Chapter 73 : The Only Good Couple Is a Dead Couple (3)
The Only Good Couple Is a Dead Couple (3)
Christmas was approaching soon.
As if to celebrate that grand day, white snow was falling from the sky, shimmering with light.
Christmas carols could be heard throughout the city.
Whether in restaurants or shopping malls, even those hard at work appeared to enjoy themselves, at least today.
Those working in hospitals were no different.
A doctor would enter a young patient's room to present a gift, or nurses would sing songs.
For a child only seven years old, it became a cherished memory, and the other patients watching them seemed to approve as well.
"My daughter..."
But not everyone was smiling joyfully.
Even on such a festive day, there were many patients who could not open their eyes.
Especially for a father, seeing his child lying wounded and battered could only bring tears.
All the more so as Christmas drew near.
That's why the father's heart was on the verge of breaking even more.
"Emily... Emily..."
A middle-aged man was weeping as he held his daughter's hand.
His daughter lay in bed with a hole the size of a baseball in her torso. Had it not been for the life-support machine, she would have passed away long ago.
It was a machine that one could never afford on a meager budget.
"How could this happen..."
His own daughter, Emily Ruin.
Her father, Eric Ruin, recalled memories he'd shared with her.
He remembered going out to amusement parks with his late wife and rolling around in flower fields together.
Back then, his daughter had always worn a truly happy expression.
'Honey... If only you were still alive...'
Eric missed his departed wife dearly.
After she was gone, Emily gradually began to see the world as something easy to conquer.
She developed an unruly nature, treating anyone she deemed inferior to herself as less than human.
At least she still had her boyfriend Michael...
'And now, even he is gone...'
Our daughter is a pitiful child.
Every twisted trait had its cause, so I wish others would forgive her.
But for such a pitiful child to end up like this...
"What did you ever do to deserve this...!"
Eric erupted in tears, quietly crying out.
His once fond recollections turned into bitter regret, stabbing deep within his chest.
He wanted nothing more than to return to those days, but it was impossible.
"Dad..."
"Emily! Are you awake?"
His sleeping daughter opened her eyes and murmured quietly.
Filled with hope, Eric's eyes widened, but his daughter's eyes had still lost their light.
"Dad..."
"Emily, don't speak now. You need to close your eyes and rest."
Since he knew how weak she was, he didn't try to wake her hastily.
Rather, she needed to sleep more and rest.
"I... I don't want to fall asleep...!"
"What?"
Suddenly, Emily's face twisted with fear.
It should have been more painful for her to stay awake, so what did she mean by this?
"I don't want to fall asleep...!"
"Why are you saying this all of a sudden?"
"In my dreams... Michael... Michael appears and...!"
She dreamed of being insulted and killed by Michael, her once perfect match.
At first, she tried to dismiss it as just a manifestation of her own fears.
But every time she fell asleep, she only had that same dream, over and over.
It could no longer be dismissed as coincidence.
"I don't want to fall asleep... The more I sleep, the more I suffer...!"
"What are you talking about?!"
But not getting any rest was even riskier.
If she got tense, the wound in her torso could start bleeding again.
"In my dreams... Michael kills me...!"
"Such a thing..."
"I don't want to sleep! Sleep, I—"
*Cough!*
Suddenly rambling incoherently, Emily started coughing up blood.
For Eric, seeing his daughter like this brought another wave of anguish as he called for the doctor.
He thought that perhaps raising his voice was the cause.
Right now, even that was too much for his daughter's fragile body.
"Dad..."
"Emily!"
If awake, she suffered from the pain; if asleep, she was tormented by nightmares.
Wasn't it just heartbreaking?
Wasn't it too sad to bear?
If only his wife had not died, none of this would have happened.
Yes, our daughter isn't at fault.
The root of it all is...
"That boy... you... must... be... care..."
Leaving only those words, she lost consciousness again.
Fortunately, the doctors managed to get there in time and saved her life.
.
.
"It's been a while."
"Yes."
Standing outside the hospital room, Eric was greeted by a visitor.
He was McLean Kang, a middle-aged man just like Eric.
He was none other than the father of Michael Kang, Emily's boyfriend.
"Do you know who did this to your daughter?"
"Of course I do."
Ma Seongjin.
The cause of what happened to Emily rested with that student.
Eric had already heard about what happened at the interschool competition.
"It's not just your daughter. My son too..."
The reason Michael ended up taking his own life in prison?
Ma Seongjin was the most likely suspect.
In fact, his own father, prosecutor Ma Jun-sang, threw Michael in jail with all his might, and Emily also ended up like this after meeting Ma Seongjin.
"Our children... have suffered unjustly like this. We can't stand by any longer!"
Revenge.
Both fathers' minds brimmed with that single thought.
Since the incidents with their children, the companies they managed had suffered severe reputational damage.
Public opinion raged, demanding that they take responsibility.
But both men continued to insist: their children had done nothing wrong.
Though this brought even greater criticism down upon them, neither wished to acknowledge the anger.
And even now, nothing had changed.
"What about the Sura Guild?"
"Haa..."
When McLean asked, Eric just sighed.
"It's hopeless. I've been begging them for help for so long but they just kept ignoring me. After all the supplies I gave them!"
The reason Emily was once able to command Sura Guild's hunters as mercenaries was thanks to those supplies.
It had been a kind of favor, making it impossible for the guild to refuse.
"They helped my daughter last time!"
He knew what his daughter had done with those mercenaries.
Even if she passed it off to Michael, the fact remained that she'd been complicit in attempted murder.
"Unforgivable! The Sura Guild... and that Ma Seongjin!"
Eric cried out with bloodshot eyes.
Despite knowing what his daughter had done, only his own child mattered to him.
"Then must we give up on the Sura Guild?"
"Unfortunately."
"But don't worry. There's still a way."
When Eric asked what that might be, McLean smiled.
"Have you heard of the Holy Church?"
"Holy Church?"
"They're a secret group that opposes the Sura Guild. They said they'd help us."
"For real?"
He'd already grown disillusioned with the Sura Guild.
Recently, they told him that they were too busy to help, completely disregarding any favors he'd done for them.
"But there's something they want from us."
"What is it?"
In return for assisting with their revenge, the other side also had demands.
"At the upcoming Golden Gate event... we have to help them 'cut off Sura's head.'"
It might be a hassle, but when he thought about it, it wasn't a bad idea.
Eric had once even gone to the Sura Guild himself when asking for help.
There, he met a high-ranking figure called 'Sura' and begged directly.
― That guy's name is Ma Seongjin! He's just a student at Hand on the surface, but he's really dangerous!"
He must be eliminated quickly.
He would one day become a threat to the Sura Guild's future.
No doubt, he was a risk factor.
Eric tried to persuade the guildmaster in such a manner.
But...
― Get lost.
― ... What?
― I said, get lost.
With that single statement from the girl called Sura, Eric was instantly rejected.
And the hunters guarding her threw him out of the guild house.
― Come back here to ask for such a thing again and you'll die.
The final threat Sura delivered at the time came as a real shock.
For what reason?
Was it necessary to reject his request so violently?
He didn't know, but the more he thought about it, the angrier he became.
From that point on, he decided to cut all ties with the Sura Guild.
From now on, they were the enemy.
"Turns out, Ma Seongjin's going to be entering the Golden Gate at the event."
The winner of the school competition wasn't his daughter, but that boy.
It was a place Emily should have been.
There was no way that punk, who used his own daughter as a stepping stone, belonged there.
It was a perfect opportunity.
"Maybe even that boy's whole family will come to watch the event. Let's wipe them all out at once."
"The plan?"
"Hehehe... Of course I have one."
A chilling smile crept onto McLean's face.
With so many guards in the venue, it would be hard to target them directly.
However, creating a window of opportunity was possible.
"Have you heard of a gate rampage?"
"What...?"
On hearing that, Eric shuddered a little.
He seemed to know just how dangerous that was.
But with their children reduced to such a miserable state, this was the only option left.
Even if it meant putting civilians at risk.
"..."
At a corner in the hospital hallway, a man lurked behind a wall.
Wearing sunglasses and a black suit, he was secretly eavesdropping on the two men's conversation.
****
"This city's a lot nicer than I expected!"
Having just arrived in Hand, Kang Ah-rin was exploring downtown.
The bustling streets were on par with those in Shanghai, China.
Of course, it was a city made by 'The World', a global organization.
"Is it December 24th today?"
With a day like this, the festive mood was everywhere.
People dressed as Santa Claus and Rudolph could be seen all over.
With Christmas approaching, everyone was brimming with childlike excitement.
"Hmm?"
Ah-rin perked up her fox ears attached to her head.
She ran in the direction of a sound and witnessed a surprising scene.
― Honey. Mmm~
― It got on your clothes, sweetie?
― Hehe, oppa, you're so shy~
It was just an ordinary park.
But within it, an overwhelming number of couples had gathered.
It was like a swarm of ants, so many were there.
Their public displays of affection filled the park with a pink glow.
Even at a food stand in the back, a sign read: [30% Discount for Couples].
"I'm jealous."
Was this the power of Christmas?
It was dazzling to the point of being entrancing.
'Ah, this isn't the time!'
Slapping her cheeks to focus, Ah-rin pulled something from her pocket.
It was something she received when she stopped by Seongjin's house.
After not seeing him for so long, his mother and father had asked her to give this item to him.
It looked like an ordinary card deck on the outside, but...
"Sss... ha..."
Ah-rin inhaled its scent, savoring it.
She had been told Seongjin had used it since he was a child.
'I'll see him again soon.'
That card deck was deeply imbued with Seongjin's scent.
With her keen sense of smell, tracking that scent was child's play for Ah-rin.
Thanks to it, she didn't even have to look at a map of Hand.
"Found it."
Following the scent, she came upon a large gymnasium.
The scent emanated strongly from inside.
She opened the door and it seemed that some kind of party was underway here.
But the signs at the entrance felt a bit odd.
[No Couples]
[Couples Not Welcome]
[Couples DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE....]
It looked like a Christmas party, but compared to other places the atmosphere and signs were unique.
"Found you!"
Inside the building, she sensed the boy's scent that she'd been searching for.
He was sitting there, playing some card game with his friends.
Were those the cards from the deck?
'He hasn't changed at all.'
Even after six years, the scent was the same.
It was a smell that had always been filled with goodwill toward her.
Just then, the boy got up and went into the bathroom.
'Should I follow him in?'
Ah-rin hesitated, but eventually decided to wait.
No matter how much she liked him, she couldn't barge into the boys' bathroom like a madwoman.
"Huh? Who are you?"
Just then, a boy playing the card game nearby spoke to her.
"I've never seen you before."
Other students quickly took notice of Ah-rin as well.
Suspicious about an outsider's presence, they gathered around to ask.
"What school are you from?"
"I, um..."
"But you're cute."
"Yeah, I want to touch your ears."
With Ah-rin's appearance, the whole party started buzzing.
Many of the boys blushed, as she looked quite striking.
If such a girl had a boyfriend, who could he be?
"Who's here?"
"Ah, president."
Then Go Donghyuk, the host of the party, approached her.
When he asked who she was, Ah-rin answered:
"I'm looking for someone."
"Who?"
"Do you know Ma Seongjin?"
"Oh, Seongjin?"
Of course he did.
He was one of the key members running this party with him.
"So, what's your relationship with Seongjin...?"
To that, Kang Ah-rin replied with a bright smile.
"He's my boyfriend! And my childhood friend too."
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Whahahahaha.
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】