ReLife Player

Chapter 10

[ CARNATION ]

The memories of Parents Day were vague.

No, it could be said that there were none.

Before his regression, Eunha lost his family at the age of six.

He lost his parents before he had a chance to express his gratitude to them.

Five years of living like an autistic person after losing his family, and a life burned with hatred for monsters until the day he died.

Im sorry to say this, but Im a little scared of him.

What is he thinking all day long? Every time I see him, hes just staring up at the sky.

Eunha doesnt seem to fit in well with the other kids at school.

Mom, I dont feel good about him. I dont like him.

Dont be like that. Eunha is justin pain.

But still, isnt it something to be grateful for that an old person is raising a child alone?

He ignores us even if we talk to him. He just keeps his mouth shut.

The kid is a little off.

Grandma didnt say anything. She took care of him until the day she closed her eyes, even when people around her were scared of him, and sometimes even said he was crazy.

Until now, Eunha had never expressed his gratitude to his grandmother for Parents Day.

When he was in elementary school, he used to make carnations out of colored paper as Parents Day approached.

Every time, Eunha could only stare at the red carnation paper. He didnt know who he should fold the paper for.

But he had to make a carnation to finish the class. Every time, he would force himself to make a carnation and stuff it into his bag.

Eunha never gave the carnation to his grandmother.

He didnt know how to express it in words.

He didnt know what face he should make when giving it to her.

The moment I handed the carnation to my grandmother, it felt like something was coming to a complete end.

Did my grandmother understand my heart?

Of course she must have known. My grandmother could see through anything.

While organizing Eunhas school bag when she returned home, my grandmother didnt mention the carnation that was inside.

Instead, she hung the insignificant carnation on the shoe rack.

Next year. The year after that.

The hastily made carnation, as if pushed by something, was displayed somewhere in the house.

Was it a letter that came next?

In middle school, we were asked to write letters as Parents Day approached.

He couldnt remember what he had conveyed to his grandmother.

The reason he couldnt remember was probably because the content wasnt worth remembering.

The only thing he remembers is tearing up the letter on the way back home.

Why did he do that back then?

Death allowed him to look back at himself objectively.

Living his second life, he evaluated his pre-regression self as young and ugly, and a coward.

A coward.

At the time, he thought he would let go of his longing for his family when he handed the carnation to his grandmother. He thought his hatred for monsters would be diluted when he gave her the letter.

Looking back, the carnation and the letter were just simple triggers.

They were nothing more than a catalyst for the young him to shed his longing for his family and live a new life free from the shackles of a wretched existence.

So his grandmother must have been waiting for him in silence.

Waiting for him to let go of his anger towards the world. Waiting for him to break free from all the restraints that bound him and live his own life.

But Eunha never conveyed any of his feelings to her until the day she passed away. Despite the path to happiness being right in front of him, he chose the path of unhappiness.

Until the end, he wondered what his grandmother thought of him.

Did she find him endearing, someone who could never break free from the death of his family?

He couldnt know.

A parents heart is said to be like the ocean, and to him, his grandmother was such a presence.

He had a vague idea, but he didnt want to make assumptions about his grandmothers heart.

He who faced death only once and became free from everything has two things to say.

I am sorry for being an ungrateful child.

Thank you for raising me.

He regretted that he hadnt said any of these things in over 32 years.

He wished he could have said it at least once in his life.

If only his grandmother had heard these words from him while she was still alive.

These were the only words he could say to his grandmother.

He was an ungrateful child who could not even complain if he went to hell.

So, in this life, he is determined to

I will fold a thousand cranes!

This idiot thinks a carnation is a branch!

Sigh

He is folding carnations. (E/N: Picture below!)

The children were still as noisy as ever.

May was approaching. The time when he lost his family was coming.

Until now, Eunha had not dealt with it.

There were limits to moving with the body of a six-year-old child.

For example, he begged his mother to let him run errands alone.

And while he was buying things he was asked for at the store, he made a call to the Korea Mana Management Agency on a public phone.

Hello?

Is this the Mana Management Agency?

Yes. How old are you, by any chance?

My age? Im six years old.

Sigh Okay. So, why did you call us? This call is being recorded, so if you made this call as a prank, it could cause problems.

I didnt make a prank call.

Okay, sorry. So, what can I do for you?

On May 4th, in the evening, there will be a large-scale monster outbreak on the Han River. Among the monsters that appear, there will be a Kraken causing massive casualties

Okay. Please dont call us for this kind of thing. The police will come after you if you do. Can you hang up now?

No, what I said is not a lie

Frustrated, Eunha explained his story over the phone, but there was no one who would believe what a child said.

In the end, all he heard was the beeping sound of a disconnected call.

Why dont I just say that Ive regressed?

He thought about it, for a moment.

But who would believe a childs story as soon as he called the Mana Management Agency?

In the end, the best he could do was save his mana for the worst.

He despaired when he realized that after six years of desperate saving, he hadnt even scratched the surface of what Euna had accumulated.

Having buried his bones for so long in the world of players, he knew that effort would not overcome talent.

But when he realized firsthand that six years of hard work hadnt helped, he couldnt help but feel frustrated.

In the meantime, time passed.

Kindergarten was quiet.

He spent his days reading alone or sleeping in the corner.

Eunhyuk, who was leading the bullying, would come over and try to harass him in any way possible.

Its childish, but I like it.

Being bullied by snotty kids didnt kill him.

Rather, he stayed away and ignored the kids who eyed him.

It wasnt that all the kids didnt approach him.

The kids in his neighborhood would call him out if he tried to do anything.

Even when he told them he didnt want to play, they seemed to get used to it.

What about the girls?

After that day, the girls couldnt ignore Eunha, who was left alone.

Behind the scenes, the girls treated him kindly, sometimes to the point of being over the top, which made him scratch his head.

Whatever.

Under such circumstances, there was no way Eunhyeok would stand idly by, and his sneaky harassment of Eunha increased with each passing day.

Of course, Eunha wasnt one to stand idly by. That kid had been looking at the wrong person for a long time.

A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye.

You get what you deserve.

Eunhas rule was not to underestimate kids.

How tearful Eunhyuk and his followers, Ma Bangjin and Yeon Seongjin, were when they tried to bully him and got hit back.

In a mans world, the unspoken rule was that if you show tears, you lose.

That day, they lost to Eunha in front of the children.

Why are you being so petty?

Youre the one who started it.

Youre cowardly.

Thats right, Im cowardly. Im petty!

So what? You want to keep going? Should I make you piss your pants this time?

This was the same man who had captured and tortured his former enemies before his regression. He knew where to attack and where to provoke.

That day, the children had to suffer through his torture. By the end, Eunhyeok was in tears, snotty, and saying he had done wrong.

Afterward, Eunhyeoks pride was greatly bruised, and the bullying became much less frequent.

On the contrary, other children flocked to him with interest.

By the time he realized it, there were three groups of kids in the class: one for Minji, one for Eunhyeok, and a mixed group for Eunha.

It was truly a nationwide competition.

The kids would jokingly talk about who would take over the Evergreen Pine class.

No, its not necessary. Please leave me alone.

That was the result.

Sigh Theres no time to rest, no time.

Today was carnation making day. The children were making carnations the way Mr. Tayo had taught them.

The question was who would sit next to Eunha.

Eunha, sit with me.

Im going to sit next to Eunha, everyone else go away.

Come on. Im the one whos closest to him.

Oh, come on, Im best friends with Eunha, too.

Come on. Eunha, who do you want to sit with?

No, I want to sit alone, please go away.

The moment Eunha sat down at the round table without thinking, a war broke out.

The kids started fussing and demanding to sit at his table too.

Haaa, I want to go home.

If Minji hadnt sat next to him, there would have been bloodshed.

But dont snub me for owing you, Minji!

Is this how you fold it?

Give it to me, you munchkin (gluton). Your teacher told you to fold it like this!

Im not a munchkin!

Yes, munchkin~

Are you serious!

Minji was not very dexterous. Even with Mr. Tayos intensive instruction, she could only mimic it sloppily.

She wasnt the only one. The other kids too.

They would call out to Mr. Tayo at every opportunity, and the results of their fern-like hands were disastrous.

You cant expect much from a six-year-old.

Haa, I cant help it.

If they kept calling Mr. Tayo, they wouldnt be able to finish in time. Even though it was annoying, Eunha decided to help the children who couldnt fold the carnations.

This isnt his first time making carnations.

Even before his regression, he had folded carnations every year until he reached middle school. It wasnt hard to make them after seeing the sample, even though he couldnt remember.

He had once received a carnation from Baekryeon

It was when he was being mocked by the players as the Little Princesss Fool.

He had just come in from killing players who had ambushed him from behind and was busy cleaning up the smell of blood.

Even though he was called crazy, he had to wipe the blood off his body for the sake of Baekryeon, who was still in elementary school.

If he got caught, Yoojung would scold him.

After a quick shower, he decided to eat some ramen to satisfy his hunger.

And just as he was about to dump the noodles into the boiling water, Baekryeon came home from school and tugged at his clothes.

Uncle Eunha. Uh mm, thank you for taking care of me.

Baekryeon held out the carnation in a mosquito-like voice.

Uh, yeah.

Im good at making them, right?

Yes. Thank you.

Mom really liked my carnations, too.

When she handed him the carnation, Baekryeon cried a little.

He could see how she must have felt to make the carnations at school, and how she must have felt to come home with them.

Because he had been there, too.

But he didnt know how to comfort her crying.

Comfort was out of his specialty. Killing, maybe.

It was all he could do then,

Would you like some ramen? Its Parents Day, so lets have ramen.

He was boiling ramen for her.

Uhwhats that?Just give me the ramen. Cut some green onions on top. (E/N: Picture below!)

You want a lot of things. Sit down. Ill make it quickly so you can take it with you. Do you want an egg?

Yes, please put an egg in it! AndI want to eat rice too! And kimchi!

Without realizing it, she stopped crying and was humming a tune while waiting for him to finish boiling the ramen.

Thinking back on it now, it was a heartwarming feeling that naturally came to mind.

I wonder if it would have been like this if he had a daughter.

It wasnt a bad feeling.

So he secretly looked forward to the day she would give him a carnation every year.

They were looking forward to the day when they could cook ramen together.

But at some point, she stopped giving him carnations.

(1) Carnations!

Super cute right?

(2) Ramen! (Im hungryagain)