The two of them moved to seize the cell phone, their paths overlapping, and Iromi’s hand went for the back of Geuru’s neck.
‘No.’
Nayeon felt her heart pounding and her blood racing so fast that the world spun before her eyes.
Her mind grew more frantic than ever.
‘Don’t touch Geuru.’
Iromi grabbed the child by the nape and lifted her up as if she weighed nothing.
Suppressing tiny Geuru took no more than one hand. As Iromi raised her over her head, the child’s eyes wavered.
‘Geuru!’
Nayeon desperately moved her fingertips.
Complicated emotions surged up, filling her down to every last strand of hair.
Everything was a quagmire.
And it was probably her own fault for walking through that mire without even realizing she had sunk into it.
“I always hated you too. Jjang Nayeon.”
Iromi’s words made her chest ache enough to shudder, and shame burned her face bright red.
She had never tried to understand what feelings Iromi had put into congratulating her on awakening.
The dream they had once shared had been cast aside far too easily.
Always making only as much effort as she could manage.
Quickly giving up on what she could not obtain.
Lightly. Stupidly. Simply. Easily. Because that was Shin Nayeon.
That was why the one who had changed Iromi was entirely herself.
‘So not Geuru.’
Making Iromi hurt Geuru while being controlled, or letting Geuru get hurt.
She would not leave any of it alone.
Sinews bulged all over her body. As she strained as if coughing up blood, her veins stood out. Resisting the pressure, the tip of her tongue, which had been hardened like stone, moved.
It had been a life of turning doorknobs without knocking.
If it opened, she went in; if it did not, she turned away.
What moved her now was—
For the first time—
“Iiiiii—romi!”
—a desire to break through, even if she had to knock again and again.
Ding!
[You have dramatically overcome danger far beyond your level!]
[You have achieved a feat.]
[Title: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door]
[When the caster’s powerful desire is detected, you gain strong resistance to all damage, and all stat effects increase by 30%.]
[As magic resistance has increased, the debuff is removed.]
‘……!’
The moment Nayeon confirmed the achievement, tremendous power surged into her.
What struck her body was the sense of liberation from being released from the debuff. And along her bloodstream flowed immense magic power.
Her vision warped.
Soon, a gale of erupting magic power swept through the room.
Iromi, frowning, looked down at her wrist.
At some point, Nayeon had caught it.
The gale vanished as if it had never been there, and only a gentle breeze wrapped around Nayeon’s body.
“Mm……”
With her wrist caught, Iromi let out a troubled groan, a smile still on her lips.
Geuru was in Nayeon’s arms. The child, who had been staring blankly with round eyes, threw her arms around Nayeon’s neck.
As the child settled in her embrace, Nayeon’s pounding heart calmed.
Perhaps badly frightened, Geuru rubbed her forehead against Nayeon’s neck, and Nayeon patted Geuru’s back with her other hand as she activated a skill.
[Activating skill ‘Silver Vines (S).’]
The vines mutate according to the caster’s will. When a target is restrained with the vines, their magic power is temporarily blocked.
Vines shining with silver light bound Iromi’s body.
Wrapped up from head to toe, Iromi let out a deep sigh.
“This is the kind of thing I hate about the system.”
Even though she had been restrained by the vines, Iromi was still under control.
How? Nayeon furrowed her brow.
Magic power blocking was a rare skill seldom seen, and because of it, Nayeon had even received scouting offers from other countries.
Just then, Geuru tugged at Nayeon.
“Unni, the cell phone! Something black is coming out of it!”
At that, Iromi fixed startled eyes on Geuru. Looking utterly fascinated, she asked,
“You can see that?”
See it? Geuru put on a questioning look at the incomprehensible question, and vines shot like arrows from beneath Nayeon’s feet. They soon pulled the cell phone out from under the sofa.
Iromi pressed her index finger against her lower lip.
“It’s a shame to part. There’s so much more I want to know now……”
The vines clenched the cell phone tightly.
“I hope we can meet again next time.”
She waved her hand lightly.
Crack!
The cell phone shattered, and at the same time, Iromi’s eyes closed.
“Romi……”
Nayeon caught Romi as the strength left her and she collapsed.
*
“The cell phone was what—control was what, what did you say?”
Iromi sat on the sofa and buried her face in both palms.
Geuru and Nayeon were sitting across from her on the opposite sofa.
Nayeon was asking in Korean, but Iromi could not understand a word of it.
“No, I have no idea what you’re talking about. What’s a debuff?”
All Iromi remembered was that Nayeon had come to the filming set, she had gotten angry, and so she had shot cruel words at her.
But then, all of a sudden, Nayeon had sat her down on the sofa and started asking how she had cast a debuff, who “that person” was, and whether she remembered the time she had been controlled.
Iromi’s brows drew together in a deep frown.
Was she bragging about being a Hunter now?
If she twisted her words, it almost felt that way.
“Jjang Nayeon, are you taking revenge because I got under your skin a little?”
At being called Jjang Nayeon, Nayeon’s shoulders flinched.
Seeing that, Iromi lowered her gaze and bit her lip.
“I’m sorry, Romi.”
“You’re apologizing now?”
Is she stupid? Iromi irritably buried her face in her hands. She should have just gotten angry with her. Asked why she should cling to an idol trainee who would never even debut……
But Nayeon, her fingers interlaced in both hands, lifted her head as if recalling that time and spoke calmly.
“After I awakened, I was out of my mind too. As soon as I left the Awakener Center, reporters swarmed me, and they were camped out in front of my house too……”
Everyone wanted to know which guild she would join, and whether she would accept the scouting offer from the American side. Swept along like that, she had decided what path to take next.
It had felt like becoming a Hunter was a foregone conclusion. And she had assumed Romi would naturally think so too. Because of that, they had never taken the time to talk deeply with each other.
“That’s enough. Things like that—”
“I’m stupid and I forget things easily, but I remembered this.”
“Remembered what?”
When Iromi replied sulkily, Nayeon smiled.
“Your SNS ID.”
“……”
“I actually checked it this morning too. If what you said was really sincere, you wouldn’t have made your SNS ID like that.”
The words caught in her throat. Hidden beneath her two hands, Iromi’s face turned red.
“Everything you said earlier wasn’t all sincere, was it?”
Their memories did not contain only her jealousy and Nayeon’s indifference, but also her goodwill and Nayeon’s affection. Traces of that remained in all the places they had touched.
“I’m sorry I was dense and stupid. I’m sorry I wasn’t by your side when you were having a hard time.”
Romi stayed silent for a while before opening her mouth.
“……Just leave for now. I want to rest.”
“Ah, okay. Rest.”
Nayeon took Geuru’s hand and stood. Then, as she was leaving the waiting room, she looked back.
“Romi, my number is still the same.”
“So?”
“If you remember anything about today…… No, even if you don’t have any reason at all, contact me anytime. I’ll wait.”
Nayeon stepped outside.
Listening to the door close, Romi picked up the cell phone with its shattered screen.
When she moved her thumb over the cracked display, a shard of glass stung her finger.
“Ow!”
She was so damn irritating, really.
Angrily, Romi opened SNS.
Romi’s SNS ID was @zzangrome_.
She had made it in a fit of anger when she found out what her school friends called Jjang Nayeon.
“Jjang Nayeon means Nayeon is the best. So stop corrupting words. King Sejong is crying in his grave.”
“Was it King Sejong who made ‘jjang’? Seriously, Iromi, you’re so ignorant. Idols have to be smart these days too.”
“Anyway! Jjang Nayeon means Romi’s jjang best friend, jjang-Nayeon. That’s what I’m going to call her, and that’s what you’re going to call her too. Got it? You guys are so mean.”
“Boo—stop pretending to be nice.”
“I’m not pretending, okay?”
Just as I know you well, you know me well too.
What is sincere, and what is not.