Chapter 961: Lost Soul.

It is a rainy day.

The rain poured relentlessly, as if a hole had been punched in the sky, and perhaps because the heavens were angered, thunder continued to rage that day.

Beneath the rain that fell as if erasing the sweltering summer days.

A man walks cautiously through the forest.

As if he didn’t mind getting wet by the rain. Just slowly.

He walked endlessly, as if searching for something.

His damp clothes were bothersome, but.

The man figured his clothes were fine; he just hoped the one inside wouldn’t get wet.

He carefully held it close and walked for quite some time longer.

Walking and walking like that, passing through the bushes, just as he discovered a giant tree.

-…Haa.

He let out a quiet sigh, as if relieved.

He had found what he was looking for.

He had searched for nearly half a day. He had finally found it now.

-…What are you doing here?

He spoke, trying to hide his relief, his voice tinged with a slight sharpness.

He couldn’t help it. It was too soon to speak kindly and softly; his emotions hadn’t fully settled yet.

In response to the man’s question, the woman, who had been sitting under the tree with her head buried in her knees, lifted her head.

-…Why did you come looking for me?

She asked curtly.

Although she had lifted her head, the woman’s gaze did not meet the man’s.

He knew well that she was deliberately avoiding looking at him.

Watching this calmly, the man’s hand moved. He brushed away the strands of hair clinging to the woman’s cheek due to the moisture.

She could have slapped his hand away, but the woman didn’t bother to stop him.

-It’s cold.

Hearing this, the woman snorted.

-Cold? Who was it that said it was hot because it was summer?

-…You didn’t know it would rain, did you?

He wasn’t a god, after all. How could he have known it would rain?

Yes, if he had known it would rain, he wouldn’t have let her run away like this, but.

-No, that’s just another excuse.

The man suddenly felt it was ridiculous and shook his head. Then, he carefully took out what he had been holding in his embrace.

He took out a cloth, placed it on the woman’s head, and gently stroked it.

It was to wipe away the moisture. In the brief moment their gazes were blocked by the towel, the man spoke.

-I’m sorry.

-….

-I admit my words were harsh. They were things I shouldn’t have said to you.

-….

The woman didn’t respond to the man’s words in any way, but.

He knew well that her not stopping his actions was a sign that she was listening intently.

-It’s very cold. It’s okay if you hate me, but can’t we do that after we go back?

He asked, as if gauging her reaction. Only after asking that did the woman slowly reply.

-…Never again. Don’t tell me to leave.

-Okay. I was wrong.

-Everyone else in the world can treat me that way, but you can’t.

-I understand. I won’t do it, not even in anger.

-And… every time something like this happens, you have to keep looking for me.

-Okay. Anytime.

-…Promise me.

The woman held up her pinky finger towards the man.

The man, watching this calmly, momentarily let go of the cloth and extended his finger similarly.

Their two pinky fingers intertwined.

Perhaps feeling reassured by that, the woman removed the cloth she had been wearing.

Her beautiful violet eyes curved brightly.

-Do you know something?

Her smile, with moisture gathering in her eyes, was truly beautiful.

This was the thought the man had upon seeing the woman’s face.

-You told me it was okay to hate you.

The woman’s hand reached out and touched the man’s cheek.

-That’s something I can’t do.

-….

-It’s truly upsetting, you know.

Her hand, which had been touching his cheek, moved away slightly. The woman suddenly spread her arms towards the man.

-Hold me.

Without a word, the man lifted the woman into his arms.

Just then, as if by magic, the falling rain stopped.

A rainbow arched across the sky.

The woman smiled, looking at it.

Even then, the man had to keep repeating the words the woman had spoken.

Anytime.

No matter what happened. He had to find the woman.

Those words.

The man kept repeating them.

**********************

Swaaaaaaaah-!!

Hearing the sound of something pouring down, the woman opened her eyes.

“…”

Had she fallen asleep for a moment?

Her head hurt.

She felt like she had remembered something, but whether it was a fleeting dream, she couldn’t recall anything.

It was always like this.

Whenever she felt like she was about to remember something, it would fade away endlessly.

It felt like she absolutely had to hold on and not let go, but.

She couldn’t even do that.

It just flowed away relentlessly, mixed with the rainwater.

“…Ugh.”

The woman suddenly clutched her chest with her hand.

It was where her heart was.

“Huuu….”

It hurt.

Was she injured somewhere? No, that wasn’t it.

It felt more like a burning pain in her gut than mere physical pain.

“Huuu… hu….”

What was making her feel this way?

The woman didn’t know what this was, so she didn’t realize it was sadness.

Nor did she know that this unpleasant feeling was anger.

She just hated it.

What did she hate? She didn’t know the reason, but she just felt an intense hatred.

“…”

The woman looked at her hand, recalling her confused emotions.

It was her small hand that had clenched into a fist and hit someone earlier.

“…”

The woman, watching it calmly.

Slap.

Suddenly, she slapped her own hand. It wasn’t a weak hit, as a red mark appeared on the back of her hand shortly after.

It hurt.

It hurt to get injured, but.

The pain in her gut hurt even more.

“…”

Bad.

These were the words the woman recalled.

Then.

What was bad?

Was he bad? Or perhaps.

‘Am I bad?’

Was she bad for hitting him?

Why had she hit him?

Stroking her throbbing hand, the woman buried her face in her knees again.

‘…He’ll probably hate me.’

If she went to find him again, she felt he would hate her.

Her older sister had said that if you did something wrong, you could apologize and say you were sorry.

Would it be okay if she went to apologize now? The woman pondered hard, but no answer came.

More than that, she was afraid of him not accepting her apology.

Why was she afraid of that?

Why was she fearful of it?

What was he?

And what was she?

They were unanswerable questions. She had asked herself since the moment she was born, but she still hadn’t received an answer.

‘The moment I was born….’

The point in time when she existed as herself.

As the woman recalled that, she reached another question.

‘When was I born?’

Why did she appear, and from whom did she appear?

Also, for what purpose did she exist?

The moment she recalled that.

Throb-!

“Ugh…!”

The woman clutched her head. It was because she suddenly felt immense pain.

“Ughhh… ooooh….”

As she was groaning in pain, clutching her head.

Sssrk.

She felt someone place their hand over hers.

It was a warm hand.

As that hand touched her, she felt the pain gradually lessen.

And then, right after the pain completely subsided.

The woman lifted her head, her eyes slightly reddened.

There stood a fierce-looking young man, drenched in rain.

“…Ah, fuck….”

His eyes brimming with irritation, his brow furrowed as if he was quite angry.

Seeing that, the woman flinched.

“Are you crazy? Why the hell did you hit someone in the stomach and run?”

“…Uh…. Uh huh…?”

“What ‘uh huh’ is that? Do you have flowers in your hair or something? What the hell are you doing, with it raining too?”

Perhaps disliking his drenched body, he shook his head roughly.

Each time, moisture splashed.

“Ugh. Even this damn neighborhood is getting rained on. And in such a goddamn annoying way.”

Tsk tsk.

He clicked his tongue repeatedly, and then, for a moment, energy emanated from the young man’s body.

Hwaaaaaa!

As the heat rose, his drenched body dried instantly, not to mention.

Chi-ii-ii-ik.

The moisture evaporated, drying his clothes. The falling rain couldn’t penetrate the heat and subsided.

Hwaak-!

The young man dried the woman’s wet body too, then looked at her calmly.

“Hey.”

“…!”

At his call, the woman turned her gaze.

But.

Kkack.

The young man, Gu Yangcheon, grabbed the woman’s cheeks with his hands and turned her head back towards him.

“What are you avoiding? Look at me properly.”

“…”

“Do you like hitting and running?”

“…”

“Do you like it? Do you know how much I searched this place for you?”

The woman didn’t answer.

She should have pushed his hands away immediately, but she couldn’t, and her fingers twitched.

“I’m dumbfounded. You cause the trouble, then keep disappearing. Everything’s ruined because of you.”

“…”

“I should have chased you. But I couldn’t even do that. You know?”

The woman, who had been silent at his exasperated words, spoke.

“…Why… didn’t you follow?”

If you were going to chase, why didn’t you go?

To the woman’s question, unable to understand.

“…”

This time, Gu Yangcheon couldn’t answer.

Was he contemplating? Gu Yangcheon, who had been silent for a long time, slightly turned his head and said.

“Yeah.”

His tone suggested he didn’t understand it himself.

“…Fuck, I should have gone. Why didn’t I? Am I really an idiot?”

Words close to lamentation.

Even while hearing those words, the woman stared intently at Gu Yangcheon.

“Ah, no. Even if I had gone, I wouldn’t have caught you anyway. Ah. Damn it. This is all your fault!”

“…What…?”

“Making me so annoyed. Why the hell is it raining again, adding to the misery? Ugh.”

Rough-rough! He roughly ruffled his hair with his hands and stood up.

“…Ah, damn it… Everything’s ruined.”

There was something he should have done, but things got tangled up.

It bothered him greatly, and sighs kept escaping him.

Then, Gu Yangcheon looked at the woman and said.

“Don’t just stand there staring, get up. Aren’t we going? Are you going to keep standing in the rain?”

“…”

The woman stood up at Gu Yangcheon’s words. She considered reaching out her hand, but didn’t.

Because she intuitively knew he wouldn’t accept it.

“Hurry up and follow me. I won’t wait, so don’t dawdle.”

After confirming the woman had stood up, Gu Yangcheon started walking.

Even though he said that, his steps seemed slower than usual.

“…”

Seeing that, the woman quickly went to Gu Yangcheon’s side.

“Ah, get away a bit!”

Seeing the woman sticking close, Gu Yangcheon recoiled, but this time too, he only spoke and didn’t push her away.

The woman looked at Gu Yangcheon like that, then looked up at the sky.

“…A rainbow.”

“What?”

“It’s a rainbow.”

Hearing her words, Gu Yangcheon looked up at the sky, but.

“What crazy talk is that? Can’t you see the rain falling over there?”

The sky was filled with pouring rain, so no rainbow was visible at all.

Nevertheless.

“No, there’s a rainbow.”

The woman could see a rainbow.

Very clearly, indeed.

************

The Heavenly Nature of Myriad Realms (萬界 天性).

It is a space called the place where the heavens reside by countless beings.

No one knows its location.

And no one could come or go without the owner’s permission, but.

Thump.

Someone appeared there and landed softly.

Drip.

Perhaps having come through the rain, water droplets dripped from the figure, ‘drip!’

Just as the moisture was about to touch the ground.

Woong-!

A presence was felt, and the water droplets stopped in mid-air.

“…”

Seeing them stopped, the woman wearing a black mask, Yar-ang, immediately knelt.

“You’ve arrived.”

Soon after, a voice was heard from the front.

A gentle and soft voice. At the same time, a floral scent could be felt from somewhere.

“How was your outing?”

Crimson eyes turned towards Yar-ang.

Sssseuuuu.

With the sound of something moving, white fur appeared around.

Ttobeok.

Not long after, the sound of someone walking also reached their ears.

“Daughter.”

“…”

Yar-ang did not answer the call.

“It seems to be raining outside. Is that right?”

In response to the question, Yar-ang nodded.

“Yes, no wonder you said your hearing wasn’t quite right….”

The woman closed her eyes wearily, as if she understood the reason.

“Something that wasn’t falling suddenly starts to fall.”

As if displeased with the rain, the woman’s voice carried a heavy weariness.

“Hana.”

Then, the woman opened her eyes again, her gaze falling upon Yar-ang.

“If it’s you, you must have seen what you went to see, right?”

“…”

Hearing the question, Yar-ang, this time too, didn’t speak but moved her hand instead.

Seeing that, a spark of small interest flickered in the woman’s frail eyes.