Childhood Friend of the Zenith-Chapter 605: The Curse of the Ice Crystal (1)

I had a dream.

A dream where I walked across a snowy field blanketed in white.

The weather was cold and bitter.

Yet, oddly enough, I didn’t feel unbearably cold.

[“Wheee!”]

In the falling snow, Gu Ryeonghwa ran about, full of energy and excitement.

Watching her, I spoke up.

[“You’ll fall if you keep running like that.”]

[“Hehehe!”]

She didn’t seem to listen.

If she kept running like that, it wouldn’t be long before—

[“Ack!”]

[“Ah.”]

As expected.

Gu Ryeonghwa tripped and fell flat on her face.

[“Waaaah!”]

She cried out, tears streaming down her face from the hard fall.

I sighed and walked over to her.

[“See? I told you not to run.”]

[“Owwwwww!”]

Her face and cheeks were covered in snow.

I brushed it off with my hands.

[“Hiiing....”]

[“When are you going to grow up, huh?”]

Seven or eight years old at most.

It was a ridiculous thing to say, especially coming from someone like me, who had never truly matured even into adulthood.

Looking back now, I seemed to have been smarter and more articulate as a child.

How did I end up the way I did as I grew older?

As I busied myself tending to Gu Ryeonghwa, I suddenly felt—

Rustle.

A hand rested on my head.

The hand was so large it covered my entire head and more.

Feeling the rough palm, I turned my head slightly.

The first thing I saw was my mother.

She was smiling softly as she watched us.

But, of course, the hand wasn’t hers.

My mother’s hands were much smaller.

Then whose hand was it?

I shifted my gaze slightly and met the eyes of the hand’s owner.

A tall man with crimson-red eyes and hair faintly tinged with the same hue.

The head of the Gu family.

My father.

He was stroking my hair.

Had this ever happened before?

I couldn’t remember. That was how I knew.

‘This is a dream.’

I knew it was a dream.

It felt too vivid, too nostalgic.

This had to be a dream.

[“Father.”]

My younger self smiled as he spoke.

Smiling at my father—something that would be unthinkable now.

What was even more shocking—

‘He’s smiling?’

My father’s lips, normally stern, had curved ever so slightly.

He was smiling at me.

I smiled, and my father smiled back.

[“Oh! It’s Dad!”]

Gu Ryeonghwa noticed my father and quickly got up, running to hug him.

With her small stature, she could only cling to his thigh.

[“Daddy!”]

My father said nothing but patted Gu Ryeonghwa’s head in response.

It was...

‘Not a bad sight.’

That thought crossed my mind as I watched.

Was it because I knew it was a dream?

Or maybe—

‘Because it’s something I’d always wanted to see?’

It was a strange, indescribable feeling.

There was also a sense of embarrassment, like I was seeing something I shouldn’t.

For some reason, it felt that way.

If this was a dream, it was time to wake up.

This wasn’t the time to indulge in such things.

Resolving to shake myself out of it, I tried to move my body.

Tug.

‘...?’

My cheek was suddenly being stretched.

Confused, I realized someone was pulling on my face.

Was it my mother? It had to be my mother, right?

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That’s what I thought, but then—

“Oh my, what smooth skin.”

The voice was low and rough, but the tone was uncharacteristically playful.

“Is it because you’re young? Your skin is so soft and elastic.”

It was my father.

My father was pulling on both my cheeks while making such remarks.

His face remained as expressionless as ever, but his words were anything {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} but.

“If I were ten years younger, would my skin have been like this? Hoho.”

‘What the hell.’

A shiver ran down my spine.

I’d thought it was a normal dream, but this was nothing short of a nightmare.

To hear my father’s voice, see his blank face, and listen to such words—it was horrifying.

‘Gotta get out.’

I needed to escape this.

That was the only thought in my mind.

“At first, I thought you barely resembled me, but the more I see you, the more you look like me.”

The addition of his laughter made it worse.

The situation was becoming unbearable.

Closing my eyes tightly, I forcefully gathered energy in my body.

Whrrr—

I channeled my energy, using it to forcibly wake myself.

“Still as scary-looking as ever. But with that face, I’m sure even your cousin—”

Whrrr—

The energy coursed through me, jolting my body awake. My eyes flew open.

“Gah...”

Gasping, I sat up, finally escaping the nightmare.

A foreign ceiling greeted me.

Seeing it, I sighed in relief.

I had truly escaped that terrifying, terrible dream.

As that thought crossed my mind—

“Oh my.”

The same tone I’d heard in the dream reached my ears.

Except this time, it wasn’t my father’s deep voice, but a bright, feminine one.

And my cheeks—

They were still being pinched.

“You’re awake?”

“...?”

Still caught by the cheeks, I turned to look at the speaker.

It was a familiar face.

[“...Whmeltuswword...?”]

I had meant to say White Lotus Sword, but with my cheeks pinched, the words came out garbled.

The White Lotus Sword laughed at my attempt and spoke again.