Chapter 49: Nightmare 2
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 49: Nightmare 2
I fell asleep, and when I opened my eyes again, I was standing at the entrance of a back alley.
I looked ahead.
The alley was a place where society’s grace never reached.
"Uuugh..."
Beggars huddled together along the narrow path, bowls placed before them as they pleaded for scraps. This was their way of not dying.
I looked behind me.
There, the world was bathed in light and order.
"Hahahaha!"
Merchants and children bustled about, selling wares or sharing pleasant conversation. This was their way of living.
There was no physical line drawn between the two worlds, yet people acted as if an invisible wall stood there. They never glanced toward the alley, let alone approached it.
I knew immediately.
This was a dream. No—a nightmare.
Without the medicine or Yerika by my side, the nightmares were always the same. I had experienced this dream countless times, yet I never grew used to it.
It wasn’t the fear of the unknown that gripped me. Rather, it was because I knew exactly what was about to happen that it was so terrifying.
Step, step.
My body moved into the alley. It moved of its own volition, regardless of my will.
"My body shakes every time I come here... Fuck. I can't even speak for myself."
My mouth also moved independently of my desires. At this point in time, I wasn't used to the clown speech pattern and found it embarrassing, so my way of speaking often fluctuated.
The reason I had come to this alley was to obtain a certain magic tool.
"Oof."
Someone ran into me. My body looked down at the person I had collided with.
It was a small girl. She didn't look like someone who belonged in a place like this.
"I-I'm sorry!"
The child knelt and begged, trembling. This was how a child avoided death in the back alleys.
Patter, patter.
Suddenly, someone ran over and stood between the girl and me.
"O-Oppa."
"It's okay. I'll protect you."
It was a boy, only slightly older than the girl. He wasn't at an age where he could realistically protect anyone.
"Don't you dare lay a hand on my sister!"
The boy spoke threateningly, a knife in his hand. The blade was so pathetic it could hardly be called a knife—likely something someone had used and discarded.
Both of them were skin and bones, clearly malnourished. There was nothing a child could do to earn a living in the back alleys.
Slide.
"..."
Without a word, I pulled some bread from my Pocket Dimension and handed it to the children. I couldn't remember if I stayed silent because I had nothing to say or because I didn't want to use that clownish tone.
The girl remained hidden behind the boy, and the boy stood firm as if shielding her. They were wary of me, but their eyes were fixed on the bread.
"Eat."
Leaving only that word behind, I set the bread down and walked past them. The girl's gaze remained glued to the bread on the ground, while the boy watched me with suspicion until I vanished from sight.
"Oppa, can we eat this?"
"Wait just a second."
I watched them from the shadows as they ate. That was my first meeting with those children.
Suddenly, the world around me began to blur and accelerate.
Once again, my body was walking through the alley.
"Thank you for the bread you gave us last time!"
The girl approached me with a smile and greeted me. The boy bowed his head silently. He didn't draw his knife this time, but he remained on guard.
"..."
Again, I handed them bread.
"Eat."
Unlike before, the girl accepted the bread directly from my hand.
"Thank you!"
I walked past them without another word.
"Hehe, I got bread again today. How should we pay him back?"
"We still have to be careful. He's wearing that suspicious mask."
"Hmph, you ate it happily enough, Oppa. I wonder if he'll give us more tomorrow?"
"Sigh, I've had enough, so you eat the rest."
"No, I've had plenty. You eat, Oppa."
My body watched them from the shadows once more.
Again, the world accelerated.
"Hello!"
As soon as the girl saw me, she ran over on her short legs to greet me. The boy beside her also bowed.
"Eat."
My body handed over more bread than usual, along with some water, before walking past.
"Why are you giving us food?"
The boy, staring intently at the bread and water, called out to my retreating back. My body turned to look at him. He was wearing thin, tattered clothes; he must have given his thicker layers to his sister.
A child who should have been playing and laughing had been forced to grow up to protect his sibling.
"Just because."
My body left with that short reply.
Once more, the world blurred and sped up.
"Wear this."
My body handed the children thick clothes along with food.
"Thank you!"
"Thank you very much."
The boy also expressed his gratitude.
"Hehe, it's warm."
"...It is. It's warm."
My body watched them from the shadows again, silently observing their satisfaction.
And once more, time skipped forward.
"Masked Oppa~!"
The girl ran into my arms. Quite a bit of time must have passed; the children had grown taller, and their skeletal frames had finally filled out to a healthy weight.
"Why are you so late today?"
"...Eat."
My body pulled warm soup and meat from the Pocket Dimension and handed it to them.
"Wow—meat! Meat! Masked Oppa is the best!"
Instead of leaving after handing over the food, my body sat and ate with them.
"But why don't you ever speak in long sentences, Hyung?"
Unlike the girl, who spoke informally, the boy used polite speech.
"Yeah! Masked Oppa is a kind person, but he talks so short that I was scared when I first met him."
"If I speak for too long, a frivolous tone comes out."
If I spoke at length, the clown speech pattern would emerge naturally. Speaking in short bursts was the only way I could avoid it back then.
At that time, I hated the clown speech. No, I loathed it. Frivolous words and actions made people look down on me.
"I like the silly Masked Oppa too, though. What do you think, Oppa?"
The girl asked her brother. The boy, who had been cooling the hot soup for his sister, paused to think.
"I like him being serious."
"But," the boy added, "I think it's okay to speak casually and joke around sometimes. It feels like you're forcing yourself to sound heavy right now, Hyung."
"..."
I silently stroked the children's heads.
"Hehe."
The girl smiled and enjoyed the gesture, while the boy's face turned slightly red, as if he wasn't used to the affection.
If the dream had only shown me this much, I wouldn't have called it a nightmare, nor would I have used medicine to avoid it.
* * *
"Aaaaagh!!"
Johanna rushed into the house after hearing a woman's scream from inside.
Click.
Inside, a woman was screaming in agony while Loki held her by the collar. Johanna moved to stop him—until Loki spoke.
"Did you sell that child?"
Only then did Johanna look around the house. Trash was strewn across the floor, yet the woman's clothes were lavish.
"She's my daughter! I can do whatever I want with her! Why is a complete stranger like you interfering?!"
Slap!
"Gah!"
The woman's head snapped to the side. Loki had struck her across the face.
"Who did you sell her to?"
Johanna flinched at Loki's cold, low voice. She had never heard him sound like that before.
"Why would I tell you—"
Slap!
"Who did you sell her to?"
There was no emotion in Loki's voice as he addressed the woman.
Slap!
Slap!
Loki didn't hesitate to strike her every time she wavered in her answer. Johanna watched him in silence. No, she had no choice but to watch.
Loki was always full of jokes and laughter. Seeing him now, devoid of all emotion, felt alien. He hadn't even noticed that she had entered the room.
"Speak."
The woman's face was already covered in blood. Loki's hands were stained with it.
"Skulls! People with a skull symbol came for her!"
Thud.
Loki released his grip on the woman's collar.
"What did you say?"
Johanna shuddered. If Loki had been emotionless until a moment ago, an overwhelming killing intent now radiated from him. She had encountered high-level assassins during her practical training, but none had ever emitted such a thick, suffocating aura of death.
"Hic... I don't know anything else!"
The woman trembled under the weight of Loki's killing intent.
"Why the hell would those bastards..."
Loki muttered to himself, lost in thought.
It was too late. His poker face was shattered. The emotions he had suppressed and buried deep inside were clawing their way out.
This was different from when he fought Vermin. Back then, he knew the fight was coming and had regulated his emotions through meditation multiple times.
But he hadn't expected this situation at all.
And the bigger problem was that he didn't want to control his emotions.
"Johanna, go back to the Academy first."
He decided to act exactly as he felt. In this situation, the best choice would be to ask an Academy professor for help.
But he didn't do that.
He would kill every single one of those corpse-fucking bastards with his own hands.