Chapter 48

Tap, tap.

Standing in front of the black glass wall, Jekart listened to the sound of a typewriter from the other side. The wait for an answer to his question felt boring. At the same time, he felt a little anxious.

After a while, a man wearing a white mask handed him a note from χ.

[She’s a woman in the way.]

That was all the note said. It didn’t say where or how she was in the way. The reason she had to die was that short.

“She’s already detained. She will stay that way. I don’t understand why I should risk killing her.”

A few moments later, the next typing came through.

[Since when does a mission need personal reasoning?]

Jekart laughed coldly. It was the answer he expected, but it felt dirtier than he thought. At this point, he didn’t even feel the need to ask other questions. Any question would just get an answer like that.

“Then let me ask the reverse. How long do you think I’ll follow an order I don’t even understand?”

[So… you refuse?]

Jekart paused for a moment. Unlike the quiet room, his mind was in chaos. But his choices were limited, so he reached a conclusion fairly quickly.

“I’ll do it.”

Of course, killing Edith was not an option for him. If it had been possible, he wouldn’t have saved her in the first place. So between accepting the order or refusing it, which would better protect her? The answer was clear. If he refused, the order would go to his current partner, Erich. If Erich failed, someone else would take over. Once a target is chosen, the organization never gives up.

[As quickly as possible.]

Jekart crumpled the last note from χ and turned away.

Back at the safe house, Jekart stripped and went to the bathroom. His body—or maybe his mind—was boiling with emotions, whether anger or something else.

Ice-cold water poured over his torn, sliced, and burned scars. Terrible scars, though he didn’t remember how he got them. Or how he ended up in this organization.

‘That’s because they selectively erase only unnecessary memories. That’s why everyone is aware. Among ourselves, we call it “memory incision.”’

According to Erich, it was probably unnecessary.

Why was it unnecessary? If he had joined voluntarily like any other member, it should have been left intact.

Jekart thought about it and laughed bitterly.

It was ridiculous to ask himself a question for which he already knew the answer. The truth was cruelly clear.

He hadn’t joined the organization by choice. It was almost certainly forced. So they removed all traces completely.

Jekart felt empty at the thought.

It wasn’t loss—it had been stolen.

What else was unnecessary?

He tried to measure the memories he had left. Then he laughed again at the fact that there was nothing.

Amid the cold pouring water, something hot streamed down. Without any treatment from Heinrich, he was crying. The surface of the memories forcibly cut away burned too much.

“Hah…”

His breathing became rapid. Gasping for air, he couldn’t exhale. His lungs felt ready to burst, his heart raced, and extreme dizziness washed over him.

He realized panic had come, and he tried to calm himself—but it was useless.

He collapsed like a crumbling tower.

A terrible depersonalization began to consume him. The sound of something collapsing echoed endlessly in his mind.

In his distorted vision, he glimpsed ruins. The wasteland he had often been thrown into and abandoned.

‘…I love you.’

Finally, someone whispered in the fully arrived ruins.

‘Come back safely.’

It was Edith’s voice.

＊＊＊

“Jekart is…”

Marcus asked as Rachel entered the safe house like it was her own home.

“Heinrich is watching him.”

“Is he conscious?”

“Not yet.”

“He’ll wake soon.”

Marcus said casually. Panic attacks like this often happen to those whose memories have been cut.

It was a kind of side effect.

He had experienced it, Rachel had, and Erich too. Jekart’s case was worse because he had the largest amount of memories removed.

Marcus looked at Rachel, who had fallen silent. The first thing he noticed was her thin, tired cheeks after a few days. She must have been under a lot of stress. For a moment, he wondered about her past, which he couldn’t know. Seeing a target’s heart ripped out alive, he would have assumed she was born a psychopath—but seeing her so caught up in her feelings, he thought she must have been an ordinary woman…

“You trained Erich, right?”

Marcus’ gaze focused back on Rachel as she spoke, breaking him out of his thoughts. It was a somewhat sudden question.

“Erich?”

“Jekart first contacted us, not other members. So before sending Erich, you said you’d train him, right?”

“…Ah, yes. But why suddenly ask?”

“Jekart came to me yesterday.”

“Jekart?”

“Yes. He said he heard an interesting story from Erich about memory incision.”

“……”

“So I went to see Erich myself. He should have been told not to talk to Jekart about the organization or memories, so it’s strange.”

“……”

“And then Erich told me the interesting story too?”

Rachel took a step toward Marcus, chuckling as if it was funny.

“He said he didn’t hear any warnings from you at all.”

Marcus’ expression remained calm, as if he expected this. Rachel’s eyes sharpened.

“And he said, even when he saw you at the residence a few times, you said nothing.”

“……”

“He also said, that day… the day I went to see that woman.”

“…Rachel.”

Hearing the certainty in his voice, Rachel let out a short laugh of relief.

“So that’s how Jekart appeared at such perfect timing.”

“……”

“There was a rat in the house.”

“……”

“Why did you do it?”

“……”

“Answer me before I kill you—why?”

Rachel asked in an excited voice. Marcus teasing her like this wasn’t new, but this time he had gone too far. He stayed silent for a while before finally speaking.

“Because I told him to give up.”

“What?”

“I said don’t bother trying, just give up on Jekart.”

“Who are you to tell me to give up?”

Marcus’ cold gaze hardened then.

“You know, you too.”

Rachel’s face turned pale at the meaning behind his words. She understood what he meant.

“Jekart…”

“Don’t. You don’t need to ask, you already know—don’t—.”

Rachel tried to stop him, but Marcus continued and finished the sentence. The words she had always avoided hearing, even though she knew the truth:

“Anyway, he’s someone you’ll have to kill.”

＊＊＊

Rachel first met Jekart—no, Maximilian—three years ago, when the spring flowers had just faded.

[Keep him alive.]

That was all the instruction about the man hanging unconscious in chains. Rachel felt at a loss.

How could she interrogate a man who would never speak, even if he died?

The man in front of her was already covered in blood, and she had to interrogate him.

The Berg army had infiltrated the organization, and one of them had stolen top-secret information. The intruder could have been wiped out completely, but the man in front had blocked the escape route.

Rachel grabbed his black hair, lifting his drooping head.

“Well, such a face… it feels a shame to scratch it.”

Even as she commented on his appearance, the man remained unconscious. Hitting his cheeks several times didn’t help. Rachel flicked the blood off her hands and clicked her tongue in frustration.

“What a hassle…”

She picked up the red-hot branding iron from the corner of the interrogation room. Heat radiated from the tip. The iron paused for a moment before coming down on his chest. His face was far too nice to burn.

Ssshhh—

With the sound of burning flesh, the man finally regained consciousness.

“Ugh…ghk!”

A suppressed groan escaped him.