Chapter 170
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 170: How to Deal with Betrayal (6)
When I opened my eyes again, the starry night sky of the city and the bare winter trees covered in darkness were in front of me.
"Where is this…"
"It's a park."
I suddenly realized I was lying with my head on someone's lap.
I turned my head and looked up, and a very familiar face came into view.
Dark green eyes, red hair, and playfully twitching cat ears.
It was Choi Sujeong.
Our eyes met.
She was looking down at me with calm eyes, unlike usual.
"…Sunbae."
I couldn't bring myself to call her name, so I just whispered that word softly.
Hearing my voice, her eyes curved gently.
"Here, get up first!"
She helped me up.
I sat next to her, feeling bewildered.
Now that I look, I was still tied up.
It was the rope used to capture Park Yulhan.
"…What happened?"
"Well, I kidnapped you, Junior!"
"…How on earth did you do that…"
"This sunbae has a lot of tricks up her sleeve~!"
I stared at her blankly.
Because she was treating me playfully, with an attitude no different from before I betrayed them.
Choi Sujeong smiled brightly, perhaps interpreting my expression, and asked with a faint smile still on her face.
"So."
"…Yes?"
"Why did you do it? If it's Junior, there must be a reason, right?"
At those words, my breath hitched.
This moment felt like a dream.
I never thought she would say, 'If it's you, there must have been a reason,' without hesitation.
The desire to confess the truth right now rose to the top of my head.
My mouth opened automatically, wanting to spit out the truth.
Wouldn't it be okay?
Sujeong-sunbae is a non-human.
We're alone right now… and there's no one around.
Maybe it's a golden opportunity to increase my collaborators.
But, I…
A whirlwind began to rise in my heart again.
I thought I had calmed down a lot.
She watched me quietly as I hesitated, then turned her gaze from me and looked up at the sky.
"If you can't say it, that's fine. You don't have to say it now."
A voice that sounded serious, yet held a faint hint of laughter.
Choi Sujeong seemed to be thinking about something for a moment.
"Should I tell my story instead?"
Her unwavering eyes were so firm, as if she had properly made up her mind about something.
"I feel like I need to tell this story to gain your trust."
…Choi Sujeong, who thoroughly hid her past, is going to tell her story herself?
Because of me?
Shock rose within me.
But as if she didn't care about my reaction, she slowly opened her mouth.
Choi Sujeong originally had no name.
If a name wasn't 'damn thief cat', 'orphan bastard', or 'trash', then she certainly didn't have one.
An orphan living a life wandering the back alleys without knowing who gave birth to her or when, she received an offer from someone while living aimlessly.
"I'll feed you until you're full."
She knew who he was.
Because the existence of a family that sometimes took orphans from the back alleys and disappeared was known in secret.
He was wearing a badge engraved with that family's crest.
She didn't know what was waiting for her.
But, well…
"…Okay."
The fact that children who went to that family at least didn't starve felt like a big merit to an orphan of the back alleys.
Solely to not be sick, to not be hungry, the nameless child took that hand.
Life after that was unexpectedly comfortable.
"Hi!"
She made friends.
They gave her food and a place to sleep.
When the body is comfortable, a person engages in social activities.
The children living together became close like that.
Since they were all children in the same situation, Choi Sujeong also gave her affection to quite a few friends at first.
"Aaaaaack—!!!"
"Failure. Clean it up."
"What should we do with the corpse?"
"Take care of it yourselves."
Until they forcibly Awakened the children, including herself.
In Korea, Awakening is legally permitted only for those over 14.
This was because if Awakened at too young an age, one could be destroyed by being unable to handle their own power.
But it seemed the merit of raising limbs that use abilities at a young age felt better to them than such side effects.
Many children died in the forced Awakening process.
Children who failed to Awaken were kicked out with nothing on a cold winter day.
There were few children left.
"…Let's do our best together."
So that nameless child relied on an Unni who said that and held her hand.
The nameless child stared blankly at the empty seats in the lodging.
And relied on the Unni who held her hand among those remaining.
To not look back at the empty seats, to fill that space with the Unni.
Both physically and mentally.
The full-scale training that followed was tough but manageable.
The missions she went on occasionally were also doable.
It seemed okay.
"Someday, let's leave this family together."
Until the Unni who said that was caught communicating with another faction.
She, who tried to find freedom in exchange for giving information by communicating with another branch, was abandoned by that branch when her usefulness ran out.
From the start, they had no intention of giving a proper price.
She couldn't forget the sight of the Unni, who was full of expectation, being dragged out one day, revealed as a spy in front of everyone, and falling into the abyss of despair.
The manager demanded to know if the Unni and the children were all in cahoots, and the children denied it.
The manager then told the child closest to the Unni to kill her.
If the child didn't want to die, she had to cut it off herself.
That Unni.
The bond with that Unni. Everything.
"Ah, ahh…"
…Ah, right.
She wanted to live.
The child had lived and decided only for herself.
She had to, to live.
Because she wanted to live, she took the only way to live.
That was reason enough for wielding the dagger, for wielding the rough wind she felt for the first time in her life.
Starting with that, the child became able to handle wind.
"It hurts."
Choi Sujeong still doesn't know if that mutter was about the pain of her heart or the pain of her body.
After that, her life was no different from the lives of other young limbs of the Balder Family.
"Go and mix this in."
"Yes."
Though still young, she possessed excellent skills in infiltration and was often used for poisoning.
Every time, they said.
"You are working for our branch, so consider it an honor!"
That if she didn't devote herself to the Balder Family, her existence had no value.
They always scared her like a curse, saying, 'If you disobey orders, you will die by the magic circle engraved on your head.'
It was okay.
It had to be okay.
Because living was better than rolling around in those streets and dying.
Now the nameless child also had the name ‘Chris’.
Because she had to receive orders.
But she often ended up thinking that it might be better to just die outside.
Every time, she shook her head, saying it was a foolish thing.
Rationally and logically, this life was right.
Besides, this place was different from life in the back alleys where she could gain nothing even if she struggled.
The more loyal she was to the Balder Family, the more she could grasp.
"You did well this time."
When she received such praise, when she received more delicious food and better clothes in return.
Before she knew it, a strange satisfaction would grow in her heart.
So she tried to live in the Balder Family.
Because this life was the better life for her.
Another turning point came to that life.
"Hi!"
"Hi."
The Beastkin Branch, which had started to be pushed back by other factions, decided to borrow Gemini's power.
"Give us a toy!"
"Give us a toy."
Compared to the Black Scales, their demands felt innocent and somewhat easy.
For the Balder Family.
"I will go."
"Hmm... how is she?"
"Okay! Good!"
"Okay. Good."
"For the Balder Family."
Choi Sujeong, who was always watched and used because she was entangled with the Unni who communicated with outside forces, thought this was an opportunity.
An opportunity to make a contribution to the Balder Family.
At most, they look like children, so I just have to play with them for a while and come back to the Balder Family when they get bored.
That's what she thought.
"First!"
"First."
"Let's play a level-up game!"
"Let's play a level-up game."
That thought was overturned when she was thrown into a group of human death row inmates with her abilities restricted and given only a single dagger.
Choi Sujeong was a trained child, but she was a child.
Did she win the first game? Or lose?
She still doesn't remember.
Because when she tried to die, Gemini saved her and threw her back into that group.
In the end, she had to win.
The non-human who killed humans leveled up like that.
Such a daily life repeated.
"Assassinate this one for us!"
"Assassinate this one for us."
Sometimes Gemini used her as a useful tool.
She couldn't resist.
Because the owner of the magic circle in her head was now Gemini.
It hurt.
It hurt and hurt and hurt, and she wanted to die, but she couldn't die.
"No! If you die! You have to hurt as much as we helped the Balder Family!"
"You can't die. We decided to get the price from you."
And she,
Learned the emotion called hatred in that pain.
"Yeah, I think that's enough now!"
"Yeah, I think that's enough now."
Around the time when she didn't even know how much time had passed, worn out by physical pain.
Gemini suddenly told her to go to the Academy.
"The deal is over now! But we're debating whether to free you or not!"
"The deal is over now. But we're debating whether to throw you away or not."
"She's still usable, right?"
"Yeah. But I'm tired of extracting only despair."
"So go to the Academy! And give us the price to free you!"
"So go to the Academy. And give us a reason to throw you away."
Unknown words.
She couldn't understand those words yet back then.
She just couldn't resist, so she went to the Academy.
At the order to do her best to get along, she put a moderately smiling face on her face.
But, well,
"It's a beastkin, right? I'm a bit iffy on beastkin."
"Ah... sorry."
The treatment of other races was all like that.
Choi Sujeong felt that the discrimination she felt while experiencing the world was no different here.
That was when.
"Hello."
That time.
April, past the new semester.
In the season when cherry blossoms were budding, Choi Sujeong met Lee Hana.
It was when embarrassing nicknames referring to Lee Hana, like Ice Emperor or King of Ice, were in full swing.
But that was thorough othering.
Lee Hana was outstanding, and because of that, she was isolated.
Lee Hana's cold impression probably played a part too.
Choi Sujeong didn't think much... among them.
That was why.
"Hi!"
That she approached Lee Hana wearing a lively and playful mask.