## Chapter 26 – Smile
“…Ah-un, you go in and rest.”
“It’s okay, I took bereavement leave.”
An empty mortuary with no one around.
Darkness is thickly laid out to the floor,
and in this only place where light comes in, there’s me, my brother,
and Mom’s portrait.
Is it because of the sudden news?
My brother looks much thinner than the last time I saw him.
“You flew in urgently, right?
Want to get some sleep, even just a little? I’ll wake you up when mourners come.”
“….”
My brother drinks soju without a word.
Unidentifiable emotions are knotted on my brother’s face,
darkening his complexion.
A gloomy atmosphere, like the darkness spread over the funeral hall.
In contrast, Mom in the portrait is smiling brightly.
Whenever I see it, it’s a really bright and pretty smile.
“Do you know why Mom passed away?”
He asks me in a calm voice, but with something caught in his throat.
I answer calmly as well.
“Cardiac arrest.”
“…If only someone had been by her side, she could have lived.”
My brother, who drinks another bottle of soju without a word, wipes the liquor that trickled down his mouth,
and continues his words.
“I’m really sorry for saying this, but,
what were you doing for the past two days? Didn’t you say you were on leave?”
“…”
I just listen silently.
A faint smile unconsciously appears on my face.
“Mom, the last person she called wasn’t even me, it was you.
Not anyone else, but you.”
My brother’s voice gradually becomes more intense.
“Why didn’t you answer? You were the closest, and you could have gone to see her anytime,
was that damn work you always talk about so important?!”
“Sorry.”
“Why, why… Mom…”
“…”
I haven’t been looking at my brother’s face since a while ago.
Is my brother crying now, or is he angry?
I feel like emotions are really fleeting.
“Sorry, I’m sorry, Ah-un…
I’m really sorry for saying this…”
There’s no need to be sorry, this is inevitable.
Human nature is unavoidable.
As mentioned earlier, one can never bear pain that is beyond their capacity alone.
Like this, by sharing their wounds with others,
they create a support to sustain their spirit, which has been injured beyond endurance.
This is what’s interesting.
In some ways, it’s kind, and from another perspective, it’s an extremely cruel nature.
Good, very good.
As expected, humans are beings close to perfection as organisms.
I smiled and took the bottle from my brother’s powerless hand.
“You’re too drunk, get some sleep first to sober up a bit.
And then let’s talk.”
“Sorry, I’m sorry… Ah-un, really…”
Now, my brother’s face, which had been hidden in the darkness, began to be visible,
and tears were flowing down his face.
Even knowing that their actions are wrong, they can’t help but commit them.
Because humans are animals that cannot deny their own existence,
that very self.
That point is so lovely.
They never admit or deny that they are vulnerable beings,
and try to move forward with all their might.
Humans are the most diligent yet lazy creatures.
So, we can become stronger.
We are beings that can become better.
“…I hope you’ll be a better person next time.”
Leaving my brother, who fell asleep crying, behind,
I stand up and bow to Mom.
————————
“…Shit, my whole body hurts.”
“….”
The morning after bestial intercourse is really fucked up.
Like having a hangover with a bottle of liquor,
I have no energy in my whole body.
Is it thanks to the petal that I’m barely maintaining my sanity while sitting here like this?
If I were a normal man, I would have really died,
I can’t help but repeat once again, unable to escape from the tremendous fatigue that makes me realize that.
“… …….”
Seo-hee, who felt like she would die if she didn’t eat something, hurriedly came into the restaurant,
and as soon as she finished ordering food, she immediately planted her face on the table and didn’t think about getting up.
“Are you asleep?”
“…….”
“No, she’s dead.”
With her head buried in the table,
Watching her twitching and trembling slightly,
I think I know why she’s doing this.
Even though it was because of the drug, the shame of what that prideful Seo-hee said and did yesterday seems to be rushing in now.
“…Are you okay?”
“Don’t talk to me, I feel like I’m going to throw up.
And don’t ever use that drug on me again,
I feel like my stomach is turning inside out.”
“Why, what does it feel like?”
“If you mixed all the alcohol you know and took a shot and woke up the next day, you’d feel like this…”
“…..”
I’ve never actually drunk that much, but just hearing about it makes me feel sick.
I was thinking of making a love potion by utilizing her abilities and mine,
but if the side effects left on Seo-hee are this severe, then something big will happen if it’s used on ordinary people, even if I don’t know what will happen.
Should I make it a little weaker?
“…Come to think of it, my memory is hazy,
where did that girl who was with us yesterday go? Where did she go?”
“Ah, our class president? When I woke up, she was already gone to school.”
“That’s amazing.”
“I only told her to act in a way that wouldn’t raise suspicion.”
“….”
An awkward silence flows for a moment.
Come to think of it, isn’t this almost the first time we’ve met alone like this?
Seo-hee had been busy working with her friends for a while, so I couldn’t see her face well,
and after that, everyone, including Nana and Chae-yun, was out of their minds due to the sudden appearance of the pursuer.
If I think about it after solving the problem, unlike Chae-yun, who lives in our house,
this is almost the first time that only Nana and Seo-hee have spent time together.
Is that why? Seo-hee seems to be feeling awkward somehow,
and seeing that makes me feel awkward for no reason.
“…What are you thinking about?”
“I’m not thinking about anything.”
Seo-hee, who threw out any words to break this awkwardness, gestures as if saying, ‘This isn’t it,’
by wiping her palm from her forehead to her mouth.
Seeing her struggling this much, I don’t know what to say either.
I’m not particularly thirsty,
but I pick up the water cup in front of me and drink water.
“…Um, you know.”
“Hmm?”
Because I had a water cup in my mouth, I gave an answer like a baby’s babble.
“What do you think of me?”
“….Cough!”
I bit my tongue without realizing it at the unexpected question,
and the water that was passing through my trachea flowed back out of my nose and mouth.
Seo-hee was also surprised and pulled out a tissue and gave it to me,
but I refused by waving my hand.
“…What are you suddenly… saying…?”
“…Don’t use honorifics.”
“Yes, no, uh.”
Seo-hee fidgets with her back hair with her fingers and lowers her head.
And after hesitating for a moment, she continues her words.
“I like you, so,
what do you think of me?”
“….”
The awkwardness from before was not awkwardness.
Seo-hee, who thought of making such a confident confession,
is like her in her own way.
“At first, I just thought of you as a mating partner for the sake of species propagation, but it’s strange, I keep feeling like you’re a special existence to me.”
Perhaps that’s because the moment Seo-hee became not herself and was reborn,
when she was parasitized by that petal.
She unknowingly harbored awe for an existence that was beyond human common sense,
and that was passed on as it was to the current Kim Seo-hee, who had completely taken over the brain of the original Kim Seo-hee.
That’s probably why she feels like I’m a special existence.
If you get something that you can’t reach,
what will happen after that?
If you realize that it’s not a distant existence, it will be no different from humans, friends, and family to you.
‘You get used to it.’
Did you start to feel affection like you feel for friends and family?
I’m not her, so I don’t know.
I don’t know, so I have to answer.
“…At first, you were just a friend.
Honestly, I thought you guys were just approaching me because of your purpose.”
“…”
“But if you feel that way, I like it, what’s bad for me?”
“…Haa, you’re trash..”
Harsh words come out of her mouth,
but her lips are smiling.
“Yeah, you’re right.
I’m the one who made you like this,
and in a way, I’m the one who ruined your life.
But you still like me?”
“…You made me like this, so I like you.”
I carefully bring my hand to Seo-hee’s face.
Tears well up in Seo-hee’s eyes, which had only felt sharp and cold.
And she smiled brightly, a smile I had never seen before, and clasped her hand in mine.
“What kind of crazy romance is this.”
It is literally a love that others can never understand.
It takes away a woman’s spirit from the root and changes it completely.
And without overcoming the contradictory emotions that arose from the changed self,
It’s a grotesque story of falling in love with the culprit who made her like this.
“…I can’t get used to it.”
“What? Polygamy?”
“Ah, that’s right, Chae-yun.”
“Don’t worry.
That’s basic for us, an excellent man has a woman, as much as he wants.
And she’ll probably like it even more?”
“I hope so.”
They sat at the restaurant for a long time, giggling and enjoying their time together.
[All values of F-BW-003 are normal.]
-The subject is in a state of slight hunger.
-This is the subject’s experiment date.
-L. LUKE]
