───아가페┊사랑～

|𝕺𝖓𝖊 𝔡𝔞𝔶, 𝕿𝖍𝖗𝖊𝖊 𝔞𝔲𝔱𝔲𝔪𝔫𝔰|

" Seo-yul? "

Her voice barely a whisper under the state of perturbation Na-ra found herself to be in, and by the similarities that painted through his face, The one could say the same. The fragments of the past flashing in between the two as a hope and warning.

The first love.

That would be the most precise term that could describe the boy that still lived in her past. Well, an unrequited one to be exact in her words.

Why and how you may ask??

There may be thousands of questions that arise about what happened between them where she cannot simply answer, yet the single stroke of her brush in half of her paintings knew it too well whenever she picked it up with weighted heart and empty hands.

One of the most dangerous gamble we could do in our life is to give up your heart to someone and hope to acknowledge it, even if theirs isn't yours to begin with.

The poised demeanor she withheld until now, faltered in his eyes─── just as always been even if it's been years ago, months ago or even a week ago. Whenever their gaze reaches onto each other accidentally, it was an repetition of the same story.

The guilt of something so precious that he broke into this─── a shell of perfectness, gnawed into his mind. The sole gaze of hers that penetrated into his, struck as being accused of constraining her vibrant colours into something so much she loathed.

An internal battle between regret
and the desire to move on holding
One closer.

Her fingertips ran cold with the relentless heartbeats, not because of the love she concealed for years surged out like a flood, rather it was the sting. The pricking pain of regret of what she's done still lingering as remembrance, and the boy's gaze that always reached out for her, piercing into hers as if condemning over the choices she has done. The selfishness.

The guilt of breaking down two

Snapping out of her consciousness not to get any more drunk in the daze of broken out feelings, her nail dug onto her fingers, mindful of the people that were left in the room. Yet, the sight of the gaze that embarked on hers confused her mind to the distant. Even for a mere second, the lingering eyes of his on hers, contemplating something before it soon shut her out.

" Young lady Jang Na-ra."

Distance.

A cold breeze from the words that called out for her pricking the heart like needle piercings. Her mere name stricken her heart and mind collectively with the comparable weight nearly reaping out a scorn of disbelief.

" Young lady?... " She whispered the word to herself as if the needles were pricking down through her throat. The hurt inflicted by mere words crawled to her face, a fragment of the younger figure of the boy stood right beside him, eyes shining with sole adoration towards her, contrast to the cold stranger figure of facade displayed of now.

Nevertheless, it was perfect.

As everything should be. Dwelling on the past memories as not strangers will only bring crestfallen to herself. If being strangers with regretful memories is the finest choice to get rid of the unrequited feelings that latched onto her heart, she'll be choosing that.

So in return, the girl mirrored the greetings that laced throughout nothing but coldness. The stoic features of hers obstinate to give away any sort of warmth before without an hesitation the cold demeanor deciphered into the ground to greet her beloved Masters.

" Na-ra, I was waiting for you. Come here, look."

Gesturing to come forward to his side by a wave of the hand, Master Heo pointed to the lifeless form that laid top on the freezing stone that preserved the dead ones disintegrate rather slowly.

Precise steps of eagerness took Na-ra closely to the deceased figure of a girl ───Burdening eerie serenity of quiet sorrow painted in her face, lips slightly parted as if she's meant to speak the cannot be apprehended in mere words, her dark hair loosened from the careful hold now framing her face as the strands falling slightly out of place with no attempt to fix it.

There was something that appeared to be familiar about the lifeless girl, which Na-ra could not easily point out in mere seconds. It was nearly as if she had seen the girl in her certain part of life that she couldn't recall for more any longer.

" Master Heo, who is this? " The novelty of being someone so hallowed that she's to be placed under the watch of the two piquing Na-ra's interest. Her fingertips nearly tracing her pale features that excluded any sort of warmth.

" You have heard of her, She's the infamous shadow assassin.....Naksu. "

The answer to her question halting the movements entirely. The hands that nearly made an exposure, sharply flinched back to her side as if the touch could burn into something more.

Revelation.

Naksu, no. Cho-yeong, the familiar one from once in the past is an complete lifeless form in front of her.

She's dead.

Na-ra's eyes brimmed with distress, unaware how to take the factuality the words held within. She didn't feel a slight bit of hurt, she didn't feel nothing.

Absolute nothing.

Nonetheless, the guilt of feeling the absence of emotions soon settled into her bones as it gnawed past the flesh and skin.

Her gaze leaped to the boy she held the cold gaze unwaveringly, closing the gap that filled with agitation his eye narrowed down as if to hint to not discuss the past in future.

If it's not for the empty emotions that weighed her down to the ground, she would've done the vice versa of his 'request' that pointed out as if she's idiotic enough to tear out their secrets
in a moment of perplexity.

Her eyes leaped back to the lifeless form,
the ashen of the dead skin already visible, the end of her cracked pale blue lips creased with dried crimson of her blood.

The sight was itself torture.

Thorns of realisation started to tug into her heart slowly yet painfully, the dawning in fragments of the past that stayed concealed behind her mind now circling through her sight. Yet, the tears were unruly to show in the moment of the fleet.

" Are we sure this is Naksu? "

The question nearly shriveled in her throat, reluctant to seep out without an hint of sting at the end.

She desired that atleast one would've denied her question entirely, just enough to hand in the hope that lingered past acceptance. Regardless, the familiar sword that nearly sliced her neck, laying beside the dead told her to diminish any sort of hope that left in her.

" Yes, look at this mark, It shows that the soul has left the body. Remember this mark, When someone tries to switch bodies, it leaves a blue bruise like this right on top of their heart. "

Detailing the predicament to his pupil, Master Heo pointed out the crescent blue mark that was embarked akin to a bruise on the lifeless figure's shoulder.

The sole perception of nearly understanding the result and reason of the blue mark, Compelling the hope that died down to resurrect in the minimal time.

" Wait───doesn't that mean her soul got swapped?? " The question burdens with certainty of her own credence. 

" She seems to have tried but i think she failed, because we searched everywhere but there wasn't a sign of her soul entered to another body " Master Park was the one to clear her question, the relentless persistence to find Naksu─── the one who killed the mages cold blooded, now out of one's misery.

" That.... "

Pointing out the familiar item in Seo-yul's hold───A wooden bird whistle was smooth and worn, grain rich with age. She recalled the past where it belonged to the identical hand before it pertained to another.

"It is an whistle she had." Extending his hands just enough to be the treasurable object──a showpiece while to the rest of the eyes, worthless to be said.

" Did she have a pet bird?? "

" I guess she had it for a while, It looks like an important item to her. "

Master park was the one to clear Master Heo's obvious question as the two pitifully stared down at the lifeless girl, as if only this one was the sole humane thing they knew of her.

" She may have been an assassin who killed people like it was nothing, but she was still a human. She must've had a story of her own."

Attestation of retribution void in his words which nearly perplexed the girl who stood beside to blurt out his words were true to the core. That the lifeless form in front of them had not just been a slaughtering killer, rather just a girl who was driven by anger and revenge in the state of mind of resentment.

" Na-ra, I called you so you could see the infamous Nak-su and the soul shifter mark but, It's truly late isn't it?? You should go back before maidservant kim Do-joo come here and snatch you by herself. "

Half scared of the woman who relentlessly kept complaining to the elder man that he was overworking her young lady, and half concerned about his pupil's whereabouts ───in the position of an figure that lies between a Master and an equalling as a grandfather.

" Master, you don't need to worry like that about me this excessively. I'm just your pupil after all." Her unanticipated hostile words lewd in the moment.

" That's right! You're my pupil, that's why I'm asking you.....How is your voices and dreams now?? "

The whole room went pin-drop silent at his question at the wrong time in the wrong place as he chose to be concerned over, since the trio that entails the two Masters and the pupil wasn't the only one present inside the eery room.

" About that...."

Trailing off her words unaware how to answer the question that lingered with concern over her in the presence of the boy, who appeared to be utterly in an puzzlement by the sudden topic that was thrown into the table of discussion.

" What dreams and voices?? "

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───아가페┊𝔞𝔰𝔶𝔱𝔥𝔷𝔷𝔨𝔨