A person whose usefulness was fulfilled by dying.
A person who must be eliminated to prove Roilnia’s perfection.
A person who was only needed for such a purpose.
To Roilnia, Hwiren was the most useless person under the sun. It would have been better if they had never met.
The girl wanted to take bitter revenge on the woman who prayed for her death.
She wanted to curse her back just the same.
So she thought: In the distant future, when Roilnia needed a Guide, wouldn’t she be in agony, wouldn’t she regret it bitterly, if Hwiren, the only Irregular Guide, was no longer there?
No matter how the woman denied it, the relationship between an Esper and a Guide was inseparable.
Roilnia might loudly claim to be a perfect Esper alone, but a day would come when she would realize her limitations and hit a wall.
When that time came, she should realize her arrogance and foolishness and slowly wither away in despair.
The fate of a person who had deceived and cursed others should be more miserable and desperate than anyone else.
Even if she were seized by regret and sought out Hwiren’s already decaying corpse, there would be no guiding.
“I’ll die, just as you desire. Live forever under the curse of being without a Guide. And genuinely regret it. Because when you need a Guide, I won’t be here, even if you cry and beg.”
“A curse? On the contrary, that’s what I want. This is when I’m glad you’re my Irregular. My flaw won’t happen twice, will it? So, won’t you hurry up and die to erase my flaw as an Esper?”
Hwiren Legius let out a hollow laugh.
A woman who didn’t even realize she was trapped in her own world.
May she live forever in a world where only she exists, with no one to reach out their hand.
“…You truly are the most wicked person under the sun. See you in hell, Roilnia Lanilgraph.”
And Fade Out.
The screen abruptly cut off, leaving only Ben and the firefly in the darkness again.
“…She’s genuinely human trash.”
He didn’t want to use such harsh words if he could help it, but they slipped out before he could stop them.
How must a person be raised to possess such an arrogant and self-centered mindset?
Setting aside the issue of Guides and Espers, the attitude of not being able to tolerate anything unless one is the best in the world was a flawed mentality only suited for ignorant children.
It was an immature stance for an adult who had lived long enough.
He had much more to say, but Ben simply decided not to try and understand her.
It wasn’t a domain that could be understood. He just ended up loathing Roilnia even more deeply.
How did he end up getting involved with a person he never wanted to encounter in his life?
Just as Ben felt this way, to the woman, Ben must be like that annoying goldfish poop stuck to Haimar.
That sinful man, Haimar, it’s a problem even if he’s popular in strange ways.
Ben dismissed the thoughts and waited quietly, wondering if another fragment of memory would appear.
Then, the firefly that had been stopped began to move erratically again.
“Oh, did you find it?”
Having seemingly found the lost landmark, the firefly flew ahead.
As Ben quickly followed, stepping forward, the place he stepped on was suddenly splashed with color.
The film, which had been composed only of black and white, instantly changed into a high-definition color film.
The world around him bloomed with vivid colors, as if trees and flowers were rapidly growing.
The scenery wasn’t the only thing that changed.
He felt his half-floating feet plant firmly on the ground.
He could feel the scent of a season contrasting with winter and warm sunlight on his skin.
Furthermore, while he had been watching from the outside as if observing a screening, now everything was vivid, as if he had stepped directly into the frame.
It was so real that he wouldn’t have been able to distinguish it from reality had he not known he was in a dream.
Looking around, Ben realized he was standing in a small lawn clearing created inside a building.
An automatic door leading into the building was visible right next to him, and beyond the door, people busy with work were passing by.
Even in the small clearing where Ben stood, he could see people with ID badges around their necks taking smoke breaks.
He wasn’t sure exactly where it was, but since the area was surrounded by tall buildings, it seemed to be an inner part of a large building in the middle of a city.
This clearing seemed to be a space created for rest inside the building.
As Ben was diligently making assumptions about the location, a familiar figure passed by beyond the door.
It was Haimar!
It was Haimar in an unfamiliar outfit—not the casual clothes Ben usually saw, but a neatly tailored shirt and what appeared to be a double-breasted jacket, possibly a uniform.
The jacket had epaulets and an embroidered departmental mark, and his tie was perfectly knotted.
Haimar was striding down the corridor with his long legs, trailed by people who looked like subordinates.
His face, devoid of any emotion as if he wouldn’t flinch if stabbed with a knife, felt somewhat awkward to Ben.
Awkward as it was, from head to toe, he was sparkling, so it was definitely Haimar.
Even the firefly seemed to confirm that the person passing by was the subconscious Haimar Ben was looking for, as it fluttered toward him.
Ben didn’t hesitate and quickly followed, reaching out to press the automatic door button.
“Huh?”
Pass… through? I passed through.
Ben’s hand passed right through the closed automatic door.
He felt like a ghost despite being properly alive.
Ben looked at his hand in surprise for a moment, then reminded himself that this was a dream and quickly chased Haimar.
Haimar was already standing at the end of the corridor, his pace was so fast.
Ben followed him and stood at the very end of the line of people trailing him.
‘Roilnia… Inhibitor… Control device…’
Strangely, the faces of the people following him were blurry and indistinct, making it impossible to recognize their exact features.
Their voices sounded like they were saying something to him, but only a few words were audible, not properly conveyed.
He guessed this time period was roughly similar to the time in Roilnia’s nightmare.
Regardless of the content of their conversation, that wasn’t the urgent matter.
Ben quickly overtook the people and stood right in front of Haimar.
“Wait a moment. Stop right there!”
Ben bravely called out to Haimar.
“…”
Complete disregard.
Haimar and everyone else completely ignored Ben, acting as if they couldn’t see or hear him, and went about their business.
Haimar, who was walking his path, glanced coldly at the people following him and dismissively waved them off as if bothered.
“Excuse me? Can’t you hear me? Haimar!”
Haimar was about to turn the corner at the end of the hallway after shaking off all the trailing employees.
Ben quickly passed through the group of employees who seemed desperate to follow him, reached Haimar’s side, and waved his hand vigorously, but was completely ignored.
Haimar walked past Ben and then opened the door to his private office and entered.
“Haimar? Haimar Eilec! Stop! Hey!!”
Feeling like he was a transparent person talking to a wall, Ben didn’t give up and followed him, intruding into Haimar’s office.
Ignoring the overly clean and monotonous office, Ben’s eyes were fixed only on Haimar, who was unbuttoning his jacket and sitting down languidly at his desk.
It was one thing for him not to hear, but not to see him at all was too much.
He had suspected this when his body passed through the automatic door, feeling like a ghost, and it turned out to be true.
In this state, how was he supposed to convey anything?
What if he can see me but is just pretending not to—
I saw it!
His eyes met Ben’s, exactly.
Haimar looked directly at Ben, who was standing across from the desk he was sitting at, so accurately that he couldn’t claim not to have known he was there.
“I must be seeing things.”
“No! You saw me correctly!”
Are you pretending not to see me right now?
The infuriating action almost made Ben lose his temper.
He quickly reminded himself that seeing Haimar act like this was not a one-day occurrence and tried to calm down.
Putting himself in Haimar’s shoes, if an existence that was invisible to others suddenly appeared like a ghost and kept calling his name, he would probably be a little scared too.
But this is a dream, so doesn’t Haimar know that?
What kind of messed-up world is this?
In any case, Haimar, who had been looking at Ben, propped his face on his hand and spoke languidly.
“So, what’s this little shrimp doing here?”
“L-little shrimp?”
That’s a bit harsh… Wait a minute.
Ben felt a sense of incongruity in Haimar’s tone directed at him.
The even more rude tone, the sarcastic atmosphere, the languid face, and the way he looked at him—it was different from the Haimar Ben knew now.
It was more like the Haimar from when they first met…
“…You don’t recognize me, do you?”
‘Oh, hell.’
Good heavens. No wonder he was treating me like dirt.
He never imagined Haimar wouldn’t recognize him.
No, there was no mention of this! Did something go wrong because it mixed with Roilnia’s nightmare sequence?
As Ben couldn’t figure out the cause, he felt like grabbing the firefly circling around him and demanding an explanation.
Reaching Haimar’s consciousness wasn’t the problem; the phase after arriving was the bigger hurdle.
“By the way, I can’t hear you. I’m reading your lips.”
To make matters worse, he could see him, but he couldn’t hear him.
Ben was going crazy. He was at a loss as to where to even begin explaining this.
Haimar had sometimes mentioned wanting to crack open his head to see what he was thinking, and now Ben truly wanted to crack his head open and show him.
If he were to recount everything—starting from how they met, telling him he’s his Guide, that he was kidnapped by Roilnia, and needs to be rescued—would Haimar believe him?
And if he were to go back without accomplishing anything here, all his efforts would have been for naught.
