Chapter 1048: Picnic (11)

'Why aren’t you going after her?'

“

Um…

”

Why are you just standing there?

“What’s wrong, Mr. Elias?” I[1] asked.

'Go after her.'

“It’s… nothing…” Elias replied.

‘There’s nothing about him that I like.’

The title "Pure-hearted Man of This Era" was wasted on him.

‘What can you even do? Why are you still here?’

As expected, I heard a monotonous voice.

— That’s a minus five points for me. I don’t even know what he can do. He lacks determination. Should I make a guess on what he’s thinking right now? There’s also that prophecy about the destruction of the continent, but I’m sure that’s not the reason why he can’t go after her.

— Even if he breaks up with Ki-Yeon today, it doesn’t mean that he’ll never see her again. She knows all the details, so she might come back tomorrow.

Ah

, right, right.

— It’s all because

he’s

the one who asked out Lee Ki-Yeon. He had no choice but to ask her out, but in the end, he was the one who asked her out.

— In other words, if he leaves now, he’ll be inconsiderate to Lee Ki-Yeon. He’s inflexible and narrow-minded, so he believes he needs to take responsibility for his actions. Makes sense, right?

'Yeah, that seems to be the case—no, I think that's the case.'

If he hadn't labeled it as a date, he would have been able to excuse himself and leave, but he had already said that this was a date. He thought he needed to be polite. Elves were narrow-minded, but Elias was worse than the average elf.

Of course, he wasn’t fine with the situation. He obviously looked shocked by the turn of events, and he definitely wanted to get out right now, but he couldn’t choose whether to be rude to his date and follow Jo Hye-Jin or work out the misunderstanding later.

‘It’s too late.’

And he was already being rude...

“You’re pretty rude,” I said.

“...”

“Don’t you think it’s rude to think about someone else when you’re on a date with me?” I asked.

“How—”

“How did I know? You suddenly looked away in the middle of our conversation, and you look anxious like you want to leave right now. It’s pretty obvious. Anyway, I just made a guess, but I'm disappointed to hear you confirm it,” I interrupted him.

“I’m sorry, but—”

“Let’s go,” I said.

“What?”

“I said let’s go. It seems like you don’t want to be with me, and I’m feeling kind of uncomfortable spending time with you, Mr. Elias,” I told him.

“...”

“Obviously, I no longer want you to contact me, and you don’t need to thank me for today. If it bothers you that much, then feel free to pay me back in gold. Come to think of it, we should’ve done that from the start. This is the easiest way,” I said.

“...”

“Since I helped out the younger sister of the Union of Others' leader, a hundred gold should be enough. You cherish her a lot, right? You don’t have to give it to me in person… Feel free to send it by mail or anything,” I said.

With that, I got up and left.

I cast a scornful look at him and acted like I was really angry

However, the most important part here was the sadness inside me. It was a sadness I couldn’t hide and could only be erased by someone who had been betrayed before. I wanted to hide the fact that I was a tragic heroine, but I couldn’t hide it no matter how hard I tried.

“P-Please wait. I’m sorry,” Elias said.

“...”

“Miss Lee Ki-Yeon,” he called out.

“Let go of me,” I said.

“...”

“I’m not anyone's substitute,” I told him.

‘That was a great line.’

He grabbed my hand, seemingly out of desperation, and I couldn’t shake him off by myself. However, he let go of my hand as soon as I told him to let go of me. Upon letting go of my hand, he no longer had any excuses to grab me again.

To make matters worse, my eyes were already filled with tears.

Of course, I wasn't crying because I wanted anything or something.

‘I just want him to be curious.’

I wanted to make him wonder why I was crying, and I wanted him to feel curious about the story behind these tears. An affection normally sprouted from curiosity, after all.

Being curious about Lee Ki-Yeon as a significant other wasn’t hard, but it was hard to be curious about her as a human being.

“Miss Ki-Yeon… wait…” Elias said.

‘Geez, why is he being so pathetic? Can’t he just let me go?’

I didn’t look back because I needed to show him that I had no lingering feelings.

‘It wasn’t bad.’

But…

‘I wonder if Hye-Jin is hurt.’

'I don’t think so… I think she was just surprised…'

‘She did say she wasn’t sure about her feelings.’

It was highly likely that she had no feelings for him.

Rather than saying that she felt betrayed, it was better to say that she unconsciously reacted that way out of shock. She was not sad; she was surprised, as she had seen something she wasn't supposed to see.

That had to be the reason she ran away immediately.

‘She hasn’t posted anything on Benigoa Net… Where is she right now?’

Jo Hye-Jin ended up at the Laves Oasis.

—

Ah

. Alps… I’m sorry… but I forgot… that I had something else planned…

It sounded like she had plans to meet with Alps, but she ran away from where they had promised to meet, so there wasn’t much she could say to her.

She was too sad to return to her room, but the Park-Ki-Ri siblings, Cha Hee-Ra, and the Red Mercenary Guild had taken over the other taverns, so she couldn’t head there.

They were drinking, so she was worried about running into them. In the end, she chose to take a stroll at night.

Unlike during the afternoons, the oasis was really empty at night. I saw a few people wandering around, but they couldn't recognize Jo Hye-Jin.

Jo Hye-Jin was sitting in a corner, so she didn’t have to worry about running into people she was familiar with. Moreover, the place gave off a really nice atmosphere, so it was the perfect time to have a drink.

The woman wearing a blue hood seemed to have thought the same thing as me because she was staring at the object in her hand.

And that was when I saw a figure walking up to her…

— Are you alone?

—

Huh? Ah!

—

Ah!

We’ve met before. So you’re… Miss Jo Hye-Jin…

“Damn it, noona. What the hell? You said you weren’t going to be Lee Ji-Hoo again,” I scolded her.

[Hold on. Hye-Jin is going through a hard time. I’m just trying to comfort her.]

“This is a breach of contract, noona. Get rid of Lee Ji-Hoo right now. I thought you were in the middle of the Find Daddy event? Have you been monitoring it, and have you made preparations for it?” I asked.

[It’s prohibited at night anyway. It’s against the rules, and I’m sure Dialugia is doing her job.]

“Where are they right now? I guarantee that if you don’t keep their eyes on them, they’ll carry out that quest,” I told her.

[So you want me to just leave Hye-Jin alone? She had just witnessed a man, who apparently liked her, on a date with a beautiful woman. Her self-esteem will go down if I just leave her alone. Her self-esteem is already low, so she needs meetings like this to ensure that it won't plummet into the abyss.]

‘What the hell is she talking about?’

Lee Ji-Hoo was staring at Jo Hye-Jin in a completely different way from before. Based on the situation, it seemed that the immature Lee Ji-Hoo no longer existed.

Lee Ji-Hoo, a guild master of a major guild in Castlerock, tried to start a new life with Lee Ki-Yeon, but it didn’t work out. His family died mysteriously, and he was pushed into a corner.

Based on Ji-Hye noona’s words, Lee Ji-Hoo was in a transitional period, and he would either awaken as a fallen archduke or a tyrant.

Blinded by rage, Lee Ji-Hoo was steadily falling into madness, and he had lost all faith in humanity due to the mysterious deaths of his family.

Eventually, he attempted to use Lee Ki-Yeon as a tool for his revenge, and he became a monster for it.

However, his choices were actually made to protect Lee Ki-Yeon, and it became an inevitable choice, as he didn’t want to have a hindrance or a weakness in his quest for revenge. Of course, this was known only to Lee Ji-Hoo.

The current Lee Ji-Hoo no longer radiated the youth of his past self. He was corrupted, and he looked exhausted by his quest for revenge.

‘I think she said he was attacked by an assassin.’

Lee Ji-Hoo became a monster who was willing to use whatever tool was around him to achieve his goals. Naturally, Lee Ji-Hoo had to have approached Hye-Jin to use her for his revenge.

“Are you trying to hurt Hye-Jin, noona?” I asked.

[What do you mean by hurt?

Ah

, Hye-Jin isn’t someone I’m going to use. It started out that way, sure, but he’ll gradually open up to Jo Hye-Jin. When he’s with her, his madness goes away. Although it’s only for a moment, he can rest comfortably with her, and—]

“Noona, are you abandoning Ki-Yeon?” I asked, interrupting.

[...]

“Are you?” I asked.

[It’s not like that, Ki-Yeon. Are you jealous?]

‘She’s crazy.’

“Anyway, stop doing that,” I told her.

[Just get ready. You really think I'll do something like that when I’m not a psychopath? I’m just trying to help her mentally, just in case. I’ll talk about random things and ask what she thinks about Elias. I think it’s best if you go to sleep.]

“...”

[I already told Lonovera and explained the story to her.]

‘Yeah, I like it.’

This noona was aware of the stories I liked. Lee Ji-Hoo wasn’t the only person who would appear in Season Two; there was also a new story for Lee Ki-Yeon that was unknown to even Lee Ji-Hoo and Lee Ki-Yeon herself.

Of course, the grand story had yet to be revealed to the world, but as Lee Ki-Yeon became more and more aware of just how filthy the world was, her pure negative energy would become stronger until the awakening of an unknown power inside her.

‘I like this.’

It was a darkness unknown to even Benigoa and the major gods of the continent. Only Elune was aware of it, and he tried to stop this tragedy through Elias.

“You really think he’ll show up tomorrow?” I asked.

[What is he going to do about it? You think he’ll be able to stand still upon learning about how the continent is at risk of getting destroyed? Elves have a strong sense of duty, and it applies to Elune as well. To be honest, I feel like the standards are pretty high, but if he wants to be Hye-Jin’s partner, he needs to be able to betray his god and the world.]

‘She’s right.’

[But I don’t think he can abandon Elune for Hye-Jin. Honestly, I don’t even know whether this test is even worth it or not. He can’t even betray Elune, so how can he betray the continent? I’ll only accept him if he shows that he has the determination to start another life upon failing to protect Hye-Jin.]

‘That’s true.’

[Anyway, be prepared for tomorrow morning. Yeon-Soo will help you dress up, and your color for tomorrow will be blue. You have to wake up early as well.]

As if proving the veracity of Lee Ji-Hye's words…

“Do you mind?” Elias asked.

“I told you not to follow—”

“I’m sorry,” he interrupted.

“

Whoo…

I don’t know why you’re doing this, but…”

“Please…” he begged.

“Follow me,” said Lee Ki-Yeon.

“...”

I saw blue skies above Elias, who nodded in agreement.

1. Lee Ki-Young’s POV ☜