Chapter 33
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Milk Price
-----------------------------------------------------------------
15 years.
Really seeing it again after so long.
They say the world changes after ten years,
but people change even more.
And to a degree where I couldn't even recognize her.
Clank.
"......This one's locked too."
Unlike the other rooms, this one had a padlock on the bars.
Probably because her limbs were intact,
they'd shut her away so she couldn't wander around the basement on her own.
I held the torch close to the bars.
Through the matted, dripping hair, her face was visible—
withered and twisted into deep wrinkles.
Her eyes were sunken in black hollows,
and her cheekbones protruded sharply, as if piercing through her skin.
She didn't seem to have a single healthy tooth,
and the corners of her mouth were caked with saliva and foam.
There was no trace left of Beat, the once-ace of the house who made men's cocks stand at attention with her plump, vibrant allure.
An aged, shabby face and a gaunt, pathetic body.
"It's you, isn't it, Beat."
Even so, I was certain.
It wasn't the face.
The sagging right breast. The single small mole embedded there.
How much had I suckled that breast?
It had raised eighty percent of me during my suckling days—how could I not know it?
"Haa... ugh... don't come... don't come......"
But Beat didn't recognize me.
Was it because I'd grown taller since then?
Or because of my changed hair color?
Maybe the burn scars pockmarking my face like smallpox.
Or perhaps because her eyes were already clouded over,
devoid of focus.
"......"
I shifted my gaze slightly to look behind her.
A little girl huddled tightly against Beat's back.
Both were stark naked, without a stitch on.
The difference was this:
Beat's body, the mother's, was a mess of minor wounds, bruises,
and scars like cigarette burns everywhere,
while the child behind her had an eerily pristine body.
I dimly understood what that meant.
"Hngh... ugh... no... don't look... don't looook..."
Even with her eyes unfocused, she sensed my gaze on the girl
and frantically spread her bony arms to shield her.
She trembled like a leaf at the blade in my hand.
"Please... please......"
Then suddenly,
she slammed her head against the floor and prostrated herself.
"Not my daughter... not my daughter... please... don't touch her..."
"Mommy... Mommy, Mommy?"
"Use me... use me...!"
With trembling hands, she spread her thighs.
Forcing her withered, scar-covered, pathetic nakedness forward, she wailed.
"The hole... it's still usable... the back too... mouth too... all of it...
I'll take it all... I'll take all of yours..."
Even with her brain melted by drugs,
even reduced to a beast unaware of her own plight.
"So... hngh, my daughter... please......"
That one instinct to protect her offspring remained crystal clear.
"......"
I looked down at the spectacle blankly.
I was just dumbfounded.
15 years ago, that day,
[ Aaack! Aaaah!! ]
[ My baby! My babyyy!! No! It's hot! Aaack!! ]
Whether clutching her dead child's corpse and wailing before the burning building,
or now hiding her living child behind her in this hellhole as she lay dying.
"Looks like you're fated to live like this forever, Beat."
I felt there was no difference.
None at all.
"Mommy... Mommy... hungry... tummy......"
The kid hidden behind her tugged at Beat's waist and whined.
This child didn't seem right in the head either.
Her eyes were unfocused, and red powder stained her mouth.
Come to think of it, Noy and Noah, right?
The one here was a girl,
and the one who burned to death that day was a boy.
Yeah, Noah was the boy. So Noah died, and this one's Noy.
Last time I saw her, she was a total infant suckling away,
so seeing her grown up now, she doesn't match that baby face at all.
Do you remember me?
Probably not.
All you did back then was cry, sleep, and suckle.
"......She's small."
She must be fifteen by now,
but she looked under ten, tiny,
skin clinging to her ribs like a starved sapling.
No different from a baby.
This is why eating habits in the growth years matter.
Clang!
I smashed the padlock on the bars with the dagger hilt, breaking it.
At the sharp clash of metal,
Beat shrieked and clutched Noy tighter, curling up more.
I slowly stepped through the creaking door.
"Ugh... don't come... don't come......"
I silently passed her by
and approached the battered wooden bucket in the corner.
A slop bucket filled with piss and shit.
No matter.
The stench of excrement wafting here,
or the vibrations of semen, fluids, blood, flesh rot, and drugs permeating the whole place.
All the same.
Without hesitation, I lifted the bucket and dumped it over my head.
Splash-!
The filth soaked my hair and ran down my body.
I endured the sting in my eyes and madly rubbed my wet hair.
After scrubbing hard, black water dripped down.
To be sure, I kept rubbing until it was bone-dry.
That was when.
Thud thud!
Urgent footsteps echoed from the stairs.
I spun reflexively, dagger aimed.
"Huff... huff......"
It was Paeryun, panting hard.
She took one look at me and said,
"Urk... Employer, you had this disgusting kink too?"
Pinching her nose, her face twisted in revulsion.
I snapped,
"Shut up. Not in the mood for jokes.
And answer me this. What color's my hair now?"
Good words come to those who speak well, they say,
and Paeryun straightened up to reply.
"......Blonde, a bit dark."
"I see."
Looks like it all washed out.
Then suddenly she grabbed my arm,
"Employer. Whatever you were doing..."
Urgent as if desperate to shit.
"We gotta leave now. Get out..."
"Get out."
"......What?"
Paeryun looked dumbfounded.
She jabbed her thumb upward and said,
"Do you even know what's happening outside...!"
"That's why,"
I cut her off, spitting the words.
"Go by yourself. I'm staying."
Stop being a nuisance,
and for real, please just leave.
"......Haven't gotten paid yet."
Money. Right.
I pulled a pouch from my bosom and chucked it at Paeryun.
"Take it all."
"Contract's done. Get lost, don't interfere."
Paeryun caught the pouch reflexively and stood there stunned.
Why's she like that?
She's the type who only cares about the money—why hesitate?
"......Ha."
She let out a short hollow laugh, pocketed the pouch, and turned.
"Don't regret it later."
With that, Paeryun vanished like the wind.
And I crouched right in front of Beat's face.
I stared straight into her clouded eyes.
"Remember."
My voice echoed low in the cell.
"It's me. Leon."
"Ugh.... ugh... haa......"
Blank expression. Still no recognition.
But,
"Look properly, you bitch! Remember me!!
That creepy little brat who came suckling your tits every day!"
I gripped her shoulders hard.
And grabbed the skinny arm of the girl beside her too,
"Snap out of it! If you want to save your last blood kin and send her out!!"
My bellow rang through the narrow basement.
Did it pierce the fog of her mind?
A faint spark of life flickered in Beat's eyes.
But,
"My daughter... give her back... give her baaack!!!"
That spark was madness, not reason.
My holding Noy's arm must've been the trigger.
"Aaack! Kyaack!!"
Beat lunged at me like a beast, howling.
Her bony fingers dug into my throat.
Nails tore flesh, grip crushed my windpipe.
"Gurk...! Gah!"
Breath cut off.
Unbelievable strength from her drug-addled, staggering body.
"Let... fuck, Beat...!"
"My daughter... don't touch... I'll kill you... die... die!!"
Her eyes fully rolled back.
Pure beast instinct to tear apart a predator stealing her young.
Even this choking force
was a mother's power, squeezing out strength from nothing for her child.
"Snap... out of it...!"
I gagged, grabbing her wrists to pry them off.
But they wouldn't budge.
Instead, they tightened more, intent on snuffing my air.
"It's me...! The one you... knew, the one you watched..."
"Uwaaack!! Die!! Die already!!"
Vision flashed white.
Oxygen deprivation made my brain scream.
In my blurring sight,
I fumbled for the dagger at my waist.
One last time, just once more.
"Rinea...... that bitch's... kid...... me..."
"Die!! Dieee!!"
She won't let go.
Until I stop breathing.
......I've done enough.
Right?
Stab.
"......Ugh."
Beat's scream cut off abruptly.
The vise on my throat slackened like a lie.
"Hahk... hahk... cough!"
I coughed and staggered back.
The dagger had pierced her chest center, straight through the heart.
"Ah......"
Beat swayed.
Her gaze slowly dropped to the hilt embedded in her chest.
Then she lifted her head to look at me.
That instant.
"You... you......"
Like a miracle, focus returned to her clouded eyes.
"Cough... haa, only after stabbing you... do you recognize me... you dog bitch."
"......Leon."
"Yeah. Rinea's brat that you knew, that's me."
I rubbed my nail-torn throat and stood.
A trickle of blood leaked from Beat's mouth.
She'll die. I stabbed her.
"What now.
Noah too, and you, Beat. I killed you both."
"......"
At my flat words, Beat smiled faintly.
Blood-flecked foam bubbled at her lips.
"......Rinea."
"......?"
"She... knew you sucked my milk, you know?"
Out of nowhere.
Why bring up old stories now, in this state?
"Gurgle...... Rinea, told me."
Beat's breathing grew ragged.
Her trembling hand reached to caress my cheek but fell limp.
"If she died... wouldn't I be your mom instead?"
"......"
"I... said okay. So you..."
Her eyes slowly lost their light.
But the smile on her lips,
"Your mom died... twice."
burned vividly.
"Hic."
A grotesque laugh leaked from her throat.
"Hic. Gurgle. Heh... kgh......"
Then soon,
"......"
Her head lolled forward, and she breathed her last.
Silence fell.
I stared blankly at Beat's cooling corpse.
"......Jeez."
What was all that yapping.
Who decided she'd play stepmom or not.
Not some hot milf next door— from my side, obviously no thanks.
Made my mood sour,
scratching at my nerves till the end.
A bit unfair, sure.
She was my mom's friend, and I suckled a lot.
Tried to do something somehow, but it didn't work out.
That's it.
Just like Beat was fated to live like this forever,
I was fated to be hated by her till the end.
So really, nothing to be done.
"......Mommy, Mommy... food......"
Then the kid in the corner crawled out.
And burrowed straight into the already-dead Beat's bosom.
Watching what she did,
"Slurp...... mmm, no... come......"
she latched onto her dead mother's sagging breast.
Smack, smack.
The sound of suckling the withered tit filled the silent cell.
No milk would come, but even retching, the child wouldn't let go.
As if it were her only lifeline.
"......"
I regripped the dagger.
Beat's blood dripped from the blade.
"Should've, Beat."
If you had last words before dying,
"Instead of wasting them on curses...
you should've begged me to save your daughter somehow."
Then who knows.
I might've tried to save your blood kin somehow.
But now, no reason to agonize.
Just do the job again.
I approached Noy.
The child didn't even glance at me, focused only on suckling.
I aimed the blade tip at the nape of her neck.
A little pressure, and done. Simple.
But.
[ Pay for the milk, you creepy little shit. ]
Beat's face from 15 years ago, laughing as she smacked my head.
And just now, her mad eyes as she choked me.
[ Just, a better person. ]
Damn Rinea's voice echoed in my ears.
"......Fuck."
My hand froze. The blade tip quivered faintly.
I have to kill her. This is right.
Erase everything connected, burn it all.
If not, I'll die.
Yet.
"......Haa."
I let out a deep sigh and sheathed the dagger.
Couldn't bring myself to stab.
That suckling sight overlapped too much with my 15-years-ago self.
Irritated, I shoved the dagger into my belt.
And pried the child off Beat's corpse by force.
"Waaah! Nooo! Mommy! Mommiii!"
She thrashed and wailed instantly.
I slung the brat under my arm like a sack of rice
and gave a final goodbye to the cold Beat.
"Fine, that damn milk price. I'll pay it."
I left the cell without looking back.
Her nonstop throat-shredding cries were seriously annoying.
I don't even know what the hell I'm doing.
"Waaaah!"
"Ears hurt, so quit bawling."
Anyway, from infancy to now,
crying and sniveling's all the same.
Leave her be too long, it'll get noisy,
so once outside...
Make a wooden pacifier or something, stick it in her mouth.
No choice.