episode_0388

Deng——————.

Deng——————.

The reverberating bell resembles the passage of time.

The tale of an old man who was far from wise.

Left alone in an aging world, he climbed the belfry every evening and rang the bell.

Deng——————.

The bell’s chime, tinged with twilight, spreads to the ends of the earth.

Chasing after the departing years.

So that you, who left with time, might hear it.

Deng——————.

That I am still here,

That thanks to you, I am living well,

Deng————————.

That the old man, who once vowed to become the wisest in the world, remains in this place.

Deng————————.

The echoing bell carries the weight of years.

“…….”

A chime that carries time, flowing like time itself.

Though all it holds within is resentment,

It is a heart mourning those who have departed.

Deng—————————.

Reach them.

Those of you who left.

The little lamb yearning for someone now gone.

Deng————————.

Still unwise, ‘I’ cannot go there,

So may the bell of my resentment,

Reach you instead.

Deng———————.

I earnestly wish it.

…….

…….

Deng——————.

The bell tolls.

The spreading resentment touches the crimson dates ripening on the jujube tree.

“The bell… It sounds clumsier than usual. Must be Miss Eunha ringing it.”

“Meow…”

As the sun sets.

Ban Harin, clutching a fluffy tuft of fur, gazes out the darkened window.

A tiny, empty funeral hall where no mourners come.

A woman with an expressionless face.

She tilts her ear to the bell toll that breaks the stifling silence.

“Unable to come in person, she must be conveying her feelings this way instead.”

“Meow…… Meow…”

And Yang So-ah, who had turned her hair black with the [Fiber Manipulation] skill.

With hands clasped neatly, she offers a small prayer toward the distant sound of the bell.

Deng—————.

Only now is she holding the funeral for her grandmother she couldn’t before.

Thanks to Eunha.

She wanted to quietly finish it alone…

But the people from Eunha’s side kept coming and unsettling her heart.

Thud… Thud…

An old man in a security guard’s cap cautiously approached the funeral hall.

The grandfather who resembled a fortress wall.

With a benevolent smile, ‘that thing’ places a single clay figurine—one it had molded—before the funeral hall and wordlessly leaves.

A stranger.

Someone ‘this time’ acquainted with Eunha, no doubt.

“……Yang.”

Fluffy…

A troubled but warm feeling.

Yang So-ah, curled up like a hedgehog, bumps her head softly against Ban Harin’s chest.

“I… want to be alone…”

“Normally, among those who say they want to be alone, very few truly mean it.”

Thud, thud.

Yang So-ah continues bumping her head against Ban Harin.

Her round horns poke painfully into Ban Harin’s chest.

Thud.

Annoyed by the prodding, Ban Harin wrinkles her brow and jams a tennis ball onto one of Yang So-ah’s horns.

“Miss Yang So-ah. I am the kind of person who never changes expression no matter what I hear, nor do I react vividly.”

“…….”

A flat reaction?

Yang So-ah lifted her head.

Ban Harin, now doodling a face on the tennis ball with a glow-in-the-dark marker.

……Is that really a ‘flat’ reaction?

“To be precise, I simply can’t be bothered to react.”

I see.

A strange woman indeed.

“So, if you have something to say, say it to me. Miss Eunha likely sent me here for precisely that purpose.”

“……Really…?”

“That’s a lie. She merely told me to observe from a distance.”

“Yang…?”

Definitely a strange woman.

Should tell Eunha about this.

“…….”

But Ban Harin’s hands, combing through her hair without hesitation, were warm.

So Yang So-ah quietly nestled into her embrace and exhaled the lingering chill in her body.

The expelled cold drifted away, vanishing into the dark night sky beyond the funeral hall.

“…….”

A quiet night.

Yet not a lonely one.

Her head no longer aches.

“……Ban Harin, sunbae…”

“I’m listening.”

“Grandma’s story… will you listen…?”

Leaning against the world’s most expressionless woman,

Yang So-ah softly unraveled ‘her own story.’

A peaceful, comfortable night.

…….

…….

Deng——————.

Resentment.

Piling resentment.

One night, long ago, she looked up and saw the North Star.

A guiding star she once thought forever out of reach.

‘We’ saw a path illuminated by starlight.

Deng——————.

But the towering resentment reached for the sky,

So ‘we’ stretched our hands toward the heavens that drew nearer.

The unchanging guiding star.

I wanted it for myself alone.

…….

“Ugh… Ah, too mixed.”

Thud-thunk!

The bell stopped.

Night had fallen.

Thud! Thud-thunk!

Hunter Association Central Detention Center.

In the darkened visitation room, Eunha collapsed, vomiting sticky blood.

“Cough! Cough!”

Blood spilled from her lips.

Plop…

A chunk of organs, torn away like a palm-sized scrap, dropped to the floor.

Like greedy children fighting for a favorite toy,

Her roughly torn innards spilled outward.

‘How many did I mix just now? The park grandpa, Eunhong, someone from downstairs… Three, maybe?’

Ugh—————!

More blood gushed out.

Did she overdo it?

Eunha, who had purged her insides repeatedly,

Staggered from sudden anemia, leaning against the wall as she gazed down at the unconscious… deeply wrinkled ‘old man’ beneath the visitation desk.

…….

The head of the Potion Preparation Room.

The one who overdosed on ‘Original Solution,’ unable to stop his own regenerative ability.

Once a boy in his early teens, he now lay gasping, returned to the form of a shabby old man.

Thud…

Eunha hadn’t done much.

Simply unlocked a sealed door and emptied the head’s memories.

And then, until the regenerative power of the ‘Original Solution’ drained away,

She stole his years with the tolling of the twilight bell.

The result was the old man before her.

Wrinkled hands and age spots. Brittle, snow-white hair like a broom’s bristles.

The scars of time’s passage evoked pity in those who saw him.

For they could guess how little time he had left.

‘Had the head drunk even slightly less ‘Original Solution,’ he would’ve died of old age… Close call.’

Cough!

Eunha spat more blood onto the floor.

Raising her head with effort, her lips curled into her usual languid smile.

The aftereffects of mingling with countless horrors.

Endless agony as her organs were torn apart… But pain is fine.

Eventually, the [Auto-Recovery] skill would heal her wounds anyway.

If the aftereffects were ‘merely’ painful… that might even be a blessing.

She thought positively.

‘It hurts… Miss Kang Nari once suffered from indigestion after dinner… Is this what that feels like?’

Cough…

Struggling to rise.

All the while, the fallen head beneath the desk remained unconscious.

“……I kept my promise.”

The head, now an old man.

No way to know how much memory was lost, but surely all traces of the horrors were gone.

Now returned to his original aged body,

He would live happily, forgetting all ‘painful memories.’

Memories of horrors,

Of Eunha and [Galaxy Potion].

All forgotten.

Happily.

……Yet,

Others would not ignore him.

Would they feign amnesia?

Would they suspect memories might revive under the right trigger?

He knew the recipe for [Galaxy Potion].

They wouldn’t let him go easily.

“…….”

Someday, like how ‘I’ was once attacked for no reason,

May you too suffer without knowing why.

Resentment does not fade.

“You can resent me if you want.”

A muttered whisper.

Looking down at the head.

Still unconscious.

“…….”

Collapsed on the floor,

Gasping for breath—an old man.

“…….”

Unsatisfying.

Something feels unsatisfying.

Do I really have to let him live?

“…….』

After knocking properly,

Counting the numbers,

Entering by the ‘rules,’ wasn’t it?

Shouldn’t rules be followed?

『…….』

She bowed her head.

Her enormous chest blocked her view downward.

Swish…

Raising her right hand,

Visible was a ‘thread-saw,’ clutched so tightly her tendons bulged.

An aged thread-saw.

Once, ‘we’ wished for a destiny that would never sever.

A single red thread that would never snap, no matter the hardship.

Crrk…

Eunha lowered her head.

A slab of living meat came into view.

Its breathing grated on her ears.

……Cut just a little, and no one would know.

Just a little.

Just one joint.

Saw through it and leave.

Rules are rules.

『…….』

Resentment mixes in.

The years departing with the bell resembled ‘white waves,’

The ‘painful memories’ were like unbreakable thread,

May our thread-saw reach you who left.

Saw through the pain.

Forget the years.

May the unbroken red thread reach you.

『…….』

Swish…

She bent down.

Pressed the thread-saw to the head’s shoulder.

Just a little.

One joint.

From shoulder to rib.

Until the noisy heartbeat stopped.

Deng. Deng. Deng.

A heartbeat like tolling bells.

Bell chimes.

Too loud.

Must cut it away.

The undying resentment,

The slab of meat before her.

Gggeuk…

‘That thing.’ moved the saw.

…….

…….

『……Child.』

Thud!

Then,

‘Eunha’ raised the thread-saw high

And slammed it into her own skull.

Thud! Thud-thud! Gggeuk!

Blood flowed.

A thin thread split her scalp.

Her head felt refreshingly light.

Crrk!

Her saw-gripping hand went limp.

Just a little more.

Eunha bashed her head against the wall.

Thunk!

Thud!

For a moment, her vision whited out.

Then, wiping away the blood, Eunha staggered upright.

“Phew…… Good! Recovery complete!”

Her mind cleared.

All fine.

…Earlier, she thought she heard the cry of a ‘beast,’

But it must’ve been her imagination.

“Who tries to kill people with borrowed hands?”

She checked the old man under the desk.

Only his shoulder fabric was slightly cut—no wound.

This was enough.

Hadn’t she decided to spare the head after all?

Thud. Thud.

A refreshed smile graced her lips.

Eunha, with the saw still embedded in her head, spun lightly and strode away.

Packing the [Black Book] into her carrier, wiping the blood streaking her cheek,

“Then, farewell! Head of Preparation! It was nice meeting you.”

One tale concludes.

Eunha left the visitation room, smiling as always.

…….

…….

Thud-thud!

The unconscious head,

To a peaceful, clean reality.

Eunha, lips upturned,

Stepped past the nauseating blood puddle,

Back to where she belonged.

Clank!

And so, the visitation door closed.

Leaving only blood in the dark room.

…….

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

…….

“Phew… Survived another day.”

Her tasks complete.

On her way back after meeting with Chief Go Yeong-in and the head.

Now all Hunter Association-related matters would be settled.

It’s been such a long road.

Crash!

Detention Center, first-floor hallway.

Eunha’s legs gave way, and she tumbled forward.

Perhaps due to the saw in her head, her legs moved oddly, causing repeated falls.

‘……Come to think of it, could Yang So-ah hear the bell too?… Hope she heard it.’

Hugging her chest, sore like pressed hotteok from the falls.

Slowly rising, Eunha leaned on a wall and took step after shaky step.

Rattle…

One hand dragged her carrier,

The other cradled her ample chest.

The old thread-saw stuck from her head like a rooster’s comb.

Thankfully, Guild Leader Kim Ha-yang evacuated the others.

‘Back then, I used to vertically wear Mom’s hairband as a toy… Nostalgic.’

Sweet memories.

The detention center evoked strange recollections for Eunha.

Maybe the saw in her head made thoughts fragment.

Thud… Thud…

The first floor unfolded before her.

Its design—more like a school hallway than an apartment. Every window and door barred.

Was it always like this?

Eunha, unfamiliar with detention centers, couldn’t say.

“Dyed so red, so red~”

Traversing the hall, Eunha reached the detention center entrance.

Humming a familiar nursery rhyme, she checked her uniform.

The wide-open black martial arts gi was drenched in blood now dried near-black, barely noticeable.

Thinking little of it, Eunha stepped toward the exit.

Clank!

Then, with relief,

She grasped the iron door’s handle and pulled…

Clank… Clank-clank!

It wouldn’t budge.

“……Ah~.”

Heavy iron door.

Eunha laughed.

Lacked the strength again, huh?

Clank!

Used ‘Physical Enhancement’ to twist the handle.

Clank! Clank!

Still locked.

“……Ah~. Damn heavy door.”

Clank-clank-clank!

Grinning, she heaved at the door.

Leaning her weight, pushing backward—nothing.

“Ah~…”

Lips curling upward.

Still smiling, Eunha opened her carrier.

Click.

A metallic blood stench wafted from the open case.

The scent of a new ‘guide’ inscribed in the [Black Book].

“……Ah. Seriously.”

Can’t I just leave?

Tapping the ‘thread-saw’ in her head, Eunha flipped through the [Black Book].

…….

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

– This guide is for clients who…

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

…….

Hunter Association Central Detention Center.

A place wholly unfamiliar to Eunha.

How many have ever visited a detention center or prison?

A place for sinners.

Eunha should have no connection to it.

Because she ran away.

( Later, when ■■ grows up healthy and becomes an adult… Be a great hunter everyone admires. )

Resentment stirs.

A thing of the past.

Detention centers. Prisons.

Places sinners go.

Was that why?

Was that why the [Auto-Recovery] skill imprisoned her in this world?

No way to know.

“There you are. Been searching forever.”

End of the day.

Jailbreak.

With the [Cheoncheon Swordsman] Guild Leader Kim Ha-yang.

“……Guild Leader Kim…”

“Address.”

“Mom Kim Ha-yang. Weren’t you supposed to leave with the cat Chief?”

“Returned. Worried about Eunha.”

Kim Ha-yang stood in the dark hallway.

White as her robes, white as her name,

A white person.

( 『Then, unnie! What kind of person are your parents?』 )

( 『People who stay by my side when I’m struggling.』 )

Like the ‘Blood Mother’ who answered the delusional girl’s question in that hospital,

The words of a failing mother became truth in the ‘girl’s’ heart.

Eunha faced Kim Ha-yang.

“……What’s that on your head?”

“Headache remedy.”

Kim Ha-yang stepped closer to Eunha.

Studying the embedded thread-saw with interest.

Her cross-shaped pupils guarded Eunha’s side.

“Hmm… Want me to pull it out?”

“What?”

Thud!

“Ow! Why pull it out?!”

“Apologies. You said ‘sure.’”

Crrk!

“Gaah…!”

“Put it back.”

“Th… Thanks… I’ll handle it, so don’t touch.”

“Understood. You have an astonishingly sturdy body.”

Insane.

Eunha walked the detention hallway with Kim Ha-yang.