episode_0114

Rewind.

The warm interior is torn apart, and the cold streets fill its empty space once again.

A familiar yet unfamiliar street.

Agnes is thrown back into the middle of the past, where changes can only be discerned through the stores and alleys and the clothing of people passing by.

No, more accurately, I was drawn to the child who was driven there.

“Sister.”

When I raise my head, I see a boy.

He was tall again.

I lost a little more breast fat.

The young Deltan, who was now more appropriately called a boy than a child, was smiling brightly.

“Sister!”

After a month, he runs to me and hugs me.

The force that hugged my waist had become a little stronger.

Agnes grinned.

“It’s been a while, right?”

“Yes! It’s been exactly one year!”

The face of the child who raised his head showed a glimpse of deep longing.

Agnes patted her back.

one year.

Only then did this driving cycle become visible.

“We can only meet on Christmas.”

“Huh?”

“No.”

Agnes stroked Deltan’s head.

“We will meet today again next year. Maybe.”

“Well, then I guess I don’t have to send messages anymore?”

“Yes. Sorry for not being able to come often.”

“No! Because you too have work to do!”

The smiling face is bright and bright.

Has the situation improved a little?

As I thought about it, I looked at my outfit and it didn’t seem like that.

The clothes were so tattered that it was obvious that they had been rolled around on the street.

His face was full of small wounds, and when I released the hug, I saw his swollen and messed up hands.

“… Are you still under that beggar?”

“Yes.”

Deltan nodded.

A dark look passed over my face for a moment, but it soon disappeared.

“But it’s okay! My sister will come again, so I can hold on!”

Those were truly heartbreaking words.

These were words that clearly revealed the situation of a child who was driven to the point where he had to let a strange woman, with whom he had spent only two nights, become the reason for his survival.

Agnes looked at Deltan with clouded eyes, and only when Deltan tilted his head did she regain her smile.

“Let’s go first. What do you want to eat today?”

“Chicken! I want to eat that chicken!”

“Chicken?”

“Yes!”

What kind of dish is it again?

Agnes knew very little about the cuisine of this country, so there was a place where she felt embarrassed.

… In fact, it wasn’t just cooking, it was everything.

However, beyond culture and race, Agnes often felt a strange sense of heterogeneity when looking at this city.

‘please… .’

So much so that it feels like a different world.

“Sister?”

Deltan is upset.

It was visible as soon as the nerves were even slightly distant, and through this, Agnes was able to realize that Deltan was thirsty for love and attention.

There wasn’t much she could give, so Agnes wanted to give at least that.

“I was wondering if there was a place selling it nearby. I can’t remember it at all. Can you guide me?”

“Yes!”

Deltan smiled brightly.

What followed was the same as the previous two times.

Agnes sold the returned jewel ring to a jeweler and used the money to fill the child’s stomach and give him new clothes.

So I listened to stories about the past year, and fell asleep in an inn high in the sky.

A strange sense of heterogeneity felt throughout.

It wasn’t until the trip was repeated three more times that Agnes realized what it was.

*

This world is a mirror that reflects the past of the Deltans.

As such, all Agnes could know as she continued this drive was what the young Deltan told her.

In other words, the world is visible only to the extent that Deltans know.

What Agnes learned during the three trips was the scenery of this world, the holiday called Christmas, and several dishes.

And on the fourth drive, Agnes learned Deltan’s age.

“I’m ten years old. Now my age is in double digits.”

Deltan said with a slightly more boyish smile.

That day, Agnes sat in front of a street fountain, ate a hot dog, and bought wide-legged clothes for Delta, who was about to grow up.

We also slept at the same inn.

Agnes did not know the world yet.

So the fourth ride.

As Eleven-year-old Deltan began to see the world, Agnes’ eyes also opened.

“The beggar gang has been taken over by the gang. People say that the security in Harlem has gotten better… Honestly, I don’t know. It seems to me to be the same. Oh, and the president changed. They talk about it everywhere they go, but will it make a difference in my life?”

I learned that this land is a land without a king, and that it is not as small as I thought.

I learned that the foundation of this land was science, and that magic was considered fiction.

It is truly heterogeneous.

In earnest, the sense of heterogeneity turned into a sense of discomfort and brought up uncomfortable feelings, but even so, Agnes could not pay attention to it right away.

This is why Deltan, who speaks of the world, was so full of original thoughts despite his young age.

I could sense indescribable resentment from the tone of voice that seemed to be sick of everything.

“… I don’t think anything will change. What if I die after rolling around on this street for the rest of my life? As soon as you cross that street, everyone has happy faces. I want to kill him.”

“Why do you say that?”

I hugged Deltan.

Only then did Deltan tremble and reveal his true feelings while crying.

“… Ben is dead.”

“A friend you used to go hunting with?”

“Yes, I caught a cold, but no one helped me. I went to the hospital in Central City, but they kicked me out because they didn’t have any money. That’s probably not the reason. Apparently they didn’t treat Ben because he was black. They ignored me because I was yellow.”

“It won’t be like that.”

“Or what is it?”

This is a country where racial discrimination exists.

It was that kind of world, and the Deltans were an underdog and a minority.

Agnes had never experienced anything like that, so she couldn’t sympathize deeply.

As such, all I can do is hope that this child does not break down.

“… It’s not your fault.”

That’s how I finished the drive.

When the car came back on, Agnes had a hunch as she saw the Deltan she was facing.

That this is the last time.

*

The attire has changed.

Deltan, who always wore only the clothes he bought, was wearing what looked like a school uniform that fit his body perfectly.

The scarf was bright red, and the eyes looking up at the sky had a strange longing and emptiness intertwined.

Long, Deltan exhales.

“Deltain.”

Agnes called the Deltans.

The Deltan’s head turned.

Their eyes met, and Agnes smiled.

“You’ve grown a lot.”

Deltan, whose height had now reached the tip of his chin, grinned.

It was an expression that a grown Delta person would make.

“It’s been a while.”

Deltan approached.

No words were exchanged.

For a short period of time, their gazes were only focused on each other, and Deltan seemed to hesitate.

Agnes said.

“Shall we go first?”

As always, Agnes stopped by a jewelry store, grabbed some money, and headed to the restaurant.

It was a pizza place.

Deltan was still picking pickles and pushing them into corners.

Agnes looked at it and thought blankly.

What has changed about the Deltan, a certain new quality in his atmosphere and a naiveté that has fallen away.

For some reason, there was growth and change in Delta people that made me feel sad.

I wanted to know.

And Agnes had an appropriate question to ask.

“It came out. Beggar gang.”

“Yes.”

“Are those clothes school uniforms?”

“I entered boarding school. I found it worthwhile to pick up books that someone had thrown away and read them. I passed with first place and am receiving a scholarship.”

Until last year, it was a time when I was venting my resentment towards the world.

What is he thinking now?

Agnes asked with doubt.

“Is there something you want to do?”

“Yes.”

Deltan raised his head.

Pull out a tissue, wipe your lips, and then crumple it.

Deltan said after putting it on the table.

“I will become a doctor.”

What immediately comes to mind is what happened in the last cycle.

It is the voice of a boy who was venting his anger over the death of a friend he had been begging for.

doctor.

Things that exist on this earth in place of priests.

Agnes smiled when she remembered that.

“You want to be someone who saves people.”

“No, I’m chasing money and fame.”

“So?”

“If you have that, you can live well.”

Agnes clenched her fists.

I finally understood.

The longing and emptiness I felt the moment I saw him in this cycle.

It was a desperate desire for survival.

It was an empty space created by losing a dream.

The mixture took on such pessimistic forms that it broke Agnes’ heart.

I’m only thirteen years old.

Deltans were too young to know such things.

“So, I can’t see my sister anymore. I’m going to study harder. Without wasting a single day or a moment.”

The boy’s voice trembles as he speaks.

Should I hold on to it?

‘no.’

It wasn’t.

Regardless of the adult Deltans he knew and the younger Deltans he had ever met, Deltans were not people who wanted such things.

Deltans are people who constantly move forward.

He is a person who burns like a flame.

This is a person who considers it something to be proud of, but is embarrassed to stop and rely on someone else.

I think about this land again.

A very heterogeneous world.

Saying I want to become a doctor.

And in reality, the words Deltan uttered and the things he had done through his experiences so far.

All of the past becomes pieces of a puzzle that eventually fit together.

‘I see.’

In the first place, Deltans were people from another world.

The reason his past does not exist on the continent is because he is not from the continent.

The reason he tried to save himself, the reason he tried to save the world, and the research he continued even after defeating the demon king.

He may have endured this in order to protect what he had achieved through a fierce struggle, perhaps in order to return to this land.

To summarize, it could be said that he was the person who tried to leave in the first place.

What should I say?

The thought that Deltan might leave makes me want to hang myself right now.

Even then, that feeling disappeared like melting snow, and the reason was Deltan’s words and actions.

Should I really leave?

Are you going to abandon yourself?

I think that may not be the only answer.

But even if you think about it this much, you won’t find an answer.

Also, the answer to this boy must have been decided from the beginning.

“I will cheer you on. All the paths you will take in the future.”

Agnes grinned.

“You will definitely become the most amazing and greatest person in this world. Let’s meet again when that time comes. When you become a truly great person, you will meet me. Being at the same eye level.”

The boy Deltan’s eyes wavered.

Her lips were tightly pursed, and a breathtaking smile soon appeared over them.

“… I will be bigger. If it’s the same eye level, it’s too small. Still, he’s a guy.”

Agnes’ eyes widened slightly.

It soon folded in a smooth arc.

“I made a mistake.”

Damn it-

There was a crack in the space.

Agnes paid no heed and spoke to the young Deltans still remaining.

“It will be bigger than me. Whether in body or mind, you will become that kind of person.”

Cheering filled with faith was probably what the boy wanted to hear the most.

The boy probably wanted someone who would take the first step toward becoming a man.

Agnes finished the role.

Soon, the entire space disappeared with the boy’s smile.

What remains is a pure white land where nothing exists.

And from afar, looking directly at oneself, is an adult Deltan.

Agnes slowly walked towards him.

To hear all the facts that young Deltans couldn’t hear.