Chapter 58 : Looking Forward To Meeting You
by fnovelpia
“Minho!”
“Gaeul.”
Minho, dressed in a school uniform, looked at Gaeul and greeted her.
“…Minho, hug me.”
Gaeul spread her arms toward Minho.
If it were any other time, Minho would have run to her and embraced her without hesitation.
But now, he simply looked at Gaeul with an icy, expressionless face.
“Minho?”
Gaeul called his name in a trembling voice, but Minho only lowered his head without responding.
How long did they stay like that?
By the time Gaeul’s arms started to go numb, Minho finally looked at her and spoke.
“…I’m sorry, Gaeul.”
“…Don’t look for me anymore.”
“I just… want to be alone.”
“Don’t come to find me.”
“I’m sorry, but I think this is what’s best for you.”
“…I don’t have the confidence to hold you anymore.”
“Please, stop looking for me.”
Gaeul felt like her heart had stopped.
Minho’s words pierced her chest, leaving wounds that remained even now.
She had never heard Minho say those words in person.
But she still remembered them.
“…The text message…”
It was the reply to the message where she had asked how he was doing.
That message had left a deep scar in Gaeul’s heart.
After that, it seemed like Minho had blocked her.
Her calls didn’t go through.
Her messages remained unread.
It felt like her heart was being torn apart.
She had loved him.
She had truly loved him.
“…I must have been a burden to him.”
Because she loved him, she couldn’t hate him.
Because she knew Minho was in pain, she couldn’t resent him.
She had believed that if she just didn’t give up, if she kept waiting, then one day, Minho—healthy again—would look at her once more.
“You bastard… If you leave like this! If you leave like this, then I…!”
Gaeul cursed at Minho through her tears.
For the first time, Minho, who had been staring at her with a cold expression, turned away with a somewhat relieved look.
“…Thanks for coming to the funeral…”
“…No, never mind. It’s better if I don’t say anything.”
“We’re strangers now.”
“Take care.”
Minho, who had seemed like he wanted to say more, instead turned around with a bitter expression and disappeared.
“…Don’t go… Minho…”
“I’m still… I still like you…”
Even as Gaeul cried and called out to him, Minho never returned.
She collapsed to the ground in shock and despair.
Then, she heard a voice calling out to her from nearby.
“Gaeul~”
“My son~”
A voice echoed through the empty space.
At that moment, Gaeul shot up from her bed.
“Gasp!!”
Cold sweat drenched her body as she woke up from the nightmare.
“Haa… It was just… a dream.”
“…Minho, I miss you.”
Gaeul ran a hand down her face, trying to shake off the lingering emotions of the dream.
Just then, the door to her room creaked open, and a woman stepped inside.
“What were you dreaming about to be sweating that much, my son?”
“…Master, please stop calling me your son.”
“What? You’re a man now, aren’t you?”
The woman in white shrugged her shoulders and grinned mischievously.
Gaeul, now a boy, looked down at his own body.
He had become much younger.
It had already been five years since he arrived in this world.
The person who had taken care of him all this time was the former Grand Mage, Logan—now known as Rose, his adoptive mother.
“Never in my life did I think I’d become a woman because of my own disciple,”
Rose would always say whenever she was bored.
“…But did you really have to come all the way here too, Master?”
“I finally escaped from that damn star. I deserve a chance to live a new life.”
Gaeul let out a small, helpless laugh as he looked at Rose.
“If you don’t want to get caught by the Star’s Eye, you have to change everything—your gender, your name, all of it.”
“I even altered my mana flow.”
Rose said this with a satisfied smile.
“It’s not like you’re planning to get into a relationship anyway. What does it matter what body you’re in? As long as you’re alive, that’s all that matters.”
It was the kind of statement only a sage who had lived for over a thousand years would make.
“You’re the only one who would say something like that, Master.”
“Try living for over a thousand years yourself, and you’ll see—gender means nothing.”
Rose looked Gaeul up and down.
“But you’re the more extreme one here.”
“You insisted on being reincarnated as a man just because your lover from your past life was reborn as a woman.”
“What are you going to do if she falls for another man, huh? Tsk tsk.”
“Be honest, you’re not in your right mind, are you?”
Rose snickered as she teased Gaeul, who couldn’t even come up with a rebuttal.
“…I do have depression.”
“Wait, are you actually mentally ill?”
“…Yep.”
For a moment, Rose looked a bit awkward, then she reached out and patted Gaeul’s head.
“Mom still loves you, my son.”
“Ah, Master!!”
“Come on, I’m hungry. Let’s eat.”
“…I’ll bake some bread.”
And so, Gaeul and Rose’s day began.
Gaeul’s Daily Routine
After breakfast, it was time for magic training.
“Haaaap!!!”
“Put more mana into it! Go, my son, you got this!!”
“Ughhh!!!”
-BOOOOM!!!
“…Master, please…”
“Hah, but you’re finally able to cast advanced spells now.”
“Am I… talented?”
Gaeul asked with a slightly embarrassed expression.
“Hmm, you’ve got plenty of talent.”
“But you should really stop twisting your body like a girl when you talk. It’s not a great habit.”
“If that girl sees you acting like that, she might hate you.”
Rose teased Gaeul again with a chuckle.
For Rose, it was just harmless fun, but Gaeul seriously reflected on his behavior with a solemn expression.
“…Should I fix it?”
“It’d be better if you did.”
Worried that he might come off as too feminine, Gaeul decided to correct his habits quickly.
Once morning magic training was over, it was time to tend to the fields in the afternoon.
“Haaaap!!”
“What are you planting over there?”
“Potatoes!”
“And over there?”
“Sweet potatoes?”
“Hehe.”
“Can’t we eat something else for a change?”
Rose shook her head in disbelief as she watched Gaeul turn the entire field into a potato and sweet potato farm.
“You’re insane.”
In the end, Rose gave in, and Gaeul was free to grow whatever crops he wanted.
That evening, the dining table was filled with nothing but steamed potatoes and sweet potatoes.
“…Potatoes and sweet potatoes again…?”
“They’re delicious, aren’t they?”
“Would you mind if I just died now?”
“Not until I become a Grand Mage.”
“You ungrateful brat.”
“I’m not even your real kid.”
Rose clicked her tongue and shoved a sweet potato into her mouth.
A Few Years Later
Gaeul continued training and gaining experience day by day.
Then, on the year he turned ten…
“I PASSED!!!!”
“Hmph, well, of course you did. You’re my disciple, after all.”
“I can see your lips twitching! You’re happy, aren’t you?”
“Of course! I’m so happy!”
Rose tossed aside the tea she was drinking and lifted Gaeul up in the air.
“You did amazing, my disciple!”
“Hehehe.”
“Today, we feast on meat!”
Gaeul felt his heart pounding.
Not just because he had been accepted into the academy…
“…I’ll be able to see him soon, right?”
The thought of meeting Minho again made Gaeul’s heart race with anticipation.
It had been 12 long years across both his past and present lives.
That trembling—there were no words to describe it.
“You’ll be able to meet him.”
“…Yes!”
Seeing Gaeul’s excitement, Rose smiled gently as she spoke, making Gaeul’s expression brighten even more.
“Aren’t you going to write a letter today?”
“Oh, right!”
“Go ahead and write it, I’ll wait.”
“…Thank you!”
“What’s there to thank me for? This much is nothing for my beloved son.”
“…I’ll let that slide today.”
Gaeul hurried into his room and started writing a letter.
A letter meant for Minho, the one he would reunite with.
“…I look forward to the day we meet again.”
The first sentence he always wrote in his letters felt even more deeply resonant in his heart today.
‘…We’ll meet again.’
‘No matter what you look like, I will love you.’
No matter what form Minho took, Gaeul vowed to cherish him deeply.
He swore never to be separated from him again.
“…Ehehe.”
Right now, I’m lying down, rubbing my full stomach, staring up at the ceiling.
“Minho~ Didn’t you eat too much?”
“But it was delicious…”
“You’re gonna turn into a pig at this rate.”
“I’m a dragon, so it’s fine.”
…Though, I’m not entirely sure if that’s actually true.
Or maybe it is?
“Well, they say baby fat turns into height later.”
Yuri unni said this while patting my round belly.
“Wow, are you made of rubber or something?”
“Amazing, right?”
“How do you even eat this much…”
Yuri unni looked genuinely impressed, chuckling as she spoke.
I pouted in response.
“So, was the academy fun?”
“Not at all.”
Yuri unni shook her head, completely serious.
“It was really boring.”
“The professor just kept rambling nonsense.”
“And being surrounded by just a bunch of kids felt like I was on a daycare field trip.”
Her face showed genuine disappointment.
“…Really?”
“First-years start from age ten.”
While Yuri unni sighed heavily, Emila unni, who was beside her, had a sparkle in her eyes, as if she was recalling something exciting.
“…I had fun, though, Yuri.”
“You did?”
“Yeah, it was my first time going to a school like that.”
“Aha~”
“And all the kids were cute. They reminded me of Minho, so I liked it.”
Emila unni giggled as she patted my head.
“But, of course, Minho is way cuter than those kids.”
“Honestly, it made me feel kind of superior.”
…Superior? What?
Do people normally feel a sense of superiority because their younger sibling is cuter?
I quickly turned to Yuri unni for confirmation.
“Right? That part was nice.”
“Our little brother is way cuter than all of them.”
“Kneel before us, lesser beings.”
Yuri unni chuckled as she declared this, and Emila unni patted her head in response.
“You shouldn’t say things like that, Yuri…!”
“Uh, oops… Sorry.”
Yuri unni apologized, and Emila unni’s expression softened.
Watching Yuri unni look all flustered, I nearly died trying to hold back my laughter.
“…Pffft.”
Seeing my usually confident sister act like a little kid for once was refreshing.
0 Comments