Episode 104 – Gray Memories 4

Even after that, adults made us kill. Children who did not hesitate to kill were given good food and good bedding, and those who did not hesitate were beaten and starved. There were also children who could not overcome the process and were beaten to death or starved to death. And he had 69 too. Personally, I respected the kid. Because he died while fulfilling his will that killing was not right until the end.

The types of people killed also varied. Children caught trying to escape from the facility, adults who couldn’t overcome the guilt and tried to report outside, muscular adults who were strong enough to kill several children while dealing with people who looked like more than 40 high school students.

killed them all

Occasionally, celebrities came in, and according to Li Baek, there were entertainers who were famous for ruining their business, and singers who scammed hundreds of millions of won. And sometimes I had to kill the adults who said they came to rescue us.

someone said Conscience is like a triangle, so if you do bad things, you stab your heart and hurt, but the more you do bad things, the more the triangle wears out and becomes rounder, and the pain that pierces the village gradually decreases. And that’s how conscience disappears.

I don’t know who said it, but it was absolutely right. We didn’t mind killing people for better food and better sleep. It’s been a long time since the guilt disappeared.

“Baeksa-ya, Baeksa-ya.”

“Why are you doing that?”

“You eat all of this.”

Li Bai always only ate half of his meals, and always passed the meat side dishes to me. And he always smiled, saying that he was full just by watching me eat.

“Why do you leave all the meat?”

“… Yeah, it’s nothing. I just don’t have an appetite.”

“You’re amazing, too.”

“Uh…yeah. That’s right, since I’m a descendant of Confucius and the patron saint of Confucianism, it’s natural.”

“It’s still hard to hear crazy things.”

That day, I was able to learn what a cobra twist is like with my body. It’s been three years since we met, but I’m still disappointed that I can’t beat Li Bai. No, some kind of girl was strong and knew a lot of skills.

“Hey, I’m sorry, so release the technique! Fuck that I’m really going to break my bones!”

“hahahaha! You finally realized the greatness of the Heavenly Demon Art!”

“You said you were the successor of some kind of Confucianism earlier, you crazy bastard!”

“How to have a healthy mind in a healthy body! That’s why, in Confucianism, the Heavenly Demon Demonstration is an essential curriculum!”

“No, you really crazy bitch!”

I faced the fear of death for the first time that day. Because men dressed in black and wearing black hats tried to call my name from across the street. I would have died that day if those men hadn’t been looking through the directories saying they didn’t know where my name was. The incompetent Grim Reapers must not have known that I was born without a name and was abandoned.

—–

“Now, today’s play will be a little special.”

The man who seemed to be the leader among the adults was smiling at us. ‘Well, like always, they’ll make people kill’, I thought. Like some kind of butcher, when they told me to stab me, I stabbed them, when they told me to slash, I cut them down, and when they told me to kill them, I killed them.

The adults separated us from each other’s partners, and each took half of us to a large training ground.

And he told us:

“Now, only one child can leave this room. It’s convenient to think of it as a graduation exam.”

We were all dumbfounded.

“Ah, did this old man say it too hard? Let me tell you in an easy way. Kill each other from now on. If I don’t kill you… I believe you guys will understand.”

Suddenly, the bracelet on our wrist came to mind. Along with the rule that if your partner dies, you die too. When some children were conscious of the bracelet, the captain laughed bitterly.

“I see there are smart guys out there, too. Your partners are taking the same test on the other side. If they die, you die, and if you die, your partner dies.”

So it meant that only one pair could survive in a battle royale.

“There’s no need for stupid chaff, so I want you guys to sort out the real ones on your own. Now then, take care of yourself and fight well. This man will wish you luck.”

The captain said so, closed the door and left. Having lived there for three years, we knew. If you don’t listen to that, we will all be annihilated.

The children who became a circle of conscience like that started a bloody fight to kill each other. Of course, there was no child who could beat me, who trained with Li Baek every day. It was because I remembered everything that child taught me, including Judo, Jeet Kune Do, Muay Thai, and Karate.

But number 287 swung a knife at me. It seems that he expected something to happen in this training and hid it. I squeezed my wrists at number 287.

“Quaaagh!”

Ang screamed and dropped the knife, and I picked it up and stabbed him 287 times. And with that knife in hand, I was able to erase other numbers without a hitch.

12, 397, 215, 167, 28, 399, 271, 265, 144, 223, 316…

I took a shower of blood. Climbing over the corpses of children. There were no serious injuries. Seeing that I was alive, I had an intuition that Li Baek was also alive. The fact that the other children died or not made me very happy.

Adults said it was a graduation experiment. When we go out, we eat Jajangmyeon with Lee Baek, read comic books, watch movies, play games together… I wanted to live together forever. For the first time, I wanted to be with someone. Now that I think about it, that was my first love.

“Oh, as expected, you guys stayed.”

When the captain opened the door and came in, I hurriedly hid the knife. Since it was bare-handed sparring, I didn’t know if the weapon was discovered, it would be troublesome.

“Then the graduation exam is over, so come with me.”

After following the captain, there was Li Bai covered in blood just like me.

Li Bai was looking at me with a sad expression.

“Crazy bitch! You didn’t manage to die! Now let’s get out of this fucking place!”

Then the captain smiled and said.

“I took good care of it, but it’s too much to say that it’s a fucking place. But what to do with this? Neither of them can go out.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“There’s still graduation ceremony left.”

Confused, I continued to stare into his eyes. Still, he said with a benevolent smile.

“There can only be one graduate. Do you understand what I mean?”

He said that and took off my bracelet. Looking at it now, Li Bai didn’t have a bracelet like me. That’s why I thought he was making such a sad face. Because we have to kill each other from now on. I asked this far.

I quietly walked towards Li Bai.

“What are you doing… Hold your posture, you crazy bitch.”

I was nervous. I was anxious. Because there’s no way I can beat that kid. It was a huge wall that I fought for three years and never won. That huge wall eventually came closer to me little by little.

Knowing that I couldn’t defeat him with my bare hands, I tried to surprise him with the hidden knife. But just as I was about to pull out a knife and stab the child, the child was clearly aware of my attack.

In the brief moment I realized that the child had recognized my attack, I had a gut feeling of death. Because he was strong, he was able to quickly parry my attack, steal the knife, and kill me.

But Li Bai did not resist and was stabbed by me. no it was stabbed

“Hey… you saw… what the fuck are you doing… you saw me pull out a knife you bastard!”

Li Bai smiled sadly and approached. As she approached, stabbed more and more deeply by the blade, she let out a short moan, but continued to laugh.

And she hugged me warmly.

“Without our Baeksa and me, I have no friends… What should I do…”

“Hey, what’s the sudden…”

“Baeksa-san, were you really afraid of killing me? But… if I die, you’ll die too… That was even more frightening…”

“You crazy bitch, why did you stab me!”

I knew from the start that I couldn’t win against him. So, at least, I wanted to relieve my guilt by dying cowardly.

“But now that I have to die to live… I thought it was really fortunate.

“What’s the use of it if you die, you crazy bitch! You said you fucking wanted me to do a lot!”

“Then, it would be okay for our Baeksa to do it for me… Games, comics, movies, the Heavenly Demon, Confucian heirs… It would be nice if our Baeksa did it for me…”

The child said so and died.

My first love ended just like that.

And I decided to do everything the child wanted to do. Because that was the child’s request.