Chapter 67: Welcome to attend 'your' funeral, Sulli

Where is this?

Listening to the rain sounding like drumbeats by her ears, Sulli was slightly startled.

Held by Lin Xiuyuan, she stopped in place. Her eyes were still covered, but the vibration of the rain seemed to strike directly at her heart.

It was more real than vision.

Thus, those emotions that had been deposited deep in her heart, obscured by the darkness, were knocked out by the sudden sound of the rain at this moment.

Her breathing suddenly quickened, her blood boiling.

However, before she could speak, Lin Xiuyuan's voice came first. "Sulli, do you want to sleep for a while?"

"Ah?"

Sulli was confused.

"Because it will take some time to reach the destination of your 'funeral'."

As Lin Xiuyuan said this, Sulli, who had already been startled many times, wanted to take off her blindfold with her small hands.

Fortunately, Zheng Xiuyan, who had been following beside her, called out, "Sulli, we are all here."

Although this sentence temporarily put Sulli's heart at ease, her voice still trembled slightly. "Unnie, where are we now?"

Where?

This question stumped Zheng Xiuyan, so she looked at Lin Xiuyuan.

Lin Xiuyuan thought for a moment and answered softly, "We are now in a future without 'you', so we are preparing to take you to attend 'your' funeral."

As his answer was spoken, Sulli felt an incredible sense of unreality, and her heartbeat began to accelerate uncontrollably.

Her fingertips couldn't help but tighten slightly.

In this mood, the group soon arrived at the garage. Park Jiyeon gently supported her and led her into the back seat of the car.

Then she held her hands tightly, as if protecting a startled little beast.

Watching Lin Xiuyuan close the car door, Zheng Xiuyan, standing outside, asked curiously, "Why not tell her now?"

"Because I hope she can feel the deepest, most shocking blow. If you want to wake her up completely, you can't disperse this impact; you have to concentrate it and smash it hard into her heart."

Regarding the plan for Sulli, Lin Xiuyuan's thoughts and methods were very simple and brutal. "Once this shock, enough to overturn all the misfortunes of her first twenty years, completely fills her heart, then the answer regarding her will basically be easily solved."

He looked into the distance, his voice as light as a hammer strike. "After all, what could be more shocking than seeing yourself lying in a tombstone with your own eyes?"

Hearing this, Zheng Xiuyan looked at the boy in front of her in disbelief. After a long while, she said, "You are not as reckless as when you first found me. What's wrong? Did you get a psychology degree here?"

Lin Xiuyuan laughed. "Reckless is reckless, but that doesn't mean I don't have an IQ. What are you thinking?"

As he spoke, he opened the passenger door for her. "Get in the car, it's time to go."

I don't know how much time passed as the vehicle shuttled through the rain curtain.

The heavy rain smashed against the windshield, making a swishing sound. The wipers swung desperately, but still couldn't clear the view completely.

The high beams pierced through the rain and fog, and the wheels kicked up waves, speeding on the wet highway, as if time had been left behind.

Compared to the storm outside, the inside of the car was silent.

Listening to the dense sound of raindrops hitting the roof and windows, Sulli sat quietly in the back seat wearing the blindfold, her clasped fingertips wrestling with each other, the stray hair on her forehead gently blown by the air conditioning, fluttering lightly.

Park Jiyeon stood quietly by her side, her gaze vacant, as if she were still stuck in that moment on the first night when she learned everything.

And Zheng Xiuyan, sitting in the passenger seat, looked down at her palms, not knowing what she was thinking, but suppressing an unspeakable emotion.

Only Lin Xiuyuan, who was driving, looked straight ahead, his hands steadily gripping the steering wheel, his eyes as focused as a rock.

The wind and rain flowed across his back, but could not shake his posture in the slightest.

Until the car slowly stopped in front of a silent cemetery.

The rain was pouring down, and there wasn't a single person between heaven and earth, as if heaven had intentionally cleared this hidden place for them.

"Are we there?"

Sensing the car stop, Sulli spoke immediately.

"Mm, we're here."

Lin Xiuyuan turned off the engine, took a long black umbrella from Zheng Xiuyan's hand, opened it, and got out of the car.

Even though puddles were everywhere underfoot, he didn't care that his shoes and pants were soaked, walked to the back seat, opened the door, and reached out to Sulli.

Listening to the other party's words, "Can't I take it off yet?"

"We've waited so long, we don't care about waiting a little longer, right?" Lin Xiuyuan, holding her hand, replied with a smile.

This sentence made Sulli take a deep breath of the moist water vapor mixed with the smell of mud and rain, and then, led by Lin Xiuyuan, she stepped out of the car. The rain fell densely and obliquely, and the icy touch rushed toward her. All she could do was grip Lin Xiuyuan's palm tighter and follow him slowly toward the "destination."

Due to the heavy rain, the road became increasingly difficult to walk on.

Even though Lin Xiuyuan's umbrella had long been tilted toward Sulli's side, her right hand was inevitably soaked by the rain. Water droplets slid from the cuffs of her trench coat, gathered at her fingertips, and dripped down.

The stray hair by her ears had also been soaked by the rain, sticking to her cheeks, curly and heavy.

"You can take it off."

Just as Sulli wanted to brush off the water droplets on her fingertips, a soft voice entered her ears. It was Lin Xiuyuan signaling that she could take off the blindfold.

However, at this moment, she acted contrary to her usual self, no longer as anxious and worried about taking it off as before.

As if some premonition shrouded her heart, she stood stiffly in place, suddenly afraid to move.

Because in her heart, a voice was whispering to her that after taking it off, perhaps the entire world would become quite different.

Perhaps, she would change too.

Looking at the silent Sulli beside him, Lin Xiuyuan didn't urge her, but quietly accompanied her standing there, holding the umbrella for her, waiting for her decision.

After a long while, Sulli, ending the silence, finally let go of his hand.

She slowly lowered her head, reached her hands behind her head, and untied the blindfold.

A ray of dazzling light pierced through the gap in the darkness.

The first scene she saw when she opened her eyes was a lawn soaked by rain, raindrops hitting the tips of leaves, mud splashing.

The rain was falling heavily, as if pouring down from the sky, leaving no gaps.

The wind wrapped the rain and smashed it onto the ground, onto the umbrella surface, making a dense and oppressive sound.

Looking up again, she saw a tombstone, a vigorously growing pine tree standing behind the tombstone, shielding it from the wind and rain.

And beside the tombstone were some fresh flowers and photos. The person in the photo made Sulli feel an unfamiliar familiarity.

Sulli, whose feet seemed nailed to the ground, began to let her gaze cross the constantly swaying rain curtain and fall on the inscription carved with text.

Looking at the font obscured by the rain, she began to squat down slowly, reaching out to wipe away the water stains.

Sulli recognized words like Saint—Truth—Lord—and so on, but combined together, she couldn't react.

Staring blankly at the cold stone surface, her mind was a blank.

Time seemed to stand still at that moment, with only the roar of the rain and her sudden heartbeat in her ears.

Especially after the familiar family names appeared at the very bottom, Sulli immediately looked at the only two photos beside the tombstone.

Who else could that person, who she just felt was unfamiliar yet familiar, be if not her?

I don't know if it was a coincidence or what, but just as Sulli recognized herself in the photo, a clap of thunder flashed overhead, cracking loudly.

The next instant, she looked up sharply at Lin Xiuyuan, who had been holding the umbrella for her all along.

This black umbrella had been held over her head from the moment she got out of the car, silently shielding her from the pouring rain.

The angle tilted toward her side had caused the other party's shoulders and back to be soaked by the wind and rain.

And Lin Xiuyuan, seeing Sulli look up, finally spoke again at this moment. "Welcome to attend 'your' funeral, Sulli. Although it's a few years late, we finally didn't miss it."

"What on earth is going on?"

Touching the cold touch of the tombstone, Sulli's fingertips trembled as they swept over the familiar yet unfamiliar name.

Sulli knew this was definitely not a dream; the rain scene beside her, which was as real as it could be, could definitely not be a "prank" set.

"Is this—me??"

Her voice was so low it was almost swallowed by the sound of the rain, as if she were asking Lin Xiuyuan, and as if she were helping him answer herself.

"This is you, but not the you of 2013, but the you of 2025. The space-time you are currently in is 2025, 12 years later. The you 12 years later, died."

Lin Xiuyuan's voice fell slowly in the sound of the rain, every word as heavy as a stone falling into a deep pool, unable to stir up waves, but able to echo in Sulli's heart.

After hearing this, Sulli looked down at the name on her hand again, her lips parted slightly. "So the future me is already dead."

"Mm, dead."

Lin Xiuyuan's tone was firm and steady.

Sulli, with trembling fingertips, remained silent for a long time after this answer, as if chewing on this sudden fate, and then slowly swallowed it.

Then she took a deep breath, looked up, her tone calm but revealing a faint firmness. "Then oppa, can I know my cause of death?"

"Of course."

Sulli, having received permission, looked at the tombstone in her hand again, and the photo on the other side. "This really is 'my funeral'."

As she spoke, she slowly stood up, gritting her teeth, wanting to see clearly what this world where she "died" was like.

The rain was still falling, the world was gray and white, and the cemetery spread out silently in the rain and fog.

All around were tombstones of uniform shapes, the lawn was slippery, the mud was deep, and the air was stuffy and damp.

Sulli, who turned around gently, caught sight of Zheng Xiuyan and Park Jiyeon who had come over together.

The two had been standing quietly in the rain like Lin Xiuyuan before, wearing dark coats, their damp hair sticking to their cheeks.

The expressions on their faces as they looked at her, or rather at the tombstone, were filled with an unspeakable sadness amidst the silence.

Before Sulli could think to say anything, her peripheral vision suddenly caught another scene, and then she stopped abruptly.

Not far away, a black umbrella stood lonely in the rain curtain.

Under the umbrella was Krystal. ===== CHAPTER 68 =====