Chapter 102: Extra Stories 2-IF Maybe So Sweet. If Mad Hatter was the Only Route. (2)  

Based on the size and the overall number of pieces of furniture to move, it was a much better decision for SoYoon to move into Mad Hatter’s house instead of him into hers. After moving a few stacks of clothes and the induction, she was pretty much done. Mad Hatter was surprised to find that she had so few things and clicked his tongue. It was evident that she’d had no intention of wanting to stay in Wonderland.

“Well, now you have me.”

SoYoon looked taken aback at the sudden statement, but Mad Hatter didn’t care whether she understood him or not. He hugged her tightly and placed his cheek against her white hair.

“I put myself in your kind hands.”

“I hope you will do the same for me.”

Even though they had decided to live together, their daily life patterns didn’t suddenly change. Mad Hatter’s sleeping schedule was, as always, all over the place, and she was constantly out of the house fulfilling requests. Unlike Mad Hatter, who was sensitive to small details, SoYoon didn’t really have any routines she must abide by, so there wasn’t even much to fight over.

But there was something that had changed.

SoYoon crouched down to avoid the blade of the ax aimed at her head. She charged into the opposition and slammed into his chest. In her left hand was the knife she had just pulled out.

The silver-blue blade jabbed into her enemy’s stomach and she slid it upward through his body. She moved it until it slit through his fatty stomach, then his deflating chest, then up to the end of his neck. A geyser of blood exploded wildly and splattered all over her pale face.

The burly man fell, spewing blood. SoYoon wiped away the blood that had splattered near her eyes and looked around. Three men had fallen, and there were four left.

When she made eye contact with them, they avoided her eyes. SoYoon asked with an expressionless tone, “It’s going to be hard to take the place of White Rabbit with this sort of skill, don’t you think?”

After people found out about her relationship with Mad Hatter, they had found out SoYoon’s gender as a girl. And as a consequence, those who were trying to steal her position as the White Rabbit increased. These people were some of those hopefuls. She snorted loudly so that they could hear her.

“So weak.”

Aggravated by her words, the man charged at her. SoYoon held up her sword in her hands and readied to defend herself.

“Die!”

It was then that the man ran at her with quick speed waving his sharp blade at her. Her smartphone rang. The ringtone was completely the opposite of the current menacing atmosphere and was a sweet melody meant for one person. SoYoon placed her hands into her pocket and pulled out the smartphone, then unlocked the screen.

“It’s me.”

The edge of the blade just barely missed SoYoon’s left shoulder. She maneuvered around the sword with a half step and as if dancing, spinning her body around to slip away. Her large sword followed her movements and cut through the wind.

“I don’t think I’ll be late today.”

The man with the long gash on his chest screamed. It was loud enough to filter through the smartphone and be heard by the person on the other side. But neither SoYoon or the person at the other end paid much attention to it.

“I’ll finish quickly and come back soon.”

With the end of the phone call, the man’s life ended also. SoYoon put the smartphone in her pocket and pointed her sword at the remaining three men. Sensing that their rage towards her had not disappeared, she jumped off the floor.

Her boyfriend had delicious food ready and was waiting for her. That was enough reason to hurry back home.

***

The biggest reason the two of them decided to live together was for the sake of Mad Hatter’s sleep. The times he had nightmares decreased and the days he had peaceful sleep increased. The most noticeable change was that there was someone to wake him up when he was having his nightmares.

This night was one of those nights.

In his dream, Mad Hatter became the young Chapelier Yochanan and was lying on the floor of the experimentation room. The effect of the drugs he had ingested with his breakfast had still not faded and he was unable to move his body.

For several hours, he stared out at the scenery beyond the window. An extravagant tower rose up into the red-dyed sky. The young Yochanan saw this as a human’s arrogant sword piercing the sky, causing it to shed tears of blood.

He wished he could kill all of them.

He looked past the sky and wished this curse upon them. Then, the sound of heavy footsteps came from behind the door. With only father and son living here in this castle, the owner of those footsteps was all too certain. The young Yochanan wanted to quench his dry mouth with the spit on his lips but he still could not move his body.

The door opened. With the darkness as a backdrop, an even darker shadow stood at the entrance. Yochanan wanted to close his eyes. But even that he was unable to control. The shadow came closer to him one step at a time. The faint smell of food swept past his nose and he felt like throwing up. Anyone, please, anybody.

It was then, the moment he had pleaded, that a round hand shook at his shoulders. He regained his consciousness. This is a dream. The moment he realized this, he was no longer afraid.

The image he saw when Mad Hatter opened his eyes was a pale face surrounded by white hair.

“Yochanan,” SoYoon called out his name in her low alto voice. A warm embrace hugged him. She awkwardly patted his shoulder as she called out his name again. This time, he was able to answer her. “Yochanan.”

“Yes, SoYoon.”

“I woke you up because you seemed to be having sleep paralysis.”

“Thank you. I was having a nightmare.”

It was summer. It was slowly starting to get hot. But Mad Hatter felt cold and shivered. There was no way that SoYoon, who was in contact with him, would be unaware of this. She stroked Mad Hatter’s back in a long sweeping motion. His thin shirt was drenched in cold sweat. It would be best for him to change.

SoYoon brought over a change of clothes for him and placed them on top of the bed. But she had no choice but to return to the bed because Mad Hatter pulled her in toward him. He laid her down on top of the bed and tossed his wet shirt away.

SoYoon looked up at Mad Hatter. His blue eyes reflected the darkness of the light and looked calm. She reached out her arm and wrapped it around his neck. At that moment, Mad Hatter’s eyes became ablaze with an internal fire. His lips curved downward as he muttered, looking over at SoYoon.

“You are too kind. Really, you could easily just ignore my childish antics.”

“You are probably the only one that would say that about me.”

“That, I’m happy about. Because that would mean that SoYoon is completely mine,” Mad Hatter added as he took off her shirt and tossed it somewhere in the room.

She kissed the top of his blue-grey hair that was tickling her neck and answered, “I guess it’s not untrue.”

“…Do you not want to sleep today?”

As if he hadn’t been under sleep paralysis just now, he asked her this in his normal voice. SoYoon smiled nervously.

“Please be gentle.”

***

Twice a week, Li went to see Mad Hatter and learn magic. Today was the fifth day of her lessons. As she approached Mad Hatter’s house, she stared at the front door and swallowed her sigh.

The lessons were good. On the second day of lessons, she had seen a strand of hair slip through his hat and had figured out his true identity. She realized how lucky she was to be learning from him.

A true genius, Mad Hatter pointed out in detail which areas she was lacking in. When the lessons ended, her mind was usually wiped out, but that was not the main problem. It seemed as if her teacher didn’t like her. And Li, who was usually slow at realizing these things, had figured it out on her first lesson, so he was being pretty blatant about it.

Maybe White Rabbit had spoken ill of her to him. Li thought this, not having the greatest affection for SoYoon.

Li hesitated, then knocked on the door. A few moments later, the door opened. She muttered an excuse, then stepped inside. But Mad Hatter, who was usually standing on the 1st floor with a scowl on his face, was nowhere to be seen.

“Teacher?”

“Over here.”

The sound of someone’s voice she could hear but not see was coming from the bedroom. Li saw a person that she assumed to be Mad Hatter through the crack in the door and swung it wide open.

“Um, teacher..!”

Li opened her eyes wide. Mad Hatter was sitting on the bed with his head against the headboard. But he was not alone. He was holding someone in his arms.

The neatly organized white hair, the pale face, the small stature. It was someone very familiar to Li.

“White Rabbit?”

“Shh. Be quiet.”

Mad Hatter warned Li with a frown. Li shrunk at his angry voice and flinched.

“This is why I pushed back today’s lesson until tomorrow.”

“What?”

“I knew you were naive but I didn’t know you couldn’t understand words. Go back today… Oh no.”

SoYoon, disrupted by the two people’s conversation, started to stir. Mad Hatter patted her lightly on the shoulder as she sighed.

“It’s alright. You can keep sleeping.”

“Um, but…”

“Li said she had something else to do today anyway so it would have been difficult to proceed with the lesson. So there is nothing to worry about.”

His laughter filled voice echoed throughout the living room. Even if all the sugar in the world had been poured into the situation, nothing could have sounded sweeter. Li stood in front of the door and watched them apathetically.

Mad Hatter looked over at her. Even Medusa’s gaze, which turned whoever she looked at to stone, would not have been scarier than what she observed on him now. She crept out of the bedroom and closed the door, then ran out of the house.

The moment he heard the front door close, Mad Hatter stroked SoYoon’s hair. However, she did not wake up. He smiled as he realized that this was how much SoYoon trusted him.

This was a moment he would have never imagined he would come to enjoy so sweetly. Mad Hatter remembered the memory of his past. If he was able to go back and meet his younger self, he wanted to make sure to tell him. If you persist and live on, there will come a time when you will be filled with happiness that overflows the brim of your head. He hugged SoYoon tightly with his arms and smiled widely.