“In life, there will come a time when you hesitate. Those moments will probably come quite a lot, and whenever they come, there is a choice to be made. You can also not choose and just run away or ignore them, but from your mother’s experience, those decisions you ran away from or ignored will be placed in front of your eyes again eventually. At that time, it will be much heavier and much more complex. Decision-making is a difficult thing. Because it is difficult, you have to do it. The majority of decisions can be resolved through pondering, but if you’re faced with a choice that you cannot decide on no matter how hard you think about it, then shake off all the worries you had until then. Clear your mind and ask yourself what you want in a state where you aren’t thinking about anything. Your circumstances, relationships, and rules – leave those aside and focus on what you truly want. No matter how difficult of a choice it is, you will be able to reduce it down to that. Though, of course, you can’t go against the law.”

Those were her mother’s words. Gaeul ruminated on those words as she lay on the hospital bed. A world-flipping headache struck her head, and a feeling of betrayal or perhaps scorn squirmed within her stomach. Her whole body heated up as though she had gotten a high fever, but the breath that...