Chapter 143

It has always been this way.

As Erica absentmindedly put away the leftovers she had been eating into the fridge, she thought about how those she had helped out of the kindness of her heart often ended up hurt even more—a scenario she’d grown far too familiar with.

That’s why she decided not to extend a helping hand unnecessarily. She resolved not to act out of an unwarranted sense of justice and help others.

The old friends who had been bullying others, as well as the ones who had been bullied—if she hadn’t interfered, they might have ended up happier.

No, they would have been.

As the girl washed the dishes without rubber gloves, she suddenly glanced down at her hands. Every time she extended her hand to help someone, it had been smacked away.

Yet, why had she allowed Inna to occupy the position of “friend,” despite making the conscious decision not to get emotionally involved with others for the sake of helping them?

Could it have been her own weakness? With no one else to lean on, she had leaned on the first person she encountered and designated them as a “friend.”

Had Inna, realizing that, retreated from Erica?

“Stop thinking about it.”

She muttered the command to herself, forcing her thoughts to halt as she stood in front of the sink and resumed washing dishes.

Erica knows herself well. She’s far from being a sage. How could anyone who’s made so many foolish decisions and become disillusioned ever claim wisdom?

While she may have good memory and focus, that’s far from signifying wisdom.

Foolishly, she rejected the hand of those who reached out to her first, labeling them as bullies.

Foolishly, she extended her hand to those she merely wanted to help, and yet she failed to save a single one, only managing to hurt them.

She was such a fool—someone who had completely ruined her surroundings.

A fool.

Wisdom never suited someone like her from the beginning.

[Warning. You’re exposed to an excessive amount of stress. Severe stress exposure may strengthen penalties for Heroine Erica…]

“Shut up. Go away.”

As the girl tried to dismiss the system message, a bowl slipped from her hand in frustration, clattering as it hit the floor and shattering. Glass fragments scattered everywhere. Her ankle and the bottom of her foot were cut by the shards, but Erica showed no signs of pain as she stumbled around looking for a broom.

bl**d trickled down, but her mind was full of thoughts more pressing than the pain.

Maybe her issues with Inna weren’t her fault. Had she only used Inna as a tool to make her own life more convenient? Had Inna, realizing this, fled from her?

Though she claimed confusion after suddenly inhabiting this world, had she just used that as an excuse to cling onto Inna’s youth?

As these thoughts kept recurring, Erica began searching her house for something else instead of a broom. There had to be something.

The overwhelming sense of apathy that spread through her body, akin to a suffocating climb up the throat, was evidence that not only her soul but her body itself was succumbing to depression.

“Medication.”

She needed it. Somewhere in the house, there must be some kind of tranquilizer to ease and calm her mind, even if just a little. If not, she’d have to visit the hospital for a psychiatric consultation and obtain medication…

Before reaching the shoe cabinet where she thought she would find a broom, Erica collapsed. Either the glass shard had cut her ankle too deeply or the depression made her not want to move.

Or maybe, she was simply too afraid to leave the house and meet others.

The girl, who had become unaware of herself, curled up like a worm on the floor, squeezing her neck with her hands as a familiar escape mechanism to flee from this reality, whether it be her body or her soul.

She knows she won’t d*e from this. She’ll pass out before reaching the brink and then start breathing again.

So, until her vision turns white…

She squeezes her neck.

Just to escape this present moment, if only for a brief while.

But Erica failed to consider something amid her stress: doing this in the hallway meant someone was bound to notice.

“You’ve always been this way.”

An almost forgotten figure naturally appeared in the hallway, looking down at Erica as she squeezed her own neck.

“Trying to help people, only to get hurt by them.”

More beautiful than anyone,

More mysterious than anyone,

More powerful than anyone,

Yet with a heart weaker than anyone,

This was Erica’s so-called “older sister,” as self-proclaimed and acknowledged by others. Kneeling down, the woman gently lifted Erica’s silver hair.

But the strands slipped entirely from the older sister’s palm.

“Until the only ones left around you are creatures like me.”

Though Erica’s hair itself seemed to reject her, the woman smiled as she saw Erica choking herself in the hallway.

“Inna must have known she’d become a creature like me if she stayed by your side. I didn’t expect even she would flee from you. Maybe I misjudged her, or underestimating your destiny led to this.”

[Warning. Warning. Your final boss from the storyline has appeared, disregarding the narrative flow, after detecting your abnormal behavior through CCTV. Your mental state currently indicates a desire to depend on someone. Run. If impossible, faint. A meeting with her in this state is highly dangerous.]

Because she already knew.

Erica wouldn’t d*e simply by choking herself. Even if she attempted self-harm elsewhere or got into a fight, there’d be, at most, a 0.1% chance of d*ath. But within this house, Erica was safe.

In fact, the cuts on her ankle were healing at an abnormal rate, and the glass embedded in her foot was being pushed out, leaving her skin intact. She hadn’t come to see Erica out of concern for her life; it was more of an opportunity.

“Erica, if you’ve forgotten, I’ll remind you, no matter how many times it takes…”

The silver-haired woman leaned close to Erica’s ear.

The one opportunity to break this proud girl’s spirit,

Possibly the only one.

“When I met your parents through you, treating me as an older friend, they were eaten. By me.”

The woman lightly tapped her mouth with her slightly parted lips.

Huh?

Even while curled up, Erica doubted her own ears, despite her ongoing apathy. She had never killed anyone during her most perilous experiences, like the fateful incident in Haeundae, Busan. So hearing that someone had been “eaten” still sounded abnormal to her.

Didn’t she say something similar during their first meeting? “I ate your parents.” Was that supposed to be a joke at the time? Was it actually the truth?

Had it been a question to confirm that Erica had truly lost her memories? She would have certainly been furious if she remembered.

“That was my mistake, and I won’t deny it. But, Erica, are you completely blameless? Look around you. How many of those you truly cared about are still here now?”

As fragments of her first conversation with the Reaper aligned in Erica’s mind, the woman carried on her subtle, serpent-like persuasion without concern.

In school, Queen Kang Yu-ri surely thought Erica considered herself superior, ignoring others as mere mortals. But that wasn’t exactly right.

People either disappeared into places Erica could never reach or chose to leave on their own. That was why, with the exception of those deeply entrenched in her heart, Erica refrained from giving her heart to others.

“What about Lee Seo-ra, who couldn’t imagine living without you? And Inna, who adored you and did all sorts of things for you? Look now—who remains at your side? Except for me, you have no one. So, whose fault is that? Mine? Or…”

The woman stopped mid-sentence when Erica lifted her head and glared.

Though weaker than before her memory loss, the hatred was unmistakable in her eyes.

“I’ll stop here for today.”

“Who decides that…!”

Her voice slightly hoarse from earlier choking herself, Erica tried to rise, but her body had already reached its limit from the psychological shocks of the last two days, and her eyelids only fell.

“If I didn’t stop here, it’d end up hurting you the most. As your older sister, I can offer this much consideration.”

The woman effortlessly lifted Erica’s body and carried her upstairs.

“We’ll meet again soon.”