Chapter 54: False Truth (1)

“My daughter’s original name was Anna.”

Hojoon’s flat voice carried just a trace—barely perceptible—of sorrow.

“You were very happy when we chose it. You came to see her every other day. Don’t you remember?”

She didn’t remember.

Nothing at all.

Hojoon’s hand brushed across her forehead, pressing gently against her eyelids.

Her vision faded entirely moments later.

Creak.

A chilling metallic scrape echoed as the heavy iron door shut.

“From this moment on, cease all surveillance and audio recording in this room until I signal otherwise.”

[ Understood. ]

A pale, ghostlike fear began crawling up from the depths of her mind.

Bzzzt—

The radio cut off completely.

“But my wife was strongly opposed. Said the name didn’t sound good. It was just an initial name, but even so.”

“Uh… yeah…”

“Young Byeolhwa clung to you more than she ever did to me. She was always in your arms. Do you remember that?”

“…”

She had no idea what Hojoon was trying to do.

But—

Memory.

There was a shared thread of memories between her and Han Hojoon.

What he was saying didn’t feel like lies.

But she couldn’t remember any of it.

Not a thing.

“No…”

“It’s alright. Let’s take it slow and try to remember.”

At the sharp edge in his voice, her body instinctively tensed.

Then—

Something sharp jabbed into the back of her neck.

As a stinging pain surged through her, her strength drained all at once.

“H-heuuk…”

“This is just to immobilize you.”

What… is Hojoon doing?

Because of his hand over her eyes, she couldn’t see anything.

Only pitch-black darkness stretched in all directions.

Her body had frozen up.

And then, Hojoon spoke.

“Teacher, don’t you remember?”

He definitely called her “Teacher.”

Her mind went completely blank for a moment.

Hojoon’s voice had grown increasingly desperate.

“Truly, you don’t remember? You were the one who taught me all this. The reason I walked this path—it was all because of you. You were my saviour.”

“…”

“You don’t… remember?”

She must not remember.

That much was certain.

Her heart pounded violently.

Every hair on her body stood on end, and a cold sweat soaked her back.

Her instincts were screaming a warning.

She must not remember.

She must not be ensnared by Hojoon’s web.

These were truths that should remain buried until the day she died.

It had to be a trap.

Hojoon was holding a blade to her throat.

So—she must not remember.

There had to be a reason why Ianna had “forgotten” these memories.

They were too devastating to dismiss.

Memories that could shatter the foundation of her relationship with Hojoon.

Pandora’s box must never be opened.

Never.

“Teacher, remember. Crushing the weak. Fomenting internal strife. Seizing weaknesses and pushing others into deathtraps. Taking hostages of the ones they love. Always leaving yourself an escape route. Weren’t these your sacred principles? I’ve remembered them all.”

“Th-that’s… that’s nonsense… shut… up…”

“It’s thanks to you I made it this far.”

Ianna could never have taught him such deception.

Hojoon was lying.

He had to be. He must be.

“Have you forgotten how you always stayed on top?”

“…No! That’s not true… it’s not… it’s not…”

“You pushed people to the edge. Anyone who defied you, rose too quickly, or showed promise—you smiled at them, then sent them straight to death.”

It was impossible.

The Ianna she knew would never do that.

She must not have.

She couldn’t have.

She had no power to order magical girls to their deaths.

No motive, either.

This was Hojoon’s appalling lie.

His manipulative ploy to scramble her mind.

Yes—definitely.

“You held the families of former Directors hostage. So skillfully I was in awe. You beheaded a mother in front of her son, turned little girls into magical soldiers—made them your puppets. Do you not remember?”

“No…!!!”

She tried to lunge at him with all her might.

But her body still wouldn’t move.

Her image of Ianna was beginning to crack.

No.

No.

Innocent, pure, virtuous—those were the words that defined magical girl Ianna.

She couldn’t have done such things. She must not have.

I…

Ianna…

Couldn’t have committed such atrocities.

It was certain.

Absolutely.

“U-uurgh…”

The nausea rising in her throat was unbearable.

“So you do remember.”

“No…”

She didn’t remember any of it.

Nothing Hojoon had said.

Nothing about their past.

And yet—

There were gaps—blank spots scattered throughout her memory.

‘Why…?’

The memories Ianna tried to hide from her… were they really the things Hojoon just described?

“I first met you when I had just entered middle school.”

“Stop…”

“We’d just come back from a family trip. It was dark on the highway. I was watching the stars from the car window, exhausted. Then the fog rolled in… and they came.”

She didn’t want to hear any more.

Because memories were beginning to stir.

“They didn’t look human. They were too tall. I watched from the backseat as a towering, rotting woman smashed through the window with a claw and tore my parents to shreds.”

Evolved beings.

One of the two evolutionaries Ianna had encountered.

“My sister tried to shield me—and was torn in half. The monster, grinning ear to ear, began devouring their corpses right in front of me.”

She was terrified.

Terrified that Hojoon might be telling the truth.

“As it turned to me, neck twisting unnaturally—”

A memory surfaced.

“You appeared. With the moon at your back, you cut down the rampaging magical girl in a single elegant motion.”

Ianna’s Lemegeton was a pure white claymore.

It scattered moonlight in every direction—her weapon of unmatched speed.

With practiced grace, Ianna decapitated the evolutionary.

As its severed stump writhed in an attempt to regenerate, Ianna stomped down and rammed her blade into its throat, silencing it.

She smiled—an ecstatic smile she had never shown before—as she stabbed the neck of what was once a fellow magical girl.

She remembered.

She couldn’t not remember.

Then, covered in blood and lightly flushed, Ianna reached out her hand.

And young Hojoon took it.

‘…’

But—

That was all she could remember.

“I was captivated. Watching you shake the blood from your sword as if it were worthless. Watching you lick your lips at the sight of a magical girl’s corpse.”

“…What?”

His next words struck like a hammer to the skull.

“You looked just like Ae-won’s magical girl. The same eyes. The same face. Approaching the corpse with an ice-cold smile… it moved me to tears.”

(TL NOTE: “Ae-won”  is another magical girl, known for cruelty or disturbing behaviour.)

“No, no… that’s not… that’s a mistake…”

Ae-won.

To say Ianna looked like that monster…?

“With a blissful look, you knelt before the corpse. Then brought your mouth to it.”

“U-uurgh…”

“Like cutting a fine steak—clean, efficient—you swallowed it down. It was a beautiful sight.”

That memory didn’t exist.

It must not exist.

Hojoon slowly removed his hand from her eyes.

His silhouette stood against the light.

He was smiling.

That was all.

“…Don’t lie to me.”

“Teacher.”

It was a box that should never be opened.

“You’re the only magical girl… in decades… who hasn’t been consumed by madness. Why do you think that is?”