TGCSA 02

Episode 02

My heart was pounding wildly. My legs felt rooted to the ground, unable to move.

Moon A-rin was leaning against the door frame, smiling leisurely.
“…Why.”
My voice sounded terrible even to my own ears. I barely managed to speak.
“Why did you do it?”

Moon A-rin shrugged lightly. Her attitude seemed to say, ‘So what?’
I continued speaking.
“This. This is my song.”
“…”
“It’s not just this one! This one too, and this one! They’re all my songs…!”
My voice cracked harshly.
I had hardly spoken at length since losing my hearing. But this time, I couldn’t hold back.

“And this medicine. Ever since you started giving it to me, claiming it was vitamins, my hearing gradually began to fade!”
I grabbed the pill bottle and threw it.

Whoosh!
Moon A-rin simply tilted her head slightly and easily dodged the bottle.
“Am I wrong? Say something!”

Moon A-rin slowly lifted her head. I thought she would immediately apologize, or at least make an excuse, saying it was a misunderstanding.

But instead of an apology, Moon A-rin let out a short laugh. Her mouth was clearly forming words.

“And here I thought it was something serious.”
“…What?”
“Seol-ah. Please, read the room. Well, I guess you’ve always been like this since we were kids.”

She spoke nonchalantly, examining her fingernails.
“So? What are you going to do about it? What do you want?”

“Is that all you have to say? After making me deaf and stealing my songs!”
“So what? I fed you, clothed you, and gave you a place to sleep. Out of basic decency.”

Her face, giggling playfully, was unfamiliar.
Was this really the Moon A-rin I knew? Not some other person wearing a similar face?
It made me have such an absurd thought.

“Seol-ah. What’s wrong?”
But the slightly curling corners of her mouth proved this was reality.
“It’s me, A-rin. Your one and only friend, Moon A-rin. What’s a few songs matter anyway?”

Her tone was shameless.
“What are you going to do about it now? Can you live without me? With your hearing gone? How do you plan to survive?”
“…”
“Ah, a composer? Do you think songs just sell themselves if you stay still? No matter how good the song, if you try to sell it, it won’t sell at all! Who would buy a song from you, trusting you?”

The baseless criticism flowed effortlessly.
Before, I might have wavered, thinking, ‘Is that so?’ But now, I finally realized it was all nonsense.

Hiding my trembling hands behind my back, I said.

“…I’ll reveal everything. That they were my songs.”
“Do you have proof?”
“Yes. My laptop.”

Inside, the work dates and creation logs were all recorded. They would predate any of Moon A-rin’s work records.
“I’ll hand it over to the reporters. I’ll expose everything!”

At that moment, Moon A-rin’s eyes changed.
Her gaze became as aggressive as a wolf with the fur on its neck bristling, ready to bite its opponent at any moment.
“Do as you please. Not that it’ll change much anyway, since all the songs have already been copyrighted.”
“You…!”
“And, Seol-ah.”

Two steps.
As Moon A-rin strode closer, we stood face to face.
Her smile vanished, and her expression hardened firmly. It was my first time seeing Moon A-rin’s face like this.
“Your life now isn’t bad, is it? Isn’t it? You just write the songs, and I handle all the tedious external activities. It’s a kind of division of labor.”

Grip. Moon A-rin grabbed my wrist.
“Let go of me!”
“It’s been working fine so far.”
“I said let go!”
“What’s your complaint?”

Even as I struggled, she didn’t let go.
Pushing, grabbing, our bodies collided roughly.
Before we knew it, we were breathlessly wrestling.
“Let, go!”

When I finally shook off her hand, I thought, ‘Finally.’
But the moment I met her chillingly expressionless face, I realized I had turned over another bad card.

Thud.
She pushed my shoulder.
I tumbled backward.

Clatter, bang!
The musty smell of dust filled my nose.
“Ugh!”

When I finally opened my eyes, the back light obscured Moon A-rin’s face. Only then did I realize where I was.
It was the basement used as a storage room.
I felt my head getting damp. I must be bleeding. My vision was blurry and dizzy from the impact.
“W-wait a moment.”

But even through the hazy vision, I could see Moon A-rin approaching me.
I staggered backward.
“A-rin. Moon A-rin!”

I saw a golf club clutched in her hand.
A chilling sensation ran down my spine.

“See. Why did you have to do that, Seol-ah? We were doing so well.”

Moon Ah-rin smiled sweetly and blamed me. The glint in her eyes made my skin crawl.
“You’re going to kill me? For real?”
“Hmm. I thought about it for a bit. And I figured it probably wouldn’t matter.”

Moon A-rin still wore her usual expression.

“There are still plenty of songs you’ve made left. Even if I retired right now, I’d have enough to live on for the rest of my life.”
“The police will find you!”
“Will they?”

Moon A-rin laughed heartily.
“Do you have any family? Or any friends you keep in touch with? Even if you die, no one will know. How will the police find me~?”

I was at a loss for words.
“Even if someone notices something’s off, it’ll probably just end with a missing person report, right? No body, no crime, as they say.”

The basement was a space only Moon A-rin and I knew about.
Unless there was clear evidence, a search warrant wouldn’t be issued. And there was no way Moon A-rin would voluntarily open this door.

At that moment, I glimpsed a distant future.
My body, with mice and insects gnawing at my flesh, leaving only white bones behind.
I couldn’t let that happen.

“Sp-spare me. A-rin. Please…”
I flailed my hands and begged.

Moon A-rin stretched her mouth into a wide grin.
“You just need to keep your mouth shut.”
“A-A-rin.”
“Then no one will know.”
“Please! Please don’t do this. Not like this…!”

But before my final plea could even end,

Thud!
A heavy impact struck my head.
It felt like my vision shattered into pieces, then turned completely black.
The smell of blood mixed with the cold basement air.

And then,
Finally, even the pain faded away.
The things that had tormented me so terribly now left me behind.

My body felt heavy, my breath grew shallow.
Unable even to close my eyes,
That was how I breathed my last.

[ SYSTEM : ALERT! ]

Abnormal death detected! Searching for cause
Target: Yunseol
Cause of death: Searching…

[ SYSTEM : WARNING ]

‘Downfall by Betrayal’ ending – Does not match predicted ending
Error code: #BTR-FAIL-041

[ SYSTEM : NOTICE ]

Recovering error…
Synchronization complete!

[ SYSTEM : ERROR ]

Abnormal termination: Not the scheduled time of death
Rebooting backup file
Regression point: 10 years prior

I slowly lifted my eyelids.
Intense light pierced my eyes.
For a moment, I frowned like someone seeing sunlight for the first time in years.
I blinked two, three times.
The surroundings became clear.
Warm sunlight streamed through the large windows. A cool breeze brushed my cheek, and the smell of a heater tickled my nose.

‘Where… is this?’
I realized right away. It was a cafe I used to frequent during my university days. The place where Moon Ah-rin worked part-time.

Right. Moon A-rin.
Memories struck me like lightning.
The struggle. The fall. The cold basement. Even the dull pain that struck my head.

The last thing that filled my mind was just one thing.
My desire for revenge against Moon A-rin.
Hatred for that betrayer who had mocked me, stolen my songs and honor, and ultimately taken my life.

But if I was already dead, how could I take revenge? Was this the end?
‘Is this… the afterlife? Or a life-review before death?’
Why of all places, this cafe? I hadn’t been here once since dropping out.

I lowered my head and saw a cell phone.
“Wow.”
It was absurdly outdated. As I reflexively held it, the screen lit up, showing the date and time.
“Huh?”
I gasped.
And for good reason, because it showed a year from 10 years ago.
“What is this?”

It was bizarre.
And then it happened.
“Ah!”

I clutched my ears and bent over.
The sound of coffee cups clinking, the cafe’s music, the sound of people chatting and laughing.
All of it pierced my ears vividly.

‘I can hear.’

The sensations that had been faint in my memory now overwhelmed me. They were excessively clear.

And then, a glowing sentence appeared in the air.

[ SYSTEM : NOTICE ]

Emergency regression procedure complete!
Target: Yunseol
Error code: #BTR-FAIL-041

…What is this now?