The World After the Bad Ending - Chapter 78



77 – Stranger

A boy with no name.

A boy who was more developed than his peers, yet had a mature charm despite his youth.

The boy, shining in the moonlight, had a charm that even Seron, who didn’t know love yet, found enchanting.

“Yes, yes, it’s pretty.”

As it was her first debut in the social world, Seron had never encountered a boy her age.

So her usual personality faded, leaving only a shy Seron.

Seeing Seron struggling with the conversation, the boy smiled gently.

“Why aren’t you going into the party?”

The boy naturally led the conversation with a common topic.

Then, Seron’s face suddenly crumpled, and tears began to form.

The boy was a bit flustered but took out a handkerchief from his pocket.

Then he wiped the tears of the still young Seron.

The boy had a younger sibling who was two years younger than him.

His younger sibling was a crybaby, so he often wiped away tears like this.

Seron cried even more bitterly because of his kindness.

The boy waited patiently for Seron to finish crying.

After crying for a long time, Seron finally calmed down a bit.

“Are you feeling better now?”

“Yes, yes, thank you.”

Seron bowed his head deeply, embarrassed by the fact that he had cried in front of someone.

Unintentionally, he acted childishly in response to the boy’s kindness.

“So why were you crying like that? Did someone bully you?”

Seron shook his head.

Instead, he began to talk about what had happened today.

Talking to someone made him feel a little better.

But at the same time, he felt a sense of injustice.

“I think the sky hates me. This kind of thing always happens to me.”

If you look at each incident individually, it’s not a big misfortune.

But when small misfortunes keep piling up, it becomes painful.

Especially, it can create an inferiority complex that nothing ever works out for you.

“And because I look like this, everyone will laugh at me if I go into the party.”

Seron showed the remaining mud stains, even though the maid had cleaned him up.

Unless he wore new clothes, there was nothing he could do about it.

“Really? I think that outfit looks pretty good.”

Then the boy looked inside the party hall.

“Everyone is wearing shiny clothes, but no one here reveals their true selves.”

The boy slightly loosened his tie, which was choking his neck a bit.

“Isn’t it funnier to see them laughing like that, not knowing whether their insides are black or white?”

When the boy sought agreement, Seron blinked.

Then the boy unintentionally laughed.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to talk about something difficult.”

The boy, who was a bit more mature than others, looked at Seron’s dress with the remaining mud stains.

“You just look much prettier than the kids in there because you’re more honest.”

It was a story with a lot of meaning, but young Seron was still simple.

She felt prettier than the lovely young ladies over there.

Just that one thought made Seron’s heart pound.

“But, even so, I can’t dance in this state. I practiced so hard.”

Seron fidgeted, clutching the hem of her dress.

The boy, who had been watching her quietly, extended his hand to her.

“Then, would you dance with me?”

Seron’s eyes widened.

“Even though there’s no music.”

Instead of the beautiful melody, the slightly rough sound of nature’s insects filled the air.

“And no shining lights.”

Instead of the dazzling lights, the soft moonlight illuminated the night’s curtain.

“You can dance anywhere, can’t you?”

And above all, there was the boy.

The boy shining in the moonlight looked like a painting.

The sound of the insects felt more beautiful than any music she had ever heard.

Seron unconsciously reached out her hand to the boy.

The boy took her hand with a gentle smile.

“Lady, may I have this dance?”

“Ah, y-yes!”

Seron tried to answer as she had learned but bit her tongue.

But when the boy waited for her, she took a deep breath and spoke again.

“Gladly.”

And so, the dance between the boy and the girl began.

Under the moonlit night’s curtain.

Seron spent the most beautiful time of her life.

Seron Parmia, 12 years old.

The day she realized her first love.

And now, in the present.

Seron faced her first love from that day once again.

She closed her eyes tightly with a burning heart.

“Back then, I couldn’t even ask for your name.”

That day, too young and relying solely on the kindness the boy had shown, I couldn’t even ask for his name.

Seron regretted that day over and over again.

“Even though I attended many social gatherings afterward, I never saw you again.”

Seron was unlucky.

No matter how much she tried to meet the boy, they always missed each other.

It was truly an unfortunate series of events.

But Seron met her first love again.

In a completely unexpected place.

However.

I repeat.

Seron was unfortunate.

I looked at Seron with a hardened expression.

Seron met her first love again.

But her first love was not here.

The one who had introduced her to her first love, Bikamon, was no longer in this world.

What was here was just me, who had taken Bikamon’s place.

I am not Seron’s first love.

I am merely the shameless person who took her first love away.

I suddenly realized.

I was just an outsider who had somehow gotten involved with the fire butterfly.

The reality I had been postponing and avoiding finally reared its head.

Seron slowly opened her eyes.

Her eyes, filled with love, looked at me.

No.

Those eyes should not be directed at me.

But Bikamon is not here.

Moreover, I don’t even know how he would have treated Seron.

I was not there that night.

“Could you tell me your name?”

That day, Seron asked me the question I couldn’t ask.

My name.

Hearing the question she threw at me, my lips twitched.

Am I Hanon Airei?

Or Bikamon Niflheim?

Or maybe…

My feet unconsciously took a step back.

Was it too much of a step? My clothes got disheveled.

At that moment, a sword-shaped pendant slipped out from my clothes.

Seeing it, Seron’s eyes widened slightly.

“That.”

Oh no.

It was a mistake born out of my confusion.

As I hastily hid the pendant, Seron stared at it blankly and then laughed absurdly.

“……Goguma, that fool called you that.”

Seron seemed to understand the situation on her own.

It seemed she thought Bikamon came here because I asked him to, giving him the pendant.

Fortunately, there was no need to clear up any misunderstandings related to this.

In the meantime, I struggled to gather my confused thoughts.

“……Sorry, the boy you knew is no longer here.”

And then I saw Seron’s face.

Her face was one of great hurt.

From noble mtl dot com

What I just said was no different from breaking up with her.

As I tried to correct something, Seron bit her lip slightly, then soon smiled with tear-stained eyes.

“It’s okay. The girl from that day is still here.”

Those words stirred an indescribable emotion.

“……I’m sorry.”

I couldn’t talk to Seron any longer and ran out.

Then, as I walked down the corridor, I hurriedly tightened the bandages around my neck.

My appearance slowly began to change into Hanon’s.

As a result, my reflection appeared in the window.

There was no trace of me there.

I barely managed to stop my hand that was reaching out to the window.

‘Calm down.’

I never thought I would waver at this point.

Unknowingly, my mind was being consumed.

The pressure and tension of having to prevent a bad ending.

And eventually, the fact that I was an outsider.

Those two things unknowingly weighed down on my mind.

“You!”

At that moment, a familiar voice reached my ears.

Honey blonde hair came into view.

She ran towards me with a worried look on her face, examining my complexion.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

My pale face was now covered in cold sweat.

Seeing this, Isabel tried to wipe the sweat off my face.

Smack!

I instinctively brushed her hand away.

Isabel was also a character from the Flame Butterfly side.

Moreover, she saw me overlapping with Lucas.

I didn’t want her hand to touch me.

Hesitation-

I realized too late that I had acted too sharply.

But it was already done.

Then Isabel slowly lowered her rejected hand and quietly stood next to me.

She didn’t say anything more.

“…It’s just that my stomach feels a bit off. Leave me alone.”

“Okay, I’ll wait until you feel better.”

“There’s no need…”

“You did the same.”

Isabel interrupted me.

“You followed me that day, too, didn’t you?”

The day Isabel went to the walls of Jerion Academy.

I followed her on a whim.

“And before that too…”

Isabel mumbled words she hadn’t yet found an answer to.

Then she shook her head and said to me,

“So I have the right to do as I please too.”

No more words came out.

But one thing I realized.

Isabel, who met my eyes through the window, was definitely looking at me.

The sunflower was looking at the moon, not the sun.

For some reason, that fact made me feel like I had regained some of the warmth I had lost.

* * *

Thanks to my time with Isabel, I regained some of my senses.

Today, I realized that being alone is the most dangerous thing when you’re not in a good mental state.

When I said I was okay now, Isabel smiled brightly and walked with me.

That smile looked genuinely happy.

Before I knew it, summer had waned and the season of autumn was beginning to arrive.

Seeing the leaves turning colors, I somehow felt they resembled me.

Because I too was being colored by this world.

“Isabel.”

“Yes?”

Isabel turned to look at me when she heard me call.

“Thank you.”

Despite my cold treatment, I was able to be okay thanks to her being by my side.

When I gave her an honest thank you, Isabel smiled bashfully.

Then she suddenly stuck her head out in front of me.

“Then, no more boycotts, right?”

“No, that’s a different matter.”

I said sternly.

Where does this main heroine think she can just take the scenario for free?

“You said you were grateful!”

“Being grateful is one thing, but I still have to do what I need to do.”

“Wow, that’s so cheap!”

Isabel huffed and jeered beside me, but I just snorted.

As if I would crumble at such a level of jeering.

Compared to the insults I’ve received from other women so far, this was cute.

My gaze returned to the window.

Finally, the season of boycott was just around the corner.

‘Now, what’s left is.’

Just to get Iris to touch the boycott.

Come on, I’ve set the table, just put the spoon on it.

I’ll completely overturn the student council.