episode_0072

You may have had the experience of watching the movements of a skilled master in a short period of time, either by chance or through an unknown algorithm.

It’s a completely different feeling from observing the precision produced by machines in a factory.

The movements that are performed in various fields that humans can do, such as music, art, cooking, exercise, and production. The actions that are infused with personal experience, history, effort, and training are almost like art when you look at them.

How can I express it in words or gestures? What words would be the most appropriate? If I had to find a word, it would be a gemstone stuck in my heart. It is a small but great emotion that throbs.

Shihyuk’s work was like that. No, maybe even more than that.

20 years. If we simply count the years, it might be similar to or even less than that of other masters. However, it was clear that this young craftsman had poured his entire life into this.

It is not a state of mind or determination, but a state achieved by putting one’s life on the line for someone in the sky and dedicating all one’s efforts and passion. It is the product of that.

It could never be dismissed lightly, lumped together as simply ‘the act of making things by hitting a hammer’.

However, for Si-hyuk, who was receiving enthusiastic applause from Yoo Hee-ah, it was an unfamiliar feeling. He had rarely shown anyone the sight of himself working before.

At most, there would be none, except for his teacher Baekhyun, and the Woojoo and Eunha sisters.

Well, isn’t he just a pathetic blacksmith who can’t even see his own [Status Window]? No one will pay attention to or be curious about the work process of such a craftsman who can’t even make [Rare Grade Equipment].

So, Shihyuk felt a bit awkward about such excessive praise. Somewhere inside his body, he felt a tingling sensation and a rare sense of shame. Hearing the applause, he silently put the hammer he was holding back where it belonged.

It’s not that I didn’t like it. I was happy.

Neither the teacher nor the sisters who saw something like her had ever expressed their admiration with their whole body like this. For a moment, Shi-hyuk thought that Yu-hee-ah’s intense enthusiasm might be an exaggeration or a joke.

“Awesome… . Awesome… . Great… .”

But no matter how you look at her, she’s sincere.

Her skin, as white as a sheet of paper, was so pale that it turned pink, and she was sobbing and shaking all over. Her voice was hoarse and choked, and she was constantly exclaiming her admiration to Shihyuk.

Shihyuk didn’t know how to react because he had never had someone like him and understand him this much before.

“… Thank you.”

He simply answered in a slightly excited voice.

but.

But that’s it.

Clap clap clap clap clap-!!

The applause didn’t stop. In fact, it grew stronger.

“Really, truly, so, so wonderful… .”

“… … .”

No matter what, Yu Hee-ah’s reaction was so intense that it was overwhelming.

This one audience member kept clapping his hands until his palms were cracked and bruised. He seemed to feel no pain at all due to the emotions pouring out.

Even though the curtain had closed, I was still as excited as a reader who had been moved by a great epic poem, or as a die-hard fan who had stayed until the end of a performance by an unknown singer.

No, that wasn’t enough of an explanation.

As if she had found her soulmate, as if she had finally found a lover after traveling a hundred thousand miles. Yoo Hee-ah shook her body so violently that her long, tangled hair fluttered.

I couldn’t control myself from the joy.

Shihyuk felt a chill at her appearance. Goosebumps appeared. Something, something was swelling. Something that had been shrunken was expanding without end.

Finally, the applause stopped.

That was just the beginning.

“How wonderful is this…? A sharp movement without a single flaw! A swing without a single trace of unnecessary detail! How many hours, how much patience, how much effort must have gone into achieving this…! How can one endure this? How can one not be moved by this!”

As if to fill the gap in the silence of the applause, Yu Hee-ah began to chatter like crazy.

Her voice, which was always soft and gentle, and made the listener feel relaxed, was heating up. It was gaining strength.

No, maybe it was her dignity that had been kept tightly wrapped and hidden for so long that was being revealed.

Shihyuk unconsciously swallowed his breath. The ominous shadows that swallowed all the colors around Yuhee Ah were growing darker.

The sticky darkness swallowed up the light from the incandescent bulbs illuminating the basement, and I had the illusion that it was consuming me.

dark.

She was dark. There was true darkness there.

“By focusing on just one thing, looking at that one thing, while others knock a hundred times, you knock a thousand times alone, and even if you fail miserably and get pointed at, you stand up again…! Ah, I know. I can understand! Sanryucheonseok. Nomashipga. Geumseokwigae! The long time of sharpening an iron axe to make a needle…! At the end of such training that turns your body and mind to dust and even breaks your soul, you are finally here! ”

It seemed as if Yuhee was speaking with her whole body, not just her mouth. Her long hair fluttered as she screamed, as if spitting out blood.

The wind slightly lifted the curtain that had been covering her, and her two eyes that had been hidden were briefly visible. It was the moment when Shi-hyuk met her eyes for the first time.

Beyond her snow-white skin, her eyes were open and dark, without any distinction between the iris and pupil. They looked like large, dark dots.

It is, so to speak, a period that ends every sentence. A hollow hole that simply swallows and devours without any beginning or end.

The shadow that announces the end.

Yuhee Ah shivered again.

“A person who continues to build while ignoring common sense is this magnificent. The struggles of a human who lacks something are so beautiful! What did you give up to get there? How much did you give up? You must have cried a lot? Of course, it must have hurt. It hurts. It hurts…! But you got up again and picked up the hammer. The fruit of being pointed at, swallowing tears of blood, and only striking the hammer is in your hands. You finally have it in your hands!!”

It was strange.

Shihyuk had simply built a shelf, but she was talking as if she was looking back on his past 20 years one by one.

It was as if she could read his past from the force of his swing, from his movements, as if she could read the effort and memories contained in his equipment, reaching somewhere.

Taking out the diary stained with blood and tear stains without permission, Yu Hui-ah was happily savoring, savoring, and chewing over the pain of that day.

The emotion in her voice was so vivid and poignant that Shihyuk almost fainted.

Memories that he thought he had overcome came flooding back. The wounds he had forgotten were being dug up again. The scars he had tried so hard to close were opening up.

A half-ass, a cripple, an incompetent, a talentless person, a loser, an ugly person.

A crow that cannot mix with a flock of swallows and magpies. Days of being pecked by beaks and kicked by feet, and then staggering away while bleeding unseen by the black feathers.

Moments when I would hide in my nest, carefully caressing the sparkling things I had worked hard to collect, and shed tears, wishing that I could shine like this, hoping that someone would understand this pain.

…iced coffee.

“It’s okay! Don’t worry! I understand you. Just like removing rust from a blade, by cutting, carving, and erasing, a person can get this high. [Status Window]? [Settings]? [Skills]? World standards? Laws? Systems? You don’t need any of that! You’re not wrong! Even without such a pretty shell, a person, a person can get this high while being miserable alone!”

Shihyuk couldn’t dare shout at that scream.

Even though the words Yoo Hee-ah spoke were painful enough to make my blood run cold, they were so sweet.

She truly acknowledged and understood all of Shihyuk’s past and pain. It was painful and good to bring up the memories.

As if a healing scar is itchy and has been scratched, as if a scab has been removed from a wound and is now bleeding again.

Those words, filled with desperation, had a strangely refreshing feeling that washed away blood. It was as terribly refreshing as drinking poison to quench thirst.

Ah, she truly understands herself… .

No, stop. Shihyuk shook his head vigorously. He tried to clear the cloudy emotions that were clouding his mind. Stop. Don’t shake me anymore.

“If someone frowns at you, they should dig out their eyes. If someone says you’re worthless, they should cut out their tongue. No, no. No. That alone won’t do.”

She reached out, her arms outstretched toward him. Darkness slowly approached.

Shihyuk smelled a strong scent from her that was so strong it made his nose numb.

He almost let himself be drawn to it by his own feet. He wanted to hug her, bury his head in her arms, and breathe in, filling his whole body with sweetness.

Shihyuk resisted the temptation with superhuman willpower, biting the inside of his cheek. He barely managed to back away, holding onto the shelf to steady himself. He felt dizzy and extremely tired.

“Even if everyone in the world ignores Sihyuk, I alone will recognize Sihyuk. Even if everyone in the world points a finger at Sihyuk, I alone will definitely stand up for Sihyuk. Even if the three thousand worlds reject you, I will make it so even if I have to kill them all. Because I, – decided so.”

She read the darkness hidden in his heart, and she sympathized and understood it with utmost sympathy.

He too could get a glimpse of her hidden inner self from her fierce cries and the madness she displayed.

It seemed like Sihyuk had finally figured it out.

The reason why she is so desperate, yearning, desperately clinging to him, and begging for him so desperately.

The magic he felt when he saw Yu Hee-ah. The identity of the sweet scent. The reason why he was particularly soft on her and couldn’t catch her pulse while feeling a slight discomfort.

It was a temptation, but it wasn’t a temptation. The reason he was drawn to her was definitely not because of Yu Hee-ah’s sweet body or her briefly revealed beauty.

If so, why?

Yeah-

You must be thoroughly prepared for death.

Why didn’t you try harder? Why did you stop there?

I had to try my hardest, no, even to the point of death.

If I die? If I die, that’s it.

Because he and she, she and he, were frighteningly similar.

Yoo Hee-ah was exactly like Si-hyuk at that time.

Two thin, white hands touched his cheeks. The fingers, rougher than they looked and cold as hell, clung to Si-hyuk’s face like spider legs.

Yoo Hee-ah, whose faces were close enough to brush the tips of her noses and her breath touched her lips, whispered to him. Her delicate, beautiful voice tickled his eardrums and tore at the inside of his skull.

“So… . Hey, can you show me more? No, show me more. A little more… . A little more, I want to know Sihyuk. I want to feel it.”

“… … .”

A sense of empathy and self-loathing. That was the true feeling Na-han had when he saw Asura.