Chapter 139
My mind was painted in blood red. Before I could think logically, my arm stretched out first.
“Ivy!”
I shouted as I ran towards Ivy. But the moment I tried to take another step, I froze in place.
Doshiyu blocked the space between Ivy and me. The dark, blood-red eyes that met mine warned me.
Don’t come any closer.
Like a learned response, my feet were firmly glued to the ground. My heart felt like it was going to explode.
No.
“Ivy.”
I desperately called out to Ivy. But Ivy’s eyes, full of anger and hatred, remained fixed only on her enemy.
For a brief moment, her small body swayed under the great recoil.
The finger that had just pulled the trigger was still hooked on the gun. Ivy’s hand, gripping the gun, trembled precariously.
If Ivy killed Doshiyu, if she pulled the trigger on that gun…
“Ivy, no.”
Ivy might die too.
I couldn’t move my legs.
I could only stretch my hand towards the unreachable, desperately speaking.
“Please, put it down. Put it down and come to me, okay?”
Ivy didn’t look at me. It seemed like my words weren’t reaching her. Her blue eyes, stained with anger, showed no wavering.
Still, she was focused on the man she wanted to kill, her enemy.
It wouldn’t be strange if she pulled the trigger right now.
Ivy wasn’t just a child who didn’t understand anything.
The idea that a child can only cry is the foolish arrogance of those who are older.
Ivy was a child who, even facing the person who killed her family, could remain silent and wait to survive.
But while she kept silent, she wasn’t just trembling in fear…
What if she had been waiting for the right moment?
Right at this moment.
The chance to repay the one who took everything from her.
I felt a whirlwind of anxiety in my head as I hurriedly continued speaking.
“I know you want to kill him. But not now. If you kill him now, you might die too…”
“…Why?”
Her voice was calm and dry, as if it was a lie. For a moment, I almost made the foolish mistake of looking for the owner of that voice.
“Why not?”
Finally, Ivy looked at me. Her face, drained of color and dry of tears, was so pale it almost didn’t look like a living person.
I had wanted so much for her to look at me, but the moment our eyes met, my anxiety doubled.
“My dad is dead.”
Ivy’s face twisted. I couldn’t tell whether she was crying or smiling.
The lifeless look in her eyes shifted away from me, away from Doshiyu, towards the darkness.
“…I’m scared.”
Ivy muttered, staring blankly into space, as if talking to herself.
Over her expression, the face of her smiling earlier today at noon seemed to overlap. My thoughts froze, like I was paralyzed by poison.
“Dad…”
The sobbing that came from her dried eyes suffocated me, making it impossible to say anything.
I had to calm Ivy down and persuade her.
But how?
How could I stop her?
“Ivy, you miss your dad, don’t you?”
Then, Doshiyu spoke in a gentle voice.
“Want me to tell you how you can see your dad again?”
Ivy blinked quickly. The emptiness in her eyes that had seemed dead began to regain focus.
But whether that was the vitality of a living person, I couldn’t say for sure.
“Think about it. What was your dad like when he died?”
“…”
“Did he die?”
In Ivy’s now-clear blue eyes, Doshiyu’s face, smiling like a kind child, appeared.
Ivy’s pale lips quivered. Doshiyu perfectly painted a hopeful smile that Ivy might have been longing for.
“Actually, you didn’t see him die, right?”
What is he saying?
I was stunned, realizing there was something even more terrifying unfolding.
It wasn’t a misunderstanding. The sensation of everything I had been holding onto crumbling was always dizzying.
“Shoot that gun at me.”
Ah.
“Just like I did to your dad.”
I didn’t want to hear it.
It was too horrifying. A situation I didn’t even want to face in a nightmare.
Suddenly, a feeling of helplessness came over me, and I felt like I was losing strength. I wanted to run away.
“Then, your dad will pop up right in front of you.”
But it wasn’t a dream I could refuse. I accepted it and acknowledged it.
That was something I didn’t even want to think about from the past. Something that couldn’t even be called human anymore.
Any remaining shred of emotion I had, whether I knew it or not, shattered completely.
Really. It felt like I could kill him with my own hands.
No, if I could, I would immediately press the gun to his head and pull the trigger.
“It’s all a lie.”
I spoke to Ivy, who was staring at Doshiyu with empty eyes.
“If you shoot the gun and kill that bastard, you’ll die too!”
I shouted, but it felt like I was speaking to a wall, as if my words weren’t reaching her.
Ivy’s eyes, completely hypnotized by Doshiyu, showed no sign of wavering.
I didn’t give up. I fought desperately to wake Ivy’s mind.
“Your brother…”
As I screamed once more, almost in desperation, a crack appeared on Ivy’s face. It was the first sign of change.
When I mentioned Angel, my heart raced faster.
Angel would soon finish what needed to be done and come here.
He could have arrived right away, but he trusted me and left it to me. That made it all the more impossible for me to give up.
I clenched my fist tightly and added,
“Your brother is here, Ivy. He’s looking for you.”
When I begged with a choked voice, Ivy turned her head and looked at me. She didn’t speak, but the moment our eyes met, I understood.
The child who had suffered so much, to the point of wanting to die, had decided to cling to even the faintest hope, no matter how futile.
She might still be alive.
We might be able to meet again.
Perhaps this moment was her last chance for a miracle.
Even if it meant clinging to her enemy’s legs, even if it seemed impossible, even if she had to gouge out her own eyes to ignore what she already knew—if there was even a 1% chance of meeting again, she couldn’t turn away from it.
And Ivy didn’t seem like she was going to change her decision.
No, it’s not something that can be controlled from the start.
No one can control their emotions in front of the death of someone they love. Even if it leads them to the depths of a pit.
I couldn’t blame or resent Ivy’s decision.
If Yugeom were to die, could I make a different choice? I couldn’t even lie and nod to that.
I gritted my teeth and ran forward.
At this moment, whether I moved or not, there was no difference. Whether Ivy pulled the trigger or Doshiyu shot a bullet through his heart, it would be madness either way.
With all my strength, I ran, my mind focused on only one thought.
I have to stop this. Even if I have to throw myself in the way.
If I don’t stop Ivy now, I know it will haunt me for the rest of my life. That’s why I couldn’t stop.
And the moment I realized Ivy wouldn’t change her mind, I finally thought of the only thing I could do.
Even if I couldn’t stop Ivy from pulling the trigger, maybe I could stop Doshiyu from being hit by that bullet.
With that glimmer of hope, I suddenly felt like my vision was clearing up.
“……”
At that moment, the world stopped.
But then I realized it wasn’t the world that stopped—it was me.
A dream-like touch grabbed me. A chill ran up my wrist and cut off my breath.
I knew who it was, but I didn’t turn my head to confirm. I didn’t want to believe that the person who stopped me was him…
There was probably no time to think about it.
Bang.
The gunshot always rings out without leaving any space to stop it. The moment the bullet makes a hole in your head, reality becomes something you can only accept.
It’s always been like that in nightmares, and this time was no different.
In the blink of an eye, Ivy, holding the gun, disappeared.
A heavy sound of something crashing to the floor echoed.
Through the hole in my head, my reason began to leak out. I looked at the man, sitting on the floor as if cradling Ivy in his arms.
It felt unreal, like a paused image. For a brief moment, I wished time would just stop right there.
“…Ivy.”
The silence was broken by the man’s voice, which, despite suppressing a groan, was gentle.
It wasn’t as eerie and contrived as the image Doshiyu had painted. This was ‘real.’
The blonde hair, so much like the child’s, shone brightly in the moonlight that poured through the wide-open door.
As the fierce wind outside slammed against everything, time began to flow again.
“I’m glad. It’s not too late, hurry.”
His words, spoken while looking at Ivy, whose eyes were filled with tears, were completely crumbled by the pain. Not even a warm smile could hide it.
I couldn’t blink. I took in the man’s back with my eyes.
Captivated by the golden hair, my gaze soon found the black hole in the center of the broad back that had fully embraced Ivy.
The scene, which had felt like a black-and-white world, was now drenched in red. The white shirt turned completely red in an instant.
‘So, this time, I want to save him.’
‘Even if the cost is death.’
And I realized that he had managed to protect what he wanted to keep this time.
…Cough.
A splash of bright red blood hit Ivy’s pale cheek. And once again, Ivy’s world crumbled.
