Ella in the video appeared as a very young child.
A baby.
One who had just barely started to walk.
The baby was cradled in the arms of a man.
Clothes that were barely distinguishable from rags and a few remaining teeth.
Those teeth, by the way, were blackened and rotting, as if they could fall out at any moment.
It looked like the disheveled appearance of a drug addict who had hit rock bottom, commonly seen in slums.
[ Hehehe. So, you rescued her? Where from? ]
[ South Africa! Is that good enough?! Hurry, give me the money! The effects are wearing off NOW! Hurry! ]
[ Alright, alright. So needy, as if you’re not a drug junkie. ]
The drug addict was handing over the baby, who was either fainted or asleep, to a shaman. The shaman was donned in attire typical of Africa, adorned with shiny gold and jewels all over.
With what seemed like a charitable throw, the shaman tossed some money, and the drug addict, chuckling with glee, vanished somewhere with the cash.
Definitely off to buy drugs.
[ Hehehe. A mix of white and black? In my country, that baby’s very existence is a crime. ]
The shaman plucked out a strand of the baby’s hair to taste it.
[ Doesn’t seem like a special ability does it? Not much potential, huh? ]
Her wrinkled face twisted and contorted as she made her judgment.
The shaman declared.
[ Looks like you’re destined for sacrifice. ]
The body of an albino could be highly valuable due to its association with transformations.
If cut up and sold as accessories, you could make a fortune, and if taxidermied whole, it could even connect to influential politicians. Moreover, if the eyeballs were specially treated into a divine object, they would provide positive effects to their user.
Albinos were treasures in their own right.
However, if there was any possibility that the child could surpass her own value, she showed a willingness to spare the life, but sadly, the infant in the shaman’s arms seemed to lack any talent worth saving.
[ With no value as a person, let’s find some value as a thing, shall we? ]
Muttering that, the shaman tried to choke the baby.
Skkk!
But then, the hand trying to strangle the baby dropped suddenly.
It wasn’t that the hand was severed; it just fell as if it had always been that way, with not a single drop of blood trickling down.
Moreover, the cut surface of the wrist was blunt, as if it had been that way for a long time, and the severed wrist looked equally blunt as if it had always appeared like this.
The peculiar sight scrunched the shaman’s wrinkled face in confusion.
[ Witchcraft? ]
[ Yup. The power of the Great Witch that someone like you could never touch. ]
[ Tch. So arrogant. ]
Turning away, the shaman saw a woman.
A woman in her early thirties with long brown hair.
She wore a dress that clung to her body, advertising herself as a witch.
[ So, you white mutt, why are you causing a ruckus at this pathetic old man’s house? ]
[ I’m trying to dissect the child. Shouldn’t I just pass by? ]
Agnes A Reich.
She was Ella’s mentor.
Agnes swung her broom, plunging the entire room into darkness.
[ Old fool! Die! ]
With those words, the video cut off, and the end credits began to roll.
Provided/distributed by: The Brain
Produced by: The Seahorse
Directed by: The Seahorse
Assistant Director: Bae Weich Jeon Jeon
Planned by: The Seahorse
Edited by: The Cerebral Cortex
…
Baby role: Amara (fetus name) / Monifa (fetus name)
Witch role: Agnes A Reich
Shaman role: Amma Ya Traore
…
Sponsored by: Park Jinseong
…
Location sponsorship
Shaman’s base – Tanzania
Hotel – Russian Federation
Bed – Zvezdochka hotel suite 2nd bed
…
*
“What’s this?!”
Ella shouted in frustration at the movie that had abruptly cut off at a crucial moment.
“That’s just how dreams go~”
She restrained Ella, who was trying to jump up.
“You saw the end credits, right?”
“Yes? Yes. But what about it?”
“Who was it provided/distributed by?”
“The brain…?”
“That’s right~ The brain. You can’t make a film without watching~ But here’s a quiz! The brain is the brain, but whose brain is it~? Is it this sister’s brain or your younger sister’s brain?”
Upon hearing the question, Ella pondered for a moment and replied.
“Is it mine…?”
The woman then smiled brightly like a flower.
“Bzzz! Wrong! The answer is both!”
She rewound the video and pointed to the end credits.
“See the baby role here?”
“Yes, Amara…. Monifa….”
Ella was saying it when she looked at the woman with a stunned expression.
The woman then brought her hands to both sides of her face and spread them wide, smiling.
Like teasing a cute baby with a ‘peekaboo,’ so cheerfully.
“Tada! This sister and the younger sister!”
“What?!”
She hugged Ella tightly and brought her finger back to her chest.
Then, poking her right side, she said.
“We were originally twins, but for some reason in the womb, I was absorbed into my younger sister.”
“What? Absorbed?!”
“They call it a vanishing twin! It happens sometimes!”
Ella’s face turned pale.
“But still, this sister was fortunate! I got to stay in my sister’s chest instead of disappearing! Right here, where I’m poking you~”
“My, my chest?”
“Yep! Being in the chest was lucky~ If it had been somewhere else, they might have called it a tumor and operated, but if it’s in the chest, there are no symptoms, so it doesn’t show easily~? Moreover, it’s such a blessing that the younger sister was so healthy, there was no reason to go to the hospital! I’m late, but I want to thank you now~”
The woman smiled broadly.
“Ch-chest. Tumor…? In my chest….”
“Yup. It was very comfortable staying here. Thank you~”
However, regardless of any gratitude expressed, Ella’s face was ghostly pale.
Suddenly overwhelmed by information that was hard to accept, she struggled to maintain her sanity.
“Ah, still? Still, my, my, my. My ch-ch-ch, chest? It’s still there?!”
The woman, as if to reassure her, buried Ella’s face in her own chest and gently patted her back.
“Don’t worry~ This sister is independent now!”
“What?! What does that even mean?!”
“A generous person… Ah, it would be better to see a picture than to explain!”
The woman pulled a photo from the sofa armrest and showed it to Ella.
As she turned, Ella gazed at the photo while still snugly held in the woman’s embrace.
The somewhat oversized photo was black-and-white.
It looked like an ultrasound image taken of a fetus in a pregnant woman’s belly.
In the photo, there were two entities that looked like fetuses.
“We’re in this picture~ This sister and the younger sister took our very first family photo together~”
The photo gradually transformed.
As if drawing colors from the air, it slowly gained hues, and the black-and-white image shattered and scattered, changing its appearance. It resembled a swarm of ants moving to form a shape or dust gathering to take form.
The altered photo showed Ella as a baby.
However, the baby was wrapped in an old cloth, discarded in front of what appeared to be an orphanage.
And in the distance, a homeless man was approaching with a cheerful demeanor.
“This was before we were kidnapped~ We were abandoned because we were albinos!”
“Abandoned…?”
“Yep~ They said they couldn’t raise such a mutation! Wow~ What amazing parents, right? Thanks to them, my precious younger sister was almost sacrificed, and I nearly vanished emptily too!”
The woman murmured in a low voice.
“I really wish I could see the faces of those amazing parents.”
Ella couldn’t see the woman’s face while being held close.
But she could imply that there was something resembling malice lurking behind that smile.
“Oh my, the photo is changing again~ This time it’s capturing the younger sister’s cute face!”
The image shifted again.
The photo showcased three women.
Ella, in a private elementary school uniform, wearing a beaming smile next to Agnes.
And there was Odilia, who was forcing a smile.
“From this moment on, the Great Witch disliked the younger sister~ Could it be that the charming student, who was always so affectionate, shifted her attention to the younger sister? Or was there some reason we didn’t know?”
The woman gently stroked Ella’s hair.
“But the young sister’s master gave her more big love than the disdain shown by the Great Witch. Thanks to that, the younger sister grew up so kind and lovely, I couldn’t be more grateful~”
The photo changed once more.
As if soaked in blood, the entire picture turned a vivid red, and a strong smell of blood emanated from it.
It displayed Ella lying on an altar, with two men standing before her.
One man with a beard wore a twisted expression as he tore into what was visible with his own hands, while the handsome man watched that horrifying scene with a smile.
“Herr Park?”
“Yup~ This sister’s benefactor, Jinseong Park!”
“Benefactor, you say?”
“That’s a secret!”
The woman tossed the photo aside with that remark.
“Wait, what do you mean by independence? What do you mean benefactor?!”
“I’ll tell you after you wake up from the dream. I think it’ll be more fun that way.”
The woman said playfully.
“Now, all that’s left is to see this. What could this be?”
She picked up the book that had been on the sofa armrest.
『 Collective Unconscious Network (Surface) 1st Access Permit 』
“Uh? Uh! Yaaaahoo!”
The woman jumped up, her excitement splashing all over her face as she began to leap in place.
“Sister! Sister! Today I’m going to show you something amazing!”
“Y-yes? Something amazing?!”
“My greatness! My omnipotence! Witness my power clearly!”
She yelled, radiating excitement as she opened the book.
Suuuuu.
As she opened it, something sealed was released, and a sticky liquid started flowing from the book, creating a pond the size of half the room. The woman grabbed Ella’s hand tightly and jumped into the pond recklessly.
“Hey, wait a minute! Wait, wait! What is this! What is going on! Can you at least explain?!”
