City ​​of Witches 1055

Chapter 1055 – #251_A Story After Death

#1049

1.
Yeah.
What is this feeling?
It felt like swallowing a handful of painkillers first, then swallowing thousands of rusty nails linked together.

It was a sensation I had experienced before.

I felt this way when I suddenly heard that my parents had died in a car accident.
Like gears misaligned, the accident spun out of control, and only an empty regret echoed in my hollow heart.

The Seoul branch of the Witchpoint was attacked by unidentified enemies.

A surprise attack by a dozen archmages and dozens of elite witches.

Dorothy and Linne.
Both were formidable opponents, but they couldn’t overcome the disadvantage in power.

After a mere five minutes of engagement, Linne was seriously injured, and Dorothy died.

Considering that there were no other casualties on the Witchpoint side, it can be assumed that the target of this attack was the two of them from the start.

The crowd that had gathered in Gehenna due to the sudden attack.
Thanks to that, I had to wait 30 minutes before I could arrive at Gwanghwamun through the ‘Gate.’

In the meantime, the everyday life of Seoul welcomed Siwoo.
It seemed that the enemies had deployed an interdimensional barrier and attacked, as the citizens were going about their daily lives, unaware of anything.

Could it be that the call I received earlier was just a bad joke?

Dorothy was very playful, so maybe she was doing some kind of surprise?
And Linne was blackmailed into going along with it.

If that were the case, I would be really, really angry, but I could forgive them with a smile.

“……”

The desire to deny reality.
The same thought process I went through when my parents passed away was eerily accurate at this moment.

Siwoo knew where this absurd delusion would end.

The gazes that poured in as soon as I stepped into the Witchpoint.
In the midst of the chaos.

The suffocating silence that began as soon as Siwoo entered was a silent testament to the tragedy.

“Siwoo, I am so sorry.”

Teacher Sua lowered her head, her eyelids trembling.
Her always neat hanbok was tattered, and a long gash was etched on her cheek.

She must have fought desperately.

“It’s not your fault, Teacher.”

I bowed my head and looked around, noticing the others.
Master, Sharon, and Rurue.

They all seemed to have rushed over after hearing the news.

A sudden worry arose.

To Rurue, Dorothy was like an aunt.

The sense of loss would be extraordinary.
Especially for Rurue, who had a somewhat childlike side, she might have lost half her mind.

Siwoo’s heart ached, but Rurue’s would hurt more.
That’s why I approached Rurue to comfort her.

But contrary to expectations, Rurue had an astonishingly calm expression, arms crossed, leaning against the wall.
Rurue opened her mouth.

“I need time alone right now. I am relieved to know that you were not attacked.”

Rurue’s eyes widened.

“Humans die someday. The same goes for witches. Today must have been that day for Dorothy.”

But she bit her lip so hard that it was almost venomous, not shedding a single tear.

Even though she was clumsy in many ways, Rurue was also a descendant of an ancient witch.
She seemed to know that the pain of loss lurked everywhere in this world.

“But I will not forgive them.”

I nodded and looked around again.
When I approached Sharon, who was teary-eyed, Sharon hugged Siwoo and burst into tears.

“How is Linne?”
“Over there…”

Led by Sharon’s hand, who was sobbing so hard she was having trouble breathing, I headed to another room.

It was the recovery room.

Linne had also suffered considerable injuries in this attack.
There, Linne, who was breathing heavily with the help of a respirator, could be seen. It seemed that Branch Manager Sua had given her temporary treatment.

A hazy mist filled the mask.

“Linne, are you okay?”
“……”

I asked, holding her hand.
Linne didn’t answer.

Or rather, she couldn’t.

She just nodded quietly, sending a faint, hazy look.
On her forearm, there were traces of crooked scars, as if a boundary had been drawn with a blurry brush.

Traces of where her two arms had been blown away.

Since the root of her spirit body wasn’t destroyed like Siwoo’s, it was possible to regenerate with recovery magic, but as new flesh had grown, some traces remained.

“You’ve been through a lot. Get some rest. I’ll go see Dorothy.”
“……”

I calmed Linne, who was stubbornly trying to get up, and left the treatment room.

“Where is Dorothy?”

This was also a strange thing to say.

It was an everyday conversation that I could normally have without any problem.
Perhaps that’s why this moment, when I was saying it with a completely different meaning, felt so bizarre.

If I asked this question, got an answer, and went there, it felt like Dorothy would welcome me.

‘Darling~ Did you miss me that much?’

With her unique languid tone, her eyes drooping lazily, she would smile brightly.
She would hug me with a suggestive joke.

A slim chance, from one in ten thousand to one in hundreds of millions, even trillions.

But even as I took each step, Siwoo continued these futile fantasies.

The sharp cracks between reality and delusion meshed with each step, creating a strange dissonance.

“Siwoo, I understand how you feel. But it might be better not to see her now.”

At the door, which was firmly closed, Elloa suddenly grabbed my sleeve.

I understand.

What she was trying to say to Siwoo.

I wouldn’t make the mistake of getting angry at the wrong place like a fool.

I smiled, somehow, to reassure my master.

“I’m okay. I’m calmer than expected. You don’t have to worry so much. Rurue is being so composed as well.”

But I declare.

“I have to see her.”

Elloa closed her eyes tightly.
Even though she wanted to sigh more than anyone, she swallowed her sigh for her smiling disciple and quietly stepped aside.

-Clunk

The structure of the room, which I was seeing for the first time since staying at the Witchpoint, was simple.
A morgue.

That’s how it could be described.

It was probably a place where the banished often gathered, and some of them would hunt down enemies, so it was probably a place to store their corpses?

Perhaps to prevent possible decay or annihilation, one of the alchemical arts, ‘Fixation,’ could be felt.
In addition, the indoor air, as cold as midwinter, was mixed with a fishy smell of blood.

In the center was a steel table.
On it was a corpse covered in a white cloth.

It was a generous cloth that covered from head to toe, but I could tell from the outline.
It was Dorothy.

“……”

Siwoo quietly picked up the cloth.
His lips trembled.

I know.

Just like the game’s outcome cannot be changed the moment the last card is revealed.

The hopeful fantasies that had been throbbing like an arrhythmia since earlier would be cut off by this.
But the frequency would only decrease, and they would pop up in everyday life like phantom pains.

“……”

I lifted the cloth, looked at Dorothy, and quietly covered her again.

I came out.

The onlookers who had gathered, whether out of morbid curiosity or to pay their respects, stepped back as if avoiding Siwoo.

“Siwoo.”

My master, who had walked out through the crowd, quietly asked me.

“I want to be alone for a while. Me too.”

2.
The guest room where Dorothy stayed at the Witchpoint was clean and tidy.
As I had been there before, it wasn’t exactly something to praise for its facilities.

It was more like a slightly larger business hotel?

But unlike guest rooms that were cleaned after a night’s stay, Dorothy’s room had a considerable sense of life.

There was a framed photo of Rurue, Siwoo, and Dorothy, taken at some unknown time.
There were boxes of Dorothy’s favorite liquor and cigars.
On the neatly arranged table, there was an unfinished letter, seemingly intended for Siwoo, lying askew.
The necklace Siwoo had gifted her was on display.

In the table drawer, I found unexpected materials.

When I asked her what business she would do after quitting the arms dealing, her words, ‘Well~ maybe I’ll set up a toy factory?’ were not just a simple joke.

Because there were many materials inside that seemed related to it.

While skimming through the documents, I found a moonstone inside the table drawer.
It was a memorial stone that recorded the ‘Utopia’ from when I met Happy Pig.

Inside, there were Siwoo and Dorothy.
It was a heartwarming love story of two people who had formed a very ordinary family.

If I had known beforehand, I would have teased her quite a bit.
Dorothy…

“Stop.”

I cut off my delusions with a monologue that was not directed at anyone.

I sat on Dorothy’s bed, put her favorite cigar in my mouth, and quietly pondered.

If Siwoo had left a little later, would this tragedy have been avoided?
Probably not.

Looking at the results, it was actually fortunate.

If I had fought while protecting Amelia, who was not in good health, I wouldn’t have been able to exert even 10% of my current power.
I might have felt even more powerless, or there might have been more victims.

Then let’s talk about something else.

If the Hesed Society had made an excuse to send Dorothy and Linne to Gehenna earlier.
If they had nurtured them to that point, this tragedy would not have happened.

The culprit is still unidentified.
But the only force that would do such a thing is Hexennacht.

The attack, which was focused on Linne and Dorothy, leaving behind countless spoils, was a politically charged message.
They wouldn’t have been able to infiltrate Gehenna.

“Stop.”

I know that this ‘what if’ game leads to endless regret and self-loathing.

I consciously change the flow of my thoughts.

I’ve been through a lot.

I’ve seen the good.
I’ve seen the evil.

But the good and evil that pervade the world were like a tangled ball of yarn, so Siwoo had not yet found his path.

An awkwardness that belonged nowhere.

‘Good’ was immature and indecisive, merely a half-baked sense of justice.
‘Evil’ was just a vague imitation of a villain, even when necessary, perhaps because I couldn’t break free from the shackles of being human.

Even at this moment, it was not easy to judge what was right and what was wrong.
Didn’t my master say so?

Hesitate, agonize.
Don’t judge right and wrong, get lost.
If you do that, someday, in the ambiguity of a jewel beetle’s color, you will find a more righteous path.

“I don’t know, Master.”

Contrary to that murmur, in the darkness punctuated by an astonishingly dark despair.
I can see the path I have to walk.

Even if this body crumbles like dry mud, there is a path I must take.