One hour before the wonderful performance of the orphanage children began.
As they slowly prepared to go on stage, Lena approached Rene.
There was anxiety on her small and lovely face.
Lena stole a worried glance at Rene, who mistook Lena’s nervousness for her feeling dejected as the play was about to start. She placed a hand on Lena’s small shoulder.
With a gentle smile.
“Are you nervous? It’s okay. You all prepared hard, so you’ll do well.”
Lena shook her head in response to Rene’s encouragement.
“That’s not it. I can’t see Lily.”
“Lily?”
Rene looked around.
Among the children, Lily’s face was nowhere to be seen.
Now that she thought about it, it seemed she hadn’t seen her since Lily had said she was going to the restroom.
“I checked the restroom, but she wasn’t there.”
Rene asked the other kids about Lily’s whereabouts.
Confused, the children looked at each other and only said they didn’t know.
Rene felt that the situation was becoming strange.
Lily was not a child who would vanish without a reason.
The fact that she hadn’t been seen until now meant she must have gotten caught up in an unexpected problem.
Perhaps the other kids felt the strange atmosphere as well, for anxiety blossomed on their lovely faces, and Rene smiled softly to soothe their worries.
“Don’t worry. Everyone is preparing. The teacher will go look for Lily.”
Rene left the waiting room, entrusting the children to the helpers.
After searching through the entire building and confirming she wasn’t there, she went outside.
Using her abilities, Rene planted roots beneath her feet and quickly spread her awareness across the festival.
In an instant, the festival grounds became Rene’s domain, and she began to search for Lily.
However.
‘?’
Rene could not sense Lily’s presence.
She determined that something unusual was unfolding.
Immediately, she took out her cellphone and informed someone on the other end about the situation.
A short while later, Red came running with a serious expression.
“What do you mean Lily’s missing? Have you checked all the places she might be?”
“Yes, I tried to use my powers to search, but I can’t feel Lily’s presence. It’s as if she’s not here at all.”
Red felt the gravity of the situation.
It was impossible for there to be no sign of someone within Rene’s domain.
Unless it was a special circumstance.
“Could it be? It’s not a kidnapping, is it?”
“….”
Red stroked his chin, lost in thought.
He and his acquaintances had been keeping a close watch and had deployed several security robots to ensure safety.
Safety was the priority, first and foremost.
There couldn’t be any accidents, and even if something did happen, they could respond swiftly.
If one were aware of who was at this festival, most organizations wouldn’t dare interfere unless they were utterly foolish or had nothing to lose.
Moreover, Lily was a rather special child.
She wasn’t a child who could easily be kidnapped, and even if she were, there should be marks left behind.
It was virtually impossible to quietly abduct a girl who had already surpassed all stringent conditions.
From a normal point of view, Rene’s assumption was incorrect.
But Red couldn’t dismiss Rene’s perspective.
What on earth was happening?
In the midst of the clearly strange situation, silence deepened, and Red sensed something unusual approaching rapidly.
He moved his hand and felt something gripped in his palm.
Upon checking, it was a small device the size of a fist.
“Red, that is….”
Something emerged from the device.
A luxurious invitation that seemed out of place for the current times.
He tore open the invitation and checked its contents.
Red’s expression turned grim.
The look in his eyes, while reading the letter, became fierce, and he clenched the paper tightly, wrinkling it.
The letter explained in detail.
He understood why Lily had disappeared.
He clicked his tongue in anger over the farce that had transpired.
Rene asked.
“Who on earth is it?”
“Greed.”
“Excuse me?”
“The Midas of Greed has returned.”
An unexpected character had suddenly appeared, startling Rene.
The Seven Great Transgressions, the organization with the second most influence after the Four Great Organizations.
Among them was Midas, who represented Greed.
To think that those who were mere losers from the past would show themselves during the height of the festival.
“Could it be….”
“That could actually be true. If you want to retrieve Lily, you should come to the place indicated. It’s marked quite helpfully.”
“Is it revenge?”
“Revenge? Given his personality, it’s probably not revenge, but rather….”
Red frowned, as if he didn’t even want to think about it.
He ceased speaking and took a deep breath.
The contemplation was over.
The task was simple.
“Anyway, if they come out like this, we have to play along. I’m going to rescue Lily.”
“Understood. I’ll tell the children that Lily has a slight tummy ache and has stepped out for a bit.”
“Inform the others to raise their guard nearby, and if you can’t make it before the play starts, proceed without Lily for now. Is that alright?”
“Well… I’ll have to adjust the script, but it shouldn’t affect the play. However, there is a crucial scene that requires the princess to be present before then. If she doesn’t come by, Lily might miss her chance to appear.”
“Alright, I understand. I’ll make sure not to be late.”
Rene followed Red’s instructions.
Despite her worries, she trusted Red’s capabilities.
In fact, Red had defeated all seven of the Seven Great Transgressions.
There was no way one person could contend against him.
Thus, it was easy to assume he’d made plans to face whatever was coming, and she made sure to notify him of that.
“You need to be careful.”
“Yeah, I’ll be cautious.”
In the distant past, before the Grim Reaper had appeared, there was an exceptionally beautiful and lovely girl.
A girl who seemed like she should be treated with utmost care in a grand mansion was locked in a cage resembling a prison, wearing a collar around her neck like a shackle.
The girl felt deep despair over her situation and sang a pitiful song.
It hadn’t always been like this from the beginning.
Yes. From the very start.
It all began with an accident. And the girl’s world had changed completely.
Upon awakening to this world, the girl began to move in order to survive, understanding her circumstances.
At first, she moved with hope in her heart.
However, it wasn’t a world suitable for a girl who had nothing, no power at all.
What lay ahead was a series of hardships and adversities.
‘It’s cold….’
‘I’m hungry….’
‘I’m in pain….’
‘Why do I have to go through this… What did I even do to deserve this….’
Not being able to eat properly made her hungry, and to fill her empty stomach she had to resort to stealing food or rummaging through trash cans.
The night breeze and the cold ground froze the young girl’s body.
The dangers lurking all over the city inflicted scars upon her physical form.
‘This place is truly terrible….’
The world she opened her eyes to was far more dangerous than she had ever imagined.
Death, destruction, betrayal, blood, corpses, violence, murder, and so on.
Things that had been rare in the world where she had lived.
Here, they happened as if it was an everyday occurrence.
‘I wish all of this were just a dream….’
She wished to close her eyes and then open them again to find herself back in her original world.
Wishing she would never have to wake up again.
But the girl’s yearning was not to be fulfilled, and she faced the next day.
The cruel reality remained unchanged.
Drowned in deep despair, the girl cried out with distress.
The girl, who had no courage to die, could only adapt to the world around her.
Alone.
It would have been nice if she could have received help from people.
Unfortunately, that was not an option.
Whenever people looked at the girl’s face, they approached with a sinister desire.
“Catch her! If we sell her, we’ll be rolling in money!”
“Hoohoo! She’s mine! Don’t touch her!”
“Hey kid, come follow your older sister.”
That was why she covered her face.
She could not trust people.
“Ahaha! Sorry, kid. But what can I do? I have no choice but to do this to survive.”
“Don’t blame me. This is simply the way of the world.”
“Is it foolish to trust someone?”
Those around her seemed like enemies.
It was commonplace for someone to easily change their mind if it meant their own survival.
Not being able to trust anyone, she couldn’t approach rashly.
She endured alone in the cold city.
Handling everything entirely by herself.
Being captured, fleeing, stealing, and robbing through violence became her daily life.
Had she somehow earned the wrath of the gods, the girl clung to life tenaciously.
And after desperately moving, she was ultimately caught.
‘You fool! Why! Why hesitate!!’
She could have escaped.
If she had killed the person blocking her way, she could have run away.
There were plenty of opportunities, and all she had to do was get her thoughts in order and act.
But at the crucial moment, she hesitated.
Though there were times when she had no choice but to resort to violence, she simply could not bring herself to take a life.
‘Why am I so foolish?’
If only she could act without hesitation like the protagonists of the stories she had read.
They weren’t good people.
There was no reason not to kill.
So why!
Reality was indeed cruel.
The girl could not behave like a protagonist from a story.
She was tender-hearted and weak. Incredibly kind.
Even if the malice of the world consumed the girl’s heart, she ultimately never crossed the line.
Was that a lack of courage? Or was it stupidity?
It didn’t matter.
The girl paid the price for her hesitation.
“Fufu, you are mine from now on.”
If the place where the girl opened her eyes was a soft and gentle world, someone would have felt pity for her and showered her with boundless affection without any price.
But this wasn’t a sweet world.
“Now, sing! The more you sing, the more money accumulates. Hehehe.”
The girl was a goose that laid golden eggs.
No.
She was an angel that attracted wealth.
The powerless girl had no choice but to do as the man instructed.
Having no courage to die, she sang to survive.
The girl’s song was special.
It was as if sunlight poured into a murky world, infusing life into hearts. A warm and gentle energy enveloped the spirit. It brought happiness.
Countless wealthy audience members flocked in to hear the angel’s song.
Animal masks.
All dressed in expensive and neat clothing.
Sounds of happy laughter and applause.
Each one was truly terrible, bringing forth a wave of nausea.
Even more penetrating into the girl’s heart were the words they uttered.
“That girl must be an envoy sent by the gods. How could she sing so beautifully? Listening to that song brings peace to my heart. With this, I can save even more people. Ah, thank you! Oh, God! Truly, thank you for sending an angel to this world!”
Those who claimed to be servants of the gods abandoned the girl, who was suffering in pain.
“I’ve been tired from helping people lately. But listening to this song here, my headache has completely disappeared. With this, I can save even more people.”
Those who professed to stand for justice turned away from the dying girl.
“Isn’t there a way to sell that girl to me? If you don’t sell her, at least let me record her singing! Huh? You say that’s impossible? Why?!”
“Alright, now sing the next song.”
“Yeah, hurry up and sing. I came with expensive tickets just to hear your song.”
No one noticed the situation the girl was in.
Anger, disgust, hatred, and pain.
The more people became happy from the song, the more the girl’s heart became poisoned.
She felt like a fool for being alone. All that she had endured felt foolish to her.
She regretted every single stupid action she had taken.
In the end, the girl, who had refrained from taking life, wished to erase everything in front of her.
The negative emotions that had slowly accumulated became impossible to suppress, and they began to crack the girl’s deep kindness.
Once the first crack formed, it gradually widened, and ultimately burst forth.
Light and shadow.
Life and death.
The song meant to save souls transformed into hell as it approached people.
The warm energy that caressed lives became flames that burned everything.
The happiness meant to redeem souls became a calamity that obliterated even souls.
In the midst of a thorough cry of despair, the girl wept gently with a liberated expression.
She opened her eyes, trembling slightly.
A dream.
An incredibly terrible nightmare.
How annoying it was to have such a dream.
Nausea rose as memories of an unwanted past pressed on her temples.
All of this was because of the song and the cage-like prison.
Now, I was trapped in a prison high above.
Originally, I had intended to deal with the one who kidnapped me right away, but due to his unexpectedly strong ability, it became difficult to carelessly use my power.
If I made a mistake, my identity could be revealed.
In such a place, I had to be even more cautious.
I looked around the prison.
It felt just like an arena.
Down there was the person who had abducted me.
The play was about to start shortly.
If I didn’t want to be late, I had to escape.
This seemed to be a somewhat special space, so using my power wouldn’t leak outside.
Meaning there was no risk of being caught.
Just as I was about to attempt my escape, someone entered the arena.
It was Red.
