Chapter 92: Final Act – Toward a Happy Ending (1)

There was no focus in Ianna’s eyes at all.

It was an expression where one couldn’t tell where on earth she was looking at.
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Had she perhaps guessed the fate that awaited her?
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“I…….”
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An uncharacteristic appearance.

Ianna, trembling, clung to Hojoon.

With a face terrified by what she had seen.

She desperately tried to burrow into Hojoon’s embrace.
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Hojoon, seeing Ianna like that, could be certain.
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“…As of today, I am relieving you of your position. I am the ‘Acting Director General.’”
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Ianna trembled as if she would break, then nodded her head as if resigned.

Hojoon felt a sense of unease but didn’t bother to delve into it.
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Ianna had already given up.
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“From now on, you cannot leave your room.”
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“Yes….”
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Ianna replied in a lifeless voice.
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In the first place, her body could no longer move properly.

Hojoon, aware of this fact, was imposing this ‘punishment.’
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And.
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‘……That would be better.’
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Hojoon immediately began to summon world-renowned scholars to the Bureau.

He had secretly called outstanding minds in the fields of biotechnology and ‘chemistry’ to the Bureau.
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Ianna did not know this fact.

Nor could she have known.

The adjutant, who had been Ianna’s eyes, ears, and body, was already dead.
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“Heuk…….”
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She tried to hold it in, she definitely tried to hold it in, but tears kept flowing.

Ianna banged her head against the wall and cried endlessly.
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Losing something was all too familiar.

Losing a precious person, even more so.

It should have been like that.
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However.
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Ianna’s mind was gradually becoming numb.

Her will, once as strong as steel, slowly twisted.

After the adjutant died, not even a trace of her will could be found.
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What came into the collapsed Ianna’s line of sight was her own white hair.
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Ianna began to tear at her hair with her intact hand, but.
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“Ah…….”
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Ianna no longer even had the strength to grip her hair.
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Like a madwoman, Ianna cried pitifully and giggled.

She could no longer control herself.

Because there was no such thing as a limiter left.
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It wasn’t because of physical pain.

The heart, a person’s heart, had shattered into pieces.

Ianna no longer wished for anyone to be harmed because of her.
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“Haha….”
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She didn’t know if hours, or even days, had passed.

Ianna hadn’t moved an inch from her spot.

She had stopped eating and sleeping, lost in thought.
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‘What I saw in my dream….’
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Ianna had met a truly unexpected person in her dream.

Perhaps, she had found the key to unraveling the mystery.

Ianna decided to bet everything on that tiny glimmer of hope.
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Resolve.
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Ianna could no longer make normal judgments.

A week at most.

Any longer, and her mind would surely break down.

Of course, not just her mind.

Her body, maintained by a strange power, couldn’t endure much longer either.
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It meant death was right around the corner.
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Through the ‘conversation’ with the person who appeared in her dream, she knew.

What situation she was in, and what end she would meet.
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There is no predetermined future.

Just as the future Aeweon had shown had all changed, the future is deeply related to the present.

If you change the present, the future can also change.
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Ianna, truly earnestly, mustered her last strength and made a vow.
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‘Please… let my mind not break. Let me endure just a little longer.’
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And.
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The people around her.
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‘Even if it’s just a little, please treat me kindly.’
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She earnestly prayed and prayed again.
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It didn’t matter if it was faint.

She didn’t even need a fingernail’s worth; she just wanted to feel warmth once.

She wanted to feel human warmth.

That was the only thought in Ianna’s mind.
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“……Miss Ianna.”
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Screeeech
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The door slid open left and right and Hojoon entered.

Ianna guessed her fate.

This was the crucial point.
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‘Enduring it.’
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Enduring the arduous and painful surgery, that itself was the future she desperately desired.

It was the key to such a future.
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Of course, Ianna herself was not in the future she envisioned.

A selfless and benevolent personality.

Ianna had stopped caring about herself a very long time ago.
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Her heart felt considerably lighter.

Ianna smiled forlornly and grasped Hojoon’s hand.
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However.
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Even if it was just before entering the final phase.
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She wanted to feel human warmth.

Because it felt as if her heart would waver if things continued like this.

Ianna wanted to steady her wavering heart by feeling ‘human warmth.’
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Just in case… just in very rare case…… she didn’t want to leave any room to fall for their tricks.

She didn’t want to be swayed by her heart as a weakness and submit to them.
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For her to die as a human, to prove she had a human heart, and for everyone.
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Anyone would do.
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What Ianna wanted was very small.
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Warm words, encouragement, comfort, anything else didn’t matter, anyone didn’t matter, she just wanted someone to look back at her.
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She wanted someone to acknowledge that she had existed in this world.
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“Let’s go.”
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“…Yes.”
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Of course, Ianna’s last wish was a distant one.
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*
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​‘…Has she resigned herself?’
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Hojoon was a little puzzled.

Because it seemed Ianna had also vaguely guessed.
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If only he could annihilate the unidentified entities, he could offer his heart to a demon.

It meant he wouldn’t shy away from any means or methods.

Hojoon had devised a stratagem to annihilate the unidentified entities.
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‘Biological weapon.’
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Unlike humans, unidentified entities are silicon-based life forms.

The management organizations established all over the world had agonized for decades over how to efficiently kill unidentified entities.
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It seemed there was no other way but to rely on magical girls, and even then, on their incomplete Aether energy.
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He devised a method to completely decompose silicon itself, causing a photodisintegration phenomenon to drive them out.
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Hojoon’s idea was simple.
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Plant a ‘plague’ in Ianna’s body and hand her over to them.
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The activation of the ‘plague’ begins immediately after crossing dimensions.

The ‘plague,’ spreading through the atmosphere, will decompose the unidentified entities at an atomic level after a short incubation period.
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There was only one condition for this plan to succeed.
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That they devour Ianna.
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The ‘plague’ cannot be used on an ordinary human body.

Even a magical girl cannot withstand its power, but Ianna, who was somehow still alive even after her body became like this, might be able to.
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Hojoon, making such a premature assumption, moved Ianna to the medical office.
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Ianna did not resist.

If she could save everyone with her own efforts, it was a rather cheap price to pay.
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Regarding Hojoon’s intentions, and the existence of the ‘plague’ to be implanted in her stomach, Ianna knew very well, but she kept silent.

She didn’t utter a single word.
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“Miss Ianna.”
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“Fufu, Hojoon….”
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Hojoon prodded Ianna slightly, but Ianna merely smiled faintly with a very peaceful expression.

She made no other move.
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“Hey, you know. For the last time.”
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Just before entering surgery, Ianna, after some hesitation, opened her mouth.
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Hojoon did not answer.

Because he no longer had the right to see Ianna.

All of this was a tragedy he himself had brought about.

A villain must remain a villain until the very end.
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He wished Ianna’s resentment would be directed solely at himself.

For the great cause of annihilating the unidentified entities, and… for the daughter he could no longer see.
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He had no intention of making shabby excuses.
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And if.
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‘If there is such a thing as an afterlife.’
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If an afterlife existed, even if he died tens, hundreds, thousands of times for Ianna, he would not be able to fully atone for his sins.
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Hojoon was prepared for everything.
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“…”
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Hojoon left the operating room without looking back.
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Ianna seemed to hesitate for a moment, then stared blankly at the spot where Hojoon had disappeared and reached out her hand.
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For the last time.
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Truly, for the last time,
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She just wanted to feel human warmth.
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In her fading consciousness, Ianna recalled Hojoon’s departing figure.
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*
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​The world was dyed ash-gray.

It was due to an unprecedented heavy snowfall.

The heavy snow, which hadn’t stopped for three days, finally ceased today.
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White breath plumed. Ianna, her eyes dim, shone them as she looked at the sky, the ground, and her surroundings.
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‘……Cold.’
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It was cold enough to make her body tremble.

Ianna shivered and continued to crawl through the snowfield.
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“Hee, heuk…!”

Cold.

It was so cold.

The naked Ianna couldn’t overcome the softly piled snow.

The cold, enough to make her teeth chatter, felt like it would freeze her head.
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Ianna lay outstretched on the white snowfield.

Her tiny, naked body sparkled, reflecting the sunlight high in the sky.

Ianna unconsciously squeezed her eyes shut and looked up at that sky.
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And.
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​Hands.
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Countless hands of unidentified entities were reaching for Ianna.