Chapter 50
Chapter 50
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter Title: Silence at Last
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Power grips my hand. The slender, pale fingers that look so fragile dig into the flesh of her throat, crushing the bones beneath.
Crack-
The sound of something hard snapping and crumbling.
The faint vibration from the girl's neck bones shattering.
Elice's body, life slipping away, trembles violently.
That vibration. That shaking.
It travels up the thread and flows into my hand.
The vibration is noisy. Noisy and unpleasant.
This fleeting vibration, lasting mere seconds, feels stretched out eternally.
Anis waits for it to pass.
Until the vibration and trembling fade completely, leaving only peaceful silence.
She waits, trapped in an eternity-like gap of time.
Finally, the vibration stops-
Anis closes her eyes and savors the brief peace.
Yes, this is it.
I've been through too much lately.
The hallucinations. The stares. You too.
You were all so noisy, Elice.
People get sick if they live only amid noise.
You have to know how to be quiet sometimes.
In that sense, you're at least one of the more sensible ones. Lucky.
I asked you to be quiet, and you actually did.
......
......
......Quiet.
My mind and body feel stable.
How about you, Elice?
Try savoring this stillness, this silence, this peace.
If it's a bit boring, putting on some music isn't bad.
Hm. What should it be?
But nothing too noisy.
How about low, gentle classical piano?
With heavy cello layered underneath.
Low, long, and dark.
If the lack of rhythm makes it boring, add drums. That's fine.
As long as it's not too fast or intense.
The piece might get a little chaotic, but so what? It's just for us.
Way better than those hallucinations......
Elice?
Why no answer?
Were you always this meek?
Even if I asked you to be quiet, you could at least reply......
――Thud.
The limp body hits the dirt floor,
and dust rises.
That noise shatters the eternal silence and pulls Anis back to awareness.
"......Ah."
She opens her eyes and follows the source of the noise. What comes into view is Elice, sprawled lifelessly.
Unfocused eyes.
Tear tracks on her cheeks.
Neck bent at a right angle.
"Ah, aaah......"
As her mind clears and reality sets in, waves of self-loathing and regret crash over her.
The noise.
It hasn't gone away.
"Ah...... Hic, ugh."
She kneels before the cold body of her former comrade and sobs.
Her head, clutched in both hands, is still filled with noise.
She lowers one hand and stares at her trembling fingers. The hand that gripped the throat still carries that disgusting sensation.
Her writhing in self-recrimination lasts only a moment. She lifts her head, breathing raggedly.
"Haa... haa..."
Without even wiping the tears dripping down, she frantically scans her surroundings.
This back alley was deserted from the start, so there's no sign of people nearby.
"No... no..."
She staggers to her feet on shaking legs and grabs the corpse's legs.
Not yet...
No one knows yet.
If she hides it now, right now...
Then, suddenly, footsteps approach nearby, followed by a girl's voice.
"Anis, what are you doing?"
Thump.
Her heart drops.
Thud. She collapses again.
She bows her head and squeezes her eyes shut.
Step. Step. The footsteps draw closer.
They stop right in front of the corpse.
Thump. Thump.
Her racing heart shows no sign of slowing.
"Anis."
A voice comes from above her.
"Long time no see."
"......?"
The owner of the voice seems unconcerned by the corpse.
She just greets me brightly.
I raise my head to look at her.
Flowing white hair.
Tattoos covering her body.
"Betty...?"
"Yeah."
The girl smiles brightly.
"Anis, did you kill her?"
"No... no..."
I shake my head with a trembling voice at Betty's question.
"Why deny it? What's so bad about killing one person? I have zero intention of blaming you for it."
Betty says in a gentle voice.
"Anis. Last time I asked why you wanted to be a hero, you said it was to save people."
Hearing that, my body starts trembling even more. Betty continues.
"Do you still want to save people?"
Countless hallucinations flash by like a montage.
People's stares and whispers.
Posts I saw online. Mockery. Criticism. Sneers and condemnation.
The malice and indifference around me.
Cynicism. Insults. Contempt.
"I don't know... I don't know..."
Why.
I already knew.
These were things I'd been familiar with since my past life.
Why.
Why.
Why did I want to be a hero?
Me, who was so steeped in human malice I was pickled in it.
Me, who feared, hated, and loathed people.
Why did I want to save them?
"I don't know..."
What was I hoping for? What was my goal?
What do I even want?
I don't know. It's confusing. My head spins, my stomach churns. I dry-heave. Noisy clamor mixes with suffocating silence and stillness, dancing together.
Through that swirling haze, Betty's words settle calmly.
"Anis."
The girl extends her hand.
"I know."
We're alike.
Only we can understand each other.
The world hates us.
I don't want to suffer under malice anymore.
I don't want to live for people who only torment me.
From now on, let's live how we want.
Let's clear away everything that torments us.
"Come with me."
――The confusion continues.
Ah.
Wouldn't it be okay?
Since this is a novel world.
I don't have to care about public opinion.
Watch people's reactions.
Cater to them.
Endure injustices. Put up with them.
At least in this novel world,
couldn't I live for myself?
I see Betty's outstretched hand. The pale, delicate hand is covered in tattoos. That must be her scars.
Couldn't we live licking each other's wounds and comforting one another?
Like I'm entranced, I reach out. Piercing through the veil of noise, chaos, silence, and stillness.
But my hand stops in midair, unable to touch.
"......Anis?"
"Betty......"
Images flash in my mind. Yoon Na-rin's face, Han U-sol's, Reisi's. Memories of days spent with them.
If I take that hand now, I'll become their enemy.
In this tormenting world, they gave me comfort.
Unlike my uncertain self, they genuinely aspire to be heroes and save people. Shining souls.
"......No."
The words are forced out.
Sorry, Betty.
Those kids want to be heroes.
I don't want to oppose them.
I'm scared of being hated by them.
I want to stay with them.
"No... no..."
I pull back my hand and curl up.
To stay together.
To avoid being hated.
To avoid being abandoned.
I have to become a hero.
I have to save people.
"No... I... have to be a hero..."
"......"
Betty watches me pitifully as I sob and repeat "no," then withdraws her own hand.
How long had I been muttering "no" like a robot? A familiar girl's voice came from behind me.
The voice I'd heard most since coming to this world.
The voice that always brought me comfort and stability.
It was Yoon Na-rin's voice.
"Anis...?"
But not this time.
She stares at the corpse right in front of me.
At Elice's body, killed by my hand, neck snapped.
Thump. Thump.
My heart starts pounding again, my eyes shaking violently.
Betty quietly watched the red-haired girl enter the alley.
Her red eyes turned to Anis, then to the corpse with the snapped neck, shaking, before finally settling on Betty.
"...Anis. What's going on?"
Realizing the situation was serious, her demeanor grew more grave.
Anis flinched at the voice. Her face paled noticeably, sweat beading on her skin.
Her faintly trembling body now shook so violently it was beyond words. Anis was clearly in deep turmoil.
"...Hi?"
"...You."
She widened her eyes at Betty's face and the dense tattoos.
It wasn't strange that she recognized Betty. After revealing her identity to Han U-sol at the amusement park, her photo had been plastered on wanted posters.
"...What's your goal? Don't tell me you're summoning magic beasts again...!"
Yoon Na-rin rushed to Anis, positioning herself protectively. Seeing this, Betty intuited.
This girl was probably Anis's pillar of support.
Someone who caught her when she fell and lifted her up.
Like Betty's own sister, Karin.
Anis refusing her hand earlier was surely because of this girl.
"Anis, you okay?"
Yoon Na-rin asked Anis worriedly, but her gaze stayed on Betty, vigilance unbroken.
Anis remained pale, slumped before the corpse. She seemed terrified of Yoon Na-rin discovering she'd committed murder.
Because if she found out, she'd be hated.
Despised and abandoned.
"........."
Something tickled Betty's chest.
If she said it here.
If she revealed that Anis killed that girl.
Then, if she was despised and hated.
Wouldn't Anis, with nowhere to go, come to her side?
The thought crossed her mind unbidden.
Betty's thin lips parted, and she spoke to the red-haired girl.
"...That corpse. Know who killed her?"
Anis shuddered again, lifting her head to stare at Betty.
"...What nonsense? Obviously you did. Psycho?"
Yoon Na-rin replied with a "what the hell" expression. She didn't suspect Anis for a second.
If Betty said Anis did it here, how would this girl react?
She wouldn't believe it at first. But seeing Anis's reaction, she'd grow suspicious.
Suspicion would lead to interrogation, and the weak-hearted Anis would confess the truth.
If that happened...
"Who killed her, you ask..."
The moment Betty's mouth opened,
With Yoon Na-rin between them, their eyes met.
Eyes swollen from endless tears.
Arms trembling finely, barely propping her up.
She gazed at Betty with shaking eyes.
She looked so wretched, so pained.
"......Ha."
Betty let out a small laugh.
What kind of thought was that?
No matter how much she wanted to go with Anis, she didn't want to drag her along by causing more pain.
It was impossible as a 'friend'.
"Who killed her? Obviously, me."
"......?"
Anis, head bowed in resignation, looked up with puzzled eyes.
"I was trying to take Anis, but she was in the way."
"What? Take Anis?"
Yoon Na-rin shielded Anis more warily.
"...Whatever. I'm leaving now. I don't fight."
Betty said to Yoon Na-rin.
"...Stay by Anis's side. She suffers when you leave her alone."
As Betty turned to leave, Yoon Na-rin called after her.
"You crazy bitch. What gives you the right to act friendly with Anis?"
Betty, walking away, stopped dead.
"...We are friendly? She's my friend."
"Bullshit. What do you know about Anis?"
Twitch. A vein bulges on Betty's forehead.
"And who said you could take Anis? What a lunatic. Anis would never go with a freak like you."
"Hey, you bitch!!"
Whoosh-! Flames erupt from Yoon Na-rin's hand.
"You fucking filthy scum of humanity. Traitor bitch. Now that I think about it, it's ridiculous. Who the hell are you to strut around and exit like that? You're done for today."
"What!? You done talking!?"
"What, you cunt!!"