Chapter 91: Sacrificial Rite (5)
by AfuhfuihgsIn this situation, the only things pushing Ianna forward were a handful of remaining responsibility and a sense of duty.
Because saving this world was something only she could do.
There was no time for sadness.
She knew all too well the fate this world would face.
There were many people who would be broken in ways that couldn’t even compare to her.
Ianna’s resentment turned inwards, towards herself.
She could never resent the magical girls.
They were merely being controlled by madness.
‘…I wonder if she’s doing well.’
Ianna suddenly recalled the memory of her younger sister.
That is, her younger sister in reality, whose name and face she could never forget even while her mind was merging with ‘Ianna.’
‘If I had known it would be like this, I would have written a letter. If I had known I wouldn’t see her for a very long time…’
Ianna sighed and smiled bitterly.
Drip, drip
A cold liquid soaked Ianna’s head.
When Ianna strenuously looked up, magical girls were standing there.
Magical girls were standing there.
Byeolmu-ri, though she was an outsider, was still a magical girl.
A bond.
The magical girls were furious with Byeolmu-ri.
Unable to bear it any longer, they were venting their twisted madness on Ianna’s small body.
“You b*tch.”
“Heard you saved your own skin by selling out Byeolmu-ri?”
She couldn’t refute it.
Because it was true.
“Ugh, uwegh…….”
“Uook… this b*tch…… what is she spewing?”
“Disgusting. Don’t mind her, let’s go.”
Ridicule and scorn, contempt and persecution.
Ianna’s mind and body had reached their limit.
Losing Byeolmu-ri, who had been, or was about to be, her only ally, was the decisive blow.
Ianna curled up her body.
As her skin touched the ice-cold metal floor, a chilling sensation began to consume her skin.
‘…My eyes.’
Her eyes were gradually closing.
Irrespective of Ianna’s own will.
Her body could no longer endure it.
A sweltering summer, the sight of a countryside house.
It was exactly the same as the scenery she had seen in a dream long ago.
“Th-There…!”
Ianna desperately looked around.
To find that person, the one who had entrusted her with this role.
However.
“Ah, ah…….”
That person was nowhere to be found.
The reason was simple.
They had departed for the heavens a very long time ago.
The sun is setting rapidly.
Amidst the red sunset illuminating Ianna, she suddenly realized.
‘…Alone.’
Nothing else remained around her.
Not the chirping of insects, not the countless stars adorning the night, not even ‘that person’ who had been the only one to show her kindness.
“Ugh, eughk… euh….”
Ianna shed tears without realizing it.
They were tears overflowing with sorrow.
She didn’t want to experience this anymore.
‘Enough, I’ve truly, truly… tried enough.’
All the choices she thought were right had turned out wrong.
For several months, she had desperately tried to get closer to Byeolmu-ri.
To open her heart.
To change the coming future.
However.
“It was all…… a dream….”
It was merely an illusion shown by Aeweon.
She had only experienced a glimpse of the catastrophic future, nothing more, nothing less.
“Please…… save me….”
For the first time, Ianna uttered the words ‘save me.’
‘I can’t bear it.’
It was enough for her alone to suffer as she had until now.
She didn’t want to see anyone else get hurt.
Especially, if it was Byeolmu-ri, even more so….
Ianna clutched her head and began to tremble.
She didn’t want to open her eyes.
She wanted to be forgotten like this.
She wanted to die.
And.
“There.”
A clear and pure voice brushed past her ear.
Ianna stopped sniffling and looked in the direction the sound came from.
‘…No way.’
‘Could it be that ‘that person’ she had longed for so much had truly returned…?’
Her heart began to pound.
Emotions welled up.
Ianna, not knowing what to do, trembled and fixed her gaze.
“You, you’re…….”
Bewilderment was laced in Ianna’s voice.
*
“…Is the autopsy finished?”
“Ah, Deputy Director. We just finished. There were no unusual findings. The severed part was clean, and the inside was completely empty……”
Hojoon frowned.
That wasn’t what he was asking.
“You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?”
“Yes, yes! The eyeball has been secured. As a result of confirmation, all data is also safe! Would you like to check it now?”
The adjutant’s meaningful death.
Hojoon felt a slight sense of suspicion.
A sign always hangs over the place where an unidentified entity appears.
The Bureau catches this ‘sign’ and prepares for the appearance of the unidentified entity.
This was the very reason they had been able to know of the appearance of unidentified entities in advance for decades.
‘However…….’
Without any sign, without even a hint of a dimensional rift, an unidentified entity appeared.
And on the Bureau’s surface level, no less.
“…”
What did this signify?
‘……They already possess intelligence.’
He could be certain.
It was a kind of hunch, an intuition.
A large dark cloud loomed over humanity’s head.
He could be certain of this as well.
If so.
The only one who can protect everything is himself.
‘…Han Byeolhwa.’
It felt as if his internal organs were being torn apart.
Because Hojoon knew full well what kind of things Byeolhwa would suffer at their hands.
However.
He couldn’t ruin a great cause because of personal feelings.
For the grand goal of humanity’s survival, if he had to sacrifice his daughter… and even his own life, he would gladly do so.
Since the situation had completely changed.
There was no more time for things like purges.
“Well then, I’ll play it back!”
The situation where the guard and Ianna faced the unidentified entity began to be projected onto the transparent screen.
An unidentified entity, shaped like a giant eye, hesitantly approached the two.
However, for some reason.
It showed no signs of attacking them.
‘…What is this situation?’
Suddenly, a thought flashed through Hojoon’s mind.
Betrayal.
“What is the Director’s status?”
“…Well, her location signal is not being detected.”
“Issue an order to the magical girls under my command. To apprehend Ianna immediately upon discovery and bring her before me. If she resists, she may be killed.”
The fact that only Ianna survived was, both common-sensically and logically, incomprehensible.
[Absolutely not. Demanding your body. I cannot accept it.]
[…W-Wait a minute.]
‘…It demanded her body?’
It didn’t take long for Hojoon to realize his guess was unfounded.
The unidentified entity seemed to be communicating with the two by emitting some kind of telepathy.
The moment the existence of an intelligent unidentified entity was clearly revealed.
A shadow deepened further on Hojoon’s face.
[Give me… time… to think…….]
Hojoon suddenly thought of the possibility that Ianna had made a ‘deal’ with that thing.
Could his guess have been correct?
It was a problem he couldn’t overlook without confronting Ianna directly.
“Is reverse tracking possible? A considerable amount of Aether particles should have remained at the scene.”
“Well, although the magical girls are on it… tracking seems to be a distant prospect. It will likely take a considerable amount of time to trace the whereabouts of the unidentified entity…….”
“Hmm, is that so.”
He was anxious.
Extremely anxious.
If, Ianna had truly betrayed them.
If it was true that she had made a deal with that thing and offered up the adjutant as collateral for her own life.
And, to deceive him, who could confirm all of this. If she was acting.
“…Despicable.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s nothing. Continue playback.”
Ianna, once the idol of all magical girls.
Just how much more despicable was she planning to become?
Did it mean she betrayed all of humanity and the magical girls just to save her own skin…?
Even, while submitting to an unidentified entity……?
No.
It couldn’t be.
Hojoon wanted to believe so.
He couldn’t possibly imagine Ianna begging an unidentified entity for her life.
Click
Hojoon loaded his pistol without realizing it.
He couldn’t stop his hands from trembling.
‘……If it’s true that she really betrayed us.’
He had no choice but to make a decision.
With the purge also halted, Ianna’s value was now only ‘that.’
To Hojoon, Ianna was more precious than anyone else.
Perhaps, even much more than his own daughter.
Rather than watch such a person’s shame be known to the whole world and her name be dishonoured.
Ending it with his own hands would be the right answer.
If Ianna had known this fact, she would have marveled, saying, ‘Like father, like son, indeed…’
[Specifically… what… are you… planning to do… to me…….]
The moment Ianna staggered and reached out her hand, the screen flickered.
Then, nothing more could be seen.
It was the point at which the adjutant died.
His certainty was immediate.
Ianna had betrayed them, or at the very least, cooperated with those things.
If not… her being the only survivor couldn’t be explained.
And.
Ianna’s body.
Except for some severed limbs, it was clean, without a single wound.
Rather, it was gradually ‘recovering.’
‘…Are they after that body?’
Suddenly, Hojoon, having thought of a groundbreaking method, smiled wryly.
Because an idea that would protect Ianna’s honor and deliver a fatal blow to the unidentified entities had come to him.
“…Bring the Director, no. Bring Ianna here immediately.”
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