NOVEL NEXT Episode 123
Episode 123
When I turned my head, I saw blue eyes deeper and darker than the blue sky, shining dimly as if to swallow me.
I looked at Ryuseong and smiled brightly.
“You’re here? Did you also want to take a walk? Or did you miss me?”
“First, step back. I need to interrogate those things.”
Ryuseong took a step forward with a face so heavy it was scary.
At that moment, Diedrich and Capone flinched, sensing the murderous energy.
“What…!”
Maybe Capone would know, but it would be the first time for Diedrich to experience this kind of murderous energy.
Because he’s a young master who lived a little more comfortably.
Perhaps that’s why Capone quickly prepared a magic circle to try to defend herself, but Diedrich still had a dumbfounded look.
“Lee Hyang, Hae Yuna. Shin Myohan. The heaven, earth, and human formation.”
“Roger.”
Shin Myohan was grinning, but Hae Yuna, unlike usual, clenched both fists into a combat stance with a serious expression.
Lee Hyang, who stood in the most important human (人) position in the three-person combat formation of heaven, earth, and human, looked indifferent but stared at me with quite sharp and sensitive eyes, took a big puff from her pipe, and exhaled the smoke.
“Whoooo……”
A fierce telepathic message crossed the air inaudibly. From that moment, Hae Yuna’s kick struck down the path Capone was trying to run away on. No, it fell. Or it exploded.
That was the level of power. An explosion that strong was gushing out from a single kick of her enlightenment.
Capone barely blocked the direct impact by a paper-thin margin, but just the air pressure infused with qi would have shaken her internal organs.
If the condition was severe, that one strike might have even twisted his mana circles.
“…… You, I let you off easy because you’re cute……”
“You keep looking down on me? Right. I hear that a lot. But you’ve never gone easy on me.”
Hae Yuna took the initial stance of the Haenam style. And she pointed her fist at Capone.
“I’ve always gone easy on you. You.”
“……!”
Thus, Capone’s pride was insanely hurt. Because it wasn’t wrong at all that Hae Yuna had been going easy on Capone Jones.
When the two groups faced each other in the hallway while trying to steal the exam paper, in that duel. Hae Yuna clearly went easy on Capone then.
‘She didn’t beat me but smashed the hammer. Very simply changing the attack trajectory……’
Capone Jones was breathless.
Capone Jones can’t do that. Changing the point of impact of a fist mid-strike means twisting the direction the bones and muscles are going by one’s own strength. There’s no way that’s possible.
It’s a wall of skill. Between them, there exists not only a deep divide but also a difference in skill level.
However, at the same time, Capone is someone who doesn’t give up no matter what wall is in front of her.
Because it was impossible for Capone to even live while holding her breath. The fact that the girl who was forced to give up on living has survived until now is proof that she stubbornly refused to give up. She is struggling against resignation just by living. That’s the kind of life it is.
But Diedrich has lived by giving up at the right moment. His life has always been like that. Living aimlessly and then living as his family wants is his life.
‘Because I have nothing to lose even if I live lazily. I’m a coward……’
It will never change, as it always has been. This cowardly nature, absolutely.
Although it’s an action without an ounce of pride as a martial artist, he chose the easy path under the excuse of pursuing practicality.
So Diedrich struck the back of Capone’s neck, who was trying to pounce on Hae Yuna, and knocked her down.
Bam!
A tremendous sound rang out. And Diedrich Vinckel, who knelt on both knees, raised both arms and started begging profusely.
“Please spare me. Hehe……”
But it was a proper misjudgment. If it were Cassice Demillang, maybe. But Ryuseong’s eyes didn’t change even with that.
Ryuseong glared at them as if he would tear them to shreds and opened his mouth.
“You sons of bitches.”
And from that moment, Cassice Demillang started taking out popcorn.
Crunch crunch. Crackle crackle.
Everyone’s gaze except Ryuseong’s briefly turned to him.
***
‘Wow. He’s calling them sons of bitches from the start?’
Wow, look at that word choice. It wasn’t a joke from the beginning. Ryuseong isn’t someone who swears a lot like me. He must be really angry.
I thought I wanted to eat popcorn while watching that scene with interest.
But on second thought, I had popcorn. I shoved the leftovers into my pocket dimension a while ago. Even vacuum-packed it.
‘Cheers to my past self!’
Crunch crunch. Crackle crackle.
I immediately took out the popcorn from my pocket dimension and started throwing it into my mouth. Although the other kids looked at me like I was crazy, hmm.
‘Ryuseong is only looking at Diedrich and Capone anyway, so it should be fine, right?’
I thought so until just now. But……
“…… You guys, please look at that guy properly. He’s just a stupid and foolish guy.”
“What is it? Have you gone crazy? Are you desperate to prove that you’re a son of a bitch?”
When I retorted in absurdity at the sudden accusation, this was the response.
“Look at that. Why would a person who wants to pick a fight waste so many syllables? Every single word is filled with sarcastic content, that’s Cassice Demillang.”
“Just because I love you doesn’t mean there’s a reason to spare your life? How about requesting taxidermy as much as you want?”
When I was sarcastically retorting, Ryuseong looked at me. I fixed my gaze at my feet, feeling like my heart dropped with a thud. Those eyes looked too sad. Too much to keep looking at.
Why is Ryuseong feeling sorrow (悲哀) now?
Why is he so sadly……
“…… Cassice Demillang is someone who has never been able to speak his honest feelings as they are, unguarded. Apart from the cold and cruel monarch who sat on the throne of Demillang and looked down on you, this guy also has a life as a person.”
I somehow started thinking that I hope you have a love that doesn’t make you sad.
If I die.
‘Of course, I don’t want to die either.’
But if for some reason I have to die, from now on, I wanted to willingly die for you. I will even wish for happiness after that. Meet a new person, and this time, not too painfully, just a little less than now…… Love healthily. Because that’s something I can’t do. Right? I can’t do it.
See, I can’t……
“Don’t you know how much influence the Demillang faction has on this world? This guy is now turning all of them into enemies and fighting alone.”
“So what’s your point?”
Capone argued. Diedrich didn’t have a pleasant expression either.
Still, Ryuseong didn’t stop talking.
“I told you to look properly. Look at Cassice Demillang properly. Don’t confine a person in the perception you created. Does it sound like a joke to tell you to see a human as a human?”
“……”
“You can’t even fathom it. Cassice Demillang has almost died countless times. Because of guys like you.”
“Why is that my fault? I didn’t give any particularly great information.”
When Diedrich scratched his head and avoided it, Capone, who at least acknowledged what she had done, sneered at Ryuseong.
“Did you forget while lounging comfortably in the Hanra faction? The world is survival of the fittest. If a weakness is shown, you have to bite it off, and if you can’t, you have to sell it to survive. What’s wrong with that? I just followed the rules of the world.”
Then Ryuseong spoke strongly with emphasis.
“Do you think group lynching can be explained by the term survival of the fittest?”
“No……”
“Forget it, can you even win against Cassice Demillang one-on-one?”
“……”
“Don’t be mistaken. You’re just a pack of hyenas. Billions of hyenas are jumping on Cassice Demillang. It means repeating biting in order without giving a moment’s rest. Until he’s twenty. Is this really survival of the fittest? No. You’re wrong.”
A heavy silence fell at those words. A terrible stillness without even the wind blowing.
“Your logic is not survival of the fittest. It’s one-sided abuse, perpetration, and violence.”
Piercing through that, Ryuseong said,
“You are despicable and treacherous traitors.”
And only then, in the scorching sun, a breeze slowly started to blow……
It was a pleasantly cool breeze. The leaves collided and scattered soft and creaking sounds, and the branches swayed gracefully. And in my eyes, this might sound really strange, but the leaves were glowing. The leaves sparkling golden in the sunlight……
‘As if welcoming me……’
When I carefully looked around, the world had been shining brightly from the beginning.
Ah, maybe Cassice Demillang had been welcomed from the beginning.
Thinking like that, I felt like I was going to cry somewhere. Me.
***
Ryuseong saw Cassice Demillang looking around as if he had witnessed a new world. Like someone who realized for the first time that this world is beautiful…… He looked as if he would disappear at any moment, but in a sense, it seemed like he had finally taken form.
‘You.’
As if a floating castle that didn’t know where to go set foot on this land for the first time in its life, he……
‘Like someone who accepted for the first time that this is the world you will live in……’
With ignorant eyes unaware of his own nobility, but gazing at, appreciating, and praising all the sparkling aspects of the world, he suddenly looked at Ryuseong.
At that moment, Cassice Demillang’s shell was peeled off. And Jeong Ian’s expression……
‘For the first time, I saw it.’
Smiled.
‘This is how you smile when you’re sincere.’