Supernatural Investigation 101: Chronicles Of Nakashima Wakana

"If your abilities are awakened, you will be able to kill people with touch alone." Choi Minho wipes the blood on her face. His voice is mechanical and low. "When you do that, you will also feel their pain; and that pain will drive you mad. You will turn into a monster who won't stop herself from killing other people whether it's someone young, old or…" 

He pauses for a moment when she looks at him. Her eyes are filled with disappointment. "Or a child… you won't be able to stop yourself even if a child is standing in front of you."

"You don't want me to become like your brother," She turns her head, gazing at the ceiling. Her heart is empty -- so empty that she can't find the bottom of this emptiness. It's caused by this man sitting beside her. "I thought that it was a nightmare. It turned out to be a memory. I saw you. I had hurt that girl with my very hands. So, you are like this toward me because I have abilities like your brother."

"Then, you know what I am talking about." He stands up from the bed and sits on the chair. His one-arm is numb. It will take some time for it to completely heal. "Gifts aren't like magic. There are creatures who can cultivate energy or magic by absorbing it from their environment. Then, there are also creatures who are connected to a source of magic or another form of energy. Gifts don't have magical or cultivating energy sources. It's born from a soul. The intensity depends on the person's mental strength. Gifts like yours are like having a demon in your soul. It eats you slowly with time, challenging your sanity, and then, turning you into a monster."

Feeling emptier with each word, he continues, "Your abilities are too strong for your mind. After you are awakened, there's a high chance that you will become something like my brother. There are people who hunt those monsters down." There are also people who try to tame those monsters into a weapon. 

So, it was because of his brother. He was always beside her because he wanted to prevent her awakening. "All the precious memories that I couldn't remember before… you crushed them mercilessly."

He closes his eyes. "I will only remove the memories that will trigger your awakening… and I won't appear before you again. I will only come when it's time to suppress your abilities."

Wakana's heart feels dead as she registers his words.

"This is the last time." His voice is faint. "Live well, Nakashima Wakana. Don't waste your time thinking about this demon."

Minami Sei has tried to open the door a few times. There's no response. He paces around, fidgety. He knocks on the door again and then, turns the knob. This time, it opens up. He walks into the room. She is lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Choi Minho is nowhere to be seen. 

"Wakana!" He rushes to her. The bedsheet is covered with drops of blood. "Did he hurt you?"

"I am fine." She sits up, clutching the bedsheet close to her c.h.e.s.t. "Help me go to the bathroom."

"What happened?" He blinks his eyes when he sees the scr.a.p.es of her shirt on the floor. "Did he…"

"He succeeded in making me hate him," Wakana says to him. The cool feeling is still lingering under her skin. He left, but his presence is still inside her. "You were right. I shouldn't trust someone blindly."

"Wakana, what happened?" Minami Sei looks at her with furrowed brows. When she doesn't utter a word, he wraps his arms around her shoulder. "Fine, don't tell me. But can you stop holding back your tears? If you want to cry, cry now. Stop keeping it inside yourself. I can't bear to see you like this."

She doesn't have to say anything. He will find Choi Minho and get the answers from him. That person was shady from the start. He shouldn't have left Wakana alone with that man. 

Nakashima Wakana stays still in his embrace. She doesn't have any strength left. A sense of security ended today. An illusion was broken. What love? He thinks of her as a monster. He doesn't want her to waste her energy thinking about him. Fine! She won't think about him. 

The guardian angel turned out to be a selfish, hypocrite, and a cowardly demon. 

***

After dropping Dierre Virevo in K Country, he goes straight to his home. To his surprise, the cards are spread all over the floor. Dressed in a black mourning robe, his sister-in-law is leaning against the wall. She sighs when the floor creaks under his foot. He lies down on the floor. The house seems to have sensed the heaviness in their hearts. It remains quiet. Maybe silence is the only thing that is needed by these two scarred people.

"Do you…" Choi Minho can't forget the disappointment in her eyes. 

"I can't hate him." She also lies down on the floor, feeling the warmth seeping out of her body to the cold floor. 

"Why?" His brother did such a horrible thing to her on that day. Nobody in the house lived except for him and her. "You should hate him, Noona."

"Don't call me that." She stares at the darkness. That's all she can do. Ever since that day, she was unable to see. "That idiot thought that I won't be tortured by the future if he took away my eyes… What did he know? Though I can't see anymore, I can still feel the future."

"I am sure that she hates me." He also hates himself. Long before he met her. Hearing people's voices had also forced their darkness on him. If he hadn't seen his brother turning into a twisted monster… No, if he hadn't gone to hell back then… Honestly, he didn't expect to come out alive. He didn't even want to leave his brother there. Only if his brother hadn't told him to find Nakashima Wakana… Only if that oracle hadn't shown him the vision… Would it be different if he hadn't known? 

"You don't want her to love you." She whispers, "Just like your brother who never felt that he deserved any love."

"He didn't deserve any love," He tells her.

"Yet you loved him enough to follow him to hell." She lets out a laugh. "While I mourned for him here like his widow." 

"I was a fool." He should have never gone there. Chasing the dead is always a bad idea. If he hadn't gone there, he wouldn't have seen the vision or made that promise to his brother. He wouldn't be in this pain now. 

"I tried to stop you." Oh Soomi closes her eyes and smiles. Choi Min Jae didn't meet her after that day. Still, she chose to live as his fiance. After his death, she decided to live as his widow. Maybe after her death, she would meet him somewhere -- in a world where she wouldn't have the ability to sense the future and he wouldn't have any gift that could hurt other people. For now, she must live. His little brother is still a kid. She's sure that Min Jae would have laughed at his brother if he could see him now.

"I can hear your thoughts," Choi Minho grumbles. "Loud and clear."

"I want you to hear them," She murmurs, amused by something that only she can sense in the air. "Why did you do that to her?"

He's disgusted by his actions. The incident at the apartment had shaken her. He made use of that vulnerability to trigger her ability. The throbbing pain in the arm is nothing compared to the pain that he gave her. He couldn't hear her thoughts at that moment. He didn't need to. He didn't apologize for his actions either. 

Doing that to the woman he loves… He truly doesn't deserve her. "If I stay in her life, the vision might come true. Compared to a boy who is marked by a devil, I am way more dangerous to her."

The Council is keeping a watch on Minami Sei. As soon as the red guest appears, that devil will be caught. 

"You meant to say that your brother is still dangerous to her." Oh Soomi spreads her arms, listening to the mountain breeze. On this quiet night, the future that she senses is anything but quiet. "We both know that Min Jae never wanted to harm anyone intentionally… he just…"

"Swallowed by insanity."

"That wasn't his insanity." An empath who could also kill people with mere touch…"There must be a reason why you and I still love him." 

It's something that only the gifted ones can understand. Those who channel magic or cultivate spirit energy will never be able to understand being driven to insanity by their own gifts. The feeling is intimate, dark, and… It comes in waves, swinging the soul between humanity and inhumanity until the compass is broken. 

His brother wasn't always a monster. When his brother turned into one, he didn't try to stop him. He was afraid to see his brother.

When he saw his brother again, his brother wasn't breathing anymore.

"If I had not been avoiding the future, I would have seen it sooner." And she would have tried to prevent that future from happening, only to realize that it couldn't be prevented. However, whether she had realized it sooner or later, she would have tried to save Choi Min Jae. His younger brother is trying to do the same. 

The silence descends again. Minho recalls the vision. 

In the vision, the woman was sitting on the edge on the top of the roof. Her long hair moved with the wind. She was shimmering under the sunlight. She didn't turn around to look at him. He couldn't read her sadness. 

"Sister-in-law, I don't want to see her ghost." He doesn't want to see her turn into a monster either. "Is that too much to wish for?" 

"Watch what you wish for. Heaven might be listening." She chortles. "You might lose your eyes like me." 

For heaven isn't as kind as people believe it to be.