31 – Episode 28: Shingo Ceremony – 3

A moment of silence followed.

“Is that the only reason the hallucination didn’t work?”

“Then what the f*ck is the other reason…”

“That’s also true… I don’t think you’re an ordinary person either. After all, there must be worse memories or fearful existences than now.”

Ryascon’s face was disbelief.

He was looking at me with a face as if he was conveying the message, “Are you a human?”

“…so what will happen to Rin and Kyoko?”

“There will be no problems with your body. It’s convenient if you think of it as roughly similar to dreaming.”

Ryascon answered my question by touching his chin.

As long as there was no harm to them, there was no need to forcefully wake them up.

Thus, silence passed again between Ryascon and I.

“I don’t think I have anything to say anymore… would you like to see what kind of test these kids are taking?”

Ryascon has proposed to me.

In fact, I was interested in it too, but the fact that I was peeping into other people’s secrets bothered me a little.

After thinking about it for a while⸺

“That’s Okay.”

I flatly refused.

At that answer, Ryascon looked at me with a disappointed expression and drooped his shoulders.

“really? Aren’t you going to see it?”

“I don’t see it.”

“If it wasn’t this time, I wouldn’t have a chance to see you, right?”

“Yeah, I don’t see it. It’s kind of like peeping on someone’s secret. Take a look at yourself.”

I shook my head and expressed my refusal despite Ryascon’s continued prompting.

He was reluctant to peek into secrets he wasn’t even allowed to.

I’d rather hear it with my own mouth, I didn’t have the shamelessness to do such a thing. Another reason was a bit of conscience that was gradually disappearing after coming here.

“That’s no fun. okay. Then wait there It will be over in about an hour.”

Ryascon pursed his lips and grunted.

Then Ryascon immediately went over to them and sat down next to them.

After that, I closed my eyes and didn’t do anything.

It seemed like he was peeking at the test of the two like that.

I leaned my back against the wall a little away from them and carefully sat down.

It was embarrassing to see them grimacing and suffering, so I raised my head and looked at the ceiling.

I just hoped that they would wake up soon, and I fell into an untimely thought.

…

Kyoko stood in a space filled with gray smoke.

“Here… ”

She looked around.

All he could see was gray smoke covering all sides and the black floor, but neither Rin nor Joo-hyuk could be seen.

“Where is everyone…?”

Kyoko couldn’t stop thinking about it.

“Are you kidding me? It’s no fun, so come out quickly…”

Could it be that Lin and Joo-hyeok left me?

Kyoko’s heart began to fill with anxiety.

“Joo-Hyuk… Rin… don’t leave me alone… please…”

I suddenly started to get scared.

Since I came here, I was always with you, so I forgot the fear of being alone for a while.

Being alone in this vast space was nothing short of a great fear.

Kyoko stretched out her hand.

Her small hands hovered in the air, weak and helpless.

He was alone here.

“what’s the matter. What’s wrong?”

Then, someone called from behind her.

Startled, she hurriedly looked back, and there was a black figure standing there.

“Who is it!”

Kyoko was surprised and took a step back.

A heterogeneous being whose entire body is surrounded by pitch-black darkness, making one wonder if there is anything black like that in the world.

It was grotesquely abnormal.

“Have you forgotten my voice already? It’s sad.”

“I can’t…no…it can’t be…”

“Don’t deny it. Look straight at who I am.”

At some point, the black being approached Kyoko and thrust its face in front of her, terrifyingly close.

Before long, the black shape began to crack.

Piece by piece, the black piece fell to the floor, revealing the face of the person inside.

“Yume…”

Kyoko’s lower lip trembled.

The two pupils lost their way and wandered here and there, eventually looking at the girl in front of them.

It was impossible.

Yume was a friend of hers who had thrown herself away many years ago.

No, having lost even his duty as a friend, he was a word he could no longer refer to.

Without any excuse, it was Kyoko herself who drove her to death.

“Why are you not saying anything?”

Slowly, without haste, Yume, who was once her friend, was pressuring Kyoko.

“sorry…”

“Why are you suddenly apologizing?”

Obviously, Yume is dead.

A white chrysanthemum rose on her school desk, and her presence gradually disappeared from everyone.

However, Kyoko couldn’t forget her.

Unable to believe Yume’s death, she visits Yume’s house.

The memory of the past when she had to see her dead mother who was sobbing in front of him.

That memory came back again.

That’s why Kyoko herself knew very well that the Yume in front of her was not real.

However, there was nothing Kyoko could do other than say sorry.

No, that was the best she could do now.

“What if I say I’m sorry? I died alone in such a cold river… It’s too unfair for you to be happy in a place like this…”

Yume started talking to Kyoko in a voice filled with resentment. Kyoko didn’t say anything and just watched as Yume looked at her with unfair eyes.

Then he snapped his fingers once.

“Lin… Joo Hyuk…!”

In an instant, Ju-hyeok and Rin appeared in front of Kyoko.

Kyoko unconsciously reached out to that place, but soon the two of them became illusions and scattered.

“No, this is not you.”

Frighteningly before Yume’s short words were cut off, the surroundings began to change.

When she came to her senses, Kyoko was sitting on a chair in her room.

Kyoko sat in her room, which blocked all sunlight with blackout curtains and relied only on the bright light from the monitor. I was blankly wearing the big hood I always wore at home.

“okay. this is you Throwing away your family, past, and future, and living in a self-satisfied Internet community, that is your true self.”

Kyoko couldn’t say anything.

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Just as Yume said, that was who she had been until now, and this was an undeniable reality.

However, Kyoko soon realized one thing.

“What are you doing?”

Kyoko walked towards Yume without saying anything.

Then he hugged her tightly and didn’t let go.

“Yume…why did you worry about me until death…”

“What nonsense…!”

“Yume was looking at that door, not me. You intentionally left it slightly open like that because you wanted me to get out of the room and tell you not to live like this anymore.”

Indeed, the door was slightly open.

A faint light was seeping through the gap, so Kyoko was able to notice it.

That she didn’t really hate herself.

“I’m sorry… If I hadn’t been silent then, you… Yume you…”

Kyoko finally burst into tears.

At the time when no one else had stepped forward, if he had stepped up and helped her, everything would have been different.

We could have lived a normal life like going to the same university together, laughing and chatting about our boyfriends, and sitting across from each other at a bar on the weekends talking behind our boss while drinking.

However, now that a lot of time has already passed, it was only a belated regret.

“You always have a good eye like this once in a while.”

Yume let out a big sigh and spoke to Kyoko in a softer voice. With a troubled smile, Yume continued with her hands on Kyoko’s shoulders.

“… Even if you’re a bit stupid, you’re a good kid. yes that’s it If you really deeply regret and reflect in your heart, that’s it.”

Before Kyoko could answer, Yume pushed her on the back.

Then, in front of Kyoko’s eyes, the visit that always felt far away was right in front of her nose.

“Yume…”

“Go ahead, Kyoko.”

Kyoko was crying while looking at Yume.

The moment I left this visit, I really felt like I would never see her again.

Perhaps that feeling is true.

“There are people waiting outside. You don’t have to dwell on the past. Because now is now.”

Seeing Yume’s steadfast attitude, Kyoko nodded, barely holding back the tears that were about to burst out again.

Kyoko gripped the doorknob.

Then he pulled hard and began to open the door.

The room was caught in the dazzling light, and Kyoko’s vision began to brighten.

The last time I saw Yume was smiling brightly.

As if saying goodbye.

So Kyoko lost her mind again.

…

When Kyoko opened her eyes, she was looking at the ceiling of the dungeon.

“Are you okay? I’m Kyoko…”

As I stared blankly at the ceiling, Ju-hyeok stretched out his hand to Kyoko with a worried expression on his face.

In an instant, an unknown emotion began to stir in Kyoko’s heart.

Relief, joy, sadness, futility, regret.

A wave of complex emotions, all of which were entangled together, hit her, and before long, warm tears began to flow from Kyoko’s eyes.

Kyoko burst into uncontrollable crying, got up from lying down, and hugged Ju-hyeok tightly. I needed someone to turn to.

I wished there was someone who could talk about everything that was inside and listen to it.

“If I… had only spoken to me then… because of me…”

After that day, Kyoko murmured as if to let out all the guilt and self-reproach she had been hiding in her heart.

He returned to Ju-hyeok and Rin’s side, but eventually broke up with Yume again.

It was so sad that I couldn’t see her anymore.

“Kyoko Keiya, did you apologize…?”

“I did… I did… but I can be forgiven…”

“Then you’re gay.”

“yes…?”

“I apologized, and if you accept it, that’s it. You don’t have to keep feeling guilty like an idiot. gay.”

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Joo-hyeok comforted Kyoko by patting her head with the palm of her hand.

His words, which seemed so simple, insignificant, and strange, made Kyoko feel moved again.

Was he really forgiven?

Kyoko shed tears in Joo-hyeok’s arms for a long time.

I shed all the tears so relieved that I didn’t even have any more regrets left.

After a while, and with a sniffling voice, Kyoko smiled at Joo-hyeok and said.

“I’m really arrogant about Korean subjects…”