180. Epilogue (5)

“Iana.”

A voice as sweet as sugar, I raised my eyes and moved without a single expression.

“A little late this time.”

“Because there is no set period.”

Chaser lowered his head and gave me a small smile.

“Right. There was no set period. It’s just that you come and energize me before my soul dries up.”

Saying that, he stretched out his hand. However, this hand was blocked by something and could not reach me.

It wasn’t something I did.

His hands, as if trapped in a translucent glass window, showed only his skin that was pressed against something. An indescribable expression passed over Chaser’s face. I closed my eyes pretending not to see it.

“Every time I look at you, it seems like coffee doesn’t go well with you.”

Originally, a soul that had lost its body would disappear quickly, but he was able to stay in this world by paying a price. He has to because he deserved it. After asking God, he came to the space God created and stayed there for a while. His short stay was enough to give him the strength to hold on.

“Because you liked it.”

His red eyes narrowed seductively.

“Me? I don’t like coffee.”

“Ah, you don’t remember now?”

He seemed to be mentioning the memories of me living in this world. Because he took my past memories, he knows ‘me’ here.

No, only this man would know in this world.

“Well, even at Domulit, you used to drink a cup of tea all the time. I knew it was similar to coffee here.”

“Is it so?”

Chaser held out a cup. Steam flows from the cup.

“I have no regrets about anything else. But not even knowing you were approaching. This alone is a pity.”

He stretched out his arms. His hand was once again blocked by an invisible wall, but he stubbornly reached out to me as far as he could.

Like Chaser said, he doesn’t know when I’ll be here. It is because his senses are confined and limited here. In other words, he wouldn’t have known I was coming today. 

This coffee was just hot.

“I think you just made it?”

“It’s not that hard to make it every hour.”

He tapped the cup. In front of him was a glass containing something like mine.

He gracefully sipped his cup.

“Expecting you to come is always a betrayal and yet joy.”

He made it again every time the coffee got cold. Not knowing when I will come.

I let out a small sigh.

It didn’t fit him. A person who has been sitting on the throne all his life, is serving people in a world where everyone is equal. Apart from the fact that Ricdorian came over here, I can’t help but feel this sense of separation. It’s not sad or anything like that. However, I just think that he is a very contradictory man.

“How does it feel to be on the other side?”

Chaser looked down as I spoke.

Rattle-

A familiar sound came from there. Chaser just laughed at the chains and shackles around his ankles.

“Well, you don’t know, but actually I wore this a lot when I was younger.”

“But you shackled me up?”

“Because that’s the only way I know.”

Our gazes collided tightly. It was him that gently lowered his gaze.

“At the time, I thought this was the best way to keep you safe.”

“That’s not all.”

“That’s right, I wanted to get my hands on you.”

Except for the physical body, this man was the same as the Chaser Louve Domulit I knew. The way he curved up his red lips, even the red eyes that were said to have been killed but were still full of madness.

“Iana, do you regret choosing to save me?”

“No.”

The man who tried to take me out of the world that was perishing for me, the man who seemed like he would rather die for me, the man who shouted that even if the world perishes, I should return alive.

Even though it was a crooked obsession that no one else could have.

“You won’t be able to live the way you used to.”

I faced him straight.

“You won’t kill anyone.”

As contradictory as this man was, the feelings I had for him were also conflicting and contradictory. But I had no intention of loosening up.

“Pay back.”

Chaser already knew everything. Because I told him as soon as he opened his eyes. We will return to that world someday.

“Even if you save more than the number you killed.”

This man who has killed and tormented countless people can no longer kill anyone Because I made him pay for his sins with his own strength.

Yes. I won’t let him escape to death.

Chaser smiled, tilting his head loosely. His stoic figure, buttoned up to the end of his neck, was no different from that of the other world.

“That doesn’t mean the people I killed will come back alive.”

His hand pressed firmly against the wall. He looked like he was holding back something. I stared at him indifferently.

“Atonement.”

I did not think that by saying this, he would easily atone for his sins just like that.

“If you order.”

He had exerted so much strength that his fingers, pressed against the wall, turned white.

“As much as you want.”

If it was the life and memories of this place that I had sacrificed to keep this man alive, then this wall was the price this man had to pay. Chaser won’t be able to reach me until all the sin is washed away. After I finished speaking, I got up from my seat without regret.

“Iana.”

The time of my stay has already been met. I won’t be visiting this place until some time has passed.

That man and I knew this very well.

Ironically, the roses are tied to me. No, shackled. This man was no different.

In the end, even my relationship with this man became my responsibility. I didn’t regret it though.

I slowly turned my back while holding the doorknob.

Chaser pressed against the wall with his fists clenched. With a face full of thirst, like a lone hunter who had wandered in the desert for ten days.

“Someday, someday! If I save countless people. At that time, Iana…… Can I reach you?”

I didn’t answer. I left the store.