Farewell, Neverland (Choi Yeonjun x Reader)

Chapter 29: Trigger

Both you and Yoona sat across from each other inside the rocket. Yoona kept her smirk while you wore a stoic expression. Neither of you had spoken yet.

If the silence continued, Yoona would've started the attacks again, so you talked first. "Mom, why do you want to destroy Earth so badly?"

"Oh, getting straight to the point, aren't you, Y/n?" said Yoona.

"Of course I am. I gave you a straightforward question, so I expect a straightforward answer."

"I guess I can tell you," Yoona sighed. "Earth made the love of my life sick and killed him. Therefore, Earth needs to pay for his death."

"Woah, hold on."

Yoona talked too fast, making it hard for you to catch on. "What do you mean 'love of your life?'" you asked. "I didn't even know you were capable of that."

"Watch your tone, Im Y/n. I'm still your mother," Yoona warned. "And who else I would be talking about? It's your father!"

Yoona's angry expression made you sink into your chair. Maybe it was a child's instinct when their mother yelled at them. However, the face transformed into a melancholy form. "Everything is my fault, though."

"Huh?"

By now, your brain was in a jumbled mess. The love of Yoona's life was Jihoon. That didn't even make sense.

You remembered seeing your parents argue when they were in the same room. People who'd seen them could tell they had a rocky relationship. And what did Yoona mean with everything being her fault?

Yoona could see the confusion on your face. "Y/n, do you remember when the Humidomatic was invented?" she asked.

You raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, why?"

Due to the heavy pollution, Yoona and Jihoon invented the Humidomatic. It's a humidifier, but bigger and meant to stay on top of houses and other places. The machine sucks in the dirty air and puffs out clean air, making the sky cleaner. The Humidomatic was a big hit. You remembered waking up in the middle of multiple nights and seeing your parents build it. You wanted to help, but they didn't allow you to.

"Well," Yoona continued. "Although the Humidomatic helped clean the air, it had a big downside. That dirty air it was supposedly sucking in? It pumped it back out but in bigger plumes."

"Wait, you didn't notice that while you and Dad were making it?" you wondered.

"I did, but I didn't tell Jihoon. He thought the air that came back out was clean but had more dirty air inside."

"Once Jihoon found out, he wanted to inform everyone, take all the Humidomatics, and apologize, but I didn't want to. I convinced all the countries to build more factories to build more Humidomatics. And those factories created a lot of pollution as well."

All of this was still shocking to you. First about Jihoon and then the Humidomatics. What else had Yoona hidden from you?

"I admit that I was blinded by greed and power. That's how the relationship with your father was destroyed. We were engaged but broke it off. And by the time I found out Jihoon was sick, it was too late."

Yoona placed her head in her hands, and you thought she would cry. But she didn't, then looking back up with the same melancholy expression.

"The main reason I wanted to go to Mars was to get Jihoon better," she said, "but he wanted to stay on Earth and save the planet. He felt like it was his fault that it had gotten worse."

Yoona suddenly grabbed your hand. Your head told you to pull back, but your arm didn't react.

"Your father didn't want you to stay on Earth because you were so young and vulnerable to getting the same sickness he had. Jihoon wanted to keep you safe.'

It was like someone had abruptly squeezed your heart. You remembered begging Jihoon to stay on Earth with him. You never knew why he said no, but you learned from Yoona and Yurim recently.

You decided to switch topics. "Mom, why did you build the Washout Machine on Mars to make everyone forget about Earth?"

The mist supposedly used to "cleanse" people on Mars made everyone forget about Earth.

"Because I wanted everyone to forget about that filthy planet. Earth was dead and didn't need to exist anymore," replied Yoona.

"But you didn't lose your memories of Earth, did you?"

Yoona nodded. "You're right. I still wanted to remember Jihoon."

"But you didn't want me to remember him?"

Why would your mother have you forget about your father? It wasn't fair that she got to keep her memories of him while having you forget yours.

"I did it for your safety, Y/n, and it worked," Yoona chuckled, "until you touched that planet your father gave you."

"Well, I'm glad I had that plant," you said. "Dad gave it to me not only to remember Earth, but he knew you would do something to make me forget about him and our home planet."

Yoona scowled, standing her from her seat. "You don't know what you're talking about."

Then Yoona stepped out of the rocket's opening and began climbing the ladder. You had more words to let out, so you followed her. You wouldn't let your mother have the last words this time.

Jumping onto the ground, you looked up at Yoona, angry.

"All those times I asked about my father, and you said he left!" you shouted. "I didn't know he was still alive and living on Earth! Do you know how selfish you are? To keep your memories of Earth and have everyone else forget! You're the reason the whole population had to move to Mars!"

"I know that."

You were about to say something else when you saw the tears in Yoona's eyes. "No amount of apology can take back what I have done," she said quietly.

What happened next surprised you. Your mother wrapped you into a hug, sobbing.

Yeonjun was watching from a distance, but he could still see the expressions on you and Yoona's faces. You kept a blank stare while Yoona was sobbing on your shoulder.

The scientist kept her place, but she suddenly reached behind her back. Yeonjun squinted with confusion. "What the heck-"

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Yeonjun didn't even realize what was happening at first.

One moment, Yoona pulled out a gun and pointed it at your head, pulling the trigger, and the next, you were falling onto the ground. Yoona did the same soon after.

Yeonjun let out a horrible scream, running and catching you before you hit the ground.

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