ReLife Player - Chapter 187

Unlocked chapter (1/2)

Thanks DemonLight!

[Meetings and Partings].

The season changed, and it was February.

It was the day of Eunae’s graduation ceremony.

Still on vacation, Eunha held onto his mom’s hand and visited Doan Kindergarten.

There were quite a few parents gathered at the kindergarten, even though it was just a graduation ceremony.

Among them, his mom, dressed in a simple dress, stood out.

That’s my mom.

This year, entering her forties, Eunha’s mom looked young enough to be called a sister when walking with Euna.

That’s why the parents lowered their voices as soon as she entered the room.

Eunha puffed out his chest with pride, even though the compliment wasn’t directed at him.

«Eunha.»

«Mm?»

«I just got a text from Euna. She wants me to take a video of Eunae’s graduation ceremony and send it to her.»

«Noona is so…. Yeah, okay.»

Euna couldn’t attend Eunae’s graduation ceremony due to rehearsals for the Player Middle School Academy graduation ceremony.

So, she had expressed her desire to see Eunae’s graduation ceremony.

She had been complaining the night before that she missed Eunae’s kindergarten life so much.

Eunha could imagine how disappointed she was even now.

«Hyung, where’s noona?»

«She’s at Evergreen Solvan. Do you want to go find her?»

«Yes!»

Those who attended on behalf of Euna and his Dad, who couldn’t make it to Eunae’s graduation ceremony, were the Julieta and her family.

Avernier, who had grown so much that it was hard to believe he was only five, casually kicked off his shoes.

He was excited to see other children his age.

«Where is she? There!»

«Avernier! You should go with Mom!»

After looking left and right down the hallway, he pointed to the stairs.

He ran up the stairs, giggling, and Julieta, who was organizing her shoes, quickly followed.

Julieta ran after him, ignoring the curious stares of the parents at the sudden arrival of a foreigner.

«Julietta, seems excited too.»

«It’s Eunae’s graduation ceremony. And Avernier will attend here next year… She might want to explore the kindergarten.»

Bruno said in a grave voice as he looked at his wife and son who had disappeared up the stairs.

The parents, who were curious about the foreigner, turned their heads away as soon as Bruno entered, overwhelmed by his size.

It was a stare that felt it was too rude to even glance at him.

After glancing at them, Eunha turned to where Evergreen Pine Class was.

[The graduation ceremony is about to begin, parents, please take your seats].

On the makeshift stage prepared for the graduation ceremony, where children in kindergarten uniforms gathered, Eunae stood out.

She shone alone, as if she were colored in a dark and dreary world.

Oppa!

Their eyes met.

She’d been talking to Miye, but when she spotted him, she broke into a bright smile.

Eunha waved at her, the corners of his mouth tugging at the edges.

«Uncle Bruno.»

«Um.»

«I need to go somewhere for a minute.»

«You don’t need my help?»

«It’s okay. Uncle Bruno, please keep an eye on Eunae and Miye, just in case.»

Today is the day Sun Ki-joon kills his daughter.

Eunha and Bruno moved their mouths, clapping along with the parents.

«Okay.»

The ceremony began.

Eunha slipped away.

«I won’t be back until the ceremony is over.»

«Good luck.»

The player device was a Galaxy-built Beretta.

Quietly receiving the device from Bruno, Eunha left the classroom.

His sensors were deployed.

There was one mana showing an unusually ominous reaction.

Omnipresence was in progress.

Eunha ran towards the source of the energy as soon as he felt the presence.

‘I killed her with my own hands. I strangled my daughter, Miye, with my own hands! Can you guys forget that!?’

As he ran down the hallway, the voice that echoed in the corridor was the ramblings of Sun-Ki-joon before his regression, just before he fell asleep drunk.

‘I can’t forget that tiny child, looking up at me, struggling for breath.

The life draining out of her in my hands.

And at the end, she looked up at me, her body shaking, her eyes filled with tears.’

<Loser> Sun Ki-joon.

He killed his monster-infected daughter with his own hands and lived with guilt for the rest of his life.

He said he couldn’t forget the memory of killing his daughter without resorting to alcohol.

Ironically, only when he was drunk did he vividly express the emotions he had felt at that time.

‘Hey, No Eunha. Do you know what’s more agonizing than that?’

I know.

Eunha could still remember what he had said through his tearful eyes.

‘The most agonizing thing was when my infected daughter tried to kill me…! At that moment, I desperately wished to live! My daughter was struggling not to become a monster!

And yet, this bastard called Dad was trying to save his own life first!’

The loss of his only daughter was the reason why Sun Ki-joon was able to live and not die.

‘As I looked down at my daughter dying in my hands, a part of me was relieved that I didn’t have to die.

Funny, right?

Pathetic, isn’t it?

Who would be like this?

I think the same way.

Why does the bastard who killed my child get to live?

He should just die.

But I couldn’t do it.

I was too scared to die!’

Because he was afraid of death.

Sun Ki-joon didn’t have the courage to take his own life.

He drank himself into a stupor, his self-hatred growing as the guilt for his daughter intensified.

‘As they say, I’m a <Loser>’

I’m a <Loser>, a <Loser>!

So, Eunha…please.’

At the end, the drunken Ki-joon grasped Eunha’s hand with his rough, crude hand, the hand that killed his daughter.

As if it were a lifeline.

‘Please let me die.’

It was a pitiful sound.

In the end, the words pleading for death were a plea to be released from his own torment.

Terrified of death and living his life like a <Loser>, he raised his shield to die the most miserable and brutal death possible.

‘…Mi…ye…’

At the end of the <Abyssal Dungeon>.

Sun Ki-joon lost his life while clearing the way for the raiders.

Even as he stood holding his shield while being torn limb from limb by the charging monsters, he couldn’t get rid of the guilt he felt for his daughter.

‘─My child…Daddy is sorry.’

Could Sun Ki-joon have met the daughter he had missed so much only after his death?

No.

Eunha immediately denied it.

Sun Ki-joon would not have met his daughter even after his death.

There was a phrase that the members of the Misty Flower Party had always said.

‘I’ll see you in hell.’

Those who lived to die knew that their deaths would not be comfortable.

That’s why there was no mourning.

Their deaths would be the harshest, most miserable.

And there would be no ending but to follow those who died first.

Therefore, even on the other side of death, Sun Ki-joon would not be able to meet his beloved daughter.

So-.

─I cannot let that happen in this life.

The stories of those who lived to die and those who lived not to die are enough.

Sensing the reactions caught with his sensors gradually inflating, Eunha gathered the mana in his body.

He pulled the slide of his device.

Kieeeek

A seventh-rank monster, born of omnipresence, from the pollen.

A creature born not long ago simply rushed instinctively.

Without hesitation, Eunha shot a bullet into its forehead.

The bullet that flew out of the muzzle pinned the creature down.

The second bullet that flew out toppled the creature.

Kieee Kieeeek

Eunha climbed on top of the fallen monster.

Even when it tried to get up and struggled, it was futile.

The mana-filled foot pressed down heavily on its chest.

«Wow, it’s so noisy. Be quiet. Do you want to ruin the atmosphere on the day of the kids’ graduation ceremony?»

There was singing just above him.

Eunha seized the moment when the children’s chorus reached its peak and fired the third bullet.

The creature with a hole in its forehead struggled for breath but eventually stopped moving.

As soon as Eunha removed the foot that had been pressing on its chest, it scattered into tiny particles and disappeared.

Kieeeeeeek!

There was one more.

The 7th rank monster fell from above him as it reached for the magic stone on the floor.

Stygian Eye.

He dodged the sharp claws and moved backward, not missing the moment when their eyes met.

The fallen creature hit the ground and rolled around, confused.

«You crazy bastard… You surprised me.

Is this also the future that cannot be changed, as if it were fate?»

The creature regained consciousness.

But by then, it had already revealed its vulnerable state.

Kieee

The creature’s pupils shook violently.

Because there was a gun barrel inside its mouth.

«But no.

There’s nothing I can’t change.»

Even if there is an unchangeable fate, I will kill it with my own hands.

He infused mana into the bullet.

The barrel of the gun was stained with a hideous mana.

The creature stared at him with its mouth open, unable to do anything.

Eunha didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.

It took less than a minute.

The wretched creature stretched out its body and disappeared.

☆

«Oppa, where did you go?»

There was no blood on his body.

Eunha, who checked his appearance in the bathroom, looked for her class, which had finished the graduation ceremony.

Eunae, who was clinging to his mom, quickly spotted him.

Eunha, who tossed his device to Bruno in a hurry, looked down at his pouting sister with narrowed eyes.

«I’m sorry I couldn’t see the graduation ceremony. I was a bit late because I went to the bathroom for a moment.»

«You’re lying.»

«Lying?»

«I know, you’re lying to me!»

She was the kind of sister who would normally go along with anything he said.

Somehow, she seemed to have gotten angry.

Eunha looked puzzled when he saw Eunae, who seemed to be seething with anger, deliberately making a snorting sound as if she not was listening.

«That’s right! Hmph!»

Right next to her, even Avernier with his arms folded across his chest, turned his head, and laughter burst out from Eunha.

«Are you laughing?»

«…Uh, no. I’m not laughing.»

«Hmph!»

I made a mistake.

The way she closed her eyes was proof that she was sulking hard.

«Eunha.»

«What?»

«You should give this to Eunae.»

If their mother hadn’t whispered beside him, he might not have been able to calm his sister’s anger.

He pushed the bouquet he received from their mother right under Eunae’s nose.

Eunae sniffed the flowers and opened her eyes.

«Eunae, you know you’re my favorite thing in the world, right?»

«Yes….»

«T…this…»

«Is this a lie too?»

«…It’s not a lie. Oppa really loves me.»

«Is that so?»

«…Yes.»

«Forgive Oppa just once, okay? Mmm?»

«Hmm…»

Eunae’s expression softened.

She still turned her head slightly, her eyes narrowed gently, indicating that her anger had subsided.

She was just refusing to show that she was letting it go easily.

«Eunae, please… okay?»

«…Just this once? I’ll forgive you just this once. If you do it again, I’ll really hate you, Oppa.»

«Will you really hate Oppa?»

«…I can’t hate you! So, don’t do it again!»

«Don’t do it!»

Eunae hugged him tightly.

Pressed between two hard-to-hug kids while holding the flowers, Eunha ended up lying flat on the ground. Avernier rushed over.

Eunae and Avernier laughed gleefully in this situation.

Their mother and Julieta filmed the scene with delight.

Bruno, on the other hand, simply nodded.

«Miye, my dear daughter, I’m sorry daddy is late!»

«You jerk! How can someone who says they’ll come right away not manage to come on time?»

«Grandma is here, so it’s okay Dad. So, please go to work.»

A familiar voice said.

Eunha looked up, pressed against the children he could barely hold in his arms.

Sun Ki-joon, who was apologizing to Miye, wore a face Eunha had never seen before.

Foolish, almost laughable.

Still, not bad at all.

He looked better with his head bowed and struggling than he did with a face that couldn’t find meaning in life and was soaked in alcohol.

«Miye, Dad loves you the most in the world, right? Can’t you forgive me just once? Huh?»

«I know Dad loves me the most in the world. But this and that are different things.»

It seemed like Sun Ki-joon was going to be caught by Miye.

He imagined him looking at his daughter with a face dripping with love.

So, mister.

Take care in this life.

Don’t get drunk and lose your mind again.

Because I won’t be able to listen to your stories then.

Sun Ki-joon’s future changed.

In this life, he won’t be mocked by people as a <Loser>.

The man who lived to die and couldn’t die doesn’t exist in this world.

«Oppa, what’s wrong?»

«Oh, it’s nothing. Just feeling a bit lonely…»

The Sun Ki-joon he knew doesn’t exist in this world.

Feeling fortunate about that but unable to shake off a sense of loneliness.

«It’s okay!»

Eunha turned his head to look at Miye and Sun Ki-joon, who were smiling happily.

Eunae leaned in close, her eyes shining brightly.

«Because I’m here!»

«Hyung-ah, me too!»

The sister who didn’t exist in his previous life shouted as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

«…That’s right, I won’t be lonely because you’re here.»

The encounters that didn’t exist in his previous life now replaced the farewells in this life.

In the place where one memory fell away, a new one was filled in.

Eunha looked at his mom, who was helping him up, at Julieta hugging Avernier, at Bruno stroking Eunae’s head.

The people who made him happy in this life.

By meeting them, he was able to promise himself that he would be happy in this life.

So-.

«I’ll treat you all to steak! Deal?»

«Steak? Deal!»

─Be happy, too.