7. Two Possessors (12)
“… “What do you mean?”
Eugene’s mother asked back. It seemed like she didn’t understand Eugene’s words at all.
It was a natural reaction. Who on earth would think that possession could happen in real life? Eugene felt at a loss when he saw that reaction. She had no idea where to start and where to explain.
But I couldn’t take back what I had already said.
Eugene fixed her gaze on the floor and slowly told her story in a trembling voice.
“Once upon a time, there was a game that I liked.”
The name of the game was ‘Saint who goes to school.’
It contained a very peaceful, quiet, and carefree world.
“The background of the game was a place called ‘Stella Academy.’ “It was a game about a virtual educational institution that does not exist in reality and ‘magic’ that does not exist in reality.”
Eugene’s parents were shaken when they heard that.
The wave that came from Eugene’s words, which concluded that ‘it does not exist in reality’, was that strong.
“I really liked that game. So I continued to play that game for several years. “I drew characters that appear in the game and wrote a novel based on the characters.”
So Eugene was confident that she could draw Elia as well as she did.
She didn’t even learn the anatomy of the human body properly, and she never even went to art school.
Even when she closes her eyes, the image of Elia comes to her so vividly that it feels like she can hold it in her hands.
She copied that image into a blank notebook hundreds of times.
“Then one day, I suddenly entered the world of games. … “I took over the body of one of the characters in the game.”
Eugene continued her sentence with difficulty.
Every time she said a word it felt like she was suffocating.
What kind of expression do her parents make? Eugene was curious about that, but she didn’t want to know.
“At first I just liked it. Being able to go to school with the person I like the most in the world I longed for. But my body had an original owner, an original family… This…”
Eugene stopped talking as she whimpered because her throat was choked. It was as if her throat was blocked, and no words came out of Eugene’s open mouth.
A single tear flowed from her eye.
Her guilt, which she had unconsciously been ignoring, swept over her like a tidal wave.
In that tidal wave, she felt herself becoming invisible. Stripped of her guilt, her mind was so clear that it seemed like she could look into the depths with ease.
Eugene apologized, keeping her transparency intact.
“Sorry.”
Because that was all she could say now.
Eugene then did not raise her head. She didn’t dare raise her head.
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In Eugene’s ears, her father’s voice was heard.
His voice was a very loud swell.
“… “Is this really true?”
I was shaken on the phone with Eugene and had never shown it before. Eugene’s heart sank.
However, Cheolsu answered with a firm voice, as if there was not even the slightest resonance.
＜Br＞ “I can guarantee this with the trust of the National Intelligence Service.”
There was no wavering in those words. That’s why no one said anything next.
The space where the burdensome reality had struck was filled with silence.
After what felt like an eternity of silence, Eugene’s father sighed softly.
“Yeah, I see. My daughter… “She’s dead.”
The clearest and cruelest words. Eugene’s body trembled. Her head lowered further so that her face was almost touching the floor.
I had no idea what I would hear. The grief of her parents over the loss of their child was not something she could fathom.
Then her mother spoke in a suppressed voice.
“Raise your head.”
She didn’t want to raise her head.
However, I had no choice but to listen.
Eugene’s face was a mess of her tears, snot, and cold sweat. Her hair and wet collar sticking to her skin, her expression stained with fear and guilt, were close to those of her invalid.
Eugene looked at her parents. Everyone had a bad expression.
But why?
When her parents looked at her, she felt great relief.
Because her eyes were no longer looking at something that was not her.
“Did you do it because you wanted to be possessed?”
“… No.”
“Did you choose my daughter on purpose?”
“… No.”
“Okay. I see…”
Eugene’s mother looked up at her ceiling.
A pitch-black plane covered in magic.
After looking up at it for a while, she blurted out a word.
“Then we have an unfortunate accident…” … Did you get hit? Is that right, honey?”
At those words, painful joy spread across Eugene’s face.
The look on her face, a mixture of the joy she felt at not blaming her and the self-loathing she felt for herself, was so sincere that it was all the more ugly.
That’s why it was even more beautiful.
“Okay. “It’s like that.”
When Eugene’s father answered calmly, Eugene’s head turned towards him.
He looked directly into Eugene’s eyes and spoke clearly, as if chewing up each word and spitting it out.
“I don’t blame you for something that wasn’t your fault.”
“… “Why, why don’t you resent me?”
Eugene asked a tearful question.
I feel sorry for being forgiven so easily. I was worried that the remaining feelings might become old.
Eugene’s voice, putting it together in words, grew louder.
“You stole your daughter’s body. She also robbed your daughter of what she should have enjoyed. She is not good at studying and has no other talents. I, I just… !”
“Of course.”
Her father’s heavy voice cut Eugene off.
Within the weight of that voice, there was a latent heat seething that did not come out.
“Of course, when I think of my daughter, I feel a thousand dollars inside.”
The sight of my father sighing loudly after finishing a sentence seemed as if he was trying to cool off the heat a little.
“If there is a person who killed my daughter, I will chase him to the ends of the earth and kill him.If there was someone who was bullying my daughter, I would have made her regret it for the rest of her life. But, yeah. “You can’t do that to an innocent person.”
“Still…”
“Of course, I can’t treat you as the daughter I gave birth to myself.”
“Of course… Yes, of course it should be.”
Eugene nodded at her, shrinking as if it were natural.
At that time, Eugene’s mother slightly raised the corners of her mouth and spoke.
“Okay. It’s not the daughter I gave birth to myself… “I will treat you as a daughter born from my heart.”
At those words, Eugene’s eyes grew as big as a flower lantern.
Her mother laughed at her reaction, like that of a child who had not received an unexpected gift.
“Are you surprised?”
“Yes… How could I…”
“How to do it. That’s what happened because we decided to do it. All I need is your consent. … “Do you not like it?”
“No! No!”
Eugene hastily answered. She is like a child who is afraid of her dreams running away.
“That’s not true, how could I do that…” …”
“Because it’s better for both sides. And, she seemed like a good kid.”
Then her mother opened her arms.
“My daughter. “Can I hug you once?”
“Yes yes!”
Eugene hesitantly walked over and awkwardly opened her arms and hugged her mother.
Everything about her was unfamiliar to her, neither her hug nor this situation.
Her mother stroked her head and said that it was great.
“Okay. It must have been really difficult to say, but thank you for having the courage. This is our first meeting, right? So let’s try to learn more in the future.”
All her life, warm words from the woman she thought would never be hers surrounded her.
At that moment, even the slightest tension remaining in her heart melted away and disappeared.
“So, can you tell me your name?”
That’s why Eugene, comfortably hugged by her mother, shook her head.
“Why? “Don’t you want to tell me?”
“That name brings only bad memories.”
“Hmm. But she can’t use her original name. “It’s rude both to you and to your real daughter.”
“… “Then can you please give me a new name now?”
“New name?”
“Yes. “A new name.”
After saying that, Eugene hugged her even more tightly. She is like a child playing a trick on her parents.
Her mother said, proudly supporting Eugene’s arm strength.
“Okay, then I’ll build it for you now. From now on, your name will be-“
*
Under the sunset sky. Siwoo was standing still and looking up at the sky.
Of course, I wasn’t really looking at the sky. Because he had a chat window. He still killed some time today by looking at the active chat window.
How long did he stand like that? Suddenly, Siwoo heard a familiar voice.
“Why are you there?”
“Your apartment security won’t let you through. “Why is the security in your apartment so tight?”
“Still, it’s a place where rich people live. However, that doesn’t mean there is no noise between floors.”
At the nonchalant tone, Siwoo turned around and looked at the owner of the voice.
Her eyes were red and swollen, as if she had been crying for a while, and she wasn’t wearing her usual glasses.
She had a smile on her face as if she was the happiest in the world.
“It looks like the solution has been resolved.”
“… “I met people who were truly worthy of me.”
“You will have to work harder to make sure that those people are not too much for you.”
“That’s natural.”
Siwoo turned his gaze away from her and looked at her horizon.
A moment of silence. And Siwoo opened her mouth again.
“‘Pain that doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.'”
“Nietzsche?”
“Uh.”
“Isn’t that too much of a middle school student?”
“When middle school students pick things up without knowing anything, they are called middle school students.”
“You’re not that old when you say it like that.”
“Well, that’s true, but… “Now you know what it means, right?”
In the end, trials are necessary for Elia to grow.
Now she could feel that fact deeply in her heart.
“Uh. “I understand now.”
“Okay. “I wanted to tell you that from the beginning.”
At the beginning of the semester, she even thought that she would chase Eugene until the end and sabotage him.
In Siwoo’s own opinion, this current method seemed to be truly the best method.
“I have something to tell you too.”
“What?”
“No, it’s nothing special. Just… “Thank you.”
Siwoo turned his head as if he couldn’t believe it.
Her expression became sour at that reaction.
“Is that something that would make you react like that?”
“… “It was something that did not suit Jo Yu-jin at all.”
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“It’s not that neat.”
“Really. “I never thought I’d hear something like that.”
“I had that image… ?”
“Uh.”
She nodded in response to Siwoo’s confirmation and pouted her lips.
Then she spoke as if she had remembered something she had forgotten.
“Oh, and I’m not Jo Yujin anymore.”
“Then?”
“It’s Yooyoung. Jo Yoo-young.”
She then looked up at Siwoo with an expression that seemed to be expecting something from her.
Siwoo was disgusted by that gaze.
“No, so what?”
“Can you just call my name once?”
Seeing that Si-woo was not paying attention to her reaction, Si-woo nodded and turned her head.
However, the stinging gaze did not go away, and in the end, Siwoo raised the white flag first.
“Cho Yoo-young.”
“…”
“Yooyoung. Are you done?”
“Huh. “That’s enough.”
Even though it was an insincere attitude from anyone’s perspective, Yooyoung smiled brightly as if she was satisfied.
Her face, which would make everyone happy, was full of the colors of her sunset.
“Thank you. “For giving me a new birth.”
Saying that, Yooyoung walked forward first.
＜Br＞ Her steps toward Elia no longer crossed with Siwoo’s.
7. Two Possessors – END
Damn
Wow…