episode_0144

A pristine white hospital room.

Sunlight squeezed through the curtains.

The woman awoke to the gentle air.

“……”

Her eyelids fluttered open.

Red eyes were revealed.

Her sleepy gaze confirmed that morning had arrived.

Selena was lying in the hospital bed.

She wasn’t injured or uncomfortable, but it was due to her disciple’s earnest plea that she please rest.

The drunkard hesitated but couldn’t refuse the eyes looking up at her.

Thanks to that, one could say she got bored.

“—I will take care of the aftermath. —Teacher-nim, please find peace of mind and body. —It is your disciple’s earnest request and wish.”

Still.

It wasn’t a bad feeling at all.

Others’ concern was quite awkward, yet there was something that gently touched her heart.

She mumbled, feeling her face inexplicably flush.

‘It’s truly hard to understand.’

Should she say he worried too much?

Or that he was kind?

The drunkard chuckled, recalling the boy. Then, she shook off the lingering thoughts as if they were a hangover.

Leaving behind the fleeting afterglow, she slowly raised her upper body, which had been lying down.

“Hmm.”

A new day had dawned.

Boring hospital life.

In other words, peaceful daily life.

Just as she was pondering ‘how should I pass the time today’ and lifted her head.

A voice, originating from somewhere, captivated her ears.

“You’re awake?”

It was a young voice.

Selena instantly held her breath.

“……”

Her shoulders stiffened.

Her eyes wavered.

Perhaps it was because it was a voice she hadn’t heard in too long.

The woman couldn’t hide her confusion and bewilderment.

The voice she had forgotten for the past ten years, the voice she should have forgotten, the voice she didn’t want to forget, was echoing in her ears.

Right beside the hospital bed.

“……”

The drunkard turned to look beside her.

Curtains fluttered by the window.

In the pristine white scenery, a girl was looking at her.

It was a face she hadn’t seen in too long as well.

But.

“Still a late sleeper, aren’t you? Not even knowing someone’s right beside you.”

She hadn’t forgotten.

How could she forget your face?

You were half of her lost world.

Selena, her lips parted blankly, uttered the name.

“……Lianne?”

“Unnie.”

Upon hearing her name, the girl smiled brightly.

Even that appearance was just as she remembered.

Lianne Drunkard.

The drunkard was facing the ghost of her younger sister.

Trembling slowly settled in her red pupils.

“How…?”

Was this a hallucination?

Or a dream?

Selena couldn’t tell the difference.

She only realized that it was by no means reality.

Otherwise, her consciousness wouldn’t be so clear.

‘This is.’

The girl hadn’t changed at all.

Her appearance was exactly as Selena remembered it.

That’s why she was even more certain.

Lianne’s life might have stopped at fifteen, but for those left behind, ten years had passed.

Selena’s reason whispered that all she saw was nothing but an illusion.

But.

“Lin…!”

What did that matter?

Emotion, by nature, always takes a step ahead of reason.

With a lurch!

The woman embraced the girl before her.

Tight, as if revealing all the longing she had harbored.

‘Lin.’

The affectionate nickname she used for her younger sister.

It had been almost ten years.

Since such a pronunciation and resonance had come from the drunkard’s lips.

Because there had been no reason to call her after Lianne died.

“Oh! Isn’t your reaction a bit too intense? You missed your cute younger sister, didn’t you, Unnie?”

It was an innocently bright voice, unchanged.

A faint yet distinct warmth completely permeated the drunkard’s embrace.

It was warm.

“Ah, ahh…”

Perhaps it was due to her choked-up throat.

Words wouldn’t come out.

She certainly had many things she wanted to say.

If only she could meet her again, she had accumulated stories as if to share them for a lifetime.

Stories about magic, stories about old times, stories about the days without her… everything had piled up in her heart like mountains and seas.

She couldn’t possibly let them out.

As if she were under a terrible spell.

“Lianne, Lin…”

Selena simply repeated the precious name once more.

Like a drunk person.

“Unnie.”

As if to say she understood her Unnie’s feelings.

The girl, after smiling for a moment in her embrace, soon patted the woman’s back with her small hand.

As if telling her not to cry.

“It must have been very hard, right?”

“……”

“Don’t be in pain. I know that Unnie tried her best.”

“No… Lianne. I almost ruined everything. You shouldn’t comfort me with such words…”

“Shh.”

Emotions gradually escalating.

Lianne cut off her sister’s self-reproach.

“Unnie. Do you remember?”

The conversation we had on the last day.

I told you I was sorry.

I wanted to stay by your side, I hoped you would stay by my side… and I was sorry I couldn’t.

I always wanted to apologize.

Because those words seemed to hurt you even more.

Because my sorrow seemed to taint you.

So.

“I’m sorry.”

“No… Lianne, I’m sorry. I’m the one who’s sorry.”

“Unnie has absolutely no need to apologize.”

“But…!”

“Because Unnie is still the coolest Unnie in my world!”

With a tight embrace.

Hands that never truly grew up.

Just as her Unnie had done for her, she, too, held her Unnie tightly.

Both of their eyes were now crimson red like a spring sunset.

The girl whispered.

“I hope Unnie won’t be sad.”

I hope you’ll stop drinking too.

I hope you’ll smile often.

I hope you won’t suffer from nightmares.

I hope you’ll build relationships with others and no longer be alone.

I hope you’ll reconcile with Teacher-nim, who has grown distant now.

I hope.

“I hope Unnie will be happy.”

“……”

Following the calm resonance, tears finally fell.

The thin lines tracing down her cheeks were hot.

The drunkard replied with a voice full of sobs.

About the truth she had suffered with for the past ten years.

“I wanted to protect you.”

She wanted to protect her.

At rock bottom. In that damned life, they had no one to lean on but each other.

She thought that as long as they were together, whatever it took, it would be enough.

However.

“I’m sorry.”

Ultimately.

Because she couldn’t protect her.

“A choked sound… I’m sorry for giving up. I’m sorry I couldn’t die with you. I wanted to suffer in your stead, but I’m sorry I couldn’t even do that. I’m sorry I ruined everything. I’m sorry for being an Unnie who couldn’t do anything for you…”

“Don’t cry, Unnie. If Unnie is sad, I’ll be sad too.”

A lukewarm warmth.

Even through her choked sobs, her meaning was clear.

Emotions that had been accumulated for so long.

Selena did not stop speaking, even as her pronunciation crumbled and her voice slurred.

How many times had her voice broken and resumed?

“Ah.”

The woman instinctively knew.

That she was about to wake from her dream.

Her clear consciousness was fading.

“Lianne.”

The end was already approaching.

The sweet time crumbled into the word ‘momentary’.

What she loved would scatter like mist.

Waking up in the morning would surely be painful.

‘Before that.’

There was something she wanted to convey.

And something she had to convey.

The drunkard forced herself to stop crying.

She steadied her trembling breath.

She managed a clumsy smile on her lips, and with her eyes, she looked at the eyes that resembled her own.

They were red, so red, as if to prove their blood relation.

Selena opened her mouth towards the transparent pupils.

“I… I’m going to try to live properly from now on.”

The drunkard realized through a series of events.

How foolish her own life had been.

“—I’ll die.”

That’s why.

Immediately after realizing, she tried to give up everything.

Saying there were no more chances left.

“—Selena Drunkard. —I will forgive you.”

But.

A certain boy saved her.

He told her to come back with him.

She knew it was undeserved affection for someone as ugly as herself.

Precisely because of that, she didn’t want to miss this moment.

Selena Drunkard.

She was no longer alone.

“I won’t be sad anymore.”

I’ll quit drinking now too.

I’ll smile often for my students.

I won’t stay up all night with bad thoughts.

I won’t be abrasive to my fellow professors and will approach them as kindly as possible.

I’ll apologize to Teacher-nim, who has grown distant now.

I will.

“I will try to be happy.”

The hospital room slowly crumbled.

The dream was collapsing.

And at the same time, her consciousness grew hazy, and her younger sister scattered into dust.

The drunkard smiled, tears soaking her sleeves.

Leaving her last words.

“That way… if I grow old enough, and can reach you later. Then I’ll tell you all the stories you never got to experience.”

Then, for sure.

Let’s meet each other without crying.

“Goodbye. My eternal other half.”

Shatter!

A sound like glass breaking echoed from somewhere.

Selena’s consciousness quickly faded away.

What she saw at the end of the scattering dreamscape was none other than the girl nodding her head.

The answer that originated from beyond her imagination left an afterimage like an echo.

Clearly.

“Yes! I’ll look forward to it…!”

Immediately after.

The woman awoke from her dream.

***

A pristine white hospital room.

Sunlight squeezed through the curtains.

The woman awoke to the gentle air.

“……”

Her eyelids fluttered open.

Red eyes were revealed.

The moisture remaining around her eyes confirmed that morning had arrived.

Selena was lying in the hospital bed.

As she savored the lingering feelings of the previous night, suddenly, a voice was heard again.

“You’re awake, Teacher-nim.”

It was the blonde boy.

He stood in the exact spot where her younger sister had been standing just moments before.

The woman quickly tidied her face, which was a mess from tears.

Then, she quietly asked.

“Student Yuda.”

“Yes.”

“The dream I just had. Was that also your ability? Or…”

“Do you truly wish to hear the answer?”

“……Please forget it.”

Selena thought for a moment, then shook her head.

Instead of hearing the answer, she opened her arms and embraced the boy standing beside her.

Just as she had done with her younger sister.

But a little differently.

“Thank you.”

Her face buried in his chest.

The drunkard mumbled so her expression couldn’t be seen.

The boy, embraced by the woman, patted her back.

Just as her younger sister had done for her.

But a little differently.

“For telling me a lie.”

A lie does not contain truth.

Thus, some might judge it to be wrong, or meaningless.

But there are also those who live by leaning on such emptiness.

Humans are weak, and thus find solace in lies.

Especially adults.

“Don’t mention it.”

“Please continue to look after me.”

“I’ll be counting on you as well.”

The drunkard could now.

Finally completely shake off her scarred past.

She hugged the snake for a long time.

Until their warmth completely mingled.

***

The next day.

All matters were concluded.

I found myself having a private audience with an unexpected person.

Though it felt more like I’d unilaterally intruded than a proper private audience.

I picked up my teacup.

“So.”

Across the table sat a white-haired old man.

He, too, was holding a cup of black tea.

He asked.

“What is the reason for your visit?”

Dean Gaston Gallimard.

I was facing the [Prophet of the End].