Childhood Friend.
Just hearing that word makes me feel all warm and tingly.
It’s a great setting for injecting plausibility into a sweet romance, and also a powerful heroine character in a harem story. The only problem is, it usually leads to a defeat flag.
I had a childhood friend back in elementary school.
The place I lived as a child wasn’t a bustling city filled with high-rise apartments, but a quiet neighborhood with old houses and villas.
These days, there’s so much to see and do, but back then, there really wasn’t. In such a quiet area, what would a child even play with?
Every time I’d go to the playground at the same hour, kids I had seen the day before would always be there, even without any promise to meet.
What shall we play today? We would only part ways once the sun started to set. There was a childhood friend I used to play with.
A girl who lived next door, a year younger than me. Her parents both worked, so she often spent time alone until late at night. I was her childhood friend.
We played many games together – from House to Four Square, playing ball, Jacks, and making snowmen.
Of course, just because we were childhood friends didn’t mean our relationship developed like in cartoons.
We played together until elementary school, but as we grew older, hitting puberty, we ended up becoming distant.
Sometimes we’d greet each other if we ran into each other at the neighborhood mart. After I moved away, we lost all contact.
Thinking back, we got along fine as kids, but around the time we hit puberty, our looks were wrecking each other’s uniqueness, so I guess we avoided each other. Maybe if I had been handsome, we would still be in touch instead of just memories.
But regardless, it was a bittersweet memory from childhood. I don’t remember the face or voice of that childhood friend, but the memories linger on.
Now I just need to paste the face and voice of that memory onto Heavenly Killing Star. We’re now those kids playing house in the neighborhood.
Hey, childhood friend. You’re probably living well somewhere, but let’s switch this memory to Heavenly Killing Star now! Thanks!
“Stop lying.”
Cheon So-hee said to me with a poker face. But if you look closely, you could catch a slight crack in her expression. She’s a little shaken!
“So-hee, what do you mean I’m lying?”
“There’s no way I have an oppa.”
“Haha. So-hee, are you really thinking that I’m your biological brother? What a stretch! I’m your childhood friend, Kang Yoon-ho, not Cheon Yoon-ho!”
There’s no way she’d mistake me for a sibling, but I corrected her just in case. Family settings can be tricky. Maybe there are families in the fading memories left in Heavenly Killing Star.
I’m not your family; I’m just the oppa who used to play house with you.
That’s the most basic setting that needs to be laid down firmly like a stone. If this initial setup doesn’t take, the whole thing could just flop. So please, don’t deny it right off the bat.
Please let it work. Let it work.
“There’s no way a childhood friend I played with would exist.”
All right! You’re unsure, I see! You just can’t be certain! The past is almost a blank slate for you, huh? You can’t outright state it!
“Don’t you remember when we played together? You always won at Jacks, even when I was older, and we played with stones in that Jacks game you loved!”
I just couldn’t win at Jacks. The younger childhood friend always beat me. I was so frustrated as a kid that I practiced at home, but I lost every time.
I gazed at Heavenly Killing Star with a nostalgic look.
“I don’t remember anything like that.”
Cheon So-hee said, her voice petulant. Heavenly Killing Star looked a bit uncomfortable at my longing gaze.
It’s okay. I’m used to those kinds of stares. I’ve faced even harsher looks before.
“It might just be that it’s been so long. It’s been more than ten years, so it could be that.”
I nodded as if I had just come to a sensible conclusion. Even if the other person denies it, I don’t need to counter that denial. Instead, I’ll assert my view positively.
Back in the day, the loud and shameless one won after a car accident. It’s hard to objectively see who was wrong then.
Still true today.
Not only do I have no memories of it, but she doesn’t either. It’s a memory that nobody can objectively confirm. A gap in memories. And I’m shamelessly inserting my memories as if they’re facts.
“Stop lying. No one from your village can still be alive.”
“Well then, does that mean I’m a ghost standing right in front of you?”
“That’s exactly why I’m saying you’re lying.”
As if at a loss for words, Cheon So-hee clenched her small hidden knife.
Hey! Next time, you might stab me! I need to create some undeniable common ground fast.
“I witnessed the horrific event in your village firsthand. It was truly devastating.”
She looked as if she was recalling that terribly hard-to-bear past. The expression on her face became vivid like a scene from a drama, remembering the time she got caught by her family while watching adult content without locking the door.
“You just said your village.”
Cheon So-hee’s eyes lit up, as if she had found a chink in the armor. The angle of her hidden knife shifted.
“Yes. Your village. So you really don’t remember me, huh? So-hee, if you can’t recall me, would you perhaps remember the Kang family, your oppa’s family? We were rich folks, dressed nicely, so it should stick in your memory.”
Every time I said something, I hoped she’d listen all the way through without doubting me, damn it!
Heavenly Killing Star is always ready to stab first. She thought I’d displayed a weakness, but wow, she couldn’t resist it and tried to act tough right away, scaring me a little.
“My village was a poor fishing village. There couldn’t have been any rich family.”
The angle of the knife on Cheon So-hee’s hip was directly aimed at me. If I reached out, she’d stab right into my throat.
I need to keep talking fast.
“Right, the Kang family wasn’t from that village. They had other reasons for visiting that fishing village.”
“Other reasons?”
It felt like riding a tightrope.
The Murong Family had the luxury of preparing shoes. Right now, the only thing I can trust is my two feet. But what can I do? I have to keep going to survive.
It’s time to recite the setting I’ve prepared.
I looked at Heavenly Killing Star, putting on a wistful expression.
“So-hee, our family was the Kang family that served as diplomats back in Joseon. Our family made money legally, but we also made some through smuggling. We moved goods overland, but when the quantities were large, we shipped them via boats to the Central Plains. But transporting smuggled goods through a proper harbor would raise suspicions, so we secretly left a boat in a quiet fishing village to move goods to the Central Plains.”
The Kang family really did smuggling through such methods. Just one lie for a single purpose. To lend credibility to that lie, I mix in a bit of truth.
“What’s the big deal?”
“It’s already been over ten years, huh? There was a boy who missed his father, who rarely came home due to his work. He realized waiting for his father at the port was the quickest way to see him rather than waiting at home. So, he spent a few times each year waiting for his father in a quiet fishing village.”
“That’s our village?”
“Yes. I met Cheon So-hee in that fishing village, you! Whenever I waited for my father at that fishing village, I played with you. And when my father returned, I would go back to my hometown. That was how I managed to escape that day’s wrath.”
Actually, none of that ever happened. When my father was away for smuggling, my childish life was more about causing trouble for the neighbors.
“……”
Cheon So-hee seemed momentarily speechless. How is it? I’ve inserted myself into your village memories; isn’t that quite a decent setting?
“So-hee, I actually want to ask you something. What happened that day when those Japanese pirates attacked your village? Everyone from your village died. How on earth did you survive? And what the heck are you doing in the Central Plains?”
If my setup took hold, this was my chance for a counterattack. I mention the day’s event to push Heavenly Killing Star into a corner.
“I don’t want to talk about it…”
Cheon So-hee’s expression showed her serious displeasure, as her brows furrowed deeply. Perhaps remembering the brutal day made her want to avoid revisiting that time, her eyebrows split up and down.
Her Achilles’ heel. The memory of that day when everyone in her village died. Such a traumatic event made her lose most of her past memories.
“I’m sorry. That day must have left you with some truly horrific memories. I was insensitive to bring it up.”
She bit her lips, and avoided my gaze, looking down at the floor. Since it was a painful memory for both of us, silence descended in the room.
Although truthfully, it isn’t a painful memory for me.
“…Yeah. I understand that you lived in our village.”
It was effective.
I knew it. Even I can understand if I think about it, it was a convincing setup.
Let’s shake hands and part ways now. It was nice meeting you again, no?
Time to return to business. I’m going to be active in Hubei Province for a while, so just stick to your own business in another territory.
“So-hee, have you finally remembered me?”
I purposely raised my voice cheerfully.
“No. I know you stayed in our village. But if we were that close, you should be in my memories.”
She isn’t letting it go easily.
That’s a fair point. Even if much of your memories are lost, someone close should be stuck somewhere in your mind. But I wouldn’t be there, would I?
Even though I keep reminiscing about our past, it would be reasonable to suspect if they don’t remember anything about it. It would be strange if I told her I was familiar with her parents and still got a friendly send-off without a head slam.
The reason Heavenly Killing Star is suspicious is ultimately one thing.
Her own memory.
Most people struggle to trust what they can’t clearly recall. They can only trust the memories they have clearly.
But for Cheon So-hee, there are no clear memories.
The character of Cheon So-hee has lost most of her childhood memories.
Because of that loss, she treasures her past deeply.
Although not much remains, the memories of Cheon So-hee are held precious in her heart. She harbors absolute trust in those memories.
Since those memories are so valuable, she can’t help but be suspicious of anyone claiming to know about her past.
No matter how much I speak about us being childhood friends before her, she wouldn’t believe it.
Whether I played Four Square or Jacks, or even played a game of squid with her, it doesn’t matter. Since I’m not inside her memory.
That memory is far too solid.
No, I think it is solid, at least.
So, Heavenly Killing Star.
The precious memories you hold.
I’m about to drop a bomb on those memories right now.
