Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: It Really Hurts That I Thought Trash Like You Was My Close Friend
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"Athlete Oh's restraints have been lifted, you say?"
"Yes, that's correct, President."
Choi Ahyang, president of the Awakened Kendo Association.
Following in the footsteps of her father, a kendo athlete, she hit her pro career peak in her twenties before taking over as association president in her thirties.
When Aurora first debuted, there had even been voices calling her the "post-Choi Ahyang." As such, Choi Ahyang had taken a personal interest in her.
Dressed impeccably in a suit with her long black hair neatly pinned up, she exuded a mature beauty that perfectly suited the word "elegant woman."
"It's not normal for a kid who was on top of the world to suddenly pull something that insane. Have someone look into it."
"Yes, President."
"Figure out exactly what she's been up to and why this happened. And shut down all media coverage on this incident."
"Yes, President, but the news director is complaining that it's gotten too big."
"Complaining? Ha. You think I haven't seen that old geezer whining for cash a hundred times before? Doesn't matter how much it costs—funnel it through joint enforcement funds with the media outlets and bury it. You telling me you don't get how massive the losses will be if we can't contain this? Do I have to spell it out for every single one of those fossils?"
True to its status as an organization flooded with Awakener interests, the Kendo Federation wielded connections on a whole different level from those run by non-Awakeners. And right now, she was deploying them full force to smother the incident.
"...I'm sorry, President. I'll handle it properly."
The short-haired secretary bowed deeply to Choi Ahyang's hysterical tone. It seemed like this happened occasionally—her apologetic expression remained utterly blank.
"Sigh... No, forget it. I got too worked up. You can handle this on your own, right? ...Go on."
"Yes, President. Then..."
As soon as the secretary bowed at a perfect right angle and left the president's office, she let out a deep sigh and slumped back into her chair.
"Hoo... Everyone's on drugs these days or something... Pro sports is all about image in the end... What the hell happened with you, Aurora... Did you get mixed up in that too?"
She had long known Aurora was sneaking in witch blade techniques. But she hadn't cared much because as long as it stayed hidden, the superstar popularity would hold—and if it got exposed, they could just play dumb and cut her loose.
But this was way over the line.
It wasn't just "getting caught." She'd unilaterally smashed the face of an opponent with no will to fight and slapped on a full-power madness debuff, turning them into a rampaging lunatic.
The event staff had panicked and floundered, leading to civilian casualties... This was far too explosive to frame as mere "personal misconduct by Athlete Oh."
If Aurora had just activated her powers solo, acted out, and gotten disqualified for fouling, the association would have buried her even harder. Just like how the school board had eagerly buried him back when he was framed as a sex criminal.
But the situation now was completely different.
A civilian's arm getting severed on live broadcast—this was an unprecedented scandal that had ballooned out of control.
Chopping off Aurora alone as the scapegoat wouldn't cut it.
So she had decided to bury the whole thing at the association level.
Not out of any desire to protect Aurora—quite the opposite. The more spotlight on Aurora, the more their own image would tank alongside hers. That was the calculus.
"Let's see... If it's drugs, that might actually be a blessing. We could redirect all the attention there. No, if there's even a scrap of evidence, we should pin it on that angle."
Choi Ahyang had ordered an investigation assuming performance enhancers or focus stimulants—drugs on that level.
She had no idea what information her secretary would bring back.
Ding-dong—
Thud thud thud
"Ugh, ughhh."
Ding-dong— Ding-dong—
Thud thud
"Wh...o..."
A raspy voice leaked out from her worn-out vocal cords, whistling like wind through cracks.
"It's me. Shin Yu-hyeon."
"Wh... what...?"
"Open the door first."
The door slid open smoothly, without a single hinge creak.
Aurora looked like hell. Lips swollen from biting them raw, eyes bloodshot red.
"What're you doing? Why aren't you answering calls?"
She bit her lip again and glared at me.
"Here... to mock me...?"
"No. Here to help."
I shoved her chest firmly and strode inside. Couldn't have anyone spotting me here.
"H-help...? With wha—? Gah! D-don't tell me... b-b-because we're friends? To comfort me...?"
From venomous barbs about me coming to laugh, her face flipped to bashful gratitude in an instant, lips twitching.
Sorry, but no. I wasn't here to comfort you today.
I was here for the kill shot.
A fruit ripe to bursting, twisting itself desperately begging to be plucked—there's no way I'd leave that uneaten.
If you want to be destroyed, I'll do the honors.
"You pulled some idiotic stunt, huh?"
A hint of irritation laced my words, stabbing right into the raw gash across her heart. Her still-hot, moist wound tore open forcibly under my prodding.
"Ugh, ugh."
Reminding her of what she'd done sent her into panic, clutching her head. The fact that years of effort had gone down the drain kept driving her insane.
She had no friends, no lover, no happy family, no passion to pour her heart into.
Just an obsession with fame. Filling the void by donning a fake mask and acting as "Aurora" instead of herself. But that had all shattered.
By her own damn hand.
"Head hurt? Yeah, no kidding. Not just a loss—nationwide trash status. Gotta hurt. Even pains me."
At my words seeming to empathize with her plight—even pains me—she looked up with misty eyes.
Sorry, not what you think.
I tilted my chin down, staring coldly, letting contempt drip freely as I finished.
"It really hurts that I thought trash like you was my close friend."
"Wh...?"
"The only thing I respected was your kendo skills, and you pull that dirty foul in the arena? Hell, getting wrecked in a nothing domestic tournament—not even worlds? That make sense?"
Stab, stab—
My tongue plunged into her heart, turning into a razor dagger, shredding from the inside.
"Ugh, uugh, urk."
Her head must've been burning, icing over, spinning, collapsing.
It was widely known from interviews that Aurora had no real family or friends to lean on. Still, her dedication to kendo had been spun into attractive image fodder.
For someone like her, "close friend" probably meant more than she'd admit. And now that friend was scorning her, treating her like garbage.
"Cryin' like you did something right? Dumb bitch."
Her eyes quivered with betrayal, trembling in rage before dulling halfway as she stared at me—then she lunged with a guttural shriek that was neither shout nor scream.
Mad, sad, frustrated? Charge in.
Like an elementary schooler.
"Aaaargh!!"
No sword, no head for advanced jujutsu... Just barreling in blind. To vent that suffocating frustration she had no clue how to release. I pushed her head back with one hand, dodging her wild flailing arms.
Bitches all the same...
With our wingspan difference, she couldn't touch me. Occasional grazes hit my steel-hard body without effect.
If I endured a few minutes, she'd tire and snap out of it.
Why the hell should I?
Slap!
I smacked her cheek. Her head whipped around so hard she spun and crashed to the floor.
"H-heek?"
Never taken raw violence like this? She clutched her cheek in shock, sprawled on the ground staring up. A girl exposed only to refined kendo violence between practitioners— a barefaced slap was alien.
"Y-you said... friends... hng... f-friends..."
Aurora finally bawled like a kid, chin quivering under trembling lips.
"Hey, trash bitch. You my friend? Never had a worm like you as one."
Shiver shiver shiver
"N-no! I-I'm not trash, not a worm!!"
"Nah, you're a worm."
"Hic, hngh, w-worm... n-not..."
To empathize—or not—she was probably reeling like I did when framed as a sex criminal.
The sinking feeling of a lifetime's work vanishing like bubbles.
Like a red-hot iron slug slammed into your chest.
I at least had clear villains to rage at. She had none.
She could scream at me, but even she knew deep down—she wasn't that dumb. This mess was all her own failings.
And at the peak of her career, gazing down from the top, one self-inflicted screw-up sent her tumbling into the abyss.
An abyss she could never climb out of.
Years of feats invalidated by illegal Awakener power use. Shattering her cool-yet-just image by smashing a defenseless opponent's face.
succumbing to childish taunts, unleashing powers, and blowing off some poor civilian's arm. Historic trash bitch.
That's Aurora now.
Rage can fuel life. Plenty of picaresque revenge tales keep the should've-died protag alive on pure spite. But aimless rage with no target?
Burns you.
Revenge wipes the slate clean by erasing them. I know—I did it. But if the target is yourself...?
Self-loathing.
Hating, despising yourself, driven to self-destruction. But most can't end their own lives.
Not courage—body defies the mind. Instincts etched in genes prevent it.
So humans pick the next best.
Mental suicide.
Massive shocks triggering disorders and neuroses—well-known fact.
I'll give her a nudge. Help her hate herself properly.
"You're a worm, Aurora."
"M-me... w-worm...?"
"Yeah. Trash."
"W-worm... t-trash... ah, ahaha."
Her mind fully snapped, sprawled on the floor staring at nothing, tears dripping.
My chest swelled.
This was it.
Perfectly reversed from high school days.
This time, on my design, I'd ruined this bitch's life.
I was the one looking down at her fall.
Sadistic thrill surged.
"What'd you call me back then? Tissue? Heh heh. So what's that make you? Rag?"
Choked sobs sealed her throat; no reply.
I stared into her fading eyes. Satisfying, but not enough to end it.
I wanted it all.
Her body, mind, loyalty, soul, powers—everything, devoured whole.
Can't let her shatter so pointlessly. Days, weeks, months, years, decades—she'd serve as my possession.
I grabbed her glossy hair roughly and forced her to her knees.