I am not a returner Episode 256:
Heavenly Dragon (8)
“….”
Oh Jin looked at Ha-eun, whose legs were shaking pitifully.
Tight lips, clenched fists, a pale face, and eyes filled with fear.
‘Did I put too much strain on my sister?’
It occurred to me that maybe it would have been better not to have brought her here.
I didn’t know she felt this much fear of Barbatos.
‘I thought my older sister wouldn’t mind.’
Did the memory of being blind that much become a terrible trauma for her?
No, he may have simply been thinking about her.
Ha-eun said it would be okay.
Ha-eun said she would be able to shake it off with a smile.
Maybe I was pushing an unfounded belief.
“…sorry.”
Looking back, it seems like an extremely arbitrary thought.
No one can feel another person’s pain 100%.
I try to sympathize and understand.
In the end, the pain belongs only to that person.
Judging it as ‘this will be okay’ is in itself extremely rude.
“huh? “What do you have to be sorry about?”
“No, just. “I didn’t know my sister was thinking that much.”
Even though we have been together for over 20 years.
I felt resentful that I couldn’t understand her feelings.
“What if you don’t know? “Do I have to know everything about my inner thoughts just because I’ve seen their insides?”
Ha-eun poked Oh-jin’s side with a humorous smile.
Oh Jin was familiar with her appearance, but for some reason, her smile felt awkward now.
“It’s not your problem, it’s my problem. “There’s no need to apologize, Sasha.”
Ha-eun tapped Oh-jin on the shoulder.
This is her problem.
It is a problem that only she can solve and that only she must overcome.
The moment you receive sympathy and comfort from others, the meaning of overcoming this problem disappears.
Especially if it is a misdiagnosis.
“Ha, okay. “Try to deal with it alone.”
Ojin sighed deeply and took a step back.
Although I respected her will here.
“If I feel like there’s even the slightest danger, I’ll step in right away.”
Overcoming trauma or whatever.
I didn’t want to put her life in danger.
“huh.”
Ha-eun nodded and took a short breath.
Desperately calming my trembling legs, I turned towards Barbatos.
[What are you doing now?]
A cold voice.
Did you say that when your anger exceeds its critical point, your head becomes cold?
Barbatos gritted his teeth fiercely, glaring at Ha-eun who was approaching him alone.
Have you ever been born as a dragon and experienced this level of humiliation?
Anger burned more intensely than any anger I had ever felt.
but.
He was trying to take revenge on the enemies who had put him in a corner by receiving ‘grace’ at best, but if the woman who had been shaking in the corner without even fighting so far suddenly decided to fight him alone, anyone other than Barbatos would have been overcome with anger.
“What are you doing? Didn’t you hear? “I can handle you on my own.”
Ha-eun smiled, pretending to be relaxed, and took out a cigar in her arms.
It’s the end of the year that leaves me shaking wildly.
With difficulty, I light a fire and take a deep puff of smoke into my lungs.
“Whoa.”
Now I have a superhuman body that is not particularly affected by nicotine or tar.
Is it because of an ingrained habit?
I felt my heart, which was shaking with anxiety, calm down a little.
“Now then, shall we have a fight somewhere?”
Sweet.
He grinned, twisting the corners of his mouth up and removing the eyepatch covering his left eye.
The area around the eyes where ugly tendons have taken root.
The amber-colored, shiny reptile eyes turned towards Barbatos.
[Those eyes…?]
Barbatos looked into Ha-eun’s eyes in disbelief.
How can a human have dragon eyes?
Even before the question was answered.
“Burn up.”
Ha-eun flicked the cigarette she was burning with her middle finger.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!
At the end of the candle, a fierce fire blazed and enveloped her body like a living creature.
Swirling heat.
The flames that took the form of a dragon were shot towards Barbatos.
[joy! Do you think you can face a real dragon just because you got the pupils?]
Barbatos snorted and flapped his wings roughly.
A black veil imbued with a curse surrounded his body as if to protect it.
– Hwareuk, growl.
A curse that even inanimate objects cannot avoid.
The flames that were burning fiercely lost their power and dispersed.
“It’s just the beginning!”
Ha-eun clenched her fists, pouring out flames without stopping.
It is impossible to pierce the curtain by shooting flames from a distance.
then.
‘I’ll have to pierce it myself.’
I take a step towards the cursed curtain.
My legs, which had barely calmed down, start shaking again.
I’m out of breath all the way to my chin.
scary.
It’s so hard to bear.
-Are you okay, sister?!
A memory from 6 years ago came to mind.
After losing consciousness during the fight with Celestial Dragon.
When I woke up in a hospital bed.
-…uh?
The world was completely filled with darkness.
She was frightened and moved her arms as if struggling.
-What’s wrong, sister?
Although Ojin held her hand.
His figure was nowhere to be seen in her field of vision.
-Ojina… This is strange. Oh, I can’t see ahead.
A world as dark as a moonless night.
She curled up on the hospital bed and cried like a child left home alone.
‘I wouldn’t have been able to survive without Ojini.’
It’s not just when you’re cursed.
Her life could only sprout under the shadow of misdiagnosis.
‘It’s always been that way.’
Oh Jin was always standing in front of her.
Even as he took on the world’s cruel malice, he stayed in front of her without taking a single step back.
Wouldn’t that have been scary?
Wouldn’t that be scary?
Even though I know the answer.
She hid behind the shadow of Ojin and curled up like a hermit crab.
Because it was comfortable.
Even if he didn’t do anything, he sacrificed everything to protect himself.
“…Damn.”
Crack.
Ha-eun gritted her teeth and chewed her lips roughly.
Was Isabella like that once?
The misdiagnosis is her only ‘hope’.
If misdiagnosis was hope for Isabella, misdiagnosis was salvation for Ha-eun.
On the outside, he pretended to be strong and bluffed.
In reality, the man who protected her when she was weaker than anyone else.
‘Well, you’re my sister and all.’
Ha-eun let out a self-deprecating laugh.
Originally, as his older sister, she should have protected him.
Conversely, I only received protection by hiding under the shadow he created.
At the same time, I hoped that she would be there for him as an ‘older sister’ and someone he could rely on.
“Now… I have to get out.”
I can’t hide and crouch behind him forever.
So that I could at least stand next to him.
So that I can share the storms of life with him.
I had to move forward.
[Crrrrrr! You arrogant bitch! Do you think you can break through this curtain of curse?]
Towards the being that was her greatest fear.
“haha.”
One step.
Her whole body became heavy and she was overcome with extreme fatigue.
Two steps.
Nausea rose up along with the headache.
Three steps.
A freezing chill came over her.
Four steps.
The pain felt like being pricked by a needle and spread like poison.
Five steps.
I felt out of breath, as if I had climbed a high mountain.
Six steps.
My skin melted as if I had dipped into an acidic swamp.
Seven steps.
A blood-curdling scream struck my eardrums, along with a horrible feeling as if bugs were crawling in my ears.
Eight steps.
The vision of my mother and father, whom I had only seen in pictures, with their eyes wide open and spewing hateful curses, flashed before my eyes.
And the ninth step.
“…ah.”
The vision before my eyes goes dark.
The darkness, like a moonless night, took the light from her eyes.
[Hehehehe! Isn’t this a feeling you haven’t had in a long time?]
Barbatos burst out laughing as he looked down at Ha-eun, who had stopped walking.
Past 6 years ago.
The exhilarating joy he felt when he took her eyes, which were twinkling like stars, spread down his spine again.
“Ah.”
Ha-eun crouched in the terrible darkness.
The terrible helplessness and despair I felt after losing my eye filled my mind.
“Ojina… Ojina.”
Instinctively, I called his name.
If you crouch quietly here, he will come to help you.
He will easily defeat the Heavenly Dragon and save her.
As always.
Without change.
‘no.’
Ha-eun raised her head.
Haven’t you decided?
I won’t hide behind his back anymore.
“Use it.”
Take a deep breath.
I felt a sharp pain around my left eye.
A ray of light began to appear in the endless darkness.
-Rarrrrrrrrrr!
She felt a dragon made entirely of fire surround her.
One, two, three… a total of nine dragons surrounded her body as if guarding it.
The flame lights up the darkness.
A dragon with black scales appeared before my eyes.
Heavenly Dragon Barbatos.
The being who had given her a terrible nightmare was looking down at her with its eyes wide open.
[That curse… You burned the wealth?]
Barbatos hesitated and took a step back and shouted in a frightened voice.
“under.”
Laughs flowed out.
The appearance of the Heavenly Dragon that I saw in my nightmares was always extremely frightening.
Now that I look at it, it looks pathetic and unsightly.
‘It was like that back then too.’
I recalled memories of the past.
A memory from more than 6 years ago.
It was a memory of the director who inflicted one-sided violence on her at the orphanage.
The sight of the director swinging his fist at her as a child felt like a demon or monster from a fairy tale.
Like a divine being that can never be defeated.
but.
-Boo fire?!
When I saw Ojin harassing that evil spirit with lies.
When I saw him running away awkwardly without even wearing shoes.
She inadvertently burst into laughter.
“Well, it wasn’t a big deal.”
okay.
Just like now.
“Huh cha.”
I took my tenth step.
I felt a burning pain in my left chest.
The pain was not felt due to Barbatos’ curse.
A pain that would make an awakened person cheer with joy.
The tenth stroke was engraved next to the stigmata of the constellation Dragon.
and.
-Rarrrrrrrrrr!
As if connecting nine tails, a tenth fire dragon appeared and wrapped around her body.
Ha-eun clenched her fist roughly, as if clutching the air.
Ten fire dragons crawled down her arms and gathered into her clenched fists.
“Burn up.”
Ha-eun pulled her fist, which was engulfed in flames, with all her might and kicked her foot roughly.