I am back – Chapter 158

“……”

After finishing the story, the two of us just walked for a while.

We didn’t really share any opinions. We just wanted to walk like that.

Both of us walked silently under the cold night air.

We weren’t holding hands. It wasn’t because our feelings for each other had changed or anything; it was just that we were both deep in thought.

Ga-young said she always wanted to tell us something. However, she claimed she didn’t have the courage until now.

Coming to see us was an impulsive act, she said. Ga-young came to visit right after she learned our address. In other words, she met Mom that day.

But just like on the first day we saw her, Ga-young couldn’t bring herself to say it.

Even though she had seen me once, Ga-young and our family were practically strangers. It was the same for my older sister.

That day, my sister witnessed me die—horrifically at that. It was only natural that she would lose her mind at the time.

If we think about the distance, my sister must have been quite close to Ga-young, who was crying with a broken wrist that day.

But that didn’t mean she could properly see Ga-young. I was there, covered in blood in her arms.

In that chaos, both of them were unable to pay attention to one another, only getting further away as they were caught up in the incident.

Ga-young thought that if she worked here and got closer to us, she would eventually be able to say it for sure. Her mother thought the same way, which led to Ga-young getting this part-time job here.

But looking at it strictly, that thought was incorrect.

As we became closer and formed connections, it became harder for Ga-young to bring it up.

The closer we got and the stronger the bond became, the more Ga-young couldn’t say anything for fear of breaking that relationship.

After continually putting it off, it was only after we mentioned that we might leave Korea that she desperately felt the need to say something.

“I knew that what I was doing was… not a good thing. I’m sorry…”

Ga-young said that while keeping her head bowed low.

Her mother merely kept her head down too.

Even when my sister said she understood and forgave her, neither of them lifted their heads.

To my sister, she even returned all the money.

No, it wasn’t just ‘returned’; it was a lot more than the money she had received for working only two to three hours a day.

This might sound extremely inappropriate, but… Ga-young’s family didn’t exactly seem to have that much money. If my sister accepted this, it wouldn’t completely ruin their lives, but it certainly wasn’t a small amount either.

“……”

In the end, my sister accepted the money.

*

After walking in silence for a while, I realized we were just wandering where our old neighborhood used to be, forgetting how cold it was.

A place we could hardly see how it had changed. Maybe only after all the construction is finished and the walls are removed will we really know what has changed.

But even then, it would be hard for us to accurately recall our neighborhood.

We had some photos left, and our memories of the neighborhood still remained clear in our minds. After all, it was where we lived our whole lives.

However, the landscape beyond this wall must have changed completely from what we remembered.

The gentle hills likely got flattened, the ground dug down, and smoothed out.

The complicated alleys formed by the random houses would probably be gone too, as would the uneven paving stones that had been left to deteriorate for a long time.

Basements and rooftop apartments that used to be in every building would all be gone as well.

Right, a severance from the past was happening steadily, without even needing to visit a fantasy world.

“……Could I have forgiven her?”

Before I knew it, we had stopped walking and were standing next to each other, looking up at the wall when my sister suddenly asked.

“Huh?”

“What if, if you weren’t here beside me right now, could I have forgiven Ga-young?”

“Ah…”

I couldn’t answer that question.

There was no way I could casually make a judgment about something my sister herself didn’t even know.

“I don’t really know.”

A small puff of breath came out from my sister’s lips.

“Maybe I wouldn’t have been able to forgive her. I might have yelled, demanding to save you.”

“……”

“I know that’s something I shouldn’t do, but…”

My sister paused for a while, looking silently up at the wall, then suddenly opened her mouth.

“……I know that when you saved that girl, you didn’t do it hoping for something. The girl in front of you was in danger, and so you, being kind, threw yourself in to protect her. That’s why she survived… so that was that.”

My sister’s shoulders slightly dropped.

“Moreover, you were… just someone I was incredibly close with. The fact that we could confirm our feelings for each other and become lovers was ultimately possible because you came back. Because I could see your face and hold your hand right there.”

My sister let out a long breath. It was similar to a sigh, but it didn’t seem to carry any worry.

“Because you were by my side, I can be here like this now.”

“……”

I didn’t know what to say, so I just kept my mouth shut.

My sister stood in silence for a while, then took her right hand out from her pocket, putting it in my left pocket.

My sister’s hand inside my pocket was warm.

“Thank you.”

My sister said.

When I turned to look, she was looking at me.

“Because you’re here, I could be sure.”

“Sure?”

“Yeah.”

My sister spoke brightly as she smiled.

“When everything around me started to change and collapse, you were there to keep me holding on to this world. When I was young, you were beside me, which is why I could laugh like that.”

My sister’s parents argued every day. It was so loud that we could hear the insults they threw at each other as well as sounds of things being thrown, and glass breaking.

My sister didn’t like going home much. In fact, I think my sister’s parents didn’t care much whether she went home either.

“In the end, even when you disappeared and I was on the verge of breaking again… everyone who kept me holding onto this world was related to you.”

“……”

Is she talking about the pastor? But aside from him, I hadn’t really done anything special. Older Sister Yu-ri started as my friend, not as my sister’s friend, and my mom was kind to her precisely because she knew Yu-ri.

My sister’s hand in my pocket squeezed mine a little tighter.

“And in the end, you came back like this.”

“……”

That too, what I accomplished—

—No, that’s not it.

There’s no reason to keep thinking like that.

Yeah, just, just… let’s accept it this time. No need to play the humble role.

I did it.

I saved the life of a child who was about to die.

I saved the world with the goddess’s request.

Having come back… I ended up being able to become a lover with my sister.

It was all because of me. It wasn’t that I did it alone, but it’s not that I did nothing while everything just happened by chance either.

That’s why I could be here.

Because I saved that world. I’ve been able to stay here.

I could be beside my sister. Because I told her about myself, because I continually maintained positive relationships with my companions, everyone helped me and helped connect me with her.

That’s why we are now able to stand here, feeling each other’s warmth.

Standing side by side, promising a future together.

Yeah. That’s it.

That’s enough…

It was all me. I didn’t do it alone. We all did it together.

And this is the result.

“……”

I simply smiled at my sister.

Yeah.

Even if the world changes, and everything around us completely crumbles and is rebuilt.

The fact that I was here. And that I accomplished all of that, no one in the world could deny.

“Shall we go?”

“Yeah.”

My sister asked me, and I happily replied.

Let’s go back.

To our house. To the place we’ve come to call home anew.

To where my sister and I live.