Ch.4040. The Princess and the Queen

The first thing she saw when she was born was the face of her genetic father. He was baring his teeth.

“Oh, it worked. It worked!”

From the beginning, she had minimal knowledge. She had a sense of self.

She had a body too.

But it wasn’t her own.

“All procedures complete. Your daughter’s abilities have been successfully sealed before they could awaken.”

Next to her father stood a scientist in a white coat, explaining.

“Good. Cha-mi doesn’t need any abilities! Let those clowns play at being heroes or villains. Cha-mi will be raised as an exceptional child who will take over the company, her father’s company!”

A smile spread across her father’s face.

There was no paternal love there.

Only an adult’s sordid desires and calculations of profit and loss.

Understanding exactly what this meant, she wanted to twist her father into pieces, vomiting out the disgust that boiled up from her stomach.

This man thought he was excluded from the company succession because of bloodline.

He never once doubted his own lack of ability.

So he planned to use his daughter as a tool to try again.

Since ability users had restricted admission to top-tier educational institutions, he cut off that potential from an early age.

‘What exactly do you think I am?’

She wanted to lash out at the rising irritation.

But her body moved on its own.

The clear voice that came from those vocal cords rang out beautifully.

“Daddy, congratulations! When you smile, I’m happy too!”

Hearing that voice, she felt utterly miserable.

Because it contained no anger, no hatred, no resignation, no pessimism.

There was only positivity and happiness.

Nothing but absolute goodness.

What surprised her even more was her father’s next action.

“Y-yes! You did well, Cha-mi. Good job.”

The man who until just now had only been calculating how to use his daughter to gain power was moved by that goodness.

Unconsciously feeling warmth, he gently reached out to stroke her head.

She began to wonder.

Who is this?

No.

Who am I?

◈ ◈ ◈

“Wow, this is amazing! I never thought a little sister would be born inside my head!”

“Why am I the little sister?”

“Well, I’m seven years old.”

“I have all those seven years of knowledge too.”

“Really? You already know so much. That’s impressive!”

One body, two minds.

It was a bit different from multiple personality disorder. More like sharing a single body.

Both could perceive the outside world even while inside each other.

The two exchanged conversation while switching control of the body.

Yoo Cha-mi, who had spent her childhood only studying, knew socialization only as knowledge, and quickly came to love her peer and little sister.

“What should we call you?”

Yoo Cha-mi asked her. She couldn’t answer right away.

“I’m not Yoo Cha-mi. I’m a personality created as a side effect of sealing away your ability. I might even be the ability itself.”

“That depends on how you look at it, doesn’t it? Do you like the name Cha-mi, little sister?”

“…Not really.”

“You do like it. Okay then, let’s both be Yoo Cha-mi.”

“Then we can’t tell each other apart.”

“That might be more convenient? This is our secret, after all.”

“Yes. That’s true…”

“Want to read a book together?”

With those words, Yoo Cha-mi pulled out a fairy tale book. Yoo Cha-mi reading the fairy tale with her.

Though they shared the same vocal cords, she wondered why their voices were so different. Yoo Cha-mi’s voice made one’s heart feel clean and comfortable just by listening.

The fairy tale was about a princess knight and a queen sorceress joining forces to defeat the demon king. Both characters were good and quite impressive.

“Did you enjoy it?”

Yoo Cha-mi asked after closing the book.

“Yes.”

“It’s my favorite story.”

“I think it’ll be my favorite too.”

She agreed with Yoo Cha-mi.

“Should we call each other by the names from this story? Yoo Cha-mi will be our shared name.”

Yoo Cha-mi suggested to her.

She liked the idea.

The princess, the queen, and their names were all nice, but what she liked most was Yoo Cha-mi’s thoughtfulness.

After all, this body and name belonged to her.

She herself was an uninvited guest who suddenly appeared.

Yet within hours of meeting her, Cha-mi cherished her, loved her, and was considerate of her.

“…I’d like that.”

She answered shyly.

“Which one do you want to be?”

She slowly pointed to one character.

The queen sorceress standing proudly.

“Hehe. So I’m the princess. Nice to meet you, ‘Lena’.”

“…Yes. ‘Elli’.”

That was the moment their secret nicknames were born.

◈ ◈ ◈

Elli and Lena grew up together.

Their advantage was that they didn’t need to sleep.

When Elli slept, Lena would wake up and move around. Physical development and acquired knowledge remained.

Though they spent less time together each day, they both worked toward their goal.

“I don’t just want L Corporation because of father.”

At sixteen, Elli said this.

“With power, you can hear the voices of many more people.”

But Lena had felt for some time that she and Elli were heading in different directions.

Her radiance, her brilliance was something Lena’s vessel could never contain.

A fundamental difference.

My origin is ability.

Elli is too bright to see behind the shadows.

If darkness threatens Elli, I must protect her.

Lena began training her ability.

Word command was a rare ability, but her talent was tremendous.

At first, Elli tried to dissuade her, saying it was dangerous, but when convinced it was self-defense, she understood.

Then one day when they were nineteen.

While returning home from the academy, she got caught up in an incident.

Bang! Bang!

With the gunshots, Yoo Cha-mi’s bodyguard fell.

Even in a wealthy family, her branch of a branch family wasn’t extremely rich, and she had only one bodyguard who also served as a driver. She commuted in a regular vehicle.

“Got her! Killed him!”

“Here’s the girl! Grab her!”

Elli was in control at that moment.

Frozen in fear, she couldn’t resist and was kidnapped, dragged into a van.

The kidnappers weren’t even proper villain organization members, just pathetic punks.

Their goal was obviously money.

Elli’s hands were tied with rope and her mouth taped shut.

‘Elli, snap out of it. Quickly, give me control.’

Lena, watching the situation from within their mind, desperately called to Elli, but they only shared knowledge.

They couldn’t communicate through consciousness alone.

‘Elli!’

After trembling in fear for a while, Elli finally managed to think clearly and handed control to Lena.

Yoo Cha-mi’s eyes changed.

Her mouth was covered, but that wasn’t a problem. Word command could be activated with just vocal cords and tongue.

There were five punks in the van.

“‘Burst.'”

With that command, the heart of one person in the adjacent seat exploded.

Crash!

Someone jumped onto the van’s windshield.

It was a hero in a suit.

“I can’t just pass by a crime scene! This is a perfect stage for my debut!”

“Who the hell is this guy!”

“Shoot him!”

It happened in an instant.

A rookie hero who happened to be nearby had intervened.

“Remember this! I am Glass Pop! The man who will become an S-rank hero! Take this!”

Glass Pop activated his ability.

Simultaneously.

Crash!

The kidnappers’ guns turned into glass shards and pierced their bodies.

“Argh!”

“Damn you!”

The kidnappers screamed. Glass Pop, emboldened, jumped into the van. The driver swerved, sending the van into a frenzy.

Of course, such a suppression method made no sense in a hostage situation.

But he was still a rookie before his debut. No, he was practically an academy student.

He just wanted to show off his name, Glass Pop, in spectacular fashion.

He was a fool who didn’t even understand how his own ability worked.

That became a huge problem.

“Die!!”

One excited kidnapper pulled out a grenade and thrust it at Glass Pop, as if to shove it in his mouth.

Glass Pop activated his ability on the grenade—

Boom!

The grenade immediately exploded, sending tens of thousands of glass shards flying in all directions.

“‘Harden—'”

Lena, recognizing the severity of the situation, tried to cast her command.

But at this point, she was still in training.

She was a bit too late.

Before her command could take effect, the exploding glass shards pierced her—Yoo Cha-mi’s—entire body.

“Ugh— Aaaaargh—!!”

She couldn’t see.

Oxygen leaked from her punctured lungs.

Torn arms, chest, abdominal muscle fibers, spilling intestines—a flood of pain ravaged her synapses without warning.

She was dying.

At this rate, she would certainly die.

Then suddenly, while swimming in this inexplicable agony.

Whoosh.

All sensation disappeared.

The pain that had been tormenting her vanished as if it had never existed.

‘Huh…?’

Her body wouldn’t respond.

Through the tape torn by glass shards, her mouth slowly opened, spitting blood, saying something.

“…Lena, it’s okay now.”

Lena realized.

Elli had taken control of the body to bear the pain.

‘No, no!’

There’s no way Elli could endure this.

Even I was about to lose consciousness from the pain.

Come back, come back now.

I’m the one who failed to protect our body.

I should be the one to bear that pain.

Hurry, hurry and go to sleep.

Pass out quickly.

It hurts, doesn’t it?

Why. Why are you enduring it?

What are you holding on for!

Give me back the body now!!

You’ll really, really—

No.

No.

No.

Elli.

Elli.

Elli!!

…Elli?