episode_0073

Shi-hyuk took off Yu-hee-ah’s white fingers that were carefully touching his face one by one. Surprisingly, she did not resist and easily accepted his rejection.

As if they were sure they would never be able to escape anyway.

Soon, the small hand that had completely fallen off was completely hidden by his thick, large hand. It was not a thick or hot hand like Shihyuk’s. It was a thin, light, and cold hand.

But this, this is the same. It was like that.

A flood of emotions was flooding in like crazy, violently beating down on Si-hyuk’s heart, as if it was breaking the dam he had built. As he closed his eyes tightly in confusion, a laughter came in.

Her fingers, swallowed by Shihyuk’s grasp, were gently scratching his palm. She was tickling him to her heart’s content, playing with his hands and teasing him, as if she was unlocking the locked window of his heart.

“… Stop it.”

“What are you talking about?”

All of it, everything. Shihyuk was calm and reserved with his words. If he spoke carelessly, it felt like something swelling inside his body would burst and spill out.

It was his limit to barely suppress it. Perhaps that was why the words he finally revealed after silence were so pitiful.

“You… don’t know me.”

Even I felt like it was a very refreshing sound.

“Ahaha, what are you talking about here?”

That was it.

“Like jumping into a fire because it’s too cold, even though you know your whole body is covered in grease. Like drinking seawater because you’re so thirsty, your tongue and palate stick together, and there’s nothing around to drink. I know. I had no choice. I didn’t know anything else. Because that’s all we had. How could I not know?”

Saying such things now wouldn’t make a difference. There’s no need to even ask how.

Like someone looking at their reflection in a mirror for the first time, like two coins cut in half reattaching themselves, like the final piece of a missing puzzle being put together, like a one-eyed man meeting another one-eyed man for the first time in a two-eyed world. How strangely distorted things met.

Just as the deficient woman could recognize the man, the deficient man could also sense the woman. Now, even if it was denial, it was the obvious truth. The dragging excuses were ugly.

“Even though we were called stupid and foolish, we couldn’t help it. The only means we could use were effort and training.”

Yoo Hee-ah smiled faintly and quietly contradicted Shi-hyeok. She was talking as if she knew everything about him.

She released his grasp and fell into his arms. His long, disheveled hair tickled her chin and his hot breath touched her collarbone.

His body turned black as if he was holding ink. Yu Hee-ah seemed satisfied with it and gently leaned her head against Shi-hyeok’s chest. In order to eavesdrop on the sound of his pounding heart.

“It was miserable. The moment when all my joints were worn away and I felt the crunching sound of my bones with my whole body! My stomach was hot like lava, but my skin was covered in cold sweat and cold like ice, and I had chills. My eyes opened twice from fatigue, and my vision gradually narrowed from the outside, but I bit my tongue and pushed myself. ”

She wrapped her arms around Shihyuk’s waist and hugged him tightly. The woman’s breasts were pressed between Shihyuk’s navel and his pubic hair, crushing him like rice cakes pressed against an iron plate. However, as if she was disappointed with the empty space between their bellies, she clung to him with even more force, rubbing her hands together to her heart’s content.

“Do you remember how many times your palms were torn? All your fingernails fell off, sweat seeped inside, and the saltiness made them bitter. Didn’t you want to open your skin, peel away your muscles, and scrape away your nerves in the pain that ached from the deepest part of your body? Didn’t you want to peel off your own flesh to realign your twisted bones and wash away your rotting internal organs? Hahaha, wasn’t that amazing? Well, yes. You know how that feels. Human life is more tenacious than you think. It was so painful, I wanted to die, I wish I could die quickly, but I couldn’t hold on! I gritted my teeth and endured it until my molars were worn away. I limped and limped horribly, and I continued on in a disgusting way, bloody and filthy.”

The scent that came across him was sweet and fragrant. Like a black stain seeping in, the scent stuck and seemed like it would never go away no matter what happened. Shihyuk’s consciousness was fading away and being pulled long like a rubber band.

He stood there barely holding on to it, which had grown thinner and taut. He was afraid that if he even touched the corner, it would snap and only his instincts would remain.

“But there was something more difficult and painful than the countless failures. No one knew us. We were not recognized. The effort, the suffering! The fact that no one knew was the most miserable thing! Do you still remember the taste of the bloody tears you sipped while hiding in the shadows? It was so salty, bitter, and bitter! It was so lonely and sad that I felt like vomiting! I was going crazy!”

The sharp nails pierced the stiff surface of the clothes and dug into the skin of Shihyuk’s back. He swallowed a groan as the force pulled as if it was going to tear off his shoulder blades. Endure it. You have to endure it.

Woohoo, ahahahaha. The woman who had been shunned by the world from an early age laughed like crazy. Then, like a doll whose clockwork had completely stopped, Yoo Hee-ah raised her head and looked up at Si-hyuk.

The purest black was there. Mad, round eyes met his.

“But now everything is okay. Because I finally met you! Even if everyone doesn’t know, if it were me, if it were you, I would know and understand! You and I are the same. We were never wrong-!”

Shihyuk bit his teeth as he screamed, pouring out all the hatred and anger he had been holding back. His thick jawline bulged out and his temples became hot. His eyes turned red.

Every word she uttered was filled with resentment, and the pain was intense. What was even more frightening was that she knew it herself. It seemed that if she let her guard down even a little, she would fall into a madness that spread out like a vine.

You’re great. You worked hard. You must have been in a lot of pain to get there. It must have been hard. There was no need for such trivial and vulgar words of understanding and sympathy that anyone can easily say.

Now it was not important to come here and ask her about her thoughts in a vague manner.

… Just like Shihyuk can’t use [Status Window] or [Skills]. Probably, she too.

From the first time I saw her until now, the feeling of my heart being shaken, my body being drawn, and being captivated continued to tell me. He and she were the same. The two were one. Their existence was each other’s understanding.

Yoo Hee-ah was positive about Si-hyuk. She was shaking her body and agreeing with him, saying that his past life, which had been stuck in a pit, was not wrong. It was a pleasure and a joy.

The Milky Way, the Lord Gong, and perhaps even the Master would not be able to understand him this much. How sweet would it be if he were to surrender to this madness? How far could he fall?

Just as she clung to him, Shi-hyuk couldn’t completely abandon Yoo Hee-ah. Denying her was no different than ignoring the past 20 years of his life.

“So, please show me. I want to know you more. I want to feel Sihyuk more. Making equipment. I want to see it. Swords, spears, or anything else. Taking lives. Making the world that laughed at me fall apart. Yes. Until the very end. Yes, Sihyuk. Please… I’ll ask, okay… ?”

The darkness was beckoning ominously. Come here. Let’s go a little further together. Let’s get completely ruined. It was tilting its head and asking what I was hesitating for.

…but.

“Shihyuk… ?”

Shihyuk pushed away the darkness that was in his arms. Yuhee-ah asked a weak question as she took a step back.

Why? Why do you refuse? If you are, you know. You know how I feel.

But Sihyuk was stubborn.

“I am… different from you.”

Clearly, the man and woman were walking the same path. However, at the very end, he and Yu-hee-ah’s paths diverged. They ended up walking different paths.

Turning his gaze away from the intense temptation, Shihyuk’s eyes were caught on the tip of the hammer he had put down.

‘Lee Si-hyuk’

The name he was called by his master. The name engraved on the hammer shone clearly.

Unlike her, Shi-hyuk did not cross the line. He could not commit completely until the end.

Because Baekhyun’s last legacy, the object that contained the heart of the greatest blacksmith, guided his mind, which was sinking into a swamp, to the right path.

It wasn’t just the teacher. The old man, the universe, the galaxy, they were pulling him towards the light. They saved Shihyuk from the dark and desolate Asura.

“We were definitely the same… but that’s it.”

Thanks to that, unlike her, Shihyuk has not lost his humanity yet.