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𝐅𝐄𝐖 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 :

" What does she think of herself coming to a sacred place like here to study if she can't even perform spell?? "

Laughter echoed through the room while everyone's eyes was glued to the particular girl sitting aside giving no mind to the hateful comments.

" I mean guys, ... It's really not her fault that she was born from an affai- "

Before the word could voice out Na-ra slammed her hands on her table as she stood, Fed up with whatever was going on for weeks now since she has joined in sejukwon just to study healing under Master Heo.

" Ah... It's so noisy.. "

Na-ra muttered annoyed by the bullshit she needed to be put up with while couple of scoffs were earned around the room.

" Na-ra, don't listen to their words... Just ignore them.. "

Yun-ok slightly held the girl's shoulders trying to say not to be rational.

Na-ra sighed staring at the girl , giving out a faint smile as she sat back however the next second, three figures stood
in front of the two.

" Yun-ok, just be honest. You're just friends with her cause you feel pity towards her , isn't it??I mean aren't you fed up with her too?? Even your grandfather favours her more..."

A girl with her two underlings behind Mockingly laughed as the other two laughed like a replica , while the half of the people in the room snickered.

" Ha-yoon, please stop... "

Yun-ok practically pleaded while the latter scoffed with disbelief retreating to their seats.

" Why are you begging to them?? It's not like you did something wrong?!? "

Yun-ok gave the girl a faint smile as an reply for her question .

" You're too kind for your own good... "

Na-ra whispered under her breath as a smiled seeped through her lips while focusing back to her book.

.......

" Where are we going?? "

Na-ra who was confused at yun-ok who swiftly took her hands from her reading session and walking ahead pulling the girl with her glanced back with a nervous smile in her lips.

" Just... I have something to show you..."

" Really?? What is it?? - no! Don't tell me!! It's a surprise right?? "

Na-ra squeaked in excitement following her friend to a secluded part of the annex .

" Wait... Why are we here?? "

Clueless, Na-ra questioned as yun-ok halted in front of a room.

" There is a painting inside... You like paintings right?? There is a really pretty painting inside, I wanted to Show it you...look."

The latter pointed inside the room while Na-ra's eyes followed inside which was filled up with darkness other than a ray of small dim light far ahead.

" Here?.... Are you sure?? "

Na-ra awkwardly asked as she glanced back to the room full of darkness and to the particular girl who was certainly looking to a corner before however brings back her gaze to the girl in a second.

" Why!Don't you trust me?!? "

It was the first time the sweet kind girl towards Na-ra yelled as if she was accusing her while Na-ra just played it off cause she was the first ever friend she made other than her mystery friend in Dahyanggok .

" Why would you say that?...of course I trust you.. "

Na-ra smiled widely as she stepped into the darkness filled room with yun-ok, feeling certain creepiness inside her for no reason.

" That... "

Yun-ok pointed to the dim light before the latter saw, behind the light there was a painting. A beautiful one at that.

A painting of cherry blossoms withering away while a figure fading away with it.

" It's beautiful.... "

Na-ra muttered under her breath as her eyes was filled with the reflection of the painting regardless the next second she hear was the door slamming shut, regaining her senses only to see her friend isn't beside her anymore.

" Yun-ok?... Yun-ok?!? "

Na-ra swiftly moved to the door knocking against the door hurriedly, confused as she called out for her friend.

The next second the only window in the room wide open with an bang as Na-ra run upto it only to met with the the trio of girls that have been nitpicking her from the start and with them, yun-ok with terrified look all over her face refusing to meet the girl's eyes.

" Oh~ who is this? Why are you doing there alone Na-ra?? Aren't you scared? Ah! Right!! You are the daughter of the fearless mage Jang-Gang right?? .... aren't you?... "

The girl mockingly laughed with sinister glint in her eyes.

" What are you doing? OPEN THE
DOOR!! "

Na-ra screamed at the girl as the trio looked annoyed as another girl from the trio stepped up.

" Shut up! You don't have a voice. You're just an invisible burden , that's all.. "

" Yun-ok... What are you doing?? Open the door... "

Na-ra questioned the girl who wasn't meeting her eyes until now as the guilt was weighting her down .

" She won't do it. I mean certainly since she was the one who trapped you inside here."

" ... What?... "

" I'm sorry Na-ra... But it isn't fair for me too!! I study just like you, no... More than you! Still why am I the second!! IT'S UNFAIR!! You can't even perform spells,you are someone who was born in an affair and still...why should you be the first?!? "

The girl yelled out her mind in an second while Na-ra stared at her, not recognizing the girl in front of her.

She wasn't the sweet , kind friend Na-ra had, This person in front of her was an deranged girl who is holding on too many resentment and grudge.

" Seems like no one likes you ...as it should...."

One of the girl's injected her words like poison while the others smirked and closed the window, shutting off the only light inside the room rather than the dim light inside.

Na-ra banged on the window as much as she can and on the door too, However there was no use. There wasn't a sound of life from outside.

Na-ra looked around, the darkness was engulfing her while tears formed on her eyes walking upto the remaining light looking around trembling in fear as she squirmed into a corner while the tears kept streaming through her cheeks.

She wasn't crying just because her friend or anyone did something like that to her rather, she was crying because she was mad.

Mad at her father for abandoning her.

Mad at her brother for trying.

Mad at herself for being naive.

Mad at the world for being so unfair to her.

Then again the girl's eyes went upto the painting hung below and back to the closed door.

" Please.... Please, someone save me... "

.......

𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐘 :

" You got to be kidding me right now... "

" Na-ra... "

A forgotten yet an unforgettable voice seeped into Na-ra's ears while her ears and mind ringed with a familiar yet an unfamiliar laughters of past.

" Do not touch him... "

Na-ra focused on yun-ok's hand that was close to her brother's face and as if that called her out, the girl retracted her hand in an second.

" Na-ra.. It's been a while.. "

" Yes, it seems so. Young lady Heo ... "

Na-ra walked upto uk as her whole eyes focused on him while yun-ok stepped back awkwardly.

" Just need a hungover medicine.. "

Na-ra whispered to herself checking her brother.

" I can treat him-"

" I would dare not to..... Thank you for treating him yesterday but.... He's just drunk. I can treat him. "

Cold and firm every line without an ounce of affection or any other feelings Na-ra thanked the girl who nervously stepped up.

" No!!.. I.. I mean it's okay, you would be tired from the training and all. I heard you can perform spel- "

" Is that all? If it is, it's alright. I'm not that tired now enough to not care about my brother so, it will be good if you can leave.... Since you had a long trip... "

Yet again Na-ra showed her cold shoulder to the girl as latter with guilt written look stared at the ground.

" You.. Do not still hold grudges from the past do you? I didn't knew they would-"

" I think you need to leave.... Young lady."

Na-ra clipped her voice in a line interrupting the latter as the girl glanced back to uk and to Na-ra before she stepped out of the room.

As if Na-ra was holding onto her breath all this time,she let herself fall on the chair beside uk shutting her eyes close as she could still see the painting ,the dim light, the figure fading away Everything went back. Back to the past she wished to forget. Back to the past where she started to hate paintings and withering cherry blossoms.

" Looks like I need to rip another

......

Na-ra was currently walking through the eery wet training ground from the rain yesterday as her thoughts was already consumed by the past fragment memories, trying to seep and lead into many dreadful thoughts .

After young-hee who didn't accepted the rest day that was given, said she will take care of Uk since Na-ra should get some rest by seeing the pale complexion.

However the girl was snapped out from the trance as she heard her name calling out from behind, turning around to see the familiar summer boy...... With a specific airhead.... Seo-yul.

The girl's smile dropped in a second. perplexed to see the man after yesterday's turn of events and as if her body took initiative before her mind could, Na-ra quickly turned around and speed walked away from the two as if her life depended on it while her face was covered with pink tint reminiscing about a specific memory.

" Wait- Na-ra! Where are you- And she's gone..."

Park dang-gu scratched his back of his neck confused by the girl while Yul on the side was also confused by the girl who ran from them like she just saw a ghost.

" Did something really happened yesterday?"

Yul whispered to himself as he tried to think back to the blurry night however how much he tried to reminisce about it, nothing other than the half moon and a familiar blurry face was all he could remember. And from that moment he swore to himself he would never touch alcohol again in his entire life.

.....

" Waah !! What should I do?!? I should confront it right?!? But.. That's so embarrassing!!! No wait!-And why does he look so okay?!? Why I'm the one who's panicking?!? "

Na-ra whisper yelled to herself in frustration as she tried to cool down her red tinted cheeks by her cold hands regardless her mind kept going back to a specific moment which didn't help at all.

" Are you okay?? "

A male concerned voiced echoed through Na-ra's ears as she slowly looked up meeting their eyes.

" ... Kim Hwan?.."

The girl called out seeing the familiar man with his signature comfort smile laying on his lips.

" I thought we were past from the last name basis? Wait..Why does your face look so red-"

" I just kind of ran!!..... Like a morning exercise for...for more physical
strength!! "

Na-ra laughed off with a lie as she stretched out her hands trying to make her obvious lie more believable while the guy only chuckled at the girl with smily eyes full of adoration.

" Ooh, seems like you're reallyyyy training hard so... Do you like to have a sword match?? We can see how much you progressed ,Without performing spells of course."

Na-ra took that last sentence to her heart as she narrowed her eyes with mischievous glint , eager to show her progress like a student to her master.

" Okayyy!! "

The duo walked down to the training center which was more secluded than the others . Standing opposite to each other as Na-ra took out her swords with grin plastered on her face just as the boy who unsheathed his sword.

The two bowed in unison and without wasting another second Na-ra swinged her sword and tried to strike the boy, regardless with years of training the boy easily dodged the strike.

" Much more precise then last , you really did train hard. "

The man smiled at the girl from behind while the girl spinned around with the sword for another strike however this time the boy defended with his sword as the girl staggered back in the contact.

" Don't spin around for a strike, spinning around in circle before delivering a blow actually reduces it's strength of blow and it's also can be a disadvantage since I could easily stab you in the back before you had time to fully turn around. "

The boy adviced as the girl took a second to take it in her mind and for the next strike the girl looked slightly up and moved her blade a little as the sunlight deflected to the boy's eyes from the blade for a second which made the boy to look away by the sudden light, and taking the opportunity the girl rather than spinning around for a strike ,Na-ra ran forward and clashed her swords with the boy who got off guard pushing him back as he staggers back.

" That was.... Good. The timing , distance and the reaction time and most importantly the idea. I really didn't expected that move. "

The boy who was quite impressed complemented the girl as she smiled widely in the small victory actually proud of herself pulling that move .

" But.... Your stance is weak. Every time you strike or take a blow, your stance is not strong enough and even when you want to perform spells in a strike it could be a problem."

Hwan pointed out Na-ra's weak point from the fight as the girl listened carefully and stepped up raising her two swords as she let the energy course through them as she swinged at the air , he was right. The swing did made her stagger back by the weak stance.

" So I need to strengthen my stance then."

" Right. But it's not that hard just place your right foot forward a bit strong while your left foot shoul- "

Hwan walked behind the girl as he placed his hands on Na-ra's sword making the girl's fighting stance more clear however a sudden sound of something breaking interrupting the two .

The girl curiously walked forward to the point where she heard the sound however there wasn't even a trace of something or someone.

" What was that??.... "

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𝘼𝙧𝙞𝙣 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙙
😭👋🏻

𝙃𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙤 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙥𝙞𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙨,
𝙃𝙤𝙥𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙜𝙪𝙮𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙮 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙄'𝙢 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙭𝙖𝙢𝙨 😭🤧 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙝 𝙬𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙨....

𝘼𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙄'𝙢 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙜𝙪𝙮𝙨 2000 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙮'𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙚 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡 ( 𝙟𝙠 𝙄 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙜𝙪𝙮𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜)

𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙝 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙄 𝙩𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙜𝙪𝙮𝙨 𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙄 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙙𝙤 𝙞𝙩 𝙛𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙄'𝙢 𝙩𝙧𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙄 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙤.....

𝙔𝙚𝙖𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙞𝙩 𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠? 𝙄 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙥𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙠𝙠𝙠!!! 🤍