Chapter 53
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 53
Chapter Title: Recordak (5)
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Shwaaaaa...
The arrow-like downpour and gale battered Recordak. The typhoon felt like it was about to flip the earth upside down, constantly pounding my ears until my hearing seemed a bit dulled.
In that chaotic scenery, Elise asked the man in front of her.
"Who are you?"
He just smiled silently.
Kwaaang!
In the midst of it all, the iron gate of the isolation ward behind us was completely blown off and slammed into the exercise yard. The two of us flinched and turned around. From the wide-open gap beyond, that 'Draven' appeared again.
He had a solitary confinement prisoner tucked under his right arm and a mana academy senior under his left.
Draven set the two down on the ground and pointed at us.
"Hey. I caught two, so who the hell are those two?"
Elise immediately drew up mana in her body.
"...I'll ask again. What are you people?"
She didn't look scared at all. Anyone could see she was ready to fight.
She wasn't the type to choose suicide, and since she'd never faced a real powerhouse before, her instincts weren't fully sharpened yet.
"Stay put."
I grabbed Elise's wrist. Slap! She shook it off roughly. Elise glared at me like she wanted to stab me with her knife and growled.
"Don't touch me with your filthy hands."
Genuine killing intent spread poisonously.
"Before I really kill you."
"...You're scarier than them."
"Hey. What do we do?"
Draven asked the man. The man still said nothing, just stared at us. More precisely, at 'Elise'.
Finally, he spoke.
"Elise Petra. I know who you are."
A simple question delivered in a boyishly soft voice.
"Do you know who I am?"
An utterly casual tone, like talking to a next-door friend.
But those words from him, this entire situation...
Sparked something in my mind.
[Recordak 13 escapee Noah Lucille, whereabouts unknown for over a year...]
[Demon of Mirinae, where is he...?]
[Breaking: Recordak I attacked during College Board special activity...]
[One senior abducted, one solitary prisoner dead...]
[Abducted senior's whereabouts unknown...]
[Mastermind presumed to be Noah Lucille... deceased student is lead prosecutor's son...]
"Kuh!"
Fragmented memories.
Memories I'd once read, seen, or experienced somewhere, but buried deep in my subconscious, now resurfaced like sharp blades, piercing my mind.
"Agh, my head..."
I pressed my temples.
Of course. Did his question trigger my Notebook?
"Do you know me?"
He asked again.
"...I asked first who you are."
Elise's response was sharp. The man pouted his lips.
"True enough."
But something felt off.
In the articles and incident files I recalled, there was no name 'Elise'. She wasn't originally involved in this incident.
Could it be because of me?
Because I grabbed her just three minutes ago?
"So you don't know me. Well, that makes sense—"
"I know you."
I shot my hand up instead of Elise.
"—it's been a long time, after all."
He didn't even glance my way.
Not until I opened my mouth.
"Noah Lucille."
In that instant, his eyes twisted. His head snapped toward me. He finally looked at me.
I smiled faintly and added,
"Right? I have a bit of an interest in crime and the underworld."
"...Noah Lucille?"
Elise echoed, her face full of shock—a perfectly natural reaction.
"Killed 77 civilians and imprisoned in Recordak XIII. Sentenced to death, but it coincided exactly with the Chairperson's re-election. She suspended the execution, and you rotted in prison for 18 years. And then—"
"I escaped. Because it wasn't my crime."
Noah cut me off.
"Precisely 18 years, 312 days, 5 hours, 33 minutes, and 17 seconds. That's how long I was locked up."
"Is that so? But..."
I examined his face closely.
His features were pure, like painted with a brush, and his skin was flawless, without a single wrinkle or blemish.
"You look incredibly young. Not like mid-forties at all. Spectrum?"
A man imprisoned at 24 still looked exactly 24.
No, honestly, even younger. I could believe he was my age.
He lifted the corner of his mouth.
"Impressive. You even know my age."
"How could I not? You're the only one who ever escaped Recordak 13. You're already a legend."
Recordak 13. That volcanic island prison, essentially a hell realm, and he escaped alone.
Imprisoned 19 years ago, but the escape was just a year ago. It was huge news, so Elise probably knew too.
"Really?"
He covered his mouth and chuckled. I pointed at the senior sprawled on the ground.
Not from Endex, but a senior from the prestigious mana academy 'Devon'.
"Since I got it right, let him go."
Noah shook his head.
"Can't do that. He got it wrong."
"So, you're going to kill him?"
He answered immediately.
"Yes."
I asked him back.
"Would that change anything?"
"Who knows. What do you think drives me to kill?"
He countered with a question.
I looked at the student on the ground.
A victim of Noah Lucille, from the Notebook's memories.
When this incident first happened, everyone thought it was just bad luck, but when the truth came out, the world was shocked.
"Valentin Otto. His dad's a prosecutor, right? The one who indicted you and led the investigation."
"..."
In that moment, Noah's pupils dilated hugely. Endless black eyes. A gaze that seemed to suck you in.
I struggled to stay calm.
"I'm a bit curious by nature. And my memory's pretty good. You claimed innocence throughout the trial, didn't you?"
The Notebook's memories could pull up everything related to this moment.
But for Noah Lucille, I didn't even need to rely on it.
"Yeah. You know a lot. Quite well."
He was the big shot who escaped the harshest prison and founded the group [New Moon Guests].
A vengeful ghost hunting down everyone who ruined his life and wasted his years.
"Killing a few kids won't change anything."
I fully understood his feelings, but the targets were wrong.
"No. It will."
He pulled a metal lump from his pocket. Elise quickly reached out. Her blue mana shot out and flashed against it.
A revolver.
"It'll ease my mind a little."
"Wai—"
Bang!
The gunshot exploded before I could finish.
Blue flames burst.
The skull shattered.
Bone fragments scattered like shrapnel.
Blood, brains, and rainwater mixed and flowed.
Drip drip drip... The spreading stream reached our feet.
"...Ah."
Elise froze with her mouth half-open. I let out a quiet sigh. Noah leisurely wiped the barrel with a handkerchief.
"Think of it as saving one life. I was going to skin him alive, pluck every hair, cut off his nails, fingers, toes, wrists, ankles, eyeballs... one by one."
I looked up at him and muttered like to myself,
"This kid... he's innocent, isn't he?"
A reply came, laced with laughter.
"I thought so too. I was innocent too."
"..."
"You wouldn't get it, but I already gave him a chance."
Noah raised his index finger.
"First. I went to that prosecutor—his dad first—and asked for my name. He couldn't answer. Same face as back then."
Then his middle finger.
"Second. He made excuses. Said he had no choice, begged for mercy for his wife and kids. No choice? What choice?"
Finally, his ring finger.
"Third. The apology came last. Said he'd committed a mortal sin."
Then he folded all his fingers.
"If you've committed a mortal sin, you die. But simple death was too easy. He has to live another 18 years, 312 days, 5 hours, 33 minutes, and 17 seconds."
He nudged the corpse with his foot.
"Carrying this memory."
I was speechless.
Well, considering the future New Moon Guests, persuasion was probably impossible from the start.
This was just the beginning now, but in a few years, they'd grow into a collective that even the underworld's 'Master Cartel' feared.
"But what do you think? Do I really seem like the one who killed 77 people? Like the 'Demon of Mirinae'?"
He asked. My face reflected in his wide-open pupils. Probably some kind of demonic eye.
"...No."
I answered sincerely, shaking my head with a sigh.
"You were innocent."
Noah's claims were all true. The police fabricated evidence, the prosecutor knew but didn't retract, and the judge ignored key witness testimony.
Having come back in time, I knew it all.
But.
"Not anymore."
Future innocence meant nothing before current crimes.
Just like his innocence couldn't compensate for the lost time.
"..."
Noah Lucille fell silent.
He probably understood what I meant.
"...Hm."
Soon, he bit his lip slightly. Closed his eyes briefly. Let out a barely audible sigh and turned away.
"Let's go."
"Hey, is it okay to just leave like this? We don't kill them?"
To Draven's question, Noah twisted his head to the side.
"He got it right. I won't kill them."
"Ah."
Draven scratched his head as if he got it.
"The rest is up to you. Handle it well. He's a guy named 'Belen Dex'... just your run-of-the-mill murderer."
Leaving those ominous words for some reason, Noah turned and left.
Whoosh!
One leap. The two vanished like that, but the silence was only momentary.
One they left behind remained.
"...What the hell is that."
The solitary confinement prisoner Draven had dragged from the isolation ward.
We stared at him.
"Groooar..."
Creak—creak— He rose, all his joints grinding. His veins were blackened, his eyes bloodshot like they might burst.
He looked like a zombie.