Chapter 89
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock~
Chime, chime, chime, chime.
The cheerful Christmas atmosphere brought smiles and happiness to people’s faces.
Children squealed with laughter at the snow falling from the sky, and their parents smiled even more brightly. The sight alone warmed the hearts of those watching.
“Oh my, why is there a Water Rat here?”
“Ye-gyeong, no! Dirty! You can’t go near, okay?”
“How pitiful… Should we give her something?”
“She must be cold. Poor thing.”
This Christmas day, when so many people felt warmth and happiness…
Was one of the days Hyun-jung wanted to avoid the most.
‘It’s cold…’
Her hands and feet were so numb she couldn’t feel them anymore.
At some point, even her shivering stopped.
In the corner she used for sleeping—sheltered from the wind—a Christmas tree now stood.
But that was fine.
Not far from here was a kind-hearted restaurant where she could get a warm meal.
“Please stop coming here. You’re making the customers uncomfortable. The owner said not to give you anything anymore.”
Even the restaurant that used to give her a little food now told her not to come back, after too many complaints from customers.
The holes in her shoes felt especially cold today.
Snow had already buried the path she had struggled along, and her feet—frozen stiff—wouldn’t even let her turn back.
On streets filled with warmth that left no place for her, there was no longer anywhere for Hyun-jung to go.
‘It’s okay. It’s okay. I can do this. It’ll be okay.’
With no other choice, she forced her steps forward.
And the place she reached was the front of the Rogue Guild.
The Myeong-dong branch of the Rogue Guild.
“What the? Wasn’t that Water Rat bitch supposed to have run away?”
“Wow… How could that bitch even think of coming back here?”
A few people who noticed Hyun-jung clicked their tongues and shook their heads.
“I heard he was really pissed earlier…”
“Is he actually going to kill her?”
Even as she dragged her frozen feet, ugly whispers followed her.
But even knowing what might happen, Hyun-jung’s steps toward the Rogue Guild were stronger than the ones she’d taken toward the restaurant.
“Hah.”
The moment she entered, the warmth melted the frost in her eyes, and a tear slid down her cheek.
But the real reason the tears burst out was the harsh reality that the place she’d run from was her only refuge.
If she went in, she would be beaten half to death.
And for the crime of running away, it was obvious she would be forced into the vile things she’d been spared from until now.
Worst of all—the reason she’d tried to escape in the first place—
She would be made to wait on men, something she’d rather die than do.
‘Uncle…’
Maybe it was because she was so cold.
The inside of the Myeong-dong Rogue Guild looked, like a hallucination, just like the Wolgok-dong Rogue Guild.
And warm memories of Hyuk-min flashed through her mind.
Memories of him giving her the chance to live like a human—to cry and laugh—flowed down her cheeks with her tears, like a dream.
Ssk.
“It’s hard, isn’t it?”
From the side of the walkway where countless Rogues passed, a dark shadow slipped out.
It was the Hyun-jung of darkness, born after she woke from that happy dream of meeting Hyuk-min.
The Hyun-jung of darkness giggled as she walked up, standing beside the crumbling Hyun-jung.
“All you have to do is answer. Why can’t you do something so simple, and live in such pain?”
“I won’t answer. I can’t.”
“You know what’s going to happen if you go in there right now. Just thinking about it is horrible, ugh. How could they do that to a little girl…”
“……”
“I’m telling you, I want to help you. I’ll make it easy. When I ask a question, don’t think about anything else and just say ‘Yes!’ That’s all. Then that scene over there will become your reality. I’m telling you.”
Before Hyun-jung—who was clenching her fists—an image appeared.
A family warmly enjoying Christmas.
Parents doting on their elementary-school-aged daughter as she laughed, overflowing with happiness.
She wanted to look away, but she couldn’t.
Because that ordinary family was exactly what Hyun-jung had longed for—what she had wanted most.
Ssk.
As if she’d read Hyun-jung’s heart, the Hyun-jung of darkness pressed harder the moment she saw her waver.
“This is the last question of the first trial. Do you regret being with that man, Bang Hyuk-min?”
In that instant, Hyun-jung’s eyes flew open.
Bang Hyuk-min.
The jumbled mess in her head—
The events of the dream she couldn’t recall no matter how hard she tried—
Came flooding back at once.
– “Take my hand.”
– “You’re a genius.”
– “You can do it.”
– “Yes! You’re doing great!”
– “Keuk… It’s okay. Just support me from behind.”
– It’s okay. You’re… my family.”
Blood had splattered before her eyes as she was wounded.
She had fought monsters with her life on the line.
Unlike the warm family in front of her, Hyun-jung’s life with Hyuk-min was that of a little girl cooped up in a motel room, struggling to grow stronger every single day.
She held and fired a gun, and the stink of gunpowder never seemed to leave her body.
There were countless times she nearly lost Hyuk-min—the only one she relied on.
And countless times when, despite all her effort, staying by his side felt impossible.
Each day was packed with burdens too heavy for an elementary school girl, and there were many days she broke down.
“See? You feel it too, don’t you? It was overwhelming and difficult. That’s what regret is. So say it. It’s not too late. I can still change it for you. I’m telling you, that little girl in that family’s arms is actually you.”
The little girl, who had been jumping up and down with joy at the snow, turned around.
“Lies…”
The moment Hyun-jung saw her face, she doubted her own eyes.
“I told you. It’s you, right?”
The child in that happy, harmonious family had Hyun-jung’s face.
Unlike Hyun-jung now, crying from cold, pain, and fear.
That child—laughing without a care, wrapped in a warm padded jacket—looked lovingly at her parents.
Her face was identical, as if Hyun-jung were staring into a mirror.
“Now, repeat after me. Yes!”
“…..”
“It’s easy. I’m telling you, all you have to do is say yes.”
Tears streamed down her cheeks and dripped onto the floor.
She didn’t even think to wipe them.
She stared straight at the Hyun-jung of darkness.
“Can I ask just one thing?”
“Anything!”
“The things I just remembered… they weren’t a dream?”
“Ah~ Those memories with the man you called Uncle? Of course not. They weren’t a dream.”
“They weren’t a dream, you say?”
“That’s right! It was hard, wasn’t it? You don’t have to do things like that anymore. Oh, and what you’re seeing over there isn’t a dream either. Isn’t that the life you wanted?”
A harmonious family.
Parents who did everything they could for their child.
“If you just say yes, then unlike those old memories of shivering in the cold, you can really live in that harmonious family. It’s what you’ve dreamed of for so long.”
Drip. Drip, drip. Drip, drip, drip.
“Hah… what a relief.”
“Right! It’s a relief.”
The tears wouldn’t stop.
Soon, Hyun-jung was wailing, spilling all the sorrow she’d been holding back.
Even when she wiped at her face with her hands, the tears kept pouring, and choked sobs shook her shoulders.
“Meeting me is a blessing, you know? You’ve had it tough. Don’t you think you deserve a reward now?”
“A reward… I should get one.”
“Yes! Of course you should!”
Voice brimming with anticipation, the Hyun-jung of darkness asked—
“Okay! I’ll ask the question~ This is the very last one. There are no more chances.”
“This is the last question, right? If I answer here, it’s over?”
“Of course~ I’ll send you right over there. Okay! Here I go~ Do you not regret following that man, Bang Hyuk-min?”
Hyun-jung lowered the hand that had been blocking her tears.
Then she looked straight at the Hyun-jung of darkness and answered.
“No! I absolutely do not regret it!”
“…..What?”
Twitch.
The Hyun-jung of darkness was a shadow, so her expression couldn’t be seen, but the life draining out of her in an instant said enough.
“No… you say?”
“I’m so relieved! I’m so, so relieved! I thought… I thought I’d never see Uncle again. I thought Uncle… didn’t exist at all…”
“But why…”
“Uncle was real. All those feelings I felt back then were real!”
“Wait! Wait!!”
The Hyun-jung of darkness suddenly shrieked.
Then she stormed closer, voice shaking with anger.
“Why? I don’t understand. What you longed for is right in front of you. You can live the life you wanted so badly. So why? Why!!”
“Why, you ask?”
Hyun-jung didn’t flinch at the sudden outburst.
Even her tears had stopped.
Wiping away the last tear with her wet hand, she looked the Hyun-jung of darkness straight in the eyes.
“Because my dream has changed.”
Grin.
And the bright smile that bloomed on her tear-streaked face held not a trace of regret.
“Heehee, it doesn’t matter how many other families you show me. Because I have a ‘family’ too. The family I wanted so badly!”
“It’s true…?”
It was sincerity without a shred of falsehood.
That’s right.
Hyun-jung no longer wanted that harmonious family.
Truly… the hardships she endured with Hyuk-min had become her most precious dream—the one thing she never wanted to lose.
The Hyun-jung of darkness burst into mad laughter.
“Hahahaha! Hahahahaha!”
“What’s wrong? All of a sudden…”
Startled by the lunatic laughter, Hyun-jung reflexively tensed.
“What’s wrong.”
Whoosh.
No sooner had the words left her mouth than the scenery changed completely.
The loud carols, the biting cold that felt like it would tear her apart, the drifting snow—
Everything vanished, as if the world had been switched off.
“W-what is this…”
The sudden silence and the vast scene that unfolded left Hyun-jung bewildered.
And just as she stood there, stunned, the Hyun-jung of darkness—who she thought had disappeared—reappeared.
“There are two trials in total, and the last one is here. Oh! And for your information… the second trial is linked to your life. Good luck, Uncle’s little fangirl.”
An unfamiliar environment spread out before her.
But what she had to do was clear now.
Beside Hyun-jung lay a gun she had never seen before.
Whump!
“Mr. No Death, Uncle Hyuk-min…”
Hyun-jung smoothly loaded the magazine and chambered a round.
Then, with a serious expression, she said,
“I’ll give it a try. I’ll protect them!”
BANG!
Fire burst from the muzzle, and the bullet—spun by the rifling—tore through the empty air without hesitation.
“We’ll see about that.”
The Hyun-jung of darkness, who had been watching, snorted with a smirk.
Staring at the flying bullet, she said,
“Let’s see if you can protect everyone without dying, little kid.”