Chapter 42: Fantasy in the middle of the night

Ha… You really think you’ll hit anything like that? Someone like you?”
“Yes. Because I’ve watched Equilibrium 30 times! So just shut up and die already!”
“Wai—”

A blinding spark. Suppressed gunshots echo.
A smoky smell. Thin trails of smoke rise in the air.

The hand holding the gun pointed straight ahead.
Eyes aligned with the barrel. Just like that, I too looked straight ahead—and so did Seon-ah, who stared back with a blank expression.

Despite several shots being fired, not a single mark. Seon-ah glances around her body in disbelief, dumbfounded.

“What…?”
“…Maybe I missed by just a liiittle bit?”
“A little? You call this a little?!?”

Even in such a deadly serious situation, I can’t help but throw in a sarcastic jab.
She fired what, like six shots? And still didn’t hit once? It’s not even ten meters!

Not that I wanted the bullets to actually hit Seon-ah… but imagining what could come next is horrifying.

My mind spins. I glance at Izana in a panic, but she just sticks her tongue out and knocks her own head lightly with a fist.

Now is not the time to joke around—dammit! I hurriedly step in front of Izana.
She’s reloading slowly. Seon-ah approaches just as slowly, her knife gleaming under the fluorescent lights.

“Move, Sia.”
“…Sorry. That was just a mistake. Please forget about it?”
“Who the hell fires six bullets at someone by accident?”

Yeah… that’s not even a good excuse. I know that myself.

But I can’t step aside. If I move, Izana will be as good as dead. She stepped up to protect me—I can’t let her die because of that.

Even with that resolve, fear still crashes down.
My nerves scream. Pain flares up in my right forearm—a phantom pain from a long-healed wound.

If someone saw me now, how pathetic would I look?
My legs tremble like a newborn fawn, my mind screams for my body to run—but thankfully, I’m still standing. Barely.

“…Is that so? Well then, I guess there’s no helping it. Don’t blame me if you get a little hurt, okay?”

Seon-ah raises her short knife slowly.
Light reflects off the blade in a dazzling flash. My whole body tenses, muscles clench.

I grip my right hand tightly, trying to resist—but that’s all I can do. Like a rabbit before a tiger, my body won’t move from sheer terror.

I close my eyes without realizing it.

In the darkness, I hear the wind parting. Something approaches with just enough weight to be felt.

“Wh—What the hell are you—”

Like a prisoner awaiting execution before a guillotine.
But no blade falls. No pain comes.

How long have I been waiting, eyes shut tight?
It felt like an eternity—but it probably wasn’t.

Finally, I hear Seon-ah’s confused voice. I open my eyes cautiously.

In front of me—just a broad, dark figure. A man.

“L-Let go of me!!”

A sharply dressed man in a pristine black suit, short-cropped hair.

He stands there silently, emotionless, between me and Seon-ah.

Even someone tall like me has to crane my neck to see his face.

His sheer presence is crushing, like a wild bear in the forest.

With one hand, he effortlessly twists Seon-ah’s wrist. No words. Stone-faced.

Startled, Seon-ah reaches for another weapon—but before she can, the man’s other hand strikes.

–WHAM!

“Gaaahck!!”

A sudden punch to the solar plexus.
Even though I was watching, I couldn’t process it. All I could do was trace the afterimage.

The sound was louder than a gunshot.
Seon-ah—who could get hit with a baseball bat and still stand—flies into the wall like a ragdoll.

She crumples to the floor like a squashed insect, trembling.
Her mouth drips bright red saliva, her brown eyes vacant and unfocused. She’s unconscious.

Unreal.

A killer who murdered over twenty people fell to a single punch.

I’m frozen. Motionless.
The man steps past me and checks Izana carefully.

“Are you injured, young lady?”
“If I were, I’d have pointed the gun at your head before answering.”
“Then that’s a relief.”

Izana hands him the gun she just finished reloading. He secures the safety, then hands her a smaller pistol and a pure white pillow.

They talk like they’ve known each other for years.
I glance at Izana, still shaking.

“Izana…?”
“Don’t worry. He may look scary, but he’s my personal bodyguard.”
“Pleasure. I’m the young lady’s—”
“Forget names. Just call him ‘Black Bear.’”
“…Alright, then.”

Now that I think about it, wasn’t there a similar bodyguard in the game she comes from? He barely appeared, but… is this really that same person?

Even through his suit, his massive muscles show.
He must be over two meters tall, shoulders wide, neck thick. No expression. Just a terrifying presence.

A monster. No other word comes to mind.

“Now, what do we do with her?”
“Khak!”

Izana approaches Seon-ah’s limp body and lightly steps on her abdomen with her heel.

Black blood bubbles up from her mouth.

Izana tilts her head to avoid the spray and calmly disables the safety on the gun.

In her other hand: the thick pillow.

“I might suck at aiming, but even I can hit something from this close, right?”
“Izana, wai—”

She places the pillow over Seon-ah’s shoulder and pulls the trigger.

Bang.
Another muffled gunshot. A shell casing drops to the floor like rain.

But again—no blood.

“Ugh!! Missed again! Black Bear!”
“Yes, young lady.”

Frustrated, she throws the gun and pillow at him. He catches them effortlessly.

He walks toward Seon-ah again—but this time, I jump in front of him.

“P-Please stop! That’s enough!”

“…Miss, you’re making things complicated.”

Despite his intimidating presence, I can tell he won’t hurt me.

His face falters slightly—just enough to give me a sliver of relief.

Why am I stopping him?
I glance back. Seon-ah groans in pain.

This is my chance. This is the perfect moment to kill her—this filthy murderer.

My brain tells me: she killed your senior, she tried to kill your sister, she deserves to die.
She must die.
What about all the pain you’ve suffered?

“Please… stop.”

I know all that. But I don’t want this.
Call it naïve, selfish, hypocritical—whatever. I don’t care.

Even when I tried to kill her myself…
Even though I still see my senior’s bloodied face every time I close my eyes…

I don’t want to see anyone else die.

Covered in blood—my senior, that day, myself—one time was enough.
Once is too much. I never want to see it again.

“You really are naïve.”

I look up—Izana’s polished shoes click toward me.

“Don’t worry. I don’t intend to kill her. Cleaning up a corpse without preparation is troublesome.”
“Then—”
“But at the very least, I need to ruin her a bit.”
“Izana!”

I scream her name—but her cold blue eyes stare through me.
I freeze, unable to say anything.

“Sia, are you an idiot? That girl tried to kill both of us! It’s weird to just let her go!”
“B-But…”
“Being overly merciful isn’t kindness. It’s just foolishness. Move aside. I made a promise—to protect you.”

“…”

I still don’t move. She gently pushes me.
There’s no force behind it, but her words knock me down harder than any shove.

In the silence that follows, a few more gunshots echo quietly.
I couldn’t bring myself to look back.
Black Bear holsters the gun after finishing his task.