Chapter 166
Chapter 166
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 166
Chapter Title: Part 2 Chapter 29
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Now a closed orphanage.
Dun stepped slowly up the hill, trampling the unmowed grass.
Actually, back when she lived here as Yi Sae-byeok, she hadn't come here much.
At that time, she used to have recurring nightmares, and she was scared that coming here would make them even worse.
But now, enough time had passed that she no longer writhed in pain just thinking about the orphanage.
The scars of the past only brought her present self feelings of regret and bitterness.
That's why she could come here.
An old building with peeling blue paint. Ivy climbed the walls, stretching out green leaves.
Faint brown bloodstains were visible here and there among them.
Dun grabbed the rusted doorknob and turned it half a circle to open the orphanage door.
Creak.
The old door let out a shrill sound. Right in front of her eyes as soon as she opened it were thick dust and countless spiderwebs.
Dun coughed a few times, brushed away the spiderwebs, and looked around the classroom she used to live in, sifting through her memories.
She vaguely remembered her old spot and glanced that way.
『Three rice stalks ♥ Mini Unni』
The mindless graffiti she had drawn while practicing her writing after first learning letters as a kid was still there.
'Wow, Min-hee unni memories.'
Dun let out an exclamation.
Min-hee unni had been the teacher in charge of Sprout Class. She was a person she'd completely forgotten about, so for some reason, it felt nostalgic.
She was the one who had found Dun abandoned in a cement rainwater puddle and thrown her into the orphanage.
When Dun thought of Min-hee unni, all she remembered was cursing at her, shoving her away, or her turning into a corpse while fiddling with her phone.
That teacher had died to a monster too.
Dun went over to the spot where the orphanage teachers used to sit, thinking of Min-hee teacher, and found a small basket still filled with the kids' diaries.
『Sprout Class - Yi Sae-byeok』
Hers was among them.
It was plopped right on top, so she found it easily. Dun unfolded her diary and skimmed through the contents.
『July 5th
Fuuuuck I hate this shit so muuuch
Eat shiiiit
-Where'd you learn bad words?
-Sowwy』
『72 July 234234th
Give me some attenshun pwease
I shaved my head weal good so it don't smell like puke
Why you hate me?
-Write your daily schedule』
『72 July 92nd
Made the new crazy nom-nom kids fight each other
So I fought that guy too
-Don't fight
-I won
-Don't fight』
『August 5th
Bird died
Was gonna eat it but I was dumb and gave it away
Seol Do-yoon is such a fucking idiot bitch
-I told you not to swear
-Fix yourself first unni』
『August 20th
Monsters keep showin up
Kids almost got nabbed I saved em
I'm gettin strong like Hong Gil-dong
-Hong Gil-dong was a thief so doesn't matter』
『September 12th
Mini unni is weird
Monster bit her and she won't wake up
People came and took her away
Seol-shit kid is such a fucking idiot bitch』
『234 July 999th
Fuuuck bonehead such a fucking idiot moron pussy fucking idiot moron unni moron』
『2234324 July 999999th
Fuuuck bonehead unni is a fuuuck unni moron idiot fucking idiot moron parents gone
Parents gone is me but unni don't got none either』
『September 31st
Said lotsa bad words thought unni would come as ghost and say somethin
But she didn't say nothin
Miss unni』
『Do-yoon that guy's a real bad kid』
『Played fun with kids today
Played jacks with Yi-ha and Min-kyung
-Did you have fun? Write the date too.』
『October 6th
Played house was fun
Gonna be a ant with no thoughts
-Glad you had fun.』
『October 14th
Kids are disappearin
A-ini's gone too
Give some attenshun pwease
-They'll be back soon』
『October 20th rainy
Went around and drew a map too
[Map image]
Monsters are here
Even if you come sometimes give some attenshun pwease』
『October 30th
Played house and jacks and got tired
But the friend I was playin with is gone』
『Gave it all away.
Hate bein dumb me』
There were so many tear stains that the writing after that was illegible.
Most of the diary was obscured by tear stains. Dun roughly flipped through them.
『Buried Do-yoon good
Even if dog says somethin went to good place』
『Where goin
Feelin weird.』
"What, nothing but curses from start to finish."
The kid's mental breakdown process was vividly laid bare.
Dun flipped through the old diary after a long time. She'd forgotten, but even before entering the Abyss, her life had been pretty eventful.
Around that time, a gate had appeared near the orphanage, and a ton of people died because of it.
Min-hee teacher died, and the kids she played with died too.
Even after the diary stopped, lots more died. Even more died.
Looking back at past events knowing the outcome gave a strange feeling.
[VER.C.O01.DAWN]
[Discovered the earliest record of the relevant entity.]
[Would you like to generate an autobiography?]
Suddenly, a notification window popped up in front of her eyes. Dun blinked and read the contents.
'Autobiography?'
Suddenly, she recalled Prim explaining about Bachinums and autobiographies before.
Bachinums can't coexist in one world, so they share knowledge through records they've written during their lives.
It seemed the system helped preserve that information well.
"Yes."
Dun approved it without much thought.
[Autobiography registered!]
[You can view the autobiography anytime in the menu, and produce it as a book.]
Since she was the first Bachinum of Da Bo-seok, would this autobiography go straight to the next Bachinum after she died?
'They'd be pretty confused.'
Maybe the previous generation Bachinum would think she was a retard.
Dun gave a wry smile as she skimmed through the names and diaries of kids who no longer existed in the world.
She spent some time like that, then reached the very last diary at the bottom.
『Sprout Class - Seol Do-yoon』
A familiar name.
It was funny that this guy had diligently written diaries too, so she unfolded it.
『July 1st
Thank you for taking me in.』
『July 20th
There's a little library. It's nice.
-Read books diligently』
『July 25th
Other kids fought. Why is it my fault?
-Well』
『July 27th
Yi Sae-byeok is ostracizing me.
-Oh dear』
『August 5th
A bird died. I never really thought much of dead animals before, but it felt a bit regrettable.
-Must have been sad』
『August 10th
Played jacks
-Sounds fun』
『August 22nd
Stop swearing. Yi Sae-byeok says awful things to me.』
『August 31st
People really love anniversaries.』
『September 12th
One of the teachers died.』
『October 1st
Fought with Yi Sae-byeok. I keep thinking about how she hit me one more time.』
『October 20th
Drew a map of something called a gate.
[Map image]』
『October 22nd
Called, but no action taken.』
『November 2nd
Got trapped in the gate with Yi Sae-byeok but escaped. They said they were hunters from the Association; they just saved us and left. Said they'd come pick us up soon.』
『November 4th
Buried the kids. I don't really believe in the afterlife, but it'd be nice if it existed.』
『November 12th
Crying every day and having nightmares to that extent?
I want to understand, but it's kind of hard.』
『November 15th
The orphanage director received a thick envelope from the people who closed the gate. I even found out it was payment for sending us to the Association.
Secretly searched that Association on the teacher's phone, and the facilities looked pretty good. There was a big library nearby too.』
『November 16th
If a police investigation comes later, they might read this diary, so I'm writing.
Names of people who ignored us when we asked for help.
…
…
They won't get punished anyway, right?』
Because it was real baby Seol Do-yoon, he wrote down his thoughts and feelings exactly as they were in a place like this.
The long list of names Seol Do-yoon wrote at the end were the ones she herself tracked down and ruined their lives.
It wasn't so much revenge for the orphanage gate incident itself, but more like she got pissed at being ignored by someone.
'This guy's changed a lot too.'
When she first saw him, he was a total scumbag.
Stirring up trouble between kids for fun, playing politics by sucking up to some and putting down others.
She'd ostracized him a few times, gotten swept up in Seol Do-yoon's schemes and been ostracized herself, and later they'd even thrown punches and fought.
That Seol Do-yoon went through her, went through Kim Woo-sung, went through the storms of various worlds, and turned from straight-up trash into socialized trash.
At least when he grew up, he didn't screw things up just for amusement or ego boosts.
More like continuously feeding fodder to an ego bloated by fleeting superiority.
Anyway, it seemed like a huge change in mindset had happened gradually.
Dun opened the orphanage door and headed to the spot where the orphanage gate had once opened.
'Gotta check the graves one last time before I go.'
The kids' graves she had made herself.
Since she couldn't recover the bodies completely, she buried whatever pieces or traces she found.
None of them had any family besides each other, so she had to make the graves herself.
While making them, she threw up and cried so many times that she couldn't bury them alone, so she tricked Seol Do-yoon into helping.
Dun moved her feet according to her memories guiding the way.
Over a small hill, down a side path, and there was the flat ground.
The mounded earth graves started coming into view. The wooden markers indicating the owners were probably as worn and crumbling as she remembered.
She had written the names with a board marker on scrap wood and stuck them in roughly.
Since she was here, she thought she'd summon some critters to tidy the grass and fix the name markers, and quickened her steps.
'What the?'
She thought everything would be just as she remembered, including the graves.
There was no overgrown grass or broken wooden markers.
Instead, there was neatly mown grass and flowers placed on the graves. They looked surprisingly fresh, like they'd been brought recently.
The crude name signs she'd scribbled on old boards were gone, replaced by proper tombstones.
The names of the sadly forgotten kids were cleanly engraved on them.
"……."
The only ones who knew this place were her and Seol Do-yoon.
She didn't know the reason, but it seemed he'd been maintaining these graves all along.
Dun sat down in front of the graves and stared at what she'd left behind and departed from. With a dazed expression.
'He didn't show it, but the orphanage gate must've saddened him too.'
Even though he'd mocked them as meaningless rotting organic matter from the moment they breathed their last.
Dun hugged her knees and gazed at her first friends from her life, whose faces she couldn't even remember.
'Will I end up buried here later too?'
She and Seol Do-yoon had no family, so they'd agreed to bury each other here if they died. She wasn't sure if he'd remember.
She'd worried he might just cremate her out of laziness and scatter the ashes anywhere, but seeing that he'd even maintained the orphanage kids' graves, it seemed he wasn't completely devoid of affection. That was a relief.
Honestly, it was really unexpected. She'd thought he was a guy with all affection dead.
'Ah, separately, the Abyss kids would give me a proper funeral.'
Dun wandered around briefly, picked some fresh, pretty flowers, and added them to the graves.