Ch#208
Time began to breathe again.
Like mist rising from a dawn pond.
'Daddyyy! Tie got piggybacked at kindergartennn!'
The face of the child running over holding a sketchbook came to mind.
'Daddy idiot! World's worst!'
The angry expression with puffed cheeks when sulking was revived too.
'Don't gooo. Just today, with Tie, waaah, playyy......!'
The little complaints that made it impossible to take a single step,
'Daddy will live with Tie foreveeer.'
And the promise he ultimately couldn't keep.
"......Daddy?"
A small voice rang through the room once more.
Under the dim light, Tese tan's Adam's apple trembled slowly as he looked down at Tie.
"Daddy......?"
The word called again was no longer 'Vice Leader' or 'over there.'
It was the word Astie had learned before Tese tan's name.
The very first word she uttered after birth.
The pillar she clung to her whole life in this unfamiliar world.
"......Ha."
In the end, a sob burst from Tese tan's lips.
The one who had taken that word from the child was none other than himself.
'Duel me.'
Because he was so foolish.
'You. Do you feel pity for me or something?'
So intolerably stupid and foolish.
'Even with my wrist cut off, I have no intention of crawling under scum like you.'
He had driven nails into the tender heart scarred and wounded countless times.
And yet,
'Daddy's hurting a lot, so he doesn't know Tie anymore......'
He hadn't even realized what he was doing to himself.
"Ah, Daddy......"
At that moment, a warm touch settled on the back of his hand.
Lowering his gaze, he saw Tie anxiously stroking his prominently knuckled hand.
"Don't do that. It, it hurts."
Tears welled up in the child's eyes.
Frightened green eyes hurriedly scanned Tese tan's face.
As if trying to read his thoughts, the emotions he felt right now.
Tese tan held his breath.
Placing his hand over the child's.
With a voice barely audible, he finally opened his mouth.
"I said I'd make you smile......"
Tie closed his mouth.
"When we returned home......"
"......"
"I promised I'd make you smile."
'Someday, we'll definitely go back home.'
'And make our Tie smile.'
The conversation with Daddy from long ago flashed through the child's mind.
That was right.
They had that talk lying together in room 106.
In truth, he could never forget it even if he tried.
How could he?
Tie had thought about that promise over and over.
The day Daddy disappeared.
The day Daddy's death notice arrived.
The day he returned to Talochioum and faced his past self again.
"......Uh."
How much he had longed for and yearned for those words alone.
"Huu......!"
And yet.
Just now, that promise came from Daddy's lips again.
Daddy remembered the promise.
That meant,
"Dummy! Daddy's dog poop!"
Small shoulders trembled.
Biting his lips, Tie struck Tese tan's chest.
"You forgot Tie! Said you loved me most in the world and then forgot Tie!"
Daddy's face appeared in his teary, blurred vision.
A sad expression.
Daddy had a very, very sad face.
Like Tie, thick teardrops endlessly streamed down Daddy's cheeks.
"Tie hurt so much......! In Pearl City, ugh, Daddy abandoned Tie!"
Daddy who never turned back no matter how much he called.
"Tie, Tie hurt so muuuch......!"
Expectations that had soared to the heavens turned to nothing in an instant.
Daddy who had turned away with cold, icy eyes.
"My heart broke......!"
After that, just the sound of a ship horn made him break into cold sweats.
His heart pounded so hard he wanted to hide in the darkness.
"Why, whyyy......"
Tie lowered his head.
Hot tears plopped down through his stray hairs.
"Why'd you forget Tie......"
He felt a hand on his back.
Panting, Tese tan hurriedly pulled the child into his arms.
"I'm sorry."
It was a voice full of pain.
"Daddy was wrong, I'm sorry......"
Tie's crying grew louder.
"I won't ever do it again. Daddy won't, won't ever......"
Like this.
No, a voice sobbing even harder than his.
In the end, strength left the child's arms.
"Huu, waaaah......!"
The child burrowed into Tese tan's embrace while crying.
'I thought we'd laugh happily haha hoho.'
I thought when the day Daddy remembered Tie came, they'd both excitedly hold hands and hop around.
But in this moment, for some reason, he could do nothing but cry.
It felt like his thoughts had come to a complete halt, refusing to move further.
"Don't forget......"
Tie pleaded,
"Don't forget Tie now, huu, don't abandon......!"
It was so good yet so heartbreaking that hiccups came.
As he wiped and wiped the flowing tears, a response came.
"I won't forget. Until the day I die—no, even if the world crumbles, I won't forget."
Suppressing his emotions, Tese tan stroked Tie's back again and again.
"Don't go......"
Still anxious, the child sniffled on with his hoarse voice.
In the end, Tese tan carefully grasped the child's shoulders.
"......I won't go. Nowhere. I promise."
He repeated it like a vow to himself.
"I'll be right here."
Only then did Tie close his mouth.
The child who sniffed a couple times nodded.
In Tese tan's eyes entered the small hand clutching tightly to his clothes.
As if afraid of being separated again, he enclosed the child in his arms and lifted his head.
Beyond the unfamiliar—no, no longer merely unfamiliar—landscape, the night was passing.
* * *
"Daddy, then do you remember that one?"
"What?"
"When Tie fell on the stairs and got a bloody knee."
"I remember. Daddy scolded Tie. Said if you jump down the stairs like that, it'll hurt, so be careful."
"Then what about that one?"
"What?"
"When Tie! Fought with Hiyeon at kindergarten!"
"I remember. That was Hiyeon's fault."
"......!"
Tie's eyes went wide.
The corners of his mouth twitched uncontrollably.
'Daddy's right......!'
The Daddy before him was the real Daddy.
Younger than the original Daddy, but the real one who remembered all four years they spent together in South Korea.
"......Yay."
Tears of emotion welled in Tie's eyes once more.
Seeing the child overjoyed and at a loss, Tese tan let out a laugh-mingled sigh.
Dawn was breaking outside the window before he knew it.
"It's good, but wouldn't our daughter benefit from a bit more sleep?"
Just as he coaxed, the child puffed his cheeks.
"No way! What can I do when sleep won't come at all!"
Tese tan shut his mouth.
Tie's words had merit too.
Last night, the child had repeatedly dozed off and woken up.
Of course, Tese tan hadn't closed his eyes either.
In truth, it was only natural.
His mind had been tangled all night sorting out the recovered memories and answers to the current situation.
'But can I call it 'recovering memories'?'
By his judgment, all this was closer to 'memory linkage.'
More precisely, sharing experiences from his self on another timeline.
Tese tan quietly sank into thought.
'Anyway. The most urgent thing to resolve first is Lucarion.'
His gaze returned to Tie.
The child was still chattering away with 'Remember this?', 'Remember that?' about old stories.
Every time the child gestured clumsily, Tani Pang printed in the center of his pajamas twitched.
Tani Pang happened to be holding up a yellow gem in his hand.
His thoughts led to something similar.
'......World Tree.'
The being that suddenly burst from the child's chest and showed him everything.
Whether coincidence or intent, he needed to investigate that fragment first.
'Come to think of it, it was that which led us to South Korea in the first place.'
Through the linked memories, the moment of dying in the canyon resurfaced.
The dimensional magic Lucarion activated teleported Tie and Tese tan, who were there, to South Korea.
The power used then was strong enough to completely heal Tese tan's injuries at the time.
However.
At the same time, it erased memories right before the magic activated from his mind.
'Still, now that I know the situation, it's fortunate.'
"Daddy, Daddy. Remember this one?"
At that moment, Tie grabbed and shook Tese tan's arm again.
It was then, as Tese tan smiled and focused on the child.
[It's full! Fuuuull-!]
Suddenly, Marbas popped out from under the blanket.
[Master! Master's father! Look at this! The Harmonium is filling up at tremendous speed!]
At Marbas's words, Tie's eyes widened as he looked at the ceiling.