Chapter 30: Reunion

“It’s truly over…”

The red-eyed man barely supported his collapsing body.

He was the one who unleashed the disaster in the middle of the city.

Takahashi Ren.

“Ugh…”

One of his eyes could no longer see due to an injury, and parts of his body were slowly being eroded by a dark red shadow.

Even though the source of the disaster had disappeared, his body continued to crumble.

“It seems my body has finally reached its limit…”

Ren instinctively knew he could no longer hold on.

He laboriously lifted his head to look at the guild members.

“I know I can’t be forgiven, but…”

The regret of a man who betrayed his comrades and caused a terrible disaster.

“For turning my back on you and doing this… I’m truly sorry…”

“Ren, you… Haah.”

The guild members couldn’t answer easily.

What he had done was too immense.

But in their eyes, there were still complex emotions for a man who regretted his actions too late.

“Ren, the sins you’ve committed are certainly hard to forgive.

But we never thought you’d be pushed to the brink like this.”

“If only you had trusted us a little… it wouldn’t have ended this way…”

“Really… would it have…? Haha… It’s too late to say that now, isn’t it?”

Ren let out a hollow laugh.

His comrades’ words seemed to offer him, a sinner, another chance.

But knowing it was too late, he only felt more apologetic.

“Ren.

I wanted to teach you a lesson with my own hands.”

“Leon… Were you serious about beating me to a pulp earlier? Haha…”

“I’m always serious.

And… it’s late to say this now, but I wanted you to live and pay for your crimes.”

“How can I possibly atone for the sin of causing a disaster and plunging so many people into chaos… while I’m still alive…?”

“You fool… Don’t you know that escaping through death is even more cowardly…?”

Leon shook his head with a bitter expression.

‘There are no awakened ones with healing abilities here.

Whether ‘that’ can even be healed is a separate matter to begin with…’

More than half of Ren’s body was already consumed by the dark red energy.

He had reached a point beyond help.

“Tsuki… Finally… I finally met you.”

“Ren… Snap out of it…”

–Squeeze.

Tsuki clutched Ren’s hand, but his hand was growing colder and colder.

“Tsuki… Your hand… is truly warm…”

“Ah… No… Ren, please…”

Ren’s breathing grew weaker little by little.

“I’m sorry, Tsuki… This isn’t the time to say this, but… I… feel strangely sleepy…”

“Ren, don’t close your eyes…”

“If I just… sleep for a moment and wake up… will I be able to see you again…?”

Ren’s eyes dimmed like fading embers that no longer burned.

“Strange… Why is no one here…? Tsuki… are you there…?”

“…Ren, I’m here.

I’m right beside you like this…”

“Is… that so? That’s a relief…”

Ren turned his hazy, fog-filled eyes toward the direction of the beloved voice.

“Tsuki… In a little while… the night of the full moon will come… Would you like to go see it together…?”

“Of course… If I don’t go with you, who would I go with…?”

“Is that so…? Haha… We’ve never had a proper date… so from now on…”

“Heehee… I can look forward to it, right…?”

“Then… of course…”

Ren, who had no strength left in his body, laboriously squeezed Tsuki’s hand.

“Ah… You were here.

Tsuki…”

“Yes… I was here all along…”

“I want to talk more… but I keep… getting sleepy and can’t… I’ll just… close my eyes for a moment…”

“Oh, Ren… You’re still such a sleepyhead, just like before…”

“Haha… Sorry… I’ll just… sleep for a bit…”

“I’ll be by your side… so sleep well… Ren…”

“……”

“May you have good dreams…”

A transparent tear from Tsuki fell onto Ren’s completely closed eyelids.

As if she and he were crying together.

The story of a man who sacrificed everything for the one he loved,

Came to a period on a page in a scene bathed in bright silver moonlight.

****

“Ren… I’ll follow you soon…”

Tsuki already knew her condition.

Having sealed the Eclipse for a thousand years, she was already a being tied to that story.

With the disaster over, it was only natural for her to disappear as well.

‘I was prepared… but there’s just one thing that bothers me…’

A man who became destruction to save everyone.

“Lucian-nim…”

The man of pitch-black stood silently by their side, watching them until Tsuki bid farewell to Ren.

‘He’s not the playful Lucian-nim from those days, but… I can tell.’

His concern and tenderness, felt even without words.

His warm heart, unhidden even when shrouded in the aura of destruction.

Tsuki rose from her spot and cautiously approached him.

‘The aura of destruction is a little scary, but…’

But contrary to her concern, as she took one step, then two, the aura gradually began to subside, eventually becoming completely calm.

“You… are worried I might get hurt, even unconsciously…”

The pitch-black eyes merely gazed at Tsuki with a wistful look, but she could read the meaning within them.

–”I’m sorry for returning so late…”

“You’re not late at all… Rather, I’m grateful you returned like this.

Lucian-nim…”

Instead of answering, the pitch-black man raised a hand and gently stroked her head.

“Heehee… Then and now… you’re the only one who treats a priestess like this.”

Lucian, who had looked after her since she was a young priestess.

To her, he was a kind older brother and a man she respected.

‘I have no choice but to disappear now… but I worry that you might not be able to finish your own story and will continue to wander… That is my only concern, Lucian-nim…’

At that moment, a faint aura of the moon flowed from him and gently enveloped Tsuki.

Moonlight softly embracing her as her existence gradually blurred.

‘I remember now… There was only one person in the world who could possess such warm moonlight.’

Tsuki took his hand, smiled brightly, and gently closed her eyes.

“Please… take care of the Princess.

Lucian-nim.”

Tsuki, who had existed for a long time to suppress the Eclipse.

Her story, of sacrificing to save everyone, finally came to an end.

Leaving a piece of her story, shining silver like moonlight, in Sihyun’s hand.

[You have obtained a new story fragment.]

****

Whoosh—

Feeling a gentle breeze brush her cheek, Tsuki opened her eyes.

“Where is this…?”

A bright moon hung in the sky, and pure white moonlight caressed the scattered flower petals.

A beautiful landscape stretched out, filled with shimmering silver flowers.

“These flowers are Manwolhwa…”

Manwolhwa (Full Moon Flower).

A special flower that only glowed silver on nights when the full moon rose beautifully.

It was a flower that grew only in the country where Tsuki had lived.

“That means… this is Selenium…?”

Slowly looking around, she finally realized she had opened her eyes in a familiar place.

The Hall of the Moon.

The place where she had lived after being chosen as a priestess until her country was destroyed.

‘Is this… a dream I’m having before I disappear?’

It was a familiar scene.

So familiar, it felt like walking in a dream.

Tsuki stood up and walked around.

“Everything is just as it used to be.

Here… and this too.”

A set of clothes neatly placed inside the prayer room.

It was a priestess’s robe made of cloth closest in color to moonlight.

“Heehee… It’s a dress I wore more than a thousand years ago, but I haven’t forgotten how to put it on.”

Tsuki felt old memories resurface.

She didn’t know why she was here, but if this truly was her last dream, she wanted to savor this cherished time a little longer.

So one day passed, then two, then three…

Tsuki spent peaceful days waking up in the morning, cleaning the hall, and tending the garden.

It had been about half a month since she had lived the daily life of a priestess, always praying towards the moon at night.

“Since it’s a full moon tonight, I should go to the garden.”

Tsuki took some simple refreshments and warm tea and headed to the Moon Garden.

“…This scenery is truly beautiful, no matter how many times I see it.”

The Manwolhwa garden, sparkling and shining even more brightly under the pouring, radiant moonlight.

The silver-filled garden was adorned with a beauty that no artificial light could ever produce.

Tsuki settled in the center and looked up at the sky.

A memory came to mind as she gazed at the unusually bright full moon.

‘The events during the Eclipse…’

Tsuki quietly closed her eyes.

“If it hadn’t been for Lucian-nim, everyone would have been like a lamp in the wind…”

After various thoughts, one person’s name came to mind.

“Ren…”

The man who loved her, despite her state being akin to a ghost story.

And she, who harbored the same feelings for him.

“Tonight, for some reason, I miss Ren even more…”

Then.

–Click.

A sound of the garden gate opening was heard.

Tsuki hadn’t seen anyone else during her stay here, so who could be visiting?

A red-eyed man entered through the gate.

Tsuki recognized him at a glance.

“…Ren?”

The man who gave up so much for her.

The man who committed an irreversible sin out of the sole desire to see the one he loved.

The foolish man who looked only at her until his last breath.

“Ren!!!”

“Tsuki!!!”

As their eyes met, without a moment’s hesitation, they both ran towards each other.

–Embrace!

Beneath the full moon, the silhouettes of a man and a woman gently overlapped.

“Huk…! Heuk…!”

Overwhelmed with emotion, Tsuki drenched his shoulder with transparent tears.

“Tsuki… Is it really you…?”

“Yes…! Yes…! It’s me, Ren!”

Tsuki’s hands clutched his back, and Ren’s hands wrapped around her shoulders.

They held each other for a long time.

As if afraid the other might disappear.

How long did they stay like that?

Tsuki slowly pulled away, looking up at Ren with blurry eyes.

“Now… my sentence has finally ended…”

“What? What are you talking about, Ren?”

“Tsuki… After I said my last farewell to you, I woke up in a wasteland with only a scorching sun.”

“A wasteland…?”

“And as soon as I opened my eyes, sentences appeared before me.”

[Oh, you who sacrificed innocent lives for your beloved.]

[You shall find peace after a thousand years have passed.]

“A thousand years…? Is that true?”

“Strangely, Tsuki, it was the same amount of time you spent sealing the Eclipse.

So I thought this was truly the punishment for my sins.”

Ren walked and walked through the wasteland.

Under the scorching sun, without anything to drink or rest, just continuously forward.

After a time long enough to forget why he was walking, where he was, and who he himself was.

The Hall of the Moon appeared before Ren’s eyes.

“Even if the punishment ended, I never thought I’d be able to meet Tsuki again…”

How could such a thing be possible?

Tsuki suddenly turned her head and looked up at the sky.

“…Perhaps Lucian-nim and the Princess granted my wish.”

“I don’t know who these people are, but… if they’re the ones who let me meet Tsuki, I definitely want to know who they are.”

“Then I’ll tell you step by step, so you’ll have to study hard, okay?”

“…Really?”

“Because Ren is a fool who only knows me.”

“…What’s that supposed to mean?”

Tsuki chuckled softly at his embarrassed expression.

A smile endlessly gentle and warm.

Ren also smiled back at Tsuki’s smile.

In the dazzlingly bright Moon Garden, they met again.

Like a miracle that happened on a beautiful night of the full moon.

****

[Disaster-level ghost story Eclipse…]

—Crackle!

[After spending a thousand years apart, the two who could finally meet again, promised the beginning of their next thousand years together under the beautiful moonlight.]