I blinked my blurry eyes. It felt like I was looking through a window on a rainy day, but one thing was clear: I could see what was in front of me.
Curiosity piqued, I glanced around.
Mold was growing in every corner, and the old wooden furniture looked like it was ready for retirement. Empty bottles sprawled across the floor, and black trash bags were carelessly tied and left behind.
A biting cold wind slipped through the broken window, mingling with distant shouts and screams filled with anger.
As I absentmindedly stared into the space around me, I turned my head and spotted a bug scurrying frantically in the corner of the room.
A rancid stench assaulted my nose. It was a nauseating combination of dozens of filthy odors that was hard to describe.
This was an all-too-familiar sight, smell, and noise.
“Ah.”
I blinked dumbly. I hadn’t done this in a while. Since stepping into this game world, it felt like my eyes had just been glued shut.
This was an old house.
So this must be a dream.
As soon as I realized that it was a dream, flashes of the moments right before I fainted came flooding back.
The shove from Hong Yeon-hwa and my apologies.
Baek Ahrin’s scary smile.
The awkward freshman orientation that had somehow started.
Countless eyes on me.
Childish jealousy and envy.
The showdown between Hong Yeon-hwa and Yoo Se-i… a duel between side characters.
The synergy of spatial perception and being a Jack of All Trades, and the magic affinity.
The exhilarating sensation and my flickering spatial awareness.
Finally, that new baseball-like ball that smacked into me from Yoo Se-i…
“Ugh…”
I was at a loss for words. A sigh escaped me involuntarily.
Of all the luck, it had to hit me during such a crucial moment of focusing on spatial awareness…
I thought I might gain some sort of insight, but then I fainted. It felt like the universe was against me.
Perhaps it was specifically Hong Yeon-hwa who didn’t like me. Either way, it was just a situation that made me sigh.
And now, as if I couldn’t handle any less, I was dreaming about this kind of nonsense.
“Damn it.”
Is this really the only dream I can have? No other episodes to explore? I’ve heard that dreams usually come from exciting memories.
…But thinking about it, the strongest memory I had was from childhood, so it might have been sweet. The days after were somewhat spectacular too, but nothing could beat childhood.
“Cough, cough…!”
Just as I was about to let out a deep sigh, a dry cough erupted from my throat as if it were choked tight. My blurry vision caught sight of stubby arms and legs.
I realized my body was that of a child again, complete with scars and wounds from that time. Also, my bony frame was clearly visible.
But since this was before the fire, there were no burn scars on my right arm.
“So how do I get out?”
I felt a strange mix of nostalgia looking at the scene I hadn’t seen in ages.
Usually, when one realizes they’re dreaming, don’t they bounce right out? I had read online about dreams where characters would turn to you, giving you chills, making you wake up.
– Bang! Bang!
At that moment, the door shook violently.
– Bang! Bang! Bang!
A loud, obnoxious knock resounded against the rusted iron door, which let out a creaking protest. The hinges looked like they were about to fall off, making it seem like they were playing castanets.
“Hey! Hurry up and get out! You’ve been overdue for days!”
From the sound of it, it seemed like a loan shark. My biological parents had borrowed money from everywhere, so visits from loan sharks felt like regular events.
At first, my biological parents would bend over backward, only threatening them, but over time, the loan sharks became more and more aggressive.
“Dude, this isn’t happening. Follow the plan.”
“Uh? Do we really need to do that, bro? It’s easy to tear this down but hard to put it back together, you know?”
“Why should we care? They’ll fix it up themselves.”
– Crash!
The banging stopped. Moments later, the hammering surged with a higher intensity, and the doorknob started shaking wildly.
“Seriously…”
How much money could they have spent already that they were trying to break in? Sure, they were my parents by blood, but they were utterly useless and dumb beyond belief.
Me hoping for love from such idiots? It turns out that made me even dumber.
Realizing this was way too late.
– Crash!
“Wow~ Nice choice of a house! It’s so solid!”
I always hated that knocking sound. Whenever someone knocked on the door, bad things always happened to me.
– …Huh?
I hated the old, worn door. It didn’t protect me from any outside presence at all. Instead, its creaky nature only brought me fear.
– Ouch…
The banging even shook the walls. A tower of beer cans fell over in a heap.
The busy bug vanished, fleeing from the wave of beer mixed with cigarette ash.
– Clunk.
…The crazily rattling doorknob abruptly stopped. Soon, the twisting knob broke off and fell to the floor.
– Yul-ah…
A gaping hole was left where the doorknob used to be. Looking through the hole, I made eye contact with a pair of black eyes.
“It’s just a kid, isn’t it?”
“What? Damn, where do these punks think they can run off to after borrowing money?”
Ah, it must be that time.
When the growing debts and visits from the loan shark turned into a daily event, my blood-related parents had abandoned me and made a run for it.
The black eyes disappeared. The rusty hinges sighed.
With a creak, the door opened──
.
.
.
“─Hayul-ah!”
“…! …?!”
The blaring sound pierced my ears, jolting my consciousness awake. Someone was gently shaking my shoulders.
The soft touch of a bed against my back flooded my senses. As I regained my mental clarity, the spatial perception unfolded, and information surged in.
Red, orange, white, and green.
“Ah.”
This was different from before. It wasn’t a green outline painted on a black background.
A warm orange sunset streaming through the curtain. White and yellow flower petals soaking the sunset’s glow, sitting in a green stem. A clean, pristine hospital room unique to well-maintained facilities.
It was a delightful explosion of colors that made me gasp without realizing it.
And there was Hong Yeon-hwa, gripping my shoulder and shouting urgently…
“─Yul-ah! Are you back with us?!”
“What?”
Right now, I was lying in a hospital bed, and Hong Yeon-hwa was half on top of me, yelling.
“Hayul-ah! Are you okay?! Breathe! Breathe!”
“…!? …?”
Breathe? What did she mean? As I moved, realization hit, and I realized I wasn’t breathing. My chest felt tight. Something was wrong…
“Ugh, cough…!”
“Hayul-ah…!”
Oh, I wasn’t breathing at all.
The moment I recognized this, my throat felt entirely blocked. I could neither exhale the air filling my chest nor inhale new air – I was trapped in an unbearable situation.
“Ugh…! Cough…”
What’s happening? Why am I acting like this all of a sudden? My stomach felt queasy. I couldn’t breathe.
Before I could even find answers to my questions, Hong Yeon-hwa embraced me tightly.
I froze at the unexpected gesture.
“It’s okay! It’s okay… just breathe in, and breathe out…”
“…Inhale, cough…”
“That’s it. One more time…”
As my rigid body connected with her warm presence, I began to relax slowly, like dipping into warm water; the sensation spread throughout my body.
I recalled that Hong Yeon-hwa was known for her high body temperature. But even if that were true, this was way too high.
As I puzzled over this, the answer struck me. It wasn’t that her temperature was high; I was just ice cold.
“Now, breathe in…”
With her warm embrace and her gentle breaths urging me on, I slowly began inhaling.
And exhaled once more.
It was a natural action, but it felt incredibly exhausting, like a heavy rock was pressing down on my chest.
I was so cold. The fear of being frozen and shattered flooded me.
Unconsciously, I gripped the thing in front of me. The softness wrapping around me felt like an unprecedented warmth.
“Ugh, huh…?”
“You’re okay.”
In this embrace, it felt like I would be safe forever. It was comfort I could not feel from the creaky iron door.
“Cough… Huh… Hoo, huff…”
“It’s okay. Everything’s fine…”
While I caught my breath, Hong Yeon-hwa continuously whispered soothing words into my ear. Her hand gently stroked my head.
My body, which felt on the verge of collapse, was gradually calming down. The fragmented thoughts began to stitch themselves together.
“Phew… Haa…”
“Are you feeling better…?”
With my breath finally settling down, I glanced at Hong Yeon-hwa. She had me tightly in her grip, worry obvious in her soulful eyes.
“Ah.”
Color and contrast.
What I had forgotten for more than ten days.
And even this very moment felt like a mere collection of spatial perceptions, devoid of real sight.
Yet…
The silky scarlet hair that cascaded down gave my face a ticklish sensation. Against the backdrop of the orange sunset, it painted a picture that felt exquisite.
If the world’s best craftsman took one of the few pristine rubies to meticulously craft something, I could easily imagine it turning out just like her dazzling eyes.
…The world, once restored in color, was exceedingly beautiful.
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