Minjun understood how cruel love that had touched madness could be. He couldnt bla it. However, if you truly loved soone, the direction should converge toward saving the other person, not killing them.
This was the reason why he had killed Dell.
***
Minjun couldn't rember exactly when the relationship between the two began to deteriorate. It was because we he didn't know when exactly Dells mind began to get twisted. In the early days of marriage, Minjun had had a vague premonition. If he spent his life with Dell, he thought it would be more than tolerable. He hoped that they would be able to live with each other and depend on each other.
"Sadly, of course, that feeling was also wrong."
Minjun accelerated the mories he didn't want to recall in his head.
"It all started with a creepy look."
Whenever he was eating, getting dressed, drowsy, reading, washing his hands In the ordinary monts of everyday life, he would turn his head to find Dell staring at him. She looked completely different from what he had seen in the past 80 years when she was calm. Minjun knew her eyes well.
Eventually, the day he beca convinced that she was plotting a long-term plan to kill him was the day their marriage ended. It was quite a terrible day.
"Even now, when I think of that day, I can sll blood."
Minjun didn't know why her mind had broken so quickly. From what he confird, Dell had been taking all of her prescription drugs. There was even a blue pill given by a doctor who traversed the dinsion and interviewed prisoners.
Still, Dell went crazy. The day their relationship ended, Minjun persistently questioned her. Dell avoided answering for sure, but she directly affird so of the questions. As a result of a terrible query, Minjun was able to derive three lines of sentences.
"One, Dell wants to kill ."
This could have already been said a few tis, but it didnt matter.
"Two, the reason is because you love so much . . . you think that only then will you set yourself free."
Crazy, crazy, and seriously crazy.
"Three, but with both of us being prisoners, Dell cannot kill . Because killing a prisoner, that is, damaging the assets of the Commission, is a cri of property damage."
When a prisoner committed such a serious cri, he would face the next level of amnestic punishnt.
Soul extinction. That wasnt what Dell wanted. This was because she believed in the superstition that the kite of her present life continued into her next life. She received aggravated punishnt and she could not be reincarnated once her soul was erased.
Oh my God, Bradley said in a tired voice. "The idea that you must die to be free is that the possibility that you will eventually be released after earning your talents is zero."
"You know what's even more amazing?"
She had a delusion that she would be discharged first, beco a free man, and then kill Minjun. Then, even if she were to be caught and punished, she would be spared soul-extinguishing and she has to go to prison once again.
"I still can't forget the last ti I saw you."
When the mission in that dinsion was over and the two were torn apart into another world, Minjun thought he would never encounter Dell again. Her severance pay of 500,000 talents was also not a small amount.
After her release, the fact that she planned to kill Minjun had also been reported to the committee, so the future was even darker. Even if one were to think positively, it would definitely take thousands of years.
"Her mind had already begun to disintegrate, and I thought by then that it wouldn't be able to serve as a living creature at all."
At the mont when the prisoners finally gathered and greeted each other and set out on their way, Minjun inadvertently made eye contact with Dell. It had been a long ti since they had not spoken to each other, so he tried to turn away again as usual.
However, the opponent did not avert their gaze. Dell smiled shyly, as she had been accustod to before, and began to move the shape of her mouth. At that ti, the sentences she had dismissed as re nonsense of a delusional disorder patient.
It wont take as long as you think.
***
There was a mont of silence between the two.
It was Minjun who opened his mouth again first. "Anyway, so of the plans have already been successful, because I was released first."
Minjuns prediction was wrong, and now the rest of the steps were obvious. However, Bradley brought out certain possibilities, almost as if not to lose his hope.
"Ooh, let's see the positive side of us"
He shook his head, looking for words to comfort him. "As a criminal, getting your mory back doesn't necessarily make it more horribly and violently crazy."
"If a crazy person goes crazy again, will he turn around and beco normal? Or can the mories of a half-million-talent cri make people feel calr?"
"It is impossible. This is Dell we're talking about, after all. Thats not what I an
After hesitating, he brought out the na again. "You could be like Telesia." "
""
""
This silence lasted a little longer. Bradley realized he had made a mistake and his face clouded over.
Minjun kept silent words in his mouth and eventually changed the topic direction. "What worries more now is that we don't know what the woman's race is."
The other day, during a conversation in the office, Bradley had briefly mistaken Dell for a dragon. Minjun was thinking that it would be better if she was really one.
"I only found out about it during Telesia, but the order of discharge is divided into two stages, right? First the mory, then the original body."
Indigenous peoples of the previous dinsion were also human races, and Minjun was active at the ti with the sa body he was now. Dell also looked like a human at the ti, but he didn't know what kind of being she really was.
"If it were a race with terrible abilities that I couldn't touch"
After being able to unleash 100% of the sealed power, Dell would return as a more powerful madman. However, Bradley shook his head as if he couldn't believe that.
"Ah, maybe."
The two talked about Dell for a while, and eventually changed the direction of the story. It was because of Minjuns thought that it would be useless to bundle up his worries and lant over this even more.
"By the way, how long do you have left?"
At this, Bradley laughed. "Ten thousand talents ahead."
The topic quickly passed. The atmosphere also changes. Hearing his answer, Minjun applauded slowly.
"How much was your severance pay?"
"70,000 talents."
"Didn't you ever throw away your talents for sothing in the middle?"
"Of course. What do you think?"
"Then, if we do well can we fill the rest of the earth?"
"I think so. As you may feel, there are strangely many smugglers in this dinsion. Even if you stand still, your talents will walk into your pocket."
Minjun also agreed with this. That was one of the reasons he stayed in this dinsion longer than he initially thought.
After that, the two got up from their seats after continuing to chat. The two prisoners then greeted each other briefly in front of the bar entrance.
As Minjun was about to turn his back, Bradley suddenly asked, "Hey, I was talking about Telesia earlier. I dont know if Id feel bad if I said sothing like this
"Then don't do it."
He grinned as he spoke. "I just wanted to say that you can't."
Minjun snorted right nose. Huh. That's fine."
"Freedom."
"Freedom."
Like a long-standing habit among prisoners, they parted ways after sharing good wishes.
Minjun didnt know when the next day they would et would be. Minjun began walking a short distance to the shopping mall. And instead of thinking about Dell, he rembered Bradleys last words.
The aning of that short sentence was simple.
Minjun, even if you pay your severance pay and get released, you won't beco like Telesia.'
A man who had lost his mories of the distant past began to walk down a road covered in cold air and recalled the relatively close past.
***
The dinsion in which they worked together was called Ashtal,' and the republic, with 36 planets and 145 space bases inhabited by intelligent bodies, was ruled for a long ti by a single dictator.
The dictator was so cruel that he gained notoriety with other dinsions. The people were oppressed with a thorough governnt of terror, and those who rebelled were horribly ravaged and killed. The number of those who were tragically killed during his tenure in power was yet to be counted. There was only a lot of speculation that there were at least billions of people.
One of the most famous and horrific examples of the tyranny of that ti was the tragedy of the pioneer planet XE-21. Recalling that mory, Minjun frowned without realizing it.
I only heard about the records but it was absolutely ridiculous.'
The dictator, who received information that the citizens were plotting a conspiracy, halted all food trucks heading there without notice. XE-21 was originally designed as an industrial planet and was an environnt that relied on outside sources for 99% of its food.
The people of the planet were exhausted from hunger and tried to escape into space, but were shot down by the satellites that surrounded the planet. There was no data on how to properly dig up the image of hell that unfolded thereafter consuming all the ergency food. It was only estimated that they did not go to hell for more than three years, where parents eat their children and humans hunt humans.
That case was decisive. In the end, even his aides turned their backs.'
A coup had taken place then. Fearing treason, the dictator was building a defense system that even his closest subordinates were unaware of. The war lasted longer than expected, but after the cost of many sacrifices, victory eventually fell into the hands of the revolutionary army. The dictator on the verge of a purge is said to have pushed one of his switches with a quiet smile, rather than terrified or begging.
No one knew. How far did that madness reach?'
At that mont, more than 90% of the power generation facilities, collective farms, communication bases, and stations in the republic self-destructed and disappeared into space dust. And even then, the shield that had stopped the space bugs that attacked and devoured everything while flying between planets got broken. Only then did the revolutionary army confront the ugliness of the long-held dictators plan. If such preparations were made, it would have been possible to plant a self-destruct device in the core of a planet without anyone knowing.
However, the dictator did not do that. He prayed for the people who rebelled against him to return to the primitive age, tornted by barbarism and hunger for a long ti, and to continue the painful life of being hunted down by space bugs. It was all utter malice. In the anti, not even a small fragnt of the dictators body remained. Rumor had it that it was torn to pieces by an angry revolutionary army and destroyed.
In the end, they won the war, but what was left was a devastated land where almost everything necessary to survive was destroyed, and tens of billions of people were exhausted and wounded by the long war.
"It was then that the commission began to intervene."
Instead of sending migrants there, the commission ford and dispatched a task to rebuild the broken social and economic system. Of course, they were all amnestic prisoners, and Telesia was one of them.
During the reconstruction project that has been going on for over 300 years, the staff were replenished several tis, and Minjun also participated in the latter half and t Dell there. And it was Telesia who made the most outstanding achievents in all this process.
Mother of all.'
It was her nickna, given by the natives of Ashtal. She did her best for Ashtal, as she remained as long as she was when the other prisoners rotated. Her natives didnt know she was her inmate, but it didnt seem like she would have changed anything if she did.
Because they all loved Telesia.
Her strengths were in her administrative ability and political sense.
On behalf of the Revolutionary Army, which was on the verge of disintegration in the civil war, Telesia directly negotiated with the committee, increased the amount of aid, and led several reinforcents. It was also her achievent to quickly restore Ashtals economy, which had been shattered after the war.
Her ability to rebuild Ashtal was overwhelming, and her attitude to all of her dinsional peoples as if they were her family impressed many of her. They sent Telesia her heartfelt affection and respect.
Telesia loved them all.
That was the dinsion where Telesia started her prison life and was first dispatched, and since she had lived there for more than three hundred years, she must have loved it. As ti passed and her work was recognized, Telesia was selected for a special pardon. Simply put, it ant that the chosen one would be released imdiately, no matter how many talents you have accumulated.
Thank you, its all thanks to you guys!
She rejoiced and shared her plans for the future with her colleagues. Even after she beca free, she said that she would return to Ashtal and spend the rest of her life with them. On the day of her Telesia's discharge, all her inmates who had suffered with her gathered together to congratulate her.
The sound of everyones excitent and chatter was good in my ears.
I knew the concept of a special amnesty existed, but this is the first ti Ive seen it with my own eyes.
Can we ever be like that?
Thank you Telesia. You gave hope not only to these dinsional people but also to all of our prisoners who were with you.'
The mont finally ca in an atmosphere of excitent. Before recovering the original body, the order was to return the mory first. The mont Telesia took a breath in the tension, sothing within her began.
Looking back now, Minjun felt nothing at that ti. Whether it was magic, technology, or sothing else beyond his cognition. Telesias stiff body was the only clue that could tell them sothing was going on. A few seconds passed with everyone holding their breath.
Then, sothing no one expected happened.
Telesia?' The mont soone called out your na softly. Telesia looked down at her hands in disbelief.
And then, she saw her colleagues. Next, she saw countless stars spread out in the night sky. The people of Ashtal would be scattered throughout the universe, where they lived. She saw the vast world she reconstructed. And then her face contorted.
Everyone felt embarrassed. Whispers circulated that sothing was wrong. Telesia then collapsed. She knelt down on her knees and shook her body.
In a panic, she shook her head and let out a wild cry. Mixed with the creaking sound, he mumbled sothing nonstop. These were the words that Minjun could barely understand.
Sorry. Sorry. Im sorry.
After constantly muttering only those words, she cried out to the committee. I want you to get out of here right now. The committee responded to her request and opened the door, and she ran away without looking back. All those left behind were just staring blankly. That was the last appearance of a prisoner who had dedicated herself to Ashtal for three hundred years.
And shortly after Minjun left Ashtal, he heard the news that Telesia had taken her own life.
***
Minjun walked for a while longer on the street filled with loud noises. recurring thoughts.
I won't be like that.'
It was more of a determination and a determination than a foreboding. Minjun thought again. After he regained any of the mories he lost, he wouldn't let them gnaw at him. He and other prisoners could easily deduce from the circumstances at the ti.
It was a very terrible assumption, but he could not find a reasonable explanation for it. What would be the mories that Telesia had recovered, and what cris she had committed and started her prison life? The committee didnt make an official announcent, and no one put in an inquiry, but everyone had a gut feeling.
And the mory of Telesias last remained stronger for Minjun than anyone else. He had no choice but to do so. Minjun had read a language that only his own eyes can see. The severance pay (imdiate release bail) allocated to Prisoner Identification Number: Asif-666' was 5,124,990 talents. Minjun could still rember it clearly.
The severance pay set for Telesia was 1.2 million talents.
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