Chapter 432

The young man, who was soon approaching 30, did not hesitate to address the child three times younger than him as Noname and Madosa.

Should this be seen as loyalty or tenacity?

The term “cunning fox” seems appropriate.

It doesn’t mean he dislikes it that much. Yes, this is indeed the world as it should be.

“At least I won’t be back in Korea until April. The winter semester ends then.”

“Then please leave me a message around April, Madosa. I’ll make sure to create a sensational public opinion.”

“When did I say I’d come back by then? No need. Thank you for providing this information, but it’s cold, so you should head inside.”

“Excuse me? Are you telling me to leave now? At least let me get a coffee, or orange juice…!”

I pushed out the former Congressman Um Jun-yong as if to send him away.

He’s a person already deeply entangled and having dealings with would bring no good.

Wasn’t he the one who argued for a relationship based on necessity?

After all, the purpose of his visit today was to win my favor, and that plan was already halfway successful.

“Our paintings are different now. If the opportunity arises, let’s meet again.”

Someday, when the brush strokes racing across this vast canvas overlap, a day will come when we need each other.

‘It’s better if that day never comes. Above all, people are too burdensome.’

I then entered my cozy room and carefully examined the materials from start to finish.

I went through the list of the Balpurgis Special Investigation Committee, and most of them were people who barely had one foot in.

It seems that the claims made by Um Jun-yong that he was the only one running around the world and compiling a report of over a hundred pages were true.

‘How can one person’s investigation exceed that of a nation’s?’

Of course, the country wouldn’t ask him to storm the Balpurgis headquarters, but there is a sense of propriety.

Anyway, organizing the materials he sent me yielded the following.

Seol-a’s parents are both non-Mages, or ordinary people.

For some reason, Seol-a continued to stay in Africa until March of the year following the end of the war.

She eventually made her way to Korea via Egypt.

The government found and brought her closest relatives, but it turned out to be a fifth cousin, so it was inevitable that she would be placed in an orphanage.

In the year she turned eight, she was diagnosed with ALS.

If you look at her elementary school record, attached by Um Jun-yong, her number of absences increased in an arithmetic sequence.

Starting from middle school, however, her absences were consistently at the maximum of 50 days.

It’s an unreliable record.

This is because schools sometimes manipulate data within a certain range to ensure students graduate on time.

Let’s go back to the beginning.

According to revelations from France, the goal of Balpurgis-Seraph was the creation of artificial life.

Whether they wanted to create their own gods or suicidal bomb terrorist bioweapons, the purpose is unimportant.

Well, it seems they had no success with the physical aspect, but judging by Adella’s case, they were on the verge of success mentally.

Then another question arises.

Why was Balpurgis trying to save the incurable illness-affected Sulah? What could they possibly want?

I recalled the time I used ‘Persona Physis.’

The capsule that Seol-a and I were in was handled distinctly differently compared to others.

The victims with electrodes on their heads all died the moment the capsule’s power was cut off.

But we continued to survive until we were moved to an abandoned house.

‘Right, they tried to take care of us until the end. Leaving the capsule in the abandoned house wasn’t to destroy evidence but to recover it later? Someone must have messed up communication, so eventually, no one could find us?’

It is tragic. But that would ensure everything adds up.

After all, if they were going to burn down the lab, there’d be no reason to just take out the heavy capsules.

[Retrieve the Messiah’s vessel stolen by the disbelievers without damage. – Excerpt from Operation ‘An Nas’]

‘To recover me, or to recover Seol-a.

Or perhaps to recover both.’

“Sigh… I think it would be great if I could just grab about three people and dig them up using Persona Physis.”

The information Um Jun-yong had brought was certainly valuable.

Yet, it felt lacking in some way.

I laid precariously on the bed, letting my hair fall to the floor.

Gravity caused blood to rush to my head, and the world inverted above and below.

“Mom, if I could meet you now, there’s just one thing I want to ask. Do you know what that is, Seol-a?”

The hollow shout did not reach her.

I anxiously stamped my feet and kept thumping the mattress with my heels.

“I really wonder if I was a baby born because Mom wanted me.”

Based on everything so far, it seems that the likelihood of Seol-a being exploited as a surrogate was the highest.

Finding suitable genes and making slight genetic modifications would yield far superior results.

It’s similar to the principle of breeding fruit.

If that’s the case, my being an artificial life form is not entirely impossible.

In fact, there are plenty of much more horrifying scenarios, but…

I didn’t want to imagine them.

My head became so cluttered that I could no longer read the words properly.

I pressed my fingers to my temples, trying to suppress the throbbing headache.

“Sis, hurry up and change my tail and ears back!”

Saetbyeol dashed into my room, her innocent cheeks puffed out.

I felt a slight sting.

I spread aura thinly on my palm.

I gently patted Saetbyeol’s aura ears and then swiftly removed the extra tail.

“Here you go.”

Saetbyeol appeared puzzled by my anticlimactic response.

She must have thought I would play more tricks.

“Are you hurt?”

“Uh. I think I might have a bit of a cold. I’ll take a nap, so raise the room temperature a bit.”

Whether it was a cold or not, I was unsure.

I just felt tired as I was thinking about different things.

“Why didn’t you say that earlier? You’re going to catch it from me.”

Saetbyeol quickly dashed out.

I intended to stay in that uncomfortable position with blood pooling in my head for a while to sort out my thoughts.

But suddenly, Saetbyeol returned and looked down at me.

“Are you going to stay like that? If you’re sick, you need to lie down properly, sis.”

In an instant, cold hands slipped under my arms.

Saetbyeol lifted me and carefully set me down in bed.

Then she placed her hand on my forehead to check for a fever.

“Hmm, it seems like you have a slight fever. Don’t overexert yourself today, sis. I’m going now.”

Smooch-

Saetbyeol left a sudden kiss on my forehead and exited the room.

* * *

[2nd Circle Activation: Cerebral Cortex Reconstruction]

[3rd Circle Activation: Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Activation]

[Encryption: Neuropeptide Y Receptor 2]

What is a dream?

A dream is a process where a part of the brain is awake during REM sleep, automatically regenerating memories or information randomly.

The stronger the person’s aura blooms, the higher the ratio of their mental world being reflected in dreams.

This is because the mana circuit inside the body remains open even while sleeping, allowing for unconscious reactions to the world and magical energy.

If one keeps the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activated at all times, it is also possible to experience lucid dreams like this.

However, one must prepare for a headache the next day.

A desolate desert, a blazing sun, white skin turning red, and golden hair shining even brighter.

Here, I whispered a word.

“It’s a dream.”

As soon as I uttered this, the ground of the entire world suddenly rose high.

An optical illusion caused by my height suddenly shrinking.

I became a 120cm tall Korean girl with black hair and black eyes.

“Tsk, I preferred when I was 176.”

The aura heart split into seven parts, each establishing different ecosystems over time.

The desert represents Hunger, the world of Erisiton.

As I transitioned into my third life, the Erosions lost their essence entirely.

Nevertheless, their influence to completely alter a person’s mental world was massive.

There wasn’t much for me to do here.

I only needed to check that each of the Erosions’ leashes were well secured and additionally monitor the oasis’s water levels for Erisiton.

‘Haven’t they been drinking much water?’

In this friend’s worldview, the water level signifies the activity of the aura heart.

As the seven pieces grow independently now, it was important to maintain balance until they reach adulthood.

Clang-

As I held onto the chains tied to the palm tree, I slowly followed them.

A refreshing breeze swept between the red earth houses, which felt quite cool.

Tinkle-

When I pulled on the chain, I felt a thud at my fingertips.

It was definitely inside.

“Why did they make the window so high?”

I reached up on my toes and peeked through the hole in the middle.

It was dark inside, and I couldn’t see anything.

“…!”

At that moment, a human figure burst out from within like a boar charging.

The girl slipped out through the narrow gap in the window, leaving the fine door untouched.

The strong sunlight reflected off the sand, piercing my eyes.

I squinted, watching where the girl landed.

“Hunger?”

Hunger was one of the Erosions I had sealed away initially, alongside Laziness and Anger.

Because of that, she showed nearly no remnants of self-awareness from when she was human and often appeared beast-like.

Yet…

An unbelievable sight unfolded.

With a grunt, the girl who could only make sounds like ‘grr’, ‘bark’, and ‘woof’ stood upright on two legs.

She crossed her arms as she looked at me, then swiftly turned her head away in discontent.

Could this truly be a dream?

Am I perhaps dreaming a dream of a lucid dream?

So, I quickly built a photon clock to confirm that time flows at 1.2 times slower than the real world.

At least it’s not a dream within a dream.

Then what is this girl in front of me?

“Who are you? This is Erisiton’s house.”

I clutched my trembling heart, trying to lower my voice as much as I could.

The sound came out like a chick chirping, making me feel embarrassed.

“I’m Erisiton?”

“You’re saying you’re Erisiton?”

“I don’t like you. You’re mean. You make Erisiton suffer. I like people who pet me.”

What kind of nonsense is this?

No, my words should have been nonsense, but I was flustered because she spoke in human language instead.

How did she regain her humanity?

When I took a step closer, the girl scurried back five steps, kicking up sand.

‘This…’

There was an additional footprint in the sand.

I asked from my spot, “Hey, who invaded your house?”

“Pet?”

“Is it Shardenfroide again?”

I guessed that Shardenfroide had caused trouble, like the last incident with Astarte.

Given that it was now the primary foothold of my self, it would naturally have the most power.

However, if I suppress Shardenfroide, my own power would weaken along with it.

How should I resolve this difficult problem?

At that moment, Erisiton barked, “King!” then erupted into a fit of giggles.

“Sora? Sera? Se, Ssa, Sua, Su! Grrr… Wahh!”

“What are you saying?”

Erisiton’s playful tongue twisted together, forming a word that was quite shocking to me because…

“Seol-a… Seol-a!”

“…!”

“Ro, Seol-a likes to be petted!”

“How do you know that name? Do you know my mom? Did you come here?”

Because it was the name of my mother coming from the mouth of a girl completely disconnected from reality.

As I realized that a major upheaval was occurring in the mental world beneath my awareness,

“Ehehe, I won’t tell you!”

“You little brat. It’s urgent, so come here and tell me right now!”

There was no room for hesitation.

With all my strength, I leaped toward where the girl was.

Erisiton, wearing a sly and sinister smile, attempted to dash past me swiftly.

‘You dare?’

Though I wasn’t at my peak, my reaction speed hasn’t dulled.

I stretched out my right arm, preparing to strike her head.

From ancient times, a mad dog could only be dealt with by a lariat.

Bang!

And then I woke up from this dog dream.

* * *

Smack-!

Namé, waking from sleep with a convulsion.

For a moment, she tilted her head in puzzlement at the sensation in her palm that throbbed.

Rubbing her bleary eyes, her vision slowly cleared.

In the sunlight seeping through the transparent curtains, she saw Saetbyeol.

“Oof, it hurts so much…”

One of her cheeks was red, as if someone had slapped her.

As Saetbyeol began to whimper, Namé’s round eyes widened in surprise.

“What happened, Saetbyeol? Your cheek… Are you okay?”

“Ugh… If you don’t like it, just say you don’t like it.”

A cold towel dropped from Namé’s forehead onto her thigh.

Saetbyeol trembled her lips and ultimately burst into tears.

Clear tears, like droplets, fell and soaked Namé’s hand.

Saetbyeol clung to her sister, sobbing sorrowfully, while Namé wiped away her sister’s tears with her burning hand.

It was winter.