The Disciple's Collar (2)
The meeting with Wei Chen was completely unexpected for Hitomi. She had only assumed that the companions on the flight were just Seoyeon and herself, along with Jihan who was piloting the plane.
In short, she was about to be stuck on the same plane for hours with a person she had never thought of meeting today. Of course, an awkward atmosphere was inevitable.
…It didn’t take Hitomi even ten minutes to realize that her thoughts were shattered.
“Seoyeon, do you have photos from when you were little? Want to see?”
“What? …Yes! Yes! I’ll see!”
It was because Wei had pulled out her cheat key.
“This is probably a photo from when she was twelve.”
“Wow, wow…”
Soon Hitomi’s eyes sparkled and she leaned in to look at the smartphone screen Wei showed her. It had value.
“Minion Sion…! What is this? So cute?!”
“Isn’t it?”
The image of Han Seoyeon much smaller and younger than now. Her expression was still stiff even at this point, but her face looked much softer, giving the impression of a sharp cat.
The slight remaining baby fat or her much rounder eyes… It was a look that was hard to imagine from her usual image.
“Um, maybe…”
“I’ll send you all the photos I have. What’s your contact?”
“Thank you!!”
They exchanged contacts in an instant. Watching that scene, Han Seoyeon let out a dry laugh.
“You still have this?”
“My teachers didn’t care about such things at all, so I had to keep the photos myself, right?”
Not only the one who shoots beams, but also the one who doesn’t, wasn’t the type to take many photos. Even though she was Nikolai’s goddaughter, she was busy with her own things, so she could only meet Seoyeon after she had grown a bit.
Therefore, Han Seoyeon’s childhood photos were only kept by Wei Chen, and she said it with a hint of pride.
“I don’t meet people often, so it’s not that many, but…”
“Even this is a great achievement!”
Hitomi answered with a bright smile. The awkwardness from moments ago felt like it vanished instantly.
Naturally, a warm atmosphere developed, and various topics came up.
“So, this plane is owned by Wei-unnie, right?”
“In a sense, yes.”
It didn’t take long for that honorific to become ‘unnie’. Even though there was a difference of over twenty years, Hitomi became very attached to anyone she opened her heart to, and Wei herself had a very friendly personality.
With the topic of Han Seoyeon from the beginning, they quickly became close.
“So, what kind of work do you do if you can afford to buy a plane?”
“Oil management?”
“Ah.”
She was an oil tycoon. Then having a luxurious plane was only natural. Hitomi immediately understood and nodded.
“Among them, it’s one of the Seven Sisters. It’s not a normal refining company.”
“Seven Sisters? Is that some kind of seven great gods or something?”
At that moment, Seoyeon chimed in with an explanation.
“No, it’s ‘Seven Sisters’ used on the surface side. In other words, it’s about the world’s seven major refining companies.”
“Then, is it really amazing?”
“It’s amazing. They say seven companies divide over 90% of the world’s oil.”
A capitalist monster that practically monopolizes domestic Chinese oil and extends its hands overseas. The owner of the world’s largest angry ranch. Known as the White Knight, Conqueror Wei Chen.
In short, a world-class billionaire at the top.
“Thinking about it like that, the distance feels strangely close…”
“Hakurenno.”
“…not.”
She quickly realized it was a fresh problem. Hitomi, who had been trained with countless shock therapies, was far beyond feeling burdened by such things.
Even without mentioning Hakurenno-level conglomerates, just Seoyeon next to her was a billionaire who could joke about buying a private jet as a savings.
“Could you tell me more about old Sion’s stories?”
“Of course. This kid has always been a blunt old man since the beginning. Since her dad is such an efficiency-obsessed person without any attachment, it’s only natural she turned out like this.”
As a result, Seoyeon had to endure a twisted childhood. Wei added that she had almost perfectly mastered all kinds of guns even before graduating elementary school.
“In plain terms, it was almost abuse, right?”
“Teacher Wei.”
“I know. You were smart from a young age, and even though it was extremely difficult, you accepted it knowing it was necessary for you. I’m not trying to insult your dad, am I?”
There was definitely a way to request protection from the church. The miracle of resurrection wasn’t the only alternative, but Seoyeon was the only one who could perform at that level of efficiency and performance.
But if she revealed such things without having the minimum level of power, it would be close to ‘just existing’.
Wei thought about it and recalled the current Apostle John for a moment. The woman who had her eyes and ears sealed and was locked in a secret facility in a straitjacket.
But she soon erased her from her mind and continued.
“You wouldn’t know how dry and emotionless her daily life was. In the past, when I went to pick her up, I’d buy some sweet dessert and feed it to her, and she’d be so surprised that her eyes would pop out, you know?”
How many tasteless things had she fed the kid… Wei grumbled. Hitomi also let out a bitter smile. She knew well how Seoyeon’s eating habits were in the past.
It wasn’t really a meal, but more like calorie supply. Moreover, she would skip meals saying she replenished energy with holy power.
Then, occasionally when she felt like eating something impulsive, she’d put proper food in her mouth.
After starting to cohabitate, Hitomi had been nagging her, and now she was formally eating normal meals.
“But at least from the middle, it was thanks to Giacomo and Eru being together, otherwise I wouldn’t know if it was a person or a machine.”
“Teacher Wei. Even so, that’s a bit…”
“No? I can guarantee it?”
“…”
Seoyeon tried to protest but eventually shut her mouth.
“Maybe it became a bit less dry than now.”
“Surprisingly, being able to point out such subtle parts means you’ve grown into a good person. I’m glad.”
“Uh, um…”
She couldn’t protest further because she had her own weak spots. Seoyeon looked away.
“Speaking of which, how did you meet Mika-san?”
Hitomi asked, suddenly curious after hearing the story. Like Seoyeon, she had been taken in by her teachers and had been together for a while.
But she didn’t know the details beyond that. When and how they met, etc.
“Ah…”
However, Wei’s smiling expression stiffened for a moment when asked that.
‘…Did I step on a landmine?’
Hitomi guessed. If she didn’t notice such a reaction, it would be strange.
But seeing Wei roll her eyes and glance at Seoyeon, it didn’t seem to be about herself. Probably about Seoyeon.
The feeling that this topic would be troublesome was felt in that gaze.
Seoyeon also noticed that look… and let out a small sigh.
“It’s okay to tell you. I gave Hitomi a heads-up, albeit a little.”
“Really? If that’s the case, it’s fine…”
“I agreed to accept this too, right?”
Soon she gave Hitomi a sly smile. Hitomi, who probably meant the confession at that time, smiled back.
“Yes. No matter what happened to Sion in the past, no matter what Seoyeon did in the past… it doesn’t matter.”
Even if she was a person who deserved hatred from everyone, she had vowed to love her, to bear the sin together no matter what crime she committed. Hitomi recalled that time and carefully, but firmly held Seoyeon’s hand next to her.
“What kind of story is it?”
“…The story of the people who died because of me, even if indirectly, that I mentioned at the time.”
Seoyeon had confessed that the number of people who died because of her was different.
Someone said if you kill hundreds it’s genocide, but if you kill tens of thousands it’s a hero. However, the unit from Seoyeon’s mouth was ‘hundreds of millions’, which jumped over even that.
“Meeting Eru… Yeah. It’s not even ten years yet. Six years, or maybe seven.”
“Seven years ago…”
A situation where people were killed in hundreds of millions. It was already beyond surface or inner, it wasn’t a problem that could be distinguished.
Although Hitomi seven years ago was a complete resident of the surface world, even she couldn’t have overlooked such an event. So, Hitomi thought for a moment and slowly opened her mouth.
“…The Chinese civil war, right?”
“Correct.”
At least, among the events where people were killed in hundreds of millions during the time Hitomi knew, it was the only one, so the answer came quickly.
“Mika Eru… So, meeting a girl who had a strange name Setsuko at that time, it was when I was fifteen years old.”
“Setsuko… I haven’t seen anyone using this name… Is it a strange name?”
Hitomi tilted her head while listening to the story. She thought it sounded like a male name, but that was it. Moreover, if Seoyeon noticed this, it would be strange.
According to Seoyeon, her Japanese was mostly learned from Mika Eru, so if she felt it was a strange name from the first meeting, it wouldn’t make sense.
“Ah, strange in the kanji part.”
When asked, Seoyeon took out her phone and typed the kanji to supplement. Instead of the usual kanji, thinking it would take time to convert, she input the reading as the name, not the meaning.
Shikigami (corpse)
And from the first character, Hitomi’s expression hardened. Meanwhile, Seoyeon’s fingers continued to complete the name.
No, was this really a name? If Seoyeon hadn’t told her in advance, she wouldn’t have thought it was a name.
Corpse Death Corpse Kill Body.
Among the five characters, corpse three times, death two times. Leaving aside the ‘girl’s name’ part, it wasn’t a name suitable to give to her own child.
She had heard about parents who tried to name their child Akuma (demon) in the past and caused controversy, but even compared to that, it was a different story.
“The child who was planned to be used as a sacrifice from birth. Setsuko was such a child. We discovered her in Jiangxi Province, China.”