What I Gave Up – 3

She had left home intending to take a light stroll.

As she walked, basking in the holiday sunlight, a worry suddenly visited her mind.

She was concerned that Kang In-ho might make a slip of the tongue.

They had become quite close recently, but they hadn’t known each other for very long. The possibility of a slip-up was definitely there.

[The old man might make a mistake.]

“I never thought I’d use this like this.”

Kim Sung-ah gave a bitter smile as she looked at the location tracking app on her phone.

It was an app she had installed when buying the phone, in case anything happened to Kang In-ho.

It was a kind of protective measure, but she never imagined it would be used for surveillance purposes like this.

Ignoring the guilt of invading his privacy for a moment, she narrowed her eyes and looked beyond the shop.

What are they talking about that’s making them so friendly? Are they talking about me? What’s so funny?

All sorts of questions sprouted in her head like fruit.

After glaring inside for a while, Kim Sung-ah gasped and took a few steps back.

Her face, fleetingly reflected in the glass, was frozen.

“…What am I doing?”

Suddenly, a wave of disillusionment washed over her.

Her own reflection in front of the glass looked so ridiculous and pathetic.

Regardless of her mood, the conversation continued inside the glass.

Kang In-ho was talking at length, as if he had been asked a question.

“…?”

And she saw the homeroom teacher’s face gradually, almost imperceptibly, hardening.

‘What are they talking about…?’

The homeroom teacher’s smile, which had been so innocent just a moment ago, was starting to become mechanical.

Her face is freezing up.

“Maybe I should listen in on their conversation.”

She reached out her right hand, about to cast a listening spell.

An unpleasant wave swept through her entire body.

She got goosebumps.

She knew what this meant.

No, she knew it all too well. She had felt it and dealt with it for the past few years.

It was an invasion by the forces of evil.

Normally, she would have already finished transforming and be ready to fly off, but for some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to leave today.

“Of all the important times…”

Kim Sung-ah bit her lip, alternating her gaze between the rift and the Japanese restaurant.

Her purple eyes flashed for a moment. A rift was forming in the sky far away.

Soon, something would break through that rift.

-Crunch.

She gritted her teeth. And she chose her duty.

“[Radiant, sacred Star’s Power.]”

Chanting the spell, she stomped her foot.

Like a comet’s tail, she soared into the sky, leaving a trail of blue light.

The moment she finished the spell, a gaunt, grotesque arm poked out from the small crack in the rift.

The arm, which looked like skin stretched thinly over bone, began to force its way through the rift.

As the white arm extended further, she gripped her staff tightly, ready for battle.

“Adjusted for single shot.”

She took a deep breath. Her eyes shone.

End it in one shot, aiming for the opening in the rift.

Muttering, her eyes narrowed.

-Creak

Space tore, widening the gap in the rift.

The arms that had emerged by now used the void as support to open the rift.

Lyrical Star didn’t miss the opening.

“Ready on the firing line.”

The staff spat fire. A huge blue bullet entered the gap.

-Bang

With an explosive sound, smoke billowed out from inside the rift.

The arms that had already emerged drooped limply.

“……..”

Lyrical Star lowered her staff and glanced down at her feet.

Far, far below, where she couldn’t even see, was her housemate.

And then, a massive impact struck her abdomen.

“Ugh!”

Her eyes narrowed in pain as her back bent in half.

She flew through the air. At the end of her vision, blurred by the pain, was a grotesque creature with an animal skull on its head.

“Kkeueeeeeeeeee!!!”

“I let my guard down…”

Blood gushed from her mouth.

The attack seemed to have been quite decisive.

And an inexplicable anger surged up like the blood she had spat out.

“Annoying.”

Was it because she had been attacked? Lyrical Star’s voice was infinitely subdued.

“Grarararara!”

The skull monster ran on all fours through the sky, charging towards her.

“So annoying.”

The color of her purple eyes deepened.

“Kreo!”

The monster leaped from mid-range, stacking its hands and slamming them down.

Lyrical Star chose not to evade it, but to meet it head-on.

She used the body of her staff, held horizontally, to block the fist.

Thud!

Her knees buckled slightly under the weight of the downward strike.

The skull monster continued to strike, alternating its hands as if trying to crush her.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

Her legs wobbled pitifully under the relentless assault.

“Everything’s annoying.”

Her deep purple eyes were still fixed on the monster.

She brought the tip of her staff to bear on the right fist that was coming down again.

Thwack, the staff pierced the monster’s gaunt fist like a skewer.

“Kreo?”

The monster tilted its head at the blue energy flowing into its arm.

She, who had gathered an infinite amount of Star’s Power, murmured.

“Vanish.”

-Bang

The Star’s Power, amplified from within, turned the skull monster to dust.

“……..”

Lyrical Star stared at the stardust falling to the ground with a stiff face.

Kang In-ho couldn’t follow the flow of the conversation.

He definitely noticed that the other person’s attitude had changed from before.

But he didn’t know why.

Im Soo-ah, who had been so friendly to him, seemed to have lost interest in the conversation and checked the time on her phone every ten minutes.

‘Did I say something wrong?’

He reviewed the conversation he had had so far.

Sitting down and talking about Seong-a until they ate.

And from about halfway through the meal, Im Soo-ah asked him about himself.

–

You said you were a freelancer? What exactly do you do…?

–

Oh, I see. I know a little about that job, but isn’t the income good?

–

Do you have a car…?

He remembered answering appropriately, not wanting to tell a big lie.

‘Did I not say enough?’

“Shall we have some coffee?”

When Kang In-ho said to Im Soo-ah, Im Soo-ah replied with a troubled face.

“Oh, what should I do? I suddenly have somewhere I need to go urgently.”

“Ah, then I guess there’s no helping it.”

Kang In-ho nodded and got up from his seat.

He went to the cashier and handed his card to the clerk, who used the card to pay for lunch.

“Then, please go in safely.”

Im Soo-ah said goodbye and hurried away.

“…What is this feeling?”

He had clearly had a consultation about a school teacher and a student, but he was reminded of a time when he had been thoroughly rejected on a blind date.

Scratching his head, he was about to go home when he heard someone calling him from somewhere.

“Ahjussi, are you done?”

Kim Sung-ah, who looked strangely tired, was somehow approaching him.