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Chapter 244:
Chapter 244:
My Name is ‘Misa’ (2)
– The viewing of [666th Side Story] ‘To the Original Form…’ begins.
Michail exhaled as he witnessed the strange situation unfolding before him.
“Where is this…?”
It didn’t feel like an illusion spell, as there was no magic present, and it was too realistic to be a hallucination. Michail widened his eyes in confusion.
“What the…?”
Startled, Michail looked up and glanced around.
“This is….”
The Academy.
Standing in a place he had passed countless times, Michail’s eyes widened, and he swallowed hard. Just moments ago, he had been in the dormitory, but now, in the blink of an eye, he was standing in front of the fountain. He couldn’t comprehend the situation.It had been night, but now it was day….
As Michail struggled to process his surroundings, a faint voice from the Blue Window echoed in his ears.
[Do you remember?]
The Blue Window’s sudden question about his memory puzzled Michail.
“Remember what…?”
[Do you remember three days after you parted ways with the ill-fated ties of the Academy?]
The Blue Window brought up a memory that Michail had thought was insignificant.
[That morning, there was a letter in your shoe locker. A letter written in such terrible handwriting that it was almost illegible.]
Recalling the past, Michail furrowed his brow. What was so important about that letter?
“It was nothing.”
In the faint memory that surfaced, Michail had dismissed it as just another love letter. He had assumed it was from someone with atrocious handwriting.
In that hazy memory, the letter was probably…
[You tore the letter apart without a second thought.]
He had definitely torn it up.
A sudden chill washed over Michail as he stared at the Blue Window with trembling eyes.
‘No way,’ he thought, his heart filled with an ominous feeling as he continued to gaze at the Blue Window.
[You ripped it apart without any hesitation. Without knowing who had written that illegible letter.]
“No….”
[The person who wrote that letter spent two days at a desk, pouring their heart into it. They filled the letter with thoughts of how you would react, what expression you would make, and what you might think.] ?
And then,
[That boy waited for you endlessly that day, only to leave.]
The Blue Window spoke.
It calmly listed the mistakes Michail had made, the things he hadn’t noticed. Then, it recited the contents of the letter he had never read.
[It’s been a while since I wrote a letter.]
A letter addressed to him, using a nickname that no one else knew.
[There have been many things, but since my handwriting is so bad, I don’t think I can convey them all in writing. I shouldn’t write too much. Honestly, I don’t even think you’ll be able to read it.]
The Blue Window slowly unraveled the letter.
[Before I leave, I wanted to leave you at least one letter. I wanted to see your face one last time.]
“No….”
Michail shook his head.
This couldn’t be happening. He berated himself for missing the chance right in front of him, staring at the letter with trembling eyes.
[I’ll be waiting at the fountain at 6 PM tomorrow.]
At the final sentence, Michail’s heart began to race wildly. His heart pounded, and he was filled with self-loathing, his shoulders shaking as he breathed heavily.
-Your long-time friend.
“Huff
[In a memory no one else knows.]
[You read that boy’s letter. You clutched your chest as you eagerly deciphered each line of the letter you had stumbled upon.]
[That day, you smiled. You had never felt such anticipation and excitement before. You worked hard to interpret the letter and prepared to go to the promised place.]
Michail’s vision brightened.
As the sun set, illuminating the fountain where many couples stood, Michail’s eyes widened.
“This is…”
-The viewing begins.
With a cold voice, Michail saw a girl standing in front of the fountain.
A white dress.
White shoes.
With silver hair and red lipstick, she fidgeted with her fingers, staring endlessly at the clock tower pointing to 5 o’clock, as if waiting for someone.
Michail stared at the girl with trembling eyes, wearing a hollow expression.
“Is that… me?”
Standing in front of the Academy fountain, in a form never shown to others, was himself, shyly standing there.
“…Huff.”
He looked like a girl.
The clothes, shyly chosen.
The makeup, done for the first time.
He looked like a girl of that age.
In the viewing, the version of himself fidgeted with his fingers and nervously shifted his feet, muttering as he stared at the clock tower.
“When will he come?”
Muttering to himself with a face that looked like it might cry at any moment, he kept repeating the same words.
“…Will I be able to do it?”
In the viewing, he hesitated, unsure of how to start the conversation, and allowed himself to be carried by the melody drawn on the score.
Watching this, Michail felt envious of her. He envied that version of himself who had seized the opportunity he had missed, something he had never experienced.
The excitement.
The smiles.
Without any of that, Michail, who had only ever bitten his lips and swung his sword, felt a strange sense of jealousy toward this other version of himself.
At the same time, he felt a growing sense of unease.
What if that letter was a notice of death?
What if the person who knew his old memories had come to deliver sad news?
With that thought, he erased the smile from his face and focused on the past that had yet to unfold.
‘Focus on reality… It’s already over….’
Forcing his mind to focus, Michail exhaled.
In the viewing, the version of himself muttered to himself, beginning an awkward performance. Without caring about the gazes of others, he nervously rehearsed what he would say when he saw the boy from his memories.
“How should I start the conversation…?”
“Ah… Hi! How have you been…? I’ve been doing well. Haha… I even became the top student at the Academy…”
“The weather is nice, isn’t it? If you have time, should we go to a café?”
“You must be surprised. That I’m a girl…. Idiot, how did you only notice now…”
The version of himself in the viewing suddenly stopped talking. Even while saying such things, his heart was pounding like crazy.
How much had he changed?
He must have become handsome by now.
He would be really surprised to find out that he was a girl.
“…”
Still.
“I want to hug him when I meet him.”
Michail felt the same way.
He wanted to see and feel the boy from his memories. He desperately wanted to see the face of the boy he couldn’t remember, to hear his voice.
-Tick.
In the viewing, the version of himself swallowed nervously as the time approached, waiting for the memories to come closer. At this moment, he was the only protagonist in the world. No, he was a woman named Misa.
“Sniff…”
Holding back the tears that threatened to spill, Michail slowly lowered his head.
-Click.
The sound of clear heels echoed.
Both the version of himself in the viewing and Michail in the present held their breath, focusing on that sound.
-Click.
The sound of the heels, neither fast nor slow, echoed in Michail’s heart.
-Click.
“…”
The version of himself in the viewing and Michail clenched their fists, biting their lips.
‘We’re finally meeting…’
The man’s face was still hidden. It was obscured by shadows, concealing his features.
-Click.
As the silhouette slowly became clearer, Michail clenched his fists. It was the same as the boy he remembered.
A tall height.
A sturdy build.
Even from a distance, he seemed like someone who would catch people’s attention as a handsome man.
His face was just hidden in the shadows.
The boy who had once been a hero to him still looked the same.
‘That’s right…’
With a trembling heart, Michail lowered his head, waiting for the man to approach. He still didn’t have the courage to look at his face.
He wanted to see him right away.
But if he didn’t prepare himself, he felt like he would crumble on the spot, so he hid his face for a moment.
What did he look like?
Had anything happened to him?
What if he ran away because Michail looked ugly?
Both the version of himself in the viewing and the present Michail lowered their heads, swallowing nervously.
Slowly, the man approached.
The man who had made his heart race took another step and stopped in front of Michail, greeting him cautiously.
“Excuse me.”
The man’s voice resonated softly.
The boy’s youthful voice was gone, replaced by a pleasant, deep tone that gently called out to the bowed Michail.
Perhaps nervous as well, the man swallowed dryly. After letting out a deep breath, he spoke again.
“Are you Michail?”
“…”
“Or not…?”
-Drip.
Tears began to fall on the white shoes of the version of himself in the viewing. He had wanted to greet him with a smile, to start the conversation cheerfully, but the tears came too quickly, overwhelming him. His shoulders began to shake uncontrollably.
“Yes….”
Michail nodded with difficulty.
With a tearful voice, he nodded vigorously, trying to prove to the man that he was indeed the one he was looking for.
Affection.
Love.
Memories.
A storm of complex emotions swirled in Michail’s heart, making it impossible for him to lift his head.
All he could do was nod. That was all the version of himself in the viewing could do as he welcomed the memories without looking at them.
“Ah…”
The man let out a small sigh as he looked at Michail. Unsure of how to start the conversation, he exhaled and slowly opened his mouth.
“You look very different from what I imagined.”
“…”
“But still….”
The man, with a small smile, began to speak about their long-shared memories, offering a warm greeting.
“You still cry the same way, shaking your head when you do.”
The man smiled faintly as he spoke to the version of Michail in the viewing.
“You’ve grown up. Our little one.”
At the man’s soft chuckle, Michail slowly raised his head, and the man, with a cautious expression, began to say goodbye to the fragments of memories hidden in the darkness.
“I should introduce myself again.”
“…”
“My name is Rika… No….”
“…”
As the man’s face slowly became visible, both the version of Michail in the viewing and the present Michail shed tears as they looked at him.
Finally seeing his smile.
“Huh…?”
‘No.’
The world felt like it was collapsing.
“My name is Lee Minhyuk.”
The memories Michail had longed for crumbled in an instant, and the great wall he had built in his heart came crashing down.
This couldn’t be happening.
It had to be a lie.
That man had to be up to something strange again, Michail thought as he clenched his fists.
The man he hated so much, the one he could never mix with, was looking at him with a wistful smile.
It made his skin crawl.
“What… What are you doing?”
‘Stop joking.’
Both the version of himself in the viewing and the present Michail stared at him with pale faces, their anger boiling over.
But.
“…”
The awkward smile on the man’s face left him speechless. Holding a paper bag with a teddy bear in one hand, the man smiled awkwardly, and it didn’t seem like a lie.
“…”
‘This is a joke, right…?’
Michail’s lips trembled.
His fingers shook, and his heart pounded so loudly that he could hear it in his ears, filled with intense denial.
“No…”
‘No.’
“This can’t be happening.”
“This can’t be happening.”
Michail echoed the words of the version of himself in the viewing. He couldn’t believe it. This couldn’t be real. Tears streamed down his face as he repeated his desperate denial, unable to accept the unbearable reality.
The more Michail denied it, the more the man’s awkward smile deepened.
“It’s been a long time.”
“This isn’t right.”
“I’ve wanted to say so much.”
“…”
“I’m not sure how to start, but this is the first thing that comes to mind.”
“Shut up…”
With trembling hands, the version of Michail in the viewing grabbed Ricardo’s sleeve. Desperately, he shook his head, vehemently denying the truth.
“You’re lying.”
“…Haha.”
“You can’t be him.”
“I’ve been watching over you all this time.”
“No!!!!”
“You’ve worked so hard.”
The Michail watching the viewing collapsed to the ground. His legs had no strength left. He couldn’t process the situation that had just shattered the reality he had believed in.
No.
There had to be something more.
He had thought the man was just a messenger delivering news, but no matter how much he cried out, the only response was the desperate sobs of the version of himself in the viewing.
The person he hated the most.
The person he thought was different.
At the same time, memories of how cruelly he had hated that person flashed before his eyes, making his breath tremble.
“I apologize for being so harsh all this time.”
-The viewing ends.
The reunion he had hoped for ended in the worst possible way.
End of Chapter