episode_0003

I was worried that I would get a severe scolding from the teacher or the security guard for what I had done, but fortunately, that didn’t happen.

Just like everything had never happened, the events of that day faded quietly into the haze of memory.

Once we opened up and talked about it, we became somewhat closer, considering what we had been through.

Yeoni still remained aloof like a cat. However, at least she didn’t spew out mean words out of the blue like before.

In the classroom, my seat had now become next to Yeoni. When I spoke, Yeoni would listen intently, occasionally nodding in agreement with short responses.

I thought that if things continued like this, her personality could really change for the better. However, not everything always went smoothly.

The students in our class were curious about the newfound closeness between us. My closest friends, Jinho and Ina, were no exception.

And while the other kids were unaware, I wanted to introduce Yeoni to them.

They had been good friends who approached me first, so I naturally thought they would treat Yeoni well too.

However, it was actually Yeoni who rejected the new friends. She remained arrogant and haughty towards the other kids, refraining from speaking harshly but still maintaining a sense of superiority.

Jinho and Ina were no exception to this. And instead, she kept trying to prevent me from spending time with my friends.

I really disliked being forced by someone to act or think a certain way. Yet, Yeoni treated me as if I were her possession for days on end.

Despite my repeated refusals, Yeoni persisted even more stubbornly. Eventually, in a fit of anger, I declared an end to our friendship, barely having become close.

“I won’t talk to you ever again.”

Upon hearing my words, Yeoni looked as if she were the victim, shocked. And then, she didn’t show up at school for three days.

Fed up, I no longer wanted to care about what she did. But what caught my attention was Yeoni’s maid, who had once held a knife to my throat.

“Please help the young lady.”

The maid came to me on the street, suddenly bowing deeply. She began to lament that her mistress looked like she was going to die, refusing food and water, and locking herself in her room.

She said that if she forced her way in, her mistress might die, and with no other options, she came to me for help.

She mentioned my name among the students, saying that I was the only one who could help.

Even though I had declared an end to our friendship due to her personality, her potential death was a completely different matter.

The maid seemed unaware, but somehow I felt that our severed friendship might be the cause. However, I kept my mouth shut to avoid unnecessary trouble.

After much deliberation, I followed the maid to the mansion. As I entered the house and climbed the elegant staircase, my eyes fell on a firmly locked door.

*Knock, knock*

“I told you to leave me alone…”

“Hey, it’s me.”

When I knocked on the door, Yeoni’s voice, devoid of strength, could be heard.

“Are you coming in?”

“If you don’t answer, I’ll just come in.”

There was still no response. I unlocked the door with the key the maid had given me and entered the room.

The room was so vast and empty that it seemed excessive for a child living alone.

“Why did you come?”

Yeoni was lying on the large bed in the middle of the room. Her voice was barely audible.

It was evident that she hadn’t eaten anything for three days.

No matter who it was, seeing that kind of appearance would weaken one’s heart.

“Are you stupid? Why are you skipping meals over such a trivial matter?”

“…”

“The maid was so worried about you. She said you weren’t feeling well. Eat quickly now.”

“I… I don’t have the strength…”

A feeble arm peeked out from under the blanket, only to fall back down weakly.

“Hey. You’re really something.”

“…”

“Wait a moment.”

I went to the maid and brought back some diluted porridge and water.

Then, sitting in front of the bed, I scooped up some porridge with a spoon and gently fed it to Yeon-i.

“Open your mouth.”

“…”

“Eat when I give it to you. My arm hurts, so hurry up.”

After hearing my urging, Yeon-i hesitated for a moment before finally opening her mouth slightly.

“Chew… chew…”

As she obediently ate the porridge, it reminded me of a baby bird being fed.

The bowl with the porridge was soon empty. Seeing her eat so well made me a bit annoyed at why she hadn’t been eating all this time.

Yeon-i seemed to regain some energy, and I could finally bring up the main topic.

“I’ll cancel the silent treatment. I was too harsh. And I’m sorry for asking you to hang out with other friends. I didn’t consider that you might not like it.”

“Oh…”

“But don’t tell me what to do in the future. I hate it when someone tells me what to do. I’ll continue hanging out with my friends. Maybe even more than with you.”

“…”

Yeon-i’s face brightened and darkened repeatedly as she listened to me. Then, she asked me cautiously.

“Am I bothering you by doing this?”

“Yes. It bothers me.”

“Do you also not like talking only with me…?”

“No. I really don’t like it.”

Yeon-i’s body flinched slightly at my firm refusal, almost as if she was lightly shivering.

After a moment of silence, she spoke again.

“I’m sorry. I won’t do that again.”

That day was the first time I apologized to Yeon-i.

***

After the second reconciliation, Yeon-i faithfully kept her promise.

She didn’t show any discomfort when I hung out with Jin-ho and Ina, and she even tried to greet them herself.

Yeon-i’s awkward attempts to speak with a stammering expression were completely different from her previous image, making me struggle to hold back my laughter.

Furthermore, Yeon-i started asking me fewer and fewer questions.

My favorite clothes.

My favorite food.

My favorite hobbies.

My favorite personality traits.

Yeon-i asked me all sorts of trivial things. She even asked me about my preferred hair length.

“Why are you asking me all these things?”

“Still.”

“Hey! Even so, that’s a bit too much…”

“But you said you’d tell me.”

“What?”

“You said you’d tell me everything from now on.”

“That and this are…”

“…I have no one else to ask but you.”

“…”

Even when I got irritated, Yeon-i remained persistent. I ended up losing my words.

The exact meaning behind my words was to help Yeon-i fix her blunt personality.

Although she seemed to interpret it differently.

But upon reflection, showing interest in others to become closer didn’t seem like a bad idea.

And it was true that there was no one else to ask but me.

So, I gave in to Yeon-i’s persistence, answering her questions sincerely until I ended up revealing almost all of my personal information.

Yeon-i diligently took notes of the information in a notebook. And seeing her effort, I naturally began to treat Yeon-i sincerely, forgetting about the past events.

In the past, Yeon always maintained a cold and aloof expression, but as time passed, she began to show her emotions more frequently.

We always exchanged mundane stories in a more friendly atmosphere. Now, Yeon even started to talk at length first.

Yeon enjoyed sharing her life before coming to our village. Through her small mouth, I could hear stories of the world that I had never known before.

Before coming here, she was in the capital city of Masada, where she lived in the very center.

Tall multi-story buildings reaching for the sky, the endless defensive walls of the capital beyond the horizon, the city lights that never went out even at dawn.

Every time I listened to her descriptions, vivid scenes of the capital unfolded before my eyes as if I had been there myself.

Even in Yeon’s storytelling, there was a hint of longing and nostalgia.

But it wasn’t always dreamlike stories that I heard.

Yeon’s stories were more realistic than the exaggerated tales of a charlatan, so whenever she talked about the northern demons or monsters in the unexplored lands, I felt a chill down my spine.

And I also found out that Yeon was indeed the heiress of a mage family, but surprisingly, she didn’t seem to like her family very much.

“Our family has so many siblings. I remember there were over twenty of us.”

“Twenty? That’s a lot.”

“It’s so many that I can’t even remember who’s who. You know what’s even funnier? My dad is just one, but my mom is multiple.”

“Must have been nice. I’m an only child, so sometimes I envy having many siblings.”

“Nice? What’s nice about it. All they do is fight like crazy over trivial things.”

Yeon glanced around and whispered in a low voice.

“Among them, my eldest brother is the craziest. There are over ten people among us siblings who died in accidents, and it’s certain that he killed them all.”

“No way. And your dad just stood by and watched?”

“My father doesn’t care much. He always says the survivor is the strongest. As long as rumors don’t spread outside, he doesn’t care what happens inside.”

“But can you tell me about it?”

“Of course not. I’m telling you because it’s you. This is our secret.”

“…”

Yeon always referred to her father as ‘Gaju-nim.’ Without asking, one could roughly guess their relationship.

I thought to myself that living comfortably as a mage wasn’t as easy as I had imagined. On one hand, I firmly resolved never to get involved with dangerous mages.

However, I couldn’t help but be curious about why a noble lady like Yeon would come to our insignificant village and willingly endure unnecessary hardships.

Moreover, Yeon’s only maid, Yeo-jin, was just one person.

Occasionally, I wondered if Yeon might be lying.

But even though her character was a bit dirty, I could immediately conclude that she wasn’t the type to lie like that.

Her gracefulness, evident in her gestures and movements, seemed natural and unpretentious.

But unless she revealed it herself, I had no intention of prying. Perhaps there were sensitive reasons she didn’t want to talk about.

With those kinds of curiosities buried in my heart, we gradually became closer.

Yeon now preferred walking to school with me rather than receiving the maid’s attention.

Once she came to our house and tried the dinner my mom cooked, she ended up coming over to play for a whole week, with the maid Yeo-jin coming to fetch Yeon.

We watched the village festival together, and we even sneaked out through a hole in the wall to explore the abandoned mountain cabin when the adults weren’t looking.

When winter came, Jin-ho and Ina would have snowball fights in teams of two, and in the summer, they would go to the valley behind the village for water play.

Before we knew it, we had become each other’s daily routine. Time flew by like an arrow, and the seasons changed several times.

Then one day, I finally found out why Yeon-i had come to our village.

With shocking news I didn’t want to hear.

***

I had a hobby of secretly drawing pictures. However, I accidentally left a drawing stuck between the pages of a book and ended up getting caught by Yeon-i.

Embarrassed, I fumbled, but Yeon-i’s eyes lit up instead. She asked in an expectant voice if I could draw her.

I couldn’t bring myself to refuse her request, so after work, I ended up drawing a portrait of Yeon-i in the empty art room.

“You really drew well. I want to hang it in my room and look at it every day.”

Yeon-i was delighted as she looked at the completed portrait. Her face was filled with a bright smile that made me wonder if she knew how to make such an expression.

“If you keep praising me like that, I might actually think I’m good at drawing.”

Having mediocre drawing skills, I felt more embarrassed by her praise. However, upon hearing my words, Yeon-i vigorously shook her head.

“I’m not just praising you. You really did draw well. In my opinion, you have the qualities of a good magician. Exceptional artistic sense is the decisive evidence of innate magical talent…”

Yeon-i realized her slip of the tongue belatedly and fell silent. It seemed like she had just remembered that I was completely unresponsive. Her eyes shook as if an earthquake had occurred.

But I didn’t feel any discomfort. I wasn’t interested in matters of temperament in the first place, and I knew she didn’t have any ill intentions in bringing it up.

In fact, I was somewhat grateful for not caring enough to forget about that fact.

“Oh…that…”

“It’s okay. You can forget. I don’t really mind.”

“…I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to do that on purpose…”

“It’s okay. If you’re like that, then I feel even more sorry.”

After several refusals from me, Yeon-i finally regained her composure.

But it seemed like she still had something to say, as she stared silently at the portrait I had drawn, her fingers fidgeting.

“You know…there’s something I haven’t told you all this time…”

“What is it? If it’s a secret, you don’t have to tell me…”

“No. I just couldn’t muster the courage until now…but I feel like I have to say it now…”

“…?”

“Um…”

Yeon-i’s face showed hesitation.

After a fairly long silence, I finally heard the words coming out of her mouth.

“…I, I might not live for the next few years.”