Chapter 36 – Magic Boy (14)
[Chapter 2 – Verse 6] Don’t Blame Others!
Wouldn’t it be great if everything in the world went my way?
But I know. Everyone knows. Such a convenient world doesn’t exist.
I realized this when my father passed away so senselessly.
The world is unfair.
Luck and misfortune aren’t distributed equally to everyone, and sometimes they’re cruelly discriminatory.
“Ugh!”
Grab!
By the time I noticed, Choi Kang-min already had me by the neck.
‘No luck at all…!’
One look at Choi Kang-min’s face, hovering over the hotel parking lot, told me he hadn’t known I was hiding here.
Pure coincidence. Though the odds were absurdly low.
“Kang Moon-soo! How dare a worm like you…!”
Rip.
My right arm was severed by an enraged Choi Kang-min and fell to the ground.
“…”
But I stayed calm.
It hurt, sure, but maybe because I’d been through this before?
It wasn’t unbearable.
And since I’d prepared for the worst-case scenario like this from the moment I returned here, I wasn’t shaken.
“…What?”
“What?”
“Your arm was torn off without anesthesia. Why aren’t you screaming? Why aren’t you begging for mercy or to be spared?”
I wondered that myself.
Back when I’d yelp and stomp my foot if I pinched a finger while moving stock at the convenience store, that was ‘me.’
It was strange to remain composed despite the pain of losing a limb.
Anyway,
“Were you expecting that? Sorry to disappoint—”
Crack.
Choi Kang-min snapped my left leg like a twig mid-sentence.
“Beg already…!”
Was he hoping I’d cry and grovel for forgiveness?
To me, it looked like,
‘He’s the one begging for an apology.’
But I had no intention of submitting to Choi Kang-min’s overwhelming violence.
Wasn’t one miserable experience enough?
There wouldn’t be a second.
“Hey, drinking in broad daylight?”
“You bastard!”
Thud!
Thrown against the hotel’s solid concrete wall, I crashed limply to the floor.
The room was already a mess of my blood and flesh.
Yet my heart remained calm. Calm enough to jab at him.
“Kang-min, grow up.”
“How dare you…!”
Realizing I was mimicking his father’s tone, Choi Kang-min flew into a rage.
Crash!
***
Choi Kang-min finding Kang Moon-soo wasn’t a coincidence.
A strong pull.
An unknown force drew him like a magnet. It wasn’t coercive, but like choosing a paved highway over a dirt road, he naturally followed its guidance.
And then he encountered Kang Moon-soo.
Rage surged the moment he saw him.
“You…!”
He first cut off an arm, and still unsatisfied, broke a leg.
But,
‘Why! How!’
Even after crippling Kang Moon-soo to live as an invalid forever, it wasn’t satisfying.
Why?
Because of Kang Moon-soo’s attitude.
Those eyes, looking at him with disdain, unfazed by overwhelming power.
And the biggest issue was that Choi Kang-min’s own thoughts accepted this attitude as natural.
‘So it’s a dream after all…’
As if Kang Moon-soo was saying there’s no need to fear since losing limbs wasn’t real.
Still,
“Beg already…!”
Choi Kang-min stubbornly denied this cruel truth.
“Hey, drinking in broad daylight?”
But Kang Moon-soo, unfazed by pain, kept talking.
His light, almost joking tone was playful, as if he felt no pain at all.
“You bastard!”
Furious again, Choi Kang-min hurled the bloodied Kang Moon-soo deeper into the hotel room.
Thud!
Blood and flesh from severed limbs stained the walls and floor. His body was naturally in tatters—
“Kang-min, grow up.”
Yet it wasn’t enough to silence Kang Moon-soo!
“How dare you…!”
It meant he felt no pain or fear of death.
Because he truly wasn’t afraid of dying?
No.
Because he wouldn’t die in the first place.
Proof? Kang Moon-soo, whom he’d definitely killed in this world (dream), was standing before him, perfectly fine.
“No…!”
Like a fish caught in a net, Choi Kang-min thrashed wildly.
Crash!
I thought Choi Kang-min, enraged, would kill me.
But he didn’t bring down his menacing magic wand on my head.
Instead, he took out his anger on the hotel room’s expensive furniture.
“Huff… Huff…”
“Choi Kang-min.”
“…”
“Accept it already. Your father’s waiting for you at the hospital. Waiting for his eldest son to wake up.”
“…Lies.”
His face twisted like a crumpled tin can, Choi Kang-min denied my words with a strained voice.
“Does this look fake?”
“Kang Moon-soo, let me ask you one thing.”
“Go ahead.”
“Do you have some grudge against me? Why are you doing this?”
The question was so absurd that, despite my pain, my eyes widened.
‘Is he seriously asking because he doesn’t know?’
I double-checked, unable to believe what I heard.
“Telling you the uncomfortable truth you’d rather not know until you died? You’re asking why I’m tormenting you by revealing it?”
“…”
Still refusing to accept it, Choi Kang-min answered with silence.
“Hah! What a stupid question! You did this to me, and you’re still asking? Already forgot?”
“You brought this on yourself…!”
“What about last time?”
“That was because you spouted nonsense.”
“Nonsense? Telling you that you had less than 100 days to live was nonsense? Why bother seeing a doctor then? If they say you’re unhealthy, is that nonsense too?”
“Tch, that’s…”
Cornered by my flawless logic, Choi Kang-min trailed off into silence.
“Back then, I genuinely wanted to save you. They said you had, at most, 100 days. Now, less than 50 remain.”
“This isn’t saving me.”
“You mean I should’ve let you die happily, lost in your happy dream?”
“…Yes.”
“Sounds like something a drug addict would say. ‘Let me die.’”
“It’s completely different. I’m a hero who saves the world.”
“A hero doesn’t kill their parent over money or frame their brother and send him to prison.”
“That was Father’s fault! He should’ve chosen me as his heir, not my brother…!”
Choi Kang-min shouted in desperation.
“Take that up with him. Complaining to me, an outsider, won’t help.”
“Ugh!”
Silenced again by my sharp retort, Choi Kang-min fell quiet.
And then,
Thud.
Despite his surreal power to move at the speed of light, he dropped to his knees like a convicted criminal.
“Choi Kang-min.”
“…”
“Still clinging to this?”
Feeling dizzy from blood loss, I frowned.
Like with Song Sun-young, the dream wasn’t ending. Proof that Choi Kang-min, the protagonist of this world (dream), was still hesitating, refusing to accept it.
Song Sun-young, who promised not to commit suicide after losing a swim meet, had also wandered and suffered.
This was a similar situation.
‘Not easy.’
Until Choi Kang-min truly let go of his ‘Magic Boy’ fantasy, this wouldn’t end, even if it seemed to.
“Father only cared for the son his new wife bore.”
“I’m not interested in your family drama. Don’t want to know either.”
I drew a firm line.
“To Father—”
“I’m not a recorder. If you have something to say, say it to him. Think you’re still a kid? Did turning into Magic Boy make your brain younger too?”
Provoked by my venomous words, Choi Kang-min glared at me.
“Want to die?”
“Go ahead. It’ll just wake me from the dream.”
“You bastard!”
Thud!
Once again, I couldn’t react and took the brunt of his tantrum.
‘My stomach’s burning…’
My heavy eyelids wouldn’t lift, so I couldn’t tell exactly where or how badly I was hurt.
“Cough, cough! I might die again at this rate.”
“…Doesn’t it hurt?”
“It hurts like hell!”
Is this guy seriously asking that?
I’ve been training my stamina lately, but fighting a monster who moves at light speed is impossible.
Yet, despite being in such a pathetic state, I didn’t feel defeated.
“Kang Moon-soo, aren’t you scared of me?”
“Not really.”
“Even in agony, losing limbs, it’s just a dream…?”
“Pretty much.”
But just because it’s a dream doesn’t mean I’m some ironman who feels no pain.
Bluffing, sheer stubbornness, maybe?
I believe the only way to beat the physically unbeatable Choi Kang-min is to overpower him mentally.
‘Hang in there! Just a bit more!’
My entire body ached so much I wanted to die just to escape the pain.
“Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a hero who saves the world…”
But this guy didn’t seem inclined to give up easily.
Whining at this point?
I was losing it.
“I remember it well. Back when we played make-believe at the playground, you always took the hero role. You made me and Kang-hoon play the villain or sidekick.”
“Ahem!”
The Choi Kang-min I remembered from childhood was just an ordinary boy who idolized heroes.
Right. I thought he was ordinary.
Until I learned about his past of bullying his brother behind the scenes.
“Forcing your brother to play the villain and poking him with twigs. I never would’ve guessed that was your true self.”
I’d dismissed it as a selfish kid’s immaturity.
But then it came to light.
“I was scared of Father. Even now, I’m afraid to face him.”
“Ridiculous. The Magic Boy all villains fear?”
“It’s a completely different matter.”
“Because your wrongs were exposed?”
“Kang Moon-soo, it’s your fault.”
“Huh?”
What nonsense is this?
“If you hadn’t interfered, I wouldn’t have gone as far as plotting to harm Kang-hoon. Then Father wouldn’t have found out.”
“Wow, do you even have a conscience? Harming your family was wrong from the start. Blame others in moderation!”
“Succession disputes are the law of nature.”
“Oh? Then ruining the life of someone you don’t like must also be the law of nature.”
“…”
Outdone by his own stubbornness, Choi Kang-min clamped his mouth shut.
“Choi Kang-min.”
“I don’t want to hear it.”
“I don’t want to meddle in your family drama, but since I’m annoyed, I’ll say one thing. You’re whining with a full belly. I don’t have parents to scold me or a sibling to compete with.”
“Lucky you.”
“No inheritance to claim either.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
“…”
I like money too, but this guy, who measures family by wealth, is rotten to the core.
“Let me make this clear. I’m not going back to reality.”
“You’re going to die like this?”
“Yes.”
“Choi Kang-min, I took a photo of what you look like in reality… Huh?”
Fumbling with my remaining arm in my pocket, I froze.
‘It’s gone?’
I’d also brought a photo of Choi Kang-min lying in the hospital like a mummy.
Did it fall out when I was tumbling on the floor?
The photo wasn’t in my grasp.
“A photo?”
“…I mean, it would’ve been nice if I’d taken one.”
“What’s my state?”
“Riddled with complications, including asthma. Remove the ventilator, and you’d say goodbye to the world instantly.”
“…”
“Want to die?”
“…Who wants to die?”
“Didn’t you just say you wanted to die happily?”
“Tch, that’s…”
Caught in a contradiction by his own words, Choi Kang-min clammed up again.
“What a funny guy. Telling me to let you die while taking out your anger.”
“…”
He’d have nothing to say even with two mouths.
“Hey, if you want to live, open your eyes.”
“How…”
“Admit this is a dream. Stop denying reality and accept it.”
This wasn’t from some shaman or occult guidebook.
Experience.
And raw instinct!
“Choi Kang-min, think positively. In reality, you didn’t harm your family, right? No legal issues. Just a childish mistake. You can start over. No, you haven’t even started yet.”
I said things I didn’t mean.
“…Is that possible?”
But to persuade Choi Kang-min, now consumed by the desire to live, this was enough.
“Of course!”
“Really?”
“That’s up to you. I’m not a fortune-teller who sees the future.”
I’m a shaman.
And my role ends here.
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