episode_0142

I stood there, embracing the woman. Her purple hair fluttered. Only a thread of silence hung around us. The air of the underground prison instantly grew heavy.

“……”

I looked down at the warmth in my arms. The Drunkard’s appearance was truly a mess. Limbs bruised all over, a forehead stained with clear bloodstains, and a haggard complexion utterly devoid of life. Selena was sitting on the floor, looking up at me. Her red eyes wavered blankly.

‘Did I surprise her too much?’

She seemed unable to grasp the situation. For her, there was only confusion. Why she was alive, why her self-destruction had failed, why a familiar face stood before her… Her confused mind was clearly reflected in her expression. Given that even her mask of indifference had broken, she must have been quite flustered.

I gave a bitter smile. ‘She did it.’

I had been watching continuously. To see what choice she would make. Whether she would sober up or repeat her mistakes. I believed. I believed in the regret you mumbled with your haggard face. I believed in the faint glimmer of light that flickered in your eyes. I was sure that you, unlike my foolish past self, would not be consumed by despair. I waited for you to choose. And then.

-It was just that… I sobered up.

You chose the hangover. Even if the accumulated poison was painful to a sober mind. To move forward.

“Teacher-nim.”

Selena was still bewildered. I brushed her cheek and whispered softly.

“Thank you.”

I gently smiled. A slight shadow flowed from where my palm touched her cheek. The writhing shadow that bloomed soon adhered to the woman, slowly absorbing into her skin as if water soaking into fabric. With the dissolution of the lie, her wounds began to heal.

Swoosh.

Her disheveled appearance began to mend. What remained was only pristine skin. As the pain gradually faded, the Drunkard’s clouded gaze also returned. Our gazes met.

“Please sit for a moment. It’ll be over soon.”

I took off my robe. And draped it over Selena’s shoulders as she sat. She was an adult stained with dust and blood, but the fabric the boy offered embraced her shoulders with pure white. As if concealing her tattered essence.

“Hmm.”

I turned around. At the end of my gaze stood angels clad in white. A formation executed without a single error. They were none other than Astro’s elite unit.

Squish.

Only red stains marked their footsteps. Corpses lay scattered on the floor. They were the guards who had been protecting the prison moments ago. Now, they were nothing more than decaying chunks of flesh. As I mused over the slowly spreading stench of blood, the angel standing in the front row spoke. It was the Vice-Captain.

“Master-nim.”

“Neria-yang.”

“Underground infiltration and securing are complete. Please give the order for the squad members to proceed upstairs.”

“The enemy’s forces confirmed in this branch number about 200. Our side has ten, so… that means a force difference of nearly 20 times.”

I narrowed my eyes. As if demanding a satisfactory answer befitting a Master.

“How long will it take?”

“Exactly 30 minutes… no, we will clear up to the surface within 20 minutes.”

“Then that’s fine.”

The angels’ eyes shone brightly. I gave the command to Neria and everyone standing behind her. It was a slaughter.

“Don’t leave a single one alive.”

The angels bowed their heads in unison. Suddenly, their fluttering robes captured stars with a pure white afterimage.

“All as you wish.”

Immediately after. The stars began to move. Until the pure white coverings were stained entirely red. The light fluttered.

***

The branch was cleared in an instant. As it was a branch of meager scale to begin with, the internal forces were swept away like autumn leaves. There was no mercy in the swinging swords and magic of the squad members. Especially Neria.

“Oh, Light.”

Flare!

Brilliant starlight judged evil. A heat that left no corpses behind. The cultists tried to counterattack with chimeras and dark magic, but they couldn’t stop the silver-haired girl and were reduced to ashes. The remaining angels followed the Vice-Captain’s lead, carrying out their respective executions. I merely watched the scene of purification unfold. Had a little over 10 minutes passed like that?

“Master-nim. The cleanup is complete.”

“Good work.”

There were only ten of them. They had annihilated a branch where a whopping 200 people resided in just 10 minutes. Perhaps because they were elites, their firepower was refreshing. The Vice-Captain saluted me. By then, the branch’s safety had been secured.

Only then did I extend my hand to the Drunkard.

“Teacher-nim.”

“……”

Selena, sprawled on the floor. Had she now somewhat accepted the chaotic situation? Gone were the surprise and bewilderment from before. Only a complex expression remained on her face. The woman, who had been kneeling alone, turned her head away from the hand extended before her. As if rejecting a kindness.

“It’s all over.”

“……”

“Let’s go back together. To the home everyone is waiting at.”

The Academy. I told her we should go home together. But the Drunkard still wouldn’t take my hand. Perhaps she was tormented by thoughts. Her reaction suggested she utterly lacked the courage to do so. Her trembling lips mumbled.

“……Yuda Student.”

“Please get up.”

“I… can’t. Shamelessly, I can’t go back there…”

“Excuse me for a moment.”

“Huh?”

Grab.

Suddenly, I embraced her. A faint warmth spread from within my arms. Without giving her a chance to resist, I lifted the woman’s body. It was a posture commonly known as a ‘princess carry’.

“Yu-Yuda Student…?”

“Shh.”

We remained as we were. The banquet where we were each other’s firsts. Just as I had escorted her there. Selena grasped my sleeve at the sudden action.

“W-wait… Where are you going?”

“Didn’t I tell you? For home, there’s only the Academy, after all. Everyone is waiting for you, Teacher-nim.”

“Everyone…?”

“Yes, everyone. A hospitalized patient disappeared, so everyone must be flustered. Not only the Dean, but also the students who learned from you, your fellow professors… even Professor Cadell is looking for you.”

“……Why?”

Her head slowly dropped. Soon, the woman’s eyes welled up as if tears would burst forth. But she swallowed them back, not letting them overflow. As if she didn’t even deserve to shed tears. She hung the recollection of her spilled sins around her neck like a gallows. It was intense guilt.

“I don’t deserve it. I don’t deserve to go back to the Academy…”

“Why do you think that?”

“You know, Yuda Student. You know what I almost did.”

“Teacher-nim.”

“I almost ruined the things I loved. And at the same time, I almost ruined the things that loved me. And I used my own sorrow as an excuse.”

Her pupils trembled. The Drunkard’s gaze was as if she were about to die at any moment. The shoulders in my arms trembled weakly.

“Just… let me end it here.”

A single request. Perhaps a plea. The woman longed for an end to her wretched life. She seemed to want to take responsibility for herself. But

“How foolish.”

Responsibility was not like that.

“What you are doing, Teacher-nim, is merely running away.”

Death can never be a means of responsibility. Nor should it be a means of responsibility. For those left behind, it becomes a wound, and unresolved conflicts become deep scars. If one wishes to take responsibility for their mistakes, they must face them properly. Even if the process is guilt-ridden.

“You must live. Only then will the opportunity for atonement come.”

God gives opportunities only to those who live. After facing death, there is no chance to atone to others, nor a chance to set things right.

“But…”

“Why do you only think everything is over?”

Observing you, I had thought. A person with many wounds. Yet a warm person. Though she always pretended to be indifferent to everything, she never forgot her kindness towards her students, so it was no coincidence that many children at the Academy followed her. It was a connection the Drunkard had steadily built. At the same time, it was proof of affection.

‘If.’

If you hadn’t walked the path of revenge… I thought you would have become a quite good educator. On the other hand, I also believed it wasn’t too late. Because you had just emerged from a long tunnel of regret.

-Go to hell.

-Five years of being swayed by you bastards is enough.

Now that you had shed your past faults. Your entire life had just reached the starting line. You chose what you wished to protect, not out of anger towards something, but out of love for something. You were finally allowed to remain in the world. In my world, too. And in your world.

“Teacher-nim.”

In the original story, you deserved to die. Because simply for reasons of anger and sorrow, you had pushed too many people into misfortune. But not in this world. No one was harmed or became unfortunate.

“You… have not ruined anything yet.”

If it hasn’t been ruined, then opportunity exists. I believe that to be the truth.

“Because I stopped it.”

I stopped your sins. I stopped a hideous tragedy. Regret, self-reproach, suicide… all those words that would have someday weighed down your shoulders no longer held meaning. As I said before, because I wanted to save you.

“So, it’s alright.”

“But, Yuda Student, you got hurt. Enough to need a wheelchair. With such a noticeably emaciated appearance…”

The hand grasping my sleeve trembled. Was she recalling a few days ago? I remember her giving a complicated smile as she saw me in a wheelchair. It seemed all of that had been agonizing for you. To the point where it was too hard to bear and turn away from.

“Indeed, your sins might be heavy.”

“……”

“However.”

I was grateful to you. For making a different choice. My wretched past life, filled only with despair and sorrow. It was a life that never changed until the end… but from your choice, I saw a new possibility. Perhaps even I, from that time.

“Aren’t we bound by a special connection?”

It was just that there was no one to hold my hand. The possibility that I could have changed if only I had had the chance. By that alone, I received a small salvation from that time. I promise.

“When you take responsibility… I will always be by your side.”

Taming is like that. Just as I tamed you, and you tamed me, we must take responsibility for each other. If individuals merely live as individuals, what meaning would relationships truly hold? Humans are beings who unite because they conflict, love because they hate, and forgive others because they make mistakes. If you don’t give up, the chance to rise again will come someday.

“Selena Drunkerd.”

What you should beg for was not death. It was forgiveness. And I.

“I will forgive you.”

I no longer resented you. I poured my complete sincerity onto my lips.

-Everything. Without exception.

-All my firsts were Yuda Student’s.

This time, too, I was your first. The first person to forgive you. In the future, you would have to live through countless acts of atonement, apologies, and original sins, but precisely because of that, the value of this forgiveness was clear. Because it would become hope for every step you took. The hope that someday you could be forgiven for all your sins.

“So, Teacher-nim.”

To you. I had volunteered to be your first hope.

“Let’s go back together. To the home waiting for us.”

“……”

Her pupils were fixed in a blank stare. Tears welled up in her red eyes, and soon, overflowing emotions streamed down. Straight lines of tears drew dark streaks across her cheeks. Relief, joy, doubt, hope, sorrow… a wave of all these emotions mixed together. The woman asked, her pronunciation increasingly slurred.

“Why on earth… Yuda Student, why are you so… to me…”

Why. A question about why I was so kind to her. Without hesitation, I answered.

“Because, you are my Teacher-nim.”

A single phrase that finally made her burst into tears. The Drunkard buried her face in my chest. Tears slowly soaked through my shirt. Embracing her gradually growing sobs, I walked steadily down the dark corridor. Though surrounded by pitch darkness, my vision was not at all obscured. Instead, it was bright. And so. For the first time, light shone upon the life of a traitor, or perhaps, a drunkard. Perhaps a light to be cherished forever.