Painful Wound
Painful Wound
"Ha-yoon. I can't allow that."
"...What? Why not?"
"Because the way you are right now is the hottest you'll ever be. So drop it."
We've already got a full house of the voluptuous type.
At that, Kim Ha-yoon nodded with a sour look, as if she had no choice but to accept it.
"...Ah, fine. Then, could you give me about a thousand cans of coffee? The brand doesn't matter."
"A remarkably humble wish. But not a bad one."
Snap.
With a crisp sound, there was another flash of light.
And in that spot, a mountain of canned coffee appeared, almost too much to carry.
...I could have Angelica haul it away, but... did she really have to go this far?
Well, at least it's better than turning out to be a bust.
"Next is the foreigner, I suppose?"
The Gladiator's gaze landed on Angelica.
Angelica pondered for a moment, then picked up her phone and approached her.
"I want you to make this for me."
"Hm? This is... what is it? This shape is like...."
I had no idea what she showed her, but the Gladiator's elegant eyes narrowed slightly.
Why are you provoking her, Angel...?
We watched the Gladiator with bated breath, and eventually she let out a long sigh and snapped her fingers lightly.
"Oh! Yes, this is it! This is exactly it!"
Angelica burst out in delight.
When I saw what materialized along with the light, bewilderment spread across my face.
"Wait, hold on. Isn't that a penis band?"
A Penis Band.
In other words, a dildo attached to a belt, worn around the crotch like panties.
This crazy bitch... why the hell would she want that?
As everyone stared at her with puzzled looks, Angelica huffed with an air of boundless excitement.
"Yes, you've hit the nail on the head! Lately, my husband has been keeping me quite satisfied, but there are still... unfilled voids, you see! So! So...!"
"So you want to start fucking the girls too, you crazy cunt?"
"Exactly! And as it happens, my husband has expressed some interest in the train game, has he not!"
When the fuck did I ever, you goddamn lunatic.
So, in short, this woman wanted to do the fucking while getting fucked.
This was beyond outrageous.
Who gave her the right?
In the first place, do you think any of our girls even like that kind of thing?
Even with my sour glare fixed on her, Angelica paid no mind and cradled the penis band preciously in her arms.
Then she scurried over to me, her eyes sparkling as if expecting praise.
If she had a tail, it would have been wagging frantically.
"Well... I don't know about that. Just use it on the First Generation kids or something."
"Ah, no! Won't my husband play along?"
"...I'll think about it."
This was a matter that needed some serious thinking over.
Anyway, with that, the only one left was the old man.
When he stepped forward, the Gladiator's eyes and lips curved into a graceful arc.
Just like a fox.
"It has been a long time, old wolf. On the day I first opened my eyes, you were weeping sorrowfully."
"....."
Undeterred by the old man's lack of response, she continued.
"I was puzzled when you suddenly vanished one day... but I never thought we would reunite in this form. What change of heart brought this about?"
"...Does that matter?"
"It does not. Merely a personal curiosity. If you have no intention of answering, then so be it."
The Gladiator strode forward, closing the distance between herself and the old man.
Her bewitching blood-red eyes swept over him.
"So, old wolf. What is your wish?"
"My wish... I see."
Trailing off, the old man eventually spoke his desire, clear and deliberate.
It was nothing short of shocking.
"I wish for your death."
A question mark floated over my head.
What the hell was this Old Man babbling about?
The Gladiator's death?
Was he in his right mind?
My bewilderment didn't last long. A burst of laughter suddenly erupted from the Gladiator's mouth.
"Pfft... Puhahahahahah!!!!"
She was neither angry nor flustered.
She simply clutched her stomach and laughed heartily, as if she'd heard a ridiculous joke.
The only one laughing in the settling silence.
"Ha, haha! I see! You wish for my death? Is that truly your desire?"
"It is. Is there a problem?"
"No! There is none! Good, no, it's excellent! Finally, something refreshing! Yes, this is the kind of spirit one should have!"
The Gladiator laughed fiercely.
She fixed her burning gaze on the old man, her eyes blazing like a predator that had spotted its prey.
It was a chillingly murderous glare, the kind that raised goosebumps.
Yet the old, wretched man did not avoid her eyes and stared straight back.
'Come to think of it, does this mean my speculation was right...?'
I guess you really never know how things will turn out.
I never thought that wild hunch would actually pan out.
That thought was soon swept away by the conversation that followed.
"Old, wretched wolf. You still haven't let go of your lingering attachment. Do you wish to reclaim that child? In a way, am I not also a part of her?"
"...You can never be my granddaughter. Even that is no different from denying reality and turning away from it."
"Hahahaha! So that's it! That's why you ran away! You got your hopes up on your own, and were disappointed on your own! Was that why you left me?"
"...Correct. I saw an overlap. I held expectations. However, the moment I realized that Mi-so was no longer the same, I fell into despair. That is why I sought to leave your side."
Her red eyes mocked him.
"Then you should have stayed that way. You should have forgotten, buried it. Unattainable hope is a hollow thing."
"No. Even if its end is hollow, I shall not remain mired in regret, weeping in sorrow. I will leave no more regrets behind."
"Is that the final bravado of an old man?"
"Take it however you like. But you've been prattling on for a while now. Are you, by any chance, thinking of refusing?"
If someone seizes the Fire Seed at the last moment, you would grant them whatever they desire.
Wasn't that what you said?
This time, it was the old man who let out a scoff.
His face, looking somehow relieved, seemed as if he had cast off all his worries.
"Ha."
At this, the Gladiator wore a dumbfounded expression before baring her teeth fiercely.
In her eyes flickered a flame blazing as violently as the sun.
"Intriguing. Truly intriguing and pleasant. Ah, yes! This, too, is a form of entertainment!"
"I shall grant your wish! Try to erase me! Ransack every last corner! Though you will find what you seek nowhere!"
The Gladiator spread her arms wide.
As if daring him to strike her down.
Not to be outdone by her momentum.
The old man raised his greatsword and aimed it without hesitation.
"W-wait just a moment, sir...!"
It was just as I tried to stop him.
Shluuuck!
The chillingly vivid sound of something being pierced rang sharply in my ears.
He did it!
This crazy old man actually went and did it!
"Keuk...! Ridiculous. So ridiculous. No matter how many times you kill me, I simply need to be born again. For that is the nature of 'us.' Old wolf, this is nothing but your own stubbornness."
With her torso impaled on the massive greatsword, the Gladiator gagged up blood, yet still grinned.
She didn't look to be in any pain at all. Just as expected of someone so far from ordinary.
My sigh of relief was short-lived.
"Yes, you're right. That's why I decided to be a little greedier."
"What...?"
That was when I voiced my confusion.
Suddenly, the Gladiator's face twisted.
Pain?
No, it was more like the look of someone betrayed by a person they trusted.
"W-wait...! This sword! Just what is this sword...!?"
The moment her bewilderment burst forth, a change occurred in the greatsword.
As if pages of a book were unfurling, the steel shifted into a spiral shape and began dripping a dark, viscous ink.
"Hey! What the hell is this!? Why did you just let this happen to me!?"
"Shut up! Didn't you also agree to this!? And now you're trying to push the blame onto me!?"
"If this state persists, our consciousness will sink deep. For a very, very long time."
"I don't need your calm analysis! What are we going to do about this!?!?"
"Aah, no no no no no!!!!"
"Haha, ahah! Kyahahahahaha! It's over! Finally!"
It was a bizarre spectacle.
The tone of her voice shifted moment by moment.
Sometimes passionate, sometimes flat, sometimes filled with anxiety and despair, and other times with mad laughter.
The sight of multiple personalities conversing was utterly unpleasant.
Just as I was staring at the scene the old man had wrought with a dazed expression—
—KABOOOOOOOM!
A tremendous roar suddenly resounded from outside.
And it didn't stop at just one.
Starting with that, the explosions rang out relentlessly, one after another.
Wondering what was going on, I rushed out to the balcony with the girls, and the cityscape, now transformed into a crucible of chaos, came into view.
"Huh... What now?"
In the sky, a giant hieroglyphic character had materialized.
From the shape, which resembled a drawn magic circle, corpses stripped of all reason endlessly poured out.
The sight was exactly like a demon's gaping maw.
The blazing City of the Sun, Gwanak-gu.
It was undergoing its apocalypse once again.
"It has begun."
"No, what has?"
"This was the contract I made with them. That sword. Sealing the Gladiator's power into that sword and handing it over to them. That was the role I took on."
Did 'them' refer to the man who led the Black Robes?
In context, that was the only possibility.
"Those bastards caused this mess? No, why??"
"Did I not tell you? They intend to return everything to the past. With her power, it is possible. To be precise, it would be overlaying a world that retains the form of the past onto Seoul."
"Then everything goes fucking tits-up, doesn't it!?"
In short, wasn't he saying they were going to cast an Infinite Tsukuyomi over the entire city of Seoul!?
I clutched my head.
What the hell had this old man just done!?
Had he gone senile in his old age!!
"That is why I joined hands with you all. Frankly, you are not particularly trustworthy. However, at the very least, you do not move blindly for a greater cause like they do. By my standards... you lot look slightly better."
"You've got it completely wrong. I'm a pussy collector, you know? A pussy-crazed bastard."
I'm the kind of guy who was always thinking about banging your granddaughter every chance I got, you hear?
Feeling a needless sense of unease, I bit my nails, even stooping to self-deprecation uncharacteristically.
That was because alarm bells were suddenly ringing in my head.
A very bad sign... I had a gut feeling I was going to get dragged into some troublesome shit.
That was why I said that, but the old man paid no mind and approached me.
And then.
"I know. You are a vulgar, insolent bastard. But do you not cherish your women terribly? From what I have observed, that is the case. That is why I can entrust this to you."
He snatched my hand away from my nail-biting and pleaded earnestly.
"My granddaughter will come to her senses soon. She will be greatly confused. So, please, help her."
So that she no longer suffers, stay by her side always.
...It was a request that felt quite heavy for someone like me.