Chapter 275: Goodbye Now
"What do you think will happen if we spend a long time together?"
"Who knows?"
Jang Chae-yeon looked down at the man leaning against her shoulder.
Why was he suddenly asking such a question?
She smiled as she ran her hand through his black hair.
"It'll be that much better."
"..."
He didn't respond to her words.
He just stared at the gray sky, where neither morning nor night ever came, with a complicated expression.
A long time had passed.
No matter how much they loved each other, no matter how endlessly enjoyable their time together was, they were still human.
There were times when they fought, and there were also times when they had truly nothing left to say to each other, leading to over a week of complete silence.
"Let's forget."
One day, at the man's words, Jang Chae-yeon's eyes widened.
"Huh...?"
"And let's escape."
They had long since given up on the idea of escaping.
There was no one waiting for them, and although they had tried various escape methods multiple times, they had never succeeded.
"What do you mean by 'let's forget'?"
"Literally, I'm saying let's forget."
The man answered Jang Chae-yeon's question in a calm voice.
"If we get out like this, we won't be able to live normal lives."
Human emotions don't wear out, but a threshold develops.
The reason older people seem more composed and less troubled is the same principle.
It's because they've been through much harder things.
The trials a five-year-old faces and the trials a twenty-five-year-old faces are on completely different scales.
And when that threshold becomes higher, you feel less enjoyment in everything.
"...I don't want to."
Then, at his words, Jang Chae-yeon shook her head and refused.
"Okay, if you don't want to, then let's do that."
And the man just shrugged his shoulders as if to say he understood.
While holding the manual he occasionally looked at.
*
"Cough, hack...!"
He grabbed his festering wound and let out a rough breath.
The escape had failed.
No matter how strong Jang Chae-yeon was, if she got hurt, she would be injured; pain was an unavoidable fact.
The human-like monsters hiding in the escape route would often slow down their escape speed like that, and eventually, one day, the man was stabbed by a fingernail.
The fever wouldn't go down.
Jang Chae-yeon knew.
He was going to die.
Then, the man, who had been breathing heavily, closed his eyes tightly and opened them again with a hup sound, and looked at her.
"Let's make one promise."
Sweating cold sweat from the fever, the man looked at her with steady eyes.
"..."
Tears streamed from her eyes.
"...Will you do it?"
And, as if ignoring her tears, the man urged her with a question, to which Jang Chae-yeon nodded.
"...I'll do it."
"Good."
He smiled and said what Jang Chae-yeon had expected.
*
"..."
Song A-rin, having heard all of the Observer's words, looked up at the sky with a complicated expression.
"It must have been hard."
Jang Chae-yeon was also looking at her, and the Observer was looking at Jang Chae-yeon.
Then, the Observer opened her mouth.
"Probably, you would have been the same."
"What are you talking about?"
The Observer didn't answer Jang Chae-yeon's question, asked with a puzzled expression, and instead looked at me.
"You two were also together inside the Cube, right?"
"That's... correct?"
"You two must also have memories you've forgotten. And... from what I see, the current 'me' is different, but..."
She pointed at Jang Chae-yeon, then turned her finger towards me.
"'You' seem like you'd be the same."
"..."
I understood what she meant.
Probably the me of now... although my memories aren't gone, the me who spent a long time with Jang Chae-yeon also suggested to her that we forget.
And unlike the Observer, Jang Chae-yeon ultimately listened to me, I suppose.
"Then, what we forgot is also—"
"I don't know."
The Observer shook her head.
"But since it was your thought and decision, it must have been a decision you made for that child's sake."
"What is it?"
"I don't know either. Perhaps you found out something you weren't supposed to know?"
Something you weren't supposed to know?
I don't have a clue.
"You seem to know a lot about me."
"I wondered about it too, but I realized."
At my muttering, she smiled.
"You're always you. No matter what happens in the world, you can only be you."
"..."
I raised my head and looked at the sky; a giant eye was looking down at me.
"Did you see that with that?"
"Is that not allowed? I didn't have eyes back then."
"Of course it's allowed."
It was a bit scary that the giant eye in the sky kept staring down at me, though.
The eye, which had been continuously looking at me, turned its gaze to Song A-rin. Song A-rin, seeming displeased, glared back and met its gaze.
"Use your words, words. Why are you staring so hard?"
"You really don't change."
"Who said we're close? Want me to shoot your eye?"
The Observer laughed out loud while looking at Song A-rin, who spoke in a prickly tone.
She looked even softer and more relaxed than the current Jang Chae-yeon.
"But it's a relief you're fine now."
"...Now?"
Song A-rin looked at her, and the Observer shrugged her shoulders.
"Why do you need to know? There are many things in the world that are better off not knowing."
"You've picked up quite a way of speaking, sis."
"But I am your unnie, aren't I?"
"Ugh, why has your way of talking become so similar to this guy's?"
"From living together for a long time?"
"The shameless way you talk is exactly the same too."
Song A-rin expressed her annoyance by crossing her arms, then looked at the Observer again.
"Then what's that eye? You use telekinesis originally."
"That's not something I learned."
"Ah, you're going to start with another damn difficult explanation, aren't you?"
"That's something the slightly younger me you saw awakened. Because that child went through difficult times often. I was usually asleep."
"Ah, that half-baked kid?"
"...The younger me."
"If she's young, you should have educated her properly. The kid's a psycho."
Perhaps because she had been on the receiving end of that eye, Song A-rin's words were full of thorns.
The Observer, who had been smiling awkwardly, looked at me.
"By the way, where is that kid?"
"That kid?"
"Yeah. You know. The one you instinctively feel wary of."
A kid I instinctively feel wary of?
Who is she talking about?
As I looked at her as if to ask what she meant, the Observer continued her explanation.
"That, you know. The one with black hair and slightly strange eyes."
"Yu Daon?"
"So that friend's name is Daon."
"Yu Daon does have black hair, but her eyes aren't strange."
Wouldn't it be more accurate to say she has an innocent, guileless look in her eyes?
"..."
Instead, the Observer looked at me as if I were strange, then nodded.
"That friend is alone right now."
"Where?"
"Near the cave. Since the exit is also a cave, you can pick her up on the way."
"Yes, then let's go toget—"
I started to speak but stopped mid-sentence at the Observer's faint laugh.
"..."
"You know. I'm staying."
"...Couldn't we just leave this place?"
This place has no meaning now.
The Cube incident is over too.
"Right, you could do that too."
The Observer looked at me and smiled awkwardly.
"...But there's no point in doing that."
"Pardon?"
"I love you."
"...!"
"It's not just a casual 'I love you'. After spending countless days, even after forgetting myself, there wasn't a single day I didn't love you."
"Cough, hack!"
What kind of sudden talk is this?
Her words caught in my throat, making me cough involuntarily. Song A-rin and Jang Chae-yeon, who were listening, also froze like ice and stared at the Observer.
The Observer, the one who had actually said it, just smiled and looked at me without saying anything else.
"How is your reaction exactly the same as yours was when you heard my confession after those ten-plus years had passed?"
"..."
It was a bit confusing, but I cleared my throat and looked at the Observer.
"Yes."
"Uh-huh. So, I can't go with you."
"...Um..."
Seeing my lukewarm reaction, the Observer added.
"If I asked you to abandon those three people for my sake and stay with me, could you do it?"
"...Ah."
"If I said I'd follow you to the ends of the earth and beyond, and asked you to abandon everything and be with me, could you abandon them?"
"..."
I couldn't answer the Observer's question.
Looking at me staying quiet, the Observer smiled.
"Right. The Kim Jae-heon I know would have said 'of course' and stood by my side."
"...I'm sorry."
I couldn't say anything.
"It doesn't mean I dislike you. No, on the contrary, I still love you now."
With a smiling face again, the Observer looked at me.
"But that would actually make things harder for you."
"....."
My mouth felt bitter.
I was sorry I couldn't affirm her words, and I was sorry I couldn't find a way to make her happy.
"If you still came to our side..."
"I know my current condition best."
The Observer closed her eyes.
"I will undoubtedly become a contained object."
"..."
A person whose management is sometimes unstable, who awakens and suddenly manifests a giant eye. And that eye stimulates everyone's fear.
I couldn't say she was wrong.
"From what I know, if you get isolated in the Management Bureau, you have to live in a small basement for the rest of your life."
The Observer laughed.
"So I'll stay here."
"...If you hide and live..."
"..."
Listening to my words, the Observer smiled, and I also knew my words were just being unreasonable.
"...I understand."
I nodded, and the Observer laughed.
"Yeah, but I won't disappear."
"..."
"A-rin, you go first. I... need to talk with her a bit."
"...Chae-yeon."
"Hurry. We'll be able to meet again."
She smiled.
"..."
"Let's go."
In the end, Song A-rin pulled me away, and I had no choice but to leave like that.
*
"..."
Jang Chae-yeon looked at the person in front of her.
"I'll be blunt."
Then, as her eyes met those of her other self, who had a large scar on her neck, she smiled.
"You like that guy, don't you?"
"..."
She hadn't even intended to hide it, but she really figures it out right away.
Jang Chae-yeon nodded, and the Observer who saw that laughed.
"But Jae-heon is so unresponsive to anything related to romance, to the point where I wonder if it's intentional or not."
"..."
Feeling as if her vision was going dark, Jang Chae-yeon looked at the floor, and the Observer nodded.
"I'll help you."
Jang Chae-yeon looked at her soft smile and nodded.
*
The way back was easier than expected.
Because the Observer just flicked her wrist, and the cave path returned to its original state.
The problem wasn't that.
It was that Yu Daon, who seemed to have completely lost her mind, was muttering "S-s-s-sorry..." while looking at my arm.
"It's fine. I can't feel it anyway."
It was truly gone now.
Hearing that, Song A-rin made a fuss and contacted the Management Bureau, and Jang Chae-yeon also held me in the air and tied me up until we reached the hospital.
Not long after.
As the Branch Chief clenched his fist, the apple shattered, and its juice flowed into the cup.
-Squish... Squish-squish...
"Here, apple juice."
The Branch Chief smiled brightly and handed me the glass.
"I washed my hands, so it's clean."
"Ah, no, Branch Chief. I'm not really into juice..."
"I'm breaking this apple instead of breaking Kim Jae-heon's head right now, so will you drink it?"
"I'll enjoy it."
The apple juice was sweet.