25 – Each person’s night, and
“Wait, just a moment…!”
A large teddy bear lay on one side of the bed. Feeling lonely sleeping alone, it was always held tightly, but now it was thrown under the bed.
The doll ended up with its face pressed against the floor, showing its back. Unconcerned about the doll, Ryeowoon climbed onto the bed and lay down.
She tapped on the empty space next to her.
“Come and lie down…”
Yeoul slowly approached the bed.
She wet the sheets covering the bed and slid into the space between them.
On the same bed, under the same blanket, the siblings lay down.
Ryeowoon’s face, barely glancing at Yeoul, suddenly flushed.
She couldn’t even remember how he looked, her brother whom she broke up with ten years ago.
Although she recognized him as her brother, perhaps she saw him more as a man.
Although she spoke impulsively to sleep together, she felt that something was wrong when they actually lay on the same bed.
Despite being a comfortable bed where they slept together every day, she continued to toss and turn, feeling uncomfortable.
And every time their hands touched, every time their clothes brushed against each other, they both startled.
Yeoul sensed her unease and looked at her.
“If it’s uncomfortable for you.”
Yeoul thought that since she had always slept alone, it would be uncomfortable to have someone next to her, but she tried to get up, and Ryeowoon gently grabbed his clothes.
“No, I’m not uncomfortable… I want you to be next to me…”
She said, overcoming her embarrassment.
Awkward as it may be, Ryeowoon thought that her desire to be with her brother was even stronger.
At her softly spoken words, Yeoul lay down next to her again, abandoning his attempt to get up.
Ryeowoon deliberately remained still to show that she was not uncomfortable. Yeoul looked at her, lying still and staring at the ceiling.
Silent moments passed.
Glancing at her brother, then staring blankly at the ceiling again.
He was clearly her brother… but there was something else.
Nevertheless…
He was the brother she had longed to see, the one she wanted to be together with. Especially after their parents passed away. She firmly believed that her brother would come back eventually.
Now that they could finally be together, she couldn’t spend this precious time in awkwardness.
Summoning her courage, she took her brother’s hand.
Her hands were much bigger and longer than hers. And they felt rough. Feeling a hint of the signs of suffering, she felt guilty for even briefly doubting them.
Yeo-ul turned her head towards the ceiling and looked at her younger brother.
Their eyes met.
Yeo-ul’s eyes. Those scary, sharp, emotionless-looking eyes….
They look warm, Ryeoun thought.
Without thinking, she tightly embraced her brother’s arm with her own.
A hardness different from her own arms.
Warmth that could be felt in the midst of it.
The fact that she was holding someone in her arms, not a doll.
The fact that her brother was there beside her, where she had been alone.
Could it be that I needed someone to rely on?
Even awkwardness or embarrassment disappeared under that warmth.
Heeheehee–.
A soft laugh escaping through this gap.
As her heart became at ease, fatigue that she had forgotten about flooded in.
She closes her eyes instinctively.
Yesterday and today have been truly tough. I couldn’t even imagine I would be kidnapped….
But then my brother resolved it, saved me, and came back home….
Looking back, it was like a dreamlike day. As if to confirm that her brother was lying next to her, she pulled his arm even tighter.
However, even if she did that, she couldn’t overcome the wave that washed over her….
Very slowly, and naturally, she fell into sleep.
Until she fell asleep. While holding her arm, closing his eyes, gently laughing, and feeling the strength leaving the arm he held, Yeo-ul silently watched over it all.
His arm slowly moved up.
He gently stroked Ryeoun’s head as she slept, making a soft rustling sound.
Then, as if she felt something even in her sleep, her little sister’s mouth twitched.
Watching that, Yeo-ul suddenly felt a sensation as if the empty space in his heart was filling up.
He gently stroked his sister’s head with his own will.
Silky hair slipping through his fingers. The faint scent of shampoo that accompanied it.
Mmm…. Ryeoun, who was whimpering and tossing in her sleep, placed one arm and one leg on her brother’s chest and thigh.
Her appearance was like a cicada clinging to a tree.
Yeoul, who saw Ryoun making a uncomfortable expression, lifted her head and put her arm underneath to make a pillow.
Ryoun, who became a sight of being snug in her brother’s arms, smiled as if she was having a good dream.
Watching that, Yeoul slowly surrendered herself to the enveloping darkness.
They both fell into a peaceful sleep, as if they had returned to their childhood, snuggled closely together.
* * *
From Noble mtl dot com
“Sister. But, exactly what does that person look like? Show me by drawing.”
“Why are you so curious about it? Fine, I got it.”
Her sister drew a picture quickly on the paper.
Until that moment, her younger sister thought it wouldn’t be the case. However, as she looked at the gradually completing drawing, she glimpsed a familiar face.
“Really, that person…?”
The one who fell in love at first sight, to the point of never seeing anyone else again. The person who rescued her sister from a crisis.
Is this what they call destiny, something she had only heard about?
Truly, it was the flow of a typical high school love story.
“Looking at it like this, he really is handsome. Right. What should I do…? It would be great if I could see him one more time.”
The problem was that her sister seemed to have fallen for the same person.
No matter how close they were as sisters, what should they do if they became so similar in this aspect?
Even though they had only seen him once, she already imagined love battles between her sister and herself, as if she had become the tragic heroine.
“Why is she like this again…?”
In the sight of her sister behaving as if she was in pain, she could only lower her head.
* * *
“Damn it…”
Bang, bang. She aggressively pulled off the blanket that covered her. She pulled it off, pulled it off, pulled it off again, but there was no sign of her anger dissipating.
She was so angry. At what?
At her weak self. At losing Claus. At having surrendered to humans desperately. At ultimately becoming a puppet of humans. And yet, at her own desire to continue living.
She cried, her tears and runny nose flowing without restraint.
Even…
The other thing.
“Eek, ahh, ahh!!”
When she recalled that moment, she couldn’t bear the embarrassment.
Even though she had clearly washed herself clean. Even though she burned the clothes she had worn without leaving a trace.
The refreshing smell of the forest lingered in the tip of her nose.
She knew.
That she was not so fortunate.
She was just lucky to be born into a noble family, lucky to grow up without any hardships, lucky to come to this world, and lucky to settle down successfully.
Luck had helped her until now.
She knew that everything could change at any moment.
Although it was shocking, it was something she could bear. As long as she didn’t reveal that she had surrendered to Yeoul, it was fine. It was just a matter of transitioning from being submissive to Yeoul, who had become the object of obedience from the World Tree.
Losing Klaus was quite painful…. but it was not something irreplaceable. Song Yeoul, he was truly a person like a disaster. It was not right to blame nature itself for his death, as he was swept away by a natural disaster.
However, in front of anyone else.
That…
That she had lost control, she couldn’t endure it.
Seemingly the most humiliating thing, beyond everything else.
She even went so far as to bring in subordinate employees without even realizing it….
“Sigh….”
Her resentment grew deeper as the night deepened.
* * *
From tomorrow onwards, I’ll be alone even when I wake up in the morning….
Soyoung murmured quietly in the empty house.
The discrimination she had endured as easily as breathing.
Women envied her or looked down on her as a beast.
Men looked at her as if she were an easy target to devour.
The person who looked at her without prejudice or seeing her as an oddity when they first met.
That’s why. Even though they had only been together for a week, it felt like she had grown very fond of him.
The first impression was cold and he seemed somewhat quirky.
As she got to know him, she realized that he had deep thoughts and knew how to consider others.
There was also the incident where he happened to kill the CEO of the company she worked for….
But now she thought of it as a fortunate incident. It was already a clash with her values. She was even grateful to be able to quit like this.
The only regret was that she had to live her daily life without him anymore.
The loneliness she thought she had gotten used to. It weighed heavily on her once again.
But it’s okay. Since I live next door, I can see you anytime.
She thought the house felt strangely lonely and slowly fell asleep.
* * *
Stop the investigation on Song Yeoul.
Park Byunghoon, the supernatural policeman, heard the order from above.
They said there was no trace of magic left, just a happening, and told him to cover it up as an unsolved case, without any evidence.
Byunghoon couldn’t help but wonder.
His superiors had been urging him to uncover the truth. So why did they suddenly change their tune now?
There was a smell.
A foul smell.
For now, he said he understood.
But he thought he needed to quietly look into it further.