READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 124 - The Girl's Miracle and Magic Never Stop★ (3)
The sound of waves rolled in between the cloudy skies.
Swoosh—
“…”
“…”
The waves that had approached our feet disappear again. Unable to wet our toes, they return to the hazy horizon, leaving only foam behind.
After several waves recede again, Senior Frida smiled once more and spoke.
“This place isn’t ‘my’ world. Since Selma and Nina came from the same place as me… This strange place is probably Clara’s world, right?”
“…”
“At first I didn’t know what was strange… But suddenly, while drawing flowers, I felt strange because the appearance of the flowers was different from what I knew. The more I observed, the more I realized things were very different from what I knew.”
“…”
“So… at some point I realized.”
True to her keen observational skills, she seemed to have grasped the sense of dissonance with the world she didn’t belong to.
‘I wandered aimlessly in between. Is it because ‘his’ soul still remained in my heart?’
Is that why I created a dream in the image of modern Korea?
Out of nostalgia for my past life?
‘No…’
Rather than that.
It must be that I, as ‘Clara’, pretended not to know out of a desire to be with my seniors.
“…”
I had already felt the dissonance countless times.
This was the world of the selfish and weak man, ‘Kang Jinsu’.
It was a world divided by irreversible oblivion and death.
“…”
The lovely girl ‘Clara’ lives in the academy city.
There’s no way three seniors would live in the same house as me.
School life in this world can’t be this free.
You can’t live in this world just doing what you want.
And in the world where the academy city exists, there are no modern conveniences. There were enemies you had to fight risking your life.
“…”
This place…
Taking only the good parts of past and present lives, it was a crude and beautiful dream crudely woven together.
The ugly hope of one who lost another self to oblivion.
“…”
Senior Frida saw my serious face and chuckled.
“It’s such a strange place. There are lots of things I didn’t know, and friends… It was much more comfortable and nice to live in than the academy city.”
“…”
“I could even see the seaside so close like this.”
She slowly approached with the hazy sky at her back.
“Thanks to your dream, I’ve been happy until now, and I’m happy now too.”
“…I was happy to meet you seniors again too.”
“Here we’re not seniors, but unnies, right?”
“Even as unnies, I was happy.”
“…I see.”
Senior Frida nodded and said:
“So, can you let go now?”
“Yes…?”
And she stretched out both hands, hugging me warmly… That warmth pierced my heart.
“You can go to where you need to go. You were always a child who leapt around and adventured in worlds we couldn’t even imagine.”
“…”
“That’s why we saw a light in you incomparable to us. From the moment you came, you were our dream and pride.”
“…”
The tears that had been coming from one eye began to flow freely.
The more Senior Frida praised me, the more sorry I felt.
‘Due to the prophet’s control, the dimensions have split. Even if we defeat the dragon, I don’t know if the unstable World Tree will return… and if the seniors who’ve become echoes will return…’
So I hugged Senior Frida’s back tightly.
Her yellow hair swayed, tickling my cheek.
Hugging her small body that smelled of daisies. It hurt like hugging a hedgehog with all my might.
My heart hurt.
“…I’m sorry.”
It’s my fault.
If I had lived more quickly according to Clara’s standards, the seniors would have graduated by the time the original story started. Maybe they could have safely gone to the outside world.
‘If only I had stayed quiet just a few more days…’
Unable to do that, I trampled on Senior Frida’s dream.
“Because of me… everyone disappeared. I’m sorry.”
But hearing those words, Senior Frida laughed so hard she almost spat.
She had a truly joyful smile.
“Pfft…! Pft! What? Our Clara, you were still sad about that? Hmm?”
“…Senior?”
“What! I told you to call me unnie!”
“…Unnie.”
Senior Frida, while still hugging me tightly, called out to Selma and Senior Nina. They quickly turned their heads from far away on the beach.
“Girls, come here for a moment!”
“Hm? Why?”
“Oh, oh… Is Clara crying?”
Senior Selma, who always teased, came running when she saw me crying. Senior Nina following behind also had a bewildered expression.
“Why? Huh? What happened?”
“Hehehe…”
Senior Frida, without loosening the hug, patted my back and said:
“What if~ Our Clara is so-o pretty… and a bad person says ‘Let me marry your little sister!’ and tries to harm us… Would you hate Clara?”
“…”
Senior Selma glared with an incredulous expression.
“Hey, Frida. What are you saying all of a sudden when the kid is crying?”
“An~swer.”
“…”
When Senior Frida is determined, she never gives up her stubbornness. Knowing this well, Senior Selma sighed and answered.
“It’s the fault of the bad guy who did it, Clara didn’t do anything wrong. Why would we hate her?”
“Yeah yeah! That’s right, that’s right!”
Senior Nina smiled brightly and said:
“Clara is our pride!”
Senior Frida also smiled and said:
“…You heard?”
“…Yes.”
“You’re our pride.”
“…Yes.”
So…
You shouldn’t be bound to us.
“Move forward.”
“…Yes.”
At those words, as I nodded, the sky that had been calmly settled began to shake.
Rumble—
Everything in the distance starts becoming blurry.
The horizon and skyline mix, becoming murky.
Seeing that sight, Selma and Senior Nina seemed to recall something.
“…I see.”
“…We were happy~”
“It was because it was Clara’s dream that I was an unsuccessful novelist.”
“Ahaha, I don’t think that’s it…”
All the seniors smiled and patted my back.
“Thank you, Clara.”
“You still remembered us.”
I reflexively answered those words.
“There’s no way I could forget you, seniors.”
“Ahaha, that makes me so happy. But it would make me even happier if you called us unnies~”
“…”
Senior Frida was strangely stubborn.
Rumble…
The cracks that started from the distant horizon and skyline were slowly approaching us. We felt each other’s warmth, preparing for a true farewell.
“…Senior Frida.”
“Can’t you just call me unnie until the very end?”
This stubbornness seemed to never disappear even in a dream.
That’s why I was even happier.
“…Frida unnie. Um, there’s something I want to ask.”
“What is it~?”
“That fairy tale book. The one you said had the sea in it.”
“Yes.”
“I want to know the name of that book.”
If I manage to get to the outside world.
Let’s visit the places from that fairy tale book first.
That’s what I had decided.
“…”
Perhaps realizing that determination, Senior Frida nodded and said:
“
“That’s a nice title. …And a nice story.”
“Right? When you hear about colors, you can’t help but like painting…”
-Like a flower blooming from you and I meeting…
It seems Senior Frida was inspired by that fairy tale title when she talked about the ‘spiral’. Somehow I felt like I had heard a story that ran through the life of the girl called Frida.
“I see.”
Rumble—
Before we knew it, the cracks had reached near us.
Senior Frida smiled brightly one last time and said:
“Nina and Selma liked that story too. I hope you’ll like it too.”
“I’m sure I will.”
Since it’s a story loved by the people I love.
Crack—!
And…
The world began to disappear into total darkness.
The sea, seniors, buildings, people in front of my eyes… everything.
Everything vanished as if it were a lie.
Like a dream.
…
…
…
No.
It was a dream to begin with.
“…”
I opened my eyes again.
The clothes I wore in modern Korea were gone, and I felt the
Even the tears I shed there had already disappeared.
“…”
What unfolded before my eyes was darkness.
Just endless darkness.
‘Aside from my own appearance, I really can’t see anything.’
The abyss of the world.
A place where countless echoes and souls endlessly sink down.
This place was no different from the underworld of this world.
But now, due to the prophet’s control, it was also a space where those trapped in happy dreams were sleeping.
“…”
I looked up.
Though it was awkward to say ‘looked’ in a space of just darkness, I could clearly feel something flowing beyond my vision.
“…”
Probably those who were trapped in happy dreams like me.
Even I, whose perception swayed back and forth due to the remnants of two souls, wanted to settle here. It would be difficult for others to escape on their own.
‘Then I’m the only one who can move here—☆’
…
But what do I do now?
‘Hmm… Shouldn’t they kindly throw me in front of the final boss after a scene like this—☆’
I didn’t expect to be put in a dummy space like this caused by server lag…
I tried [Bifrost] several times.
“Kyop—☆”
But it didn’t work.
“…”
This is a space connected to the World Tree…
No, it’s no different from the World Tree itself.
Spatial movement doesn’t work here.
“…”
Roughly speaking, I was in a situation trapped in the trunk of a truck driven by the prophet. To somehow settle the score, I’d have to escape from here first.
Thinking that, I was about to struggle and move forward several times. That’s when I heard a chilling sound from far away.
Tsu tsu tsu tsu—
The sound of numerous legs moving.
It sounded like a centipede crawling beside me.
A huge black silhouette swam through the darkness and approached.
And something big, long and black greeted me.
The voice of a wizened old man.
[It’s been a while.]
“Oh, oh my…☆”
[Now that I’ve transcended death, even my enemies look pitiful. O Valkyrie struggling ambiguously in the shackles of fate. O sworn enemy who killed me.]
“Oh my oh my…☆”
[Keke…]
It was a disgustingly familiar voice.
Swoosh—!
Four giant wings spread out from the darkness.
A centipede with hundreds of horns approached, coiling around.
[A watchdog monitoring those who couldn’t fall asleep properly… It’s my first task after transcending death, but it’s truly an unpleasant job… But I can’t trouble the other ptiests who are finally resting. This old man will gladly accept it. Hoho.]
The way of speaking, reciting his own situation in an explanatory tone, was also disgustingly familiar. This was surely [Priest of Erosion] Grafvolud.
“Ah…☆”
I felt cold sweat running down my back.
Ah.
Wait a minute.
This isn’t right—☆
And when I raised my vigilance to the maximum, I even heard the sound of wings flying swiftly from the side.
Swish—!!
What emerged from the darkness were forelegs like green blades.
It was a giant mantis with hundreds of horns as well.
It was [Priest of Strife] Ofnir.
[Kuhahaha!! Old man! Are you trying to die again?]
[Shut up, you impudent fool. While I was gone, you were just bullying women and children.]
The giant centipede and mantis bickered, but steadily approached while controlling all the perimeter around me.
[You damn pink bitch, seeing you here means you’re definitely bound by [Fate]!! You deceived me when you knew nothing?! Thanks to you I died in vain—!!]
[Keke… Your eyes are knotholes. Serves you right, you fool—]
[The old man who died first should shut that mouth!]
Hey.
Fuck, this isn’t right.
Why am I locked up with the bastards I killed—☆