C 137
"Don't touch me."
I abruptly pushed my mother away. I wanted to leave quietly, but since there had been a gap of several years, it was impossible to just go.
"Is my room still available? Or have you freed it up?"
"I'm paying the rent. My sister said she wanted to move back there."
Cha Yido said it casually. I couldn't help but feel sick to my stomach when she added it as if it were no big deal.
"Oh, yes. Send me your account, and I'll reimburse you for the monthly rent you paid."
"What the hell is there to pay among family members?"
"Be clear, since when am I part of your family? I was an uninvited guest."
When I snorted and replied, the faces of Cha Yido and Chai Hyun suddenly distorted.
"I know you've been very dissatisfied. It would be better to have a conversation rather than being so direct."
A sneer appeared at my father's words. In the past, every word my father said made me shudder...
"Is it because Dad dropped Grandma in one blow?"
Or is it because there were too many unrealistic elements in the world I lived in?
Maybe it's because I grew up in a world where people are killed without warning.
Now, I can't use magic and I don't have my dad or the Etham family, but I don't feel discouraged at all.
"I don't know why we can't all admit that it's time to move on."
My father's face darkened at the words I muttered.
My father has always been like that. He was a very patriarchal person. He didn't change with time.
"Cha Miso!"
"Even if you raise your voice like that, I'm not afraid anymore. I came back from the dead, so why should I be afraid?"
"No matter what, isn't it like you're stabbing it into your parents' hearts?! Your grandmother accidentally fell and was seriously injured...!"
My body paused for a moment at my father's words.
"Accidentally?"
That was something my father intervened and forced me to do. Why did that become an accident of Grandma?
"An accident?"
"Yes, she came to visit you while you were hospitalized and accidentally fell."
This is a lie.
No, even if my father doesn't lie, he's someone who planted a false perception.
"Who would believe that a being from another world tried to kill my grandmother?"
I thought for a moment and nodded.
I don't know if the world or the guardian of the stars changed their perception, but I was glad it wasn't my father's fault.
"Where's Grandma?"
"She's in the hospital."
"Oh, really?"
"If you at least want to visit the hospital, I'll tell you where."
I smiled.
I wanted to see her at least once. Because I wanted to know how that wicked person was doing.
"She didn't actually die as Dad said."
Did he even provide mana?
"Please, tell me."
My father took out a pen, wrote something in a notebook, and handed it to me.
<Hospital Sorok, Room 2608>
I silently looked at the note and put it in my pocket.
"Did you cancel my cell phone line?"
"I'll do it tomorrow..."
"No, it's okay. I don't think I'll see you again after today."
If I have a wallet, an ID, and a room to live in, I could sort everything out.
"It's been a while, and all the cards would have expired."
Tomorrow morning, I'll start by going to the bank.
"Miso...!"
My mother clung to me.
"Hey, it's a bit annoying, so please leave."
My mother's eyes were greatly shocked by my words. Her trembling pupils were especially visible.
My mother's arms went limp.
I know this look. I know it to the point of nausea.
"Why, mother? That's what my mother always told me. Did it hurt to hear that?"
Because that's what I heard every time.
These are words I painfully heard every time I hugged my mother or called her.
"I felt more pain than that."
If this was the gift that the Guardian of the Stars gave me, I wanted to hurt them constantly.
For them to collapse over and over until they finally give up their own lives.
"I hope my mother is deeply hurt."
"...you."
"Then, if you die in front of me, maybe I can forgive you."
I know it's cruel, but I didn't want to endure it.
The feelings that had been suppressed for a long time no longer needed to be suppressed. I became an adult, and my mother grew up.
There will come a day when my father, who was like a huge mountain range, will become nothing more than a helpless old man.
Just as my grandmother fell so powerless under my dad's touch and became someone who couldn't even die or live.
"I just..."
It's possible not to love a girl you gave birth to.
Yes, there's no way everyone can love a girl for no reason just because she's your daughter.
This may be the case if you're discriminated against and get a cold look from your husband because you gave birth to a daughter.
However, if you chose the benefit over abandoning your daughter, it should have ended there.
Even if this was a joke by the Guardian of the Stars, there was no reason not to be angry.
If you had a conscience, you shouldn't have apologized to me now. You shouldn't have wanted to be forgiven. You should have allowed me to resent and hate endlessly.
Just because you apologized now that you had it all, it didn't mean the already broken relationship would return to normal.
"Cha Miso, those words towards your mother are too..."
"I also tell this to my father. Cha Miso, who clung to her father and longed for his affection, has already been left behind..."
"What?"
"If you block my way again, I don't know what I'll do."
If my death is your trauma, I'll gladly become that trauma.
Even if your body is crushed and broken.
"I sincerely hope that no one is by my father's side on the day of his death. I hope it's filled with hyenas seeking his property."
I finished speaking and turned around. I wondered what would happen if they tried to stop me again, but fortunately, no one did.
"Hey, no... Sister Cha Miso."
"Get out because it gives me goosebumps."
"I'll drive you..."
I immediately reached out, grabbed Cha Yido by the neck, and threw him against the wall.
Bam-!
It might not have hurt him that much, but Cha Yido's forehead hit the corner of the wall. Cha Yido opened his eyes wide and stared at me, holding his forehead.
"Hey, what's this...?!"
"Hey, next time it'll be that pretty face."
While pretending to scratch his cheek with my nail, Cha Yido took a deep breath.
"Never appear in front of me again."
I turned around and left the house immediately. Fortunately, my wallet contained several 10,000 won bills.
When I reached the main avenue, taxis were still passing by. I raised my hand, took a taxi, and gave an address that felt both familiar and unfamiliar.
The news was playing in the taxi.
"April 17, 2026."
So, am I now 27, or am I approaching 26?
If I consider the 30 years Arma mentioned, it will be after my birthday, so I have about 3 years and 6 months left.
"Arma said it would be 7 years..."
Is there roughly a double time difference between Cha Miso's world and Eirin's world?
It was very inconvenient not to have a cell phone.
"Tomorrow, the bank and the phone line..."
There was a lot to do.
"...Come to think of it, I need to look for a novel."
I wanted to confirm if the novel I remembered called <I Thought I Was Adopted, But I Was Wrong!> really didn't exist.
I'll have to check that too when I have my phone.
There's a lot of work to do to start living again.
"Let's live like trash."
My death date is already set, and if I withdraw all the money I have, I might have enough to play for three years.
"If not, let's go to the factory for a while."
I sighed and returned to the officetel.
I traced my vague memory, entered the password, went into the officetel, and took off my jacket.
"It's been a while."
Just as I was about to take a look around the cramped officetel, full of emotion, I heard the sound of the doorbell outside.
Ding dong-!
It's a really strange timing.
"What?"
I glanced at the intercom screen for a moment and then cautiously opened my mouth with a nervous expression.
"Who is it?"
"Oh, hi! This is the person who moved into the house next door today."
Moved in?
On the intercom screen, a man with a bright face was smiling widely and waving something that looked like a grocery bag.
"What?"
With a puzzled expression, I slowly unlocked the door.
