Since then, the two of us hadn’t spoken.
It was awkward.
To put it simply, my sister’s request was to just keep things the same as they’ve always been.
But if things had already reached a point where she needed to say that, it meant that maintaining the same as always would require considerable effort.
Right now, I had no idea how I was supposed to treat her.
Acting like I didn’t know anything… that was out of the question. Absolutely.
I had been sensing it little by little, but my sister had never directly looked at me and said… ‘You remind me of Shihyun.’
The difference between thinking she might be subconsciously aware of it and hearing her explicitly say that she saw me as almost identical to who I used to be was huge.
From now on, I’d be as conscious of her as she was of me if not more so.
Maybe, over time, things could get a little better. But that didn’t mean we’d go back to how things were before.
Our relationship, starting today, would slowly, continuously change.
No, actually, it was already changing. Today was simply the day we became fully aware of it.
Was she thinking the same thing as me?
We’d have to see each other again tomorrow, but I didn’t know how to start a conversation with her.
In the end, during the long train ride home together, we couldn’t manage to have a proper conversation.
*
When I got back home, it was much earlier than usual.
It made sense, though. No matter how far it was, it was still within Gyeonggi Province.
The round trip had taken a little over two and a half hours, and the time we spent talking at the café hadn’t even reached an hour.
Even if you included the time it took to get to the columbarium, the time I spent staring at my urn before running away, and the time my sister spent chasing after me, it was barely past six in the evening.
My stomach growled loudly, completely indifferent to the situation.
Before we parted, my sister seemed like she wanted to say something more, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to.
Maybe she was going to suggest we grab dinner together.
We used to eat together all the time.
“…..”
But I didn’t feel like wandering around anywhere else.
To put it simply, I was mentally exhausted. My body wasn’t that tired—I’d been through far more grueling days before.
Still, there was something utterly draining about confirming, right in front of me, that in this world, I truly was a dead person.
Without a thought in my head, I trudged back toward the place I called home.
I walked through the spacious lobby of my apartment building, got into the elevator, and scanned my card key. The elevator started moving, swiftly carrying me to the upper floors.
The pressure in my ears as the elevator rose made me feel even more dazed.
I punched in the door lock code, opened the door, and…..
“Ah.”
I froze, locking eyes with Fia, who was holding a ribbon in her hands.
It wasn’t just Fia.
Everyone was holding something—sparkly garlands meant for decorating a Christmas tree, scissors, colored paper. Even Arna, who usually had a lukewarm attitude toward the extravagance of human parties, had joined in and was crafting something.
All four of them stood frozen, staring at me standing in the doorway.
Oh.
Right.
It was my birthday today.
I’d completely forgotten.
Even after receiving a gift from my sister earlier.
Without realizing it, my hand went to the necklace hanging around my neck.
“Uh…”
In the midst of the awkward silence, Fia’s surprised face shifted, and she forced an awkward smile.
“W-Welcome back… Um, this is…”
How was I supposed to handle this atmosphere?
Pretending I hadn’t seen anything and heading straight to my room would only make things more awkward.
They must have been decorating the place to surprise me when I got back, trying to throw a proper birthday party.
I spotted a cake box off to the side.
It seemed my companions hadn’t been satisfied with just that trip we took on Wednesday they wanted to celebrate my birthday properly, too.
…Ah, seriously.
I’m so bad at reading the room.
*
Something was clearly off about Shihyun.
I could tell immediately just by looking at him.
The corners of his eyes were slightly red. His eyes were bloodshot, and while they weren’t swollen—suggesting he hadn’t cried just now—it was clear he had shed tears earlier. Even if he hadn’t, he must have come close.
On top of that, he’d come home much earlier than usual.
Did something happen at work?
He was wearing a necklace around his neck. Shihyun, who normally didn’t bother with accessories, stood out with that silver necklace.
He was fidgeting with it in his hands, too.
I didn’t know the full details, but it wasn’t hard to guess that something had happened between Shihyun and his so-called “first love”—the older woman from his workplace.
“Y-You must be tired, right!?”
The first to break the tension was Fia.
She had been the one who had rushed to the door as soon as she heard the beeping of the door lock, too startled to put down the decorations she was holding. Unsurprisingly, she was the one who ended up face-to-face with Shihyun as he walked in.
Truthfully, her plan had been to distract him somehow and buy time. While Shihyun wouldn’t get upset about them preparing a party for him, it was different from pulling off a well-timed surprise. Getting caught halfway through the preparations wouldn’t have the same impact.
She hadn’t figured out how to delay his return, but regardless, she’d bolted to the door.
And somehow, she ended up staring directly at a completely exhausted Shihyun as he came through it.
Flustered, Fia hastily placed the ribbon in her hands on the floor and hurried over to him. Grabbing his left arm with both hands, she tugged at him.
“Uh, but…”
Shihyun, led somewhat hastily by Fia, kicked off his shoes and let himself be pulled into the house. His gaze drifted toward the half-finished decorations in the room.
Even in such an exhausted and sorrowful state, he was still aware of the four of them who had been preparing this party for him.
“You just got back! Don’t worry about anything right now. How about washing up first? Or should you change clothes first?”
Fia, determined to do something……anything to improve the mood, continued pulling Shihyun into the house. Her thoughts, however, were completely jumbled.
What should she say? What could she say to make him smile?
It wasn’t just because the goddess had asked her to look after him. Fia genuinely didn’t want Shihyun to feel sad or hurt.
“Right, you must be tired from your trip. Just take it easy for now,” said Kalia, standing up next.
She set down the scissors and colored paper she’d been holding on the table and walked over to Shihyun as well.
With Kalia’s gentle but firm push on his back, Shihyun stumbled toward his room, still looking slightly bewildered.
“Uh, but—”
“That’s right, don’t worry about us. Just get plenty of rest.”
Since today was Shihyun’s birthday, Dana wasn’t so tactless as to repeat the same words. The fact that Shihyun was wearing a necklace she normally didn’t wear, the fact that today was her birthday, and the fact that she had come home much earlier than usual everything pointed to this being related to the ‘noona’ Shihyun had mentioned.
On top of that, Dana also knew that the birthday of the identity Shihyun was currently using was entirely different from her actual birthday. Since she had received a gift ‘today,’ it wasn’t too hard to imagine what might have happened. Still, she couldn’t picture it with absolute clarity.
“……”
Arna quietly watched as Shihyun went into her room. Kalia and Fia followed her in, but they came back out shortly afterward.
“……”
“……”
The three of them stood silently, straining their ears.
“…I can faintly hear water running,” Arna said.
The house was well soundproofed, so even if the shower was on in Shihyun’s bathroom, it wouldn’t be loud in the living room. However, Arna, with her elven sensitivity especially as someone who had worked as a scout on the battlefield had no trouble picking up the sound.
At Arna’s observation, the others let out long breaths.
“…What do you think happened?”
She couldn’t help but notice how Shihyun had been gradually growing brighter as time passed. Though the scars from the battlefield didn’t seem to have completely faded, she felt as though Shihyun was getting better, bit by bit, every day.
Arna silently watched Fia’s anxious expression before letting out a small sigh.
“Do you know something?”
At that, Arna furrowed her brows slightly. It wasn’t a look of irritation; rather, her gaze was fixed somewhere on the table in front of her, as if she was deeply lost in thought.
“We all came here because the goddess asked us to. If you know something about Shihyun, wouldn’t it be better to share it? After all, it’s something we’ll have to solve together,” Dana said.
After a moment of silence, Arna let out a long breath.
“…You’re right. Hiding it won’t solve anything.”
Finally, she opened her mouth and began to speak, slowly and carefully.