Chapter 443
Chapter 443
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 443
Chapter Title: Your Memories
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I remember watching a shocking video as a kid.
It was back when the internet didn't have proper regulations yet, so you could Google anything and everything. A friend—whose name I've long forgotten—showed it to me.
The footage was shot from afar: a person caught in an EF5 tornado bridging heaven and earth across a vast plain.
The tornado in the video was swinging around humans like weeds, along with chunks of buildings and cars.
What happened to the person swept up in it?
If they passed out from hypoxia due to the low pressure, that'd be lucky amid misfortune.
But getting pulverized like a tomato in a blender with gravel, or hurled hundreds of meters into the air to become a stain on the ground? That'd be the worst of the worst.
Anyway, those grim imaginings and the sheer powerlessness of humanity against nature's fury kept me tossing and turning in bed for days.
I looked it up and found relief knowing Korea's terrain couldn't form such massive tornadoes.
Why think of that now?
Nothing special.
"……!"
The world tilted amid a sudden storm of expanding particles.
My heart felt just like that of the pitiful ant sucked into an antlion pit—like the person swept away by the tornado.
No point screaming.
Particles enveloped me from every direction, up, down, left, right.
The distortion field shattered in less than 0.2 seconds.
The armor held out for maybe 10 seconds?
Falling endlessly into a pitch-black hell with no bottom.
The boundary between space and body blurred.
The particles ravaged Si-woo's defenseless form at will, seeping in like infiltrating poison.
His vision turned utterly dark in an instant, and even the bizarre popping of bubbles faded away.
With smell and sensation all gone, the only thing Si-woo felt as he sank endlessly was...
Not fear.
It was a bone-chilling loneliness that gripped his heart like chattering teeth.
-Whoooosh!
Finally, his thread-thin consciousness snapped.
Si-woo was swallowed by the sea of particles.
2.
The earlier chaos felt like a lie.
The bubble sounds that had been bubbling like they’d tear his ears were gone, replaced by suffocating silence.
As if it had all been a dream, Si-woo stood unharmed in the dim space.
"What the..."
He'd been wryly regretting that his last words were something like 'fuck this.'
Even risking his life, dying without seeing her face would just be a dog's death.
Yet the endless falling sensation, the particle storm shattering the distortion field in two seconds, the feedback ripping through his mana circuits as magic collapsed—all lingered vividly...
"Where am I?"
Darkness.
He first thought it was like before, when 'Autonomic Defense' activated.
Like when he'd sunk deep into Ain and handed body control to another consciousness.
But no.
Solid ground pressed against his feet, and no massive magic structures loomed in this darkness.
"......"
Ignorance breeds fear.
A randomized space is a black box where anything could happen.
Without knowing the purpose or intent of this pitch-black void...
Then, a girl dashed past Si-woo.
He recognized her instantly.
Not radiating golden light like the one before, but the build, height, silhouette—decals overlapping perfectly.
"Kid! It's dangerous here!"
Forget how she got here, who she was, or where this was—panic hit him at the thought of another victim caught in this mystery.
He reached for her shoulder, calling her name, but...
-Thud thud thud thud!
She sped away, hand blade extended, outpacing any track star.
So fast he only caught her profile.
Yet somehow familiar.
"Hey, kid!"
Si-woo stared blankly as she rocketed away like a runaway train.
Nothing made sense from start to finish...
Then he spotted something.
Footprints marked her path.
Like a forest trail trampled through weeds and wildflowers, untamed.
Grabbing a red branch, Si-woo cautiously followed.
With each step tracing her prints...
A miracle unfolded.
A forest blooming in the darkness.
Like a primordial god shaping the void to create heaven and earth, light banished the dark like dawn—blindingly brilliant.
"Ugh...!"
Too much light.
Like scraping black crayon off a colorful landscape painting, the girl's glow illuminated this world.
Glancing around, he saw a familiar forest.
Dense with tulip trees waving pointed leaves like ladies fluttering handkerchiefs in the breeze.
The fresh deep-green scent filled his nostrils pleasantly; birdsong rang sweetly, almost painfully, on a summer day.
"Huff... huff... huff..."
Amid it all, a girl crouched between tree roots, eyes flashing like a wild animal, wary of her surroundings.
"Calm down, I'm not trying to hurt you..."
Though puzzled, Si-woo approached to soothe her and ask what was happening—then felt like a hammer to the head.
Golden hair twisted like fine cord on one side.
Sky-blue eyes shining more beautifully than a clear summer sky.
A witch's hat oversized for her frame.
"Amelia...?"
Straight nose, tense expression making her lips flutter like a horse's—lips unmistakable.
A childlike version of Amelia's unforgettable beauty.
"......"
Thoughts scrambled again.
Why was Amelia here, like this as a child?
And so wary of him?
The chain of questions led Si-woo to realize the final link was wrong soon enough.
"Amelia! Where are you?"
A refined voice from the path behind confirmed his guess without doubt.
Mini-Amelia ducked under a massive tree root like a mole.
Her huge hat couldn't fully hide her, but she tried desperately.
"Goodness, Amelia. How long will you play hide-and-seek? You're not well, dear."
The witch who brushed past Si-woo like he was invisible and found Amelia had the same golden hair and blue eyes.
Amelia's beauty was so exquisitely crafted it intimidated, but this one felt approachable and warm.
Her familiar shoulder mantle let Si-woo guess her identity easily.
The previous Merigold.
He didn't know her name, but Amelia's master.
As the previous Merigold stood before Amelia—ignoring Si-woo entirely—Amelia huddled, mumbling dejectedly.
"I don't wanna. I hate studying."
"You've done so well so far. Come here, and after today's lesson, I'll make you hot cocoa."
"...No."
"With marshmallows?"
Si-woo's deepest memory of Amelia was a cold, finicky woman.
No way mere cocoa would sway her.
"...Five."
Apparently not from childhood.
Amelia peeked up from the roots, drool betraying her excitement, eyes gleaming with near-ecstasy.
"Alright, five marshmallows and two ginger cookies. How's that?"
"G-ginger cookies too?"
"Of course~ When have I ever lied to you?"
"Ahem, okay! I think I actually love studying."
"Yes, yes, come here, my little one."
Amelia toddled into her master's arms, cheeks flushed pink.
Si-woo realized this flickering scene, like fireflies in the dark, was a fragment of Amelia's cherished memories.
"How is my Amelia so quick on her feet? Faster than a squirrel!"
Si-woo quietly followed as the master and disciple stroked Amelia's head lovingly and vanished down the path.
3.
Si-woo had no explanation for entering Amelia's memories.
He guessed the particles fused with her mana interacted with his Autonomic Magic, the Memory Palace, issuing an invitation.
The situation was dire.
His body might be a shredded rag outside, and he had no clue what lay at the end here.
It might mean nothing.
Just wasting time.
But a vague certainty bloomed.
This scene before him.
The sequence Amelia treasured as 'memories'—it mattered.
The flood of past memories was erratic.
Like a poorly stored VHS tape: contextless cuts, or unkind jumbles of images.
Yet in every scene, Amelia shone like a star.
Held in her master's arms, cooking together, playing violin for forest animals, picking flowers for her hair—even tearing out her hair, chucking homework into the fireplace, or sprinting from the pursuing previous Merigold.
Amelia shone.
Her light scattered the dark like warm hearthfire, filling the void with glowing memories.
"......"
Si-woo stood transfixed, watching.
The previous Merigold was a fine master.
In the relentless montage, she doted on Amelia like a mother.
When kissing Amelia's round forehead, Amelia burrowed into her embrace, face blooming with smiles.
Hard to imagine from their first meeting.
An Amelia with boundless energy like an unquenchable dynamo?
Fleeing magic studies because she sucked at and hated them?
Spending half her day smiling?
Unthinkable.
Si-woo's smile, spreading naturally, twisted at some point.
Intense déjà vu permeated every moment with Amelia and her master.
They rose and ate breakfast together.
After, before lunch, they'd pack a picnic and head out somewhere.
Like stacking one memory per day.
Like cramming one more precious photo into the album before their bond ended.
Some days, easel, canvas, pencils to a wild barley hill for painting.
Others, violin concerts for master alone.
Fishing or swimming in the nearby lake.
Lying side-by-side on the roof stargazing,
Stamping bedsheets in a soapy tub for laundry,
Or baking apple pie in the annex oven with bought ingredients.
"......"
Of course it felt familiar.
The fairy-like Amelia's brightest moments were etched in Si-woo too.
Because they'd done them for a younger him.
Suddenly, a brief exchange with Takasho surfaced.
Love is wanting to share your joy with the other.
Those warm days he'd dismissed as deception in anger and betrayal?
They were Amelia sharing her most precious memories.
Just wanting to relive those hand-picked album scenes together.
Si-woo was speechless.
Breath caught like swallowing something hot.
A moment flashed: unable to master his emotions, spitting harsh words.
Before Si-woo venting fury,
What did Amelia want to say?
What words went unsaid?
Snap-frozen, Si-woo realized the nagging dissonance.
Something was missing from this idyllic life worth painting a hundred times over.
Amelia lay abed.
Always lively and healthy, but sometimes wracked by violent coughs, bedridden and immobile.
The previous Merigold sat by, wiping feverish sweat with a cloth.
Her master stroked her brow worriedly.
After residual coughs, Amelia asked,
"Master, when can I become a witch?"
"Hmm~ Who knows? A year or two after your coming-of-age?"
"I want the inheritance soon. Then I won't get sick like this, and we can be happy forever."
"...Exactly. So get up and study, then."
"Eek... But I hate studying..."
The tragedy all witches accepted as commonplace.
The previous Merigold hid the truth from Amelia.