〈6. Proof of Existence (42)〉
That day too, the girl opened her eyes amid fierce pain.
It felt as if ants were crawling through her blood vessels. If they bit into her body one by one with their sharp snouts as they passed, it might cause a similar pain.
Kehek, kek.
Tears welled up in her wide-open eyes. But her dry vocal cords couldn’t even properly spit out cries, and her body, fixed on the cold bed, only wriggled but couldn’t move.
Today, her vision was strange in particular.
If she closed one eye, the remaining vision became entirely blurry. For anyone else, it wouldn’t be strange to scream in terror.
But the girl’s expression was unexpectedly calm.
Ah, today my eyes have gone blind.
She merely wore an expression mixed with resignation and despair.
At that moment, the sound of footsteps clomping came from somewhere.
The girl’s fine hairs stood on end, and her gaze filled with fear turned toward the source. The girl inhaled sharply with a hiiik and tried desperately to escape this place somehow.
Of course, it was a futile attempt.
She was a girl who had already been evaluated as sickly. From the moment her limbs were firmly bound, resistance was meaningless.
Grrk, kk.
Cries surged up her throat. She thought no sound would come out anymore since she hadn’t consumed food or water.
Why were only tears and groans filled with moisture.
Amid the foggy, dim lighting, a man in bizarre attire appeared.
It wasn’t just his attire. His facial features were also grotesquely twisted, as if looking at an unfinished sculpture.
The dark priest Mitram.
He looked at the girl and shed a tear from the eye right next to his nose.
“Oh, poor young lady… It seems you’re still unfamiliar with pain.”
“H-Ha, hi ma… Oi ma…….”
Because her teeth had all been pulled out not long ago, all the pleas flowing from the girl’s mouth converged into whistling sounds.
Even to that desperate voice, Mitram only shook his head.
“That can’t be done. This too is part of the ‘contract.’”
“I-I han… Such he, han’t done…….”
“It has nothing to do with your will.”
While saying that, the man rummaged through his bosom. What revealed itself there was a syringe containing a suspicious liquid.
The girl now trembled her body as if having a seizure. As if her brain, anticipating the coming pain, was forcibly trying to make her lose consciousness.
It was a pitiful scene.
Especially so because all attempts were worthless.
With a squelch, the syringe in the man’s hand pierced the girl’s carotid artery.
Due to the intense hallucinogenic effect, a gurgling sound of bubbling foam came from the girl’s mouth. But Mitram, seeing this, only shed tears drop by drop.
“Ak! Aaaaaak! Aaaaaak!”
“Pitiful young lady… How can such a cruel thing happen.”
Water droplets rolled down from the girl’s eyes as she screamed. Haak, haak, from the child’s mouth whose breathing had become rough, a prayer begging for salvation was involuntarily recited.
“G-God… S-Save me……!”
“There is no such thing as God.”
As if pronouncing a cruel punishment, Mitram became a judge and whispered like that.
“If there were, you wouldn’t be in this state. Don’t you understand yet? For us abandoned ones, there is nowhere to lean on… Only ourselves!”
“No!”
Perhaps she had awakened amid the extreme pain.
A proper voice, after who knows how long, burst from the girl’s mouth. Her bloodshot eyes were burning with an intense light.
“I-I wasn’t abandoned!”
“You were abandoned.”
“D-Don’t lie!”
Was it hatred, or a wish.
Blue flames flickered in the golden eyes. The girl shouted with a feeling of vomiting blood.
“I-I’m just temporarily entrusted… Mom and Dad said so. They’ll come back to get me! Mom, Dad… Save me…….”
Hiccup, sobs overflowed.
The sight of the girl shedding tears alone usually evoked sympathy. Mitram was no exception, as a long sigh leaked from his lips.
A gaze of pity struck down on the girl.
“……If it’s really hard to believe, I’ll show you.”
And the man’s rough hand crushed the girl’s finger with a crunch.
The girl had been administered a drug that made her senses extremely sensitive. Thinking white lightning struck her brain from the excessive pain, soon her whole body trembled and began to convulse.
Her vision switched over and over as if flipping.
It was a cozy and warm house interior. There, familiar faces were present.
Bitter, yet unable to hide their sad expressions.
“Your name is Ria.”
“……Ri, a?”
“Yes, from now on, you are ‘Ria Percus.’ Our family.”
With a crack, the girl regained consciousness again with a scream.
Panting breaths and half-unfocused eyes, nevertheless, the shock on her face wasn’t erased.
Was it perhaps a dream?
No. The girl’s parents didn’t look at her with such unfamiliar eyes.
To the girl who couldn’t grasp the situation, Mitram recited the cruel truth.
“This is the scene seen by the fake sent in your place. It seems the Percus family has decided to abandon you after all.”
“L-Lie…….”
The girl wanted to deny it while crying, but each time, Mitram only sighed and continued the torture.
Following the lightning-like pain, the scene switched.
The girl wearing a shy expression while enjoying a banquet.
“No…….”
In front of the family keeping their distance, the girl seemed like she would be shy forever. Until she met a boy who trained every night by rolling on the ground in an open field.
The boy who introduced himself as ‘little Oppa’ stroked the girl’s head with a clear smile.
The boy said with a gentle smile.
‘From now on, I’ll protect you.’
It was words the girl had never heard even once.
And it was also the promise she desired more than anything.
“No…….”
Bang, bang, bang.
Lightning struck her mind for days.
In the meantime, the girl was gradually becoming more accustomed to the family’s embrace.
Wearing an awkward smile while putting on clothes.
Blankly watching the boy train, then holding his hand and going to play at the back mountain.
There, a splendid flower field was located.
The girl blushed and lowered her head while putting on the flower ring the boy made on her finger.
‘It suits you well, Ria.’
The boy showed a clearer smile than ever before.
“No, no, no……!”
Don’t smile.
Don’t be happy.
Do you feel family love? Do you feel sibling affection? How dare you, the likes of you, love?
No, no.
It couldn’t be.
Because, because…….
“Because I’m ‘Ria’!”
Not some fake, she wanted to shout at the top of her lungs several times.
But time flowed relentlessly.
Each time her body and mind became tattered, without fail, the girl’s world transformed like an illusion.
As the days passed and the girl lost her smiles more and more, the girl who resembled her gained more smiles.
Resentful oil was poured into the crevices of her devastated mind.
Whom should she hate.
The parents who abandoned me?
“You should indeed.”
Mitram’s giggling whisper was heard.
With a body where even pain was no longer properly felt, the girl blankly chanted.
“And that fake too…….”
“Why is that?”
Already knowing the answer, the man rubbed his hands like a teacher anticipating a splendid response from his disciple.
It was a gaze full of expectation.
The girl did not betray that expectation.
“……Because it’s mine.”
Light was born once again in the golden eyes that had been dead.
Grit, grit, the sound of grinding teeth echoed eerily. Feeling her teeth shattering, the girl howled with hatred filled to the brim.
“Mine, mine, mine! Everything has to be mine!”
That smile, the family. And even the beloved Oppa!
Everything was the girl’s share. The resentment of the girl whose life was stolen entirely was deep and thick.
With a crack, it was then that the iron bed binding the girl jolted.
Between the blinded eyes, the already burned nerves, and the ravaged body, pitch-black liquid gushed out in surges.
Mitram, seeing this, burst into admiration and knelt down.
“I have to get it back…….”
“Finally, you have been completed.”
With a bang, an explosion erupted, and the world was torn apart.
No, what was torn was the lock binding the girl. The restraints and bed made of steel were pitifully ripped and rolled on the ground.
The sharp collision sound was like a scream.
Perhaps it was the scream the girl had been holding back, belatedly being let out.
Mitram was now even shedding tears while banging his head on the ground.
“Oh vessel of Greed……!”
Whether or not, the girl’s mind was already filled with thoughts of a certain man.
Ian Percus.
The one blood relative who didn’t abandon the girl, the only existence who poured unconditional love on the girl, albeit beyond an illusion.
She had to retrieve him first.
Only then could the girl finally reclaim her life.
First love.
It was the end of childhood, the beginning of puberty.
Even if it was a love distorted beyond recognition.
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