Chapter 134. < . (2) >

===============

Translator: thursdays Editor: Yahiko PR: LightBrin

Mas

I could not finish saying both syllables of the word Master.

My heart was pounding.

There was a mixture of many emotions churning inside me at the moment. My heart had become a rag, and if I twisted it, all of my dark feelings would seep out.

Master. My strange destiny. The peony who had become my teacher.

Mother.

Master looked at me. Her eyes, always orderly, were shaking. It was the first time I had called Master my mother, and it was Masters first time being called Mother by me.

How strange.

Master put down her pencil stub. Had she been working on her ma.n.u.script? Papers with Masters handwriting lined the living room table.

I dont know how long its been since you called me that.

Sentences that could not be written. Words that couldnt become sentences. Sheets that could not become books, red ma.n.u.scripts were scattered about.

I feel like its been a very long while since you called me Mother. No. Rather than being a long time Its like

I love you, Mother.

The tips of Masters fingers paused.

I wanted to see you again. Did you know? I now have someone Ill love forever. Its actually possible to love someone truly and be completely loved by someone. Holding Raviels hand I wanted to introduce her to you first, Mother, more than anyone else.

If its you, Mother, you would definitely become good friends with Raviel. As for me Im surviving well. Im living well. I am trying to live well. There are many days when I recall your words, Mother.

Master.

I wanted to see you one more time.

Master slowly rose. She came to me. Masters long, thin fingers wiped my eyes.

Did you have a nightmare?

Im currently having a nightmare.

Life is no different from a dream. But that doesnt change anything. Is evil not evil if we say it is uncaring? Are wounds healed when we make excuses, citing ignorance? My son. Dont be fooled by words. You should always look inside your heart. Dont let your heart be governed by hollow words and flimsy sentences.

Master hugged my shoulder.

Whether or not you call me mother, I remain myself in your heart. As do you. A person isnt a person because they know how to memorize a few words or say a few lines. A person becomes a person by the weight of another whom they put in their heart.

I shrank into Masters arms.

My mouth opened and closed several times.

Mother wouldnt couldnt have raised a child like Yoo Sooha.

Yes.

Someone who throws punches out of anger You wouldnt call such a person to the dinner table. You would have kicked them out of the house. But before you kick them out, you would have taught them better. Before teaching them better, you would have already raised the child to be kind.

So I would.

Thats why.

I opened my mouth.

Mother isnt So Baek-hyang.

Master smiled.

Stay alive, Gongja. You have to live strongly.

With a smile, she faded away.

Masters face dripped down.

Her smile melted.

The hand that held my shoulder was erased.

It disappeared, leaving only a shadow.

-, .

The shadow had no face. Its outline was blurry. Squirming, the shadow left the room like a giant earthworm.

Another layer of this world was peeled away.

That over there was the bare face of [my mother].

Ugh.

I ran to the bathroom. I leaned over the toilet and lowered my head. Loss. Guilt. I threw up these dark feelings.

My heart vomited.

Huh?

Behind my back.

I heard a voice from the bathroom door.

Hey, did you eat something weird? Why are you vomiting as soon as you get home? Brat, did you eat something c.r.a.ppy outside? Didnt your older brother tell you to watch what you eat, if nothing else?

It was Yoo Sooha.

Do you want me to pat your back a bit?

Yoo Sooha.

Dude. Did you throw up your brain along with whatever you ate? Little brother. Wheres your respect?

I sat on the tile of the bathroom floor and looked up at Yoo Sooha. Yoo Sooha was standing on wriggling squid legs.

You s.h.i.+tty

You didnt vomit your brainyou dumped it out. Hey, sometimes in life, you hit people, all right? Your big bro was also scared when the news broke yesterday. Mom and Dad scolded me d.a.m.n well. But were a family, so you should root for me. Yeah? Dont you think so?

You crazy b.a.s.t.a.r.d

I muttered while holding onto the toilet bowl.

Youre, f.u.c.k, a really s.h.i.+tty person.

Huh?

If all you did was. .h.i.t a stalker, youd be an angel. Youre the type of b.a.s.t.a.r.d wholl hit the stalker behind their head and bury the body behind a mountain and set off a wildfire.

What Only a psycho would do that. Is that how you see your older brother?

Youre that very psychopath! Motherf.u.c.ker!

My head became dizzy.

An idol? A singer? You think you can have that sort of career? You know nothing about fanservice. You curse at every interviewer and cuss out their parents for dessert. But you think you can be a singer? Dont make me laugh.

Uh

Besides, you get scolded by your mother and father? Are you the type of person wholl learn anything from being scolded? Its a relief you dont slap your own parents. f.u.c.k! d.a.m.n you Yoo Sooha, youll never be the type of person who comforts his vomiting younger sibling. You just cant. I wish you could have been that kind of guy.

I stared at Yoo Soohas face.

I didnt kill you.

I didnt kill you, a.s.shole. I didnt. Because you cant be. So I cant For me to kill you, I

I tried not to kill him.

Really, youve done some f.u.c.king s.h.i.+t, you.

Sometimes, I dreamed.

O-over here, Hunter-nim! Please, save me!

I shouted.

Huh?

Yoo Sooha looked back at me.

I was ambushed by wolves.

Ah, s.h.i.+t. What the f.u.c.k? Mister, did you provoke the monsters here already? d.a.m.n. Then todays hunt is f.u.c.ked.

Yoo Sooha clicked his tongue.

P-potion

I begged him, but he

Ah, be careful next time. f.u.c.k. It looks like I wont even be able to make a days wages.

Yoo Sooha gave me the potion.

Sometimes, I dreamed.

Ill give you a potion, but you have to pay the right price for your life.

Yoo Sooha said.

F-forty gold,

I replied.

Enough. Hand over everything you have right now.

Saying that, Yoo Sooha took everything I had, and,

Good. Be more careful next time, Mister.

Yoo Sooha gave me the potion.

I dreamed that the Yoo Sooha of eleven years ago was still a greedy b.a.s.t.a.r.d, but he didnt kill someone who was injured and weak. I sometimes dreamed that I didnt have to kill my hero with my own hands, and I

I

You s.h.i.+tty b.a.s.t.a.r.d

Yoo Soohas black hair fluttered.

f.u.c.k off. Your place is within my shadows. If youre trying to set up a new home in this h.e.l.l with a new personality, cut it out.

Then, the black hair fell away.

-, .

[My brother] became a ghost and made a gloomy sound.

Thats right. It was a specter.

They were souls that could not even become ghosts in this trauma, where they had lost their existence. Those who had lost the forms extracted from my memories were now mere shadows.

I washed my face in the sink.

Water dripped from my eyebrows.

Okay.

My mutter settled lowly in the house of specters.

Its all right. You can do this, Kim Gongja. You can do this.

This was not my home. This was not my world.

It was just that a life I wanted to reap was trapped in this h.e.l.l.

I exited the house and came back with the Constellation Killer.

Ah

The Constellation Killer did not recognize the specters as such. In his eyes, the specters seemed to be my father, mother, and brother.

No. Perhaps it was the other way around.

-?

- .

From the beginning, my father, mother, and brother may have looked like specters to the Constellation Killer. For him, the humans of this world may have been no different from specters. So, all of the sounds the humans made would have been nothing more than noise to the Constellation Killer.

Good eve

Dont greet them.

I cut him off.

You dont have to be polite.

I grabbed the Constellation Killers wrist and went into my room. The Constellation Killer was dragged away by me, unable to finish his greeting.

-, .

My brother, who had been wearing Yoo Soohas face a short while ago, followed us. He tried to follow us into the room. However, I pushed him away and blocked the door.

Dont come in. Im warning you.

-?

Im going to take care of this child for a while. Ill do everything on my own, so you dont have to interfere. Dont come in or talk to this child if he doesnt allow you to. Im serious.

I closed the door and locked it.

-. ?

The specters mumbled outside the door. I ignored them and made a place for the Constellation Killer to sleep. The Constellation Killer, still holding the bag on his back that he left school with, stared at me.

Can you say that to your family?

It depends on the family. For you, this is your bullys family.

Dont speak politely. It feels wrong. Really, I dont know what sort of big thing youre planning to put so much effort into this now.

It doesnt matter if you think Im plotting something. For now, sleep.

Where will you sleep?

Anywhere. Get some rest. Youll feel a bit better after you rest.

From that day on.

I erased the presences in this world, one by one.

-Who is this? What? Soohas younger brother? Why are you calling me?

I secretly used my brothers phone to talk to Preta.

-Huh? Ah. I heard about you from Sooha. I think weve met once before. But whats up? Is Sooha trying to use you to apologize in his stead?

I used the same method to call the Golden Silk.

I broke down Preta and the Golden Silk with one call.

The idol group would occasionally show up on TV screens, but the faces of Preta and the Golden Silk were not shown. Only shadows fluttered about like scribbles.

[The degree of the traumas implementation is decreasing.]

Then, there was a reaction.

[The data to implement the trauma has been corrupted.]

[Extracting corrupted data from your memory Failed.]

[The data cannot be recovered.]

The gap that I created began to puncture the world.

[Extracting corrupted data from the original owners memory Failed.]

[The data cannot be recovered.]

I hastened my actions.

I destroyed the Four Demon Lords. The children from the h.e.l.lfire Residence crumbled away. As soon as I saw them, I changed the characters in the trauma into specters.

Each time, the world of the trauma collapsed, little by little.

Mm? This is rare. Gongja, what are you doing in the teachers office?

My homeroom teacher, the Venomous Snake, was included.

G-Gongja? Why did you call me into an empty cla.s.sroom? Eek. Teachers and students should not date in general, but its also against the school rules!

Even the Alchemist, who was a math teacher.

I heard you asked to have a face-to-face talk. You are a unique student in many different ways, so we allowed it at the request of the student council president. What do you have to say?

Even the Sword Saint, the princ.i.p.al.

One at a time.

[The degree of the traumas implementation is decreasing.]

[The data cannot be recovered.]

After a fortnight.

Most of the students and teachers at the school had already been turned into specters.

It wasnt just the school that became weird.

- .

On the TV, no matter what channel was on, there was a specter in the place of the announcer. Even the people performing live were murmuring with a shadows voice and face, so everything was incomprehensible.

I had also tried to leave town by taking the train as a test.

The scenery of the city continued for a while, but at some point, darkness spread beyond the window. The train disappeared when it reached that zone.

[The degree of the traumas implementation is decreasing.]

[Requesting material from Zrakua Failed. Request rejected.]

[The data cannot be recovered.]

The broken world.

A failed eyesore.

Gongja, I have to ask you something.

One day, after cla.s.s, the Crusader approached me.

She looked nervous, somehow.

What is it?

I cant say it in the cla.s.sroom. No, its more like I dont want to say it.

The Crusader turned her head and glanced behind her.

-! .

The person sitting at the desk had already turned into a specter. It was the Count. The Count had spoken with me two days ago and crumbled into a shadow. The Crusader glanced at her friends appearance and lowered her voice.

Lets go to the hallway.

We exited the cla.s.sroom and went into the hallway.

So, what is it?

I dont know if this sounds weird. No, it definitely sounds weird. But for some reason, I felt like I should consult with you.

In the middle of the hallway, where specters came and went.

The Crusader looked around, greatly unnerved.

Something is strange.

If you asked me what it was, itd be hard to say. But Im certain. This isnt normal. Last weekend, I went out of town with my family. Or I was going to. I prepared a lunch box in the morning. But when I blinked, it was evening.

The Crusaders shoulders shook a little.

At first, I thought it was amnesia. But my family talked about how the outing was very pleasant at the dinner table. I have no memory of the outing, and I cant even remember what I did

The Crusader lifted her head again, looking around. Except for a handful of students, there were only wriggling black specters in the cla.s.sroom, the hallway, and the schoolyard.

Something is weird. Its wrong. Maybe Im the one who became weird. Sorry, Kim Gongja. Ill just make an appointment with a psychiatrist. Maybe Ill be better with some counseling.

The very last row in the cla.s.sroom.

I opened my mouth.

The student sitting by the window. Do you remember him?

Hmm?

The Crusaders brows furrowed.

More or less since hes a cla.s.smate. I think his name is .

Did you know that he was receiving these texts?

I took out the Constellation Killers cell phone and showed it to her.

Ill tell you now. Theyre not faked.

As she read the texts, the Crusaders face turned white. She was shocked. But her shock was brief, and soon, the Crusader yelled in a furious voice.

What? Something like this No, he isnt the type to send a text like this. Its ridiculous! I cant overlook this. It goes way beyond a joke!

Are you angry?

Of course! Some things can be forgiven because were kids, but some things cannot. But wounds are wounds, whether it was caused by an adult or a child. Rather, kids can be worse!

What are you going to do now?

We have evidence. We have to report it to the police right now! I know this kind of problem well. If you file a complaint with the school, the evidence will be taken away and theyll tell you to resolve it among yourselves like friends. It wont be enough if just the two of us went to the police station, so gather as many people as you can and lets go!

Thats right.

The Crusader.

This is who you are.

Someone who tries to reduce the number of people who are suffering, even by a little.

If there was even one person like you in this cla.s.sroom, it wouldnt have turned out this way.

What?

Because theres no way you would be a bystander to this sort of thing. Theres no way you would let it go, and theres no way you wouldnt notice it. But because there wasnt a single person like you in that large cla.s.sroom

I closed the phone.

Thats why this is happening.

Its all right. Please disappear. Ill take care of the rest on my own.

After I closed and opened my eyes.

-, .

A faceless specter was swaying.

Slowly.

I stood in the hall and looked around.

- ?

- . .

The students were talking as they walked past. Small talk, chatting. They laughed as if it was fun, and even if it wasnt, they still laughed. They were sharing the time of their youth. When a teacher pa.s.sed by, they bowed their heads and greeted him.

That was.

- ? ?

-, ?

-! !?

- .

- ! !

- . . .

- . .

- .

Their voices were nothing but white noise.

The words failed to form sentences, and sentences failed to become text.

There was a bright motto on a poster at the stairwell.

[ ]

[ ]

[ ]

That was.

The world of the Constellation Killer.