Chapter 46

Giving love to someone.
It’s like growing a picky plant.
One day, if you give it too much water, the petals wilt and the roots rot away.
If you get upset about that and give it less water constantly, the stems don’t grow, and the leaves wither away.
In the end, sadly, they all die.

So, giving love means taking responsibility for life.
You must engrave that deep in your heart.

When you crack an egg, if you apply too much force, not only the shell but even the fragile inside can be harmed forever.
If you apply too little force, it’s impossible to even crack the shell.
The word ‘just right’ that we casually throw around is loaded with heavy meaning, and we must think about it once more.

Yeah.
Just like now.
“—Sia, Unnie…!!”
“……Al…Ice…”

The dawn settled in the deep forest where I couldn’t see an inch ahead.
Crackle! Using the dry, cracking sound of my crying as a guide, I pushed through the bushes and walked forward.
Calling her name softly, I heard a response like a moan.
As if warning me not to go that way, I was pricked by the thorn vines pulling at my clothes, but I aimed toward where Sia was.
Perhaps I was more injured than I thought, as three days passed since that day, and my vision still swayed, struggling to find its place, my dizzy head making my steps unsteady.

It hurts.
It’s hard, and I want to rest.
The gravity that feels particularly heavy pulls me down, but it can’t bind me that easily.

I shook my head fiercely to wake myself and, with my useless eyes closed, relied on sound, taking one step after another.
Even if my legs gave way and I fell.
Even if my body refused to listen to me.
If I had no legs, I could use only one arm.

Keep going, forward.

There.
In front of me, there she was.
Like my former self.
A child whose everything she believed in had crumbled.

I couldn’t avoid her.
Helping them was my purpose and destiny.
“Unnie, it’s been a while.”
“…..Ah…aa….!”
“….You’ve become a total crybaby in the meantime, Sia Unnie.”

Hug!
I threw myself at her for an embrace.

Even the dim moonlight couldn’t fulfill its duty there.
The child, looking like she could barely hold her own body, walked alone through the dark forest despite her state.
She even refused my help, fleeing from all her painful memories, rejecting a fresh start of happiness from afar.
‘….Please… Unnie….!’
‘…….’
Alice, in such a cruel manner, slipped out of my embrace.

To reach out to someone else, to help someone’s hand, Alice staggered with her empty sleeves flapping in the wind.
Even if extending a hand meant there was no hand for herself anywhere.
Even if that kindness would come back as a huge injury this time.

The child would never stop.
‘Please… Unnie…..!!’
That was Alice.

“……. ”
Snap, the branch I caught in my hand broke weakly.
Until no sound came from my tightly clenched hand, I exerted my strength.
Crack, crack.
After a few seconds, I bit my lips hard and scattered the completely shattered pieces of the branch below.
The powder that floated on the wind slowly dispersed in the air.

Yeah.
The world was cruel.
Especially to children, it was even more cruel.

Alice tripped over a stone, sometimes bumping her head against a tree she couldn’t see.
Yet she bravely walked forward toward the person ahead of her, calling her name and saying sorry.
Calling each other’s names desperately, even without knowing where they were.
They moved their unsteady bodies relying on sound.

If they fell while walking, they got up again.
If they finally collapsed, they crawled, no matter what.

The distance between them lessened, much like the pain they endured.
But the closer they got, the more engraved on their tender bodies were the unbearable, stinging wounds.
Why was that?
It felt like the entire world existed solely to torment Alice.

If a god exists, it must be a wicked god.
If not, then a devil wearing the guise of a god must be laughing at the child from the other side of the world, waving its hand.

Despairing at the absurdity of overwhelming evil and the world’s cruelty targeting one person, my heart burned black as I watched from afar.

Even as I gazed at her pitiful sight, I had no choice but to forcibly lower the hand reaching out toward the child.
Of course, I wanted to stop it.
I wanted to stop it right now.

But if I approached the child now, I surely would’ve grabbed that wounded hand and wanted to run far away.
In this abysmal reality, I truly didn’t know if I would tie the child down using the kindness she bestowed upon me, preventing her from going anywhere.

So I had to lower my outstretched arm.
After I let go of the child whom I had held so tightly and moved her toward the body sprawled like a corpse, I had no more choices left.

I could only watch from afar.
I had no right to stop the child’s determination.
I, who received salvation at the cost of injuring the child, had no right to stop that action.

So even if I wanted to stop the child’s actions, even if I wanted to run away with Alice to a paradise for just the two of us where nobody was,
Holding onto the ugly desire only a monster might have, I could do nothing but grit my teeth and firmly etch the child’s figure into my eyes from the high tree.

Yeah.
It was truly a pitiful sight.

“….I…I…!!”
“…….But it’s okay. Unnie. I’ll forgive you.”

Whoosh! The cold wind rustled the tree.
My body up there shook this way and that, but such a degree couldn’t distract me from my child.
At this moment, my eyes existed only to see the child, and my ears were made only to hear her words.

So, don’t hinder me.

Are you going to kill me?
—Crackle!
“……!!!!”

To the beast, colored like useless weeds scattered all over this mountain, I silently warned with action.
The green thing wriggled.
Without making a sound, a small branch flew straight and hit the shape passing silently just below the tree where I stood.
Pop, a small splash of blood burst forth.
“Ugh—!!?”
Shaking as the branch lodged shallowly into its shoulder, it trembled, yet it made no sound and began to search for the direction the branch had come from.

Eventually, when it looked up at me, it was startled, and quickly backed away, making eye contact with me who was watching quietly below.
I didn’t make a sound; I slowly opened my mouth to warn it.

‘Get. Lost.’
“…..!!”

Thud, thud.
Despite my warning, the oblivious beast seemed reluctant, still attempting to interrupt Alice’s precious time. I sent several branches toward it.
Branches stuck in places, narrowly missing its arms, chest, and vital spots.
Perhaps the hot pain began suppressing its desire? Soon it started to flee with its tail between its legs.
Anxiously wondering if my actions had hindered Alice, I glanced back at her.
“But… I…!!”
“—I’ll forgive everything.”

Fortunately, the child didn’t seem to notice anything.
I let out a sigh of relief and dropped down, overturning the ground stained with small drops of blood to erase the evidence.

I didn’t kill it because I didn’t want to rob Alice of even her fleeting moment.
And it was just a simple reason that I didn’t want to dirty my hands with the filthy blood.
If not for that, I would’ve killed it.

“….It hurt a lot, didn’t it?”
“No, not at all.”
“….It hurt, didn’t it?”
“…Hmm, a little? Really… just a little.”
“…Haha, what’s that…”

I brushed off the dirt on my hands and slowly began to walk toward where Alice was.
Thinking about how to participate in this seemingly nearing end without it feeling awkward.
Approaching the loving child who would be waiting for me.

In the end, the story concluded with everyone involved shedding blood and tears.
Me, Sia, Elli, all of us.

It takes a long time to save someone else.
Everyone has a dark side, like an abyss, that they always keep in their hearts, and they clash because of it.
Unexpected events occur, rapidly changing the situation for better or worse.

But.
Bleeding, hurting each other, having everything they believed in crumbling beneath them—
That is life.

What resolves all this is always love and affection.
“—Will you come with me?”
“……Yes!!”

What’s lost can always be refilled.

The moonlight breaking through the clouds.
It seemed to bless our journey ahead.

Episode 3. Kindred.
The end.

Episode 4. Reunion.
A small afterstory will be coming up.

   

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