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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: The Last Fight
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Somehow, it felt as though only ragged breaths echoed in this space.

"...Cut the crap."

Dain Oppa, who had shot his gun towards Kim Seonwoo.

Oppa, leaning against the wall with one arm, looked as though he might collapse at any moment, yet he still glared at Kim Seonwoo with murderous eyes and shouted at him.

"How... how is that Seoeun's fault? What could Seoeun have done back then? It's because of you. From the very beginning, you created that environment."

"...Ha! Right! How convenient it would be if we could just blame the environment! As if we can just blame everything on others!"

"Blaming others, you say. Yes, blame. Who was it that kidnapped and imprisoned Seoeun, tortured her, and left them to die? From the start... the one who committed the wrong. It was all you. You're the perpetrator. Seoeun is... the victim. You crazy bastard."

As if spitting blood, with the muzzle of his gun trembling, Oppa glared at him and spoke.

It was the first time I had heard Oppa use such harsh language.

Because Oppa usually almost never used such swear words.
...But now, he was using them.
For me. Because he thought I was being attacked.

Even as I stood there blankly, still overwhelmed by a sense of confusion.

Oppa continued to shout without stopping.

"...And! Seoeun was just a child! And yet you call such a child 'pure evil'? Said she was bad from birth? Ha... 'Pure evil' is a term that only describes a bastard like you... Seoeun is, Seoeun is..."

And then Oppa.
At that point, he turned his head and looked at me.

With certainty, he spoke with clear eyes.

"Seoeun. You are a good person."

Perhaps I flinched at those words.
Oppa, even as he was about to collapse, continued speaking to me in a clear and firm voice.

"I, who have lived with you for years, can guarantee it. You were always a kind child, and a good friend outside. Of course, you might make mistakes sometimes. You might stray. Like the illusion that man showed you."

"But... but that's when you're alone, isn't it?"

"No, it's not. Now we're together. Even if you stray, even if you do something wrong... there are people who can set you straight. Me, and your friends too..."

"Then. Then, it's alright, isn't it..."

Watching Oppa speak like that.
As if out of breath, I gazed silently at Oppa, who had lowered his head after saying that much.
I quietly thought to myself.

"Ha!!! How absurd! Are you calling that an excuse?!"

Yes. There was a time like this before.
"No matter how much you, Dain, make excuses, the essence doesn't change! Han Seoeun, that child..."
Around the time I was struggling like this.
Like now, when I was suffering alone.
Perhaps, when I might have made the wrong choice.

There was someone who found me.

[Knock, knock.]

Five years ago.
The house where I was hiding.

[Knock, knock. Anyone home~]

"...Who is it?"

[Ah. Hello. You must be Seoeun? Nice to meet you, I'm Dain.]

[I'll be direct. I know you've suffered a lot because of the Haneun Group. I'll help you get revenge.]

"...Get out."

At that time, after escaping from the Haneun Group, someone came to find me, who was living alone in a house I had barely managed to secure.

...Back then, I thought he was from the Haneun Group because he came looking for me.
And at the time, I was very sensitive due to my memories of the Haneun Group.

That's why I threatened that unknown man who came to find me and struggled to chase him away. I wondered if a search party would come. I even considered running away, but...

As time passed, that wasn't the case.
That person, that man... he kept coming.
He didn't do anything else. He just spoke to me, left a gift at the door, and then left again... these meaningless visits.

[Seoeun, how have you been? I need your help...!]

[Ugh, it's really cold outside these days. If you go out, make sure to dress warmly.]

[Ah, it's hot. Seoeun, it's hot these days. My body feels like it's melting...]

Since it was still suspicious, I didn't continue to pay attention.
I also thought he might be a strange person targeting a young me, but it didn't seem to be that way at all.

"No. Why do you keep coming? I don't need anyone else. I told you to leave..."

Even as I said that...
I suddenly realized.
That the times this person came to visit, were the only times I actually had a conversation with another person.

And sometimes. I would even think, 'I wonder if that person will come and bother me again today?'

Anyway, as time passed, I no longer wanted to see him loitering at the door and leaving.
...And, how on earth he knew about me. Why he kept coming. I was curious.

"...Haa. Come in."

"Oh? You're finally opening the door!"

I decided to listen to what he had to say, just once.
...Perhaps. I wouldn't have admitted it then, but.
I might have unconsciously yearned for human warmth.

And finally, the man who introduced himself as Dain, explained why he had come to find me.
Somehow, he told a ridiculous story.

"...So, you know most of the secrets of the ability users in this world, and..."

You want to become a villain for someone you like, so you want me to lend you strength?

What kind of crazy talk is this...?

I tried to refuse after hearing those words.
However.

"You suffered because of the Haneun Group, didn't you? You want revenge, don't you? I'll help you."

What was my reaction after hearing what Oppa said next back then?
...Did I get angry and ask how he knew? I think I chased him away like that.

But.

The look in his eyes that I felt during our conversation.
It was different from any adult I had met so far, transparent and sincere. Was it because it was a gaze that saw me as a human being, not an experiment?

...Somehow, if I was with that person, I felt like I could trust him.

It felt as if my excellent mind had somehow judged him intuitively.

"...Well. If you really want to prove yourself, then come by occasionally and prove it..."

Behind him as he left, I think I held the door and spoke that softly with my head bowed.

And what did Oppa say to my words then?

"...! Yes, thank you, Seoeun."
Right. He smiled brightly for the first time, and said that.

And after that, Oppa came to find me every day.
Perhaps, I even started to smile more than before.

As time flowed on like that.
When I finally came to trust Oppa.

It was only then that I realized.
...If Oppa hadn't come into my life, I would have been far more broken than I thought.

Living alone, always consumed by pessimism, self-hatred, resentment, and regret, one day I would have gone wrong as a human being. That was probably the truth of the 'White Witch' that Kim Seonwoo had shown.

But Oppa came to me.
A person who, in my childhood, found me as I was crumbling alone, constantly spoke to me... and stayed by my side.

A person who always reached out their hand first when I was in a difficult situation.

Just like now.

......

With lights flashing from the machine behind, in the Haneun Group's underground facility.

"...that cannot be! Han Seoeun, you must sacrifice yourself! Even if you were to live on from the start..."

I ignored Kim Seonwoo's voice coming from in front of me, looked at Oppa's face as he caught his breath, then closed my eyes.

Yes.
Because I had Oppa.

Now, I would be alright, wouldn't I?

With that thought, I steeled my resolve, and turned my head back to look at Kim Seonwoo.

...Had he realized that I wasn't moving according to his will?
Kim Seonwoo shouted even louder at me.

"From the start! Han Seoeun, what's the point of you continuing to live! You've only lived thinking of revenge against me until now. You have no values of your own, no dreams you want to achieve, no goals, no ideals you want to become. What meaning is there in you living in this world like that!"

Watching Kim Seonwoo try to persuade me until the very end, I fell into thought.

Yes. Values, he says.
I don't have grand values. Perhaps I don't even have beliefs.

...But.

I, too, have a dream.

Clearly, there is something I want to achieve.
And there is an ideal I hold.

"Why wouldn't I have a dream? I have something I want to achieve."

"Ha? Another lie! Then Han Seoeun, tell me. What ideal do you have?"

"I..."

After saying that much.
I took a deep breath, and then spoke as I put my suit back on.
"I!! I have a dream of living happily with Oppa for the rest of my life!"
With those words, I put on my suit and flew into the sky.
All lasers were, once again, aimed directly at Kim Seonwoo.

Ah. I said it.
My true dream. My lifelong wish.

Looking at me then, Kim Seonwoo laughed as if utterly dumbfounded.

"Haha... Hahahahaha! That's a dream? How is that a dream, you half-wit!"

"That's your opinion. This is my dream, and this is what I want to achieve, so what are you going to do about it? Go to hell. Because I'll find my own happy life and live it."

After those words, seeing me prepare the lasers, what did he realize?

"Haha... Is it because that man said useless things? Han Seoeun is truly armed with strange beliefs. Right. If words don't work, I'll have to teach her through direct discipline."

Kim Seonwoo, who seemed to have given up everything at that moment, smiled emptily and once again enveloped his body in flames and electricity.

And with that.
Flash!
CRAAAAASH!
"Oppa, dodge it!"

Barely blocking the lightning that Kim Seonwoo had suddenly fired at Dain Oppa with a suit that was like a shield.

Finally, battle unfolded once more.
What would probably be the last, the final battle to end the tenacious ill-fated connection between me and that Kim Seonwoo.

Chapter 450