A sense of foreboding filled . I felt like I shouldn’t answer. However, Clara seed indifferent to whether I responded or not. She flipped through the pages of her notebook as if reading a novel, stopping at the very last page. Then, she shoved the slot in front of my eyes.
“How did you get this?”
Even Liam Moore hadn’t noticed this secret of mine. My eyes involuntarily flickered, and Clara’s smile deepened.
“I can see the dates. You can store your ti. Yes, this is… closer to a primordial force than magic. It’s connected to you… But things like this, Jane…”
Her dry fingers dug into the page. The paper didn’t tear, but it resisted her touch. Light flickered. Sowhere, thunder rumbled, and I heard the sky’s roar.
I felt the force tearing the connection between and the notebook. The notebook scread. I scread, too.
“No, no, what are you doing?!”
A searing pain raked through my heart. My heart pounded rapidly, then fell with a loud thud, repeatedly.
My vision, blackening and returning, revealed soone. Soone was squeezing my heart. It wasn’t Clara Barnum, but soone behind her….
Thud. My heart dropped again. I heard a cracking sound.
“Aaaargh!”
“Oh my, did it hurt?”
Tears blurred my vision. The edges of my sight were crimson, constantly rippling. Breathing beca difficult.
‘I’ was being rewritten here, at this ti, sothing was anchoring . Like binding my heart.
A curse, a curse, information flooded into my mind. A concept I’d never heard before. Soone was shouting at . That thing has cursed your soul! Like taxidermy, stripping and nailing to this ti!
Clara ascended the altar. Her hands were stained with ink. Black ink dripped like blood, staining the altar and my clothes. She pressed down on my wrist. I couldn’t resist. More accurately, I had lost the will to resist. Before I knew it, I was crawling on the altar, crying.
“Don’t cry already, Jane.”
“Clara Barnum…!”
Thud! My heart pounded heavily. I gasped, all the air leaving my lungs. My body trembled from the pain of my flesh being stripped away.
Death was imminent. All my senses warned . I was going to die.
Clara was holding my convulsing body. Smiling wryly, she thrust the last page of the notebook before my eyes until the spasms subsided.
[Slot 1. January 20, 1871 Catacomb]
[Slot 2. January 20, 1871 Catacomb]
…
[Slot 9. January 20, 1871 Catacomb]
All the slots, all the ones I had saved, were gone, now replaced by the present. The exact mont I was lying down here.
As the pain gradually subsided like water draining, ti started to flow again. Only irregular breathing echoed in the cave.
A tallic taste rose in my throat. Sothing felt different, but I didn’t know what. My mind was in chaos, still reeling from the aftermath of that horrific pain.
Clara, who had let go of my convulsing body, spoke.
“Jane, we only want one thing. It’s not hard. Just say you’ll give us everything, including your soul.”
“What, what?”
“Say it.”
A sweet sensation clouded my will. My tongue moved on its own, but I bit it with my front teeth. I gritted my teeth and shook my head.
My body warned . My brain, my mind, and sothing behind my mind.
“Say it.”
If I said it, it would be the end.
“…Can’t be helped then.”
Clara murmured, disappointed.
“I don’t want to do this to a friend. We have mories, don’t we? It would have been better if you cooperated…”
Clara grabbed the back of my neck.
Thud.
With a ringing in my ears, a numbing pain followed. I tried to resist, lifting my bound hands, but when Clara struck again, it was over. My vision turned red again. It was hot. I cried, my tongue stiffened, my head ached. It was a dull pain. My senses were fading.
“Say it. Jane, it will be easier.”
“No…”
“Say it!”
I couldn’t breathe well. My body lifted and fell.
Thud.
＊ ＊ ＊
When I opened my eyes again, there was no pain or anything. I hastily touched my head; it was clean. Not a drop of blood.
Clara was perched on the altar, looking down at . Her cold fingers stroked my hair.
“How are you feeling?”
“How am I feeling? Are you kidding ? What did you do to ?”
Clara laughed. Her rciless eyes still looked down at .
“Jane, I’ll give you another chance. Just say ‘I’ll give you everything,’ and that’ll be enough.”
Ha. This was ridiculous. Asking for my soul, she had no conscience. She was the woman who had just tied my wrists and struck my head. There was no way I could easily say I’d give her everything.
I laughed in disbelief, and Clara approached, grabbing my chin. Her grip was so strong it felt like my jaw would shatter. She growled.
“Hurry up and say it.”
My head cooled.
Think rationally. I need to find a chance to escape. I instinctively knew that if I said those words, there would be no next chance. So what should I do? What should I do?
My mind ca up with a solution.
‘Stall for ti.’
I really didn’t want to and it was truly horrible. I didn’t know how long I could hold out. But I had to stall until my mind ca up with a solution…
I made my choice. And as I did, I thought of Liam Moore. His arrogant, cold smile. The confidence of that man as he smirked while confronting Philip Peterson at the Ulrich Mausoleum.
And I hoped. For what would happen next was fairly predictable.
That no matter what Clara Barnum did to , my mind would hold out.
That I wasn’t such a weak person.
The corners of my mouth, stiffened with fear, loosened as I thought of Liam Moore. Clara’s glassy eyes reflected my bright smile. I spat out the words as if chewing them.
“Even if I die, no way. If you’re going to talk nonsense, go see a doctor!”
＊ ＊ ＊
Even if I die, she would really kill .
The first thought I had when I could think again was that. I tried to use humour to endure, but I don’t know if it worked. My mories were all jumbled in a ss. When I managed to catch my breath, I couldn’t even tell where I was.
It was torture.
Clara Barnum ticulously peeled away at layer by layer to achieve what she wanted. She knew how to keep a person awake. It was odd for a shipping company’s president who only looked at docunts to be so skilled at this. She was relentless. If my willpower had been any weaker, I would have given up on myself.
Do you know that when pain continues, the brain stops thinking? I lay there helplessly, cutting off all sensations and thoughts. What ti was it? Did Liam know? Did he realise I was missing? How many hours had passed?
Never in my life did I imagine experiencing sothing like this. Beating soone to make them talk? That’s only in spy movies, right?
‘Really need to stop watching movies…’
I swear, if I ever return to 21st-century Korea, I’ll avoid movies and gas. Even if a knife is at my throat. I’ll live a secluded life. I’ll even delete my punk accounts.
After being left alone for a long ti, I sensed movent. It was Clara Barnum. She would give a break, then return when I regained my senses.
How many hours had passed? Days? My sense of ti was fuzzy, my brain felt like it was lting.
In that long period, I learned exactly how many bones were in my body and how many teeth I had. I also learned how it felt to lose vision in one eye. If you don’t go into shock, you can survive even if all your bones are broken. I also felt how much blood you need to lose to die.
It was the sa now. The sensation of blood draining was vivid. Everything felt like it had just happened. Did it? I didn’t know. I knew nothing. I was tired, drowsy, and wanted to rest. But I knew that even if I died, I’d be brought back, and this pain would repeat endlessly.
Clara Barnum stood up.
“Jane, you’re really tenacious.”
With each breath, the stone altar exuded a fishy sll. My cheek was wet. The woman, covered in blood, looked down at , who was barely breathing. She whispered like a rciful person.
“Shall I stop?”
Yes, please. Wipe your feet and go to bed.
But since no significant thought had co to mind yet, I muttered pitifully.
“Do it a hundred tis. I’ll never speak.”
Clara Barnum let out a frustrated sigh. I heard a thud. Simultaneously, familiar subtitles appeared before my eyes.
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