episode_0005

That night.

Hotel in Rondinium, the imperial capital.

As I received a baptism of hot water, pouring down like a waterfall with thick steam, I stood silently before the shower room mirror.

Reflected in the mirror was the face of a man still unfamiliar, one I couldn’t get used to.

Crackling!

When I tried flicking a spark of lightning from my fingertip, the current raced along my wet body.

A high-voltage current, enough to instantly electrocute a normal person on the spot.

Yet, this body was perfectly fine. No, ‘perfectly fine’ wasn’t even enough.

Literally, I felt nothing. Not only was there no injury, but I didn’t even feel a tingling sensation.

Even a high-voltage current strong enough to instantly kill a person, racing across water, couldn’t harm this body. Fire or bladed weapons were no different.

As if nothing could be etched onto this skin by such means.

……However, Aria’s white, cold hand.

The sensation of holding that hand still hadn’t faded, lingering faintly at my fingertips.

Just that fleeting, white coldness—.

I inadvertently recalled the commotion that occurred at the mafia hideout this afternoon.

Back then, Aria had spoken of the serpent’s name.

Saying that the man before her had staked his everything to build that name with them.

Even now, I know nothing about the 《Black Serpent》.

Now, I wanted to know. I had to know.

Who Rain Grey was, and what exactly he had desired.

Not merely for the trivial reasons of adapting and surviving in this world, or to gain information.

But to understand the ‘true meaning’ of my existence here—.

*

At the end of the day, we weren’t taking a special villainous break or anything. We just rested like everyone else. It seemed living was the same everywhere you went.

And villainous organizations are also made of people. Well, except for a few.

Finishing my shower and stepping out in a bathrobe, I saw Aria and Alice, also in somewhat loose casual clothes.

For reference, Alice was already snoring loudly on the bed.

“……Leader-nim.”

No matter what she wore, Aria’s appearance didn’t change much. Was it due to the black sword she carried on her back?

Even her casual clothes were, in fact, not much different from her usual black attire. Just a slightly more casual feel to them.

“Five comrades have sent back a reply that they will join immediately.”

Aria poured blood-red wine into a glass, handing it to me from wherever she got it. Afterwards, she poured some into her own glass.

“The other four have expressed their intention to join, but it seems difficult for them to arrive according to the schedule.”

“……I see.”

The turnout rate is quite high, higher than usual. No, it’s considerably high. It’s probably because it’s about impersonating the serpent’s name.

For reference, I still haven’t seen all the members of the 《Black Serpent》. I haven’t even properly gathered and assembled all the members yet.

‘Including me, a total of eight people will gather.’

In terms of numbers, this is actually setting a new record.

However, summoning them is by no means to reinforce a lack of combat power.

It’s to send a clear message.

To undeniably and clearly show the price of the foolishness of impersonating us.

In this world, paradoxically, the 《Black Serpent》 is my everything and at the same time a reliable shield that protects me.

Because without that name, I am nothing.

Therefore, our name always had to be absolute.

Because that name being insulted and endangered is directly equivalent to my own position being shaken.

Those who dare challenge the serpent’s name cannot be forgiven.

A few more days until the underground auction.

All that remained was to wait for the time.

“Leader-nim.”

It was then.

While I was lost in thought, Aria approached my side and spoke.

“Do you have something to say?”

When I asked, feigning coldness, Aria didn’t answer immediately.

A brief silence descended. As soon as it fell, Alice’s loud snoring, having fallen deeply asleep, broke through it.

“Please… forgive my actions today.”

Aria spoke after the silence, hesitating unlike herself. I feigned ignorance and asked back.

“What do I need to forgive?”

No, I wasn’t trying to torment her. I just wanted to know.

It was an opportunity to ask about Aria and this organization, things I didn’t know.

“I forgot my place as a puppet and acted on my own, disregarding Leader-nim’s will.”

“You must have done so because our name is that precious to you.”

“……Yes.”

Aria lowered her head. This was the moment.

“Why is it so precious?”

I asked, desperately suppressing my heart which was more agitated than ever.

Nothing would change. For now, I just had to know. By any means necessary.

“Aria. What am I to you?”

I asked again.

Hoping that through this question, the answer I desired would finally return.

“Leader-nim is.”

Aria slowly opened her mouth.

“No, Rain Oppa is.”

“…….”

At the continued honorific, I swallowed silently.

It wasn’t as usual, with others present besides us. Nor was it a street in broad daylight.

In the hotel bedroom, where only we were present, Aria spoke to me like that.

“The entirety of my existence.”

The entirety of her existence.

“Because Oppa wrapped puppet strings around our abandoned bodies and made us rise.”

Puppet strings. Aria continued.

“Because Leader-nim tied strings to my body, controlled me, and placed me back onto this world’s stage.”

That was far from the answer I desired. It was a statement I couldn’t understand at all.

“I… I cannot bear how lovely these puppet strings that you wrapped around my body are…”

Aria said, her voice faltering for the first time, her face flushing, and a waterfall of emotions she couldn’t properly suppress poured forth.

It was ecstasy.

“I, that child, and we… are merely puppets who move according to Leader-nim’s will.”

Leader and Oppa, the honorifics now bewilderingly intertwined, no longer mattered.

Saying so, Aria smiled, embracing with open arms the invisible strings wrapped around her body, the fate of a puppet.

*

“……Whew.”

Suddenly, I was chain-smoking again.

I smoked so frequently that the general store I often visited now silently handed me five packs of cigarettes the moment they saw me.

As usual, I took another cigarette and stood up.

“Oh, Leader!”

Then a familiar face approached me warmly.

It was a red-haired man with eyes slit thinly like a snake’s, known by the epithet Saan (Snake Eyes).

“How did the great Leader of all people end up chain-smoking like this?”

“…….”

Before the man who approached me as if I were a close friend, I didn’t bother to answer.

“Silan.”

Instead, Aria of the Black Sword, who stood by my side as always, spoke.

“You are before Leader-nim. Please show proper respect.”

“Ahaha, my apologies.”

I glanced at Aria as she spoke.

In her appearance, there was no trace of the composure she had lost in the bedroom a few days ago. She was her usual self.

“Oh, it’s Silan!”

“Ohh, isn’t that Alice? You’ve become quite the lady since I last saw you!”

“Ahem! Alice is already all grown up!”

Silan, the Saan.

And Silan wasn’t the only member of the 《Black Serpent》 present.

“─Leader.”

“Leader-nim.”

Silhouettes emerged one after another after the man.

Each of them, in their own way, respectfully bowed before me, spoke to me like a friend, or acted childishly.

I turned my back on the continuously arriving subordinates and silently watched the tip of the cigarette in my mouth burn down.

After flicking away the burning cigarette, I raised my head to the sky.

The twilight, slanted beyond the western sky, gradually merged with violet hues and sank towards night.

Night was approaching, along with the auction that would soon begin.

“You know what needs to be done, don’t you?”

I finally stood up from where I had been sitting.

Gazing at the grand mansion erected not far from the riverbank.

“……No.”

One of the serpent’s shadows present there replied.

“We know nothing.”

With utter audacity.

“Yes, we know nothing.”

They answered calmly, with not even a hint of wavering in their voices.

“Until Leader’s command falls.”

What they awaited was my command, as if they knew nothing else.

“Until you illuminate the path we must take.”

“Until then, we know nothing.”

“What to do, whom to kill, whom not to kill.”

Voices that seemed to refuse to do anything of their own will, waiting only for my command to fall.

“Please, Leader.”

“Hurry and give us an order!”

“Because we are fools, we can do nothing without Leader’s command!”

Then the 《Black Serpents》 present there spoke up, vying with each other.

Like puppets who could do nothing on their own.

So I watched them for a moment—then answered briefly. What needed to be done.

The waypoint they needed to head towards.

“Let everyone in the world know.”

In the most villainous voice I could muster.

“What end awaits those who falsely claim the serpent’s name.”