Chapter 11: Final Chapter
I heard about everything that happened afterwards four days later, when I recovered from my coma.
In the end, the position closed at minus 273%. Plunging 900,000 Mool in and getting a negative 273% meant a debt of around 1.55 million Mool. It wasn’t just a matter of not being able to repay the debt. After blowing away the townspeople’s nest eggs, I had shouldered a debt I could absolutely never repay.
However, according to what Lisa slowly told me, the debt ended up being only 50,000 Mool. Apparently, the night after I collapsed, a phone call came. The man calling himself Burton said he wanted to hand over the shares needed to settle our margin selling at a certain price. If we bought at that price, the debt would settle at, at most, 50,000 Mool. Karman Investment stock was hitting the daily limit-high every day, and there were absolutely no sellers. Since it was certain to rise further, there was no way they could refuse that proposal. Hagana, who knew Burton’s name from my terminal, strongly opposed it, but Lisa accepted it.
Everything went back to how it was. No, it was better to say we lost everything. But the people who had entrusted us with funds, starting with Chris and her father—instead of coming to kill me as I expected—came to visit me in the hospital room. And they even thanked me for showing them a dream. That was more painful than being abused. They are used to losing, used to despair. And yet, they possess the strength not to hate people despite that. If Lisa hadn’t been there, I might have died.
However, Hagana was the only one I didn’t see. Hagana stayed in the church the whole time, and apparently, she was emaciated too. Due to the mental shock, my body had weakened terribly and wouldn’t move. Even after regaining consciousness, my strength didn’t return, and pitifully, four days after waking up, I returned to the church in a wheelchair.
Lisa was the one pushing me. The weather on the Moon was nice that day, a comfortable day. On the way, Lisa said casually:
“I decided to sell the church.”
I didn’t even flinch.
“There’s the debt, too… and if I sell everything, it will help with everyone’s living expenses.”
Even though tears spilled out, I didn’t even have the strength to make a sad expression.
“But I’m glad you got discharged in time. In the end, well, we decided to have a lunch. Chris-chan and others are coming. Cerault made home-cooked food, too. Even though I taught him how to cook, he’s acting all high and mighty.”
Lisa was speaking in a light tone. Knowing it wasn’t false cheer made it even more painful. For Lisa and the others, things like this were an everyday occurrence on Earth. They had experienced enough to smile and say, “At least we’re alive, right?”
“Cerault investigated for us.”
Then, suddenly, Lisa changed her tone.
“Burton—that guy apparently does this kind of thing all the time. When Cerault’s company was taken over, he seems to have been involved, too. You’d think he’d have incurred grudges and received divine punishment long ago, but Cerault said it too. He doesn’t kill completely. The reason he called us was probably because he didn’t intend to truly corner us. Do you call that kindness? I don’t know.”
Lisa laughed again. It was a tired laugh mixed with a sigh.
“There are all kinds of people in the world, aren’t there?”
Right. Truly, right. I hated myself for not being able to say definitively that I was deceived. Wasn’t it some mistake? Wasn’t it an error? But in reality, I lost everything. Burton seemed to use multiple names. He seemed to have multiple family registers—a specimen of a person who could do anything with money and connections.
I mispriced myself. That’s why I took a massive loss. I can say that clearly. I was just a kid.
“But well, our bond remains. Right, Hal?”
Lisa pinched my cheek from behind. I couldn’t move my body. Not even my expression.
Lisa sighed.
“Are you angry that I contacted your parents?”
When Lisa asked that, we were passing in front of the steamed bun shop. It was the place run by the older lady who had once handed me a bun, saying Chris was too skinny so I should give her one. She had handed me a four-Mool bun without a shred of doubt in me. I had been surprised even by that, so why did I think Burton would so easily give me information worth hundreds of thousands, or even millions of Mool? I had been conceited.
“I think you’ll definitely heal, Hal,” Lisa said. “They said it’s psychological. The scar on your forehead might remain a bit, though. But you’re a boy. Scars are badges of honor.”
I couldn’t reply. Lisa and the doctor had explained it to me. It wasn’t that I lacked the will to move. It seemed that some wiring inside me had snapped due to the sheer shock. Because of that, I couldn’t move on my own, or even change my expression. However, there was one other problem. I was currently a runaway. Lisa had desperately asked the doctor to hide my identity, but due to the medical costs, it was impossible. My identity was identified via iris scan and fingerprints, and my family back home had been contacted.
I wouldn’t get angry at Lisa. I couldn’t complain even if Lisa killed me.
“Well, today I’m going to make sure you eat properly. You don’t have to be shy.”
She giggled. It was a dry sort of laugh. In front of the church, Cerault and Chris were waiting, and Toyama was there too. If not for these circumstances, I probably never could have shown my face to them again. But, just like the people who visited my hospital room, they were smiling with a “good grief” sort of look. A gathering of losers. Even though I thought that, I was pathetically happy to meet them again.
“Alright. Everyone, to the garden on the third floor!”
Lisa said, and the others headed up to the third.
“I’ll give you lots of lap pillows, too.”
Passing through the living room, Lisa said such things. A good smell drifted through the living room, likely the lingering scent of the cooking. And just then, Chris came down from the second floor.
“Ah, the drinks.”
“Hm? Ah, then please take care of it. Be careful… actually, Chris-chan is probably more used to this.”
“Fufu.”
Chris shrugged and laughed, then ran off lightly with her arms full of drinks.
“Ah, where’s Hagana?”
When Lisa asked, Chris stopped climbing the stairs and trotted back.
“…”
And she pointed to the door of the room. When Lisa nodded, Chris’s face stiffened slightly, and she went up the stairs.
“She’s a difficult child.”
Lisa said that, but it was obvious she didn’t believe her own words. Neither did I. Hagana isn’t difficult. She’s just honest, straight, and clumsy.
“Hagana, Ha-ga-na.”
Lisa knocked on the door in a deliberately playful tone. Hagana didn’t reply.
“Good grief… It’s Hal! Hal has come back!”
Lisa called out, but still no reaction. Lisa looked back at me and shrugged.
“Hagana, I’m opening it!”
And she opened the door. The last time the two of us opened this door, it was at night. It was when Hagana had gone to yell at Toyama and elbowed Lisa in the face. Hagana had been curled up in the corner of the room, trembling. This time, the failure was incomparable to back then. Is she okay? I think she’ll be okay. The current Hagana wouldn’t break from something like this. She fought alongside me. She couldn’t remain that weak.
But there was a dull, unpleasant pain in my chest. Hagana hadn’t tried to stop that trade for the sake of her own dream. She had been rational through and through. Yet, I rejected her. I rejected her at the critical moment. I wanted to apologize for that.
“…Huh?”
At that mutter from Lisa, I came back to my senses.
“…”
Lisa turned back from the doorway, passed right by me, and returned to the living room. She opened the bathroom door, closed it, and headed toward the church. The door to Hagana’s room remained open. Shortly after, Lisa passed by me again with a stiff face and ran up the stairs.
I was left behind alone in the pleasant weather. Beyond the half-open door. There was an empty space.
I closed my eyes, still sitting in the wheelchair. Hal. I recalled Hagana’s voice calling me that. Hagana. In the end, what was her real name, I wondered.
In the pleasant weather, cradling the pain in my chest, I thought absentmindedly. Hagana had disappeared from the church. And thus, the curtain fell on my teenage years.
