Chapter 235
It felt suffocating, as if stones were tightly packed together. The warm breeze that had filled the hospital room had disappeared, leaving only a chilly air behind.
"Could it be... that person..."
Seoyeon, clutching her chest from the aching pain, asked in a voice that dropped heavily.
"Minha...ya...?"
"..."
Lee Hyun, who was looking at her, still had a lonely smile on his lips. After a brief silence, he slowly nodded.
"Yes."
"Huh..."
Seoyeon let out a painful groan. It felt as if the mistakes of her past were strangling her once again. Lowering her head deeply, she murmured in a voice filled with self-loathing and despair.
"Of course... that's how it should be... After all, I... made you that way... It's only natural for you to hate even the sight of me..."
"That's not it."
However, Lee Hyun shook his head and immediately denied her words.
He looked at Seoyeon with a gaze that reflected his complex emotions and then stood up. Slowly, he walked toward the window and stared blankly beyond it.
The scars of the rebellion in the capital were still in the process of being restored. Lee Hyun's hazy gaze stretched beyond, toward the western horizon.
It was the Cradle. The side where the Beech Dormitory, where he had spent all his time, was located.
Perhaps even now, someone was still waiting there.
"I won't say it didn't hurt..."
Lee Hyun, staring endlessly beyond the wide-open window, started to speak.
"When I thought I had lost you, just like my family... it was truly painful. So much so that I wanted to tear my heart out..."
"Huh..."
"But... I'm okay now."
Lee Hyun approached Seoyeon, who had sunk back to the floor, and crouched down to meet her at eye level.
"Now that I know everything was a misunderstanding, how could I possibly hate you?"
And then, he overlapped his palm on the back of her delicate hand, which was supporting herself on the ground. Ever so slightly, it trembled, almost imperceptibly.
"Besides, you, too... endured that pain all alone."
"B-but..."
"Mistakes are something everyone makes. You and me alike. Moreover, we were still young. I truly... don't hate you."
"Huh..."
His voice, filled entirely with warmth meant to comfort her, ironically made it more painful.
"...If I had reunited with you a little earlier, perhaps it might have turned out the way you said. But... now..."
Seoyeon cautiously lifted her head. Then, in a voice filled with despair, she weakly opened her mouth.
"Why...?"
And after thinking for a moment, Lee Hyun looked at her and spoke.
"Senior Minha... is someone who cannot live without me."
"Ah..."
Seoyeon let out a sigh of despair. That single sentence struck her more cruelly than any torture in the world.
"Leaving her alone would be too dangerous. She's pitiful and helpless... I just can't leave her like that..."
Lee Hyun once again directed his blurry gray pupils toward the window.
"Just like... you were in the past."
"..."
"You'll be fine. Just like you've been until now. You're someone who's more than capable."
No more words reached Seoyeon. Though Lee Hyun, who had been looking at her, spoke as if to comfort her, it offered no solace.
After checking the time, Lee Hyun carefully rose to his feet. Even the slight warmth that had been enveloping Seoyeon's hand was no longer there.
"...I have to go now. I can't leave her alone for too long."
And with dragging steps, Lee Hyun's figure moved farther away. His hand touched the doorknob, just as it was about to make a rattling sound.
"I-I too...!!"
At the sudden outburst, he stopped in his tracks.
Seoyeon, who had been slumping weakly, suddenly lifted her head and looked at his back. Her disheveled hair and the bloodshot veins in her wide eyes were vividly red.
"You-you know... I... can't be without you, either..."
"..."
Despite her desperate cry, Lee Hyun still couldn't turn back to look at her. Even so, Seoyeon desperately continued to plead with him.
"Are you really going to leave...? Truly... really...?"
Seoyeon prayed desperately to all the gods in the world.
For just once, he would turn back to look at her. For his heart to waver upon seeing her pitiful state.
"Leaving me... all alone like this...?"
"..."
His hand, gripping the doorknob, trembled violently. Seoyeon could sense that he was in the throes of deep agony.
Seeing him in such pain, for a moment, she wondered if letting him go was the right choice after all.
Paechun and Jeokhwa. Two families that could never share the same sky.
Forcing the man intertwined between them like a wisteria vine to make a choice could be seen as unbearably cruel.
Even so, Seoyeon just couldn't let Lee Hyun go.
The pain of losing him forever was something she could only endure once.
In the horrific agony that felt like her soul was being torn apart, Seoyeon desperately begged and begged.
Please, let Lee Hyun choose me over Yeon Minha.
However, his choice never wavered.
"...I'm sorry."
A short sentence, heavy with a multitude of emotions, resonated softly. What followed was the sound of footsteps moving away, opposite to her hospital room.
The hospital room, which had been filled with the warmth of early summer, now felt chilled to the bone. Seoyeon could only reach out feebly toward the empty void.
Just like that, Lee Hyun left her hospital room for good.
***
Deliberately avoiding regular transportation, I walked on foot. My head hurt as if it would burst, so I needed to organize my thoughts.
Yeon's tear-filled, earnest voice echoed in my ears hundreds of times. I was well aware that I had done something cruel to her.
Even though I knew the pain of being abandoned, I inflicted the same pain on someone else.
Am I really just a useless piece of trash?
And suddenly, the thought of the Unit Commander and the older sisters came to mind.
A Unit Commander who, for over ten years, couldn't forget someone.
And the older sisters who, unable to give up their feelings for him, followed him like specters from battlefield to battlefield.
There's no way the Unit Commander wouldn't know about the older sisters' feelings. Perhaps the reason he often grumbled excessively at them was because he felt those emotions.
What could the Unit Commander have been feeling during those times?
Feeling stifled, I wanted to go directly to the ruins in the Eastern Region to seek advice. All the letters I wrote never reached him anyway.
Would he smack my head for overthinking such matters as a young brat? And then the older sisters would yell at the Unit Commander in protest.
Afterward, as if nothing had happened, we'd have trivial conversations. I was usually the one listening to their stories, but this time, I had plenty to share.
If they heard I'd never lost first place, the older sisters would be overjoyed. They might even try to hug me this time. Should I stop pretending to dislike it and feel that warmth? The faces of the older sisters, silently upset, always lingered in my mind.
The Unit Commander, too, would grumble outwardly but secretly feel proud. That was just the kind of person he was.
He might even ask, with a hopeful tone, if I had a girlfriend. If I told him I even had a fiancée, he'd be utterly shocked.
And then he'd drag me behind the barracks and demand with a stern face whether I used my strength appropriately. He'd always been worried about my health, constantly advising me.
Uh...
Then... what should I say?
"...Ah."
Snapping out of my train of thought, I realized I was standing in front of the main gate of the Cradle.
The twilight had already descended, casting the surroundings into shadow. Walking all this way felt pointless, as my distracting thoughts only grew.
"Haa..."
Standing before the familiar sight, I let out a deep sigh that seemed to sink into the ground.
***
Just the news that the Principal was back brought a strange liveliness to the atmosphere in the Cradle. It was a testament to Hae Wolhwa's significant presence.
The suspension order had long been lifted, and students were steadily returning. Already, many students seemed to have come back, as lights were on in several dormitory rooms here and there.
And next Monday, the academic schedule would resume.
The existence of the witches would also be publicly announced, and the students would learn about the culprits behind the recent attack.
Entering through the main gate, I took the back path to the dormitory. Having been apart from Yeon Minha for quite a while without even saying goodbye, I felt a bit rushed.
And the sight of the dormitory with not a single light visible only fueled my impatience further.
The interior of the dormitory I entered was pitch black. Only after slightly enhancing my vision with the Common Circulatory System Magic Formula could I make out the inside.
"..."
Everything was a mess. The dormitory, which used to be spotless without a speck of dust, just like Yeon Minha's personality, was now littered with all sorts of junk.
Feeling no sign of presence, I immediately dashed toward the second floor where the bedroom was located.
Even after pushing open the slightly ajar bedroom door and stepping inside, Yeon Minha's figure was still nowhere to be seen.
I was sure she would be in the dormitory. Did something happen in the meantime?
Then, along with a sensation akin to mist clearing away, the sign of presence that was utterly absent began to suddenly emerge from the bedroom doorway.
Turning my body, I could finally confirm the figure of a familiar female student.
"Senior?"
"..."
Yeon Minha, looking somehow unusually pale, was standing idly at the doorway, blocking it. It was almost as if she was trying to stop me from escaping.
At least nothing seems to have happened to her safety, which is fortunate.
I don't know how to start a conversation... but I should at least greet her first.
"Senior, I'm bac..."
"Listen. I've been thinking."
Yeon Minha suddenly interrupted and started speaking, her voice low and somber, almost eerie. She neither welcomed me warmly nor sulked resentfully.
"Thinking...?"
"Yes."
Yeon Minha nodded slightly.
"Wondering if maybe I'm being selfish. Perhaps being by Baek Seoyeon's side... would make you happier. So... maybe I should let you go."
"What are you talking..."
"I thought about it a lot. While you didn't come. In the pitch-black darkness. Over and over, all alone..."
"..."
"But, but..."
Yeon Minha didn't seem to have any intention of listening to me. She continued talking to herself and then abruptly fell silent.
And as if collapsing under her own weight, she suddenly slumped to the floor with a dull sound.
"I just... I can't do it."
Yeon Minha was now kneeling before me. Her sudden action left me struggling to grasp the situation.
"Don't... leave me. Please..."
What came next was a faint voice. It was uncharacteristically timid for her, even tinged with moisture.
"No, please don't leave me..."
She was now even speaking in formal honorifics.