Chapter 290

"Elahah?"

"Aren't you seeing this side too late?"

Elahah, who looked exactly like Elohim, had a sullen face as usual and criticized me.

"How am I supposed to... uwah!"

As Elahah waved his hand, the swarm of lights that had lifted me suddenly disappeared. Floating about 30 cm in the air, I fell onto a soft sofa.

Elahah picked up Cheon Sa-yeon's book, which fell to the floor.

"What is that light just now?"

"My ability to stop the rate at which your energy is diminishing even a little."

Elahah put the book on the table next to him and crossed his arms. Sarak, the sound of a soft cloth being scraped was heard.

"While your soul is reading a book, your body also has to endure the blow that the soul has left, which consumes a lot of energy. That's why I temporarily stopped time in your body with my own ability."

I couldn't believe my body's time was stopped. So, even though I woke up after reading a book for a few days, I didn't feel uncomfortable?

"How much time has passed since I read the book?"

"Eight days have passed. It's the eighth night, to be exact."

I checked the clock on the table. So it's 9 o'clock at night now.

"I thought it would be longer than four days... Eight days is too long."

"It can't be helped because the amount of time you spend watching it increases depending on how much you immerse yourself in the records in the book."

I sighed, sweeping the nape of my neck.

I explained that it was four days, but it actually took twice as long... Everyone must have been worried. I felt sorry.

Elahah, who sat next to me and looked at me quietly, smiled strangely.

"I have seen with my own eyes what happened to you while you were reading the book, but... it's a new feeling to see you like this."

"Pardon?"

"You've grown up."

Suddenly? I couldn't understand what he meant, but as I blinked, Elahah continued.

"I'm proud that you know there are people waiting for you and caring for you."

"Ah."

It was then that I remembered that Elahah had cared about my indifferent tendencies since I was living in the temple. Laughing awkwardly, I recalled the Little Prince book as Elahah rose from his seat.

"Ask El after this. It's somewhere in this house. I have to go back."

"Already?"

"Originally, I was going to go when you woke up."

He created an oval-shaped passage in an instant. Just before entering the aisle, Elahah looked at me and said goodbye.

"Good ending."

"......"

With those words, Elahah left without any regrets.

I got up and looked at the red book on the table. In the darkened room, I tapped the cover of the book, which was lit by the yellow stand light, with my fingertips.

'This was the last time.'

Like the end of the world, Cheon Sa-yeon was in a state of reaching his limit. If we failed this time, not only the world but...

'Cheon Sa-yeon.'

I kept thinking while looking at the past recorded in the book. Will I be able to fully understand you after seeing all this?

I thought that it was worth seeing if we could truly see each other, which had been always deviating from the moment we first met.

However, Cheon Sa-yeon's past I saw in person was much darker and more desperate than I expected. The image of not wanting to lose the leisure he had shown me until now was just the result of that painful time.

Now I know why Cheon Sa-yeon never took off the earrings I gave him. The reason why you were so defensive and didn't open your heart so easily.

'When I meet you...'

What should I say? It must be difficult for any consolation to reach your heart.

A throbbing pain passed through my chest. It was then when I was standing, looking at the book with a frown.

Clack, following the sound of the door being opened, a familiar person entered the room. The person who looked closely at me opened his mouth first.

"Elohim said you woke up, so it was true."

It was the real Cheon Sa-yeon, not the past that the book showed. He walked in front of me, who had no sense of reality.

When I met the black eyes that stared right at me, various emotions were complicatedly entangled. I opened my mouth, barely swallowing the countless consolations that had flowed up to the tip of my throat.

"...Cheon Sa-yeon."

Probably he didn't want consolation. Cheon Sa-yeon had walked that lonely and painful path alone, but he had never given up on his beliefs.

What I had to say wasn't a consolation. After facing Cheon Sa-yeon, I realized that fact naturally.

I smiled with difficulty. And I brought out the words that Cheon Sa-yeon probably wanted to hear the most right now.

"I'm back."

Cheon Sa-yeon, who quietly listened to what I said, soon became sadly distorted.

"Did I take too long?"

We could see without needing to explain that it didn't just mean the time that passed while reading the book.

Cheon Sa-yeon, who looked at me for a moment without answering, smiled softly.

"It's okay."

"......"

"After all, we met again."

Yeah, we finally met again.

It was a relationship that wouldn't have come if Cheon Sa-yeon hadn't been able to withstand it or if I hadn't come to this world.

"...I heard a strange voice when I was a child."

Cheon Sa-yeon's hand gently stroked my cheek.

"It was Christmas and I was lying alone in my room injured..."

He whispered quietly as if telling a secret story.

"Even though I was alone, I felt like someone was there. I heard it for the first time. Cheer up to be strong."

/ "Cheer up, Cheon Sa-yeon." /

At those words, I remembered a little boy crouching with blood all over his face. Along with the support I gave to the child.

"Since then, I have heard it from time to time. The moment the mansion collapsed, or the moment I met Han Yi-gyeol at the hotel and sent him back."

"...I never thought you would hear it."

Cheon Sa-yeon, whom I met in the book, looked exactly in the direction I was in. It was because he heard my voice.

Cheon Sa-yeon slightly folded the corners of his eyes with a pleasant expression.

"I first met you at the gate... I wondered if he was the same person as the owner of the voice that I sometimes heard. But the more I heard it, the different it was. Strictly speaking, what I heard was Han Yi-gyeol's voice, so it must be different."

"Since when did you notice?"

"The first time I thought it might be the same person was when I saw your past in that space. The certainty was then the moment you decided to look at my past."

"That's why you said that? You told me to take care of you too in the past."

"I gave you my own hint."

"What the hint you..."

Cheon Sa-yeon, who still looked happy despite my dissatisfied gaze, now stroked my lips with his thumb.

"Cheon Sa-yeon."

"Say it."

"Do you remember the question I asked you in a dream back then?"

The constant fiddling on my face bothered me, but Cheon Sa-yeon wasn't doing this for a day or two, so I ignored it and continued talking.

"You asked if the relationship to use each other was enough. Is the answer still the same?"

Cheon Sa-yeon, who looked startled, bowed his head, unable to speak easily. Then he closed both eyes tightly.

Numerous conflicts and emotions passed over Cheon Sa-yeon's face. I was worried about it, so I unknowingly grabbed Cheon Sa-yeon's arm.

"...no."

The answer that came after a long time was rough and dry, and contained more sincerity than ever.

"It's not enough."

He smiled bitterly as if he couldn't help it.

"I lost."

"......"

"I lost..."

Cheon Sa-yeon and I were more alike than anyone else, so we knew what it meant to lose.

Cheon Sa-yeon always chose the path he thought was the best. The reason he replied that the relationship we had used before was enough was probably his own consideration not to draw me in too deeply.

So I was even more pleased with this answer. I felt like I had become a colleague that he could trust and entrust to his back, not something he had to protect.

With a relieved heart, I tilted my head slightly and rested my face on Cheon Sa-yeon's hand.

"That's enough."

I copied the comfort Cheon Sa-yeon gave me when I said, "I want to continue living with everyone," in the Athena Guild ward.

With the meaning that your heart alone was enough.

Cheon Sa-yeon, who had been staring at me with mesmerised eyes, slowly lowered his head. I felt a soft touch on my lips, and at the same time, a sound was heard.

"......!"

In a similar situation to Ha Tae-heon last time, my shoulders trembled. Unlike me, who was surprised, Cheon Sa-yeon, who looked in front of my nose, smiled brightly.

"Cheon..."

After a brief interval, Cheon Sa-yeon touched my lips again.

Unlike just a moment which was like a kiss with a child, the lips met deeply, and a hot tongue entered between them. My mind was shocked by an unfamiliar touch.

'This madman...!'

I tried to remove Cheon Sa-yeon's hand that was holding my face, but it wasn't enough.

When I hastily leaned my upper body back, Cheon Sa-yeon followed persistently. Rather, he wrapped around my waist and pulled me towards him, holding my lower body tight.

Even if I tried to use my wind ability, but it was useless because I was blocked by Cheon Sa-yeon's right hand ability. Rattle, our bodies hit the table and it shook violently.

"U, uh..."

Cheon Sa-yeon's tongue, which pressed down on my stiff tongue, swept across the roof of my mouth. A tickling, chilling sensation ran up my spine. Blood rushed to my face as I heard a wet sound in my ears.

I slammed my fist against Cheon Sa-yeon's shoulder, who was clinging to me without even letting me take a break to breathe. Then Cheon Sa-yeon bit my lip once and stepped back.

"...what are you doing."

Breathing in my heavy breath, Cheon Sa-yeon, who had dyed his cheeks and ears red, fluttered his long eyelashes and blinked.

"I want to do it."

"What?"

You want to say that you want to put your tongue in someone else's mouth? I was about to swear because I was so amazed and annoyed, but my throat was choked by the way Cheon Sa-yeon looked at me.

'Why...'

Did you make that face? Why is your face so red?

Why are you... smiling at me happily.

"......"

Through the book, I saw Cheon Sa-yeon from his very childhood to his recent appearance. However, there had never been a moment in the past that had captured so many emotions in my eyes as he did now.

His eyes were very similar to Ha Tae-heon, who said he loved me without hesitation. A hand caressing my cheek. From all of that, emotions flowed like a waterfall and rushed to me.

Unable to face those naked emotions, I bowed my head as if I was running away. I could feel my heart beating strongly in the midst of the embarrassing and confusing emotions that were filled.