MM Prologue

PR by neji

I had a dream. I was underneath the black, cold water. I didn’t know why I had fallen in here, and I began to flail. The more I squirmed, the deeper my body sank into the abyss. I didn’t know how to swim.

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I couldn’t breathe.

The moment I realized that I’d never be able to get out of the water, I was filled with terror.

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I tried to scream, but nothing came out. My mouth opened and closed like a fish that was stuck inside a fishbowl.

Someone save me.

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Please, someone rescue me.

Suddenly, a white hand appeared from within the darkness. It was a familiar hand. I didn’t waste another moment and stretched out to grab it.

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Save me.

Rescue me.

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The white hand tightened around my own and pulled me out with surprising strength. I opened my eyes and let out a shaky breath.

“Haa…”

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I saw something bright within the darkness. The owner of the white hand in my dream. I didn’t know why Lee Kyuwol was in my room. Was I still dreaming? But I suddenly felt hot, and I found it difficult to breathe.

“Cough…!”

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My throat twisted and spasmed as a cough burst out of my mouth. My lungs screamed out in pain, and I realized that this wasn’t a dream. This was real.

“Wake up.”

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He grabbed my shoulder and murmured. His voice was clear. It was difficult to breathe with all this smoke. Before I could figure out what had happened, my body moved first.

I swung my shaky legs down from my bed and stood up to follow him. He was about to grab the door knob but suddenly froze. Then he stepped back and kicked the door down. The hinge shook before the entire door crashed to the floor. I didn’t have time to be amazed by his strength. The current situation was too chaotic.

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“Haa…”

When we exited my room, what greeted us was much worse. I froze when I saw what was before me, and I couldn’t move. Everything was burning. The fire that had started on the first floor was now moving up the staircase.

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The dark villa was covered in flames.

But the thing that was even more terrifying than the fire was the smoke coming off of the antique furniture. The smoke pierced through my lungs and made it impossible to breathe. My bloodshot eyes began to water.

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“Cover your nose and mouth.”

He handed me something wet. I didn’t hesitate to take it. It was his wet t-shirt, and it slightly smelled of chlorine.

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“We need to get out of here as quickly as possible. The roof is going to collapse at any minute.”

He grabbed my hand and dragged me down the stairs. The flames made my body stiffen as I was overcome by a paralyzing fear. This was not like the flames from when I burned my diary on the balcony when I was young.

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“Hurry.”

Lee Kyuwol looked at my dazed face and violently pulled me down the stairs. His grasp on my wrist was painful as we evaded the burning parts of the staircase. We made it down quickly, and I had to stay focused so that I didn’t stumble.

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When we got to the first floor, we could see that it was much worse than we’d thought. Everywhere we turned, it was a sea of flames. My body shook with fear. This was the first time I was looking death in the face.

“—young… Dayoung…!”

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Someone was calling my name, so I turned my head. It was my mom. She was leaning on the wall in front of the open door of her bedroom. I could faintly see her through the flames. I did not see Professor Lee.

There was blood on her nightgown. In front of the bedroom, the fabric sofa in the lounge was in flames. The scene unfolding before me was too terrible for me to make a decision on what to do. She held out her hand to me and painfully coughed.

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“Cough… Cough…!”

The same sound left my own lips. If we wanted to save her, we’d have to move the burning sofa. My mom frantically called out my name in a raspy voice once again.

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“Da-Dayoung…Ah…!”

While I remained frozen in my spot, unable to decide on what to do, I felt someone pull my wrist. My trembling eyes turned to my side and looked up at him.

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He was covering his nose and mouth with a wet cloth. He didn’t seem agitated at all. His blue-gray eyes reflected the red flames, but I felt that they also carried a quiet, forlorn coldness. Because the cloth was covering the faint smile on his lips, the feeling intensified.

He was telling me with his eyes. I needed to make a decision.

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“Lee… Lee Kyuwol, cough…!”

As if the smoke was waiting for me, it entered into my lungs as soon as I took a breath. I was wracked by painful coughs as I called out his name. I was asking him for help. I didn’t have the confidence to go through the towering flames and save my mom.

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However, Lee Kyuwol didn’t even hesitate for a moment and rejected my request. He let go of my wrist and looked away.

The fire continued to spread throughout the first floor. The windows shattered with a loud crash, and something seemed to explode as the flames shot up. My entire body was feverish as if I had entered a sauna. It was getting harder to breathe.

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Pop!

The lightbulbs on the ceiling exploded, sending hundreds of shards of glass in all directions.

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“Aagh!”

Unable to breathe, I reflexively covered my head in fear. I couldn’t move. Even though I knew that I needed to get out of here, it was impossible for me to escape the flames that were surrounding me.

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“Da… Dayoung!”

My mom cried out as she coughed. And Lee Kyuwol, the one who let go of my hand without any regret or emotion, held the wet cloth up as he avoided the flames and made his way to the kitchen.

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The front door was engulfed in flames, so there was no way out. There was only one other exit we could use to escape this villa. It was the door in the kitchen that led out to the balcony.

“Cough! Cough…!”

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My body knew better than my head that there was no time to think. The sound of the light bulbs on the chandelier exploding, the sound of the expensive tea cups cracking in the cupboard… But the most piercing sound of all was my mother’s cries.

Dayoung. Jung Dayoung! How could you? Do you know how twisted my life has become because of you? Because I gave birth to someone like you. Do you know how much of my future I had to give up because I gave birth to a wretch like you?!

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I blocked my ears. My eyes grew hot from my surroundings, and I couldn’t see very well anymore.

“Lee… Lee Kyuwol…!”

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I called out his name while keeping my ears covered. I already knew that Lee Kyuwol was the kind of man who would escape this kind of situation on his own without looking back. That’s why I screamed out even louder. I yelled and yelled so that I could bury the sound of my mother’s cries.

“Lee Kyuwol!!”

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Suddenly, Lee Kyuwol turned around. Dirty fluid leaked out from every orifice on my face. Through my blurry vision, I could see him walk over to me. The wave of relief that filled my heart only lasted a moment.

Boom! Something collapsed and fell down between us. A burning sculpture fell and struck Lee Kyuwol on the shoulder, but he merely flinched and did not stop. With my face drenched with tears, I stretched out my hand to him.

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“Ugh… S… Save me. Cough…!”

This was my decision, and as expected, Lee Kyuwol did not hesitate or waste any time. He took the cloth covering his mouth and nose and brought it to my face. Thanks to this, his blurry face suddenly became clear. I saw that there was a slight agitation in his usually expressionless face. As his piercing eyes stared at me, I saw a surge of flames behind him. He grabbed my body and picked me up.

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“Ugh… Kyu… wol…”

The moment we passed through the kitchen, we saw Professor Lee crawling on the floor, covered in blood. Shattered bottles of liquor were all around him. He managed to avoid the flames by crawling underneath the marble table, but because of the stab wounds on his abdomen, he seemed to have much difficulty speaking.

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“S…Save me… P-Please…”

Lee Kyuwol completely ignored his father and ran to the balcony.

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Carried in Lee Kyuwol’s arms, I remembered the last moments of my mother as she cried out. The way Professor Lee’s eyes closed as he lost consciousness.

Due to Lee Kyuwol’s fierce kick, the door to the balcony burst open. The iron staircase was not yet touched by the fire, and we made it down safely. Then Lee Kyuwol began to run towards the banks of the pond at an alarming speed.

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Boo-Boom!

An ear-splitting crash sounded behind us as the villa exploded. Still enclosed in Lee Kyuwol’s arms, I rolled on the ground.

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I could faintly see the figure of a man flinging an oil can from his hands as he ran away. Lee Kyuwol stood up and was about to run after the culprit, but I grabbed onto the hem of his clothes. He turned his head and looked at me.

“……”

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My entire body was shaking. All I could do was stare at Lee Kyuwol’s soot-covered face with trembling eyes. I didn’t know what to say. All I knew was that in this dreadful moment, I didn’t want to be left alone.

“…It’s okay.”

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As if he had read my thoughts, Lee Kyuwol slowly pulled my hand away from his clothes before grasping it with his own. We held hands as we watched the villa go up in flames. Then I recalled the final moments of my mother. Tears continued to trickle down from my smokey eyes.

This place was not the only thing that was covered in flames. Within me, the very thing that had not completely burned away… The thing that continued to rage inside my heart until it turned everything black… My anger finally exploded and lit my entire body on fire.

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It was a new year, and the sky grew light with the arrival of morning and the sound of sirens. My plans for my future had completely disappeared that night.

The betrayal of turning my back on my only remaining family. My shame, my guilt.

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Turning his back on his dying family and grabbing my hand instead. His decision. The guilt he chose.

After that night, Lee Kyuwol and I shared a secret we could not tell anyone. Was this something of my own volition?

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