Sinner and Traitor
I was covered in dust. The clear light was visible, yet it felt as though the light inside my heart had been lost forever. Even after we safely exited the ruins under the teachers’ guidance, that feeling refused to fade. Crushed beneath the weight of her own reason, Lim Hana could only stare blankly at the bright sky. It was as if she had thrown away something precious. As if she had committed a terrible, irreversible mistake.
“Mr. Kim, are all the students accounted for? Something feels off—”
“We seem to be fine for now, but—”
“This is bad! It looks like Sian and Mari are trapped down below! I can’t find them anywhere!”
Ah. Right. That’s what happened.
I pushed Kang Sian into the abyss. Indirectly, but directly all the same.
Only then did the full memory crash back over her. She had killed Kang Sian. It was her first murder, and the tragic part was that the victim had been her childhood friend. But no matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn’t remember why.
Because he had played with her often since kindergarten? Because he always helped her with her studies? Because he gave her birthday presents every single year even when she never reciprocated? Because he put up with her whining and tantrums? Because he always smiled and cheered her on? Because he refused to give up on her even after she hit him with magic?
She didn’t know. Their relationship had always seemed fine. It was strangely, inexplicably odd.
She was still sitting in silence, wondering if this might all be a dream, when a teacher approached.
“Hana, have you seen Sian anywhere?”
The sight of them searching for someone already dead was heartbreaking. But the dead did not return. Besides, she hadn’t seen what happened to Kang Sian after he fell. So Lim Hana shook her head with perfect, ‘honest’ composure.
“Maybe something happened while they were playing with Mari…? I was hanging out with the academy kids over there before I came back up.”
How neatly the lie slipped out. The alibi was so detailed it surprised even her. But showing surprise or panic now would be the wrong move. Lim Hana told herself she was simply caught in a fleeting illusion and steadied her breathing.
When she asked her academy friends, they gave the same story—they had been playing together and come up on their own. Naturally, no one knew the pair’s whereabouts, and the teachers fell into total chaos.
Lim Hana stared at the vibrating entrance of the ruins with a strange sense of detachment. That was when it happened.
“Hana, are you okay?”
“Yeah, Yujae. I’m fine.”
Ah, yes. Kim Yujae. The one Kang Sian had beaten. Thinking back, the other kids had been beaten by him too. If she hadn’t fired her magic at Kang Sian, things would have gotten far worse.
“The teachers are still looking for him. What did you tell them?”
“Just that I didn’t know.”
“Ah, good. That’s really good.”
What exactly was so good about it? A person was dead. Kim Yujae let out a cheer of relief and suddenly pulled her into a tight hug. She should have felt revolted by the sudden contact, but instead a strange warmth enveloped her.
“Hana, this is lucky. Honestly, I didn’t expect it to go this far. This whole thing turned out perfectly.”
“Perfectly?”
“We got rid of the guy who kept following you around, and that girl you always said you hated is gone too.”
Now that he mentioned it, Cheon Mari—the one she hated so much it bordered on loathing—was also missing. Unlike the unsettling feeling she had about Kang Sian, this news was genuinely pleasing.
“I see.”
Lim Hana’s reply was short. Her emotions barely registered.
After that, the picnic was canceled amid the confusion. The students were sent home under the teachers’ supervision. Lim Hana walked into her house with a dazed expression. She tried to tidy up and check her messages like always, but then—
“What do you mean all the children came out but Kang Sian didn’t—!”
“Dad, let me handle the complaint. You people! What the hell were you teachers doing!”
Screams of rage and despair poured from the house next door. Kang Sian’s family was in an uproar. They had always been kind to her. Yet now she felt only revulsion. Why?
After thinking for a while, one memory surfaced.
“That’s right… I told his parents that he was eating the leaves.”
That was why. Kang Sian had betrayed her, so why would his family be any different? Traitors were bad people. His family must be the same. Rationalizing it that way, she crouched in the corner of her room. She needed to calm her mind. She needed to believe she had done the right thing, that she had carried out justice.
Ding-dong—
The doorbell suddenly rang. When she opened the door, a familiar face stood there. Silver hair, blue-green eyes, pointed ears, flawless skin, and strikingly beautiful features. A woman who looked quite similar to Kang Sian if you took off her glasses.
“Seo Harin unnie?”
It was Kang Sian’s cousin, Seo Harin. She was wearing a suit and sweating heavily.
“Hana, I’m sorry for asking so suddenly, but did you see Sian or Mari during the picnic?”
The same question the teacher had asked. The answer came easily.
“Huh? No…”
The words emerged naturally, hesitant yet smooth. It felt like a bad thing, but she convinced herself it wasn’t. Even though this unnie had always been kind to her, it couldn’t be helped. Seo Harin was Kang Sian’s family.
The only ones who knew the truth were the academy friends, and the truth would stay buried. Lim Hana resolved to carry it to her grave. It was the right thing—for everyone’s sake.
In the end, Seo Harin left looking drained. Lim Hana acted sympathetic as she moved to close the door.
“……”
She saw Seo Harin stop in the middle of the street and stare straight at her. For a split second, her heart plummeted. Lim Hana slammed the door shut and yanked every curtain closed. She wanted to be alone. She wanted to shut out every gaze.
The noise from outside was unbearable, so she turned on the TV, cranked up the volume, and flipped channels endlessly, trying to forget everything.
The same kind of news, over and over. None of it registered. She couldn’t read it, hear it, or understand it. The horrific sensations and memories kept resurfacing. She felt as though she were turning into a sinner. A traitor.
She couldn’t let that happen. She needed a stimulus, an escape. With trembling hands, Lim Hana rummaged through the living room drawer.
“Hana did nothing wrong. Hana doesn’t know anything. Hana did the right thing.”
Repeating the words like a mantra, she pulled out a matchbox. She slid the inner tray out, revealing several dried leaves.
It was something she should never do at home.
But Lim Hana shoved another handful of the leaves into her mouth.
“Mmm, mmh, mm—”
Her focus sharpened. Ecstasy brushed against her. Her faith felt reaffirmed. Justice seemed to shine down on her.
Once the effects settled, Lim Hana’s eyes changed completely. Only then could she properly understand the news that an Imperial sword master and a Union A-rank hunter had clashed.
“Hana… isn’t wrong.”
Nothing had changed since the Second World War. This was simply how the ordinary world looked.
When I opened my eyes, I saw an unfamiliar floor. It was cold, hard, painful, and tasted like thousand-year-old stone. The thick, unpleasant sensation reminded me of the aftertaste from a ruined restaurant.
“Ugh, ptoo, ptoo, ptoo.”
I spat out the dirt that had gotten into my mouth. I wanted to scrape it out with my hands, but that was impossible. My whole body had gone rigid.
“Oh, you’re awake?”
A voice came from the side. I barely managed to turn my head and saw Cheon Mari. Her hands were covered in blood. What the hell had happened to leave her looking like that?
The questions didn’t stop there. Several chunks of ice lay in front of her. The problem was that every piece was coated with flesh and blood. It was the kind of horrific sight you might witness once in a lifetime. I stiffened, genuinely shocked.
“Mari…? What the hell…”
“How long were you under that ice magic?”
“Huh?”
The sudden question caught me off guard.
“They said you were stuck with ice-school magic on your leg. Roughly how many minutes?”
“Uh… not minutes. It was probably hours.”
Cheon Mari let out a heavy sigh.
What kind of reaction was that? I kept staring at her with obvious confusion until she kicked one of the ice fragments at her feet.
“These all came out of your body.”
“Fuck?”
“This is only the stuff I could see and pull out. I couldn’t touch the ones lodged in dangerous places.”
“Shit?”
So… my body had been growing these ice stones? And some of them were still inside me? What the hell was going on? How was this even possible?
The news was so shocking I turned pale and couldn’t speak.
“It looks like… your body was eroded because you were under the magic for so long.”