Episode 66: The Concert (2)

Healing With Loovely Druid

Episode 66: The Concert (2)

It looked like the Milky Way.

The stadium was packed to the brim with glowing lightsticks, and the eyes of the fans waiting for Tracker to appear were filled with excitement and anticipation. Looking around from his VIP seat, Sihyeon saw over ten thousand people gazing toward a single spot, beginning a collective countdown.

3, 2, 1.

START!

"!"

The massive screen rose, revealing Tracker. In an instant, the members split into the formation for their latest title track, "Find a Way," and struck a pose. A grand intro began to play, and the stage lights shifted to a deep red. Just as the fans' screams started to quiet down in anticipation of the main vocalist's intro—

— We will find a way—!

Heesu's solid, husky high note ripped through the air.

Wwooooaaaaah!

Kyaaaaaaaak!

Sihyeon rubbed the goosebumps that broke out on his forearms. It was completely different from listening to a CD or digital audio.

The fans began to wave their lightsticks and sing along to the song.

— Like we always have, let’s choose to smile together.

Kay and Leo's powerful rapping kicked in, and Sihyeon chewed over the lyrics he had memorized after hearing them so many times.

— For each other, trapped in this spinning world, let’s lock eyes and smile.

— Because we will find the path forward, let’s only hurt a little bit.

Tracker and the fans sang, kept time, and waved their arms as if they had truly become one. When Tracker sang, the fans sang along; when they danced, the fans screamed. Sihyeon stared blankly at the sight for a while before finding himself swept up in the energy, lightly tapping his foot.

Leo walked out to the center of the stage and took the microphone.

— Hello! We are Tracker! Having completed our world tour in good health, we are sincerely glad and grateful to be able to meet our fans in Seoul once again!

After every single sentence, the fans' cheers erupted loudly enough to burst eardrums. Sihyeon suppressed the urge to cover his ears and watched Leo pass the microphone. It went to Siwoo, whose green hair was a disheveled mess.

From all directions, desperate shouts of "Siwoo-yaaaaaak!" echoed through the air. Is it just favoritism because he's my brother? Just as Sihyeon was thinking his brother looked the coolest out of all of them, Siwoo opened his mouth. He flashed a brilliant smile toward the fans—a side of him Sihyeon had never seen before.

"Everyone! Have you been well? We’ve made it back safely too!!"

At Siwoo's question, a roar loud enough to shake the entire stadium exploded.

"We actually wrote a fan song while thinking of all of you during the tour. I’m so happy to be able to sing it here today. I really hope you all like it."

Waaaaaaaak!

I love youuuuu!

The kid skillfully communicated with the fans, drawing out their reactions. Meanwhile, on one side of the stage, Heesu, Kay, and Jerome sat side by side and began to sing.

— You are my own starlight. The starlight that shines only on me—.

Heesu's harmonies layered over a pure voice, followed by Kay’s rapping, which started like a soft whisper. The image overlapped with how those same boys used to roll around the vegetable garden, laughing uproariously while chasing cats. Are these really the same kids?

That Lee Jerome up there, mesmerizing every single audience member in the stadium like a Siren, usually made a specialty of lounging on the wooden porch like wet laundry. Yoo Heesu and Kay, with hair mottled like ice cream, were practically Dumb and Dumber, teasing and bickering with each other every chance they got. Their leader, who looked perfectly normal right now, was actually the strangest of them all—his eyes would roll back the moment he saw a gacha machine, to the point where he'd practically beg by yelling, "Just one thousand won!"

Yep, our Siwoo is definitely the most normal.

Sihyeon was smiling like a doting older brother when he was suddenly startled by the sound of string instruments kicking in like a lightning strike.

It was their title track, "Thunder."

Rumble—.

Theophilo closed his eyes tightly, then opened them.

Black, billowing clouds clumped together across a dark sky. The heavy, low-hanging sky rumbled as if a downpour was about to unleash at any second. He was standing atop the sacred Stonehenge of Salisbury—the court of truth. Upon giant stones over seven meters tall, ancient, holy symbols appeared and disappeared, completing a pentagram that locked away natural energy.

The executors of the Druids, wearing water buffalo skulls, took their places at the vertices of the pentagram. Theophilo had always thought that those skulls caused people to mistake Druids for devil worshippers, but actually standing in the center of the pentagram, he could understand why.

It was terrifying. Truly, incredibly terrifying. It was so frightening that he felt tempted to tell a lie just to escape it.

The voices of the angered elders echoed across Salisbury.

'Earthquake with Anger is a forbidden incantation!'

'Colluding with the Roman legions is treason!'

Someone threw a defixio.

'Treason?!'

Theophilo let out a hollow laugh and looked down at his feet.

A Roman-style defixio, a curse engraved on a lead plate, was submitted as evidence. The lead plate vibrated before him with a heavy clang. He strained to read the Latin carved into that cursed piece of lead. 'War, curse, half-baked druid, treason, blood soaking the vineyard.' Hideous words were written without rhyme or reason; this was a complete fabrication!

'This isn't mine!'

By this point, he couldn't care less whether they wore goat heads or water buffalo heads.

Theophilo thrashed within the pentagram, pleading his innocence. He argued that he had been ordered by his master, but the atmosphere didn't shift in the slightest. Instead, his master stepped forward as a witness, speaking in a sorrowful voice.

Clad in a deep wine-colored robe, his master stood before him. Theophilo wanted to lift his head, but the power of the pentagram pressed him down. Theophilo slowly dropped to his knees. His master pressed his staff against Theophilo's head and spoke.

'You have been deeply deluded. Present the evidence that I gave such an order.'

Theophilo scanned his surroundings out of the corner of his eye, searching for Senior Millie and his comrades. His master raised his voice in lamentation.

'Millie was killed in battle! Because of you!'

'No! Millie was talking to me just last night!'

'Theophilo.'

His master stained his red robe as he knelt down, whispering quietly into Theophilo's ear.

'You poor thing. Who would ever believe your words?'

Whoosh—.

Lines of rain poured down, and muddy water blurred his vision.

Thwack!

"Ah! I'm so sorry!"

"……."

His head shook from the impact.

A woman wearing a star-shaped headband was staring at Sihyeon with wide eyes.

"Are you okay? I got way too excited!"

"……Ah."

Sihyeon blinked, returning to reality. It seemed she had accidentally hit him on the head while frantically waving her lightstick. She looked at Sihyeon with a worried expression, but Sihyeon honestly felt like bowing to her in gratitude.

Because a rather horrific memory had just resurfaced.

He felt a dull ache delayed by a moment, but Sihyeon smiled faintly, told her it was fine, and turned his gaze back to the stage. Set to an EDM beat, Siwoo's specialty breaking solo began.

Sihyeon forced down the unpleasant memory that kept trying to replay in his mind, doing his best to focus on Siwoo's performance.

However, his master's final words felt like they were dragging him down by the ankles.

'My master framed me?'

Treason, of all things.

His heart thudded wildly.

— Gonna be happy, forever together.

"Gonna be happy, forever together. We will be happy together forever."

He hadn't been able to fully enjoy the concert. Even so, hearing the crowd sing along to the final song made him feel a bit tearful. It wasn't just because he felt wronged by his master's betrayal. Piecing things together, it was a reality he had expected to some extent.

Rather, it was because he felt a profound sense of relief—a damn sense of security—that this moment right now was his actual reality. The relief born from the fact that the trial of Salisbury was a thing of the past, something that would never happen again.

Perhaps because the air conditioning was working too well, or because he had just seen something chilling, he felt his body temperature dropping. Sihyeon hunched his shoulders and crossed his arms, watching Tracker exit the stage as they sang their encore song. The expressions of the boys reflected on the giant screens looked incredibly overwhelmed with joy, as if they possessed the whole world. Sihyeon didn't take his eyes off Siwoo's brightly smiling face until it vanished. Seeing the kid look so happy brought him a bit of comfort.

"Goodbye, everyone!"

Waaaaaaaak!

Kyaaaaaaaak!

Don't go! Don't go! Don't go!

After three encores, the boys waved their hands and truly made their exit.

Paper confetti drifted down from the ceiling.

Brushing the confetti off his face, Sihyeon hurriedly made his way out of the venue. Fans streamed out in small groups, singing Tracker's songs as if to soothe their lingering excitement.

Sihyeon sat down on a bench behind the venue for a moment and took a deep breath. His ears felt numb. As Sihyeon took deep breaths, the surrounding trees shared their natural energy with him, just like always.

He felt like absolute garbage.

With this, he had confirmed the fact that his master had deceived him. It wasn't a distorted memory, because a vivid scene had unfolded right before his eyes rather than just sparse, fragmented pieces. It was just like a Pixie's memory magic.

"!!"

Sihyeon bolted up from his seat at the sudden realization.

It wasn't like a Pixie's magic; this was truly a Pixie's memory magic!

It was a spell to hide one's own memories with the help of a Pixie—a simple yet powerful magic for a fairy. However, it carried the side effect of causing immense physical pain, to the point where no one would dare attempt it lightly.

"What on earth? This means... I was the one who asked them to cast it on me?"

Why did he do that? Because it was too painful?

Sihyeon scratched his head aggressively and sat back down.

This puzzle piece was quite large. First, he had used a forbidden spell under his master's orders, but his master had turned around and branded him a traitor. Furthermore, he remembered seeing that exact defixio nestled between his master's parchments... though it had no letters on it back then. Engraving letters onto a lead plate would have been a walk in the park for him anyway.

Earthquake with Anger was an insane spell.

No matter if they were an enemy army, deciding to bury thousands of people alive was never an easy choice. It was a decision he wouldn't have even dared to contemplate if it weren't for his master's orders. Sihyeon shuddered as he recalled the memory of agonizing over it until the very end.

He wondered if Senior Millie and the comrades who were with him had truly died. To think they had barely survived the battlefield, only to be slaughtered in their own hometown—it was utterly absurd.

To reward the heroes who saved West Forest at the risk of their own karma with such dog-like deaths.

Whew—.

His stomach churned.

"So that's how it was."

Sihyeon gritted his teeth. He didn't know exactly why he had fragmented his own memories, but he was going to remember every single bit of it. He would remember how Millie was doing; if he had died, he would remember who killed him; and he would absolutely remember why his master had framed him.

Grinding his teeth, Sihyeon suddenly flinched.

Wait a minute.

……He couldn't even get revenge? Whoever it was, enough time had passed for them to have become cosmic dust several times over. Though it took some wind out of his sails, Sihyeon steeled his heart once more. First, he would remember everything, and then he could go to Salisbury to set the place ablaze, or at least spit on it! Otherwise, he might just have to summon a demon!

…….

…….

"……No, I can't do that."

The fiery rage that had flared up subsided slightly.

However, his desire to complete his memories grew even stronger.

And a question arose.

Did the original owner of this body also forget these kinds of memories?

Siwoo always avoided talking about the past, and Hosu said she had seen Sihyeon getting beaten up. If he dug through this body's memories, they were full of nothing but experiences of being pushed around here and there. Even when he first opened his eyes in this body, it was being subjected to someone's abuse of power.

Sihyeon crossed his legs and muttered, "If it's trauma, I'm sorry, but I need to remember everything. Instead, if that's truly what happened, I'll take revenge for you tenfold."

Sihyeon answered his phone, which had been ringing for a bit. It was Tracker's Manager Woo, calling to head out to the dorms together.

"Yes. I'll head back to the front of the waiting room."