Chapter 50: Nightmare 3
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 50: Nightmare 3
About a month had passed since I first met the children.
"Hyung, how much longer are you going to keep coming to the back alleys?" the boy asked me.
He knew I had come here looking for something. He also knew that, eventually, I would leave. For his age, he was incredibly perceptive.
".................."
"Masked Oppa, are you going away?"
As the girl’s guardian, the boy was already thinking of ways to provide for her once I was gone.
In the memory, my hand silently reached out and stroked their heads. There was nothing I could say to them.
Back then, I was so weak, so utterly powerless. It was a struggle just to survive from one day to the next. My meager goodwill amounted to nothing more than handing the children some food and warm clothes.
Once again, time began to blur and accelerate. In the rushing torrent of time, there was nothing I could do.
"Masked Oppa, what’s your dream?" the girl asked innocently, munching on the bread I had given her.
"I don't really have one," my past self replied, patting her head.
At that time, dreams were a luxury I couldn't afford. I didn't have a dream, but I did have a goal: to somehow enter Croa Academy and prevent Johanna’s death. I had no intention of joining the Special Class. My plan was to enter any class, use my knowledge of the future to gather information, and stop the incidents as best I could. That was my only goal.
The girl glanced around. Seeing that the boy wasn't nearby, she beckoned for me to lean down. I lowered my head, and she whispered into my ear.
"It’s a secret from my brother, so I’m only telling you, Masked Oppa. I want to go to school."
"And what do you want to do there?" I asked, my voice blunt.
"I want to learn to read, make friends, and eat delicious food. But most of all... I want to learn how to use Sacred Power so I can help lots of people."
The girl couldn't stop smiling, as if the mere thought of it filled her with joy.
Step, step.
"Ah! Oppa must be back already!"
The girl recognized her brother's footsteps instantly. "Oh, right," she added quickly. "It’s a secret from him!"
She pressed her index finger to her lips.
"Why?"
"Hehe, just because!"
With that, she ran off in the opposite direction to meet the boy.
"What were you two talking about?" the boy asked as he approached.
I shrugged and opened my mouth. "Nothing."
The Clown trait was slowly consuming my body.
"What about you? What’s your dream?" I asked the boy, perhaps because I had just heard the girl’s.
The boy clamped his mouth shut, seemingly caught off guard by the question. It didn't take long for him to speak, though.
"As if I’d have something like a dream." He paused, then added, "Well, it’s not really a dream, but... I want to protect my sister."
The girl’s dream was to help people. The boy’s dream was to protect the girl who wanted to help people.
Even in the deepest filth, flowers still bloom. In the middle of the back alleys, two flowers were preparing to blossom.
My hand stroked the boy’s hair. "Starting tomorrow, I’ll be coming a bit later. If anything dangerous happens, just take your sister and run as far as you can."
As soon as I finished speaking, events began to move at a frantic pace. Even though it was my dream, I had no control over anything.
"Hyung, some priests have been stopping by the back alleys lately to hand out food."
I wanted to close my eyes and cover my ears. But I couldn't control my own body.
"Is that so?"
"A priest talked to us yesterday. He asked if we could help with a simple task. He said he’d even pay us. It’s okay to go, right?"
Don't go! Don't go! Don't go! Don't go! Don't go! Don't go!
No matter how many hundreds of times I screamed it in my heart, my words never reached the child. To know exactly what was about to happen and be forced to watch, unable to do a single thing—that was why I called this dream a nightmare.
"If it’s a priest, it should be fine," my past self said in a blunt tone.
Ah, I loathed myself for those words. I wanted to rip my own mouth apart. But I was helpless.
Once again, time accelerated for everyone but me. Selfishly, I wanted to escape this dream. Even though I knew it was a dream, I couldn't wake up. It was my dream, my nightmare, yet I was powerless within it. To escape, I had no choice but to watch this story until its end.
"Buy some delicious fruit!"
This time, I wasn't in the back alleys. I was in a marketplace where merchants were hawking their wares. My hand pulled money from my pocket.
"This should be enough for them to leave the alleys and live elsewhere."
It was enough money for the children to settle down in a normal village. With this, the girl could go to school. With this, the boy could protect his sister.
"Should I buy something on the way?"
I thought of the girl, who didn't own a single accessory. I headed toward a shop selling various trinkets. Since I didn't want to stand out, I used an illusion to overlay a random face over my mask.
"Are you looking for something in particular?"
"Give me an accessory a young girl might like."
"Is it a gift for your sister?"
I hesitated for a moment at the clerk's question. "...Yes."
"Oh my! What a kind older brother you are. How about this bracelet?"
"...I'll take that one."
Then I thought of the boy, who cherished a rusty old sword like it was a treasure. I headed to a weapon shop.
"Looking for something?"
"A small sword a young boy could use."
"A young boy, eh? A dagger would be best for a child. Is it a gift for your younger brother?"
"...Yes."
"You're a good brother! I'll find you a particularly nice one."
Carrying the dagger and the bracelet, I headed back toward the back alleys.
"Did you hear? The carriage carrying the priests who were coming this way had an accident. All the priests inside died."
"When did that happen?"
"Three days ago. But the weirdest part is, they say all the bodies disappeared!"
My hands, clutching the dagger and the bracelet, trembled violently.
The priests had died three days ago. But the "priests" had appeared in the back alleys only two days ago.
I ran. I sprinted with everything I had.
"No, it can't be."
I had been too complacent.
"Why... why?"
I had been too arrogant.
"The Necromancer shouldn't have appeared yet!"
I had placed too much faith in my knowledge of the game.
I entered the back alleys, never breaking my stride. I ran to the spot where I always talked with the children. They weren't there. Usually, if I waited there, they would come find me.
I opened my mouth to call their names.
"....................."
But no words came out. Only then did I realize.
I still didn't even know their names.
Even though it was me, I truly loathed myself. I hated the Clown trait. I hated being looked down upon. I hated losing myself. For such pathetic reasons, I hadn't even bothered to ask for the children's names. In the end, I was just a worthless bastard who had been stroking his own ego while pretending to help them.
But the true nightmare was only just beginning.
.
.
.
"Johanna, go to the Academy first."
It wasn't the bright, gentle voice he usually used with her. It was cold.
"That..."
Johanna tried to say something to Loki, but the words wouldn't come.
Step, step.
Loki turned on his heel as he made for the door. He walked toward the woman who was trembling in the corner.
"P-please, spare me."
Swish, swish.
With a casual flick of Loki's hand, the woman was bound in threads.
"Gack! Ke-heck!"
The threads tightened around her entire body, constricting even her throat. Having restrained her, Loki bolted out of the house.
Johanna ignored the woman and chased after him. Loki had told her to go to the Academy first, but there was no way she could do that now.
Swish. Swish.
"W-what was that?"
"Did something just fly past?"
The streets were crowded, making it difficult to move, but Loki tore through the gaps with dazzling, fluid movements.
Where on earth is he going?
Johanna didn't know his destination, but she kept up the pursuit. She didn't possess the same acrobatic finesse to weave through a crowd like Loki.
Whoosh!
Nevertheless, she stayed on his tail, relying on sheer, overwhelming speed.
Flinch.
Whenever the crowd became too dense, she would pause for a split second before lunging forward again. Although Johanna was naturally much faster than Loki, the distance between them wasn't closing. If anything, it was widening.
This isn't good.
Feeling like she might lose him at this rate, she pushed her speed even further.
Boom!
When the distance still wouldn't close, she reinforced her body with mana and kicked off the ground, leaping onto the rooftops.
Loki looked incredibly unstable right now. To anyone else, it might have looked like he had surrendered himself to rage.
But to Johanna, it looked different.
Loki looked as if he were terrified. It wasn't the fear of an enemy. It was as if he were deathly afraid of a certain situation unfolding.
Of course, it was all speculation. His mask hid every trace of his expression.
Until now, she hadn't felt a strong urge to see what was behind that mask. But now, she wanted to see his face more than anything.