Chapter 202: Those Who Almost Lost a Loved One (1)

༺ Those Who Almost Lost a Loved One (1) ༻

1.

Sharon was crouching in the corner.

Seeing her like this brought Siwoo back to the day when she got kicked out of her rooftop apartment.

Except that she looked more depressed than back then.

Even her once flowing and lively hair seemed limp and lifeless.

"...Siwoo..."

She called out to him with a shaky voice.

Her appearance looked incredibly frail.

"I heard you got hurt because of me...are you okay?"

It had been a while since he had seen her looking so low-spirited.

Though Sharon had a slightly quirky side, there was always this lively and energetic aura around her, as if that was her life motto.

He wanted to comfort her, so Siwoo sat on the edge of the bed.

Meanwhile, Sharon shook her head after hearing his words.

"I'm fine...I'm not hurt or anything, b-but...

After stuttering a few more times, her body shuddered as the shocking scene from earlier flashed in her mind.

Her voice and body trembled like a hypothermic patient as she clutched his hand tightly.

"I-I thought...something really bad would happen to you...! I-I really thought you were...going to die...! H-Hic-! Uhh..."

Her cry almost turned into wail as she snuggled into Siwoo's arms.

Fresh scent wafted from her body, Siwoo could feel its softness when he embraced her.

He patted her back to comfort her as her shoulders shook due to her sobs.

"It was...so...so scary! I-I was so scared—! Waaah!"

"Don't worry, in the end everything turns out fine, isn't it? See? I'm perfectly healthy now."

"B-But I...couldn't do anything—!"

Relief, powerlessness, fear and despair enveloped her heart all at once. Sharon found herself tightly clinging to Siwoo.

With him holding her close like this already brought her comfort.

Seeing her like this reminded Siwoo of his own helplessness at the moments when he almost died.

He could relate with her, and so his heart welled up in emotions.

Anger towards Duchess Tiphereth who made Sharon cry, and gratitude towards Sharon herself, who had cared so much for him; Both emotions engulfed his heart.

"See? I'm doing well. My injuries have all been healed already. So, stop worrying and relax, okay?"

"M-Mm...I-I'll try to...calm down..."

Meanwhile, the twins who had been following Siwoo all this while only watched the scene from behind.

""...""

Odile nudged Odette's side, grabbed her wrist and quietly closed the door.

Knowing that it wasn't a good time to make a fuss, Odette stayed silent for a good while before finally breaking the silence with a question.

"Why?"

"Just let Unnie be. She needs to let her emotions out, more than us..."

"But, I want to be hugged by Mr. Assistant too..."

"Didn't you already do that with him yesterday?!"

"That was only to get even with you, Sis!"

The twins settled onto the comfy living room's couch.

It had been quite a day for them.

When they thought about Siwoo lying helplessly on the rooftop, their hearts started to race.

The memory brought back the traumatic experience of them having to face the Witch of Aquarius back in Gehenna.

"Anyway, right now Unnie needs Mr. Assistant more than we do. We should be considerate."

"But I have a bad feeling about all this! Something just doesn't feel right!"

"Same here, but what can we do? Mr. Assistant helped us before, and he'll continue to do so."

Odile knew from her master of the state Siwoo was in when he returned to the modern world.

He was practically stranded, unable to form normal relationships with humans due to his ties to the world being severed.

Moreover, he had to face the danger of being targeted by Homunculi and Exiles.

When she first saw Sharon, she felt that she was being betrayed by Siwoo and she was a little bit angry at him, but at the same time, she felt thankful towards Sharon.

Especially after she saw how Sharon immediately rushed to the battlefield after hearing that Siwoo was left alone there. Odile knew that as long as Sharon was by Siwoo's side, he would never feel lonely again.

"This is what it means to be mature."

"Aww..."

"Why don't we try on the new pajamas we bought?"

"Fine..."

While Siwoo was comforting Sharon, the twins changed into different outfits, settling on the couch for a casual conversation through the long night.

2.

The Gwanghwamun branch was abuzz with activity.

Ever since its inception, it was the first time that the branch ever had to deal with such an overwhelming workload.

Not only the witches belonging to the branch were being offered hefty rewards for the job, as they also offered the same thing to the Exiles.

"So much work..."

The branch manager, Sua, lamented, as she massaged her temples.

She spent most of the day responding to a flood of complaints coming from the Hotline, so it was fair for her to feel like she had expended a year's worth of mental energy.

In a single day, more than three thousand lives were lost, and this incident happened without anyone deploying a single interdimensional barrier.

And they ended up having to manipulate the memories of over 15,000 people because of this.

The South Korean government had to forcefully take control of the media and temporarily isolated every single witness, including all the police and the military personnels in the area.

Unlike the old days when rumors could only spread from mouth to mouth, with the existence of wireless networks, news in the modern era spread like wildfire, so they had to move quickly to prevent that from happening.

Exactly ten witches performed mass hypnosis to erase and manipulate those people's memories, and the branch had to request help from other branches to do this.

Handling such a large-scale incident really felt like trying to put out a massive wildfire with just a bucket of water.

Though, despite all the odds, they still managed to meet the deadline, albeit barely.

Considering that the branch had to respond to the situation quickly, and she had to control witches from another branch as well, this outcome was pretty much a miracle.

The government would wrap up the incident as an accident caused by a gas leak.

They'd probably put the blame on the architect or the company who owned the building. There really wasn't a better option than this.

Because the Korean government, along with other superpowers like the US, China, and Japan, wanted to avoid revealing the existence of witches to the world.

Which meant, they couldn't just let the truth be exposed to the foreign media.

Of course, given its nature, a lot of people would doubt the situation.

Some individuals would try to expose the truth, when they became aware of how suspicious the situation was.

But they could rely on technology to solve this situation.

Because people tend to trust government announcements that were backed by credible overseas articles rather than hearsays, especially when the latter would claim something about monstrous beings wreaking havoc while killing everyone in their vicinity.

As time passed, the interest and attention surrounding the incident would dwindle down.

Even if new voices were to emerge later, they'd easily be dismissed as conspiracy theories, and lose their impact on a bigger scale.

This was what had been happening in history. There was a reason why even though such incidents involving Homunculi or criminal Exiles had definitely occurred before, but the existence of witches had never been revealed.

"Countess Deneb, Branch Manager Sua is here."

[Yes. Speak.]

But, despite the heinous tragedy, there was still a silver lining.

Countess Deneb, a witch who possessed a formidable mind manipulation magic, happened to be in Korea.

Her self-essence magic should be able to affect thousands, or even ten thousands of people who had no resistance to magic.

"May I know what the current situation looks like?"

[We've finished healing the survivors inside the building, and we're currently treating the rest of the injured...we'll need roughly another twelve hours before we're done.]

"Please let me express my deep gratitude for your assistance."

[That will do for now. Let's discuss this matter further later.]

After that, Sua ended the communication and contacted Duchess Tiphereth next.

Eloa was the second silver lining, as she happened to be in Korea to track down the fleeing Red Knight.

Because of her covenant, she temporarily lost her sight, but after she recovered, she immediately went and looked for the culprit of the incident.

"Can you hear me, Your Ladyship?"

[...I'm listening.]

"Would you like to take a short break?"

But, even with her extensive tracking skills, Eloa had yet to uncover anything. Which meant, the mastermind had skillfully covered their tracks. Though, this also meant that there wouldn't be any imminent threat for a while.

Knowing that Eloa had been doing her best, Sua suggested she take a break, but her response was firm.

[I'll keep on searching as much as I can.]

"If you say so, Your Ladyship..."

The communication ended abruptly with Eloa's curt and weary voice.

3.

Eloa moved her gaze around with a blank expression on her face.

Just a hundred years ago, this eastern part of the world was merely a countryside. One could only see mountains and fields everywhere. But now, it has totally changed.

Tall buildings that stood tall, facing the heavens, bending the earth itself to accommodate dozens of their kinds. Millions of people that lived in the intricate cityscape that was akin to spider web.

Yet, she had no lenience to indulge in sentimental feelings toward this change. Let alone that, she didn't even have the spare energy to desperately search for the culprit of the incident, even though it was something that she had to do.

Instead, she simply went along with the flow, following where her feet would take her, all while concealing her true emotions.

"..."

She genuinely thought that she had found Ea Sadalmelik.

Put anyone else in the situation she was in back then, they would definitely share the same sentiment as her, or at least they'd feel suspicious towards the man called Siwoo.

Even after what happened, Eloa still wasn't able to drop her suspicion towards him.

However...

Even though it was possible that her dying lifelong goal could be resurrected, she failed to find any motivation to actually resurrect it.

Because of the sharp voices that echoed from the depths of her worn-out heart.

[I-It isn't much—! I-I don't really have much...b-but I'll give it all to you! S-Siwoo really isn't someone who'd do something so heinous...a-and I know you're a good person, Duchess...y-you're just not in the right mind now...p-please don't do something that you'll come to regret later...]

Those were the words of a green-haired exile who offered her entire future to save the man as she pleaded desperately to her.

[He's a guest of our household! There's no way he's involved in this incident! He's not the kind of man who'd even start something like this!]

Those words came from the rare burst of anger from Countess Deneb as she confronted her.

[Did you do this?!]

Those were the words that came out of the apprentice witch's mouth as she accused her.

She could see her own reflection in that apprentice's intense eyes.

At that moment, the image of Ravi overlapped with that apprentice.

And at the same time, it dawned upon her that she almost became a villain who was about take the life of someone dear to that apprentice.

"I..."

Eloa sank down, wrapping her arms around herself.

'I thought I did the right thing...'

'Maybe, if I could at least offer a hand to those who lost someone precious to them, it would bring them solace...'

'But now...everything...I don't know anymore...'

All sorts of boundaries became unclear.

What was the right thing to do and what wasn't.

The thing that she should have done and the thing she shouldn't.

Justice and revenge.

Victims and perpetrators.

Wisdom and hubris.

Compassion and selfishness.

As those boundaries dissolved, they churned within her in a form of nausea.

It felt like she was about to fall down.

'I want to run away...'

'There's no need to pass on the brand anyway...'

'Ravi Tiphereth...is my only apprentice...'

'The name Tiphereth...will end with me...'

"No."

She slowly stood up.

With all her strength, she gathered the shards of her shattered heart and steeled her resolve.

She knew that this was futile. A lifeless puppet wouldn't come to life just because one attached some strings to it.

'There's something that needs to be done.'

'It won't be too late to wrap things up after everything has been confirmed.'

'I haven't cleared all the suspicions yet.'

'That's why...I need to find that man...'

Eloa soared into Seoul's night sky.

To look for clues and bring everything to an end.

The pale moon that decorated the night looked as if it was weeping silently.