Bailonz Street 13

Liam Moore’s expression seemed a bit troubling, but he quickly noticed and gave me a gentle smile. Only Owen was looking down at me with a complex expression. It felt like he was looking at us as if we were crazy, suggesting that I must have done something significant during the time I couldn’t remember. His subsequent question confirmed this suspicion.

“Are you dizzy? Feel like throwing up, or is your vision spinning?”

I glanced at my hands. My vision was very clear, and my body didn’t feel that heavy. It just seemed like if I rested my head somewhere, I’d fall asleep instantly. I didn’t have narcolepsy, though.

“No. I’m just really sleepy.”

“That’s not good.”

Owen was sharp enough to recognize my condition. He sighed and grabbed my arm, helping me up.

“…We should leave. Staying here any longer won’t do us any good.”

I agreed. Clara Barnum was utterly insane. Any normal person would at least hesitate slightly before killing their kind, but Clara seemed indifferent as she mutilated people. I had no intention of chatting in a madwoman’s lair.

Owen on my left, Liam on my right, both took the lead as if to protect me.

“We’ll run straight ahead. Once Liam can use his magic, we’ll escape to Greenwich.”

Bang!

A deafening gunshot echoed, and the three of us froze in place.

Had I been shot? But I didn’t feel any pain anywhere on my body. Was I in shock? No, I’d been shot a few times before and fired a gun myself. I shouldn’t be this unscathed.

Then… the one who got shot wasn’t me…

“Ugh.”

A short groan slipped through gritted teeth. It came from the left.

No, this couldn’t be happening. It didn’t make sense. Clara had always tried to kill me and attacked me first to ensure I couldn’t escape. She had never attacked Owen or Liam first.

“Why…?”

Owen’s knees buckled. Clutching his chest, he collapsed, and blood began to flow along the floor’s grooves, filling the old black stains.

“Why, Owen…?”

Clara’s next shot was aimed at Liam. Liam Moore moved quickly to block the bullet, but it grazed his arm, tearing his clothes and skin. Without even thinking of stopping the bleeding, he tried to shield me behind his back. I saw the trigger being pulled slowly.

A thin, bluish barrier was rising around Liam, but it was too late. Clara was aiming directly at Liam Moore, intent on killing him. The bullet would be faster than the shield.

‘Liam Moore can’t die here.’

The time it took to reach that conclusion was barely a second.

I might have become able to use my life like a consumable now. If the pain I felt was fleeting, and I had infinite chances, to be honest, it was better for me to endure it rather than others.

Without hesitation, I threw myself forward. Honestly, I was willing to face the approaching death.

“No, Jane!”

Almost simultaneously with Liam Moore’s scream, there was a sharp sound of something shattering. My memory ended there.

＊ ＊ ＊

I lost consciousness several times.

My awareness flickered intermittently.

My whole body felt numb.

I heard the sound of a viscous liquid dripping. It seemed my blood was leaking in real-time. My right arm felt extremely cold.

I didn’t want to exert myself to check how much blood I’d lost. Frankly, I thought it would be fine if I kept sleeping like this. It was only when someone appeared in my peripheral vision that I turned my head. Clara was watching me.

Black ink dripped from her hand, with bulging black veins covering half her body. As she confirmed I was awake, her bony fingers dug into my shoulder like thorns.

Sparks flew from the tattered notebook soaked in ink. Clara muttered irritably.

“Resisting to the end, both of them…”

I heard a raspy breath. It seemed she was trying to find out what Liam Moore and I had talked about, but unfortunately for her, no useful information seemed to come out. She screamed in a shrill voice.

“What did you do to Liam Moore? What did you do?”

“Would you tell me if you were in my shoes?”

I retorted sarcastically. It seemed the persona of Jane Osmond, a 19th-century English woman, was giving way to my 21st-century Korean self.

If looks could kill, Clara’s gaze would have killed me five times over by now. Her eyes rolled madly as she mumbled, and to be honest, I was scared. I wondered if I should retract my words a bit.

“You should have just spoken. Lack of learning is also a sin. Being arrogant, unable to admit your defeat, clinging to foolish hope endlessly, and waiting only for Liam Moore is so pathetic…”

But the more she spoke, the more it felt like it was Clara, not me, who was getting anxious.

“Why. Are you scared?”

“What?”

“You’re scared that something’s happening somewhere that you don’t know about. Now that I think about it, you were always the type to control others, right? Too bad.”

Even if she rummaged through my mind, she wouldn’t find anything.

Luckily, the one in front of me could read only my memories, not my thoughts. I couldn’t help but laugh.

Clara let me laugh for a while, then murmured chillingly.

“You should be the one afraid.”

“Oh, my mom always taught me this.”

I grinned and showed off the handcuffs that had been on my wrist.

“If you’re scared, you should just die.”

The freed wrist felt chilly from the wind.

Clara bared her teeth and lunged at me. Calmly, I stepped back with my right foot and used my left foot as a pivot to kick Clara. Despite her strength, Clara was very light. It felt like kicking a piece of paper. It was surprising that someone who had killed me so many times could be knocked back with a single kick.

The surprise was short-lived. I quickly grabbed the notebook she had set down.

“…!”

Something was coming. The moment I held the notebook, it accepted my touch without resistance. As if it had been waiting for me. And at the same time, I felt a faint murmur!

Also, I saw something very strange. Semi-transparent threads were filling the space, like spider webs woven throughout the area. They started to shake, then snapped one by one. The outside impact was cutting through them.

Clara seemed to notice it too. She was getting up with her hand on the ground, letting out a furious roar.

“How dare you!”

“Yes, ‘how dare’ I win, Clara Barnum.”

“How dare you collaborate with those dirty Greenwich scum to trample on the sanctuary?”

“This is a sanctuary? It’s just a rabbit hole. A rat’s nest pretending to be a catacomb.”

Liam Moore was definitely doing something. His magic was lifting the shadows that had draped over this place.

Clara’s limbs flailed at odd angles, clawing through the air, reaching for the notebook in my hand.

“Give me the power! It’s mine!”

No way was I giving it up. I ran. There was nothing holding me back anymore.

Behind me, Clara’s curses filled with rage were being hurled. She was summoning something here, shouting for it to catch me.

Above ground, the deep reverberation continued, and the intangible force that had been pressing down on me was weakening.

“Catch her!”

Separate from Liam Moore’s attack, something was shaking the corridor. It was the reverberation created by something massive. The ground shook so much it was hard to walk properly.

Then it happened. My vision flickered, and white letters slowly began to appear.

[Turn left.]

‘Left?’

There’s only a straight path here.

I wasn’t someone to bang my head against a wall. As I frowned at the vague navigation, the left wall suddenly wavered, revealing a passage. Something huge was still approaching with a deafening noise from ahead.

There was no choice. Either get caught and dragged away or escape. So, I had to escape.

I threw myself towards the newly appeared passage. I narrowly dodged the monstrous roar behind me.

＊ ＊ ＊

As the gunshot rang out, Jane Osmond threw her arms around Liam Moore’s neck. Liam couldn’t believe his eyes.

“Jane?”

Jane, who had fallen into his arms, collapsed. The arms that had embraced his neck went limp. Jane’s face was turning pale at an alarming rate.

With the careful touch of holding a delicate doll, Liam felt for the pulse on Jane’s neck. Please. Please. Let there be even the faintest pulse. Let there be something he could do.

But to his despair, there was nothing. Her neck was ghostly pale and lifeless.