The Final Boss Has Returned
Chapter 169
"......I-It's a rumor......"
A rumor.
The answer Yujin gave was nothing but a lie called a rumor.
Even at this point, Yujin simply could not abandon the sanctuary that was the Lightwing Guild.
It was because he wanted to protect this daily life, even if it meant breaking his own principle of never lying.
But that was the worst possible choice for Yujin.
"......A rumor, that's not it."
Sharp bit her lip.
Yujin.
It was because she knew he had lied.
Because he was someone she had once loved, Sharp had strived to know everything about him on the inside, even while acting cold on the outside.
That was precisely why Sharp could tell better than anyone that what Yujin had just said was a lie.
Because Yujin was not someone accustomed to lying.
Sharp's hand trembled.
Her heart began to pound as if it would burst.
It was not the feeling of excitement.
A bitter sense of betrayal began to surge up from the depths of her heart.
"You knew...... everything."
A low voice flowed from Sharp's lips.
"T-That's...... N-No."
At Sharp's words, Yujin denied it, breaking into a cold sweat, and seeing that, Sharp smiled bitterly.
It was because she realized he was lying again.
Normally, she would have thought it a kind gesture, but now that she knew the uncomfortable truth, it was merely a look of utter indecisiveness.
At the sight of Yujin lying, Sharp suppressed the rising sense of betrayal welling up from deep within her heart.
Because, even now, a part of her still loved him.
Even though Yujin had lied to her twice, Sharp decided to give him one last chance.
"Yujin. I like you—no, I love you."
Sharp slowly spoke, closing and opening her eyes.
This time, so that Yujin could not evade her, Sharp even included the words "I love you" as she looked at him and continued.
"Do you, do you...... love me?"
Hearing Sharp's question, Yujin clamped his mouth shut.
He loved her.
He was Yujin, who had known her feelings, but this was the first time he had heard such a direct confession.
However, Yujin could not rashly reciprocate her confession.
Because up until now, he had thought of them only as comrades, and not once had he considered them as romantic interests.
But even so, if he said nothing now, his comrade—whom he cherished more than anyone—would undoubtedly be disappointed in him.
And Yujin could not bear that fact.
After a brief silence, Yujin's lips slowly parted.
"I-I like you. As a comrade...... I cherish you more than anyone."
I like you as a comrade.
I cherish you more than anyone.
This was Yujin's true feelings.
All the members of the Lightwing Guild—Yujin thought of them like family.
A new family to replace his parents who had already passed away.
That was why Yujin believed that if he spoke his true feelings, Sharp too would understand, just as she always had.
Sincerity always gets through.
That was precisely the way of life Yujin aspired to, and until now, his sincerity had never failed to get through.
Even that "Drakan" had been moved by Yujin's heart and reformed, had he not!
"......So this is how it was."
But this time was different.
Yujin's sincerity could not reach Sharp.
Sharp's voice trembled.
This time, it was not sadness, but a trembling saturated with betrayal and anger.
"I like you as a comrade. I cherish you more than anyone."
The moment she heard that answer, Sharp felt a despairing sensation, as if the world were crumbling.
She had confessed her heart to him, risking everything, even forgiving his lies.
For Sharp, who had such strong pride, this was truly a shocking confession where she had laid everything down.
Because she truly loved the man named Yujin, because she had liked him for six years, she had thrown away her pride and confessed.
But the answer that came back from the man she had loved with everything she had was a single hypocritical sentence more terrible than rejection.
Sharp felt wretched.
The fact that her love directed at him all this time had not been properly reciprocated, the uncomfortable truth that he had toyed with her despite knowing her heart, and the sight of Yujin—who still remained consistent with falsehood and hypocrisy even at this point—ignited a fiery sense of betrayal and rage in Sharp's heart.
"You should have just rejected me."
A cold voice flowed from Sharp's lips.
If he had rejected her instead, she might not have felt such wretched emotions as she did now.
But Yujin chose a shabby excuse instead of rejection, and that excuse made flames of anger rise in Sharp's heart.
Despite having already been caught in his lie, Yujin was trying to lead her on once again.
And such attempts at leading her on did not work on Sharp, who was already a fish that had escaped the pond.
Flustered by Sharp's cold words, Yujin spoke.
"That's...... b-because you might get hurt......"
Because you might get hurt.
That was Yujin's true feelings.
Even having come to this point, Yujin believed his sincerity would still get through.
It was a baseless belief that because it had always worked before, it would work again.
And hearing that answer, Sharp's face hardened even more.
"Hurt......"
Sharp muttered lowly.
"So that was the justification you used to rationalize leading me on all this time."
A low murmur flowed from Sharp's lips.
"You might get hurt."
They were words pretending to care for the other person, but only now, with her blinders removed, did Sharp realize that those words were the most selfish excuse of all.
Because none other than Sharp herself had been hurt more than anyone by that single sentence.
To say you're worried someone might get hurt while driving a nail into their heart!
Sharp thought there was a limit to mocking people.
"......."
Yujin fell silent.
His head was already filled with confusion.
Yujin already knew that his actions were selfish.
Drakan.
He had told him so.
And Drakan had added.
That wishing for the status quo in the guild wasn't Yujin alone, and that everyone could be happy with white lies.
And lastly, he had said that his answer was merely advice, not the correct answer.
The one who had followed that advice was none other than Yujin himself.
Because he had thought that, as Drakan said, no one wished for the ruin of this relationship.
But the result said otherwise.
Because Sharp's eyes were stained with anger and wretchedness to a degree that even Yujin, insensitive as he was to others' emotions, could recognize.
Sharp looked at the silent Yujin and clicked her tongue.
Yujin's handsome face, which she had found nothing but lovely until before reading the article, now began to look disgusting.
Six years.
During that long time, not only had the heart she had loved been ruthlessly trampled, but the fact that he had known her feelings and toyed with her while maintaining an ambiguous attitude, the reality that it had been an unrequited love that received no reciprocation, and that he had thought of her only as a "comrade"—the moment she realized these things, Sharp's heart had already turned away.
It wasn't as if she hadn't shown signs of liking him; she should have noticed from the time he pretended not to see.
A single tear slid down from Sharp's right eye.
It was a tear filled with wretchedness, anger, sadness, and regret.
Sharp spoke with a trembling voice.
"......Take care."
Having said so, Sharp turned her back.
"Sharp! W-Where are you going?"
The moment he heard such a farewell from Sharp, Yujin shouted.
The Lightwing Guild.
One of his "family" was disappearing?
Yujin could not accept such a reality.
The Lightwing Guild absolutely had to remain by his side forever, unchanged from the beginning.
But that unbelievable reality was now unfolding before Yujin's eyes like a panorama.
At Yujin's voice holding her back, Sharp smiled bitterly.
She had tried to end the last memory of the man she once loved on a good note, but Yujin was trying to turn ugly at the very end.
"Why are you holding me back?"
Sharp asked with her back turned.
"B-Because you're precious to me. B-Because you're a comrade no different from my family!"
At Sharp's words, Yujin conveyed his "sincerity" for the third time.
Because you're family, don't leave.
Hearing that sincerity, Sharp snorted.
Yujin.
Until the very end, he was giving her misery.
For over six years, Sharp had devoted her entire heart to Yujin, but in the end, all that came back was one nice-sounding word: "family."
Had he not known her feelings, she could have made allowances for that.
But Yujin already knew her heart.
Knowing full well that she loved him so, not only had he toyed with her heart by wrapping it in nonsense about being family, but seeing Yujin try to hold her back with the word family until the very end, Sharp now felt disillusionment rising.
"Yujin."
A cold word flowed from Sharp's lips.
"I never dreamed you were such a selfish human being who only cares about your own feelings."
If he had told her he loved her, even as empty words.
Perhaps she might have felt some lingering attachment.
But Yujin did not, and until the last moment, he remained consistent only with shabby excuses.
He didn't even try to admit his own lies.
That fact was immensely disappointing to Sharp.
At the same time, Sharp felt what little lingering attachment she had left disappear completely.
Yujin.
Because in the end, until the very last moment, he had ignored her love and merely forced upon her the name of "family," which was nothing but his own selfishness.
In the end, Sharp's own love was simply nothing.
Rather, Yujin—he had simply used her love.
Sharp thought so.
And hearing the word "selfish" from Sharp, Yujin hung his head.
It was because Sharp's words were not lies, but at the same time, the very fact that such words came from the comrade he cherished and regarded as family more than anyone pierced Yujin's heart like a dagger.
Regardless, Sharp, whose lingering attachment had completely vanished, declared to Yujin in a cold voice.
"I'm going."
She's going.
Hearing those words, Yujin immediately cried out as if screaming.
"D-Don't go!!"
Even the insensitive Yujin felt it instinctively this time.
That if she closed this door and left, that would be the end.
But Yujin's scream stirred no emotion in Sharp whatsoever.
Turning her back on the sight of Yujin shouting hideously until the very end, Sharp closed the door to the president's office and left with cold steps.
It was the moment the division of the Lightwing Guild finally began.