contract
[Ep.2]
"Would you believe me if I told you I was a monster?"
"A monster?.."
"You're free to believe it or not."
The heroine was dumbfounded by his words. "A monster?" "Frankly, it's hard to call him four-dimensional. He just seemed like a crazy person." However, she began to connect this man's perspective with what her mother had said yesterday, and, considering herself fooled, she continued to listen to him.
"When I say things like this, everyone reacts the same way."
"I don't believe it"
"Honestly, I don't think I would have believed it even if I were human."
The man who said that quietly turned to the tree behind the female protagonist, placed his hand on the tree, and closed his eyes.
"What are you doing?"
"Well... I'm holding on to my lifeline."
"A lifeline?.."
"Well, that's true, but you looked like you were going to die earlier, so I guess you're curious about what you're curious about?"
"ah.."
The emotions Yeoju had briefly forgotten surged to the surface again, and the tears that had been dry until just a moment ago began to flow drop by drop. The man, startled by this sight, stood beside her in a panic and asked her a question.
"Uh..why are you crying?.."
"No... I just thought of my mom..."
The man sat beside the woman, as if he had committed a grave sin, anxiously waiting for her to burst into tears, trying to comfort her. Just as she finally stopped crying, his gaze drifted to the distant village, and unlike before, he frowned. He returned his gaze to her and opened his mouth.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry..."
"No... I just couldn't control my emotions."
The man apologized, worried that his earlier words might have hurt her even more. She looked at him and said it was okay. Then, the man cautiously opened his mouth again.
"Um... but can I ask you one thing?"
"What is it?"
"I haven't been here in a while."
"But do you know why the village bird is like this?"
"The way they dress is very different from when I was there."
"It's like a war broke out in the village."
"But looking at the palace, it doesn't seem like there was a war."
"What happened in the village?"
"ah.."
The man seemed completely unaware of the village's history, perhaps because he'd been away for so long. Perhaps that's why, every time I saw him, I remembered what he'd said earlier and what my mother had told me yesterday. If this man were a real monster, I wondered if he was the one my mother had mentioned yesterday, and I told him what had happened up until then.
"Yes.. So my mother also passed away today because of that disease.."
".."
The man, who had been quietly listening to the female protagonist, had his expression crumpled as he heard about the events that had occurred in the village one by one, and before he knew it, his eyes had turned into a look of intent to kill someone. Then, when the female protagonist finished speaking, the man muttered quietly.
"Are you finally going crazy?"
"But that can't be done..."
The man spoke in an unknown language and asked the woman again to confirm what he had heard.
"So... the king who was there before suddenly died."
"That son is now the king, and he has turned this village into a wasteland?"
"yes.."
The man sighed deeply, got up from his seat, and spoke to the female protagonist.
"Then wait here for a moment."
After saying that, the man walked behind the tree and disappeared without a trace. The female protagonist quietly looked at the devastated village and wondered how it had come to be like this. Until a few years ago, it was called Felicida Village, a place filled with laughter. Now, instead of laughter, cries and screams can be heard throughout the village. No, a silence simply hangs over the village. It's as if no one lives there.
I sat there quietly for about two minutes. Then I heard the sound of footsteps on grass again, followed by a voice that was both familiar and unfamiliar.
"I'm here"
The man reappeared before the woman with a smile, and she screamed internally in surprise. Then, as if he noticed, the man spoke to her.
"Oh, you're surprised? I didn't mean to surprise you."
"But please forgive me because I brought a gift."
The man smiled and waved the bread and milk he was holding in his hand to the woman.
"Bread..? Milk?.."
Things you'd never seen in this town again, yet they were right before Yeoju's eyes. She stared in surprise, alternating between the bread, the milk, and the man, as the man continued speaking.
"I heard you must have been very hungry."
"Please eat this first, as it's urgent."
"There's water too, so let me know if you need it.yo. this"
"Uh... thank you..."
It had been a long time since Yeoju had bread and milk, so she ate the bread and milk with wide eyes, and the man stared at her.
"Don't eat too quickly."
"Because it can be worse on an empty stomach."
The man expressed his concern to the female protagonist, and she nodded.
After a few minutes, the man was gazing out at the village. His expression was clearly impassive, but there was a hint of sadness in it. After confirming that the female protagonist had finished eating, he opened his mouth.
"So what are you going to do now?"
“You’ve already eaten, so you’re not saying you’re going to die, are you?”
"well.."
"Honestly, I don't really have anything to do right now... and I have no reason to live."
"And I'm sure I caught that disease that's going around town."
"I probably would have caught it because I was stuck with my mom the whole time, even though I didn't show any symptoms."
And the man who heard the female protagonist's words stared at her for a moment, thought about it, and then continued speaking.
"Then, if you hadn't caught that disease, would you have lived then?"
"If you had a reason to live, would you live?"
"Huh? If it's a disease, there's no way I wouldn't have caught it."
"And there will be no reason to live."
"No, what if"
"If you really didn't get caught, would you live if you had a reason to live?"
"uh..."
The heroine pondered the answer to that question. If she hadn't contracted this disease, if she had a reason to live, would she still live? She also wondered how her mother and father would have responded if they had heard this question.
"..."
"Why are you taking so long to think about it?"
"Isn't the answer set in stone?"
"Is the answer set?.."
"Of course, there's a reason to live. No one would die if they could live."
"Right now, you have a family with the limitations of illness, so you're giving up on life."
"If there's a reason to live, if there was no disease, then you have to live."
And the man continued speaking as if he knew what the woman was thinking.
"You know, when humans die, they become stars."
"But your mother has become a star. Do you think she would want to see her daughter, who could live, die?"
It was just as the man said. There was no refuting it. No one wants to see their child die. And especially not to see a child who had a reason to live hard die.
"Then... I'll live if there's a reason, if I can live."
The man smiled after hearing the woman's answer.
"That's an interesting question... but I'm already sick."
The man who heard the female protagonist's words made a suggestion with an unknown look in his eyes.
"Then let's make a contract with this monster."
"Then let's make a contract with this monster."