Hearing something for the first time caused ripples in his consciousness. A strange whisper echoed in his mind right after.
“Shall I sing you a lullaby?”
Ah, right.
There was a guide who spouted such foolish things.
“Ugh, the fever needs to come down…”
And that person was right beside him.
Splash. The sound of wringing water buzzed in his ears. The coolness of the damp towel placed on his forehead was strikingly vivid.
“He’s completely out of his mind.”
Doing this kind of pointless thing was far less efficient than simply guiding.
Even Harris, who had never properly received a guiding before, knew that was basic common sense.
Yet that stupid slave was stubbornly avoiding direct contact, refusing to guide him as if determined to uphold some vow, wasting hours on useless efforts.
A guide who wouldn’t guide.
Something so completely useless and worthless… was right next to him, a man on the verge of a power rampage.
“Is she trying to die?”
No—Harris denied it immediately. She trembled too much for that to be the case.
But then why…
“…It’s strange.”
There was a peculiar scent coming from the slave beside him.
It was overly sweet and tempting, like it was trying to lure someone in.
His nerves tingled. His instincts urged him to sink his teeth into that pale flesh and claim it.
However…
“What a wicked scent.”
Harris became sharply alert.
He couldn’t fall for that temptation.
His rational mind warned him to eliminate this threatening presence. The power emanating from him gripped something as if to strike.
But.
“Haa…”
No matter how hard he tried to resist, his body gradually relaxed.
That deeply unpleasant scent, the softly humming lullaby, and the cooling towel seemed to be seeping into him.
His runaway magic began to settle, the heat slowly receding.
He felt his breathing ease, even as the incomprehensible song continued.
He had to stay vigilant.
He must not lower his guard. Even as he tried to stay tense, his clenched fists, once bulging with veins, slowly relaxed.
Eventually, they fell limp.
“Don’t trust her…”
Even as he forced the thought to repeat, his trembling eyelids slowly calmed.
Harris’s breathing gradually slowed.
As if being gently enveloped by tranquility.
* * *
What do I do…
“I’m attending Seoul Cyber University!”
This was bad.
“A lot of people are looking for me~ Ba-ba-ra-bam-bam!”
How many times had it been?
I tried to think with my foggy head. I couldn’t think of any more lullabies. Actually, I wasn’t even sure any of what I’d been singing qualified as lullabies.
“This is crazy. What should I sing next? ‘I believe I can fly’?!”
Certified realtor exam passed~ The meaningless melody I was humming endlessly had clearly been etched into my subconscious.
“What if he complains about noise pollution at this rate?”
Anyone would get irritated hearing the same song on repeat. I was about out of repertoire and just about to give up when—
Clang!
“Wahh!”
Startled, I turned around in shock.
Behind me, a ceramic jug filled with water had crashed to the ground and shattered into pieces.
What the—why did that fall?! I instinctively turned toward Harris.
Even I had been startled, so how terrible must that sound have been to someone with sharpened nerves, barely holding back a rampage?
“…Huh?”
Surprisingly, Harris still had his eyes closed.
As if in a deep sleep.
His breathing had even calmed by now.
“Guess it wasn’t that loud?”
I tilted my head. Maybe I was just being too sensitive after nursing him all night.
Maybe… my care had actually worked, and Harris had finally fallen into a proper sleep—
Tweet—tweet tweet—tweedle-dee—
…Guess not. He probably just fell asleep because it was time.
From the tiny basement window barred with iron bars above Harris’s underground prison, bright sunlight was now pouring in.
“Oh my god. When did the sun come up?”
I widened my eyes—then silently screamed at the pain in my dry eyeballs.
“Ahh! My eyes! My eyes…!”
Even my bones creaked as I finally straightened up. That’s when it hit me.
“Wow… I actually stayed up all night to nurse him?”
I, who always received care, actually provided it this time? I was briefly proud and smug at the realization.
“Uuugh~!”
But that awareness was followed by overwhelming exhaustion, and I felt like collapsing right then and there.
Eventually, unable to keep my eyes open, I stumbled out of Harris’s room.
“…Jade?”
A name that felt mine, yet not quite mine. A warm hand reached out toward me.
“Ah… soft…”
The moment I was pulled into that warmth, I passed out, as if fainting.
So I didn’t know.
Whose arms I had fallen into.
“…!”
“She—she’s back!”
And how my safe return—clutched in his arms—appeared to the other slaves.
“Th-they say ability users get extremely violent after rampaging. They kill anyone who even comes near them.”
“And yet she came back alive…”
“That area’s gone quiet! He really calmed down!”
The murmurs among them all reached one unanimous conclusion.
“Oh my god… she really is a guide.”
“She’s a pacifier for ability users—!”
Voices filled with relief, as if grabbing hold of a lifeline. Faces brightened with hope.
The man holding Jade quietly laughed.
As if he was satisfied with how things were going.
* * *
“Jade.”
Splash. Like sinking into still water.
Through the warm, transparent ripples, a voice calling me could be faintly heard.
“…You should begin preparing.”
The low voice of the attending physician.
“No! Not Jade! You can’t do this!”
“Are you telling me to give up on my daughter now?! Jade is still…!”
My sister screamed. My mother looked numb.
Don’t cry like that, everyone. We all knew I wouldn’t hold on for much longer.
“No matter what, Jade is your daughter!”
Mom stood in the shadowy hospital hallway.
A pink leather phone case—worn to shreds. I had given it to her before I was hospitalized.
“How could you… even in her final moments…!”
Mom, please don’t look like that.
I never needed Dad. I lived thinking he didn’t exist. I told you that, so many times.
I’m okay.
“I’m sorry, Jade. I’m truly sorry… Don’t forgive me.”
Tears fell from my sister’s eyes.
I’m sorry, sis. For always making things hard. You had to care for me all alone. I liked you so much, but… what did you think of me?
I’m sorry. For leaving you alone with Mom…
“It’s my fault, Jade. I should’ve given birth to you healthy from the start.”
Mom, please don’t wear that face. It’s not your fault.
I…
* * *
“…Jade! Jade!”
My body shook violently.
“Puhah—!”
I jolted awake as if I’d been splashed with water.
“Gasp, gasp, cough…”
Someone was grabbing me and speaking, but their voice was muffled and distant.
Like someone pulled from drowning, all I could do was gasp desperately for air.
That’s when an arm reached toward me.
A large hand. A pale wrist marked with a bracelet resembling a shackle, bandages soaked in blood wrapped around it.
Before I could even think, I threw myself into that arm.
“…!”
I felt the body stiffen. When he tried to push me away, I clung to him like he was a lifeline slipping away.
“N-no, don’t.”
Don’t let go. Please don’t let me go. Please, please…!
Tears dropped. The hands that had been pushing me away stopped.
“Jade!”
Someone grabbed me from behind and pulled. The sudden distance felt so cold, my limbs flailed in protest.
“Gah!”
“Eeek—!”
I heard gasps and panicked voices around me.
“Get a hold of yourself! What’s going on?”
“Is she sick?”
In contrast, a cool, eerily calm voice spoke above me.
I shook my head, trembling.
“N-no… just…”
“Then why are you crying?”
Crying? Me?
I blinked and reached up to touch my face. My cheeks were soaked with tears.
That’s when it hit me.
“I really did die, didn’t I?”
Surprising, and yet… strangely calm.
“It was probably euthanasia.”
There was no cure for my illness. Legally, euthanasia was prohibited, but hospitals often recommended it quietly to guardians of terminal patients.
They’d slowly administer painkillers until the patient—unable to breathe on their own—passed away.
I knew all this. The kid in the next room had gone that way.
Even saw the devastated guardians, weeping and fainting, eventually signing [a waiver of all responsibility] and disappearing.
Maybe I, too, never left that hospital.
“Why were you crying?”
“Because of… a dream?”
To call my reality a dream—it felt strange.
“A nightmare?”
“No.”
I shook my head in a haze.
“It wasn’t a nightmare.”
It had been painful. It had been hard.
“Jade.”
“Jade, our youngest…”
My mom. My sister. Their tender voices through the fog of dreams…
“It was a good dream.”
I didn’t regret that life.
“Really?”
A slightly cracked, drowsy voice echoed near my ear.
It was seductive. Just hearing it made my body feel like it was melting.
“You cried so much… and yet it was a good dream?”
I was about to nod absentmindedly when something felt off.
“What…?”
A large silhouette loomed before me. Behind it, countless eyes stared directly at me.
“Huh?”
My fellow slave comrades who had abandoned me… Why those expressions? Like they’d seen a monster.
A monster?
The thought struck me suddenly, and I focused my vision.
The blurry silhouette sharpened.
Black hair. White skin. Blood-red eyes. Three colors drawn with sharp lines.
“H-Harris?!”
