LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 244
TLed by NolepGuy
Chapter 244
-〈666th Side Story〉 ‘Viewing the Original Form…’ begins.
Mikhail exhaled at the unusual situation unfolding before his eyes.
‘Where is this…?’
It didn’t feel like illusion magic, nor did it seem like a hallucination—it was far too realistic. Mikhail widened his eyes in confusion.
‘What is this…?’
A flustered Mikhail raised his head and looked around.
“This is….”
The Academy.
Standing in a place he had walked through countless times, Mikhail’s eyes widened, and he swallowed hard. Just moments ago, he had been in the dormitory, but now he was suddenly in front of the fountain. He couldn’t make sense of the situation.
It was night, but now it’s day….
In his confusion, Mikhail faintly heard the voice of the Blue Window near his ear.
[Do you remember?]
The Blue Window abruptly asked about his memory, leaving Mikhail puzzled.
‘Remember what…?’
[Do you remember the memory from three days after you severed your accursed karma with the Academy?]
The Blue Window brought up a memory Mikhail had thought insignificant.
[That dawn, there was one letter in your shoe cabinet. A letter written in such terrible handwriting that it was almost illegible.]
Recalling the past, Mikhail felt a sense of doubt. What was so important about that letter?
‘It was nothing.’
In the faint memory, Mikhail had dismissed it as just another love letter, like the ones he often received. He had assumed it was written by someone with atrocious handwriting.
In the hazy recollection, perhaps that letter was…
[You tore that letter apart without a second thought.]
He must have torn it up.
Mikhail suddenly felt a shiver and looked at the Blue Window with trembling eyes.
As thoughts of “No, that can’t be” and a foreboding sense of “What if…” filled his mind, the Blue Window began to slowly reveal the answer.
[You tore the letter apart without a shred of hesitation, without knowing who the author of that terrible handwriting was.]
‘No way.’
[The author of the letter had spent two days sitting at their desk, pouring their heart into it. They filled the letter paper with worries about what expression you might make and what thoughts you might have after reading it.]
And then,
[That boy waited endlessly for you that day before leaving.]
The Blue Window spoke.
Of the boy’s survival.
It calmly listed the mistakes Mikhail had made, the things he had failed to notice, and recited the contents of the letter he had never read.
[It’s been a while since I’ve written a letter.]
A letter that bore a nickname no one else knew.
[A lot has happened, but since my handwriting is so terrible, it’s hard to put it all into words. I shouldn’t write too much. Honestly, I don’t even think you’ll be able to read this.]
Slowly, it was interpreted.
[Before I leave, I wanted to leave one letter behind. I wanted to see your face just once before I go.]
‘No…’
Mikhail shook his head.
Telling himself it couldn’t have happened, he berated and hated himself for missing the opportunity right in front of him, staring at the letter with trembling eyes.
[I’ll be waiting in front of the fountain at 6 p.m. tomorrow.]
At the final sentence, Mikhail’s heart began to pound violently. It raced uncontrollably, and he was so filled with self-loathing that his shoulders shook as he gasped for air.
-Your longtime friend.
‘Haa… Haa…’
[A memory no one else knows.]
[You read that boy’s letter. By chance, you read the first line of the letter, clutching your heart, and worked hard to interpret it.]
[That day, you were smiling. You had never felt such anticipation and excitement before. You worked hard to decipher it and prepared to head to the promised place.]
Mikhail’s vision brightened.
Under the rising sunset, in front of the fountain where many couples and people stood, Mikhail’s eyes grew clearer.
‘This is…’
-The viewing begins.
With a cold voice, a girl standing in front of the fountain came into Mikhail’s view.
A white dress.
White shoes.
Wearing light reddish lipstick and fidgeting with her fingers, the silver-haired girl stared endlessly at the clock tower, as if waiting for someone.
Mikhail looked at the girl with trembling eyes, his expression filled with emptiness.
‘Is that me?’
Standing in front of the Academy fountain, showing a side of himself he had never revealed to others, he stood there, shyly.
“…Hoo.”
He looked like a girl.
From the shyly chosen outfit.
To the makeup he had tried for the first time.
He looked like a girl of that age.
Fidgeting with his fingers and unable to keep his toes still, the version of himself in the viewing stared at the clock tower and muttered.
“When will he come?”
Wearing an expression that seemed on the verge of tears, the self in the viewing kept muttering the same words to himself.
“…Will I do well?”
Wondering how to start the conversation, hesitating, and letting his body follow the melody drawn on the music sheet, the self in the viewing.
Watching that version of himself, Mikhail envied her. She was experiencing something he had never felt. He envied that person who had seized the opportunity he had missed.
The excitement.
The laughter.
Without any of it,
Only biting his lips and swinging his sword, Mikhail felt an unnecessary sense of jealousy toward the version of himself that was so different from who he was now.
And at the same time, he felt a sense of unease.
What if that letter was a death notice?
What if the connection that knew his old memories had come to deliver sad news? With such thoughts, he erased his smile and stared at the past that had not yet happened.
‘Focus on reality…. It’s already in the past….’
Forcing himself to focus, Mikhail exhaled.
The self in the viewing muttered to himself and began an awkward rehearsal. Ignoring the gazes of others, he nervously practiced what to say when he saw the boy from his memories, showing an awkward performance.
“How should I start the conversation….”
“Ah… Hi! How have you been…? I’ve been doing well. Haha… I became the top ranker at the Academy…”
“The weather is so nice, isn’t it? If you have time, should we go to a cafe?”
“You must be shocked that I’m a girl…. Fool, how are you only realizing it now…”
Muttering to himself, the self in the viewing suddenly fell silent. Even as he spoke, his heart was pounding like crazy.
How much would he have changed?
He must have become a handsome man.
He’ll be so surprised when he finds out I’m a girl.
“…”
Still.
“When I meet him, I want to hug him.”
Mikhail felt the same way.
He desperately wanted to see the boy from his memories, to feel his presence, to see the face he couldn’t remember, and to hear his voice.
-Tick.
The self in the viewing swallowed dryly as the approaching time drew near, waiting for the memory to come closer. At this moment, he was the only protagonist in the world. No, he was a lady named Misa.
“Sniff…”
Holding back the runny nose that threatened to spill, Mikhail slowly lowered his head.
-Click.
The sound of shoe heels echoed.
Both the self in the viewing and the present Mikhail held their breath, focusing on that sound.
-Click.
The sound of shoe heels, neither fast nor slow, resonated quietly within Mikhail’s heart.
-Click.
“…”
The Mikhail in the viewing swallowed his breath.
The Mikhail watching clenched his fists and bit his lip.
‘Finally, we meet…’
The man’s face was still hidden, obscured by shadows.
-Click.
As the silhouette slowly came into view, Mikhail clenched his fists. It matched the image of the man he remembered.
With a striking tall height.
A muscular build.
Even from afar, he drew attention, enough to be considered a handsome man.
Only his face remained hidden in the shadows.
The image of the boy who had once been a hero to Mikhail in his difficult times remained unchanged.
‘That’s right…’
Mikhail lowered his head, his heart trembling, and waited for the man to approach. He still didn’t have the courage to look at his face.
Even though he wanted to see it immediately.
He hid his face for a moment, afraid that without preparing his heart, he might crumble.
What would he look like?
Had anything happened to him?
What if he thought Mikhail was ugly and ran away? Both the Mikhail in the viewing and the present Mikhail lowered their heads and swallowed their breath.
Slowly, the man approached.
The man, who had amplified Mikhail’s heartbeat, took another step closer and stopped right in front of him, carefully greeting him.
“Excuse me.”
The man’s voice resonated softly.
The boyish tone was gone, replaced by a pleasant, deep voice that gently called out to the bowed Mikhail.
Perhaps he was nervous too, as he swallowed a dry breath, exhaled a deep sigh, and opened his mouth again.
“Are you Mikhail?”
“…”
“Or not…?”
-Drip.
Tears began to fall onto the white shoes of the Mikhail in the viewing. He had wanted to greet him with a bright expression, to start their conversation with a smile, but the tears came earlier than expected. Unable to control his emotions, his shoulders began to shake.
“Yes…”
Mikhail nodded with difficulty.
With a voice choked by sobs, he nodded vigorously toward the man calling his name, desperately proving that he was the one being sought.
Affection.
Love, memories.
A whirlwind of emotions surged, creating a small hurricane in Mikhail’s heart. Overwhelmed by the relentless flood of feelings, Mikhail couldn’t lift his head.
Nodding was all he could manage, as the Mikhail in the viewing welcomed the returning memories without looking at them.
“Ah…”
The man let out a small sigh as he looked at Mikhail. Unsure of how to begin, he exhaled and slowly opened his mouth.
“You look quite different from how I remembered.”
“…”
“But still…”
With a small opening of his lips, the man began to speak about old memories, offering a warm greeting.
“You’re still a crybaby, and the way you shake your head when you cry hasn’t changed.”
The man spoke softly, smiling faintly at the Mikhail in the viewing.
“You’ve grown up. My little kid.”
At the sound of the man’s chuckling voice, Mikhail slowly lifted his head, and the man cautiously began to bid farewell to the fragments of memories hidden in the shadows.
“I suppose I should introduce myself again.”
“…”
“My name is Rika… No…”
“…”
As his face was slowly revealed, both the Mikhail in the viewing and the present Mikhail shed tears as they looked at him.
At last, they could see his smile.
“Huh…?”
‘No.’
It felt as if the world was collapsing.
“I am Lee Minhyuk.”
The memories he had longed for and cherished crumbled in an instant, breaking down the massive barrier he had held in his heart.
This couldn’t be happening.
It had to be a lie.
He thought the man must be plotting something strange again as he clenched his fists.
Because the man he had hated so much, the one he thought he could never reconcile with, was looking at him with a wistful smile.
Disgust overflowed.
“What… are you doing right now?”
‘Don’t joke around.’
Both his past self and his present self, with pale complexions, glared at him and spat out their anger.
But.
“…”
The awkward smile on his face left Mikhail speechless. Holding a paper bag with a teddy bear in one hand, his sad smile didn’t seem like a lie.
“…”
‘This is a joke, right…?’
His lips trembled.
His fingers quivered, and the intense throbbing in his ears echoed his vehement denial.
“No…”
‘No.’
“This can’t be.”
“This can’t be.”
Mikhail echoed the words of his viewing self. Tears streamed down as he repeatedly voiced his disbelief, rejecting the unbearable reality.
The more Mikhail denied it, the more awkward the man’s smile became.
“It’s been a long time.”
“This isn’t right.”
“There were so many things I wanted to say.”
“…”
“I don’t know how to start, but this is the first thing that comes to mind.”
“Shut up…”
With trembling hands, the Mikhail in the viewing grabbed Ricardo’s sleeve. With desperate hands, he clutched his sleeve, shaking his head and vehemently denying it.
“It’s a lie.”
“…Haha.”
“You can’t be that person.”
“I’ve been watching over you all this time.”
“No!!!!”
“You’ve worked so hard.”
The Mikhail in the viewing collapsed to the floor with a thump. His legs had no strength left, overwhelmed by the situation that had put a period on something he thought impossible.
No.
There had to be more to this.
He thought it was just a medium to deliver news.
But no matter how much he cried out in vain, the only response was the desperate sobbing of his viewing self.
The person he despised the most.
The person who seemed different from him.
At the same time, memories of his past, when he had cruelly hated that person, flashed before his eyes like a life-flashing memory, making his breath tremble.
“I apologize for treating you so harshly all this time.”
-The viewing ends.
The reunion, which had carried hope, ended in the worst way possible.