“Calling a name is a task that holds the caller’s heart.”
“……”
“The more desperate, the more power it yields.”
“Since when has such a thing been possible?”
The mysterious eyes of the mountain turned toward her red lips.
“Since my name was engraved on your lips.”
The power stored in the name was for when Kang faced unexpected danger.
To be able to go to her whenever she called.
However, Kang slightly leaned back her upper body as if to protect her lips where his gaze had landed.
“Engraved? When … no, how?”
Perhaps she thought he had done something to her body unknowingly, her expression seemed rather uncomfortable.
The mountain smiled a bit at that sight.
“The day I first appeared in your dream.”
“……”
“Don’t you remember?”
It’s Han San. That’s my name.
Memories that were hazy like a passing fog gradually became clear.
The sound of the mountain’s voice from the dream echoed in her ears.
Let’s meet soon.
She recalled the touch of the thumb that was stealing her lips.
The memory was incredibly vivid as if it were a dream, with a strong sensation as if a fire had passed.
That’s right.
That day. After waking up from that dream, she had felt a burning thirst.
Her body was so hot as if it had been in a furnace, and even when she was submerged in cold water, the heat did not cool down, and she had suffered until the next day.
The memory became clearer, and overlapped with the day she first met him in reality.
‘It’s Han San. Nice to meet you.’
Why did she forget?
In her dreams, and in reality, he told her his name several times.
A short silence passed between them.
Kang still seemed curious about many things.
So, the mountain started to tell her one by one about the things she might be curious about.
“There may be various reasons for human misery, but to the dream eaters, humans who live such lives become good prey.”
“Because human dreams reflect psychology?”
“If you compare it, it’s like fertile land. If the land is good, the planted misfortune will produce more abundant fear and anxiety.”
“……”
“If you choose just one miserable human, you’re consuming them.”
Making a human’s spirit feeble and causing them to have nightmares was the same principle as planting and cultivating seeds to obtain fruits.
“And the older and more terrible the nightmare, the richer the nutrients it provides to the dream eater.”
The vitality gained in this way becomes power, power becomes authority, and authority is directly linked to survival.
It grants the right to reign as the top predator.
And Kang had been the human who had had the most terrible dream for the longest time among all the existing humans.
That was why she was chosen, and why the mountain stayed by her side.
Upon hearing the story, Kang felt inexplicably complicated.
“Should I laugh, or should I cry?”
“Why?”
“I feel like I’ve become the most unfortunate person in the world.”
A brief silence ensued, and the sound of the falling rain filled the space where the two sat facing each other.
With his chin propped, the mountain looked at her and asked.
“So, are you unhappy now?”
In response to his question, Kang pondered for a moment.
Then she soon laid bare her honest feelings.
“It’s bearable.”
“……”
“I’m not sure about happiness yet.”
She thought she was left with only happiness when she stopped having nightmares.
But the cost of selling her dreams was greater than she thought.
She no longer suffered in her dreams, but the horrible things that tormented her in her dreams began to jump out in reality.
And with the nightmare that took her nightmares in front of her… She shared freedom?
It feels like living amiably by giving and receiving what each other wants, even if it means being handcuffed.
It’s something that must be done, but it’s not pleasant.
It’s thankful but uncomfortable, not bad, but not pleasing.
They say human greed is endless, I wonder if I wanted too much, but when I think about it, I feel wronged about what I was so greedy for.
I just wanted a normal life.
That normalcy was too difficult for Kang.
“But how long do we have to live like this?”
Suddenly, the question sprang up and leaked out of her mouth without her being able to stop it.
So she added more words.
“We can’t keep going like this.”
“……”
“For example, if I get married, I can’t squeeze in between you and my husband to sleep.”
At Kang’s serious appearance, the mountain burst into laughter.
“Why are you laughing? I’m serious.”
“Well. It’s hard to imagine because it feels like a long way off.”
“What’s long? I’m going to get married early?”
At her flaring up, he advised her with a smiling face.
“Just don’t die by then.”
You have to be alive to date or get married.
Isn’t it?
It was a joke, but Kang felt the weight of the words the mountain said anew.
The reason why she wanted to live so desperately.
To be happy.
Because she wanted to stand up proudly against things like destiny or unhappiness.
Kang made a resolution and lifted her soju glass.
Then, she gulped down the alcohol in one breath and asked again.
My Step-brother Is Obsessed With Me (Female-dominant)
A gentle female protagonist vs pitiful in the early stage, and a sick male protagonist in the later stage
Cheng Songer transmigrated into the body of a vicious cannon fodder female supporting character with the same name as her in a female-dominant novel.
In the original story, the cannon fodder female supporting character was inhumane, committing domestic violence, gambling excessively, being lustful, and even wanting to sell her stepbrother to a brothel for money.
As luck would have it, she just happened to transmigrate at this time.
Seeing Cheng Qingzhi biting his lip, enduring the tears in his eyes, looking pitiful, her heart softened.
She stuffed the money back into the Madam’s hand and reached out to him.
“Brother, come home with me.”
