#110
I took out the pen I’d received from the child and glanced at Carlisle.
“What are you going to write?”
“…Well. I need to think about it. What about you?”
“I’m… well, world peace?”
“……”
Carlisle stared at me blankly.
Ah, was that too lame? Well, when the world had become like this, world peace wasn’t really a joke either. I cleared my throat and revealed my true feelings.
“Going back home, you know.”
Even if I said this, everyone would think of returning to the farm anyway. I thought Carlisle would understand it that way too, but his expression became somewhat strange.
“Home.”
He mulled over what I’d said like that.
Why was he acting like that? Was he thinking about whether I’d be able to pay off all my debts first? Or was he thinking that I obviously couldn’t pay off the debt anyway and that farm would become his, so where was I talking about going back to?
Thinking that way made me feel somewhat annoyed, but anyway I began writing my wishes in tiny letters on the paper I’d received from the child.
- Return to my real home
The first wish was easy. After thinking briefly, I wrote the second wish.
- For this world to regain abundance and peace
And after hesitating a bit longer, I glanced at Carlisle. He too seemed lost in thought, holding a pen while looking at the paper. What was he thinking about? Was it also the salvation of the world? Did he think about me a little… at all? Perhaps sensing my gaze, Carlisle was about to raise his head, so I quickly lowered my gaze again.
After hesitating for a moment, I eventually wrote the wish that wouldn’t leave my mind as my final wish.
- For Carlisle Lightinger to become healthy and happy
I thought if this world regained its former appearance, Carlisle’s contamination would completely disappear too, but… somehow those strange dreams, and the cold image of Carlisle with his eyes closed kept flickering before my eyes, so I couldn’t just pass it by.
I folded the paper densely written with wishes and put it in the shell boat. When I finished preparing to float the boat and turned around, Carlisle had also finished writing his wishes (or maybe hadn’t written any at all) and was looking at me. I lit the fire and went down a few more steps to float the boat through the fence. The lantern that seemed to just hover nearby and keep coming back for a while began to be gradually swept away by the waves.
Our wish light also blended in with the lights already scattered and floating. The lights twinkling in the darkness looked like the night view of the city I’d left behind when seen from afar. Rather than feeling nostalgic, it was just beautiful. Like the fireworks I’d watched from the beach or the star-filled night sky I’d looked up at from the hot springs, it was just beautiful, and watching it made my mind go blank. It felt like fears, anxieties, and confusion weren’t temporarily suppressed by the power of drugs, but temporarily flew away somewhere and completely disappeared.
Come to think of it, Carlisle was with me each time.
The sense of stability his presence gave must have played a big role too.
I glanced at Carlisle again. His hair fluttered in the slightly stronger night breeze. Straight nose bridge and sharp jawline. I felt strange. A bit different from simply admiring or getting excited about excessive handsomeness… an inexplicably tender feeling. The kind of feeling you get when you become anxious for a moment when you’re too happy, or when tears come when you’re too joyful.
He ran his hand through his hair. Why did Carlisle look cool in every single movement? Did he do that on purpose knowing he looked like that? Looking at his large hands reminded me of when those hands caressed me. The hand that gently wiped away my tears when I cried, the hand that covered my face with his palm when I had a swollen face, and the hand that slipped into my pajamas and gripped between my legs… no, wait. That wasn’t right.
My thoughts were flowing in a strange direction and I was getting flustered when our eyes met.
“Why?”
“Huh? No, well… I mean, what did you write?”
I asked anything since I had nothing to say. No. It wasn’t just anything—what I’d been continuously curious about suddenly popped out. After blurting it out, I became even more curious.
“The wish, I mean, what did you write?”
“Hmm… well, what could I have written?”
Carlisle smiled mysteriously.
What was that? Smiling like that made me even more curious. Honestly, considering his personality, the highest possibility was that he hadn’t written anything at all, but if he’d written seriously, one thing was certain. Getting rid of contamination, probably. He’d wish for the village to return to its former clean state, and for his contamination to disappear along with it. In the end, his wish might be similar to mine. Except for me returning.
“Never mind. It’s probably obvious anyway.”
When I answered like that, Carlisle suddenly brought his face close to mine.
“Obvious? What do you think it is?”
His face came too close and I panicked.
Geez. We almost bumped into each other.
I slightly pulled my face back and said what I was thinking.
“Either you didn’t write anything or something about contamination.”
“No.”
“No?”
“I wrote about Kang Raon.”
Carlisle said while looking at me steadily with his arms crossed as I subtly backed away.
“What?”
This time I was really surprised. He’d written about me on the wish paper? Carlisle Lightinger had? No, what wish related to me would this person have? Had he written for me to pay off all my debts without causing trouble? No way.
“What did you write?”
When I asked with a frown, Carlisle raised the corner of his mouth again.
“Guess. If you get it right before midnight tonight, I’ll give you a prize.”
“Prize?”
“Yeah, a prize.”
Answering with a hint of laughter, Carlisle turned around. He seemed to be heading back. I hurriedly followed behind him and asked.
“What kind of prize will you give?”
Carlisle suddenly held something up in front of my eyes.
“……?”
I pulled my head back slightly to check the object that was too close for me to focus on. What finally came into my vision properly was…
“Hey, you, this…”
What Carlisle held up was a card. The lewd picture card that Bisang had sold at an absurd price, calling it a romance charm or whatever. I felt my face flush red. I reached out to snatch it, but Carlisle was faster.
“Why are you carelessly touching other people’s things? This is quite expensive.”
Carlisle raised his arm high like an adult teasing a child and grinned. Since he was originally tall and standing on higher ground than me, I couldn’t reach it even if I jumped.
“I’ll buy it, give it to me.”
I said through gritted teeth like growling, but Carlisle snorted and ignored me.
“I know very well you don’t have that kind of money, so what are you talking about? Even if you’re asking me to resell something I like, it can’t be the same price, right? I’d ask for at least five times more.”
“Fi-fine. Then on credit…”
Anyway, the debt I already owed was enormous, so this amount increasing would be a drop in the bucket. But my proposal didn’t work on Carlisle.
“Are you joking? With how much debt you already have, how could credit transactions be possible?”
“This…”
“Give up, honey.”
Carlisle took another step up and lightly brought the card to his lips.
“Rather, show more interest in the prize I’m offering.”
Ah, right. We’d been talking about giving a prize if I guessed the wish correctly. So did that mean he’d give me that if I guessed right? Meaning I could retrieve it without increasing my debt?
“Are you saying you’ll give that as a prize?”
I asked carefully, but Carlisle scoffed.
“As if. I like this too much to keep it forever.”
I was dumbfounded. When had he said he didn’t know I had such tastes? Was that a self-introduction?
I made a disgruntled sound.
“Then what exactly is the prize?”
And why had he suddenly taken out that card?
Carlisle tapped the picture side of the card with his finger. The card showed a picture of a figure resembling me having relations with two men in a collapsed castle tower.
“Sorry it’s just me alone, but I’ll try my best to make it feel like it’s with two people.”
“……?”
So what was he saying right now…
“!”
My face blazed as I understood the meaning a beat later. It was a combination of embarrassment and anger.
“A-are you crazy? Who wants that?”
I screamed and pounced, but Carlisle dodged by jumping up several steps at once.
Damn it.
“Do you think I’m a pervert? And why is that a prize for me!”
Only he benefited from sleeping with me. I just got tired to death and that was it!
While I was fuming and throwing punches at the air by myself, Carlisle left only a low laugh and instantly moved far away.
Damn bastard.
Even while getting angry, my face was burning hot, so I didn’t immediately chase after him but stayed behind and hesitated for a moment. Maybe that was a mistake.
Grrrrrrrrr.
Suddenly the sea made a low rumbling vibration-like sound. I looked back startled, but the rippling black sea and the receding lights were no different from before. Only the water level had dropped rapidly, perhaps due to low tide, revealing a few more wet black steps below my feet.
Under the dark blue sky, the sea was particularly black. Quite some time seemed to have passed as the darkness deepened further and the surroundings were quiet. When had the faintly heard festival noise completely stopped? The wind felt unusually cold, so I hunched my shoulders and looked for Carlisle. But his figure had already disappeared from sight.
He’s unexpectedly quick for someone like him.
I had a bad feeling somehow, so I quickened my pace.
Swoooooosh.
But I couldn’t even take a few steps before turning my head again at the sound of something rushing in.
“Huh…?”
I didn’t even have time to scream. Something like a black snake stretched out quickly and wrapped around me. A rippling cold touch and intense fishy smell.
“Raon?”
Splash!
When Carlisle’s voice rang out from above my head, I was sucked into the water just like that.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
