220 – Monsters and People (6)
The sound of insects on a summer night erases the sound of people’s feet. A day when neither the moon nor the stars are visible because it is covered by clouds. There are only two people in the abandoned city.
Under the dark sky, the dusky brilliance of Yun Seol-hwa was all that illuminated the path.
“Should I have moved earlier?”
“You needed time to rest. “I can’t help it.”
The flight continued for a long time to ward off the pursuit of the magical girls. A minimum amount of rest time was necessary.
“When was this place designated as F City?”
“It’s probably been over 5 years…?”
“…It’s already happened like that.”
It was originally a very prosperous city, but after the arrival of the Lion, it gradually declined and was eventually abandoned. Normally, there would have been a lot of colorful lights and drunk people walking around on a night like tonight.
Now it has become a desolate ruin where only insects walk.
“It’s a memory.”
The place where Yoon Seol-hwa and Han Jae-joong are located is a huge shopping mall. It was a cultural complex in the past, fully equipped with a movie theater and various other entertainment facilities.
It was an ideal facility for obtaining clothes, blankets, and food to maintain body temperature.
They also had memories of coming as children. It’s a great place for parents to meet and chat, so they should have been there for their parents’ leisure activities.
Of course, it wasn’t such a bad time for them either. When I came here, I could look at toys and watch cartoon movies that were currently being aired at the movie theater.
“Do you remember when you were lying on the floor and throwing a tantrum?”
“I don’t remember.”
“You remember?”
Yun Seol-hwa chuckled as she remembered the young Han Jae-joong, who was so crazy about her toys that he lay down on her floor as if cleaning.
“At that time… What was it? “It was a time when I was immature.”
“Why, I liked it because it was familiar.”
“What is familiarity? “I looked at you like I was looking at a bug.”
“…Me?”
Yun Seol-hwa twitched her eyes as if she did not understand her sincerity.
“Uh. “You hated me when you were young.”
“…Me, me?”
I can’t imagine.
‘Is there anything to dislike about that cute little child? Why on earth is such a lovely person?’
In fact, when Yun Seol-hwa and Han Jae-joong had just met, she was not that friendly towards him. Han Jaejoong was playful, typical of a boy his age, and she thought he was childish.
It wasn’t strange that I couldn’t remember it because it was a memory from when I was very young. Her childhood memories are bound to fade, become diluted, and become distorted according to her own interpretation.
Yoon Seol-hwa remembered that even though she was not at the same level as she was now, she still had a certain level of favor towards Han Jae-joong.
“My, I really… Hated it when I was young…? Was that so…? Now! Jaejoong, quickly lie down on the floor again! I’ll do my best to comfort you somehow…! This time, instead of hating, I put proper love into it….”
“Can I do that at this age? And actually, it wasn’t even contempt. “That’s a bit of an exaggeration.”
“Well, still…”
“How much do you care about stories from a few years ago?”
The two ended up repeating stories of the past rather than stories of the present.
“Okay, then! “I will love you as much as I couldn’t in the past…!”
The two hands were clasped together. I felt the innocence of small children holding each other’s hands.
Whether they hated it or liked it, their hands were often held together.
“Uh, hmm! Shall we find some food first? “You can still eat canned food, right?”
“Are you embarrassed by what I said?”
“….”
“It was good, but I’m disappointed….”
“…! “If Jaejoong likes you, I’ll tell you as much as I can from now on that I love you!”
In a place that was closest to the end of life, they walked closer to the beginning of life.
“Yes, in the future… to continue.”
A lot has changed compared to when life was still normal. Situation, relationships and body.
However, Yoon Seol-hwa, reflected in Han Jae-joong’s eyes, was as lovely as ever, and because of that, he became greedy.
“Do you remember when I first fell down in front of you a long time ago?”
“Don’t even talk. “I was so embarrassed.”
“If you think about it now, you kept holding my hand tight at that time, right? “I think that’s when I became interested.”
“Ah, now you admit what you hated at first.”
“Ugh… Do I really have to keep mentioning that?”
“Because you like me so much, I want to play pranks on you.”
“Please exercise a little restraint….”
“You don’t deny that you like it so much.”
“Uh… It’s true, right?”
“….”
They continued to refer to the past.
From a very young age.
“That’s right. Jaejoong-ah, why was your personality like that when you were a student? “You always pretended to be relaxed.”
“Uh… Well that’s….”
“Second year of middle school?”
“…Something vague.”
“Jaejoong. I don’t know anything else, but I’m still a little dissatisfied with the letter you left. What is the content? “Should you have made a joke in such a serious situation?”
“Ugh… I wanted to secretly show that I am relaxed…”
“It wasn’t relaxing! And there’s so much more! “I was so worried when Ayun beat up the kids and went to the emergency room to solve the problem…”
“It’s not like that now. Just stop now…”
A shameful story from my school days.
“Actually, there was a time when I thought about suicide.”
“Probably not a coincidence. So do i.”
“That’s what happened when I turned into a monster. “I’m afraid it will hurt you.”
“I did that when you disappeared. “I’m afraid I may have hurt you.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“Yes, please be sorry about this.”
“I ended up doing both.”
“Okay. Still, I’m glad I didn’t die then. “We can be together like this now.”
Even relatively close times.
“I finally found my clothes, but… Um… Uh, what do you think? “Isn’t it too tight?”
“You look good in clothes like that.”
“I, I don’t like it. “Everyone only looks at the breasts…”
“I’m the only one who will see it now anyway.”
“…Then, I’ll just wear it.”
“It’s good that you have a quick mindset.”
“You have to look at it with dark eyes… Okay?”
“I’ll try my best.”
Of course, there were everyday conversations in between.
“…So, what happened to the monster?”
“You weren’t asking?”
“Jaejoong… I think you want me to ask you…”
Gradually going against the past, we have reached the present.
“…That’s right.”
Yun Seol-hwa is a truly obedient person, and all of his past mistakes are forgiven just by having him by his side.
One or two small complaints can be resolved without words, and even big complaints will disappear like snow if you tell them you love them.
But sometimes, that obedience just causes a person’s heart to suffer more. Secrets inevitably make you want to tell them. The more deeply a secret is related to guilt, the greater the desire to reveal it.
This is because speaking out becomes confession and becomes a path leading to the resolution of guilt.
It was a time like now. Han Jae-joong had not yet told all his sins, and that was why he had a deep sense of guilt towards Yun Seol-hwa.
“This is going to be a bit of a long story… I wonder what happened…”
He began to confess. It was a task to relieve his own guilt.
Yun Seol-hwa listened to the entire confession without saying a word.
Not only facts but also emotions were often mixed in the confession.
The feeling was mostly regret.
Regrets such as ‘I should have told you the truth sooner’.
Han Jae-joong’s biggest disrespect was that he ignored Yun Seol-hwa’s crazy love. Like most people, if my ex-boyfriend did something stupid, I thought I would call him an asshole, forget him, and live happily ever after.
But she wasn’t like that. Rather, she was a person who endlessly blamed herself and descended into a deep abyss.
He was a person who harbored a significant and mistaken obedience, thinking that Han Jae-joong’s mistakes were his own.
Now that I see Yun Seol-hwa holding hands with a monster even after confessing that she is terminally ill.
Anything will be fine if you sacrifice for her. I became acutely aware that such thoughts were nothing more than arrogance. In many ways, it was an excess of self-consciousness.
How can I predict and control other people’s thoughts?
Sacrifice may seem great to a child who grows up early, but an adult’s eyes say it is not.
Children who grow up early are only more mature than their peers, but ultimately immature.
“It’s time to stop thinking that only sacrifice is noble love.”
Han Jaejoong said that and looked at Yun Seolhwa.
“Isn’t that right, Seolhwa?”
“Huh? Uh, uhh… Yes.”
Because I know deep down that she also harbors similar thoughts.
“How can you and I be so similar?”
Han Jae-joong muttered this as he looked at Yun Seol-hwa, who was embarrassed as if he had hit the nail on the head.
Is it because we have been together since we were children? There is something that cannot be explained by that alone.
“It’s fate… isn’t it?”
“It depends on your interpretation.”
“Yes! Then it’s fate!”
“It’s good to be positive.”
From now on, I too will think of it as fate. Han Jaejoong made that promise.
After all the talk, there was a deep silence throughout the night.
The two people sitting in the moonlight shining through the glass ceiling looked at each other and groaned deeply.
“Ummm…….”
There was deep agony in Yun Seol-hwa’s eyes.
“You said that when you die, you will become a complete monster…?”
“Yes. It’s not usually a nuisance. Additionally, that monster is strong and vicious enough to destroy the world.”
“That’s Polaris senior’s prediction… um…”
“…It’s a folktale. “Can you not interfere when the magical girls kill the day you’ve changed like that?”
Han Jae-joong once again put Yun Seol-hwa to the test.
Yun Seol-hwa answered immediately. The corners of her mouth were slightly raised playfully, but her eyes were serious.
“It would be better if I also become a monster…”
“Don’t even mention that as a joke.”
“Sorry.”
But no matter what, the content was just content, so Han Jaejoong looked at it with a straight face.
“Seolhwa, you agreed earlier. Self-sacrifice is not noble love. You too become a monster… That would be a disgrace to me, who is dead. The person who became a monster is not me. “It’s something else…!”
“…No, I was just kidding~”
“It wasn’t a joke.”
“….”
“Seolhwa, look into my eyes.”
Han Jae-joong grabbed Yun Seol-hwa’s shoulder. Yun Seol-hwa, who avoided eye contact at first, eventually looked at him. It was a cautious look, but I felt a little dissatisfied.
“Seolhwa, I swear right here and now. “If I become a monster, you will abandon me and leave.”
“Well, that’s gaslighting….”
“I don’t care if it’s gaslighting or coercion.”
“Am I going to become a beaten wife…?”
“Seolhwa, please….”
“…I’ll think about it a little.”
Yun Seol-hwa said those last words and looked away dissatisfied.
“Haa….”
Han Jaejoong sighed in dismay at that sight. What should I do with this stubbornness? At this point, it is not at the level of loyalty or obedience.
“Beep, are you upset…? “I’m sorry, please don’t be angry… Please don’t be angry…”
Yun Seol-hwa carefully wrapped Han Jae-joong’s arm around him.
“If you even use polite language, it makes me seem like a really bad guy.”
“Mi, I’ll practice in advance… My wife who got beaten….”
“It’s noisy.”
“Gah, that’s coercive…!”
“Oh really.”
“Are we really experiencing domestic violence like this…? “Are you holding your butt up in advance to make it easier to hit?”
“In times like this, don’t appeal to your tastes and just stay still.”
Suddenly, Yoon Seol-hwa put her head on Han Jae-joong’s shoulder and grumbled.
“Running away… That’s easy.”
If only rational judgment were possible, this situation would not have come to this.
Yun Seol-hwa knows herself well. He said that when a crisis comes to Han Jae-joong, she will not be able to abandon him. Even if he is a corpse, he is a completely different monster.
“There will be no need to run away.”
“…Is that what you said earlier? “There’s someone I can kill before you become a monster.”
She asked in as natural, calm, and docile a tone as possible, careful not to let her own eyes become sharp.
“Who is it?”
But perhaps because she couldn’t hide her deep-seated skin, Han Jae-joong’s eyes were sharp instead of hers.
“It’s a snowflake.”
He called her name sternly, but Yun Seol-hwa did not stop.
She became more confident now that she had been caught, and she asked again.
“I asked who you were, Jaejoong.”
Who dared to threaten to harm him?
Like a wife searching for her affair, Yun Seol-hwa persistently asked. Han Jaejoong continued to remain silent.
He wasn’t angry with him.
From noble mtl dot com
However, he is just angry at the owner of the name he keeps speaking like that.
How captivated is it that he actively protects me like that? I’m envious and jealous, and it’s so disgusting that I can’t stand it.
What were you thinking when you boldly promised to kill him in front of him? You will definitely pay for this rudeness.
“The only person who made such a promise would be someone who knew your secret… Ah.”
Yun Seolhwa whispered her own guess into his ear as he remained silent.
“Red Vega?”
Boom!
Before I could see his reaction, the glass ceiling shattered and scattered.
The broken glass reflected the moonlight, and a girl drenched in the reflected moonlight fell towards them.
“Like a comet in your heart….”
The name that Yun Seol-hwa called out just now.
The magical girl wrapped in red flames was captured in Yun Seol-hwa’s blue eyes.
“Red Vega appears!”
She landed proudly on the marble floor in a hero landing position and raised her body.
“You two, we finally found it! Now, be quiet!”
She continued her words, clutching the heart-shaped pendant, a transformation tool leading to divinity.
“Aha….”
Yun Seol-hwa has finally realized the identity of the pendant. The shape of the divine pendant is different for each person.
However, according to rumors, the shape of the pendant is said to be the shape of the heart that was embraced at the time of awakening to divinity.
Red Vega is shaped like a heart. It was a sign of love.
By coincidence, it was the same shape as the one that Yun Seol-hwa had.
“Running away from home is over now, you late adolescent adults! “Let’s go back home!”
“…Home?”
Who on earth did I love that made the pendant look like that? I was really curious.
“My house was next to Jaejoong’s from the beginning. “Wherever he is, that is my dwelling place.”
Yun Seol-hwa’s body was filled with a ghostly spirit along with blue starlight.
“You are the one who will return. “Vega.”
I will make it so that you will never come after me again.
Me too, Jaejoong too.
