The Novel's Extra - Side Story 45.2 – Dream in a Dream (45)

The nurse taking care of the patient at the Severance Hospital VIP ward went about her business and checked the patient’s condition like usual.

Blood pressure… normal.

Pulse… normal.

Nutrition… normal.

Surprisingly, the patient didn’t suffer from any nutritional deficiency despite not having eaten or been injected with anything for the longest time. It seemed her body remained in its most optimum condition while asleep.

The nurse went through her checklist before checking the patient’s eyes.

“Huh?”

The patient’s blue eyes seemed to be looking at the ceiling after opening. A tear formed and sparkled like a crystal.

“H-Huh?!” the nurse screamed and fell on her butt. She crawled on all four and left the ward as fast as she could, “Doctor! Doctor!”

Rachel finally woke up from her slumber after the nurse left. She groaned and turned in bed to find Evandel asleep beside her.

A smile full of love bloomed on Rachel’s face.

It seemed that Evandel also had the same dream to stay with me…

Bam!

Someone loudly barged in through the door. It wasn’t the doctor or nurse, but Kim Hajin. It seemed he just woke up too.

He walked towards her with a relieved expression.

“Hajin?” Rachel weakly smiled in response.

“Yes, it’s me.”

It’s me.

He didn’t sound any different from usual, but Rachel felt something heavy push down on her chest after hearing those words. However, she tried her best to suppress the pain welling up from her heart and stroked Evandel’s head before changing the topic.

“Evandel must still be dreaming, right?”

“Yes, it must be related to the dream. Rachel…”

“Yeah, her dream was connected to mine.”

Evandel followed her all the way inside the dream and probably wouldn’t wake if Rachel didn’t.

“Are you alright?” Kim Hajin carefully asked.

Rachel smiled at him, “Aren’t you curious what kind of dream I had?”

“Huh? Ah… Yeah, I’m curious…” Kim Hajin replied with a nod.

Rachel already prepared a response if he ever asked about her dream.

“A dream about never giving up.”

“What? Never giving up on what?”

He seemed quite dense right now for some reason.

Rachel flashed a mischievous smile and thought about what kind of a person he was to her.

“Hmm… Hajin…” she muttered with a finger on her lips.

“Yes?”

“Do you want me to give up?”

Kim Hajin tilted his head in confusion, but Rachel didn’t explain as she pressed him for a response.

“Hurry up. Answer me.”

“Hmm…” Kim Hajin contemplated for a moment and smirked, “No.”

He gave the same response like in her sweet dream, “I don’t know what you’re going to give up on, but not giving up suits you much better… like a knight full of conviction.”

It was a satisfactory answer. Her heart ached, but she felt proud of herself for some reason.

“But why are you suddenly asking that? And what aren’t you giving up on?” Kim Hajin asked with a curious look.

Rachel grabbed his arm and pulled him towards her for a hug. No, she tried to hug him, but noticed someone standing at the door looking at them. She chose to wrap her arms around his neck and put him in a headlock.

Only after Kim Hajin coughed a few times and seemed to be suffering did she finally let him go.

“W-What was that all about?”

Rachel shrugged and flashed a mischievous smile, “I’m not going to tell you. Never ever.”

She sounded like the bright and cheery Rachel that Kim Hajin always knew.

***

Rachel and Evandel went to the East Sea on a bright summer day after Evandel said she wanted to play at the beach.

“Hihihi! Kim Hayang lost to me!”

“Meow!”

Evandel was having a competition with Hayang on the beach while Rachel summoned her spirits and tried to harmonize them.

“It still works…” she muttered in surprise.

The growth she achieved in her dream had remained.

The dream world was actually a smaller world created by the Tower of Miracle from what she heard. It could be considered another dimension, so half the things that occurred in it could be considered real.

The theory was difficult to understand, but that was all in the past now.

Of course, she missed that past from time to time. She missed that person always inches away from her… swimming in happiness all the time.

However, Rachel gained a powerful motivation after waking up from her dream.

She felt confident that she could overcome anything and everything now. She could accomplish all her goals in life. That dream gave her the conviction to never give up under any circumstances and that became her new life motto.

Someone familiar approached as she reminisced about those memories.

“Are you okay?”

Rachel realized who it was from that single sentence and didn’t even bother looking. The person sat next to her on the bench.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Rachel replied.

“Nice try. What do you mean you’re fine? I bet you’re dying inside right now,” Chae Nayun teased her by being ever so direct.

Rachel looked at her.

Chae Nayun stuck out her tongue to annoy Rachel.

“Pfft… No, I still have a lot of time left,” Rachel said with a laugh.

“A lot of time?”

“Yeah, I think I might actually have a chance.”

“What? What chance are you talking about?”

“I decided not to give up, you see.”

Rachel decided to accept the challenge. She steeled her resolve to not run away anymore whether it be England, her guild, or love. She resolved to pursue them until the very end. She no longer wanted to be a coward who ran away from challenges.

“Also, I think Evandel will like me the most from now on,” Rachel said with a smile.

“Ha! You’re funny,” Chae Nayun scoffed in response.

Chae Nayun muttered something under her breath along the lines of, What kind of childish nonsense are you talking about?

Rachel went on the offensive this time, “What about you? Are you okay?”

“Me? Ah, I’ve finished my preparations as well,” Chae Nayun took out something that looked like a piece of ham.

“What’s that?”

“A time capsule. Kim Hajin gave it to me a long time ago.”

The Miracle Stone gifted Chae Nayun the ability to regress using this time capsule as a medium.

“Oh,” Rachel found the whole thing quite intriguing. Then she asked, “So what are you going to do if you go back?”

“Who knows? I don’t have any plans to be honest. I don’t really want to meddle with things… Oh, I’ll save my brother at least,” Chae Nayun replied with a shrug.

“That sounds like something you would do.”

“You seem to have changed a lot.”

Rachel smirked at Chae Nayun’s words.

Chae Nayun pursed her lips and looked at Evandel playing on the beach with Hayang.

Rachel followed Chae Nayun’s gaze and asked, “In your world… Evandel might not exist, right?”

Chae Nayun yawned and leaned back on the beach. She looked carefree like always.

“Again, who knows? After all, I do have some attachment to that kid…”

Then, she opened the locks on the time capsule.

Click… Clack!

Rachel curiously peeked inside the time capsule.

Chae Nayun placed the fully recovered Miracle Stone in the time capsule and closed it again.

“Are you going now?” Rachel asked.

“Yeah, I should get going now that you’re back,” Chae Nayun nonchalantly replied.

“Ah… Thanks for everything.”

“Thanks for what?” Chae Nayun looked at Rachel and continued, “Well, take care. Explain to the others for me if I suddenly disappear, princess.”

Chae Nayun saluted Rachel in a mocking manner and raised her left hand to her forehead.

“You should use your right hand when you salute…” Rachel corrected her.

Chae Nayun squinted at her and grumbled, “What does it matter whether I use my right or left hand? Are you a boomer? Ah… I almost forgot. Here, take this.”

She extended something towards Rachel, “Here.”

“…?”

Rachel tilted her head in confusion when Chae Nayun placed a purple stone fragment in her hand.

“It’s a fragment of the Miracle Stone that created your dream. No, it was a bit too real to call it a dream. Let’s just call it another world. Anyways, it’s what remains of that world. Oh, Kim Hajin was also in your dream by the way.”

“Huh? Hajin was?” Rachel’s eyes widened.

Did that mean not only Evandel, but also Kim Hajin was in her dream?

Rachel’s face turned bright red as she recalled her memories from the dream.

“Yeah, he spent a week trying to save you. I don’t think he remembers anything from the dream though. I doubt he was even able to act according to how he wanted in your dream. He became quite weak, you see.”

“Ah… what the…”

“I have no idea what that’s for, but I just thought I should probably give it to you. After all, I was able to retrieve my fragment thanks to you. Think of it as a little souvenir from your dream.”

Rachel looked down at the purple stone the size of her nail. It didn’t feel like an ordinary stone that simply looked pretty.

“Then, I’m going for real this time.”

Chae Nayun sounded like she was taking a short trip somewhere not too far away. Rachel couldn’t say goodbye and only watched her leave.

Goodbyes were always painful, but everyone had to live with them.

“Take care,” Chae Nayun said as she walked away while waving.

The sun began to set and painted the sky orange, but a bright ray of light suddenly exploded and illuminated the entire world.

Rachel closed her eyes and opened them again.

Shwaa…

The waves gently swayed and the sun slowly set as if nothing had happened.

Chae Nayun, who was just beside her, began a journey to somewhere no one else knew and disappeared like a mirage that never existed.

“Evandel… It’s time to go home,” Rachel called out with a smile.

Evandel had been making a pillar out of seashells and ran towards Rachel while giggling and racing with Hayang.

“Hihihi!”

Evandel jumped into Rachel’s embrace after beating Hayang again. Rachel watched the sunset as she hugged the child.

The setting sun looked breathtaking.

“Haa…” Rachel sighed when the memories she treasured in the corner of her heart popped up in her head again. Her memories from the dream when she confessed to the person she loved. She reminisced about those beautiful memories one by one as she left the beach with Evandel.

The cool breeze brushed past her hair and the last rays of sunlight shone on her before the sky turned dark. The waves crashing against the rocks could be heard and a bird flying through the sky let out a small cry.

No one remained on the bench anymore.

Rachel would now go against the tides of reality armed with the newly found conviction she obtained from the sweetest dream in her life.