Obsession... What's That? I Just Wish Someone Would Help Me Escape - Chapter 49
Number 27 called me a sacrifice and smiled leisurely.
“Wouldn’t it be unfair to die without knowing why? So I’m offering you one final kindness.”
“What kind of bullsh*t…?”
Suddenly, the words about how the 40s were wiped out during every survival training resurfaced in my mind.
Were the lower ranks who died up until now offered as sacrifices?
Why was it designed so that only the higher ranks survive?
And is the reason they threw us all into one prison, regardless of gender, to promote the breeding of powerful abilities?
No wonder. No wonder the prisoners here are all young and around the same age.
So many incomprehensible things that I had ignored simply because life had been too hard. Everything was starting to make sense.
Enrique had mentioned it before, hadn’t he? That we were nothing but livestock.
Living in a cage, only to be slaughtered in the end. That’s what we were.
It was no wonder we didn’t know.
The original story was strictly from Saintess Justina’s perspective, only ever focusing on R-19 scenes.
My eyes fell on the necklace hanging around Number 27’s neck.
It looked like a small bottle meant to store souls.
A golden glint flashed in his brown eyes.
He stared at me silently, so I tilted my head, confused.
“What are you staring at?”
“Huh.”
Number 27, looking momentarily puzzled, stepped closer to me.
“You jumped off a cliff by yourself to escape a demon.”
“What did you say, are you crazy?”
He stared at me wordlessly, then slowly parted his lips.
“You, for being the lowest rank… how…”
Then he let out a small laugh and continued.
“It can’t be helped. O God Eloastre, please forgive the sin I am about to commit.”
He gave me a sharp shove, and my body tilted dangerously over the edge of the cliff.
“Ahhh!”
With all my strength, I grabbed onto a protruding tree root, dangling precariously from the cliff.
Number 27—no, the butcher disguised as a prisoner—looked down at me with a sneer.
“I’ll take good care of your soul. Any last words?”
“You… I swear I’ll kill you.”
As I spoke my final words, he stomped on the hand clutching the tree root and muttered quietly.
“May the sinner find peace in the cradle of rest, Testamia.”
My grip loosened, and the world flipped upside down.
Long pink hair fluttered before my eyes, and with a sinking heart, a chill crawled up my spine.
I realized that I was falling down the cliff.
Beyond the butcher, Number 27’s grinning face, the sky was an unnaturally vivid blue.
I could hear my late mother’s tearful voice.
‘My poor baby. I’m sorry for making you suffer like this… Maybe it would be better if you were dead….’
Is this what they mean by your life flashing before your eyes?
Her face, burdened with guilt, flashed before me as if my pain had always been her fault.
Would my parents have survived if I had died earlier?
“Still, I didn’t want to die, Mom.”
Help me. I don’t care who.
I reached a hand toward the distant sky and murmured in vain.
***
Even as I bounced off something and got caught on branches before finally crashing to the ground, I remained conscious.
Oddly enough, I wasn’t in pain. Instead, I felt more peaceful than ever before in my life.
I guess I’m really dying this time.
My gaze remained fixed on the sky, and the slowly drifting clouds seemed to have frozen in place.
In the silence, as though time itself had been cut away, I lost consciousness.
S▯stem: Condition ▯▯/Each▯ preparation has been completed.
Amid the darkness, strange symbols and letters appeared once again.
This can’t be the end credits of my life, right?
It seemed like something was being prepared, as though my soul was about to be extracted or something like that.
“Gasp.”
In an instant, I snapped back to consciousness. How am I still alive?
Even I had to admit that my life was hanging on like a stubborn steel cable.
The last thing I remembered was the dog-shaped cloud drifting far off into the distance.
My stomach churned as though I’d been hit hard, and my nose stung. Did I somehow survive?
At that height, I should’ve been smashed to pieces beyond repair.
Was that system window I just saw real?
I think I briefly caught a glimpse of it when I was crushed under that board last time.
I forced my eyes wide open with all my might.
The sky had turned crimson, and I heard that unfamiliar voice again.
“This time, it seems like you really need help, huh?”
‘Who is this guy who keeps yapping about helping me?’
I tried to speak, but only my lips moved; no sound came out.
Could he be the Grim Reaper? My entire vision was covered in red, like a veil of blood.
I felt the crusted blood from my nose drying up.
