Chapter 195 : The First Step
Chapter 195: The First Step
The sun had set, and darkness had fallen.
Eunha and I headed toward the place where we had agreed to regroup at the appointed time.
My thoughts were complicated.
Seo Da-hee was going to confess.
And today, of all days.
It wasn’t as though I didn’t know how she felt about me.
If anything, I knew very well.
Seo Da-hee and I were faintly connected through Lia as a medium.
But even while knowing how she felt, I had continued to look away.
First, I had never had the luxury of accepting someone’s feelings.
I had poured everything into dealing with Pandemonium’s movements and stopping their plans.
Second, back then, I had practically been living on borrowed time.
A candle-like life that would disappear the moment the End revived.
For someone like me to accept her feelings would have been irresponsible.
It would only have placed an enormous burden on Seo Da-hee’s heart.
But things were different now.
The End was dead.
Pandemonium had lost its leadership, and its power had weakened.
In other words, I no longer had any reason to ignore Seo Da-hee’s feelings.
Then what exactly was this feeling inside me?
Unable to put it into words, my steps naturally slowed.
“Seongwoo?”
Eunha turned around to look at me.
At some point, she had already gone quite far ahead.
“Why aren’t you coming?”
“I am.”
“Hurry. You’re slow.”
Cold-hearted brat.
Clicking my tongue inwardly, I quickened my pace.
When Eunha first told me that Seo Da-hee was going to confess, my heart sank for a moment.
Maybe it felt like something that had been inevitable had finally arrived.
It wasn’t that I disliked Seo Da-hee or anything like that.
If anything, I was fond of her.
Then was it because I didn’t see her as a woman?
Of course, there had been a time when I saw them as characters in a game.
But not anymore.
They were undeniably living, intelligent beings and people precious to me.
Seo Da-hee was no exception.
More than anything, whenever I felt the endless affection and concern she poured toward me, even I couldn’t help but see her as a woman.
Then what exactly was the problem?
When we arrived at the meeting place, Park Siwoo and Dan Chun-woo were already there waiting.
“Oh, you got here right on time.”
Each of them was holding something.
It looked like they had bought souvenirs of their own.
“What about President’s group?”
“They’re not here yet.”
Speak of the tiger, and it appears.
Not far away, Helena, Seo Da-hee, and Yoo Yi-seo came into view.
But the atmosphere around them felt strange.
Helena wore an awkward smile, while Seo Da-hee and Yoo Yi-seo were clinging tightly to each other.
On top of that, both Seo Da-hee and Yoo Yi-seo had red-rimmed eyes.
They looked as though they had been crying.
“What happened? Did something happen?”
“…….”
At my question, Helena narrowed her eyes halfway and glared at me.
What the hell was with her?
Thud!
“Ghk.”
A fist suddenly slammed into my stomach.
The surprise punch had come too suddenly to dodge.
“No, why the hell……?”
“You don’t need to know.”
Helena stormed past me.
I looked at Seo Da-hee, but she only gave me an awkward smile.
What the hell had happened?
My stomach throbbed where Helena had punched me.
As though trying to change the mood, Seo Da-hee clapped her hands and drew everyone’s attention.
“Now that everyone’s here, should we go eat dinner?”
We had dinner at a seafood market with a warm, friendly atmosphere.
Along with various side dishes, an enormous king crab sat proudly in the middle of the table.
“Wow…….”
No one could take their eyes off the enormous king crab.
Its tremendous size held an equally tremendous concentration of flavor.
The sweet taste of shellfish struck my tongue.
The rich innards were simply incredible.
Everyone devoured the king crab as though entranced.
We finished with crab shell fried rice and ramen cooked with king crab legs.
After filling our stomachs, we headed toward the final stop on our itinerary before going to our lodging.
We arrived at a pier.
Under the dark night sky, a brightly lit cruise ship came into view.
Taking a light breath, I stepped aboard.
Then I heard someone let out a deep sigh from somewhere nearby.
The one sighing was none other than Eunha.
She hadn’t even boarded the cruise yet, but her face already looked miserable.
Come to think of it, she had suffered horribly from motion sickness on both the plane and public transportation.
Even motion sickness medicine hadn’t worked, so it was almost impressive that she hadn’t vomited.
Helena, standing beside her, spoke.
“If you’re worried about motion sickness, you don’t have to force yourself to ride. I can stay with you.”
“No.”
Despite Helena’s consideration, Eunha shook her head.
Her eyes burned with determination.
I wondered if there was really any reason to force herself onto a boat this badly, but Eunha boarded in the end.
Maybe because she had spent most of her life inside an Incubator, she wanted to see and experience as many things as possible.
Once everyone boarded, the ship slowly departed from the pier.
The vessel rocked along with the waves.
We went outside.
The sea breeze tousled our hair.
“They say the night view from here is breathtaking. More than anything, you can see the fireworks perfectly from here.”
Yoo Yi-seo, whose eyes were swollen from crying, spoke proudly.
Just as she said, the night view in the distance was beautiful.
Lights rippled across the surface of the water.
The beautiful nightscape reflected perfectly across the sea.
A forest of towering buildings beneath the night sky shone with light.
Leaning against the railing, I stared blankly at the sight.
Everything felt like a dream.
Things I could never even have dreamed of in my previous life were now happening to me as though they were perfectly normal.
Then I heard someone calling me.
“Seongwoo! Yoo Seongwoo! Come over here!”
Not far away, the others were gathered together and waving at me.
In front of them stood a stranger holding a Polaroid camera.
Apparently, they were about to take a group picture.
I nodded and walked toward them.
We gathered together in a spot with a clear view of the beautiful night scenery and took the picture.
Everyone struck a pose and smiled.
“All right, I’m taking it. One, two! One, two! One, two! Great!”
The person who took several photos gave us a thumbs-up.
Then he handed over the Polaroid pictures.
As we gently waved the photos in the wind, colors gradually began appearing across their black surfaces.
Everyone exclaimed after checking them.
They had come out so well that they could easily be called perfect shots.
Then Seo Da-hee approached me.
“Seongwoo, can we talk?”
Her face was flushed red beneath the darkness.
And at that moment, I finally realized why I had never been able to fully accept Seo Da-hee’s feelings.
Her heart pounded as though it had broken.
No matter how hard she tried to calm herself, it wasn’t easy.
Excitement, anxiety, fear.
Countless emotions mixed together and swirled within her.
‘Ugh, Lia, I’m so nervous.’
‘M-Me too…….’
The two girls intended to confess the feelings they had suppressed until now to the person they loved.
The man they loved stood beside them.
Deep black hair that seemed to contain the night, and Golden Eyes blazing like the sun.
His sharp eyes gave him a cold impression at first glance, but contrary to appearances, he was a warm person.
Countless memories of the time they had spent together flashed through their minds.
Not every moment they spent with him had been like a dream.
If anything, it had been exhausting.
Sometimes they had been hurt.
Sometimes they had even grown sick and tired of it all.
But he had been their savior and like a lamp that illuminated the darkness as he walked ahead.
No.
Thinking about it again, calling him a lamp was far too dignified.
He was more like a reckless moth throwing itself into a flame.
A stupid moth that instinctively dove toward the fire even while knowing its own body would burn.
Yoo Seongwoo wasn’t exactly an ideal romantic partner.
He would disappear without contact at the drop of a hat and make people worry themselves sick, and there had been plenty of times when he nearly died alone somewhere like some fragile sunfish.
They hated that side of him.
And at the same time, they loved him deeply.
They wanted the man who had sacrificed himself for them to finally be happy.
And they desperately wished to be part of that happiness.
Pewww-
A small spark shot up from somewhere and burst with a bang, painting the dark night sky in brilliant colors.
At the start of the fireworks, everyone’s gaze turned toward the sky.
Yoo Seongwoo also watched the dazzling fireworks.
Her hand reached toward him.
Seo Da-hee took a light breath and shyly confessed her feelings.
Bang-! Bangbangbang!
The explosions and the noise made by the crowd swallowed her voice.
Even so, Yoo Seongwoo understood what she wanted to tell him.
‘I like you.’
Her face, illuminated by the fireworks bursting in the distance, was dyed red.
Yoo Seongwoo’s lips moved slightly after hearing her.
His heart pounded hard enough to burst.
The sound of it felt loud enough to drown out even the surrounding noise.
It was the first confession he had ever received from a woman across both his previous and current lives.
It was shy and ordinary.
And precisely because of that, it was special.
But Yoo Seongwoo couldn’t recklessly answer Seo Da-hee’s confession.
It was guilt.
And a long-standing trauma.
The memory of having betrayed someone who had told him with her own lips that she loved him.
Everyone knew what happened back then hadn’t been his own will.
Even so, Yoo Seongwoo had suffered over it for a long time while despairing over his Fate.
Part of him couldn’t understand it.
How could she so readily say that she still liked someone who had once betrayed her?
The brilliant lights decorating the curtain of night gradually faded.
Silence settled in their place.
Seo Da-hee carefully raised her head.
Yoo Seongwoo’s expression wasn’t good.
“Ah…….”
She realized instinctively.
The answer that would come from his mouth wouldn’t be positive.
Watching from a distance, Helena and the others whispered among themselves.
“What is that idiot doing?”
“His expression doesn’t look good.”
“Ah, she’s crying.”
Grind.
Yoo Yi-seo, standing beside them, ground her teeth.
Everyone there knew Seo Da-hee liked Yoo Seongwoo.
She had apparently tried to hide it in her own way.
But Seo Da-hee had never been good at concealing her true feelings.
None of them could understand Yoo Seongwoo’s silent rejection.
Seo Da-hee liked Yoo Seongwoo, and Yoo Seongwoo clearly wasn’t oblivious to that fact.
He hadn’t even pushed her away.
That was why they had naturally assumed Seo Da-hee’s confession would succeed.
Yoo Yi-seo’s gaze turned toward Helena.
It was silent pressure.
Yoo Seongwoo never revealed what he truly felt.
The way he always tried to carry every burden alone was frustrating enough to make everyone around him feel stifled.
Unable to withstand Yoo Yi-seo’s pressure, light began shining from Helena’s eyes.
She commanded the Mana.
“Connect.”
Forced Telepathy that transmitted another person’s emotions.
Using it on Yoo Seongwoo wasn’t easy.
Unlike Yoo Yi-seo or Seo Da-hee, whose levels were lower than hers, Yoo Seongwoo’s realm was at least equal to Helena’s, if not higher.
Noticing the abnormality, Yoo Seongwoo turned toward Helena.
His eyes looked as though flames were pouring from them.
It was unmistakable anger.
Helena flinched in fear at the sight, but she didn’t stop.
The Mana obeying Helena’s command tried to draw out Yoo Seongwoo’s true feelings.
Fwoosh!
A sudden wave of hot air swept through the middle of the cold, windswept sea.
Helena staggered for a moment under Yoo Seongwoo’s firm rejection.
At that instant, Seo Da-hee’s eyes lit up.
Lia didn’t miss the opening in his heart created by Helena and read his emotions.
Yoo Seongwoo’s face twisted.
The trauma, fear, and worries he had kept tightly hidden as his shame rose to the surface.
After reading all of it, joy appeared on Seo Da-hee’s face.
Yoo Seongwoo didn’t dislike her.
He was simply afraid.
His entire life had been stained by loneliness.
A life spent constantly struggling alone.
A life where doing so had always been natural.
For someone like him, showing himself to another person was no different from exposing a weakness.
And yet he had gained people precious to him.
They were far too precious.
And because of that, he was afraid the relationship they had now would change.
More than anything, he believed what he had done to her was an unforgivable sin he could never wash away.
What he needed was the courage to take a single step forward.
Seo Da-hee grabbed him by the collar.
Their gazes intertwined in midair.
“If you avoid me, I’ll never see you again. So don’t run away.”
Still gripping his collar, Seo Da-hee pulled him toward her.
This was the final confession she offered him.
Their faces closed the distance in an instant.
Yoo Seongwoo couldn’t avoid it—
No.
He didn’t avoid it.
And then their lips met.