Red Ginseng Candy from Another World


    -Kid.


    Another nightmare unfolds today.


    The nightmare, which brings unbearable sorrow, once again invades the dream that started with a light heart.


    Under the dark bridge.


    The rainy sky.


    The boy who should not exist.


    The nightmare, which unfolds in the harshest environment she had ever known, reflected the small, young girl.


    The boy walked toward the girl, who sat with her knees drawn up. With a bitter smile, he hesitated, unsure of how to start the conversation.-The stars are really out tonight.


    A kind voice.


    The boy spoke, not ming the girl who didn’t thank him for the food he brought.


    As always, the girl didn’t respond. She simply buried her face between her knees, waiting for somefort in her sorrow.


    Under the sky where stars fell and the Milky Way spread, the boy began his usual monologue toward the girl.


    -You know…


    -…


    -I don’t have a mother.


    -…


    -Damn it…


    -Pfft.


    -I don’t even know her face or who she is. I don’t have a father either. What is this? I’m not even Park Hyeokgeose.


    -Park… Hyeok… geose?


    -…


    The girlughed.


    She burst intoughter at the boy’s joke.


    And then.


    The nightmare slowly began to turn crimson.


    -Run.


    -Ah… Ahh…


    -Don’t be reckless.


    -No, I can’t.


    -Don’t look back. Just run.


    The boy who couldn’t leave.


    The girl who had no choice but to leave.


    Once again, the dark nightmare brought both sweetness and terror, searching for the mistakes.


    Slowly.


    -I’m someone who keeps promises.


    And terrifyingly.


    “Stop…!”


    Michail woke up, gasping for breath, sitting up in the bed at the Academy.


    “Ha


    His forehead was drenched in cold sweat.


    His shirt was soaked.


    Michail curled up, hiding his head between his knees.


    “Please…”


    The memories remained intact.


    The kind voice.


    The breath that made his heart tremble.


    The sorrowful heartbeat that throbbed painfully in his chest, so vivid it was hard to believe it was just a dream.


    “….”


    As always, the boy’s face, hidden in darkness, didn’t appear, and the desperate emotions and deep-seated worries in Michail’s heart continued to torment him.


    No matter how much he wanted to erase it, he couldn’t.


    The memories of the past, too painful to think about, tore at his heart.


    The sorrow that he couldn’t share with anyone made Michail clench his fists.


    “Please…”


    Michail wanted to escape this cycle. It was a selfish thought, but if he could sever itpletely, he wanted to erase the memories entirely. The pain in his chest was that unbearable.


    Hiding his head between his knees, Michail muttered softly.


    “I want it to stop now.”


    The doubts about the life he had lived under the name Michail never disappeared.


    He wanted to live as the person the boy remembered.


    The desire to wear pretty clothes like other girls had long since faded.


    There was a time when he dreamed of such things, but those feelings had disappeared long ago.


    Michail closed his eyes and held back the tears. His trembling shoulders and the cool night air offered nofort.


    ‘Since that day, the nightmares seem to have gotten worse.’


    After losing the duel with Hanna, the frequency of the nightmares, and the sorrow that brought both peace and despair, seemed to have intensified.


    The memories he wanted to forget the most came flooding back after he missed the opportunity he had desperately clung to.


    The survival of that child.


    Michail, who had been deceived by the prank of the Blue Window, which had nted hope in the form of a memory named Lee Minhyuk, felt regret, even though he knew it was a lie.


    It might have been a hallucination.


    Or perhaps it was a vision of the wish he most desperately desired.


    “….”


    His sweat-soaked hair showed no signs of drying. His damp shirt, clinging to him, seemed to scream at him not to lie back down.


    “….”


    Michail let out a deep sigh and got out of bed.


    Under the moonlight that illuminated his pale legs, his bare lower body walked toward the window.


    -Thud.


    Leaning against the window frame, Michail murmured with a faint smile.


    “You know….”


    “Don’t I look like a fool?”


    Michail spoke to the moon, his words hanging in the air with no one to answer.


    “Crying on my own, getting disappointed on my own….”


    “Wanting to show you a cool side of me, I spent all night tormenting a scarecrow.”


    “If it were you, you’d probably tell me I’m an idiot.”


    Michail let out a deep sigh and lowered his head.


    “What would you say if you saw me now?”


    You’d probably think I’m pathetic.


    If it were him, he would definitely say, ‘Why are you living so miserably?’


    Michail took a deep breath of the night air, hoping the cold breeze would clear the suffocating feeling in his heart.


    “You know. I still can’t say your name properly.”


    Michail smiled faintly and carefully whispered the name from his memories.


    “Lee… Minhyuk.”


    As the awkward pronunciation slipped from his lips, Michail blushed in embarrassment.


    “It’s been over ten years, and I still can’t even say your name properly. What an idiot I am.”


    No family.


    No friends.


    No one to rely on, and yet, he kept calling out to the friend who was probably resting peacefully. Michail felt sorry.


    “Sorry for calling you so often.”


    Michail stood leaning against the window for a long time.


    -Whoooosh


    The wind blew through Michail’s room, causing the white dress to flutter. The dress, which held a small desire to one day show it to the boy, swayed as it hung in the wardrobe.


    ***


    “Ugh!”


    Another peaceful day at the youngdy’s mansion.


    The youngdy sitting on the bed spat out a fierce curse. With a face full of anger, she red at me and threw the pile of red candy wrappers on the floor in a fit of rage.


    “Ugh!”


    “What’s wrong, miss? I brought candy since the chocte ran out.”


    “….”


    The youngdy frowned as she looked at the ominous drawing on the red packaging.


    “This isn’t candy.”


    “It is.”


    “Why is there a nt drawn on the candy?”


    “Maybe it’s made from nts.”


    “…How do you make candy from nts?”


    “Um… skillfully?”


    The youngdy clenched her fists and red at me. Her gaze was full of threats, as if she would throw all the candy out the window if I didn’t tell the truth.


    “…Sniff sniff.”


    As expected, the youngdy was definitely like a dog.


    I nodded and confessed the truth to the youngdy. That it wasn’t the chocte she had been expecting as a snack.


    “Actually, this is a product Mr. Malik and I developed.”


    “Why is Ricardo making candy?”


    “I wanted to give you something delicious.”


    “Oh… impressive.”


    “I know.”


    “Annoying.”


    I nodded lightly at the youngdy’s small rebellion and continued speaking. After all, ‘annoying’ was just apliment.


    “Anyway, I brought it to ask for your taste review.”


    The youngdy, holding the candy in her hand, red at me fiercely.


    “What’s it made of?”


    “…That’s a secret.”


    “Tell me.”


    “It won’t kill you.”


    The youngdy squinted at the packaging, unsure if this was really candy.


    I couldn’t tell her the truth.


    “….”


    Because I knew she would be furious if she ate it.


    The youngdy nced at me and began to tear open the candy wrapper. As the familiar scent of the candy wafted through the air, I smiled slightly and nodded toward the skeptical youngdy.


    “It’ll be sweet and delicious.”


    “….”


    -Chomp!


    “Probably.”


    As soon as she put it in her mouth, I began to confess the truth while slowly backing away from the bed, securing a safe distance.


    If I wanted to avoid the youngdy’s attack, I needed to stay far from the bed, where there were plenty of things to throw.


    The youngdy’s face gradually turned pale.


    “Ughhh!”


    Perhaps the candy’s effects were kicking in, as the youngdy clenched her fists, her expression one that would move the heart of any developer.


    “Ughhhh!!!!!!”


    I told the youngdy the truth.


    “Actually, this candy is a ‘Mandrake’ candy, made for an older demographic….”


    “Huh?”


    Judging by the strange expression on the youngdy’s face, as if she had eaten something that had turned her into a person, I could tell that the Mandrake’s effects were indeed strong.


    “How do you feel? Don’t you feel energized?”


    “Huh?”


    The youngdy, making strange noises and spitting out the candy, looked at me with a question mark on her face.


    And then.


    “Ugh!”


    I heard the youngdy’s scream, filled with frustration.


    “I’m going to report you to the Noble Abuse Committee!”


    “That doesn’t exist.”


    “I’ll make one!”


    The youngdy, ring at the mountain of candy piled on the bed, looked like she was about to explode.


    I had given her a mountain of candy, so what was the problem?


    Recalling the inspiration I had gotten from red ginseng candy in my previous life, I smiled bitterly at the youngdy’s harsh evaluation of my masterpiece.


    Carefully unwrapping another candy wrapper, I tossed it into the youngdy’s mouth as she screamed and whistled softly.


    “Ughhh!”


    The youngdy’s taste was firm.


    I nodded as I jotted down her reaction in my notebook.


    [Not suitable for children.]


    ‘But the youngdy is an adult.’


    I quickly underlined the note and rewrote the conclusion.


    [Poison for a viiness.]


    It seemed the youngdy’s feedback had been very helpful before releasing the product. Malik had said it was delicious, but we needed to test it on a variety of people.


    We also had to decide where tounch the product.


    If we marketed it as a premium item, we could probably make a bigger profit.


    Handing the teary-eyed youngdy a rectangr object, I gave her a small payment for her participation. Even if she was a viiness, she deservedpensation for her efforts.


    “Huh?”


    The suspicious youngdy looked at me with a question mark on her face, but I reassured her by unwrapping the chocte for her.


    “It’s chocte.”


    “It’s not something gross inside, is it?”


    “I’m not that much of a devil.”


    “…Devil.”


    “If you don’t want it, I’ll take it back.”


    “Sorry.”


    The youngdy held the chocte in both hands and nodded.


    I looked at the youngdy and cautiously asked.


    “Miss.”


    “Hmm?”


    With her mouth covered in chocte, the youngdy turned her head and answered.


    “If the chocte tasted like Mandrake, what would you do?”


    “…Hmm.”


    The youngdy frowned as she thought about it, chewing the chocte absentmindedly.


    “I’d hit you.”


    “Of course.”


    “Hmm.”


    “Then, what if it was chocte, but there was Mandrake inside the chocte?”


    “Huh?”


    The youngdy looked at the cross-section of the chocte with a tearful expression.


    “Are you trying to assassinate me?”


    “No, I’m just curious. And chocte is too expensive to make carelessly.”


    “Whew.”


    The youngdy nodded in agreement.


    “Well, I think…”


    -Chomp.


    “As long as it tastes good, I don’t mind.”


    “Is that so?”


    “Hmm.”


    “Miss.”


    “Hmm?”


    Actually.


    “Never mind.”


    I swallowed the words that were about to escape my throat and shook my head.


    The youngdy, who had suffered the worst thing in the world, clenched her fists in frustration.


    “Ugh!! What is it!”


    “Well…”


    “Hmm.”


    “Here, have another one.”


    “Hehe…!”


    The youngdy really liked chocte.


    End of Chapter