Chapter 95: Murder (2)

Dawn. The time of life and awakening.

Whether or not it knows the mindset of those who rise to start their day, the sunlight is simply bright.

That warm and loving, yet irresponsible touch that enters through the narrow window gap, bends slightly as it embraces the water it suddenly encounters, burrows into the large tank, and finally gently caresses the eyelids of the one sleeping soundly.

“Mmmm……”

Yu Parang, waking up.

Looking at the clock, it’s five-thirty in the morning.

For her, this is an extremely early rise. Perhaps it’s because she fell asleep too early yesterday.

As she got up and looked around, her colleagues who had been sleeping beside her were nowhere to be seen, having already left.

‘They’re incredibly quick…..’

This part was a bit unexpected.

Parang had wanted to talk a little with her colleagues about the memories she saw yesterday, and naturally thought they would have that conversation when they woke up in the morning.

‘At least a message…..’

Parang gathers her phone, logs into the messenger app, and checks the pending messages.

[Russell Bright: We all decided to leave early because we have some busy matters to attend to. It seems like you have something important today, I hope you can finish it well. It would be good to wrap that up first, then meet to talk about the next steps.]

At a glance, it’s a message with an awkward tone. Who on earth sends messages like this?

‘Seriously, he’s so bad at lying.’

It’s Russell’s distinctive way of speaking when he’s lying. If the tone is awkward, at least the content should seem real, but it’s too obvious.

These folks who aren’t even broadcasting like Parang, but just enjoying fishing at their own homes, what busy matters could they possibly have?

They probably only heard vague talk about an important task ahead from Silo, and the conversation likely flowed towards letting Parang rest as much as possible.

Such thoughtlessly good friends.

And as a result, their judgment was very correct.

Right now, Parang’s mind was on the verge of explosion, in an extremely troubled state.

Well, it couldn’t be helped.

Parang opened another anonymous message that had come to her.

– Please come to this room by 8:30 in the morning.

Along with this text, a map of the basement of the building where she was currently staying had arrived.

Parang knows which room is being referred to as ‘this room’.

It’s the laboratory where the seal on the ‘evidence’ was broken.

From the beginning, Parang and Silo had intended to use this artifact called ‘evidence’ for two purposes.

One was to confirm the memories of the Slayers.

The other was what Oceanos had only conveyed as an ‘important task’.

‘Important task. Right. Important task.’

Why hide it? That important task that Parang has to do is none other than the assassination of Natsuko, the head of the Hunter Association.

In other words, Parang has to kill someone today.

It’s her first murder, counting both her past life and current life.

While Parang disclosed everything else to Oceanos and her colleagues, this alone she did not tell them.

The fact that she would become a murderer today, that is.

Parang wanted to bury this fact to the very end, beyond the edge of consciousness.

The fact that she has to kill a person, that is.

She is from 21st century South Korea, where no abilities or monsters exist.

Her aversion to the act of murder is naturally bound to be tremendously high.

Moreover, she has a rather sensitive personality, which makes it even more so.

On top of that, she is now in a position where she has to meticulously plan and murder someone she has never even had a relationship with in her life.

And what about the motive for murder?

Isn’t it ‘because letting her live would be a threat to the world’?

This thought, no different from a psychopathic villain in a movie, keeps popping up in a corner of Parang’s consciousness.

And what about the method of killing?

It’s not simply wielding a weapon to kill, but a method of destroying the mind by forcibly pouring unbearable, terrible memories into the head.

‘Isn’t there a way to resolve this without killing? Just, persuading her, or maybe imprisoning her?’

This is a question Parang has asked herself hundreds, no, thousands of times more.

But, so cruelly.

Every time she asked such questions, Parang only came closer to the conclusion that she had to kill Natsuko herself.

Persuasion? Out of the question. If she tried to persuade her, Parang was far more likely to suffer something terrible.

It was obvious that threats wouldn’t work either.

The Natsuko that Parang saw was an opponent who was utterly impossible to persuade.

Look at what she was trying to do.

To absorb a strong monster that has killed many people to become stronger, so let’s release monsters into the city and let people die?

Is that an idea that a human can come up with?

Someone who seriously proposes that, even forms a team and pushes it as a project.

Can Parang persuade her?

Look at what she has already done.

“To confuse the Slayers, we will perform the ‘ritual’ to advance the date by about two weeks. The materials are already prepared, and we’re ready to cut off only those who performed the ritual if things go wrong.”

These are the words from the video received from Seo Sunwoo.

The original novel describes how this ‘ritual’ is carried out.

[ First, prepare a pregnant woman at full term, a handful of parasitic grass seeds, and a black goat starved for three days. And then….. ]

After reading that description, Parang was trapped in trauma for a while, unable to even eat.

Even thinking about it again after time had passed, it couldn’t be more disgusting.

‘Now that I think about it, I don’t understand how such a terrible description could appear in the novel.’

It was a description that wouldn’t have been strange to receive an immediate warning or content modification request from the site.

It was also inhumane.

If Parang had been in charge, she wouldn’t have just let such a description slide.

‘Huh…?’

For a moment, Parang’s head throbbed, and something seemed about to surface… but then it disappeared.

Well, anyway.

The option of imprisonment is just as impossible.

When one person’s combat power equals that of an army, how could they possibly be confined and sealed away?

It’s nonsense.

Moreover, cruelly enough.

Even to the question ‘Do I really have to do it?’, Parang had no choice but to answer yes.

If not her, there was no one else who could do it.

But, no matter what.

To kill someone she’s never even spoken to, simply because it’s necessary……

‘No, no. Think simply.’

Parang shook her head vigorously to clear her thoughts.

This is a train of thought she’s been through hundreds of times already. A meaningless repetition.

‘Bury it. Don’t think about it.’

Parang thought.

If it’s a problem that can’t be solved by thinking about it, the conclusion is to just ignore it.

Parang knows that this is absolutely not a solution to her worries.

But, ironically, this was also the only solution she could come up with.

‘Since I’m doing it anyway, I should do it properly.’

Parang felt she couldn’t bear it if unnecessary worries ruined the job and led to even worse results.

Grumble grumble-

As her raging thoughts quieted down, her body finally reacted, sending signals that she was hungry.

Parang really wasn’t in the mood to eat, but she couldn’t continue on an empty stomach either.

With no other choice, she left the room to at least eat some simple kimbap.

#

“…So, you’ll need to store the memory here.”

A little time had passed, and it was now nine in the morning.

Parang was standing in front of the artifact with a scientist from Silo.

“Here, you mean the memory?”

“Yes.”

The researcher’s voice was so calm that it made this task seem as simple as folding paper.

Does this person know that we’re trying to create a killing weapon to murder someone?

Surely they must know.

If so, how can they be so calm about it?

Ever since being asked to assassinate Natsuko, Parang had felt these emotions countless times.

At such times, she even thought that perhaps she was the only twisted one in this vast world.

But life has always been harsh, and there wasn’t much Parang could do about it.

After all, this was also something she had to do.

Parang grasped the evidence and held it to her forehead.

Then she injected the memory.

She had already decided which memory to inject.

The memory of when she first saw those eyes.

The most terrifying and horrific thing Parang had ever seen in her life.

With mixed feelings, Parang stored in the artifact her encounter with that thing, which she thought should never be revealed to the people on the surface, no matter what.

“…It’s done.”

The necklace in Parang’s hand once contained a luminous green jewel, but now it was a dull, dark black.

“…The operation is at seven this evening. Here’s the location.”

The place the scientist pointed out was the Warp Station in Ulsan Metropolitan City.

Not too far from Parang’s home in Pohang.

“You can rest comfortably at home until then. The details are here.”

Parang picked up a file folder that had appeared from somewhere, with a heavy heart.

Rest comfortably at home, they say. Considering Parang’s state, that’s complete nonsense.

Parang returned home, carrying the heavy file folder and an even heavier heart.