Chapter 49
Chapter 49
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter Title: Finally Quiet
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I returned to the office. After walking outside for a long time because my stomach felt queasy, it was already 6 o'clock.
"I'm back."
"Hey."
As I opened the door and entered, Elise approached me with her eyes narrowed in anger.
Slap!
A sharp sound of palm hitting cheek rang out, and my head whipped to the side.
"......?"
Stunned, I slowly turned my head back to look at Elise.
"Is this you?"
Elise shoved her phone in my face as she spoke. On the screen was a post from some internet community.
A single post accompanied by a photo. The picture showed me leaning back in a chair, playing a game.
"Ha. You're really famous now. People recognize you just from your face."
The comments section was in an uproar.
Most of them were cursing me.
I thought a decent hero had finally shown up, but what a letdown.
Your basic mindset is completely rotten.
You probably just ran around fleeing in B District too.
"But if you knew about it, you should've been more careful."
Elise snatched the phone back, then shoved another post in my face.
It was a photo taken at the plaza where citizens had been protesting.
Slap! My head turned once more.
"How long have you even been on the job before ditching your post? Impressive."
"......"
"Nothing to say?"
I lowered my head. The plaza photo felt a little unfair, but the PC bang was undeniably my fault.
"...Sorry."
"If you knew you were sorry, then why didn't you just do better?"
Elise sneered mockingly.
I bowed my head even lower. Dark emotions rose like shimmering heat haze in my chest.
But why are you acting all pure?
You guys too—in the end, because it was a hassle, because you didn't want to do it, you dumped it all on me.
"You're the one who screwed up, but I'm the one catching heat from the Association. So unfair~"
Unfair.
I let out an involuntary chuckle.
"Funny?"
Slap! Another slap across the cheek. My vision spun.
Elise kept right on yapping.
"You really..."
Stop.
Shut up.
"When I was your age..."
Just.
Be quiet.
The impulse to clamp that mouth shut right then surged up. Negative urges came crashing in.
I tamped down the rising impulse, suppressing it tightly.
As I stood there silently with my head bowed, Elise spat a few more curses and stormed out of the office. Phloe followed right after her.
I stared blankly at the floor.
"Hehe. Why'd you strut around without knowing your place?"
The girl's voice, laced with malice, bored into my ears. I lifted my head and asked her.
"What's your name again?"
"What?"
"I asked your name."
The girl blinked at my question for a moment, then flared up.
"What the fuck, you still don't know?"
"So what is it?"
"Elise. Remember it clearly, you dumb bitch."
Elise. Elise. Phloe.
"Yeah. I'll remember."
Dark emotions crept up slowly.
The three of them clocked out and left just like that. I sat blankly on the floor.
The second hand of the analog clock hanging on the corner wall ticked away. The hands pointed at 6.
Tick. Tock.
Only the sound of the second hand gliding over the silence.
Elise. And Elise.
Thinking about it, since coming to this world, had anyone openly antagonized me like them?
No. Everyone had been good people. That's how I'd kept my sanity through these inexplicable hallucinations and auditory hallucinations.
But not anymore.
Now, even if these loathsome hallucinations and voices gnawed at me, there was no one to hold me back. No Yoon Na-rin, no Han U-sol, no Reisi.
Now, all around me was just torment and ridicule.
People
don't break only from dramatic events.
Even the smallest things. Even the most trivial ones.
They pile up, slowly gaining height.
And someday, when they reach the peak, they begin to crumble, worn away bit by bit.
Stop.
Rena, be quiet.
Please.
Be quiet.
The hallucinations that echoed every time things quieted down were now utterly exhausting.
I couldn't even remember when silence had felt pleasant.
Please. Just stop.
You too.
You're the same.
Stop now.
I won't read it.
Click. I powered off the phone.
I closed my eyes. The voices still tormented me.
Maybe because the environment changed, and now I'm surrounded only by malice.
I was starting to feel like I was truly going insane.
'Anis, why do you keep your phone turned off?'
Yoon Na-rin tapped impatiently at her phone.
She wanted to know if I was adapting okay, to hear from me at least, but calls always went to power off—no contact at all.
What if something happened? Worry started to creep in.
"Na-rin, what's up?"
"Ah, sunbae."
As Yoon Na-rin chewed her lip while staring at her phone, her senior on patrol together asked curiously.
"A friend assigned to another district isn't picking up. I'm worried something might've happened."
"Where'd your friend get assigned?"
"A-3."
"Oh? Then tomorrow, make some time to check it out."
"Really?"
"It's not far. Should be fine for a quick visit."
"Thank you!"
"Haha. No problem."
Yoon Na-rin bowed her head deeply in gratitude.
'If it's nothing and you just didn't contact for no reason, you're gonna get it, Anis.'
Yoon Na-rin steeled herself inwardly, looking forward to tomorrow.
Splash!
"!?"
I jolted awake from the cold sensation smothering my face.
The unpleasant feeling of wet hair made me bolt upright from the sofa. There stood Elise holding a water cup—she'd dumped it on my sleeping face.
I shot Elise a slight glare.
"What're you gonna do, glare at me? You wouldn't wake up no matter how much I tried, so I splashed you."
"......"
I checked the clock. 9 AM.
Looks like after being tormented by voices all night, I fell asleep and missed waking up on time.
I stared blankly into empty space.
Weird.
The voices were still there.
Normally, when I woke up in the morning—especially if someone was talking to me—they didn't appear.
Was the mental strength I'd clung to finally crumbling, reaching its limit?
Shut up.
Annoying.
"Tch. Gotta go on patrol, so get up and get ready quick."
As I sat there blankly, Elise prodded me. I stood, headed to the bathroom for a quick wash, and stared into the mirror.
"........."
Forcing myself to ignore the writing on the mirror, I looked at my face. Dark circles hung heavy, eyes sunken hollow.
After getting ready, I stepped out of the office with Elise. She grumbled.
"So annoying. Because you got caught slacking, now I have to go on patrol."
Stop.
Shut up.
Can't we just be quiet?
Already noisy from the voices, and now you yapping—I'm going mad.
"Shut up, Elise."
I spoke in a dry voice.
"What? This is all because of..."
Elise got mad instead, unleashing an endless stream of noise.
——Isn't that Anis Harper?
——Yeah, for real.
——That girl the other day...
Citizens' murmurs mixed in. Every noise in the world blended with the voices, scrambling my brain.
The din didn't let up even after passing through bustling streets into a deserted alley.
"......"
My mind felt like it was unraveling. Or maybe it already had.
"Hey. You ignoring me?"
Thud. Elise grabbed my shoulder roughly.
"Shut up."
"What!?"
Slap!
A hard slap spun my body around.
I slumped against the wall in the deserted alley.
"Say it again."
Elise's face twisted viciously as she spoke.
"Be quiet."
"You fucking bitch!"
Thwack!
A kick slammed into my gut.
Revolting.
Dizzying, nauseating.
Why do these noises torment me so relentlessly?
A black, murky impulse welled up. An indescribable emotion boiled in my chest.
Thwack! Thwack!
The brutal kicks kept coming.
I offered no resistance, taking every impact.
Even amid it all, the voices tormented me without end.
Was I the mad one, or the world?
"Cough."
Blood trickled from my mouth. Crimson red, yet it felt pitch black somehow. As if it were the black emotion surging from deep in my chest.
I rolled across the dirt ground. Lying there powerlessly overlapped with memories from my past life.
"Haa... haa..."
Elise panted heavily, her face flushed red.
"You dog bitch...! I cut you some slack and you keep crawling back...!"
I slumped against the wall, head bowed, staring at the ground. Words were scrawled there.
Staring at those words, a hollow laugh escaped me.
"Ha."
Yeah.
If this is a novel world.
Crunch!
"Ugh!"
One less noise—maybe no one would even notice.
"Th-this... let... go...!"
Elise thrashed her legs, writhing in agony with her neck gripped.
Still.
Still so noisy.
"Ugh...! Gack...!"
Stop.
Be quiet.
Stop tormenting me.
It's noisy.
Squeeze... My grip tightened.
"U, uk...!"
Shut your mouth.
Please.
Leave me alone.
Ah.
Aah—
Ah.
Right.
I have to become a hero.
That's my goal. The ultimate purpose of this new life granted to me.
To do that, I have to eliminate these damned voices first.
I beat back the onrushing voices. Shatter them, crush them to dust. One breaks, another approaches. That one crumbles, something else draws near.
I know.
I know too.
That I've finally gone mad.
That I'm in no state for rational judgment.
Probably, after some time passes and I calm down, I'll regret it for sure—
Even so, right now. This very moment.
For the sake of silencing these voices, I can do anything.
Mad as I am,
isn't this holding out pretty long?
Yeah. Pretty long...
………………
………
……
…
.
Ah.
Quiet.
How long had it been since this stillness? This quiet. This peace.
I closed my eyes and savored it. Inhaled deeply, sinking into the silence.
Naturally, my grip loosened—
"Cu, cough."
Ah.
More noise.
I opened my eyes and met the girl's pupils. A cloudy curtain of tears veiled them. Beyond that veil, desperation and pleading gazed at Anis.
"Sa, save..."
A raspy voice. Unless you listened closely, it was impossible to tell if it was human or air hissing from a balloon.
"Please..."
She pleaded desperately nonetheless.
But to Anis.
To the girl who'd already lost her mind.
It was just noise.
Shh.
Be quiet, Elise.
Squeeze.
I tightened my grip again.
Crack!
An ominous sound reverberated—
and an unpleasant sensation crawled up the back of my hand.