.
Then, as if she was slightly thirsty, she drank all the way down the drink next to her.
opened his mouth again.
In addition, from this point on, as if the tension had eased a little, she began to look slightly drunker than before.
“By the way… It was really good up to that point… My proud USA Hunter Guild refused to let me go to Korea. Is that place already full or what? Even though I begged that my only family was there, they didn’t listen to me until the end.”
Are speaks in a very dissatisfied voice.
Apparently, from her point of view, it seemed that she felt quite a bit of disappointment at the American Hunter Guild, which cut and rejected her request, which she had been struggling with all along.
“It comes out like that. In the end, I had no choice but to apply for military service. After that, as you know… I’ve been living as a Black Hunter like this. Watching my sister and Ran from the side. They are doing well and happily.”
“I see… it wouldn’t have been easy to talk about it. Thank you for saying this.”
“it’s okay. Like I said, it was a story that had to be told at some point anyway.”
With those words, Arere engraves the image of the precious family inside the pendant into her eyes once again.
Even though her eyes were slightly open due to her drunkenness, I could sense something like determination from her appearance.
“And… even though bad things have happened. I think this story has a happy ending. As a result, I found my precious family again like this. And.. you.. c… ”
-thud!-
“yes?”
At that moment, Are suddenly collapses with her head on the desk.
Embarrassed by her sudden fainting, I got up from my seat.
At that time, watching me like that, Kwon Soon raised her hand slightly to stop my actions, and then looked at Are’s condition.
“It’s okay, I’m just drunk and asleep, so there’s no need to fuss.”
“Ah yes.”
“Anyway, both of you can’t drink well, so you’re overdoing it…”
Kwon Soon clicked his tongue slightly as he watched Are, who had fallen asleep due to the drunkenness.
Then, it was only then that I realized that Glass, who was next to me, had also entered a deep sleep mode from the beginning.