(Truth pt.3)

It was truly an absurd slander. How could Lee Sun-ho possibly be Radel? It must have been said just to shake Kim In-woo up… But why would Ezel try to disturb two Earth humans? The thoughts in his head became tangled in complexity. He wanted to cut off and burn every thought that surfaced.

A headache stabbed sharply through his head. In-woo groaned in pain.

If Sun-ho was that creature…

“In-woo.”

Sun-ho’s voice came from a completely unexpected direction.

In-woo opened his eyes. Sun-ho was approaching from the living room. He should have been away on an overseas business trip. Though he was dressed for going out as if he’d just returned, it was an unnatural homecoming.

In-woo quietly stared at the familiar face he’d seen more than his own over the past 5 years. The fine black hair under slightly tanned skin and warm brown eyes. Unlike 5 years ago, his expressions had become much more varied, a face that always showed kindness as if he was carved from the word itself. But now the gentle expression was gone, replaced by a rigid one. Like someone shocked and confused, with wide eyes…

In-woo looked the man standing in the living room up and down once more. He could feel the cold touch of the remote in his fingertips. Like that temperature, his heated mind grew cold.

Kim In-woo pressed the button.

Hoping nothing would change, yet more than half certain.

Kim In-woo’s suspicion revealed itself in the worst possible way.

Slowly, Lee Sun-ho’s face began to melt away.

What had formed Lee Sun-ho’s facial features turned into a slightly viscous liquid that dripped down. As the old deception melted away, the unfamiliar man’s face beneath became clearly visible.

A face more unfamiliar than Lee Sun-ho’s, but one he could never forget. The face that had consistently appeared in Kim In-woo’s nightmares for 5 years…

In-woo stared blankly at the other’s face.

It was still an unpleasantly handsome face. The hair that held light and sparkled on its own, the eyes like precisely cut gems that showed slightly different colors depending on how light hit them, all unfamiliar and yet…

Unlike his memory, a familiar expression that was easy to recognize appeared on the man’s face. Though the features were completely different, In-woo instantly recognized what that expression meant.

If only he hadn’t known what that expression on that face meant…

Everything Kim In-woo had known disappeared along with the disguise.

His legs gave out. The man approached In-woo who had collapsed weakly in place and said something loudly, but none of it could be heard properly. Hands that couldn’t quite bring themselves to grab In-woo hovered in the air.

Usually, if In-woo showed even the slightest sign of being unwell, he would have immediately picked him up and carried him to bed. Always asking if he was okay in a gentle voice, personally cooking porridge, and when In-woo would whine about being sick, accepting even that as if it were lovable…

In-woo blinked. As his blurry vision cleared, the man’s figure came into view. Unable to look directly at the man, In-woo raised his gaze higher.

The photo of In-woo with the man still hung in the hallway. Not knowing he was being deceived, the Kim In-woo in the photo smiled brightly. Back then, Kim In-woo probably thought he was the happiest person in the world. Happy to have met Lee Sun-ho who was by his side.

Not knowing that Lee Sun-ho was fake from the very existence, that he was being deceived…

In-woo staggered to his feet. Pushing away the man who tried to support him with all his strength, In-woo walked to the frame. It was hard to look directly at the evidence of this ridiculous, shameful deception. In-woo took down the large frame and dropped it.

The frame rolled on the floor with a loud noise. But perhaps because it was made of sturdy material, it didn’t shatter. Still, satisfied that it was out of immediate sight, In-woo stumbled further into the house.

The inside was even worse.

This house was originally a place In-woo had bought and decorated together with the man. Everywhere, In-woo could recall conversations he had shared with the man.

Usually, In-woo talked a lot with the man. There was no better conversation partner than someone who always listened and accommodated him. So he thought he knew the other well. What were those 5 years they spent together?

Memories with the man surfaced everywhere his eyes landed. The sofa where they always sat together that sometimes got dirty when they got too close and tangled up, the refrigerator that In-woo only took water from but the man filled with various ingredients and took out fresh ones for every meal, even the flower on the table – everything had its own story.

Really, horrifyingly…

Striding across the living room, In-woo first grabbed the vase with flowers the man had bought a few days ago and threw it at the TV. The vase was just the beginning. Everything was connected to the man, and he couldn’t stand it. In-woo started grabbing and breaking everything within reach.

Breaking, throwing, breaking again, throwing again…

Though loud noises continued as everything broke, his insides didn’t feel any better. Breaking things wouldn’t make the past disappear. No matter how much he trampled and trampled again, the vivid past in his memories strangled In-woo.

‘I was deceived.’

Looking at the gleaming trophy in the display case, Kim In-woo bit his lip. He didn’t want to appear weak but tears kept threatening to fall.

‘He played with me.’

The man had played with him. For as long as 5 years.

Not knowing he was being deceived, he stupidly clung to and embraced the man. Constantly whispering that Lee Sun-ho was his everything. How amusing must it have been? The sight of an inferior creature daring to speak of love while knowing nothing.

Though he thought he had escaped, this too was inside a cage. The activity range was just a bit wider, but Kim In-woo was still just a pet human performing tricks in the man’s palm.

In-woo’s gaze remained fixed on the trophy.

The way aliens play with humans is both cruel and delicate. Like Lampresh who raised dozens of humans in a huge cage, they pour all sorts of dedication just for entertainment.

How much of the man’s act of giving In-woo everything and pretending to love him was for entertainment?

And how much of Kim In-woo’s life was actually achieved by himself?

“Ah. Ah, aagh!”

Unable to bear it anymore, In-woo screamed. Though he wailed loud enough for veins to pop in his neck, the anger tangled inside didn’t dissipate at all. Finally, In-woo opened the display case. He intended to break everything.

“In-woo. Stop.”

—

T/N: Poor In-woo 🙁 I feel so bad for him.