Chapter 63: Academy Heroine's Right Diagonal Back Seat
Chapter 63
[Burn it.]
The voice echoed in my head.
As I decided to follow it, flames ignited.
[Burn it all.]
Every time I heard the voice, I felt my heart tremble.
The flames that started within my body slowly spread.
[You hate being hurt, don't you? But they keep hurting you. Didn't it make you angry each time? Don't you despise those who hurt you? Don't you wish they would disappear?]
The emotion, akin to flames, was as red as if it were coming from inside me.
The flames were dyed with the color of that emotion, causing my heart to quake.
It felt like my insides were burning with the boiling emotion.
The flames that began to burn hotter than usual engulfed the small room.
[If you hate being hurt, just burn everything that causes you pain.]
I slowly raised my head at the voice echoing in my mind.
I looked beyond the transparent wall where the one who always hurt me stood.
It was no longer beyond a wall.
I took a step forward.
The transparent wall that hadn't even budged from the flames so far was now gone.
Everywhere my steps led, flames spread, and everything I saw was burning.
The flames grew hotter and hotter.
For the first time, I felt the heat of the flames, and it was painful.
[If you burn everything, you won't hurt anymore.]
I looked around to see if there was anything left unburned, following the voice.
There was one place where the flames and black smoke moved oddly.
[Burn it all.]
When I passed through that place, there was a larger space.
The fire spread.
The wider the space burned, the more intense the pain became.
It was a pain greater than having my fists shattered, my arms severed, or my body covered in blood, as if my body was burning.
In the midst of writhing in pain, I saw someone beyond the flames.
It was him.
I stopped my burning steps towards the familiar face.
He spoke.
"......You hate being hurt that much."
I slowly nodded towards him.
"......Was that why you stayed still, because you were told not to resist?"
I nodded again.
"......You don't have to do that anymore. Whenever you hate something, say you hate it."
He said.
So I answered.
[Burn it.]
......No.
To the voice that endlessly echoed in my head, telling me to burn it all.
I said no.
For the first time, I resisted someone's words.
As I desperately tried to suppress the flames coming from my body, they gradually calmed down.
As the flames subsided, so did the pain, and my strength left me.
As I collapsed, I saw the reflection of a girl with red hair in his eyes.
*
In the early hours when everyone was asleep.
A car was speeding through the quiet streets.
With his hands on the steering wheel, wearing white gloves, Sator checked the place indicated by the tracking spell and recalled the conversation he had with his friend yesterday.
It was quite laughable how he begged for more time, saying he would discard No. 10 as per the family’s orders.
He had mocked him internally.
He never intended to follow the family's orders in the first place.
How much time and effort had he poured into this plan?
The elders of the family had long since compromised with reality.
Now, he was the only one who truly dreamed of the great Astra who once ruled the old world.
Even without the family's support or proper facilities like before, he was determined to continue his experiments alone for the sake of completing his plan.
However, to continue his experiments, he needed to retrieve the most important item for it.
Sator, almost at his destination, looked out the window and grimaced at the sight of the building.
It was so shabby and old that it was impossible to tell how long it had been standing.
It was surprising that such a dilapidated building still existed.
Clicking his tongue, Sator muttered as he looked at the building.
“......Really, living in such a disgusting place like yourself.”
If she had hidden there to avoid his eyes, it was a brilliant decision.
Just looking at it made him feel repulsed.
But to retrieve the item without resistance, he had to go inside himself.
A task that was difficult to do in a sane mind.
Scratching his neck in frustration, Sator sighed.
It was a revolting and dirty task, but it had to be done.
His eyes flickered oddly.
Annoying but necessary.
Grabbing the large trunk from the back seat, Sator got out of the car and stood before the door on the second floor of the building indicated by the tracking spell.
There was a lock, but the door itself wasn't made of very sturdy material.
Using some of the magic he had learned for research, he managed to create a hole of appropriate size next to the doorknob.
It was probably time for them to be asleep, but if they woke up and resisted, it would surely be troublesome.
Before opening the door, Sator opened the trunk and pulled the pin on the gas generator inside, then threw it through the hole he had made.
It would only take a few minutes for the powerful sleeping gas, also used as an anesthetic, to fill the room.
Gas leaked out through the gap in the door, and Sator put on the gas mask he had brought with him. He then reached through the hole to unlock the door.
The room was narrow and filthy, like a pigsty—a place he didn't want to stay in even for a moment.
Inside, lying on a bed in deep sleep, was the creation he and his friend had made.
For some reason, its hair color had changed, and it had lost an arm somewhere, but those details were unimportant.
With a blank expression, Sator opened the trunk and was about to close it after placing the creation inside when he frowned.
He noticed a ring with a red gemstone on the right index finger of the curled-up figure inside the trunk.
It may have taken human form, but it was still a created being.
The fact that something born from the Witch of Wrath's remnants was pretending to be human and lingering around Astra was unforgivable to Sator.
Disgusting thing, it needs to know its place.
He forcefully pulled off the ring, scratching his hand on the gemstone, causing a thin line of blood to trickle down.
Quickly closing the trunk to avoid any contamination, Sator left the unpleasant room, removed his gas mask, and carelessly tossed the ring onto the ground outside.
With the trunk heavier than when he had arrived, he loaded it into the car, changed into new gloves to avoid any contamination, and grabbed the steering wheel with one hand.
The other hand incessantly scratched at his neck.
His relentless scratching caused the skin to peel, and blood began to stain the gloves red, though Sator remained unaware of this.
As the car drove away from the dilapidated building, the ring on the street shone red in the early morning light.
*
The phone rang.
Luke hesitated for a moment, holding the phone that displayed a number he had almost always refused to answer recently, then pressed the call button.
As expected, he heard the voice of the person he had spoken to yesterday.
[It's been a while since we last spoke, Luke. Have you had lunch?]
"......Not yet."
[No matter how busy you are, you should eat. After lunch, could you come to the address I sent? It seems the reconstruction of the lab will take a while, so I prepared a temporary one. I’d like to show it to you.]
A text message arrived with the address.
Luke grimaced, not wanting to go.
He was sick of experiments.
Just thinking about them made him feel guilty and depressed.
But since he had a request pending from yesterday, he hesitated for a moment before hearing shocking words.
[By the way, I wouldn't recommend refusing. Number 10 is with me right now.]
He felt a chill run down his spine.
Recalling the word "discard" from yesterday, Luke asked in a trembling voice,
“......Sator, what are you planning?”
[Haha, I'll tell you when you get here. You know you have to come alone, right? It's not something others should know about. See you then. Enjoy your lunch.]
Sator’s laughter echoed as he hung up.
It wasn’t a situation for a leisurely lunch, so Luke quickly checked the address from the text.
It was a mountain valley outside the city.
*
Scarlet did not come to school.
Sylvia looked around the classroom, searching for someone who might know what had happened.
"She went with Jessie yesterday to get a prosthetic arm, right?"
Sylvia looked quietly at Jessie, who trembled and shouted,
"Y-Yes! She was fine when we parted ways yesterday! We tested the prosthetic for a while, and she seemed okay. I don't know why she suddenly didn't come today!"
Sylvia wasn't sure why Jessie was so scared, but it seemed she really didn't know.
According to what Teacher Eve had said, there hadn’t been any notification from the school either.
Only the principal knew the personal details of the students to ensure fairness, so there was no way to find out immediately.
The class president of Class A, Mei, who knew her number, tried calling but only got a continuous dial tone with no answer.
Sylvia felt a pang of jealousy, wondering why Mei knew the number when she didn't, but it wasn’t the time for that.
Scarlet wasn't the type to skip school without a reason, and Sylvia was worried.
She noticed Yoon Si-woo next to her, looking serious.
Although he was a bit uncomfortable to deal with, it seemed like he knew something, so Sylvia asked,
“Do you know anything?”
After a moment's hesitation, Yoon Si-woo replied,
“......Scarlet lives alone. I thought she might be very sick.”
Imagining her friend suffering alone, Sylvia exclaimed,
“Then it’s serious! Do you know where she lives?”
“Well...... she lives not too far from my house, so I was planning to check on my way home.”
Sylvia imagined Yoon Si-woo taking care of Scarlet.
A man who liked her, alone in a woman's house?
Feeling it wouldn't be right to leave it that way, Sylvia thought about her evening schedule and made up her mind.
She hadn’t been able to visit the hospital last time, so this time—
“I’ll go with you. To visit her.”
Sator you might be digging your own grave rn.
ReplyDeleteSi-woo wil definitely kill you.
Sylvia will probably disown you.
Scarlet will probably rage in fury cause of the voices again.
Crap. Just as I expected, although I thought it'd take awhile since the lab was destroyed
ReplyDeleteWelp the witch theory is confirmed
ReplyDeleteFor some reason when i go to chap 64 it redirects me to a wierd page
ReplyDeletesryy but i think it's some type of glitch because i clicked more than 10 times but dosen't happen with me
DeleteThis happened to me too! My phone distorted and I thought I had a virus
DeleteChapters work fine for me so i have no idea what people are talking about.
ReplyDeleteThat being said...
I expected the crazy donit hole to abduct MC.
However, i didn't expect him to call Luke.
Why in the seven hells would he think that's fine is beyond me.
They clearly aren't the same.
But well, i guess it can be blamed on the bug doing its thing, PARTIALLY.
The monent stalker guy finds MC i guess the crazy guy's gonna die unless Sylvia stops him.
I do wonder what Sylvia's going to think about all this though.
Tbh I didnt know but I feel MC personality get changed somehow, like scarlet and eve get fusioned maybe because sound from wrath witch. And why she never hear alarm again? Or the author just erased it?
ReplyDelete