Chapter 57

Chapter 57

Bonus chapter thanks to Nell’s sub to ‘Dual Rune’ via Buymeacoffee

Memory Recovery (3)

Sniff.

As Joo Ah-yoon sniffled, Han Jae-jung silently handed her a tissue. She muttered with a stuffy nose.

“Damn it...”

Then she blew her nose.

Her eyes, nose tip, cheeks, ears, and neck – there wasn’t a single spot that wasn’t red. It was hard to tell if this was Pink Deneb or Red Deneb. Her body flushed red from tears and shame looked pitiful.

“Why did you do something so stupid?”

“Then why did you make a scene on the rooftop, brother?”

Having no words to say, he closed his mouth. His throat felt dry for no reason, so he just swallowed his saliva. Han Jae-jung averted his embarrassed gaze and looked around.

This was Pink Deneb’s house.

After calming down a bit, she invited Han Jae-jung here.

It was close to a kidnapping.

Before Han Jae-jung could come to his senses, she wrapped him in her Hong-Ik-o and brought him here.

It’s not like she did anything particularly harsh. Han Jae-jung didn’t complain about it.

As a place to hide himself and talk at the same time, it was quite a suitable choice.

The overall interior looked hip. The flamingo neon sign decoration on the table and the rock band and movie posters plastered all over the house. There were modern avant-garde artworks framed.

The famous character dolls on the sofa slightly softened the rough impression.

The house was bigger than where she used to live, and there were more decorative items, but it gave the same impression as the house Han Jae-jung used to know.

“...What happened?”

Joo Ah-yoon asked, hugging a pink doll that looked like a cute deformed bird. It was a clear display of anxiety.

“You said you’d come back, but didn’t contact us for years. Why were you dressed like a homeless person before? Why are you involved with a villain? No, no, why... You said you’d live properly, that you were just going on a trip. Is this the result of that trip?”

A barrage of questions came at him all at once, but he remained silent for all of them. They sounded less like questions she wanted answers to and more like a projection of her frustration.

Han Jae-jung felt like a criminal. In fact, he was in a state not much different from one. In a moral sense, he was clearly a criminal.

“I should have definitely found out something before... I shouldn’t have just left it alone... A suicide counseling center? Why did you go there? Weren’t you the one who always advocated cherishing life? Did your values change over time?”

“No, that was...”

He tried to say he went there to take advantage of the government subsidies but stopped himself. It would have only provoked her needlessly.

“We...”

Pink Deneb’s voice began to mix with tears again.

“Do you know how long we searched for you? Three whole years! A measly three years! Long enough for a kid to graduate from high school!”

Han Jae-jung disappeared without giving them a chance to stop him. He vanished while Pink Deneb and Blue Sirius were hospitalized after being attacked by the villain.

Leaving behind only a letter and a few gifts.

The first line of the letter is still an impressive memory.

‘What do you think ethical behavior is? Respecting the other person’s will? Or protecting the other person? To me, it’s the former. Let me clarify one thing first.

Don’t look for me (not a distorted melodramatic expression from movies. This is real. If you don’t believe me, three generations of your family will get sick).

You can criticize my actions, but don’t try to deny them.

I won’t deny it. This is running away.

But sometimes running away can also be a good strategy, friend! ????

That’s what my case is this time. I need to stay alive too.

Don’t worry too much. I’ll come back once I’m ready. I’ll contact you too!

Do our pretty ones believe me? ^^ Love you~’

That was just the first paragraph. There were a few more lines that made Yoon Seol-hwa and Joo Ah-yoon’s minds reel. In fact, Yoon Seol-hwa couldn’t even read half of this letter before passing out.

The casual use of “I Love you” at the end stripped it of any weight.

It was a runaway letter laced with sarcasm.

That’s when Joo Ah-yoon learned what it felt like to have her heart sink.

“That my actions were just troubling you... That I wasn’t respecting you like the letter said... That even if I looked for you, I’d just get yelled at... When you got angry before... It was scary. At first, I endured it thinking that way. But I couldn’t take it anymore. It’s so stupid and I know I’m an idiot, but I still wanted to find you. Annoyingly so.”

What is the path of respect? It was a problem without an answer. It was clear that if she went looking for him again, she would only get hurt. That thought never left her mind. And yet, she still acted on it.

To respect her own heart.

“But... I couldn’t find you. I don’t even know where you are, what you’re doing, or if you’re alive or dead.”

But in the end, everything failed.

She didn’t avoid looking for Han Jae-jung out of respect for him, and she couldn’t find him out of respect for herself either.

“So... I just hoped you were doing well.”

Give what needs to be given. Abandon what needs to be abandoned. Jo Ah-yoon defended herself with this way of thinking. It was one of her many defense mechanisms.

Move on calmly, act like nothing happened, and look ahead to the next thing. Rationalization is a barrier that protects the self. It’s a breakwater that makes you think the harsh reality is nothing to you.

“That you were doing well... That you, being the shameless and positive person you are, were doing well wherever you were... That you went abroad or somewhere and could live happily... That the reason you didn’t come back was because you were living so well that you forgot about us... Like that... Over and over and over...”

She didn’t consider the possibility of not giving up.

Because if she didn’t confirm it, it remained a possibility. There was hope.

Joo Ah-yoon was afraid. She chose to remain in that fear.

Hoping that he was happy wherever he was that she couldn’t see right now.

“But what is this?”

Joo Ah-yoon raised her head. Tears had already started welling up in her eyes again.

“That you received suicide counseling and were raving on the rooftop, or that you were attacked by a villain and hospitalized, or that you were in the hospital looking like a homeless person! And why!”

Bang! Her frail hand slammed the desk. Her other hand was still holding the doll as she stood up from the chair.

“That villain knows you...”

Han Jae-jung squeezed his eyes shut. He wasn’t surprised. He expected this would come.

“Do you know how I found you today? That villain bastard’s reaction led me to the last place you were... What is this? Why did that bastard’s reaction come from you?”

One of Hong Ik-o’s abilities was being able to track the power of the stars.

Since the last place he had transformed was on that rooftop, it was only natural that his trace would be left there.

Han Jae-jung looked at Joo Ah-yoon again. Her gem-like shining eyes were sparkling even more beautifully with the moisture they held.

“It could really... really... be so unfair. But if there’s a place you’ve been lurking, please tell me, brother... Please...”

Han Jae-jung took her hand in his.

“...Ah-yoon. There are two things I need to tell you.”

Her slightly cold body temperature hadn’t changed even after all this time.

“I’m currently suffering from memory loss. I know our relationship, but I can’t recall most of the memories we had together.”

Her cold hand twitched.

“What, what do you mean...”

“And one more thing.”

Before she could fully express her surprise, he opened his lips with a stern demeanor.

“Brother...?”

“Ah-yoon. I don’t hate that you’re suspicious of me. It’s a suspicion you can naturally have. It’s okay. I won’t hate you. Rather, I’m sorry. I must have made you anxious.”

He made up his mind.

A villain’s transformation leaves clear traces. There is no such thing as a perfect transformation.

Therefore, paradoxically, if one is perfectly preserving their human body, it means they are not a villain.

“Ah-yoon, I’ll be completely naked for just 5 minutes.”

“...?”

“Check me.”

For Every 3$,Ill upload a Bonus chapter within the week.

Anyways... Happy Reading!!!

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