am-books Chapter 55
Chapter 55
The modification of memories was a success.
According to the Saintess, it was part of the treatment.
It’s not all-powerful, though; if the modifications continue, without them, the memories will eventually return.
While Shihu was unconscious, the Saintess took the opportunity to clean the house.
It wasn’t much of a cleaning, just hiding the medicine box.
Shihu thinks about what to say when he wakes up.
He wonders where and how the next treatment will take place.
It’ll probably take about 30 minutes before he wakes up again.
If he were an ordinary person, it might take hours for him to get up.
Awakened individuals with strong mental strength tend to recover faster.
"Ugh..."
"Huh? You’re awake."
Not 30 minutes, but 5 minutes.
He recovered too quickly.
After a treatment, memories tend to get muddled, and people usually feel confused about what they were doing.
"What is this...?"
He wonders why he’s in the Saintess’s house.
"This... this is my house. Don’t you remember? You suddenly collapsed."
The Saintess immediately begins her lie.
It’s just a habit.
She wasn’t exactly a kind-hearted person.
Then, was Shihu always the good guy?
Was he always so righteous?
The Saintess assumed he was, of course.
"Why am I in your house?"
He sits up.
"We had an appointment, remember?"
It’s true they were supposed to meet.
"[Purification]... It’s not working."
Shihu tries to use a skill on himself.
He instinctively feels something is wrong.
"I came to discuss the materials we got from the place we went to last time. Don’t you remember?"
Shihu wonders what kind of score the Saintess would get if she took an intelligence test.
"[Stamina Recovery]"
More precisely, Stamina Recovery VI.
He was exhausted, so he uses it.
The Saintess looks a bit tired as well.
He plans to figure out why soon.
"Explain properly. There’s no reason for me to come to your house. You said we had an appointment, but..."
Shihu checks his watch.
They’re far off from the scheduled time.
It’s still time for school.
"This is too early. What happened? Explain it to me."
Shihu checks his status window.
There’s no abnormal status.
It’s impossible to suddenly collapse.
He’s not that weak.
"Well, it’s just like I said earlier..."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
If that’s the case, there’s only one option.
To use physical force.
"That can’t be."
"Huh?"
It can’t be.
I can’t accept that answer.
"You can self-heal, so you’re fine, right?" @@@@
"What, what are you talking about?"
*Thud.*
Shihu throws a punch.
The Saintess is hiding something.
It’s not normal for him to be collapsed in her house.
"Wait—"
"Why?"
"Ugh, why are you hitting me?"
"Because you’re not telling me the truth."
Shihu is even more violent than before.
The Saintess wonders if she should have just let him go and escaped.
It was unexpected for him to wake up so quickly, and for him to use his fists right away was also unexpected.
Nothing is going according to plan.
"Seo Ah. You came because of the photo with Seo Ah, right?"
"Photo?"
"Yeah, this one."
He hands her the photo the Saintess had.
It’s stirred up a lot of memories of Seo Ah.
There’s no reason for Shihu to react so strongly.
"...Ah, are you in cahoots with the doctor?"
"Huh?"
Originally, slums are places where laws and order aren’t established.
It doesn’t matter what you do.
"I wanted to be Seo Ah’s hero. I just wanted to at least pretend to be one."
Everyone wants to be someone admirable.
She wanted to appear impressive to Seo Ah.
Pretending to be an adult by her side.
To be someone Seo Ah would look up to.
To be the one who keeps her safe.
"Even if Seo Ah hated me, she was still my childhood friend."
Even if she tries to blame this situation on Seo Ah, she realizes it’s her own immaturity.
In the end, was she Seo Ah’s hero?
A hero fighting villains?
No.
"Maybe I’ll stop pretending to be a noble hero now."
The Saintess will soon tell the truth.
---
### **Shihu keeps running.**
The message the Saintess showed him had an address.
He runs toward it.
Is it a distance he can cover?
Yes.
He will find a way.
---
### **Before he starts running.**
Shihu discovers a new talent.
Figuring out the truth doesn’t require extraordinary skill.
The Saintess talked for 25 minutes, but 20 of those minutes were spent on her stammering out the truth.
Using violence.
The Saintess was comfortable because she could self-heal.
He learns more about the Saintess’s past.
That she had met Seo Ah.
That Seo Ah was locked up in a lab for some reason.
The doctor, who the Saintess knew, had died before Seo Ah even met him.
That the Saintess had manipulated memories under the guise of healing.
That tampered memories will return over time.
He hears everything.
He reviews the text messages.
Photos and videos sent by an anonymous source.
What’s clear is that Seo Ah was treated like a monster.
Shihu couldn’t continue watching the videos.
Even if it wasn’t Seo Ah, he would have hated watching it.
"I was there too..."
The Saintess buries her face in her knees as she speaks.
"I just wanted to run away from there... When Seo Ah went in, I ran off..."
"Yeah."
"I wasn’t always this foolish... It was because of the experiment..."
The Saintess laments, but Shihu doesn’t care.
He calls the number saved in the Saintess’s phone.
He hopes someone picks up.
- The number you dialed is no longer in service.
But the number doesn’t exist.
There’s only one option left.
Run to the address the Saintess gave him.
---
### **He keeps running.**
Using his Stamina Recovery skill, he turns all his mana into stamina.
Is it faster to take a taxi, or is running faster?
In the end, the destination is outside the city.
A dangerous zone where monsters could appear at any moment.
Using a vehicle requires tedious procedures.
Is Seo Ah still alive?
If she is, what should he do?
If what he saw in the video is real, even Shihu wouldn’t have been able to stay sane in that situation.
Who’s holding Seo Ah?
Is it an enemy?
What’s the Saintess’s real purpose in trying to heal him?
If it’s someone holding her, Shihu thought it would be the doctor.
But no.
According to the Saintess, the doctor had been dead for a while.
That’s why Shihu couldn’t find him, even as he sought revenge.
If not the doctor, then who?
He will find out.
The road disappears, and the mountain appears.
He keeps running.
The branches brush against his face.
"[Cleansing Strike]"
He draws his sword and uses the skill.
A beam of light cuts through the obstructing trees.
He’s going straight.
To the destination.
Is running blindly the wise choice?
Should he be calling for backup?
Trustworthy people.
But there’s no time.
Even running isn’t fast enough.
Faster!
Faster!
Faster!
He shouts this over and over in his mind.
He believes Seo Ah is already dead.
Even if she’s alive, she’s not in her right mind.
It wouldn’t be surprising if she was someone’s plaything.
Shut up.
He regrets everything deeply.
All of it.
Whether the memories the Saintess planted were malicious or not.
Everything is hateful.
The destination is getting closer.
He ran until the sun set.
The stars are clear now.
The air is cold.
His breathing is heavy.
In the distance, faint lights are visible.