Memoirs of the Returnee - Chapter 232



Only Krnovel

The Regressor’s Notepad 232

Destruction of the World (3)

Iselin is a promising painter. She is considered a talent of her generation and has captured the hearts of the Libra Art School.

Jade is the second son of the family, a direct descendant of the family, raised in Libra, a symbol of power.

A common cliché.

The nobility loved painters.

The painter had a hard time with the nobles.

Jade was clumsy in love, and Islin was burdened by his feelings.

The nobles, who have nothing they cannot have and nothing they cannot have, sometimes neglect the obvious.

That people cannot be owned.

That it cannot even be an object of ownership.

Jade didn’t know that.

─Ah~ Really.

There are many scenes in Jade’s memories.

Most of them are colorless, but occasionally there are canvases that are as vivid as watercolor.

It’s a precious frame.

─I told you to stay still.

Iselin puffing out her cheeks while holding a pen.

Jade faced her and held back a smile that threatened to spread across her face.

─Stay still. How long should I stay like this?

─At least six hours.

─Ha. You want to take six hours of my busy schedule?

I’m not busy at all, but I want to extend this time as much as possible, to let you know that I’m investing in you.

─I’ll try to finish it within four hours!

Jade sat in the same seat and looked at Iselin. Even her smallest expression was as vivid as a flower bud to Jade.

─Okay, it’s done.

Soon, Islin turns the easel around to show Jade her portrait, but Jade doesn’t know what it looks like.

Iselin smiling at herself, she is more beautiful than any other painting… … .

─Iselin. She is one of the best painters at Libra Art School.

Jade remembers the day he took her to a social gathering, dressed her in her most beautiful dress and not even telling her where he was going.

─… … This is Iselin.

To introduce herself there, to let Iselin know that she is mine.

To show off the most beautiful flowers.

It was a wrong choice.

─There’s a lot of talk in the National Assembly these days, including election issues.

─I wonder what family this chairman will come from… … Right.

After a long and drawn-out social gathering with formal conversations between the nobles and concerns about the future of the country.

─Jade Princess… … .

On the way back, Iselin faintly calls out to me.

A hint given in a small voice.

─I am not an object.

At that time, Jade got angry.

I have never treated you like an object. I gave you the seat next to me. You should be grateful. The privilege of being with me is something only you can have.

He replied like that.

From that day on, Isleline quietly distanced herself. Whenever she approached him, she lost her vitality and always looked uncomfortable.

Like a flower that is suffering from sadness.

─What on earth is the problem!

Jade couldn’t stand it. She couldn’t suppress her rising anger.

That there exists a woman who does not do as I wish or as I want.

That I love that ridiculous woman more than anyone else in this world,

I didn’t want to admit it.

─… … I’m leaving, please. Let me leave.

Iselin said she was leaving.

Not only Jade, but also at Libra Art School, which was like her own career. Putting down everything she had received from Libra.

─No. You can’t leave.

Jade tried to grab her, forcibly pulling her hand back.

and……

My arm was torn off.

Blood spurted all over Jade’s body, and pieces of crushed bone, torn muscle, and blood vessels splattered everywhere.

The screams of the woman I love filled my ears.

Jade still remembers that day.

I can’t forget it.

Because it was the day he realized that his love, his feelings, and his entire heart were hurting her.

“… … .”

Jade opened her eyes quietly. She looked at the farthest part of the emergency room, in the car far from the entrance.

‘Iselin’ has formed on the retina that transcends humans.

She was admitted to Petra.

Her right arm was still empty.

Jade once had someone secretly offer her a prosthetic arm, but she refused.

This arm is proof of your foolishness – that you are forgetting the ‘most important thing’.

So he cannot approach her.

You must not approach.

A person who lost everything because of himself.

Still, Jade can’t let go of her feelings of love.

He still can’t understand.

If it was foolish of me to love you.

You must first recognize that you are different from anyone else.

More than anyone else in the world, more than the homeless people dying on the streets, more than the common people living hand to mouth, more than the hundreds of thousands of rotten nobles who only want to be treated unfairly… …

You should know that you are worth hundreds of times more.

──Knock knock.

Someone knocked on the car window. Jade looked over.

It was Zion Ascal.

“… … .”

I rolled down the window without saying a word.

Zion said.

“It’s flesh.”

Jade nodded quietly.

“… …Your condition is better than other patients-”

“Is she also caught up in this indiscriminate killing?”

“Yes, almost certainly.”

Jade tilted her head quietly at Zion’s words. There was murderous intent in her still eyes.

“Where is the sorcerer?”

“We are tracking it now.”

“tracking.”

“yes.”

“Tracking is not enough.”

Jade glared at Zion. There was heat in her gaze. The simple act of ‘looking’ was imbued with magic.

Zion nodded, meeting his eyes with difficulty.

“I’ll find it. Just wait a moment.”

Jade finds it difficult to be told to wait. Even being patient is difficult.

I want to go and kill him right now.

“… …Can you risk your life?”

“Yes. I will definitely find it and tell Jade.”

Zion answered affirmatively.

Jade closed her eyes for a moment.

“… … Don’t wait.”

A thought that lingers in my head, barely holding onto my sense of reason.

If there is anyone you can trust, it is Zion Askar.

* * *

Indiscriminate killings spread across the continent. The Edsilan Council declared a temporary national disaster, and other countries were in similar situations.

It was a whirlwind.

Despite the lack of evidence of an epidemic, those gripped by fear either killed the afflicted first, forcibly imprisoned them along with their families, or burned them alive…

There was nationwide chaos.

[From now on, all regular broadcasts will be suspended, and only indiscriminate killing-related news will be broadcast. We ask for the viewers’ understanding.]

In the director’s office of Petra Hospital, standing there with the TV news streaming out, Elise faces Gen Petra.

“… … You dissect the victim as you please? What kind of crazy thing are you doing?”

Gen Petra frowned. Elise wiggled her fingers as she spoke.

“I have received consent from the bereaved family.”

“Don’t scratch and make a fuss. There’s not much time left until the election.”

“……but-”

“Just stay still. If you step forward and fail, you’ll be responsible for everything.”

Gen Petra closed the papers. He took out a checkbook from his bosom and scribbled out the numbers. Elise watched this series of actions blankly.

“Ask the bereaved family to keep this a secret. That will be some comfort.”

At that moment, a string in Elise’s head shook slightly.

Confidentiality.

Consolation money.

She clenched her fists unconsciously. Gen Petra glared at her father’s firm eyes.

“They didn’t give me their family’s bodies for money or anything.”

“……what?”

Gen Petra raised an eyebrow. It was the look she gave when she was really angry.

Elise did not back down.

“It means that you entrusted me with your family’s body because you thought there was a way to slow down this aging process even a little.”

“So. What are you going to do? You’re just a person like that?”

Gen leaned over, resting his chin on his hand as he peered intently at Elise.

“… … I’ve already studied the waves. So I’ll create a barrier.”

“What if it doesn’t work?”

“There’s no way it won’t work.”

“Think of the one in ten thousand. What if it doesn’t work? First of all, you didn’t get permission to dissect, so it’s illegal. However, illegal dissection itself is like a new step.”

Gen discussed reality.

“Let’s say you created a barrier in the hospital. The barrier’s environment can have a negative impact on the patients in the entire hospital. What if other patients who have nothing to do with the deaths die because of it? Even if the barrier isn’t the direct culprit, what if they sue you for it?”

Dozens of reasons why sitting still is better than standing up and making a fuss.

“Can you hold out?”

“… … .”

Elise gritted her teeth. She sighed quietly.

Gen’s words were reasonable.

Thanks to you, I understand.

Why did Gen Petra become such a person?

How did the bravest knight ever become a puppet of the council?

This world was made that way.

The logic of being ‘realistic’ actually made his father a coward.

Elise said.

“It’s up to you, Dad, to hold on. Hold on a little longer. Don’t always run away like a coward.”

“… … .”

In that moment, a furrow formed between Gen’s eyebrows.

“I will make my father’s achievements come true.”

“You still-”

“Don’t say the same thing again!”

Bang─!

Elise placed her two hands on her father’s desk. Gen leaned back in his chair. He looked at Elise with his droopy eyes and asked her again.

“… … You said it was an achievement.”

“Yes. I will not fail. My barrier will significantly extend the lives of those affected by the flesh, and Father will gain their support.”

Elise looked at her father. She looked up and down his massive body.

“Since when did you step back thinking about failure?”

A small tear formed in her eyes.

“It’s a position you earned by killing people.”

“… … .”

Gen twisted his lips.

“therefore…….”

Elise took a deep breath and cleared her throat.

“Let’s try to save some money this time.”

* * *

An empty mansion.

That place, which is completely dark, is an artificially created magical space. Therefore, even though they can be in the same place, when the magical space is released, they return to their original positions.

“… … I wish there was some furniture.”

Akane looked at Jude Bellot across from her.

The tea table and two chairs are finished. It’s so boring.

“Anyway, I think I may have gone a little too far.”

─Excessive?

Jude Bellott asked back.

He has a human form, ‘outwardly’.

No, his appearance is also quite unique. He is a giant measuring 2m 50cm.

But the inside is even more sinister.

First of all, there are no organs. Since there are no bodily organs such as a heart or intestines, no one knows what energy they use to survive.

“Yeah. That was too much. There are hundreds of thousands of people suffering from obesity right now.”

─Akane. Do you know where ‘life’ comes from?

Jude Bellot’s expression is unchanging. His voice is the same. He is as dry as an inanimate object.

“Witchcraft comes from the malice of man. Isn’t that too basic?”

─Who do you think would listen to that malice?

“… … .”

Akane’s eyebrows furrowed slightly.

─Do you think this world will listen to that wish?

Only then did Akane’s face turn mysterious. Jude Bellott continued speaking stiffly.

─’I’ was listening.

“… … You were a sorcerer?”

Jude Bellott nodded.

─I am in charge of the magic of evil. It has been that way for hundreds of years. However, it has passed the critical point. Because there is no end to human evil. Just as I expected.

“… … .”

Akane laughed in vain.

Jude Bellott’s words about being in charge of the ‘concept’ of witchcraft were even more shocking than I had expected.

“So. You spread malice beyond the critical point?”

─The malice of the humans that had seeped into my body returned to me. Their karma.

“Oh. It’s not called destruction for nothing.”

For a moment a faint tremor passed over Jude Bellott’s face.

─’False claim’.

At this time, Akane is also a little scared.

‘Name yourself a title that is beyond your means.’

There’s no way this guy wouldn’t know the dictionary meaning of false pretenses.

“okay.”

However, as Zion Ascal said.

Giving strength to names only increases fear.

─… … Akane. I am destruction. Chaos will spread, and evil will grow. The evil that gathers in my body will soon destroy the continent.

“I know. So there is a human being who wants to negotiate with you.”

Akane crossed her legs on purpose. She also crossed her arms.

─You can’t negotiate with the phenomenon. Akane, if you come to me as a ‘phenomenon’, I’ll consider it. You are the only being who can stand against me.

“Why? I told you there is someone who wants to negotiate with you other than me.”

─That is human arrogance.

Jude Bellott continued dryly.

─No human being can demand negotiation with the phenomenon. The phenomenon simply exists. It simply arrives. Just as I came here.

“… … .”

In simple terms, it means a piece of trash.

Akane sighed.

“But will you make room for me? There is a person who desperately wants to meet Hyunsang.”

─… … .

Jude Bellot was silent. On his hideous face, grotesque wrinkles spread like a drought-stricken land.

“I don’t know what the purpose is. It could be to directly witness the phenomenon and understand it.”

There is not even a jolt.

Of course, he seems indifferent to nodding his head.

then.

“It could be someone who wants to destroy the entire phenomenon.”

─… … Poor thing.

Jude Bellot responded. He looked at Akane and said.

─Humans are still foolish. Akane, you too, quickly escape from humanity.

“If you meet a human first, I will think about it too.”

─… … .

“You have to show me what kind of person you are, then I can decide whose side I’m on.”

There is no more speech.

Akane was really frustrated, but she soon picked up her pen and scribbled on the paper.

“Here. Let’s meet at this underground mansion.”

I threw it at him.

Jude Bellot stared at the note that had landed on his thigh. Then, he nodded faintly and released the magical space.

“……after.”

The space has changed.

Inside Jude Bellot’s dark castle, back to [Mu-A-Gwan].

[Breaking news. A barrier is being created at Petra Hospital to slow down the progress of the murder… … .]

TV news. The continent was still in chaos due to indiscriminate killing.