Friend 6

“I’m so sorry!”

One of the servants bowed with a pale face.

It was the same servant who had just brought the snacks.

It was understandable.

After all, the young miss’s friend had collapsed.

“I had no idea her friend would be so weak to alcohol. Please, punish me!”

“…No. It’s alright.”

It was only half a glass of wine.

Far from getting drunk, it was an amount that should have been good for the body.

“…It’s beyond our control. In this case.”

It was rare to see someone with such a low alcohol tolerance that they’d get drunk from half a glass of wine.

Of course, it might be considered a crime to serve alcohol to a high school student, but Baek Da-eun didn’t want to punish the servant for such a reason.

“I’ll handle this somehow. Please go back.”

“Yes…!”

The servant left the room.

Only two people remained in the spacious room.

“Hwaaa…”

As if yawning, Han Seoyeon trembled her lips cutely.

“What’s wrong? All of a sudden…”

Anyone looking at her would see the face of a drunk person.

“At this rate, I can’t send you back alone.”

“Why? I… need to go…”

Since drunk people can’t diagnose themselves.

In this state, even if Han Seoyeon was strong, she might fall victim to something unpleasant on her way home at night.

Moreover, Han Seoyeon was a famous person.

If word got out that she, a student, was drunk, the repercussions could seriously harm Han Seoyeon.

“Let’s stay a little longer.”

“Why?”

She had to stay at least for a short while.

At least until the intoxication subsided a bit.

“Well, we haven’t finished our girl talk yet.”

“Oh right… That’s true.”

At the very least, she had to stall for time until she passed out from the alcohol.

“Huh…? What was I asking earlier…?”

“…”

Baek Da-eun was silent for a moment.

“…I wonder.”

Should she dodge the question?

Or should she tell the truth?

She didn’t want to talk about this topic.

It was too embarrassing for Baek Da-eun.

She’s drunk anyway.

Even if she dodged with a lie, Han Seoyeon wouldn’t notice.

Hadn’t she already lied once?

Baek Da-eun is a liar.

There was no need to be hypocritical now.

“Weren’t we talking about Han Suho?”

“Oh right… That’s what it was…”

Why was it?

Detestably, Baek Da-eun couldn’t bring herself to be brazen.

It was intuition.

An indescribable woman’s intuition.

That she shouldn’t lie anymore.

If she did, Han Seoyeon would drift away.

Unlike their current relationship.

To a far, far away place.

“So… How did you come to like Suho…?”

Han Seoyeon asked with a bright smile, as if everything was just wonderful.

“Because he saved me.”

“He saved you? Suho? When?”

“It was… my misunderstanding.”

After saying that much, Baek Da-eun drank the half glass of wine placed beside her.

“I…”

It was a meaningless act.

She wouldn’t get drunk from this much.

“I don’t like Han Suho. Not in a romantic sense.”

But she couldn’t say it with a clear mind without borrowing even a little alcohol.

“What…? But last time…”

“I was mistaken then. About the benefactor who saved me.”

How easy and light these words were.

Throwing away years of one-sided love in an instant.

“Han Seoyeon…”

At this rate, she wouldn’t be able to protest if people pointed fingers at her for being fickle.

Cowardly, the direction of her heart had already changed.

“…The person I like,”

As if her heart would burst.

At the same time, eerily calm.

“The person I like is you, Han Seoyeon.”

Baek Da-eun quietly confessed the truth.

“Because it was you. The person who saved me, twice.”

“…Huh?”

“I’m sorry. For not recognizing the benefactor who saved me. For saying such harsh things.”

Han Seoyeon blinked her eyes blankly.

“What…”

She blinked and then,

“You… remembered?”

“…Pardon?”

It wasn’t an awkward silence.

Nor was it an angry rebuke.

“That’s strange… I didn’t tell you my name…”

“You remembered?”

“Yeah.”

A truth possible only in drunkenness.

“Well, you were crying so sadly, how could I not remember…?”

“─Is that so.”

Baek Da-eun couldn’t finish her words, overwhelmed by a sense of guilt.

She couldn’t even lift her face out of shame.

She had just realized.

That Han Seoyeon was an indescribably kind person.

Knowing everything, yet smiling through harsh words.

Reaching out first to become friends.

She had just become aware.

That Baek Da-eun, in her own opinion, was such a trashy woman.

After all─.

“I like you too.”

“…!”

Ecstatic at an unexpected word.

“There’s no other ‘friend’ in the world who gives such a wonderful gift, right?”

“…Yes.”

Easily disappointed by the naturally following response.

“At first, honestly, I thought you were a bit unpleasant…”

It’s ridiculous.

What reason is there to be disappointed?

She must be aware of it herself.

“…But now, I’m glad we’ve become close.”

That becoming friends alone was already close to a miracle.

That wanting more than that was improper.

“Da-eun, you’re so kind…”

And yet.

“You know, even when I fought with the student council president, you stood up for me. For my sake.”

And yet.

‘I─.’

And yet, she didn’t want to give up.

She wanted more than friendship.

“Oh, right. I have something to apologize to you about…”

Arrogantly.

Beyond her station.

“…I’ve been through some dangerous stuff recently.”

“Dangerous? What do you mean?”

“You told me before, right? To let you know if anything happened… But I couldn’t tell you. You might have been in danger too, Da-eun…”

“Are you alright now?”

“Yeah… I’m fine…”

Even though she had no right to.

“My senior helped me.”

“…”

Even though she had already drifted too far to reach.

“I see.”

“Yeah! …Oh, but this was supposed to be a secret…”

Eventually, the girl fell asleep, overcome by fatigue.

“…I see.”

How ugly.

Baek Da-eun just clenched her fist at her own ugliness.

The emotion she was feeling, its name was─.

It couldn’t be called a battle between humans.

To put it in perspective, it was a fierce fight close to a natural disaster.

Countless spears were shot at supersonic speeds.

Each spear, imbued with vast mana, exerted power close to that of a missile.

Before they could even explode, winter swept in.

Swords of ice bloomed in the blizzard, intercepting the spears.

Then, a giant spear the size of a meteor was formed.

A massive spear covering the sky fell to crush a single person.

The girl blocked the meteor with a single sword.

From the point of contact, the meteor instantly froze and shattered into pieces.

Sword and spear clashed.

With the vast mana they both possessed, the ground shook without exaggeration.

As if tracing constellations, the trajectories of sword and spear were brilliant.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they had reached the realm of gods.

This went on for a full day.

“…This is as far as we go.”

Lee Yeon was the first to withdraw her spear.

It wasn’t a matter of victory or defeat.

“It’s time for me to return to my main duties. Let’s postpone this match.”

Lee Yeon is an extremely busy person.

No work in South Korea can proceed without going through her.

Politics, law, media.

Everything.

An undemocratic society.

Yet, it was the most beautiful country in the history of the Korean people.

With a great superhuman always by their side to guide the people on the right path, how could such a country not be beautiful?

“Neither of us intends to go all out. Moreover─.”

Lee Yeon declared.

“As long as you cherish your friend, you won’t run away from this country.”

“…”

Since those words were clearly true, Michaela didn’t argue.

She had no reason to oppose Lee Yeon.

As long as she didn’t unilaterally confront her like this time.

“You may go back. Let’s end the training here.”

Lee Yeon destroyed her spear.

At the same time, the building, which had been devastated by the aftermath of the battle, disappeared without a trace.

“My offer stands at any time. Think it over carefully.”

Like a being that wasn’t human, Lee Yeon dissolved into blue particles and disappeared.

Only her last words echoed in Michaela’s ears.

[What an absurd strong enemy.]

The will of the sword resonated.

[To think there was such a monster.]

‘I agree.’

It was just a preliminary skirmish without using full power.

They had merely gauged each other.

There was no certainty of victory.

Among all the opponents she had met, Lee Yeon was the best in terms of skill alone.

[However…]

The will of the sword trailed off.

‘Is there something you want to say?’

[I thought they were similar. Not in skill, but in technique.]

There was a sense of déjà vu.

Michaela and Lee Yeon’s fighting styles were similar.

Long-range attacks utilizing additional elements of their abilities.

These were merely probing tactics, with their true skill lying in the martial prowess wielded with a single pure weapon.

The sword and spear interlocked as if mirroring each other, as if performing a predetermined dance.

[Well, it might just be my imagination…]

Michaela and Lee Yeon are strong.

They are masters who handle their individual powers to the extreme.

Don’t they say great minds think alike?

It could just be a coincidence.

Even their way of speaking is similar.

It was just a strange feeling.

[…No, never mind. I must be mistaken.]

The Sword of Winter is not of this world.

Nor was it confined to the world of swords and magic.

The sword had wandered the world for a long time.

It always crossed over to this world, taking on something as its sheath.

There is no swordsman who can handle it perfectly.

If there is someone who can handle it nearly perfectly, it would be the girl-shaped sheath born together with the sword.

And the one who taught swordsmanship to the girl-shaped sheath was the will residing in the sword.

A will different from the sword itself.

The remnants of a past life, not remembered, that had once failed to handle the sword perfectly and had fallen to become the sword’s lingering regret.

[Forget it. I must be going senile for a moment.]

So, for a moment, he had formed a hypothesis close to delusion.

The past, or a parallel world.

No matter how he thought about it, he must have gone senile.

[Let’s head back now. To where your girlfriend is waiting.]

‘Correct yourself. She’s my female friend.’

It was truly an iron wall.

She was still unable to be honest.

Michaela returned to the dormitory.

“…What’s this?”

More precisely, she stopped at the entrance.

“Why is that child on your back?”

“…Please don’t misunderstand. Nothing happened.”

On the back of a woman with pink hair and emerald eyes.

The girl was sound asleep.

“Of course. I know that much.”

Michaela strode towards Baek Da-eun.

“It seems she drank alcohol.”

“There was no intention behind it.”

“I see.”

She stopped in front of her and pulled Han Seoyeon’s body from Baek Da-eun’s back.

“Thank you for bringing her this far.”

As if embracing a princess, she held Han Seoyeon in her arms.

“I’ll take care of the rest, so go in and rest now.”

“…Yes.”

The dormitory for just the two of them.

Baek Da-eun couldn’t enter there.

The door closed with a clang.

Baek Da-eun was left alone, endlessly watching the two of them move away together.

The emotion she was feeling.

─Its name was jealousy.

“Oh, senior? When did you get back?”

“A while ago. You seemed quite tired, looks like you had a good time out.”

“Yeah!”

Hanging out with a friend was a good experience.

But still, being with her senior was nice too.