Chapter 92
The Ella in the video was very young.
A baby.
And one that had just barely started walking.
The baby was being held in some man's arms.
Clothes that were no better than rags and only a few teeth remaining.
Even those were so rotten and black that it was uncertain when they might fall out.
It was the appearance of a drug addict who had gone as far as possible, commonly seen in slums.
[ Hehehe. Yeah, you got one? Where from? ]
[ South Africa! Good enough?! Give me the money quick! The drug effects are wearing off now! Hurry! ]
[ Alright, alright. Typical of a junkie, so impatient. ]
The drug addict was handing over the baby, who was either unconscious or asleep, to the sorcerer. The sorcerer was dressed in a manner often seen in Africa, with shiny gold ornaments and jewels dangling all over his body.
The sorcerer threw money as if giving alms, and the drug addict happily took the money and disappeared somewhere.
Surely he went to get drugs with the money.
[ Hehehe. A mix of white and black? A baby whose very existence is a crime in its own country. ]
The sorcerer plucked a hair from the baby and tasted it.
[ Doesn't seem to have exceptional supernatural ability sensing either. Not much potential? ]
She changed her expression as the numerous wrinkles on her face moved around.
The sorcerer passed judgment.
[ Seems you're destined to be a sacrifice. ]
An albino's body was a material that could have great effects related to fortune-telling.
Cutting off extremities and making them into accessories could earn a fortune, and if stuffed whole, it could even connect one to powerful politicians. Moreover, if the eyeballs were specially processed and made into cursed objects, they would become items that bring positive effects to the wearer.
An albino was a treasure in itself.
However, if there was a possibility of surpassing the value of their own body, she was willing to let them live, but unfortunately, the baby the sorcerer was holding didn't seem to have any talent worth sparing.
[ Since it has no value as a person, I should at least find value as an object. ]
The sorcerer muttered this and tried to strangle the baby.
Crack!
But at that moment, the sorcerer's hand that was about to strangle fell off.
It wasn't cut off, but it fell to the floor without a single drop of blood as if it had always been that way.
Moreover, the cut surface of the wrist had become blunt as if it had been cut off long ago, and the severed wrist that had fallen off also had a blunt cross-section as if it had always been that way.
The sorcerer frowned her wrinkled face at this strange sight.
[ Witchcraft? ]
[ That's right. The power of a great witch that an old hag like you could never approach. ]
[ Huh. How arrogant. ]
Where the sorcerer turned her head, there was a woman.
A woman who looked to be in her early 30s with long brown hair.
She was wearing a dress that clung to her body as if advertising that she was a witch.
[ So, you white bitch. Why have you come to this insignificant old woman's house to cause trouble? ]
[ Am I supposed to just pass by when you're trying to chop up a child? ]
Agnes A Reich.
She was Ella's master.
Agnes swung her broom to make the entire room dark.
[ Senile old hag! Die! ]
With those words, the video cut off, and the ending credits started to roll.
Provided/Distributed by: Brain
Produced by: Hippocampus
Directed by: Hippocampus
Assistant Director: Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex
Planned by: Hippocampus
Edited by: Cerebral Cortex
...
Baby role: Amara (fetal name) / Monifa (fetal name)
Witch role: Agnes A Reich
Sorcerer role: Amma Ya Traore
...
Sponsored by: Park Jinseong
...
Location Sponsorship
Sorcerer's base - Tanzania
Hotel - Russian Federation
Bed - Zvyozdochka (звёздочка) Hotel Suite Room 2nd Bed
...
* * *
"What is this!"
Ella shouted indignantly at the movie that cut off at such an important part.
"That's how dreams are~"
She subdued Ella who was trying to jump up.
"You saw the ending credits, right?"
"Huh? Yes. But what about it?"
"How was it listed under Provided/Distributed?"
"Brain...?"
"That's right~ It's the brain. We can't visualize what we haven't seen~ But here's a quiz! It's a brain, but whose brain is it~? Is it this big sister's brain, or the little sister's brain?"
To her question, Ella pondered for a moment and said.
"Maybe... mine...?"
Then the woman smiled brightly like a flower and said.
"Wrong! The correct answer is both!"
She rewound the video and pointed to the letters in the ending credits.
"Do you see the baby role here?"
"Yes, Amara... Monifa..."
Ella spoke and then looked at the woman with an expression that seemed to say 'it can't be'.
The woman put her hands on both sides of her face and spread them wide while smiling.
Brightly, as if playing peek-a-boo with a cute baby.
"Ta-da! It's this big sister and little sister!"
"What?!"
She hugged Ella tightly and placed her index finger on Ella's chest again.
Then she poked near the right breast and said.
"Originally, we were twins, but for some reason, I was absorbed by my little sister in the womb."
"What? Ab-absorbed?"
"It's called vanishing twin syndrome! It happens quite often!"
Ella's face turned pale.
"But still, this big sister was lucky! I was able to stay in my little sister's chest without disappearing! Here, right here where I'm poking~"
"M-my. My chest?"
"Yes! It was lucky that it was the chest too~ If it had been somewhere else, they might have operated saying it was a tumor, but when it's in the chest, there are no symptoms so it's not noticeable, you know~? And it was also something thankful that my little sister was so healthy that she never had to go to the hospital! Though it's late, this big sister will express her gratitude now~"
The woman smiled broadly.
"Ch-chest. Tumor... In my chest..."
"Yes. It was comfortable to stay there. Thank you~"
But regardless of whether she expressed gratitude or not, Ella's face was pale.
When suddenly faced with information that was difficult to accept, she couldn't maintain her sanity.
"S-still? Are you s-still, in, in my, my ch-chest?!"
The woman buried Ella's face deep in her chest as if to reassure her, and while patting her back, said.
"Don't worry~ This big sister has become independent now!"
"What?! What does that mean?!"
"A kind person... Ah, rather than explaining, it would be better to look at the photo!"
The woman picked up a photo from the sofa armrest and showed it to Ella.
Ella, who had turned over, looked at the photo while still unable to escape from the woman's embrace.
The slightly large photo was in black and white.
It looked like an ultrasound photo of a pregnant woman's womb.
In that photo, two things that looked like fetuses were captured.
"It's us~ The first family photo of this big sister and little sister together~"
The photo gradually changed.
As if drawing colors from the air and dyeing it, colors were gradually applied, and the picture made of black and white broke and scattered, changing its appearance. It looked like ants moving to create a shape, or dust gathering to form a figure.
The changed photo showed Ella as a baby.
But the baby was wrapped in old cloth and abandoned in front of what seemed to be an orphanage.
And in the distance, a homeless person approaching while grinning was captured.
"This is before we were kidnapped~ We were abandoned because we were albinos!"
"Abandoned...?"
"Yes~ We were abandoned saying they couldn't raise such mutants! Wow~ What great parents, right? Thanks to them, my pretty little sister almost became a sacrifice, and I almost disappeared in vain!"
The woman muttered in a low voice.
"I'd really like to see those great people's faces just once."
Ella couldn't see the woman's face because she was being held in her arms.
However, she could guess that instead of a smile, something close to murderous intent was floating on that face.
"Oh my, the photo is changing again~ This time it's a cute picture of my little sister~"
The photo changed again.
Three women were captured in the photo.
Ella wearing a private elementary school uniform, Agnes with a pleased expression.
And Odilia forcing a smile.
"From this time on, the Grand Witch started to dislike my little sister~ Was it because the attention of her cute disciple, who used to act cute all the time, went to my little sister? Or was there some reason that my little sister and I don't know about?"
The woman stroked Ella's head.
"But your master gave a love much greater than the hatred shown by the Grand Witch. Thanks to that, my little sister grew up to be so kind and pretty, I'm just so grateful~"
The photo changed again.
As if soaked in blood, the entire photo turned bright red, and a strong smell of blood wafted from the photo itself.
The photo captured Ella lying on an altar and two men standing in front of it.
The bearded man was eating what appeared to be his own hand with a distorted expression, and the handsome man was watching this terrible scene with a smile.
"Herr Park?"
"Yes~ My benefactor, Jinseong Park!"
"Benefactor, you say?"
"That's a secret!"
With those words, the woman threw away the photo.
"Wait a moment! What do you mean by independence? What do you mean by benefactor?!"
"I'll tell you after you wake up from the dream. I think that'll be more fun."
The woman said this in a playful tone.
"Now, we just need to look at this. What could this be?"
She picked up the book that had been placed on the sofa armrest.
『 One-time Access Pass to Human Collective Unconscious Network (Surface) 』
"Oh? Oh! Yeaaaaaah!"
The woman jumped up excitedly and bounced in place, expressing joy with her whole body.
"Little sister! Little sister! This big sister will show you something good today!"
"S-sorry? Something good? What?"
"Big sister's greatness! Big sister's omnipotence! Watch closely the power of this big sister!"
The woman shouted with a flushed face as if extremely excited and opened the book.
Sssssss.
As she opened the book, as if something sealed was being released, a sticky liquid flowed out of the book and created a pond half the size of the room. The woman firmly grasped Ella's hand and recklessly jumped into the pond.
"W-wait a moment! Wait! What is this! What is this! At least explain it to me!"