A flower floating on the lake

Chapter 26. The Stars, the Garden, and the Whale

Looking forward to everything that has passed


Missing everything that's to come



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Chapter 26. The Star, the Garden, and the Whale





















*

“Jimin... where did you go...”







The two children's new home was a garden overlooking the sea. Yeoju, now a shepherdess with a small hut, stopped giving names to her sheep. Even if she had, there was no garden or lake to call them down to. Instead, she gave a name to the sea breeze. "You are but a fleeting breeze, but to me, you linger," she said, meaning "un."







“It’s warm today… I should prepare winter clothes.”







Winter was just around the corner. The past year had been so eventful. As she reminisced, the sea breeze tickled Yeoju's cheek, waking her from a deep sleep. "Woon-ah, I was sleepy," Yeoju muttered to herself, and as she woke up, a whale appeared in her eyes.

It wasn't a vain hope, like a flying whale. A huge whale leaped from the sea. After a brief leap, it seemed to soar, then returned to its nest. As if by fate, it was destined to return to that warm sea.








“...What will Carter do for a living?”







Watching the enormous whale, soaring high into the sky but ultimately returning to its nest, the heroine seemed to remember a purpose she had forgotten. Jimin, returning from his newspaper delivery, embraced the heroine, who was staring blankly at the ocean. It had been a while since she had catered to this child's whims, but she couldn't get used to it.







“Jimin.”




"huh?"




“What would you think if I told you I loved Carter again?”




“It’s nothing.”




"why?"




"...Because there was never a time when you didn't love Carter. Still, heroine."




"huh?"




“I don’t want to leave this place anymore.”




“...Me too. Let’s live here.”









I didn't want to repeat the days of wandering around looking for Carter. I had long forgotten the promise we made to meet again after I was clean. The hill where whales occasionally leaped to dream of flying was Yeoju's sanctuary. No such thing as a flying whale flowed here.







“...Sister? It’s you, right?”








And then came the day I first encountered the past I'd been waiting for. It was a day when the whale didn't leap. The boy with the round eyes who had said he'd leave, appeared before Jimin and Yeoju, his form unchanged. The boy who had traveled with a small pouch was still a flowing current. Jungkook smiled and lay down on the hillside, familiarly.







“Jungkook...”




"yes?"





“Sis.. Do you know what happened to Sis?”




“Oh, Sith?... Sith is...”








At the cautious female protagonist's words, Jeongguk pointed to the night sky. Jeongguk pointed to the whitest star among them and smiled at the female protagonist.













Sith is that star.



It seems they couldn't escape from the burning farmhouse.



Sith is that star.