062 – It’s Not a Dream, But an Interpretation of Dreams
The boy would often dream of that day when he closed his eyes.
The most impressive day of his life.
A birthday party for some girl.
A grand event that even the president attended.
As the party reached its climax,
the girl’s father raised his glass to make a toast.
Something about harmony and unity between political factions if he remembered correctly, but the important part came at the end.
“To Your Excellency, as a symbol of the eternal cooperation and alliance between our Seonam Group and your Free Party, how about we betroth my daughter Seugal to your grandson?”
The boy felt his breath catch in his throat.
Seugal was someone the boy had secretly harbored feelings for, and Nam San-ho was his long-time friend and rival.
The thought of losing his secret crush to his rival made the boy anxious, but he couldn’t say a word.
Though there was really no need to.
“Mr. Do-cheol, you are a fine man like your father. A diligent worker just like him. But I’m sorry, times may have changed, but it’s still not possible for a dog and its master to be betrothed, is it?”
The atmosphere immediately turned icy.
No one could smile for the rest of the party.
It was a truly nightmarish experience.
“Gasping!”
When the boy awoke from his dream, his bed and pajamas were drenched in sweat.
“Was it just a dream?”
As he got up, throwing off the covers and drinking a bottle of water from the fridge, the boy noticed a woman quietly sitting in the corner of the kitchen.
His fiancée.
Jin Eun-byul.
“…”
The boy, Prince Juhyun, couldn’t bring himself to speak to Jin Eun-byul as she blankly stared into the darkness.
An indescribable feeling of discomfort and unease washed over him.
What was she doing in the kitchen corner at 4 a.m.? He thought he could hear some unintelligible muttering from her lips.
‘Is this how I’ll spend the rest of my life, with this woman?’
To inherit the Imperial Group, and furthermore, to ally with the Samjin Group to one day aim for the presidency, Prince Juhyun had to share a bed with Jin Eun-byul.
But every time he looked at her, he felt a subtle fear.
And he couldn’t help but question whether he really wanted to spend the rest of his life with this terrifying woman.
“What are you doing?”
Then Jin Eun-byul asked Prince Juhyun.
Even in the dark, her eyes looked particularly jet black and unfathomably deep, sending shivers down his spine.
As Prince Juhyun froze like a mouse in front of a snake, Jin Eun-byul gave a light laugh.
“Did you have that nightmare again? The one where Nam San-ho knocks on your door? All blackened and burnt, knocking loudly.”
Prince Juhyun remembered the recurring nightmare he often had.
About his missing old friend appearing before him in a terrifying form.
“Hmm, our Juhyun was scared, wasn’t he? Come here. Let me hold you.”
Shwoo.
With her arms open, Jin Eun-byul beckoned Juhyun closer.
Though Prince Juhyun didn’t want to embrace her, he couldn’t refuse her insistence and buried his face in her chest.
Then Jin Eun-byul began stroking his head, speaking softly.
“Did Nam San-ho annoy you as a child? Catching cicadas and other bugs and shoving them in your face, then calling you a coward when you were scared…”
“…”
Nam San-ho was very manly, much like his grandfather.
In contrast, Prince Juhyun had always been somewhat soft-hearted and emotional, often being led around by Nam San-ho as a child.
Shoo-shoo.
Jin Eun-byul continued to stroke Juhyun’s head comfortingly.
Then she whispered into his ear.
“It’s okay. Nam San-ho isn’t around anymore. He’s dead. Terribly so.”
“Wh-what?”
The grip on Juhyun’s head tightened.
Though Juhyun tried to wiggle free from the terrifying feeling, he couldn’t break away.
“Let go of me!”
At that moment.
Click.
The kitchen light turned on.
“Juhyun, what are you doing here?”
Turning his head, Prince Juhyun saw Jin Eun-byul appear in her pajamas, her birthmark under her eye clearly visible.
“…”
Prince Juhyun was speechless. If this Jin Eun-byul had just arrived, then who was the one who had been holding his head until now? And where had she disappeared to?
Frankly, he didn’t want to know.
Nor did he want to ask.
Instead, Prince Juhyun cautiously asked her.
“Eun-byul, didn’t you say you’d help find Seugal at the request of Chairman Seo Do-cheol?”
“Yeah. Once I find Seugal, your charges will be cleared too, right? Things got complicated since you met her that night.”
She smiled.
“Juhyun, since you asked me a question, let me ask you one too. Do you happen to know who Hanamjin is?”
Nod.
Instead of speaking, Prince Juhyun just nodded.
The questioning ended there.
He didn’t know why she had asked about Hanamjin, but he didn’t inquire further. Whatever Jin Eun-byul was interested in was rarely a good sign.
Rather, it was probably for the best.
Prince Juhyun had disliked Hanamjin from the start anyway.
The man always reminded him of his missing friend, Nam San-ho.
# # #
Today’s exploration of the Great Labyrinth went smoothly.
With Jang Hyun-ah and Jeon Somi absent, it was practically just self-study with me and Bangdaengi.
When a demon beast appeared, it was a bit dangerous.
It was a small lion, like a cat, but when Baek Yeo-ul started throwing chopsticks, it ran away.
The labyrinth where the demon beasts lived.
In reality, it was the land of fairies.
When I was marveling at that fact, Baek Yeo-ul spoke up.
“I heard from someone in Class F that fairies actually still live here in the labyrinth. So sometimes you can find traces of them.”
“Fairy?”
“Also, apparently fairies like sweets as much as demon beasts do. If we put candy here and hide, we might be able to meet one.”
Baek Yeo-ul took out a grape-flavored candy from her bag, placed it on the floor, and giggled. Then something amazing happened.
The candy she had placed on the floor had disappeared!
“Bangdaengi! The candy on the floor disappeared! Look!”
“The fairy must have taken it! It’s really a fairy! Oh Namjin! There really is a fairy that likes candy! Where did my candy go? Hmm? Did you not see where it went?”
“I did! Right into my mouth!”
I opened my mouth to reveal the grape-flavored candy inside.
The ability to eat candy unnoticed is one of my great superpowers, ranked S-class by my personal brain fiction standards.
“Tch, why did you eat the candy? I really thought a fairy had eaten it!”
Bangdaengi was angry that I had eaten the candy.
After that, Bangdaengi ran around the labyrinth saying “I’ll find the fairy!” but not even a single fairy or demon beast appeared.
Maybe that’s how entrance areas are.
As time passed and it was getting close to afternoon,
I was thinking about finishing our labyrinth exploration and going to see Yu Yeo-reum and Seugal when Baek Yeo-ul spoke up.
“I’ll look for Seugal too!”
“You?”
“Yes! Because I’ve noticed you like Seugal. So I’ll help you find her. Though I don’t like Seugal personally… But for you, Namjin!”
“Ugh, Bangdaengi!”
That was touching.
Bangdaengi offering to help me find Seugal was like the embodiment of love’s cupid itself!
“Deoksun and I came up with a great plan. There’s an incredibly talented fortune-teller, so we thought about asking her to help find Seugal.”
The problem was that I already had Seugal with me.
The situation was somewhat amusing.
Being with Bangdaengi was never boring.
I suddenly wondered what it would have been like collecting scrap metal together with Bangdaengi in a ruined world.
We would have made great partners.
We could have even shared some ketchup with Yining!
But we couldn’t.
It would have been difficult to survive in the ruined world burdened with “bad luck.”
# # #
When we returned to the princess’s quarters, Yu Yeo-reum and Seugal were sitting quietly.
When I looked at their expressions, which seemed unusually serious, Yu Yeo-reum said,
“Hanamjin, you kidnapped Seugal because of the N Mart arson, didn’t you?”
“What?”
“The arson at N Mart happened because of Seugal and Nam San-ho, and in the end, you lost your family there. Therefore, you executed the kidnapping out of revenge against Seugal, the ringleader—didn’t you?”
Eh? I was so shocked my tongue froze.
While I was speechless, Seugal, who looked extremely uncomfortable, blushed and bowed her head to me.
“Many people were hurt because of me. Hanamjin, you wanted an apology from me, right? That’s why you kidnapped me. You wanted me to truly repent.”
How did they arrive at this conclusion?
I was curious about what Yu Yeo-reum and Seugal had discussed while I was gone.
Though I had a lot I wanted to say, I felt I should clearly state at least one thing.
“Who is Nam San-ho anyway? What does he have to do with Seugal? I’ve never heard of this before.”
Who the heck is Nam San-ho?
I don’t even know what kind of person he is.
My question made Seugal seem somewhat flustered.
“…You don’t know? Weren’t you already aware?”
“What did you two talk about? The reason I kidnapped you two had nothing to do with some serious reason like that. Do I look like someone so heavy and serious?”
I’m much lighter than a cloud cotton candy Yingying.
The overly serious atmosphere now made me quite uncomfortable.
“Huh!?”
“…Boring person?”
Seugal and Yu Yeo-reum’s expressions immediately crumpled.
“Hey! Yu Yeo-reum! I didn’t kidnap you because of the N Mart incident! d*mn, now I regret saying anything!”
“That can’t be… Then why? Why did you kidnap us?”
Why did I kidnap you?
By now, I was getting frustrated.
“I’ve already told you, I need to tutor Seugal! That’s why, Seugal, before you sleep tonight, you must definitely awaken to at least one concept. If you don’t, I’ll spank you with the ‘Love Rod.'”
Shoo.
I raised the “Love Rod.”
“Today, I’ll try hitting your soles.”
Then the Seugal, who strangely loves the Love Rod, started screaming.
“Why are you tutoring me! Why! Why! Why! Whywhy! Why!”
The continuous “Why.”
It sounds just like a desert frog croaking.
“What even is this? I don’t even know who you are or what you want from me!”
Seugal was especially hysterical today.
Her face, which had been red, seemed like it was puffing up, and eventually, she started crying.
“Unfair! Why do I have to endure this?”
Seugal’s will must have been completely crushed by the incomprehensible tutoring curriculum.
It seemed the problem was that I had hidden too much information out of caution against “traitors to humanity.”
“Do you want to know the truth? You might regret it.”
“Tell me!”
Are you sure?
Alright.
It seemed it was about time to share some of the truth now.
“In about a year. No, in even less than that, more than half of humanity will d*e.”
Spitting out the secret I had been carrying alone made my chest feel lighter.
Like I had vomited up something stuck in my chest.
The shocking “truth” stopped Seugal’s crying.
“What? Did you dream that?”
Soo.
I closed my eyes.
Whenever I close my eyes, I often dream of that day.
The rough day when the world ended.
When three giant beasts ripped through the earth, sea, and sky, opening their monstrous jaws like space whales and sucking in people left and right…!
