episode_0352

Swish!

I hate being in pain.

That’s only natural.

“Hah…! Hah…!”

When I run as hard as I can, I start to wish I could walk slowly and look around.

When I walk, I want to stop and rest.

When I stand still, I want to lie down and sleep comfortably.

And when I’m lying blankly, I reach for my smartphone on the bedside table.

Then, watching videos of other people running while munching on snacks… Yeah.

Squelch—!

“Aaaagh…!”

Eunha is someone who prefers comfort.

She wants to stay holed up at home, patting the bellies of babies in her arms, living an easy life.

Who in the world would want to suffer?

But avoiding pain now will only bring greater suffering later.

Because she doesn’t want to regret it.

She’s just living like everyone else, enduring ‘small’ pains.

“Hah… Hah…! Ugh—!”

Eunha thought positively.

Pain with meaning gives people courage.

Splash!

A sealed room.

The musty stench of the basement mingles with the smell of blood.

Eunha, after vomiting blood for who knows how many times, scanned her surroundings with blurred vision.

‘It hurts… Damn thing. Even sawing won’t make it leave.’

She saw tightly shut steel doors.

This place was the basement of an orphanage. The room where ‘someone’ had been locked away to live as a child.

A stifling environment without a single breath of fresh air—no place for humans.

And the ‘someone’ who survived being trapped here couldn’t have been entirely human.

Whoever it was, she didn’t want to meet them.

They’d undoubtedly be deranged.

‘Then it just means I haven’t sawed enough. Let’s cut deeper.’

Splash. Splash.

Blood pooling up to her calves.

Eunha readjusted her grip on the bloody handsaw, slipping repeatedly because of the blood.

Torn limbs floated in the pool of blood, mixing with unidentifiable things, emitting a horrifying stench.

‘Only my limbs are floating… Is it because they’re fatty?’

How long had she been trapped here?

Her mind was numb from the pain—she couldn’t even remember why she was here or what she was doing.

Her head felt heavy as stone.

…Still, she must be smarter than Sarang Kim right now.

『Aaaah…!』

Fortunately, she remembered one thing.

The monster before her had to end here.

“Hah…! Hah… Get up. We have to get out.”

The orphanage ‘director’.

How much resentment must have festered for them to return as a monster?

Grotesquely elongated limbs resembling a blind spider, a black nun’s habit, and a strange gurgling sound emanating from the chest—this was the abomination.

But since it attacked without following ‘rules,’ it probably wasn’t a proper monster.

Eunha blinked her healed eye and stepped toward the ‘director’.

『……If only you… hadn’t left…!』

Crash!

A long arm grabbed her head and slammed it against the wall.

The back of her skull struck the hard surface, draining the strength from her hands.

…Crack!

Eunha clenched the handsaw slipping from her fingers and dragged it down the ‘director’s wrist holding her head.

Grriiiiind!

Blood sprayed, followed by a scream.

As the ‘director’ recoiled, clutching its wrist, Eunha collapsed into the pool of blood.

(When one’s skills are ill-suited for combat, the method is simple. Use ‘Physical Enhancement’ to dodge as best you can and strike when possible.)

‘Harin Ban… My body’s too messed up to dodge properly, so I’ll just take hits while fighting back.’

Splash!… Drip. Drip.

Eunha immediately pulled herself up, retrieving the handsaw from the blood, grinning faintly.

A flickering lightbulb in the dark room.

The ‘director’s arms, sawed countless times to the bone, dangled pitifully.

Eunha had one goal.

To force the ‘director’ to leave this room, breaking its own ‘rule’.

But faced with a monster fueled by resentment, she had no idea how to proceed—

So she started by sawing.

Torment it for a few hours like night patrol, and maybe it’d flee on its own.

“How should I make you leave? You’re vicious.”

Dragging her convulsing body, she approached the ‘director’.

Even as her limbs were torn and twisted, she forced herself forward, regenerating bit by bit.

Though relying solely on willpower had its limits—her consciousness flickered in and out—she endured better than expected.

Splash!

Her legs gave way—Eunha collapsed into the blood, gripping the ‘director’s leg.

It hurt.

She wanted to die from the pain, but death wouldn’t come, driving her mad.

But seeing the bastard she hated suffer made the pain bearable.

‘Hoo… Okay. I can do this.’

『Get away! Why are you…!』

A woman reduced to nothing but tattered cloth and blood.

Eunha clung to the ‘director’s leg, raised the handsaw—

Grrind! Grrrnk!

This was all she knew how to do.

Not mechanically skilled like Harin Ban,

Not effortlessly supernatural like Eunbyeol,

Not physically adept like Sarang Kim or Hayang Kim.

『Useless bitch…! After I raised you…!』

“Yeah. What good am I alive?”

But against monsters like this—

Trapped alone in a cell, she alone could survive.

“Yet here you are, struggling against a useless idiot like me.”

The rule: Do not leave.

The resentment the ‘director’ carved into the [Black Book].

If that vanished, so would the rule.

『Why… go this far…! Just live here quietly like before!』

“…Because of me, people are trapped in the [facility].”

What were Sarang Kim and Hayang Kim doing now?

Were they looking for her?

It’d be over soon—she just wanted them to wait a little longer.

“I’ll take responsibility… I’ll save them all. So just disappear. Let’s go home.”

Crunch!

A grotesque sound came from her body.

Clenching her teeth, Eunha gripped the ‘director’s leg and sawed through its thigh.

Grrind! Grrrnk!

Blood pooled up to her knees.

The endless flow formed a lake.

『It hurts! It hurts!』

“Get out! Get out!”

Blood surged.

Drops splattered onto the ceiling, dripping down, soaking her hair.

…….

Splash! Splash!

Basement Floor 7. A room sealed by heavy steel doors.

Turning away from the thrashing pair, if one quietly observed the surroundings—

The walls were covered in crude ‘drawings’.

A child’s artwork.

Without crayons or colored pencils, scraped into the walls with bloodied fingertips.

(This is where you’ll live from now on.)

A girl playing happily with other children in the warm orphanage.

A drawing etched while lying prone on the floor.

A child’s hopeful vision, swallowed by the rising tide of blood.

(You are a worthless human being.)

(Nothing will change, no matter how hard you try.)

(We will give you purpose. Eunha, just suffer for us.)

A girl being devoured by monsters.

Her dominant hand gone, clumsily drawn with the other.

A child’s suffering, drowned in blood up to her knees.

(Who… are you?)

(……Star-Lady?)

(I’m Eunha.)

A girl talking with ‘friends’ through a steel door.

‘Harin Ban’, who visited the basement daily, gave her hope for tomorrow.

The girl and Star-Lady, separated by a door.

And one tiny rabbit.

Three girls escaping the basement, sitting in a flower field, living happily.

Dreams of the future, swallowed by splattering blood.

“Hah…! Hah…!”

And Eunha—

Now a grown woman, saw it all.

(Let me make you forget. So Eunha can be happy.)

The orphanage burning crimson.

Harin Ban holding Eunha, tears streaming down.

Beyond the open steel door lay the ‘director’, dead with a kitchen knife through her heart.

“….”

(In this orphanage… Eunha, you have no good memories.)

Eunha blankly stared down at ‘Harin Ban’.

Past Harin observed the ‘thing’ standing before her with an agonized expression.

“….”

A suffocating feeling.

Was the burning smoke choking her?

She quietly looked at her own hands.

Skin dyed dark red with dried blood.

Perhaps because of the flames, it looked black.

A person entirely black.

Coincidence?

Why were these memories surfacing now?

“….”

But Eunha—

To Harin’s claim that there were ‘no good memories’—

Smiled in response.

“…Still, someone came to talk to me here every night… That was enough to make me happy.”

(…….)

“Too precious a memory to discard. I’ll carry it with me.”

Crunch…

Eunha hugged Harin.

Embracing the painful past.

“So I’ll endure the pain alone.”

Be happy.

May others be as happy as I am hurting.

Swoosh…

Pain with meaning gives people courage.

Eunha willingly gave her pain purpose.

(……You…)

“Tell me everything.”

And so, Eunha—

Spoke the magical words to the Harin of her memories.

…….

…….

“…Hah.”

She came to.

Had she blacked out?

Grind…

She stopped sawing.

Eunha looked down at the monster beneath her.

『Ugh… Uhh… Only you… Only you…』

A mutilated lump now drowning in blood up to its thighs, limbs severed by the handsaw.

Even in this state, the ‘director’ kept repeating the same words.

This battle of endurance, fueled solely by pain, had no easy conclusion—both sides were too stubborn.

“Wow… Still not leaving.”

『…….』

Its gaze screamed, You sawed off my limbs—did you expect me to leave?!

Eunha met the ‘director’s hate-filled glare.

Grrooowl…

The nun’s habit, shredded by the saw, revealed an emaciated torso beneath.

A gaping hole in the center of its chest—stabbed long ago by a kitchen knife.

Even now, thick blood bubbled from the unhealed wound, accompanied by a wet gurgle.

“….”

Already dead.

A monster resurrected by undying resentment.

Hack—

Eunha spat blood, set down the saw, and spoke.

“…Why?”

『…….』

Just… why?

A loaded question.

Painful memories swirling in her mind, the ‘director’ weakly struggled before answering.

Hatred in its eyes.

Swaying regrets in the wind.

『……One life sacrificed ensures eternal life for all.』

Somehow, after being sawed apart, the ‘director’ spoke more fluently.

Though every word faltered from pain, each one stabbed deep.

『If only worthless you suffered… The rest could be happy. So I gave you purpose.』

“…And me?”

『The others… would agree.』

Others would agree.

Eunha bit her lip, remembering the potion lab.

『So I used you. I alone could give you worth.』

“….”

『Everything I did… was for everyone. Everyone but you.』

Why?

The hole in its chest belonged to the ‘director’—

But Eunha was the one in pain.

“Without a single word to me? Who gave you the right?”

『……Had you come sooner… My daughter might’ve lived.』

Hatred. Hollow hatred.

What twisted this into a monster?

She didn’t want to know.

『If only you hadn’t left… If only you weren’t late… You killed her.』

So that was it.

Its daughter died long ago—its heart already had a gaping void.

That’s why it called Eunha worthless.

But it didn’t matter.

Suffering didn’t excuse what it did.

(Live a life shared with all.)

(Perhaps… Your parents ■■ Could you become useful?)

(I shall be your mother.)

Grind!

She sawed again.

A clumsy cut through its elongated limb.

“You said you’d be my mother. Then why? You broke your word.”

『Your parents… Would’ve felt the same.』

Saw.

When she first arrived, the ‘director’ had warmly welcomed her.

Did it know how happy she’d felt back then?

『You are worthless.』

“….”

『No one loves a child who murdered their own parents and ran away. So I gave you worth.』

The ‘director’s words were too disjointed to follow.

Just incoherent barbs meant to hurt.

Do not leave.

Even sawed apart, the ‘director’ mocked her.

All it wanted was for Eunha—

Who escaped once—

To be trapped here again in misery.

Hatredo beyond death.

No reason to flee even through pain.

So long as one suffered, all was well.

Like the monster she once faced at [Cheongryong Department Store].

No regard for ‘rules’—only vengeance.

『I won’t leave… Eunha.』

“Oh… Most people who said that didn’t keep their promise.”

『You’re trapped here with me.』

“I already said that first.”

Grind.

And Eunha—

While half-listening, had a thought.

This hurt terribly.

Head bashed against walls, body torn apart…

Yet she hadn’t broken its ‘rule’.

Maybe she should report this to the [Black Figure]… Might be amusing.

“Director, wanna hear something funny? I had to rewrite my abduction plan for the [facility] several times.”

『……?』

“Turns out… Even if you don’t leave, there are other ways.”

Thanks to its relentless torment,

Eunha was attacked regardless of rules.

(『Rules must be upheld. 『The penalty for breaking rules also follows rules.』)

Her objective—

Make the ‘director’ break its rule.

But that rule didn’t have to be do not leave.

“Pain drowns all other thoughts. Now, I’ll go meet the [Black Figure].”

『……No. You can’t leave.』

Half-dead, Eunha dragged herself forward as flesh split under the saw.

Her vow to force it outside.

Its hatred toward her.

Distracted by these, the ‘director’ forgot another ‘rule’.

『You stay here. No one will take you. Not even to meet them.』

“….”

『Your place is here.』

Limbs severed, the monster sneered.

Eunha smiled silently.

Plenty of options.

『No one… will free worthless you from this plaaa—』

SKREEEEEEEE!!!

And then—

A deafening screech of splitting metal—

The sky tore open.

…….

『……Huh?』

KWA-BOOM!

From above—a slash of black wind carved through the ‘director’s neck.

Blood geysered.

Drops clung to Eunha’s cheeks.

Light flooded through the ceiling shattered above, illuminating the dark basement.

“….”

Dazed, Eunha set down the saw and looked up.

“Eunha Dao-Companion! Are you there?”

Azure Heaven.

The sword that splits the sky.

From the [facility] to the basement’s depths—

The slash tore through seven floors—

Backlit by white fluorescents, Sarang Kim shouted into the rift.

“…Sarang Kim.”

“Sorry if I hit you! Went by instinct—hope it worked!”

Whoosh!

A woman in white martial arts robes leaped down, landing beside Eunha.

『……What…』

“I’m her mom now.”

Crinkling her nose at the stench, Hayang Kim removed her outer robe, draping it over Eunha.

Light spilled from above.

The once pitch-black room now revealed a sky so blue and clear—

“Are you alright, Eunha?”

“…”

“Eunha?”

“…No. It hurt.”

Uncharacteristically, Eunha whined.

Not as bad as she’d expected.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

4. Relinquish worldly attachments.

– Do not leave.

– Hold onto memories.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do not leave.

Shared Living Guidelines.

Swoosh.

Hayang Kim offered her hand.

“Let’s go up. It’s easier to open from outside.”

And so, Eunha—

Staring silently at the woman who came for her—

“…Okay. Hayang Kim… Mom.”

Smiled and took her hand.

Time to leave.