Kill the Author, Then to Hell - Chapter 18.1

In my panic, I didn’t think.

Until now, I had judged it better to flee than to confront an assassin who was clearly no ordinary skilled fighter.

But with things as they were, I figured I might as well shoot the assassin and eliminate them.

‘After all, this counts as self-defense.’

“Ah, no! Gahhhh—!”

However, what I hadn’t anticipated was Jane’s action.

As if to cover up the fact that I had leaped out, Jane charged forward with a battle cry, like a wild boar, and even managed to strike the assassin’s head with the <Lady’s Conduct>, which was as thick as an encyclopedia.

“Ugh—”

Caught off guard, the assassin stumbled backwards, and in that moment, Jane prevented him from chanting any spells by clamping his mouth shut.

Up to then, it was good, but the problem was the fight getting increasingly fierce.

‘I can’t… I can’t aim!’

What I had practiced was calmly aiming and shooting at a stationary object, not sniper training.

Even when I was Lee Jinseo, I couldn’t bear to play shooting games because they gave me a headache.

Even throwing darts, I would usually miss the target.

‘If only I had gone through military training!’

What Jane was doing was merely buying time.

Even if momentarily flustered, a trained assassin couldn’t possibly be taken down by a governess.

‘I need to shoot quickly….’

The more I thought about it, the more cold sweat made the gun slip in my hands.

But soon, my opportunity came.

In the midst of the scuffle, Jane suddenly stepped back.

It seemed like she realized something during the fight.

“Wait… you’re a woman?”

“…”

And the words that came out of Jane’s mouth were something I had never imagined.

‘What…?’

The assassin, wrapped in black cloth and masked, was tall enough that it was impossible to guess she was a woman.

‘Well, there are tall women, but…’

The sword that sprang from thin air.

The strength to shred a lock like it was paper.

It was definitely magic.

‘A woman… who uses magic?’

Had it been any other situation, I would’ve begged her to tell me where she learned magic.

Regrettably, there was no time for that.

Shocked at having her gender revealed, the assassin froze on the spot.

Now was the time to shoot.

Bang—!

My aim was precise.

Or, it was at the moment I pulled the trigger.

But then.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion, like in an action movie.

In the infinitely divided moment,

The assassin, as if anticipating my action, moved quickly and skillfully, grabbing Jane by the shoulders and turning her towards me.

All of this passed through my eyes and into my mind in an instant.

After that fraction of a millionth of a second, an eternity in its brevity, ended.

‘Oh no…!’

The bullet I fired hit.

Right in the middle of Jane’s back.

Jane began to fade and disappear as if she had never existed.

‘It was a trap.’

The realization came too late.

The assassin wasn’t shocked by the revelation of being a woman.

It was all an act.

During the fight, she skillfully realized that I was aiming with the gun,

And deliberately didn’t kill Jane right away but dragged out the time.

All to make me shoot at just the right moment.

And I fell for such an obvious trap, permanently erasing Jane from the story.

‘I… I eliminated Jane.’

I should have listened to Jane’s final request.

If I had fled alone to the basement, even if I were killed there, I could have started all over again.

‘No, rather…’

Regret traced its way back further.

If it was going to be like this, I should have shot Jane as soon as I drew the gun.

Without ever having been to Jane’s room.

Without knowing how far Jane would go for me.

If I had shot Jane without knowing anything about her, I might not have felt such regret.

Step— Step—

Despairingly slumped down, the toe of the assassin’s shoe came into my view.

I reflexively tried to back away, but it was no use. It seemed she had already cast some sort of binding magic on me.

“Don’t be too resentful.”

The assassin, who had been silent all this time, began to speak as if whispering.

“Just as you have your own desperation, I have mine.”

Her voice was a bit low for a woman, but pleasing to hear.

‘Have I… heard this voice before?’

But before I could delve deeper into my memory,

“I promise you, it won’t hurt.”

The assassin’s hand brushed over my eyes, closing them.

True to her promise, it was a quick death, as if falling asleep.

* * *

—Ding!

Like waking from a dream to reality, when the black waves engulfed me again,

“Sob, sob, Elizabeth!”

“Sob… To suddenly, like this….”

I shed some tears amidst the wailing of mourning for my mother.

In this timeline, I was the only one mourning a death that no one else would remember.

Yet, I had to live.

I knew it in my head.

I had to figure out how to live ardently, fiercely.

Otherwise, I knew too well that the world would kill me over and over again, as if squashing a mere bug on the wall.

To not die by the desperate assassin’s hand, I had to become even more desperate.

‘But…’

Strangely, the more I lived, the fainter my will to live seemed to become.

The repeated deaths were gradually wearing me down.