I Became a Guide For My Childhood Friend - Chapter 80-2

“Why are you here? What happened? What about Captain Felix?”

“You don’t like me, I know. So I’ll let you off now.” She spat, looking so fragile as if she would break at any moment.

He was angry because he thought she got separated from Felix again. This time, he was going to say something even if she cried. However, Yernia, who suddenly appeared, looked at him coldly and suddenly lowered her upper body.

“Yernia.”

Cassian stiffened upon seeing blood pouring out of her mouth. Face pale, she glowered at him before dropping like a doll whose strings had been cut. He couldn’t believe what he saw even though he still had no idea what was going on. He was sure that Yernia was still in the barracks. Why did she come into this forest when she was supposed to be with Captain Felix? Why? Nothing seemed to make sense.

“Yernia, open your eyes.”

Her head, which would normally have turned tight, didn’t respond. Nothing came to mind. This must be an illusion

“Don’t play around. Get up.”

Despite knowing that she wasn’t doing it on purpose, he knew Yernia wasn’t that kind of person so he wanted to believe that she was just playing a prank.

He hoped that she was just being grumpy and that he had to go to the battlefield. Maybe, she was just playing a scary prank to tease him. Still, Yernia’s eyes didn’t open. Every breath seemed shallower than the next. Yernia was so pale that she looked like death. Her face and her limbs seemed frozen as he vividly witnessed her life fading away. Cassian’s face turned pale.

“No, this can’t be.”

Yernia couldn’t have died. Yernia must not leave him here alone. She wasn’t cold-hearted enough to die after leaving such strange last words.

“Cassian. I hate you.”

“Yernia, come here.”

Then, Yernia appeared again and died the same way over and over, repeating several times that he couldn’t count them with his fingers. When Yernia vomited blood and collapsed, she popped out again from behind him as before and said the same thing again.

“I hate you, and you hate me. So I’ll let you off now.”

He couldn’t understand the meaning behind the words tightening his chest. Cassian wanted to deny but he couldn’t seem to say it. He also couldn’t move as if a chain was attached to his ankle. Cassian never hated Yernia. He never really had that kind of heart towards that lovely girl. Anyway, Yernia still kept repeating those words.

He hated Yernia, who died saying she wanted to go on separate ways because he hated her. On the other hand, he was also suffocated by the guilt that he killed her. How many times did she repeat it? He had used his ability without even realizing it. At the moment when his powers were out of control, Cassian felt something strange. Yernia was dead. She died in front of him many times. Why did Yernia appear again? What if it’s not her?

What if someone was disguising themselves as Yernia to torture him? It was more likely that way.  After thinking that far, Cassian didn’t hesitate to attack Yernia but it didn’t reach her.  Yernia died before his attack. And after her death, his attack somehow failed to reach her.

Shocked by the fact that he just attacked Yernia, he wanted to confirm that the person dying in front of him wasn’t her but someone else disguised as Yernia.

The fake one.

He didn’t know how many more times he had run into Yernia since then. Yernia, who died, came back to life like a lie, and repeatedly died again.

Why was she doing this to him?

No.

It was his fault.

‘I mean… please don’t die, Yernia.’

‘t change anything. At one point, Cassian realized that Yernia was still there no matter how hard he tried to get rid of the illusion. He was no longer sad as if someone had cut his heart out. Something was off. This must have been someone’s prank. It was so cruel that he would rather die until the monster inside him started to jerk.

“Cassian! It’s me!”

How many times was she going to show up?

“It’s me. It’s me. Yernia.”

What should he do if he couldn’t reach her? What should he do every time she reappeared that he couldn’t even save her all this time?

When will it ever end? What’s this joke?

“It hurts. Cassian, wake up.”

This time it was different.

Yernia did not die or disappear despite the attack. She stared at him after they both fell.

“Listen to me, Cassian! Everything you’ve seen so far is just hallucinations. I’m the real Yernia and I’m not dead!”

What’s the trick this time? Hallucination? Had he seen Yernia in his hallucinations?

“I am the real one.”

Her green eyes looked desperate as power flowed from the hand holding his cheek. He could feel his brain slowly contracting, which was tight as if it was about to explode. Only then did he feel that he was not far from Yernia and that he was in touch with her unlike before.

“Don’t you recognize me? Cassian, please….”

His hand touched Yernia’s cheek.  This warmth must have been a lie.

“Yernia.”

Finally, he got it right. He knew it was the real Yernia.

She was alive.

A sense of reality struck his body.