Chapter 164
Chapter 164
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter Title: Void
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It's a story that's been wrung out like a tea bag by a miserly old lady, but Betty is my sanctuary.
She was the reason I'd been dragged into this filthy mudslinging fight against my will, the star I was willing to risk my life to claim.
No one else could sit at the same table as her. Maybe Han U-sol or Yoon Na-rin could take the next table over, but there's only one head seat.
In the past, I might have hesitated over which to prioritize, but now that I'd decided to turn against humanity, that head seat was set in stone.
But what if.
This is purely hypothetical.
What if that head seat vanished in an instant.
And the cause was someone from the next table over.
How should I act then?
It's not like I haven't imagined it before.
I've often pictured what I'd do if I blinked and Betty was gone without a trace.
It's a horrific assumption I never want to dwell on, but I've even thought about what if Yoon Na-rin or Han U-sol let her die.
I've fantasized about it countless times,
but no matter how many times, I never reached a conclusion.
It'd be ridiculous to just plop the person who killed Betty into the now-empty head seat.
Yet killing the culprit out of resentment? They're from the next table over.
If even they vanished, I'd be left eating alone at an empty table again.
That'd be too pathetic. Even the god who's tormented me this far would shake their head at such cruelty.
So the fantasy always ended in a blank.
A horrific imagining where half my body felt torn away, one I never wanted to conjure.
Betty is my other half. If she died, I might really split in two.
That would be ruin. The ultimate tragedy.
Maybe I'd give up everything, bury my face in the table, and just weep endlessly.
Maybe I'd abandon it all, not caring about meals anymore, and lose my mind.
Maybe I'd grieve her death but compromise with reality and resume eating with others.
...Or maybe not.
Maybe I'd devote everything to punishing those responsible for her death.
Yeah.
I don't know.
Not until it becomes reality.
Nothing yet.
A rusted red iron door.
The hinges, neglected for ages, creaked as if they couldn't bear even the slightest weight.
Yet somehow, the door swung open silently, as if welcoming me with open arms, waiting for this exact moment.
Just beyond the threshold, scorch marks from fire.
Singed traces across the flat rooftop floor.
And in the far corner, a discarded revolver hinted at a small skirmish here.
"………."
My mind cooled to ice. The heart pounding madly until moments ago fell eerily still, as if it had never raced.
The hallucination of Han that had been chattering behind me went quiet. After all that babble just now.
I slowly raised my head. Beyond the scorch marks, faint bloodstains smeared the floor.
Red streaks scattered neatly in one direction spoke of a one-sided fight.
I lifted my gaze higher. Beyond the blood.
There.
A body lay.
My head went from cold to frigid. My heart was so silent I wondered if it had stopped entirely. Blood drained from my body, proving it.
The fierce wind cut off abruptly. As if refusing even a whisper of noise before this sight, silence reigned.
First to catch my eye: the corpse's limbs, fully burned, skin melted away. Amid exposed white bones, a mangled tattoo peeked through. Unrecognizable now, but somehow familiar.
Her legs bore bruises everywhere from tumbling across the floor. Especially her knees. Not from the fight—these were from her clumsy habits in life.
Beside the body, a severed head. Mouth agape, eyes blankly staring at the starry night sky.
"………Betty."
My voice emerged steady, without tremor.
I moved slowly, agonizingly so, toward the body. No wave of emotion crashed over me. Instead, heavy silence settled in my heart.
I brushed her face with fingertips, confirming. Neither hot nor cold. Just... absent.
"Ha, haha."
A short laugh escaped. No reason to laugh, yet it came. Wanted to cry, but no tears.
I should be screaming in agony, wailing and raging. Yet my own voice felt infinitely distant.
I took in the details of her death.
Who?
Who drove her to this?
I eyed the clean-cut neck stump. Bruised handprints stood out blue on it.
Who?
Who strangled her.
Her face and upper body bore bruises everywhere. Betty had been pinned down here and beaten.
I vaguely pictured it. Vision blurred, distant. Stomach churned.
Who?
Who's responsible for her death.
I looked at her flame-melted arm. Lingering traces of fire magic around.
And that familiar, almost friendly mana residue. Red hairs scattered near the body.
Flame.
Familiar mana.
Red hair.
………….
Who?
"Ha, haha…."
Tears streamed down. Like a dam bursting, my quiet heart raced, squeezing my chest to madness.
Why.
Why.
Why the hell.
Repeating the question like a broken record, I collapsed as if my strings were cut.
Emotions surged like a tsunami. Nausea boiled up from my throat.
Vision spun and flickered. The silence screamed. It pierced my eardrums, burrowed in, rotting my brain.
Han, where are you?
I hurt.
Spinning.
I staggered up, stumbled to the railing where Betty must have perched in life, leaned, and stared at the sky for a moment.
Stars twinkled above.
Beautiful. And miserable.
The nightmare I'd secretly imagined late at night alone.
The one that always ended blank, unresolved.
Had become reality.
I swallowed vomit, reflecting on my wretched state.
Again with this.
How did it come to this.
Everything tangled so viciously.
Fate always comes like this.
Bringing misfortune in the worst imaginable form, shoving doomed choices at me.
Choose.
"………."
I blinked weary eyes.
Staring blankly at the sky, I found the star Betty and I once watched together.
...Stars.
Twinkly pretty stars.
Shining beautifully.
Betty's smiling face flashed by.
After gazing steadfastly at the sky awhile, I closed my eyes...
And reached a conclusion.
Put a period on the blank that had lingered until now.
Leaning on the railing, swaying back and forth,
I let inertia take me backward, tumbling off.
I realized I was falling headfirst a bit later. Inertia has a sneaky mystical power—it shoves you off cliffs before you notice.
Vision accelerated. Meaning I was plummeting.
Familiar.
Familiar inertia, familiar sensation.
If this feeling had a name, it'd be 'misfortune'.
Transparent glass windows whipped by uselessly. I stared blankly at scenes beyond, then noticed my accelerating vision slowing.
This sensation was unfamiliar. A first.
My reflection in the glass—not Anis Harper, but my true self.
Father beating young me.
Beat, cry, beat again.
Then I grasped the unfamiliar feeling. Life flashing before my eyes.
People pointed fingers across the glass. Some directly broke me; others watched from afar. No one helped.
Vision shifted floors. Now I was Anis Harper beyond the glass.
Han U-sol smiled and chatted with me. Yoon Na-rin shoved snacks she'd bought somewhere, urging me. Reisi showed me something on her phone, laughing.
Next floor.
Me in a hospital room. Fergus entered, said something. Then Han U-sol, Yoon Na-rin, Reisi. They chatted happily.
Found Betty sprawled in an alley. Ate out everywhere with her. Han U-sol joined sometimes. We looked peaceful beyond the glass.
If things hadn't gone so wrong, could we have just been normal friends? I wondered blankly.
Me and Reisi cuffing some punk in a back alley. Daniel cried. Fergus shared erotica and we debated deeply; Han wasn't such an idiot back then.
Next floor.
-Boom.
Fireworks burst. Petals bloomed in the sky as Betty and I fell. So pretty.
On the way back, I suddenly told Betty,
"[...Betty. I've always thought this world was from a novel.]"
["What's it called?"]
["......Acamedy Academy."]
Betty's face grew odd at the title,
["How about this? People say everyone lives a novel called 'life' where they're the protagonist."]
["If this world really is a novel like you fear! Then just think of it as living in 'your life,' the novel where you're the protagonist!"]
["The novel Acamedy Academy is actually about protagonist Anis Harper writing her own story! And I'm the sub-protagonist!"]
I smirked beyond the glass. Betty chattered nonstop, delighted.
["Anis. As the protagonist, things might get tough ahead. But we'll endure together. I'm always on the protagonist's side as sub-protagonist! And..."]
I smiled at Betty's following words.
...Ah. Right. That's how it was.
We had that talk.
I'd completely forgotten.
"...Sorry, Betty."
I tried my best, but it didn't work out.
No point pushing further—it'd just hurt more, never bring happiness. Guess I'm fated for misery.
A kindness to one resigning to the end: the life flash showed only good memories.
After reliving them long, I felt my body accelerate again.
Finally, the end.
Should I like this?
In the end, I achieved nothing.
Yeah, well. Those things were too radiant for me anyway.
Still some regrets, but...
I'm tired now.
The hopelessly tangled fate met its catastrophe.
No matter how I struggled free, it'd rebound worst-case.
Better to die than face more tragedy.
I closed my eyes, surrendering to acceleration.
Ground neared.
"………."
Distance to ground hit zero—
-Thud.
Acamedy Academy, The End.
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[Anis.]
………….
[Anis, wake up.]
………….
[This much won't kill you.]
….
….
…
[We've got to make our own happy ending.]
I opened my eyes at Betty's voice.