Chapter 100: The Horrifying Liar (5)

[100] 15. The Horrifying Liar (5)

The Great Divide slowly revealed itself along with the sunset.

The leaves grow darker, and then, above the treetops, a mountain peak appears. Following that, as the early stars rose, the mountainside emerged from the ground.

And the Great Divide that came into view… was different from what the storytellers had described.

In other words, it didn’t look like a giant anthill, nor like a diseased, dying mountain.

Rather, it simply looked like a forest of strange trees.

The black holes were tree trunks, and the sunset-painted rocks were leaves. Occasionally, some long gaps that weren’t holes seemed to be roots.

*People must be living inside those trees.*

…*and among them, Feya would be there too.*

“You worried?”

Irene’s question. Only then did I realize I had been anxiously tapping my fingers.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. We’ve prepared escape measures.”

Irene patted my chest, where the return stone was kept. From her tone, it looks like she was trying to soothe my anxiety after noticing it.

However, Irene was mistaking the source of my worries.

I wasn’t worried about Feya. And I certainly wasn’t worried about things going wrong.

Seeing the Great Divide, I finally understood.

I was scared of *myself*.

My resolve to return to the original world was being constantly tested. It had been that way ever since finding out that those four were the ones who brought me here. My rationality was powerless before my increasingly drawn heart.

But what if the Feya I encountered was broken beyond repair, and my resolve crumbled as a result…

I tried to rub my eyes to erase these thoughts. Just then, I heard Amy’s voice coming from the driver’s seat.

“The outpost is coming into view. I’m stopping.”

The carriage slowly came to a stop, and Amy entered the carriage.

“If we go any further, we’ll be spotted by their scouts. If we’re going to start the operation, now is the time.”

Saying this, Amy looked at me grimly. Irene also turned to look at me.

The meaning in those gazes was clear.

“Have you decided, Oppa?”

I remained silent for a moment.

You see, this was a matter of trust.

As mentioned before, the Empire in this world was at war with the Derins of the Great Divide. It wasn’t just a few skirmishes, but a full-blown war.

Meaning, to reach Feya, we had to cross the front line. A line composed of hostility, vigilance, and all sorts of deadly weapons, and we had to cross it *twice*.

Whether you’re a deserter, or an enemy trying to infiltrate a camp, the danger is the same either way.

It definitely wasn’t going to be an easy feat. And neither Irene nor I could come up with a good plan.

However, Amy was different.

Her plan was simple and clean:

Pack me and Irene separately in boxes to look like cargo. Load them onto the carriage and send us to the Great Divide.

How?

Using her authority as the Captain of the Central Knights.

The Amy of this world was the leader of the prestigious Central Knights and the Emperor’s most trusted subordinate. Though she couldn’t move the entire army, sending a single carriage to the enemy was nothing.

And Irene had already contacted Feya. Meaning that the carriage wouldn’t be greeted with a volley of fire arrows before it even reached the Great Divide.

It honestly seemed like a decent plan, if you just looked at it on the surface. But again, it was a matter of trust.

I didn’t trust Amy yet.

Irene might be saying she’s trustworthy, but I still remembered what had happened at the lakeshore.

She was cutting her own wrist. Just because I hadn’t confided in her.

That kind of self-harm, it wasn’t something you could do with a clear mind.

And the ‘Amy of this world’ before my eyes now was fundamentally the same person.

For someone like that to be so quick to help me leave was something I found hard to believe. Even more so since she was also involved in bringing me to ‘this world’.

“Could you excuse us for a moment?”

Irene suddenly spoke to Amy. Amy left the carriage without showing even a trace of displeasure.

So it was just the two of us left in the carriage.

Irene hesitated for a moment before reaching out to me. Grabbing the back of my neck, she pressed her forehead against mine.

“Seojun Oppa.”

Seojun. Even that name now felt different. It’s a word that felt both faded and strangely unfamiliar.

“I know it’s hard for you to trust Amy. Because you saw what state our world’s Amy was in. It’s understandable that you wouldn’t be able to, even if you wanted to.”

Irene looked into my eyes with her blue ones.

“So trust me instead.”

Her hand, gripping the back of my neck, tightened. A faint smile appeared on her lips.

“If you really can’t trust Amy, then don’t trust Amy. Trust me who trusts Amy.”

“…You want to make that kind of joke in this situation?”

I burst out laughing in disbelief. Irene giggled and replied.

“Ah, what can I do? It came to mind. And it’s not even wrong.”

Then she rubbed the back of my neck and looked into my eyes once more. Unlike before, her eyes this time were clouded, pulling me in, almost as if I were being hypnotized.

“You know, Oppa, I would never harm you. We’re the only two in this entire world who remember South Korea. For each other, we’re the only proof that we’re not a lunatic suffering from delusions.”

For a moment, I realized her eyes weren’t clear. From afar, they had looked like a clear blue lake, but up close, they were like an ocean where an oil tanker had sunk.

Dark emotions, like crude oil, were floating around her pupils.

“We’re family, not connected by blood or flesh, but real family. We’re the only blood relatives who share a world.”

Then, Irene gently embraced me.

“So trust me. I’m always on your side, Oppa.”

Irene’s body felt as cold as autumn. It felt as if she might crumble if I pushed her away, as if warmth would only appear if I held her tightly.

I sighed and hugged her back.

“Okay, okay, I get it. I trust you.”

Thinking that the word ‘family’ was a bit of a low blow.

Irene, having finally received my consent, smiled broadly. Then, resting her chin on my shoulder, she said,

“That’s a relief.”

“Relief? Why?”

“If you hadn’t listened to me even after I said all that, I was going to kick you in the shin. How dare you.”

I thought about it for a moment, and then gave her what I thought was the best possible answer.

I gave Irene a knock on the crown of her head.

***

After that, everything went as smooth as ice.

It seemed like Amy hadn’t come up with this plan overnight. All sorts of items came pouring out as she opened her subspace pocket.

An illusion magic tool to disguise us as a pile of potatoes,

Moon Wolf fur to conceal our mana,

a powerful deodorizing agent to even erase our body scent,

and most importantly, large boxes to put us in.

“Drink this.”

Just as I was about to enter the box and get settled, Amy suddenly handed me a vial.

“…What is it?”

“It’s a sleeping potion. You shouldn’t make any unnecessary noise while being transported.”

I shook my head.

“I’m not that incompetent.”

“You still don’t completely trust me.”

She hit the nail on the head, I remained silent.

Amy calmly put the vial away in her pocket.

“Believe it or not, I just want to see the end.”

Only when pronouncing the word ‘end’ did a heat flicker in Amy’s eyes.

“Anyway, I won’t force you to drink it if you don’t want to. Get in and position yourself. I’ll close the box when you’re ready.”

And then Amy turned away.

I stared at her back for a while before getting into the box. I was about to curl up and lie down, but then I sat up again.

It was because of the words that were stuck in my heart.

“Amy.”

Amy turns around. Her impassive face showed not even a hint of emotion.

I let out a sigh and said.

“Even if you really did betray me, and even if your wrist really was cut off because of me. I would forgive you. Because…”

I smiled wryly.

“You’re my big sister. How could I possibly resent you?”

Though I felt a bit sorry towards Irene, Amy was no different from my own flesh and blood.

She was the one who’d taken my hand, the hand that had been beaten and abused at the orphanage, and ran away with me.

She was the one who’d always held my hand when I’d sleep, whether I was shivering from the cold or sweating from the summer heat.

And she was my first love.

I furrowed my brow.

“So don’t talk about seeing the end and just live, okay? I’m sure the ‘me’ in this world would want that for his sister too.”

That was all.

That was the best I could do. Even if it was just words, leaving behind the best comfort I could offer.

However, words, in the end, are weightless.

“My Rem is dead.”

Amy’s expression remained impassive, but her fists were pale white.

“And the dead don’t speak.”

Red blood flowed between her fingers. However, Amy’s eyes grew even more clouded.

“While I appreciate the sentiment, your words mean nothing, Rem. No one’s words do, in fact.”

For the first time, clear sadness appeared on Amy’s face. She lowered her gaze and spoke.

“…Get in the box.”

It was a painful sentence for both her and me.

…

…

…

Being trapped inside a box for several hours is a terrible experience. Even if you don’t have claustrophobia.

The uncomfortable position is one thing,

The tension of possibly being discovered is another,

But really, the most terrible part is the darkness.

A savage darkness that roughly painted my vision black.

Darkness is a space of imagination and the unknown.

As you stare into it, all sorts of thoughts emerge. Gloomy future, grotesque forms of monsters, and unsettling fantasies that can’t be called delusions.

Like fingernail marks left on the inside of one’s mind.

…

And in the end, I… inevitably remember the days when I was blind.

The time when I didn’t even have a hand to hold a cane, and had to crawl around on all fours on the streets.

The pain would resurface, and my teeth clatter against each other. An intangible fear slowly tightens around my throat.

The past threatens to swallow the present.

But it’s only for a while.

As happiness isn’t eternal, neither is pain. Dawn always comes at the end of even the longest night, and even perpetual snow eventually melts.

This isn’t just me quoting some old saying. It’s what I’ve learned through my own life.

Amy,

Clara,

Parsley,

Feya and the Captain.

Even pain isn’t eternal,

and my life was proof of that.

That’s why humans cannot help but move forward.

‘Huu…’

I took a shallow breath, having barely calmed my panic attack. And then I pressed my ear against the wall of the box, trying to figure out where I were now.

It was then that a polite voice came from outside the box.

“We’ve arrived. Please come out, Mr. Rem.”

*Wait, already?*

*Was I really suffering from a panic attack that long?*

Anxiety mixed in with my bewilderment.

This can’t be.

And besides, that wasn’t how the Derin spoke.

If anything, it was more like those high-nosed nobles.

I pulled out the return stone and dagger from inside my clothes.

It didn’t matter if Amy really had betrayed me or not. What mattered was finding a way to get out of this…

*Crack-*

With a flash of light, a steel hand burst into the box.

“Wait, what…”

The steel hand grabs me by the collar and then throws me out.

A blow that knocked the air out of my lungs. My vision spins.

As soon as I regained my senses, I scrambled to my feet. I adjusted my grip on the dagger, ready to fight.

But, when I saw who it was that had come running towards me, I couldn’t raise my arm.

She pulled me into a tight embrace.

Burying her face in my chest, she clung to me.

“Rem…! Rem…!!”

Red hair, and eyes that were the same color.

She might be wearing a crown and a silk dress, but I could tell. From the warm, wet sensation spreading through my chest, I could tell.

A woman who’d always had tears in her eyes, despite her blunt way of speaking.

Rosalia.

“I missed you…! I really missed you…!! Really…!!”

Every word flows with desperation. The weight of her tears presses against my chest.

At that moment, I realized that the human heart is like a scale. But unlike the old analogy, humans aren’t the ones who use it.

We are merely water droplets flowing along the arms of the scale.

When the scale tilts, we flow down. We’re pulled in. We make a choice.

“I’m so sorry… I couldn’t help it because I missed you so much… I was so lonely…”

Rosalia pulled her face away from my chest. Her makeup was smudged and ruined. And because of that, she looked even more pitiful.

When her hand touched my cheek, I heard the sound of the scale tilting.

“I love you… I really love you… from the beginning, you were the only one for me… for me…”

But the scale in my heart had already been tilted for a long time.

“Ugh…!”

Grimacing, I pushed Rosalia away. At the same time, I took out the return stone from inside my clothes and threw it on the ground with all my might.

*Crack-*

The return stone shattered, a clear sound ringing in the air.

And then.

And then…

…And then…

“Why… Nothing…”

I stared at the broken pieces of the stone with empty eyes. It didn’t emit the blue shimmer of teleportation, nor were there even the faintest traces of magic.

All it held was my stupid, bewildered face, reflected in each shard.

“Thank you, Rem.”

I looked up at Rosalia. She was getting up with a joyous smile spreading across her face.

“I thought you’d use that return stone and run away the moment you saw me. But seeing you hesitate even for a moment…”

Rosalia’s red eyes sparkled with happiness.

“I guess ‘we’ aren’t completely strangers to you?”

I barely managed to swallow down my surprise. And carefully chose my words.

“Rosalia, you’re making a huge mistake. I…”

“Rem, stop trying to buy time.”

Rosalia wiped her smudged makeup with a handkerchief that a servant had handed her.

Then, the fragile woman who had clung to me was gone. Only a strange woman I didn’t know was smiling at me.

“Do I seem unfamiliar?”

My shoulders trembled at her watchfulness. But Rosalia remained calm.

“It’s understandable that I’d seem unfamiliar. So much has happened since your death… So very much…”

Rosalia’s eyes sink into sadness.

*This is my chance.*

I reached for the magic tool on my thigh…

“Rem, I’ll warn you not to try anything stupid.”

My hand froze. How…

“How did Rosalia know about the magic tool I hid on my thigh.”

I feel my face going blank at Rosalia’s words. Rosalia approached me with an amused smile.

I…

“Reflexively stepped back. An instinctive revulsion twisted like a worm in my mind. Wait, how is she able to know and say all of this? Rosalia, what have you…”

Rosalia stands before my completely frozen self. Then, with a sweet smile, she continued speaking.

“‘We’ knew that you’d try to go back the moment you arrived. So we put in a simple precaution.”

Her slender finger touches my temple.

“We created a passage by forcefully connecting your soul with ‘our’ soul, and that in that passage you’ll flow into ‘ours’.”

I felt a chill reach deep into my bones, her words meant…

“Yes, Rem. ‘We’ can read your mind. Not just your thoughts, but your emotions, your feelings, your pain… Everything you feel.”

Her hand caressed my cheek. It felt as if a blade made of ice were grazing my skin.

“Don’t be afraid, Rem. It’s all for you.”

Rosalia smiled.

“You will be happy here.”