My blurred vision finally cleared.

I could see the woman who had spoken to me distinctly now.

She staggered toward me, barely able to keep herself upright, and I just watched her silently.

Her once flowing hair had been forcibly cut short, barely covering her neck, as if hacked off by a blade.

Her large, sparkling eyes—once like stars in the night sky—now looked dull and lifeless, like dead fish.

Come to think of it, this was right after the war with the Western Continent and the Vagabond Alliance.

And Yuhyeon-ah was…

“Seunghyun oppa. And Dahee.”

Her sudden voice broke my train of thought.

“If you look closely, they were good people. But did they really have to die?”

Watching Yuhyeon-ah slowly approach, a strange feeling washed over me.

Perhaps it was nostalgia.

“I’m not here to complain about my fate. No, I won’t. I won’t. Just please answer me.”

Right.

“How did we end up like this?”

I was sure I’d heard those exact words before.

“I just wanted to get along with you…”

Her voice broke, swallowed by a choked sob.

“But did it really have to come to this?”

Her voice trembled faintly.

“I can never forgive you… but still.”

Yuhyeon-ah stopped just in front of me, clenching her fists tightly.

A heavy silence hung between us.

Then, her trembling lips parted with great effort.

“I wanted to hear at least one sincere apology.”

Tears, long held back, streamed down her eyes.

At the same moment, she collapsed, sinking to the ground like a broken doll.

Her pitiful, miserable state was incomparable to the Yuhyeon-ah from that other world.

I looked down at her silently, tears streaming quietly from my own eyes.

Now, I could hear what I hadn’t before, see what had been invisible.

I don’t clearly remember what I said back then.

But there’s no need to recall.

There’s only one reason I’ve come back to this moment.

I gently placed my hand on the crown of her head.

“!”

She flinched sharply, the movement transmitted through my palm.

I draped my jacket over her trembling shoulders, then slowly knelt on one knee to meet her gaze.

Yuhyeon-ah looked at me with a face that seemed both disbelieving and dazed.

Without looking away from my piercing eyes, she quietly spoke.

“If I apologize, will you forgive me?”

In that moment, a flicker of color returned to her rotten, lifeless eyes.

“Or, what would it take for you to forgive me and find peace?”

“How… what do you mean?”

Her voice, barely holding together, sharpened strangely.

“Do you think you—if you were me—could forgive?”

No.

I couldn’t.

“Do you even know how I lived after losing them? What I went through?”

I don’t know for sure, but I can guess.

“You know?”

Yuhyeon-ah’s voice rose bitterly.

She clutched the collar of my jacket tightly, as if trying to tear it apart.

“And yet you ask how I could forgive…”

Her lower lip turned pale as she bit down hard.

The taste was bitter.

The Yuhyeon-ah from that other world said she would forgive me.

But who would accept an apology and forgive so easily?

Even if the person apologizing was the sacred Queen Yuhyeon-ah, I never expected things to be that simple.

Because this wasn’t something a single apology could fix.

“My past is filled with painful, harsh memories. There are still so many things I don’t want to remember.”

That’s why.

“When I first met you, I was… obsessed to a strange degree. I couldn’t consider any other path. Maybe, as you said, we could have gotten along.”

But.

“After what happened at the inn, I sometimes thought about it. But every time, I forced myself to forget or rationalized it, never really facing it deeply. No, I tried not to.”

Because.

“Maybe… I was afraid to admit I was wrong. Afraid to deny ten years of my life.”

Yuhyeon-ah’s expression grew confused, as if she didn’t understand what I was saying.

It was a long while before she spoke again.

“Why… why are you doing this all of a sudden?”

Her voice boiled out from beneath her bowed head.

“You could have just said a formal word or two. Why…!”

She shook her head violently, brushing my hand away, then shouted.

Her voice was choked with tears, almost incomprehensible.

“Yuhyeon-ah, I—”

“I can’t accept it.”

Her fiery voice suddenly turned cold.

She lifted her head sharply.

With eyes full of venom and resentment, she glared at me, her face twisted.

“It’s just self-satisfaction, isn’t it? You trying to ease your guilt…!”

“Well…”

And I said.

“To be blunt, yes.”

Yuhyeon-ah’s face, which had been twisting, suddenly went blank.

As if she hadn’t expected that answer.

But what I said was true.

“No matter how much I smiled… every time I thought of you, a corner of my heart ached. Sometimes it felt like it was about to burst. I hated that.”

Because you bothered me.

Because my heart wasn’t at peace.

It sounds ridiculous when I say it out loud.

But these selfish words were my true feelings.

“What about Seunghyun oppa?”

Yuhyeon-ah, mouth opening and closing, finally found her voice.

“And Dahee?”

“…”

“…Me?”

“So I’m going to change things.”

My voice was surprisingly calm.

“Change things…?”

“Yes. A world where Cha Seunghyun and Ban Dahee are alive.”

“…?”

“And a world where you are alive.”

Normally, a desperate Yuhyeon-ah would have begged me to kill her.

I would have cut her down without hesitation.

But not here.

I’m going to change everything—our relationship and everything connected to it.

I had steeled myself for this.

I took a deep breath, looking at Yuhyeon-ah’s stunned face.

“There’s one thing I have to do first.”

I gently grabbed her slumped shoulders.

Slowly, I lifted her up, and together we stood.

“Yuhyeon-ah.”

Her eyes widened in surprise, as if she’d suddenly come to her senses.

Her once pitch-black pupils regained a faint glimmer of their usual color.

I stepped back a few paces from her dazed face.

Bowing slightly, I began to speak.

Now was the time.

Words I couldn’t say then.

“I was selfish, misinterpreting your words and acting without honor.”

But—

“And for hurting you because of that.”

Words I could say now.

“I am truly sorry.”

I looked down at the ground.

Twilight cast shadows over the earth, and a single snowflake drifted down, swirling gently before landing.

Now that I think about it, there were faint traces of melted snow on my shoes.

Huh.

Did it snow at this time?

I don’t think so…

“No way.”

After a while, Yuhyeon-ah spoke.

“I never thought you’d really apologize…”

Her voice was hoarse, sounding distant.

At the same time, it felt as if a sharp thorn of poison had been pulled from her all at once.

I slowly straightened up.

Tears still streamed down Yuhyeon-ah’s face, her mouth slightly open.

I reached out, gently wiping away her tears, and continued.

“I thought I had changed. But in truth, I hadn’t.”

“Su, Suhyun-ssi, I… I—”

“As I said before, that’s why I want to change things. For you, and for myself.”

“…What?”

There was an easier way.

But I didn’t choose it.

Because that would only cover up my darkest memories, not solve the problem.

That’s why I came here first.

Now…

“I’ll be going back.”

Back to when we first met.

From there, I’ll change everything.

Will it be okay?

Probably not.

If I have any hope, it’s in the Zero Code.

“Lastly.”

I turned toward the place where I could feel the Zero Code.

But before leaving, I looked back once more.

Yuhyeon-ah stood there, expressionless, lost in thought.

“When we meet again.”

I smiled as much as I could toward her.

“I want to see you smiling.”

The wooden door creaked open with a thud.

“Excuse me… I heard someone named Kim Suhyun is here?”

At the same time, the voice I’d been waiting for echoed from the inn’s entrance.

Everyone, including me, turned toward the door.

There she was.

“Hello! Is user Kim Suhyun here?”

It felt like the first time in a long while I’d seen her carefree, bright smile.

“If you mean Kim Suhyun, that’s me. Who are you?”

“Ah, so you’re here! Thank goodness.”

Vivian pointed at me, and Yuhyeon-ah let out a relieved sigh, clutching her chest.

“Oh! I’m Yuhyeon-ah, the third-year user and newly appointed leader of the Beech Clan, representing the small city of Mul. Nice to meet you!”

“I’m Cha Seunghyun, also a third-year user.”

A man with a gentle face standing beside her greeted me in a calm, deep voice.

I tried to appear natural and stood up.

“Yes. I am Kim Suhyun.”

Then, softly.

“Nice to meet you, user Yuhyeon-ah.”

At that moment, Yuhyeon-ah’s footsteps suddenly stopped.

She blinked rapidly, as if struck by shock.

After a moment, her apricot-colored cheeks deepened into a rich balsam pink.

The bridge of her nose flushed bright red as well, and she shyly lowered her gaze.

What’s going on?

Did my smile look strange?

“Uh…”

“…?”

“I-I just wanted to talk for a bit… I was hoping to come in…”

“Oh, please do.”

I gently took Yu Hyun-ah’s hesitant hand and pulled her inside.

She let out a soft, almost sigh-like sound.

Soon, the two of us sat down.

Go Yeon-ju grumbled as she brought over the teacups.

“Ah, thank you.”

I watched the flustered, almost sacred queen before me, who had clearly lost her composure.

“Um… if you keep staring like that… I-I’ll get embarrassed…”

She rolled her eyes nervously and brought the teacup to her lips, but then caught my gaze and frowned.

“I’m sorry.”

“No, no! There’s no need to apologize!”

Seeing Yu Hyun-ah wave her hands as if to dismiss the apology only made me more flustered.

Maybe she heard Cha Seung-hyun sigh, because she quickly quieted down, like a shy newlywed.

“I’m sorry for causing a fuss…”

I nodded to show it was okay, and Yu Hyun-ah shyly smiled back.

It was different from before.

Her reaction was a little odd, but the atmosphere wasn’t unpleasant.

Of course, there was still more to talk about, but I felt confident.

This was good.

It was so easy.

“That took a while.”

“Huh?”

“Oh, nothing. By the way, I heard you wanted to say something.”

“Oh, yes!”

Yu Hyun-ah’s voice brightened with excitement.

I rested my chin on my hand and stared at her intently.

“Well, um… that is…”

For some reason, she suddenly looked uneasy again.

She mumbled, trailing off, then bowed her head deeply.

Eventually, her ears turned red.

Why was she acting like this all of a sudden?

A sudden worry crept in.

…Am I really doing this right?

---------------------------= Author’s Note =---------------------------

I’m sorry.

Even at the very end, I failed to manage the length properly. ㅜ.ㅠ

There’s one more epilogue side story left.

Actually, it’s not a full chapter—about 6,000 characters should finish it.

I promise to wrap it up by Sunday, May 8th, no matter what.

Thank you so much for reading. (__)