TWLPOD 5

He is thrown into cold water.

When he is submerged from head to toe, he is pulled out of the barrel and walks naked through a snowy outdoor area at minus ten degrees Celsius into a tent. He passes through the adults who are shouting back and forth and frantically searching for lost items, and when he sits in front of a mirror, the day begins.

—I think we’ve seen everyone we need to see here, so we’ll be moving regions starting tomorrow. The next one is…

At that moment, the troupe leader’s head flew off.

Pop, like fireworks set off at the start of a performance, red chunks flew out. The people who were gathered all lost their words and then screamed, and blood and limbs began to fly about in the tent where swords and bullets were flying wildly. So many limbs flew through the air that it almost looked as if some invisible person was juggling.

He was led by the hyung who had been looking after him into a small barrel and held his breath in the darkness for a very long time. Even after the screams and pleas for life flowed and flowed, he couldn’t move a single thing, relying solely on the darkness where not a single point of light leaked in and the sound of his own breath, which was so loud.

Until someone lifted that heavy lid, letting the light seep in.

—Hello, child.

His face was not clearly visible due to the backlight, but thanks to it, his snow-white, sparkling blond hair was beautiful and vivid.

For him, who didn’t know a single proper word or phrase, that scene was a very intense, silent praise.

A white hand easily lifted his body and held him in its arms, and he didn’t remember much about what happened to him after that.

He thought he might have cried, he might have screamed, and he might have even torn at that sparkling hair, but unfortunately, he couldn’t be sure. The only thing he clearly remembered, after he had struggled in a daze and fallen asleep exhausted, was that the hand that had held him was large, the embrace was warm, and the voice was very gentle.

—It’s alright now. Let’s go together.

Just like a newborn duck imprints on the first being it sees for the rest of its life.

That being soon became his god.

—Call me L.

How to speak, how to read and write, how to run.

Everything, from greetings with people, conversations, and even hugs.

The way of living in this world that existed within him all came from her, and that in itself became ‘proof that L existed’.

—Kay. Can you promise me just one thing?

She caressed Kay’s cheek and then was dragged away by some unknown person, and Kay soon lost consciousness. When he opened his eyes again, not a single trace of their time together remained in this world. So he replayed her last words over and over again.

—If, someday, I suddenly disappear. When that time comes.

Stop. L. I don’t want to hear it.

—No matter how hard, how painful, how agonizing it is.

If only I could have covered her mouth back then.

—Remember me.

Living wouldn’t have been this painful.

If only I could have died.

Not like this.

*

The clear air, which could not be felt in Willamere, woke him up.

A moderate weight was placed on his body. Thanks to it, he felt both cozy and constrained as he slowly moved his body. Flicker. As he moved his finger, he slowly turned his head towards the thread-like sensation flowing over it… and saw a person’s head.

“……”

Faintly, a single ray of light seeping through the curtains was illuminating Aran’s face, as if it were following him. Kay looked at the man sleeping with one cheek pressed against him, even while receiving the light that felt sacred.

‘He looks like him.’

He had thought it was L.

Because otherwise, it was impossible for them to look this much alike.

‘What in the world are you?’

With questions in his mind, he lightly touched the man’s hair that was caught on his fingers. Even the smooth texture, like a soft skein of thread, was the same as the L in his memory.

“I am rather handsome, aren’t I?”

As if he had been awake the whole time, he slowly lifted his eyelids. His eyes, a mix of blue, green, and gray, sparkled like jewels. He stretched out fully on top of someone else’s body and asked.

“How’s your body?”

“I don’t think that’s a question you should be asking after tying someone up.”

About a dozen restraints were tied to Kay’s body along with the bed.

“You can undo them if you set your mind to it.”

“You think it’s as easy as it sounds…”

Kay, who was raising his arm, stopped and looked down at his wrist. The restraints he thought would be tied tightly were already undone.

“I went through the trouble of Guiding you, and I don’t want to see you rampage again.”

“…Since you undid them anyway, it would have been better if you had taken them off.”

“It feels good to look at.”

“What does?”

“It’s a secret.”

Aran watched Kay throw the clattering restraints onto the floor. Kay, who couldn’t have missed the steady gaze, frowned and stared back at him.

“What are you looking at.”

At his honest hostility, Aran burst out laughing.

“Just because.”

“……”

“It’s not like you’ll wear out from being looked at.”

“My patience is wearing out.”

“Then just one thing before it snaps.”

Watching Kay who just kept his mouth tightly shut, Aran had to hold back a smile that was about to leak out. His expression, which said he didn’t like it but would at least hear him out, was honestly revealed even on his half-hidden face.

“Just the reason why you refuse to enlist. Just tell me that.”

“……”

“Generally, refusing to enlist means you don’t want to go to war. And refusing to go to war means you don’t want to die… But you’re too strong to simply die on the battlefield. That’s why I don’t understand even more. What is the real reason you refuse to enlist when you even have someone you want to protect?”

Listening to his words, Kay got his feet off the bed. His bare feet touched the floor, and the one-piece hospital gown followed and flowed down. His body, revealed through the single layer of clothing, was even skinnier than Aran had thought, and he unknowingly frowned. If the upright Kay hadn’t continued to speak, his body was such that Aran would have wanted to drag him to the dining hall right away.

“‘All living humanity wants victory. Because if we lose, we will be destroyed.’”

Kay retraced the clear cause-and-effect relationship, then let out a sigh.

“It’s not wrong. But I have something more important than the destruction of humanity. That’s all.”

Having finished his words, Kay stood in front of the hospital room door, and Aran, looking at his clear eyes, knew he couldn’t stop him.

It was unfortunate for the twenty ability users who were mobilized to bring him here and for those who almost died, but this was not a problem that could be solved by force.

It was an obvious fact just by looking at the remnants of torture that remained even after mobilizing healing-type Espers, and the scars that must have been there before that.

“Since I answered your question, I have a favor to ask.”

Kay, holding the doorknob, said to Aran.

“I hope you won’t stop me on my way back. Then no one will get hurt.”

He didn’t want to hurt anyone. But his attitude was that if he was stopped, he would have no choice.

Aran also stood up and approached Kay.

“I’m sure you wouldn’t, since you have something more important than the destruction of humanity.”

“Are you being sarcastic?”

“I’m curious. What that is.”

Click. As he pressed on the closed door over his shoulder and asked again, he saw him lower his eyes and bite his lip. Hesitation and conflict were holding his tongue.

“Is it something you can’t even talk about?”

“It’s not that. It’s just…”

“Just?”

At a close enough distance for Aran’s shadow, with his back to the window, to completely cover Kay’s body.

As the hesitating Kay raised his head and their gazes met, a ticklish, unpleasant sensation brushed his cheek again. Was there something he wanted to say, or was he hesitating whether he should say it or not?

Aran patiently endured the desire to urge him to spit out what was on the tip of his tongue.

“Because nothing will change even if I say it.”

“You won’t know until you try.”

Aran enjoyed the slight impatience of this long-awaited challenge.

“……”

The reason he, who was not very patient, could endure this impatience was because the person in front of him was also wavering. It was fun to read the very subtle movements of his facial muscles and the expressions that changed from moment to moment as a result.

After a conflict of an unknown number of seconds or minutes, he seemed to have made up his mind.

Kay bit his lip tightly and then let it go with a sigh.