Ch.218On Being Forgotten (3)

“······.”

Asleep like they were in a deep slumber.

Only quiet breathing sounds in my ears.

I leave the room with careful steps.

When they open their eyes again, much will have changed.

I let my thoughts wander.

“Is it all over?”

“······.”

A voice suddenly reaches me.

When I turn around, Count Gepetto is standing there.

“Pinocchio.”

“Count.”

“So you’ve finally decided to leave.”

“You speak as if you expected this.”

“Well. I thought you’d do something, though I didn’t expect such a drastic approach.”

“I had no other choice. No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t find a better option.”

“Why make excuses? I’ve never criticized your choices.”

The Count had his usual indifferent gaze.

Not a hint of wavering in his demeanor.

I ask with a subdued voice.

“Are you going to stop me?”

“Should I stop you?”

Gepetto counters with a question.

“You speak like someone who wants to be stopped. Yet you have no intention of being stopped.”

“······.”

Though it wasn’t meant as a harsh criticism, it cut deeper than any insult could.

I remained silent. It felt as if he had seen right through me.

Gepetto continues speaking without causing a commotion.

“I have no intention of interfering with you. Nor do I wish to persuade you.”

Words that might sound cold.

“Didn’t I tell you before? A completed creation no longer belongs to its creator. Therefore, your life is entirely your own. I have neither the obligation to stop your choices nor the right to persuade you.”

“You mean that strange art theory of yours.”

“I’ll correct you again—it’s aesthetics.”

The conversation veers off track.

I let out a hollow laugh.

“Haha…”

He truly was a strange person.

Well, only an eccentric like him would think of creating something like Pinocchio.

After a brief pause, Gepetto extends something toward me.

It was a black case, heavy with contents.

“Take it.”

Click-

Inside, blue medicine vials were packed tightly.

The drug that Gepetto had injected me with hours ago after a thorough examination.

A powerful stimulant that suppresses pain and awakens the mind.

Gepetto adds emotionlessly:

“You’ll need it. Your body is like a rag and won’t move as you wish.”

“······”

“Of course, avoid overdosing. It’s potent even by your standards. I’ve minimized the side effects, but if you exceed a certain amount, your mind won’t be able to handle it. Well… I suppose that’s not a meaningful warning for someone who’s going to die anyway.”

Gepetto hands over the case with his explanation.

I stare at the Count with a dazed response.

He turns his back as if nothing matters.

“I won’t say any separate goodbyes.”

Gepetto immediately walks down the corridor.

His receding figure was so composed.

“······.”

I remained in place for a while.

All that’s left in my hand are jingling fragments of life.

Soon I took a step.

‘I should go.’

Clap!

I clap my hands lightly.

With that, pitch-black shadows fly around me.

The lurking shadows envelop my existence.

It was the final step to sever everything.

‘So that… no one will remember me.’

I erase the world’s memory.

Not just my companions, but the memories of everyone who knows of my existence.

From the members I’ve been with, to the trash of the slums, the royal guards, the academy students, faculty, and the countless people I’ve encountered since stepping into this life…

I erase myself from the world that once shone too brightly.

I erase my existence from their world.

‘I…’

Will no longer be remembered by anyone.

Having left my orbit, I’ve taken a path of no return.

If I cannot be remembered by anyone.

If I cannot remain in any place.

I.

Again.

Existing yet not existing.

A being full of contradictions.

Pointing fingers at myself in the mirror, calling myself a liar.

Wanting to exist, but not existing because I’m meant to exist.

Writing a meaningless name, then looking down at ink-stained hands.

Hating my blackened hands soaked in the night, hating and hating again.

A pair of dawns.

The winter I bit into.

Passing through summer, autumn, and winter again.

Even at the end of winter, winter, winter.

Because there was no spring that remained for me.

-I loved Miss Lezia too.

I realized.

It’s raining.

It wasn’t rain.

It was rain.

‘Ah.’

The world washes me away.

No.

I wash the world away.

Lies like dark clouds, like rain.

The ink peels off in the pouring heavenly water.

Swoooosh-

Outside the window, a downpour falls.

Raindrops mixed with shallow lies.

Wishing it would stop, yet telling it to keep falling.

I clutched the shadows pooled on the glass.

‘A non-existent person.’

When this night passes.

I will not be remembered.

Forgotten by everyone.

Left alone at dawn.

To familiar solitude.

The word goodbye.

Without tears.

Flowing down.

And voices.

Saying I hate.

I to you.

Taking.

And.

Giving.

You to me.

You saying you like.

And voices.

Vomiting out.

Without joy.

The words I love you.

To unfamiliar longing.

Remaining in the bright morning.

Only I forgetting.

When this rain stops.

‘I hate it.’

A person who will no longer exist.

I hate it, but it’s the path I must take.

A slight trembling on my lips.

“It’s okay.”

I try to comfort my pitiful shoulders.

I walk toward an ending where I won’t be standing.

Eyes that can’t cry, nor are they smiling.

I whisper a lie to myself that I won’t forgive.

Words no one would believe.

“I’m fine.”

-Ding!

[A small amount of lies has been recovered.]

[Current remaining output: 0.3%]

So.

In the end, I who am not even acknowledged.

‘A non-existent person.’

Non-existent.

Again, person.

“Because it doesn’t bother me at all.”

-Ding!

[A small amount of lies has been recovered.]

[Current remaining output: 1.7%]

The downpour has stopped.

The sky covered with dark clouds.

The sound of rain was no longer heard.

I hesitate, then close my eyes.

The pitch-black night swallows my entire body.

‘Goodbye.’

Swoosh-

With that, I vanish without a trace.

As if no one had been standing there from the beginning.

No one in this world will remember me anymore.

I muttered in the dispersing gray vision.

‘Goodbye.’

Goodbye, and goodbye again…

Only words of farewell that will never reach.

‘Goodbye…’

I,

had become alone.

***

After a night of heavy rain.

Morning arrived with the sky still covered in gloomy clouds.

“……Ugh.”

Galimar Academy.

The educational institution known as the best on the continent.

Although it was temporarily closed due to a series of incidents, some students remained at the academy.

Those who couldn’t return to their homes for various reasons, or those who wished to stay in the dormitory.

Lezia was one of them.

“Already morning…?”

A voice heavy with sleep echoes.

Slight fatigue, or perhaps annoyance.

After tossing and turning for a while, the girl finally gets up.

As the blanket is pulled back, pink hair cascades down.

Her deep green eyes still hold a dreamy quality.

“Ugggh…”

She brushes back her disheveled hair.

With a slight groan.

-■■■ ■.

Only remnants of dreams lingered in her ears.

A light headache troubled her brow.

Perhaps it was because of her weakness in the morning.

Lezia found it difficult to fully wake up.

-I also lo■■ Mi■■ Le■■■.

A flickering noise.

Like static, the content was difficult to make out.

The girl scratches her cheek and lets out a quiet yawn.

She felt more tired than usual.

“My body feels heavy…”

Perhaps she had a nightmare during the night.

There was a heaviness in her chest.

But she merely stretched, thinking nothing of it.

She tries to recall last night’s dream with idle curiosity.

It was probably a memory from when she was alone.

“…Huh?”

But soon she realizes.

“What was the dream about?”

She can’t remember the content.

The remnants had already scattered into her unconscious.

“Hmm…?”

Of course, that thought doesn’t last long.

Dreams are like sugar dissolved in water.

Even if you try to hold onto them tightly with young hands, they easily slip away.

Lezia thought the same. It probably wasn’t anything special.

The girl turned her attention elsewhere.

“Ah…! Come to think of it, I was supposed to meet the princess this morning!”

Crash-

Lezia tumbles out of bed noisily.

Her pink hair becomes completely disheveled.

The morning appointment with Amelia that she had momentarily forgotten.

Any thoughts related to the dream had long been buried.

The girl heads to the bathroom.

“I’m late, I’m late…!”

Yet the world continued to flow busily.

A slightly amusing yet fresh daily life.

The pilot quickly tidies herself up.

Moving away from the uncomfortable feeling.

-■■ ■■■■■.

The protagonist had no time to dwell on dreams.

She was busy just living through the day.

The girl lives through today.

In the gray world.

There, the boy was remembered by no one.