Perhaps with a touch of sorrow, or a faintly indescribable feeling of regret, what should one call that subtle sensation? Maybe—though unlikely—Jeong Tae-ui was mistaken. Perhaps Shin Lu’s words were entirely correct.
But one thing was certain.
In Tae-ui’s ears, the voice of Ilay calling him like that was unbearably clear.

“I thought my schizophrenia was getting better, but apparently not…”

Tae-ui muttered like a sigh. Shin Lu opened her eyes wider and tilted her head slightly at the cryptic words but didn’t ask further.

“You’re right, Shin Lu. I’m still afraid of that bastard, still uneasy. Even if he seems a little kinder to me now, he’s undoubtedly still cruel and evil. That much surely won’t ever change.”

Tae-ui paused. As he spoke, more and more complaints about Ilay came to mind. Counting them on his fingers, they soon ran out of fingers altogether.

“There are things that made me furious enough to die of rage—and even now, and in the future, whenever I think of them, they still anger me. He’s absolutely not someone you’d feel close to or comfortable with.”

Tae-ui fell silent again. A little gloomy. The more he talked, the more he wondered why he was like this. Seeing Tae-ui quietly close his mouth with a somewhat gloomy expression, Shin Lu asked briefly,
“...But?”