Chapter 41: The Witch’s Silence (4)

It happened when I was very young, toward the end of summer.

At that time, just like now, the murderous heat was raging.

I remember news reports about asphalt melting on the roads.

During that record-breaking heatwave.

Our family spent the end of summer at my grandparents’ house in the countryside, along with our relatives.

It was a typical country home.

Vast rice paddies, a small mountain stream, the sounds of cicadas and crickets resonating through the air—
a place packed with every stereotypical image one could associate with the countryside.

However, there was one unusual thing.

The family home was a considerably large traditional Korean house, even by the standards of that time.

And I found myself inside that very space, still vividly preserved in my memory.

The memories of that day unfolded vividly before my eyes.

‘A revolving lantern…?’

A revolving lantern is supposed to be memories flashing past your eyes like a panorama.

It wasn’t something you physically stepped into, like a virtual reality.

It was a somewhat ironic scene.

I sat blankly on the wooden veranda, gazing up at the sky.

The scarlet sunset was slowly sinking.

A flock of mandarin ducks flapped their wings toward the sunset.

The texture of the wooden floor beneath me,
the mild scent of grass wafting from the distant fields,
and the ever-growing chorus of crickets felt incredibly real.

It took quite a while before I realized it was a dream.

The sunset gradually faded away.

As the last light reflected on a small pond disappeared,
the time between dog and wolf arrived.

Twilight.

At that moment—

“Anna, aren’t you going?”

“No. I want to rest for now.”

“Then stay in the house, okay? Promise?”

“Okay.“

A familiar, dearly missed voice reached my ears.

A voice I hadn’t remembered in over ten years.

It was my mother’s voice.

I quickly turned my head, searching for her.

And there she was—
my mother’s younger self, identical to the photo used for her memorial.

I was speechless, staring at her blankly.

My mother walked right past me, sitting on the veranda, as if she couldn’t see me.

And then.

I noticed the figure of a girl sitting just like me on the veranda, swinging her legs.

It was that girl who had been speaking with my mother.

Not me.

It was from that moment that I started feeling something was strange.

“…Hey.”

The girl with striking black hair smiled at me.

Then she stretched out her hand and pointed to the sky.

The sky had turned pitch black without my noticing.

The gentle moonlight illuminated the girl.

Bathed in moonlight, she looked more beautiful than anything else.

“Want to see?”

The sky she pointed at was full of countless stars—
so many that it truly felt like a sea of stars.

I couldn’t make out specific constellations like the Summer Triangle.

But just seeing the stars filled me with bittersweet emotion.

That was all.

“Are you tired?”

I reflexively answered, “No.”

I wasn’t tired.

I had to prove I was still useful.

I had to prove it so I wouldn’t be abandoned.

So I wouldn’t be weeded out.

Even when I received the termination notice and lawsuit papers,
I

answered the same way—
that I was still useful, that it was unfair, that they were throwing me away like a scapegoat after using me.

Was it obsessive-compulsive disorder?

Or was it just the fault of a messed-up personnel evaluation?

Since childhood, I had only looked upward, only climbed upward.

After my mother died in a car accident.

After my younger sister fell sick.

After my father, who had brought home a half-sibling, committed suicide.

I kept running upward.

I hated the kind of life my father lived.

When I saw him waste our inherited wealth at gambling dens and end up penniless, it made me sick.

When he abandoned us, only to shamelessly bring home a child from another woman, it disgusted me.

I aimed for a stable life.

I wanted a life utterly different from his.

I prioritized my family above all else.

I wanted to prove I wasn’t like that bastard.

When I got into one of Korea’s top corporations,
it felt like I had achieved half of my goal.

When I started climbing the ranks through countless achievements,
it seemed like success was within reach.

But all of that had been a setup.

They needed a scapegoat to cover up the company’s corruption and tax evasion.

When they cut me loose with a severed tail,
it felt like the sky was falling.

If I had been alone, it would’ve been fine.

I could have stood up again as many times as necessary.

But I wasn’t alone.

I had three siblings to care for.

I couldn’t abandon them.

Becoming like my father was something I would rather die than allow.

Most of my life’s savings were seized.

Our family staggered under the weight of overwhelming penalties.

I tried to fight in court, but it was almost impossible to win with a public defender against a team of corporate lawyers.

Before I went to prison,
I did anything to feed my siblings.

Manual labor was just the start.
I even sold a kidney.

“You’re tired.”

I wanted to say no.

I couldn’t admit I was tired.

Because it felt like everything would collapse if I did.

Maybe…
Maybe I had needed rest all along.

When I first possessed Ianna’s body,
when I saw the starry sky and breathed in the clear air.

In that moment, I had already admitted it—
that I was exhausted.

That both my mind and body were reaching their limits.

That every time I looked at the growing pile of debt, death flickered in my mind.

As my thoughts deepened, my emotions became more turbulent.

I stared at the endless stars to calm myself.

After all, reminiscing wouldn’t change anything.

“Yeah.”

I nodded at the girl—
at Ianna—
whose eyes shone as she looked at me.

It was only a little later that I noticed something was wrong with my body.

I was eye-level with Ianna, sitting on the veranda.

I saw pale, slender arms in my view,
and heard a soft, pure voice resonating from my own throat.

Only then did I realize.

This was Ianna’s body.

Even so, I wasn’t flustered.

I was used to it.

Ianna silently took my hand.

Her eyes sparkled more brightly than anything.

The fading moonlight reflected in her eyes.

In the heart of the darkness,

Ianna alone was shining—
her beautiful black hair glistening.

This was my memory.

It was merely a dream, recreating one of the many forgotten summer days of my childhood.

“It’s not a dream.”

Ianna said, grinning mischievously.

‘…It’s not a dream.’

In that case, I thought, I must be dead after all.

It made sense.

After being pumped full of tranquilizers, there was no way I would survive.

“You have a vivid imagination, huh? You’re not dead.”

“Then what is this?”

I asked curtly.

Ianna’s playful attitude annoyed me.

After all, she had dumped her body onto me and gotten me tangled up in all this.

“Shh.”

She brought a finger to her lips, signaling me to be quiet.

Seeing that gesture, I stopped pressing for answers.

She clearly wasn’t planning to explain anyway.

Was this the real Ianna?

I didn’t know.

All I had seen were scattered, distorted fragments of her memories.

“Would you look over there?”

Ianna pointed toward a dimensional rift.

Beyond it was a pitch-black void.

“If you go through there… you can return. To the real world…”

In that instant.

Before Ianna even finished her sentence,
I jumped to my feet.

I dashed toward the rift with all my strength.

Thunk!

And immediately fell flat.

“Ah…”

Right—
Ianna’s body didn’t have legs.

“…Please. Help me. Please.”

Ianna lifted me up and spoke.

Her eyes were filled with desperation.

Even before they had grown dim,
her intelligent, beautiful eyes—
now filled with a single tear trailing down.

I could understand her.

I knew what she wished for.

I knew she was asking for a sacrifice.

But I couldn’t nod.

I had to distinguish between what I could and couldn’t do.

Saving a crumbling novel-world at the cost of my life?

I had no duty to do that.

No reason to save her precious people, or strangers.

At the end of the day,
it was just a story.

Another unpopular web novel among the thousands uploaded daily.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Moreover.

Even if, against all odds, I managed to return,
Ianna’s body had far too many limitations.

My personality was already starting to merge with hers.

At critical moments, it was Ianna who controlled the body.

There was nothing I could do.

Even with future knowledge,
there was no way to act effectively in Ianna’s body.

“No way. I can’t. I won’t survive. Neither me, nor your body.”

“Please…”

“Cheonching, Heosang, Aeweon, Byeolmuri, and even the purgatory and the dawn. They’re all ticking time bombs.

You can’t control any of them the way you want.
They’re all insane. You felt it yourself.

The humans here are just the same.
You’re the only one who wants to save them all.

Everyone else has lost their minds.”

“…”

Ianna silently nodded, a gloomy expression on her face.

I found myself clutching my abdomen, thinking of Heosang—
and feeling a deep pain in my gut.

“Besides, your body is a huge problem too.”

“…Yeah.”

Ianna seemed fully aware of her own condition.

Her personality hadn’t disappeared.

Or even if it had,
something faint still remained in the body.

Something blending with me.

Was it the brain’s influence?

I couldn’t tell anymore who I even was.

“…So, I have a proposal.”

Ianna said in a trembling voice.

The next words she spoke—

Were utterly unbelievable.

“I will disappear.

I will die completely…

So please, I beg you.

Just this once… please help me…”

There was no hesitation in Ianna’s eyes.

All I could do was stare at her, speechless.