All the Karma You've Built Will One Day Return
Ellie wriggled her toes, savoring the plush, downy embrace of the blanket wrapped around her. Every time she lay down, she could hardly believe she was allowed such luxury.
He bought me so many clothes today, too.
Even the pajamas she was wearing now — covered in tiny, adorable little bears — were wonderfully soft.
Knock, knock.
"Yes! Come in."
There was only one person in this house who ever knocked. The door opened, and sure enough, it was Karen. He came in and sat in the chair beside her bed.
Ellie never moved that chair from the middle of the room, so that he would always have a place to sit. Samsaek, who had of course followed him in, stretched out beside Karen.
"Can we talk for a minute?"
"Of course!"
Was this about how she had suddenly frozen in the department store?
"I was going to wait until you brought it up yourself... but can you tell me?"
"I can tell you, of course... I just thought it wasn't something you needed to worry about. That's why I didn't say anything."
"Is that so?"
"It's not that I don't trust you or anything!"
Karen watched Ellie shake her head with fierce insistence, then spoke.
"You're under my protection. Do you have a problem with that?"
"I like it. Of course I do. If it's not too forward... may I ask you just one thing?"
"Of course."
Ellie clutched the hem of her pajama top, closed her eyes for a brief moment, then opened them and looked at Karen.
"The reason you do all this for me... is it because I'm the Saintess? Or is it because I remind you of someone?"
Ellie thought he might hate her for asking. He might even send her away. But it was a question she had to ask. She needed to be prepared, one way or another.
If I get too close, I'll burn.
Among the picture books Karen had brought for her to read in bed was one called Icarus — the tragic myth of a boy who flew too close to the sun on wings of wax and fell.
To Ellie, Karen was the sun. The light he cast on her was warm and bright. She wanted to draw closer — but kindness this unconditional was frightening.
"I had it wrong."
See? I'm too awful...
At Karen's words, Ellie's eyes squeezed shut. She had sworn she wouldn't be disappointed no matter what he said, but she couldn't stop the strength from draining out of her entire body.
"I came to hear your story, but I think I should go first."
"Pardon?"
"I'll tell you something different today. It's a bit of a dark story — is that all right?"
What is he talking about?
Ellie didn't quite understand, but she nodded anyway.
"I was a king. And by chance, I found a newborn on the road who had lost her family. A little girl named Adela... who looked exactly like you."
And so Karen told Ellie everything — the past the goddess had shown him not long ago.
"It's... it's so sad."
When the story ended with Karen leaving his kingdom, Ellie wiped her tears, got up from the bed, and went to hug him. Even sitting down, her arms couldn't quite reach his shoulders, so Karen slipped a hand under her side and lifted her easily onto his lap.
"It must have hurt so much."
"I'm all right now."
"But... scars still remain. And I'm so grateful to Adela."
This time it was Karen who didn't understand. He looked at her. But Ellie's eyes, seen up close, were clear and unwavering, without a single speck of impurity.
"If Adela had never existed... would you have done all this for me?"
Her words hit Karen like a hammer to the skull.
Is that so...
If they hadn't looked alike? If he hadn't seen Adela in this child? Would he have found another way?
"I... don't know."
No one truly knows the human heart. Karen didn't lie and say he would have done the same.
"That's why I'm really grateful to her."
"I see... so that's how you feel."
Adela had left something behind. Across eras, across time, across dimensions — it was right here in front of him. The scar carved deep in his chest felt, just slightly, as though it had faded.
"But I'm not Adela. I'm Ellie. You know that, right? I'll pray for her often, of course."
"That's right. You are the Saintess, aren't you."
Karen treated her so much like a child that he kept forgetting.
"I like you more than the Goddess."
"You'll get struck by divine punishment for that."
"The Goddess would understand. She's merciful to people she's fond of, isn't she? She can be a little stubborn sometimes, though."
"True enough."
Watching the Saintess and the Inquisitor badmouth a goddess, Samsaek thumped his own head with a hind paw.
Are they allowed to do that? Well, I heard you can if you're close enough.
What was it humans called it? Best friends, he'd heard. If you'd been appointed Saintess and Inquisitor out of hundreds of millions of humans, you were probably that close.
"Thank you so much for telling me your story. Now I'll tell you mine."
Feeling closer to Karen than ever, Ellie began her story in good spirits. The contents, however, were a tragedy. It became clear why she had never spoken of it until now.
After the Cataclysm, the number of orphans who had lost their parents overnight soared. When the orphanages could no longer take them all, the Alliance offered substantial support to families who adopted.
Most parents took children in with good intentions. Unfortunately, the couple who adopted Ellie belonged to the other kind — the ones who exploited the system.
"Where the hell did that brat go? The social worker's due any time now to check if she's still in one piece."
A woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties snapped the words out, sharp as a blade. Her husband bristled and shot back at her.
"That's why I told you to ease up."
"You're one to talk. The social worker skips the visit way more often than not anyway. She won't come this time either. Last time she didn't even have the address right."
A social worker was supposed to be dispatched at regular intervals to check on the condition of adopted children. But after the Cataclysm, civil servants were living through the worst of times. Plenty of existing officials had been absorbed into the new order, but the world itself had changed.
The first and most obvious shift was the land. Terrain had been rewritten, buildings had collapsed, and new houses had gone up at an exponential rate — there was no way land surveys and census records could keep up. On top of that, each official was responsible for thousands of people. Nothing was going to run properly.
"Damn it. It's been months already. What if she ran off to some weird cult and reported us, or froze to death and the cops show up? That'd be a pain in the ass."
"Who's going to believe a deranged little girl? They'll believe us."
Not long ago, Ellie had started saying that someone was speaking in her ear. The moment they heard it, both of them lit up. These parasites didn't have a proper job between them, but in this particular arena, their minds worked with terrifying speed.
"If the kid has a mental illness, we get extra subsidies, don't we?"
From then on, the two of them tormented Ellie without rest. But even in the thick of that vicious malice, Ellie saw through their intent and spoke with composure.
"No matter what the two of you say, I really do hear it. But it's all right if you tell people I'm crazy. It's all right if you take money for it, too."
Even after they had already gotten what they wanted, they did not quiet down. Their behavior only grew worse. Then one day, they locked the door and went out — and somehow, Ellie vanished.
"What the hell is this... did a rat gnaw through the lock?"
"Ugh, and I married this idiot? How does a rat gnaw through metal?"
"Then why don't you use that brilliant brain of yours and explain it? What are these tooth marks, then?"
The wife who had been sneering at her husband was struck speechless when she actually looked at the broken lock. Even to her eyes, a fairly thick padlock had been gnawed apart as if a rat had eaten through cheese.
"One less mouth to feed. Good. I hope she never comes back."
But contrary to their wishes, Ellie was on her way here. The difference was that this time, she was not alone.
"Lady Ellie. Are you truly certain? You don't have to face your adoptive parents if you don't want to."
"No. I have something to say to them. I talked with him about it yesterday."
Ellie spoke firmly, even in the face of Director Kang's words.
"Kku-ing? Like throwing a cup of water in their faces and stuff? I wanna see that up close."
"You, stay out of it, all right?"
Samsaek puffed up his tail as he spoke, and Karen pressed down firmly on his head.
"Ellie's wishes are what matter. You have to pull this kind of thing out by the roots, or it'll shake you later."
She was still young, but a child who conversed with a goddess was no ordinary child. Karen had decided to respect Ellie's thinking as much as he could.
"Once the Solari Church is restored, she'll be the Saintess who has to lead it."
After what the Pope had done, Ellie's role would be more important than anything for some time to come. The title of Saintess was absolute within the Church, of course — but to keep humanity from destruction, Ellie herself needed to grow into someone who acted of her own accord.
The car eased to a halt.
"We've arrived, Saintess. Is this the place?"
Hangil, seated behind the wheel, looked at the building ahead with every trace of playfulness gone from his face. Priority housing, granted first to couples who had adopted a child.
"Yes. This is it."
She had resolved herself a thousand times over in her heart, but when she stepped out of the car and faced the building's entrance, Ellie's body began to tremble, little by little.
No. I have to face this.
She had remained composed in the face of the couple's abuse and curses, but she had also cried alone in that tiny room more times than she could count. She hadn't felt it while she was trapped there. Now, trying to go back in, the entrance looked terribly dark even in broad daylight.
Ellie stopped and took a brief breath, but her body still shook. Then, suddenly, a hand appeared in front of her. She lifted her head and looked up.
"Mister?"
It was Karen's hand. Beside him, Samsaek waved a front paw at Ellie with cheerful insistence, telling her to take it.
Looking at unflappable Karen and a Samsaek brimming with mischief, Ellie felt her heart settle as if it had never been otherwise. And then, just as Karen had taught her, she said it again.
"Thank you."
"Let's go in."
The three of them went to the house where Ellie had lived and pressed the doorbell.
Ding-dong!
"Honey, someone's here. I'm in the bathroom — go get it."
"It's Ellie. But she brought other people with her."
"Police? Social services?"
"Doesn't feel like it. Think that brat went and slandered us to someone?"
"What?"
"Perfect. We rough up whoever she dragged along, and she won't try anything stupid again."
The man had been the type who ran things back in school, and he'd done a stint in organized crime, even if only at the bottom. Puffed up with bluster, he strode to the front door, put on his nastiest face, and yanked it open.
"Hey! You lot— wait... huh?"
The silver-haired man was a bit tall, but he didn't look threatening. The problem was the other one — a bear of a man who had to be at least six-foot-three. He'd been standing off to the side of the doorbell camera, so the husband hadn't seen him coming.
"Let's go inside. It might get loud."
Hangil might slouch around Karen's house, but his build was overwhelming to begin with. On top of that, brutal training had left his muscles bulging visibly even through his clothes.
Practically shoving the man into the house, Hangil locked the front door twice over. Clack. Clack. The harsh mechanical sound rang in the husband's ears like thunder.
"Honey? Did you handle— what? Why are there people in the—"
The toilet flushed, and the woman who stepped out of the bathroom swallowed whatever she'd been about to say the moment she saw Hangil, snorting like a savage bear.
"Ah... Ellie. Who are these people?"
"So you're the adoptive parents."
The instant they looked at the strangers who had appeared in their home and realized they were at a disadvantage, the couple's entire demeanor flipped.
"I... I don't know what you've been told, but our Ellie has a mental illness. She's a truly pitiful child."
The husband, glancing warily at Hangil — who looked like the strongest of the lot — turned toward Ellie, dropped the corners of his mouth into a look of pity, and shook his head.
"That's right. Look at this."
The wife went one better, unfolding a diagnosis from the hospital and dabbing at imaginary tears with her fingertips.
"Sniff... thank you so much for bringing the poor thing home to us yourselves."
"Kku-ing. Don't talk bullshit."
The couple's nauseating performance was cut short by a talking cat that had appeared out of nowhere. Samsaek was already sprawled on the living room sofa as if he owned the place, looking at the two of them with open contempt.
"I've seen that on morning soaps. Next thing you know, you get a glass of water in the face or a kimchi slap. Want me to do the honors?"
Samsaek held out a front paw, and the claws hidden in his fur slid out with a metallic snikt, sharp as knives.
"...The cat talks...?"
"Don't yell. First talking cat you've ever seen?"
Samsaek sauntered over and raked the sofa with his claws in one long, lazy stroke, and the couple's screams died in their throats. It wasn't a scratch. The leather split clean open, and the stuffing inside burst out in a vicious spray.
"...The mood just went completely sideways because of you. And what's a cat doing saying 'bullshit,' anyway."
Karen scooped up the smug-faced Samsaek and scolded him.
"But these humans reek!"
This time Samsaek protested, looking genuinely aggrieved. Then again, Ellie's tension had fully unwound, and that repulsive couple had gone half out of their minds and fallen quiet, so it wasn't all bad.
Did this little guy do that on purpose?
He was genuinely clever at the oddest moments. An impossible creature to get a read on.
"Ellie. Say what you need to say and let's go."
Karen, as Samsaek had suggested, had no desire to linger in a house that stank of the garbage living in it.
"The two of you are going to hell."
"Master. Ellie's worse than I am."
Samsaek pointed at Ellie excitedly with a front paw, as if to say see?
"Ah... no! That's not what I—"
Ellie stammered, flustered, then began to explain.
"Lady Solari is very angry with both of you. If you start living kindly from now on, the time you spend in hell might be a little shorter."
"This time she dressed it up and made it even worse."
"Would you please be quiet, you tactless cat."
Clever, his ass. Karen wanted to smack himself for thinking that a moment ago.
"Hah..."
There's no point talking any further.
Having taken one critical hit after another, the couple could only sit there in a daze. Karen looked them over, then spoke to Hangil.
"Take Ellie outside first. I'll have a word and then catch up."
Hangil glared at the two of them until the last possible second, then followed Karen's instruction and escorted Ellie out the door. Even after Karen was left alone with them, the couple kept muttering, a thin thread of drool at the corners of their mouths.
"The cat... the cat talked... split the sofa with its claws... hell..."
"Ellie wanted to give you one last chance. I'm a little different."
"A-are you going to kill us?"
Karen's words snapped them back to their senses, and they spoke in terror. This man might have some kind of ability too, just like the cat.
"You're going north. There's still a coal mine up there that operates the old-fashioned way. I'll even send you a special whip — one thick with glass dust."
With that, Karen closed the door and went outside.
Even after everyone had gone, the couple stood there for a long time before they finally opened their mouths.
"I need... I need a drink."
And so, on the night the couple drank themselves into a stupor trying to forget the ugly memories of the day, men in black suits came to the house. They picked the lock with practiced ease, walked in, and drove syringes into the couple's necks without hesitation.
Then they shoved them roughly into sacks and loaded them into the black van they had come in. And then they injected the couple with another syringe. A special drug of Karen's making.
"Every sense will become several times more acute, and you won't even catch petty diseases. Suffer for a long, long time."
The car carrying the two of them vanished into the darkness, heading north.
From that day on, they were entered into the records not by name, but by another designation.
From the moment they opened their eyes until the day they died, the couple never saw sunlight again. They remained underground, forever.