Absence 5

She must go.

She shouldn’t stay here any longer.

Her sister has already been through a lot.

She has experienced difficult and painful times.

Now she must become happy.

Isn’t that the right thing?

Yet, why couldn’t she easily take a step away?

Was it the remnants of an incompetent younger sister still trying to be spoiled?

“Sister…”

She gently stroked the door beyond the hospital room.

Her sister must be praying.

Not leaving Lee Ha-yul’s side for a moment, just waiting for her to wake up.

To place another burden on such a sister’s shoulders.

Han Suho couldn’t do it.

So it’s right for her to bear it herself.

Isn’t it freedom she couldn’t have obtained if it weren’t for her sister?

“I’m sorry.”

She was about to leave.

Perhaps, meeting face to face privately, from now on.

“─What is.”

“…”

“What are you sorry for?”

It was a coincidence.

Han Seoyeon was not inside the hospital room, but behind Han Suho.

“Ah… That’s.”

“Tell me.”

“…”

“Tell me. Please.”

There was no vitality in her voice.

Her eyes were dried up, looking almost like those of a dead person.

“I can’t lose anything more now.”

“Sister…”

“I!”

Therefore, there is a desperation that is felt even more.

Therefore, it was a desperate cry.

“I don’t want to lose anything anymore…!”

Han Seoyeon is not a munchkin protagonist.

She lost the qualification to be called a protagonist.

“So tell me. Everything,”

“…I’m sorry.”

No.

To begin with, someone like her never had the right to act like a protagonist.

“No. I can’t just depend on you anymore, sister.”

“I don’t want that!”

Just as the qualities of an avid reader and a great writer are different.

She is just an ordinary person who admired munchkin protagonists.

“I will protect.”

Even if that’s the case.

“I will protect everyone…!”

No.

She doesn’t want to be like when she couldn’t protect Lee Ha-yul again.

“Let me protect. Please.”

Han Seoyeon earnestly begged.

Only then did Han Suho understand anew how kind her sister was.

“Give me the right to protect…”

Night has fallen before they knew it.

Even though the curtain of darkness has fallen, the city lights don’t go out.

“How was it? Today.”

“…”

Yoo Sua walked side by side with Blossom on the street.

“…Won’t you give me any answer, even a little? I’m getting hurt, you know?”

“I don’t know.”

Still an awkward distance.

But strangely, it seemed less awkward than before.

“I don’t understand the intent of the question ‘how was it’.”

“What’s that about?”

Of course, this might just be Yoo Sua’s personal misconception.

Blossom’s way of speaking was consistently stiff and frustrating.

“I’m just asking if you had fun today.”

“That’s too broad a question.”

But Yoo Sua chose to believe in that misconception.

“I don’t know what standard to use for ‘fun’.”

“But you’re not saying no, right?”

“…”

This much is enough for now.

It’s only been two days since they met, after all.

It would be strange if her heart opened up immediately.

It was a matter of approaching slowly.

When eating spicy food, she gets flustered, and when taking pictures, she’s amazed.

Isn’t that proper proof that she’s human?

“How unpleasant.”

And disaster struck in an instant.

“Using someone else’s tool as you please.”

Suddenly, Yoo Sua realized there was no crowd on the street.

There was no sense of human presence in the area at all.

Except for one person.

The middle-aged man in front of her.

“Come back, Blossom.”

“Yes.”

Blossom answered without a moment’s hesitation.

Eventually, she was about to take a step.

“No.”

“…”

“Don’t go.”

She couldn’t move.

Yoo Sua blocked her.

“…What do you think you’re doing?”

Intense charisma and killing intent prickle her skin.

The man’s low voice was filled with anger.

“I am that child’s guardian.”

“…How should I put this? I’m quite quick-witted, you see.”

Yoo Sua answered, disregarding him.

“What kind of guardian in this world calls their own child a tool?”

Her expression was also distorted.

“This is not a matter for an outsider to meddle in.”

“No. Because I’m not an outsider.”

“Oh? Then what are you?”

“A friend.”

Yoo Sua didn’t back down.

It wasn’t because she didn’t know the difference in power.

“A friend, you say…”

“That’s right.”

Even though she lost her status window, she’s been through her fair share of experiences.

So she can tell.

Even if it’s not visible in numbers.

How much power the man in front of her has.

And how much of a gap there is between herself and him.

“We played together all day, even today. If this isn’t friendship, what is it?”

“…Huh.”

Still, she doesn’t back down.

Because she and Blossom were already friends.

“What do you think? Blossom.”

“I…”

Thought.

Blossom had no memory of being injected with such a thing.

She is just a tool that carries out orders.

If so, the answer was predetermined.

“I am a tool. Tools don’t have…”

“No.”

A homunculus created with Firefly Group’s technology.

That should be all.

“You are a person.”

“No. I am a tool.”

“You’re a person. No matter what anyone says. Even if you consider yourself a tool.”

Yoo Sua denied that answer.

She shook her head, saying it was clearly the wrong answer.

“You just haven’t realized it yet.”

“…What makes you so certain?”

“Because I had a time too. A time when I was wandering, similar to you.”

Yoo Sua was also once blocked by the wrong answer.

She thought her life was insignificant, and that she herself was nothing more than someone’s tool.

“There was pure chance. Someone I didn’t know the name of, someone I met for the first time.”

She lived such a life.

Even thinking of herself as a tragic heroine.

“I was saved. By a conveniently descended miracle.”

Not anymore.

She was able to become a person by receiving help from people.

“So now it’s my turn to repay that grace to someone else. Because such a virtuous cycle is the best result that relationships between people can produce.”

Passing on received grace to another.

Such a cycle is something that only the human species can achieve.

“Blossom.”

Yoo Sua asked.

“Are you really a tool that doesn’t think anything at all?”

“…”

“There must be something. Something you want, something you pursue.”

Blossom was silent for a moment.

Then what came to her mind was.

“…Sister.”

From the time she was in the glass container.

A word that instinctively came to mind.

“I want to meet my sisters. I want to meet them and talk to them.”

“What’s this? You do have a proper goal.”

It was a decent, human-like thought.

“Let’s go meet them. Later, definitely.”

To say this girl isn’t human, does that even make sense?

“See? From any perspective, this child is not a tool.”

“Nonsense.”

“The nonsense is what you’re spouting.”

Yoo Sua took a stance.

“I won’t hand over this child…!”

“How tedious.”

Han Joon-hyuk said dryly.

And lightning struck.

“Aaargh…!”

There wasn’t even time to react.

Just screaming was all she could do.

“Ugh, uuuuaaaaargh!”

Yoo Sua’s fighting style is tricky.

She gains an advantage using multiple abilities that apply replication.

To some extent, she can guarantee a chance of winning even against ability users stronger than herself.

But that’s only to some extent.

In the face of an overwhelming difference in power.

Yoo Sua, who wasn’t a player, couldn’t even respond.

“…Ah.”

Her legs give out.

With a single strike, Yoo Sua was on the brink of life and death.

“Haa, haa…!”

“You didn’t turn to dust. Did I misjudge my strength?”

It hurts.

It hurts like dying.

“Now do you understand your place a little?”

“No. Not at all!”

She wants to give up right away.

“I said I won’t hand her over! Not to someone who treats this child as a tool!”

“…I don’t understand. You’ve only met for a day.”

“The one who doesn’t understand is you.”

She stands up.

She doesn’t fall.

“That single day of meeting can be special between people.”

It’s just physical pain at best.

Compared to mental pain, it’s nothing.

“People have free will! They don’t have to mortgage their lives to someone! So!”

Yoo Sua proudly shouted out loud.

“I can’t hand her over. Not to someone like you who thinks of this child as a tool…!”

“How foolish.”

Han Joon-hyuk gave an indifferent look.

Then, lightning strikes again.

“What are you doing?”

His gaze twitches.

It distorts unpleasantly.

“Blossom.”

“It’s a person.”

A shield of lightning.

It blocked his lightning.

“I thought I should protect people.”

“…I misjudged.”

Intense killing intent covers the space.

“I don’t need a tool that doesn’t listen to its owner.”

The climate distorts.

Dark clouds cover the sky.

And lightning strikes.

“Disappear.”

“No.”

Slash.

The lightning was cut.

“No one is disappearing. Not anymore.”

“…Sis, ter.”

Elegant long black hair adorns the night.

Ruby-colored eyes burning red shine in the dark night.

“Are you going to interfere with me again?”

“I told you. Don’t lay a hand on my sister.”

“That thing is not your sister. It’s just a tool.”

“No. She’s my sister. Even if we just met, she’s my sister.”

“How stubborn.”

“I don’t care if it’s stubborn.”

Han Seoyeon gripped the sword hilt.

“This time, I won’t hesitate.”

It was a determined statement.

It was a girl’s struggle to never lose something precious again.

“I will kill you.”

Han Seoyeon resolved to commit murder.

“─There’s no need for that.”

But the girl couldn’t kill Han Joon-hyuk.

For an extremely simple reason.

A group rushes in.

Wearing all-black military uniforms that blend into the night.

What they hold in their hands are new-model guns imbued with mana.

In South Korea, they are precious items, with only a very small quantity made by the hero’s ability.

How could those who dared to receive the hero’s bestowed gifts be terrorists?

That group was the legitimate military of the Republic of Korea.

The meaning of this is clear.

There is only one commander-in-chief of this military in the Republic of Korea.

“Lee Yeon…!”

“Judging criminals is the job of the state.”

Red hair like a lion’s mane.

Golden eyes flickering, illuminating the dark night.

“Han Joon-hyuk.”

The Leader of the People declared.

“I will arrest you, no, summarily execute you on charges of terrorism including destruction of government facilities, murder, and theft.”

“Are you saying you’ll wage war against me!”

“You say ridiculous things. War, you say?”

The sharp spear, like a guillotine, points at the criminal.

“Don’t have any unnecessary delusions. Here there are only executioners and criminals.”

The idea of being equals was just the man’s delusion.

“To think a criminal who dared to use a child for inhumane experiments would talk about war.”

Countless spears cover even the sky filled with dark clouds.

That was the end.

“Disappear.”

Harming children is an unforgivable act.

Daring to treat a name of a flower as a tool is even more so.

“Your role ends here.”

The spears are fired.

The spears made of insulating material, disregarding the lightning, unilaterally pierce through the man’s body.