## Chapter 132 – Attraction (8)
“…Chanu Oppa, will he be okay?”
“He’ll be fine. You don’t have to worry so much.”
Chaeyun was curled up on the bed, burying her face in a pillow as she spoke in a muffled voice. Her expression was full of anxiety and worry. This girl really likes Chanu a lot. I looked out the window, then approached the depressed Chaeyun and gently hugged her to offer comfort. I sighed at the slight trembling I felt from Chaeyun in my arms. Ah, it’s not that I’m angry at Chaeyun at all.
To be honest, I’m thinking the same thing as her. So I know what this girl is thinking without having to read her mind.
“…I’m not helpful to Oppa only at times like these.”
The person she really likes might be in danger, but there’s nothing she can do. The helplessness that comes from that reality is weighing heavily on this girl’s shoulders and heart. I’ve experienced it too, that helplessness of not being able to do anything even when he lost everything a long time ago. I regretted and regretted the past me who didn’t even have the courage to leave with the man I truly loved while an eternity passed inside the fruit.
Just like Chaeyun’s thoughts, of course I wanted to go too. But I knew the truth. If we went along, not being of much help in the battle, we would only be a hindrance.
“…That’s true, but Chanu probably doesn’t think you’re not helpful, right?”
“…Huh?”
I wish he had said harsh words like we’re not helpful and we’d be a hindrance if we followed, then I wouldn’t be so worried.
‘It’s dangerous if you come. You two have done enough, so wait here.’
From him leaving the room, I felt pure concern, not the annoyance or lies to hide his true feelings. How could I ignore his words of genuinely worrying about us and follow him? I sighed again.
“So let’s stop worrying and think about the lunch menu first…”
“…Unni? Why all of a sudden—”
A familiar and unpleasant pressure swept over my body, and words wouldn’t come out of my mouth. Chaeyun, surprised by my suddenly frozen appearance, looked up and asked about my condition, but her voice didn’t enter my head and continued to linger in my ears. I turned my head towards the ominous sensation I kept feeling. No, this can’t be happening.
“No, no, no, no…!!”
“Unni? Iran Unni?! What’s wrong all of a sudden, snap out of it!”
Leaving Chaeyun on the bed, I headed out to the terrace towards the source of the pressure. Chaeyun, surprised by my sudden action, also ran out to the terrace and shifted her gaze in the direction I was looking. After staring at the long horizon stretching out outside with me for a moment, Chaeyun didn’t sense anything unusual and shifted her gaze back to me, asking with a puzzled expression.
“What’s there?”
“…Chaeyun, we have to go.”
“Yes? Why all of a sudden… Oh, Unni! Are you really thinking of going? It’s dangerous if we go…?”
“No, if we don’t go now, you and I, and Chanu and the others will all die.”
Chaeyun was flustered, watching me suddenly open the terrace door roughly, enter the room, and put on clothes. As I hurriedly put on clothes and gave her a grim warning, she let out a dumbfounded groan and froze. Then, she smiled awkwardly, waiting for the words ‘It’s a joke’ to come out of my mouth, but I shook my head. Unfortunately, it’s all true. If we leave ‘that thing’ alone, everyone will die.
“….”
Chaeyun, who finally realized that my words were not a joke, silently started to put on her clothes in a hurry.
—————————————
“…You…”
“Ahaha, what’s wrong? Did you think there wasn’t another person like you in this wide world?”
I met Liese’s eyes as she picked up the teaspoon hanging on the coffee cup with her slender fingers and stirred the coffee to cool it down. …She’s right, I can’t say for sure that there’s only one person like me in this wide world. Moreover, the ‘King of Roots’ who traveled all over the world couldn’t have met only one human like me. In a way, there might be no need to be so surprised by the power Liese has. But those purple eyes I saw earlier, that’s definitely…
“…You ate the fruit in this lab, didn’t you?”
“It’s not like I ate it because I wanted to.”
Liese nodded, sipping the completely cooled coffee. So she ate it after all… Just as I was about to hold my forehead and sink into thought, the sound of a glass clinking made me involuntarily turn my gaze to the empty cup on the table.
“The man inside the fruit told me, ‘A friend like you will come.’ So I finished preparing like this and was waiting for you.”
“…The man inside the fruit…”
It seems that Liese also met the being inside the fruit, just like I met Virgilago. But how does the man inside the fruit she’s talking about know about me? He even knew I would come here, who the hell is that man? …After all, is the only way to forcibly take the power from Liese like I did with Iran…?
I kept my eyes on the coffee cup below and cautiously glanced at Liese. Let’s hear the story first, there’s no way she called me here without any thought. Especially since she knew I was coming here, there’s no way she didn’t prepare anything, right? It’s possible that the other party might not respond to the conversation and attack right away. I could try to pounce on her right away and take her power, but it doesn’t hurt to be careful. Since she doesn’t seem like she’s going to attack first, should I listen to what she has to say first?
“…Anyway, continue.”
“Okay, I think you don’t like long stories, so I’ll tell you right away.”
“That’s good because we can communicate well.”
Liese started laughing again at my story, she’s such a giggly woman. I waited until the cackling laughter was buried and disappeared in this room. Liese held her stomach, slowly calmed her excited shoulders, leaned back on the plush sofa, and immediately started talking about the main point.
“I don’t have any other thoughts at all, I just want to be friends with you. How about you?”
“…What?”
I frowned without realizing it. What the hell is this woman talking about?
“Don’t look at me with those eyes. It’s true! I want to be close to you. You’re the only ‘human’ like me in the world, so isn’t it better to be friends than to tear each other apart?”
She looked at me with eyes that said, ‘What’s wrong?’, making me feel like I’m the strange one. It’s not like I’m a kindergartener, and all she has to say is ‘Let’s get along well!’? What is she thinking? The level of conversation is so strangely low that my head isn’t working.
Liese picked up a small snack, put it in her mouth, and continued to talk.
“…So, there’s something I want to do. I thought it would be nice if you did it with me too.”
“What is it?”
“I’m going to turn everyone in the world into hosts of flower petals. Then no one will have to have difficult thoughts or unhappy thoughts anymore. Even people who can’t achieve their dreams because they’re blocked by the dirty reality will be happy. How about it?”
———————————————————
Around the time I took my first steps and could say ‘Mom, Dad’ out loud, I suddenly watched TV. There was a singer on the screen singing in front of an audience, and I remember thinking that the singer was so cool, pretty, beautiful, and impressive. I pestered my mom to go to vocal academy from a young age and learned to sing. I went on a small stage at the school festival and sang in front of the entire school, and I loved the cheers and applause I heard every time. I was so happy. I wrote lyrics and made melodies without rest and uploaded them to the internet and tried hard.
Time passed endlessly without any big results, but I was still so happy. I felt rewarded every time people left comments on the songs I uploaded to the internet. I spent my time like that, and on the day I became a middle school student, I met a friend who had the same dream as me. That child also made and sang songs and liked to let others listen to them.
We became friends quickly because we had the same interest in dreams. We made more songs together, and we went to school festivals together. Then one day, the moment when our efforts were finally recognized by the public came. We, who were noticed by a company that had created countless stars, finally had an agency.
I thought it was finally the beginning. I entered the company and had the identity of ‘idol trainee’. I danced until my bones were ground and broken, and I sang until I coughed up blood. If I did this, I would be able to stand in front of everyone in the world someday. I wanted to experience the happiness of succeeding with the dream I had for the first time. I worked hard that much, so I might have unknowingly thought that I deserved to seize that happiness.
A manager belonging to the company told us in the practice room where we trainees were gathered. He said that we would be able to debut soon, and we cheered at that. Until we heard what we had to pay for ‘success’.
The bright atmosphere turned dark in an instant. I also started to worry. I hated that side of me. I hated myself for worrying about a problem that I should have refused because of my dream. The opportunity to achieve my dream was right in front of me, but I was scared. I was so scared.
Some of the trainees, including me, refused, and I couldn’t see them at the company after that. And I couldn’t enter that practice room anymore, and I couldn’t see the friend who had the same dream as me anymore.
But I thought it was too naive to think that I could get back up again. Even if I made and uploaded songs to the site alone like before, people’s reactions were not the same as before. There was no interest at all to the point where I thought it would be better to have critical comments. Because the public’s attention started to focus on my newly debuted friends.
It was cruel.
Why the hell? Is this what reality is like? Have I been living only in dreams? Is the world this difficult and unreasonable? Was my head a flower garden? I wanted to quit, but I couldn’t quit. Because this had already become everything in my life.
I made songs and uploaded them steadily while working part-time to make ends meet. I thought that someone who would recognize me would appear someday, just like I did in middle school. I was looking up at the road I was walking home from work, soothing my tired body…
‘Subject number F. 2432, starting the experiment.’
‘…Huh?’
When I opened my eyes, I was here. A place I had never seen before. I was lying down in a vast space that was so white and empty that it was scary, with my arms and legs tied. I didn’t want to imagine what happened after that. Something was forcibly put into my head, and I had to live in this place that I didn’t even know well, watching everyone’s faces. The researchers who said they were doing some kind of test broke my arms and legs and put them back together.
‘…I’m, sorry… I, was wrong… I won’t, I won’t sing again, so… Please stop… Please save, me….’
An everyday life of muttering words I couldn’t even understand myself and falling asleep in a dark room. A day that passed by without any time to think, pain that I had become accustomed to. A beast-like life in which I was deprived of everything that should be guaranteed as a human being.
But strangely, I could see the stage in front of me in both my dreams and reality.
‘…Why… Why can’t I do it…? I’m like this…’
I barely parted my parched lips and reached out to the stage. But it was not me who was on it, but those who had accepted the dirty reality.
…Is it a sin to dream? Why do I have to live like this, If you can’t accept reality, do you have to live like this? Why? That wasn’t reality, it was a dishonorable and cowardly act. Was it wrong to refuse that? No, I didn’t do anything wrong. But why? Why are those things seeing the light and being happy? Why does a person with a dream have to be miserable?
I hated the world that seemed to be turning upside down. I tried to kill myself, but I had already become an existence that could not kill myself.
‘Subject number F. 2432, starting the power source experiment.’
It was the day I was waiting for the pain I was used to in the same daily life to come quickly. But that day was different. The researcher just told me to eat the fruit in front of me.
‘….’
I picked up the fruit shining in purple without any thought and took a bite. Anyway, futile resistance would only bring more pain, so I wanted to finish it quickly and rest. I never thought that one bite of that fruit would change my life again.
When I came to my senses, the humans in white coats who had tormented me so much were all torn to pieces. The white corridors of this place, which I thought I would see for the rest of my life, were stained with blood.
I could feel a different power flowing through my body. With this, I can do anything.
I’m going to turn the world that’s turned upside down back again.
————————————–
“…You’re the same as me. You’re dreaming the ‘same dream’ as me. How about it?”
“…”
“Let’s turn everyone in the world into hosts of flower petals and manage them. But I don’t intend to take away the freedom of the people in the world. I’m just eliminating the irrationality. I have the power and qualifications to do that, and you have the same power and qualifications as me.”
“That’s not a bad idea. But what about my companions? Do we have to manage them too?”
“I’m going to put the flower petals that are currently moving with human bodies into a device I made. Anyway, they’re a species created only for reproduction, right? ‘That man’ told me. Flower petals that hate humans extremely and prioritize the prosperity of the species. If we leave them in that state, they will eventually interfere with us…”
“…First of all, I’ve never dreamed the same dream as you.”
I got up from the sofa, loosened my joints by twisting my wrists, and then kicked the table in front of me with my fist, and it split in half with a ‘thud’.
“And secondly, why the hell am I your friend, you bitch. No one can touch those kids.”
This woman is dangerous if we leave her alone. I have to take her power here and now.
“…You’re the same too?”
Liese’s expression, which had always been smiling, turned cold to the point of being scary. The moment her eyes, which had been coldly open, shone, my body was thrown back with tremendous force.
