赤い糸 - Red String of Fate | JeongSa - MiChaeng

Chapter 61 - #0102

Mina carried the bags into 230, balancing the dinner she'd bought while waiting for Jeongyeon to wake. She set the food on the table, then slid her notes over so Sana could copy them. The room smelled faintly of Chinese food and leftover rain.

While Sana scribbled, Mina spoke hesitantly. "...About the Guardian Angel thing."

Sana glanced up. "Mm?"

Mina put down her pen. "I know I need to seek forgiveness, I've been trying to figure out who it's from — but I don't remember. The only thing that stays with me is... a goddess with code 0102"

Sana's pen stopped. "0102?"

Mina nodded slowly. "Yes. Back then... I had a dream. A woman with big eyes told me: seek forgiveness from the Guardian Angels when you meet them in your next life. That's all I remember. No faces, no details. Just her words... and the code, 0102"

For just a second, Sana's expression stiffened. Big eyes... The words echoed against a memory she couldn't place — like déjà vu. She quickly masked it, tilting her head with a small smile. "Dreams can be strange, but maybe it was a sign"

"yes it should be..." Mina responded with a hint of upset.

Sana notices and decides to let Mina continue, "what do you think the 'forgiveness' is about?"

Mina drew in a breath. "I've definitely wronged you both. Maybe more people, too—people I can't even name"

Sana nod like she understand, "I see..."

"yeaa, my father help me research everything he could, he said cursed children can only be free if Guadian Angels forgive them"

Sana sat still for a long moment, digesting. Then she whispered, "What if I forgave you right now? What would happen?"

Mina shook her head. "...I have no idea"

Sana straightened, determination flashing in her eyes.
"Then let me try."

She inhaled deeply, placed her hand on the table, and declared:
"I, Minatozaki Sana, forgive—Myoui M—!"

"ANDWAAAAAAEEEE!!!!!" The shout upstairs jolted them both.

They rushed to Jeongyeon. She was upright in bed, breath ragged, tears still on her cheeks.

"It was a dream...? Phew" Jeongyeon wiped her eyes with her sleeve, trying to laugh it off. "It felt so real..."

Sana crouched by the bed, worried. "What happened??"

Jeongyeon's gaze shifted to Mina, lingering, heavy with something unspoken.
"...Who exactly are you? Were we enemies... in another life?"

Mina froze, caught like a deer in headlights. "I-I..."

"Why do you need forgiveness from us?" Jeongyeon pressed, voice low.

"I... don't know..." Mina muttered.

The tension in the room thickened. Jeongyeon, uncomfortable with it, suddenly laughed. "Ahh, not fond of this kind of serious talk" She hopped out of bed with surprising energy. "Let's save it for later. I'm hungry~ hahah~ Come on~" She hooked both Sana and Mina by the wrist, pulling the stunned pair along.

-

- 

The fire raged out of control, devouring the town. Screams echoed in every direction—mourning, children crying, houses collapsing.

Jeongyeon sprinted with Ryuto clinging to his back, every muscle screaming in pain. His lungs burned as much as the flames, but he kept running.

When he reached town, his heart sank. Nearly half the homes were ash and ruin.

His eyes widened when he saw almost half of the house had burnt, the roof is gone!

"Sana!" Jeongyeon barreled into the remains of their house, the roof long since caved in. Sana lay pinned under the collapsed beams, blood soaking her back.

He went weak and his knees hit the floor. His tears uncontrollably flow down heavily.

"eommaaaa??" Ryuto gets down from Jeongyeon's back and is confused when he sees his mom like that, but after looking at the tears flowing down his father's face, Ryuto starts tearing up.

"SANA!! SANA!!" Jeongyeon shook her shoulder.

*Ryuto cries louder*

Ryuto keeps crying and wiping his own face with that dirty hand until his face is covered with a smudge of black ashes, Jeongyeon then wipes it with her thumb and hugs him to shush him down, stroking his head, "don't worry, mom will be fine"

The kid obediently stopped crying, wiping his face with his sleeves, and blankly stares at his father, who was trying to get rid of the wood on his mom.

But when Jeongyeon pressed his fingers under Sana's nose, no breath stirred. His chest tightened until he could hardly breathe.

No... I thought you were alive because I was still alive...

He held his tears to burst, he was stunned beside the scene, then turned to Ryuto, "mom is just too tired after the party, let her rest, okay?"  

Ryuto hummed and nodded as a response.

Jeongyeon doesn't want him to know, so he looked the other way. He gripped his own clothes and hit his own chest, tears flowed so much even though he tried to hold it.

Jeongyeon's tears fell silently onto the dirt floor. Losing my other half... hurts more than anything.

Sana.., I hope you're not alone there, don't worry, i will keep Ryuto safe and sound...

-

"Didn't I said just to burn few houses?!"

Familiar voices were heard, Jeongyeon alarmed and take a peek from the hole in the wall,

Mina!!!??? He slapped himself, to make sure it's real. Ouch, IT HURTS????? IT'S NOT A DREAM??

"somebody saw us and reported it to the guards, we had no choice, we apologize! General!"

"what a pity, we could take them and make them our slaves"

"we apologize, General"

"search that house, look for a little boy, if he is still alive, bring him to me"

!!!!?????

In speed light, Jeongyeon immediately lifts up the door to the underground vault, where he kept his savings. He grabs Ryuto and then hides there, "sssh, don't make any voice"

*door open

"search everything!"

*rummage noise

"General, there is no sign of the little boy, only a dead body"

Mina goes inside the burnt house, like what they said, no sign of the little boy, as well as Jeongyeon.

still at the farm?

Mina ordered them to lift all the piles of wood on Sana's body. Brushing away the dust and ashes on the bed. Ordered them again to carefully place the dead body on the bed.

"what sound??" Ryuto curiously asked.

Jeongyeon immediately covers his mouth, placing his index finger on his mouth, "ssh"

"everyone, stop!"

"yes, General"

"Did any of you hear any suspicious sound?"

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

*footsteps getting near

*heart thump thump

. . . . . .

"ANDWAAAAAAEEEE!!!!!"  

"It was a dream...? Phew" Jeongyeon wiped her eyes with her sleeve, trying to laugh it off. "It felt so real..."

_____________

A/N: dream part from
TCC chapter 45