episode_0060

18. Nodeul Island, Radio, and His Confession (4)

” If it were me… I’d like to meet him and talk. ”

Elina, who had been resting her chin on her hand as if she had heard an unexpected answer, asked me with a serious expression.

” Why… do you think so? ”

” First of all, you said that it’s been a little over a month since we met, right? Of course, falling in love… can be love at first sight, so I don’t think the length of time we’ve been together really matters. It’s just… ”

” Just? ”

I took a deep breath and continued talking calmly.

Because I thought that if anything was a little messed up, I might show my emotions… just as they are.

” I think it’s better to meet in person and talk to each other, rather than asking others through letters like this. ”

” So you want to meet in person, listen to my story, and then decide? ”

” Yes, if you like someone, I want to tell you to be brave and ask them directly. Isn’t that something you can do? If you like them… that is. ”

” Ha! Yeah, that’s right. If you like it, you should have the courage to ask it yourself! ”

After that, the radio’s closing song started playing and the radio ended.

” Okay~ Thank you all for listening. And thank you to Charlotte for suddenly joining us as a special guest! ”

” Thank you for your hard work. ”

When the radio show ended, I followed Elina, who had signaled with a wink, out to the back of the studio.

” So that story was written by Hyunseok, right? ”

” Yes… ”

” What, why are you so weak? ”

I just leaned against the wall and then immediately collapsed.

” Haa, does that give you strength? At a moment when I didn’t expect it… It’s like receiving a confession… ”

” So you don’t like it? ”

” I don’t hate it, but… ”

” I told you, right? Eventually, the moment to choose will come sooner or later. Run away like me and regret it, or… ”

” What do you think Elina should do? ”

” Me? I think it’s better to just meet up and talk like you said earlier. That way, there won’t be any misunderstandings. ”

” Of course… Haa, what should I do… ”

Unable to cover his face with both hands, he pulled his knees in and buried his head in them.

” Haha, you know what I’m thinking right now? ”

” How would I know that! ”

” I’m being harsh, but I think you look like a girl who’s really fallen in love and has been confessed to. ”

” Huh?! ”

At those words, I raised my buried head and glared at her.

She took a cigarette out of her pocket as if nothing had happened to the look in my eyes, and quickly lit it using her spirit and started smoking.

” Hoo, if you want to hear the story, go to the rooftop across the connecting bridge on the 3rd floor. It’s quiet and nice there. ”

” I’ll think about it… ”

I got up from my seat and staggered off to find Yeonseo.

I wanted Yeonseo to listen to the story, even if she may or may not have heard it.

On the way there, I heard Elina’s voice from behind me.

” Charlotte, don’t worry too much. I think it’s okay to just let your emotions take over when you talk after meeting. ”

I nodded to her words and started walking away, but then stopped and turned my head to look in her direction, but she was already gone and all I could smell was the faint smell of cigarette smoke.

‘ Surrender your body to your emotions…? That’s like… saying that I… like Hyunseok… ‘

Even as I shook my head and said it couldn’t be true, my unconscious emotions were slowly falling, drop by drop, creating ripples in the water inside my heart.

*****

After finishing the radio, I walked around the settlement, and the sun was slowly setting and shining on me.

Since I didn’t know anything about this place, I went around asking people where Yeonseo was.

Before meeting Hyunseok, I had to talk to her first, because it seemed like it would be calm, but inside, my heart was filled with strong emotions, so I thought it would not overflow even a little.

I searched for her like that and found Yeonseo lying quietly in the rest area in the center of the second floor, looking up at the sky.

‘No, but where did Hyun-seok, who said he was going to look for Yeon-seo, go?’

The weather, which might have felt a little warmer as the sun had already set, was slowly changing to a cool breeze blowing from the river, shaking Yeonseo’s hair.

As I approached, Yeonseo slowly got up from her lying position, and her eyes were slightly swollen.

” You were here. ”

” What, were you looking for me? ”

” Yeah. I have something I want to talk about. ”

” Heung~ After all that, you were having fun on the radio? ”

” That’s… I got caught and that’s how it turned out. ”

I slowly sat down next to Yeonseo. She took a deep breath and spoke to me while watching the sun set.

” Are you okay? They say that in a month, all the places we met, including this place, will disappear. ”

” I was surprised at first, but it’s okay now. I’ve seen worse than that anyway. ”

” Haha! You are different from the others. I am scared to death after hearing that story. ”

” Are you scared? ”

When I asked her again, Yeonseo got up from her seat, turned around to look at me, and started screaming with tears streaming down her face.

” Of course! How could it not be so when all the places, people, and memories I cherish are gone?!

Even if you run away, there are towers everywhere! If you can’t conquer even one of them, then in the end, there’s no other way but destruction! ”

” Then all you have to do is attack the tower. ”

” Strategy?! Hey! Even though I said that the three of us conquered the tower, it’s just like any other tower with an easy difficulty level!

That tower on Namsan is a place that people who were tired of conquering have tried to conquer but given up on!

Do you think there are only one or two places like that?! In Seoul alone, there are four more, excluding the one in Namsan! ”

The way she spoke to me, pouring out her anger, was clearly one of fear.

I approached her and hugged her trembling body.

” Don’t worry. I’m here. So it’s okay. You can do it. ”

” What? Excessive self-consciousness… something like that…! ”

” I’m starting to realize that I came back here not just because I wanted to come back. ”

” Charlotte…? ”

I returned to Earth because I wanted to return, but now it seemed that that wasn’t the only reason.

I had a vague feeling that perhaps this time he had returned to save the world.

I think that’s why he’s hiding something from me while talking to the gods…

” If it doesn’t work out after a while, then just give up, right? Right? ”

” Sigh, you really… ”

” Since we’re going to live in a world like this anyway, wouldn’t it be better to fight back against destruction? ”

Yeonseo slowly began to laugh at those words, then wiped away her tears and asked me.

” Can you really do it? ”

” I have to do everything I can. There’s still a month left. ”

If you say a month is short, it is short, and if you say it is long, it is a long period of time.

During this period, you will quickly become stronger and gather information.

‘The gods wouldn’t just let it perish anyway.’

I don’t know what the gods have hidden from me.

It was so pitiful to see her looking at me while trying to hide it, so I’m letting it go now…

‘Next time… I have to ask. What on earth are you hiding from me? Patruna…! ‘

The seeds of evil planted without Charlotte’s knowledge were leading her to rebel against the gods.

She simply regarded it as a doubt towards the gods.

*****

Yeonseo and I decided to move. It was not a good place to talk like this and we were getting a little hungry.

As we were moving around like that, we found a store nearby, so we headed there, got some food there, sat down nearby, and started talking.

” Ha! So why did you come to me? It doesn’t seem like you were just trying to comfort me? ”

” Oh, did you… listen to the radio? ”

” Aha! That last story? No matter what, I knew it was Hyunseok. So? ”

I took a bite of the food I had forked over, swallowed it, and answered.

” I wanted to… talk to you… Um… Of course, I’m not saying you’ll confess to me or anything! So… ”

” So what are you going to do by talking to me? Why don’t you just confess to me and start dating? Since you like Hyunseok anyway? ”

” Me?! No?! No, I like you, but as a friend… Ouch! ”

Yeonseo suddenly pinched my cheek as I was speaking in embarrassment and covered my face with both her hands, making me look at her.

” Hey! No matter how I look at it, you can tell I like you, right? You even seduced me and… a while ago, Hyunseok did that… thing with the blanket! ”

” That… That’s what I told you!? It’s just that as a side effect of the purification, my body accepted the energy and… ”

” Even so, there are very few people who would do that to someone else, especially someone of the opposite sex… ”

” Ugh… ”

” Anyway, I don’t really have anything to say other than to just accept Hyunseok’s heart. ”

” No, there’s something like that, right? I don’t know what to do after hearing the atmosphere or something like that. Yeonseo, you must have confessed to that guy, Seojin oppa, right? ”

” No, my brother and I just said we liked each other and… um… we just did that… ”

” Huh…? What…what did you say…? ”

” Ah! Stop asking! It’s so embarrassing… Just listen to Hyunseok and leave it to the mood or feelings at that time. That’s the best. That way, you can accept and realize your own feelings. ”

” I see… Phew, thank you. I didn’t have anyone to talk about this with. ”

” Okay, go ahead and go. Ah! ”

The moment I got up from my seat and was about to go look for Hyunseok, Yeonseo grabbed my hand.

” Let’s dress up a little first. You might sweat a lot after running around here and there, okay? ”

” Oh, yeah… thank you. ”

After telling Do-hee and Yeon-seo exactly like that, I took a quick shower, put my clothes back on, and left to go find Hyun-seok.

Behind me, Yeonseo and Dohee had already talked about me and Hyunseok, so they just watched me and said, “Oh my, oh my.”

*****

I went looking for Hyunseok and was able to find him right away.

No, rather, it would be more accurate to say that he found me. In one hand he was holding a cup containing some kind of drink.

” Charlotte, that’s what I was going to say before. ”

When I met Elina and Minhee, Hyunseok asked me if I had time, using the story I couldn’t tell her.

‘Yeah, I said I had to make a choice eventually, sooner or later…’

” By the way, I have something I want to say too. Just the two of us. ”

” Really? Then where should we go? ”

” I heard about a place, let’s go there. ”

I took the cup from him and headed towards where Ms. Elina had told me to go.

Even in the evening, Nodeul Island was bustling with people singing loudly and laughing together.

But the place that Hyunseok and I headed to was so quiet that it seemed like no one was coming.

” There’s a place like this too? ”

Hyunseok started talking because he felt a little tired of just walking around without saying anything, and I also opened my mouth because I didn’t necessarily need to stay quiet like that.

” Ms. Elina told me. She said it was quiet and nice here. ”

” I see? ”

” Yeah. ”

I wanted to continue the conversation… a little longer, but my head was full of thoughts that he would soon confess to me, and I had nothing else to talk about.

Rather, in a situation where I was becoming more and more alone with him, I couldn’t hear any other sounds because of the sound of my heart beating so powerfully.

The place we arrived at with him was quite a charming place.

Hyunseok and I were simply amazed by the sight of lanterns casting soft light on the leaf-covered ceiling and people walking around in front and behind them.

‘Huh? It’s just the two of us here? Really?!’

I looked around in that atmosphere, but there was no one else besides me and Hyunseok.

I looked around and sat down on a bench in a place where it couldn’t be seen from below, looked at Hyunseok, and asked.

” So… what do you want to say? ”

” Oh, you mean the story…? ”

I looked at him, debating whether or not to speak, and took a sip of the drink he offered me to quench my thirsty throat.

” Eww! What is this? It’s not that it tastes… bad… ”

” Oh, that’s a craft beer made on Nodeul Island. It’s a little bland, but I brought it because it’s drinkable. Is it not that good? ”

” Homemade… beer? ”

I don’t know how long it’s been since I last had a drink.

Since I came back, I’ve been content with just eating proper food, so I never thought about indulgences like alcohol.

” If you don’t like it, you don’t have to drink it. ”

” No, it’s okay. I’m already thirsty and it’s better than nothing. So, wasn’t there something you wanted to say? ”

” That… Haaㅡ Wait a minute! Just wait a minute. ”

” Okay. Take your time. ”

He told me to take it slow, but he made me more and more nervous because he knew it would lead to a confession of love, saying that he liked me.

How should I respond? What should I say so that Hyunseok doesn’t get hurt and we can continue this relationship?

As I waited with those thoughts in mind, I soon found myself finishing the drink in my hand.

‘Ah, this… I’m a little tipsy since it’s been a while since I drank it…’

” Hoo-, Okay. Charlotte. What I want to say is… ”

‘Hyunseok Lee’s voice… It’s nice to listen to because it fits the quiet atmosphere well…. ‘

” I told you before, right? I was concerned because you resembled your younger sister.

But now I understand, because I think that the goddess Charlotte serves might be my sister.

There’s a story about Charlotte saying that her body is like a goddess. ”

” That’s a story we’ve already finished. Wasn’t there something else you wanted to tell me? ”

When the story that seemed like it would be a tantalizing confession turned into a story I had heard before, I felt a little hurt and blurted out.

” Sorry, honestly, this is the first time I’ve felt this way so it’s hard for me to express it properly haha… ”

” Phew, don’t be so nervous and just say what you want to say. ”

As I said that, he took a deep breath, looked at me, and began to speak.

” Yeah, actually, I sent a message to the radio station earlier. Maybe you know what I’m trying to say?

But like you said, I wanted to talk to you in person, not through writing.

At first, I must have seen you as a reflection of my sister. But now it’s different! Now, I see you as yourself, Charlotte.

When I didn’t know my heart, I was angry at Pedro for getting close to me, but later I thought it was jealousy.

I hated having someone else beside you other than me.

So now I want to say it. ”

As he continued to speak about his feelings for me without stopping, I found myself looking into his eyes and falling deeper and deeper.

To the point where you can’t see your surroundings and only his face can be seen…

‘Ah, soon… you’ll tell me, right? Yeah, I’ll just listen to Hyunseok’s words and do whatever I feel. That’s… because I said it was my honest feelings…’

” Charlotte. I love you. More than anyone. ”

” Hyunseok…! ”

” So will you stay by my side? ”

At those words, my heart started beating fast. It was already beating fast since I came here with him alone.

Now it was running so hard it could explode.

When I heard that he liked me, I was happier than anything I’d ever felt before.

And then I realized.

‘Oh, I like Hyunseok too…’

Hyunseok and I, who were looking at each other’s faces, slowly brought our faces closer and overlapped our lips.

Page, page

A French kiss where the lips just overlap slightly.

But the taste was so sweet that I had to do it again and again.

As I held him in my arms and placed my hand on his chest, I felt that his heart was beating as hard as mine, and just like that…

She put her tongue in his mouth and started kissing him deeply and passionately.

As our tongues slowly mixed and our lips parted, the transparent thread that connected us finally seemed to show that he and I had connected our hearts, and then it stretched out and disappeared.