The Weight of Existence (3)
Hall of Evil.
After hearing about the birth of good and evil, Sirone and the others left Lilith’s room and walked down the hallway.
“How much evil is there?” Cain said.
“In this hall, evil exists from its beginning to its end. I don’t plan on ranking it, but maybe it’s some kind of ranking? “Most evils only have one line of records.”
Every room in the hallway was a study, and the size of the room could not be guessed through the door.
“Really powerful evil especially uses solitary confinement, but here’s Habitz too. That’s pretty high. Ranked 7th. “If it’s like this, it’s worthy of being compared to my mother.”
The group did not respond.
“It is usually recorded in rooms arranged chronologically. “You would have to walk quite a bit to see the evil of our time.”
Sirone found a portrait hanging in another cell.
‘Mr. Minerva.’
I don’t plan on ranking it, but in order of rooms, it was ranked 87th. Iruki said.
“We don’t have time.”
“know. I guess he wants to meet Gyorgi. “That guy is holding on to a woman named Seina.”
Seina was absolutely necessary now that the world was being invaded by Ramicism.
‘A person who will acknowledge the entire story of the Holy See.’
Cain turned around.
“Are you okay? I don’t know much, but Gyorgi is preparing. To kill you.”
Sirone said.
“It’s something I have to take responsibility for. “Gyorgi is a demon born from my emotions.”
“It’s responsibility.”
It was an unsuitable word for evil.
“They definitely look alike. For some reason, Giyorgi didn’t seem like a demon. What’s good? “I will watch.”
The end of an era.
“Now, from here, this is the era you lived in. “Let’s just wait and see, there was one of these people, right?”
Cain turned to Curtis and pointed to the room.
“Anyway, since I came to the core, I should get an award. Why don’t you go in and erase your criminal record?”
When there was no answer, Sirone called.
“Mr. Curtis.”
“No, it’s okay. Because it doesn’t matter anymore. Let’s just go. “You can punish as much as you want.” As the group stubbornly stayed in front of the room, Curtis frowned and shouted.
“okay! damn! I killed it! I killed those beautiful children! Disgusting? Then I hate you!”
Pena said. “You really…
“We loved those women !”
He fell to his knees and pulled out his hair.
“Me and Nia were really in love. Yes, it’s an affair. A guy with a wife messing around with his daughter’s friend won’t look like a person! But my life…!”
“Why did you kill him?”
Sirone asked for the main point.
Curtis, realizing that anything he said was just rationalization, put everything aside.
“I have been friends with Edrina Nia Belita Daisy since I was young. I had an affair with Nia. But my daughter found out about it. It was Nia’s fault. “We had a small argument, and in the heat of the moment… I ended up saying something.”
Perhaps she also wanted to use that opportunity to quickly get rid of it.
“That was the day of the trip. Actually, I was planning to meet Nia at the travel destination. I told my wife it was a local patrol. Because it’s a common occurrence for detectives. But in the end, Edrina found out the whole truth…
“You didn’t go on a trip.”
“okay. I broke up with my friends and went to the square. I went there after seeing the villa address written on the bulletin board. And there… he hung himself and died.”
“How do you know? According to a fellow detective, suicide was not possible…
“Knot.”
Curtis’ hands were shaking.
“It’s not a noose tied with a hunting knot. It’s a knot where you twist it once more and hang a loop. First, I would have stepped on the scaffolding and tied an old rope to the ceiling pipe. Then you hang it by hand and cut the rope. Remove the scaffold again and lock the warehouse door from the inside. “That’s how the secret room is completed.”
A scene appeared in the minds of the group.
“Edrina would have laid down as if she had fallen. And if you tie the rope around your neck using that knot and pull strongly…
the rope will not come loose.
“That’s how I left. My daughter… Curtis imagines again.
She must have shed a single tear as she
saw her daughter lying on the cold floor of the warehouse, with her throat constricted, waiting for death .
“I…
Curtis turned his head and burst into tears.
“This is the knot I taught you.”
“Ever since she was little, Edrina liked that I was her older brother. I guess I thought I was an apostle of justice who would beat up villains. In reality, he is just a man who does all kinds of odd jobs to live a respectable life.”
The moment he first discovered Edrina’s body, what came to mind was a memory from when his daughter was eight years old.
“Come here, my daughter.”
“Why Dad?”
“Now, hold out your hands. “I’ll teach you something fun.”
Curtis tied the little boy’s white wrists with a knot, twisted them one more time, and hung the loop.
“Voila!”
“uh? what? “Why isn’t this solved?”
“ha ha ha! how is it?”
When Curtis tickled her side, Edrina, who was laughing out loud, burst into laughter.
“stop! Release me quickly! “I’m going to scold you!”
“Now look at this.”
Curtis, with his daughter sitting on his lap, peeled off the loop between the knots with his thumb.
“If you just bounce it once like this, it will come loose. It’s called the handcuffs law. “It’s what magicians use.”
“wow! Dad, teach me too. yes?
huh’?”
“good. “Then shall we try again?” “…I was able to solve it.”
Curtis felt like his soul had collapsed.
“If I had changed my mind at that moment, I could have easily solved it. But why… ugh!”
Iruki, who watched the sobbing figure hitting the ground for a moment, asked a question.
“The reason the detectives couldn’t find the knot is because…
“I untied it.”
When the body was first discovered, Curtis’ hands were removing the handcuffs on their own.
“I didn’t try to cover up the crime. What does an affair matter when your daughter is dead? I don’t know. It’s so sad that I just have to untie that knot. I couldn’t believe it, so I wondered if my daughter would survive…
“But you killed her.”
Edrina’s friend Nia Belita Daisy.
“When my daughter was dying, I was waiting at the destination where I was supposed to meet Nia.”
It’s an incident in another place.
“We were supposed to meet separately, but he brought all his friends. I was annoyed, but now I see that my daughter is not there. “I asked what happened and Nia said it was all over.”
Curtis turned his head.
“How do you think you felt at that time? How a father feels when his daughter catches him playing with her friend. I got very angry and argued with Nia. Nia threatened my wife. “I will ruin my family.”
That’s how affairs always end.
“I thought I should meet my daughter first. But I couldn’t leave Nia alone. Friends too. So I locked him in the attic of the villa. “When I came back, I threatened to leave him alone without him, and he seemed a little scared.”
“Even so, we could have escaped.”
“What if you really felt your life was in danger? Even though it was on the second floor, the window was open. But that was just the way it was. We had a fiery night until yesterday and we were always arguing. This time it was just a little more serious because my family was at stake. Nia must have been thinking of waiting too. It’s a villa that we rented with a lot of money. I gossip to my heart’s content with my friends. “Belly Ta and Daisy must have been exciting.”
Sirone said.
“But in the end, I didn’t get to meet my daughter.”
“I went to Schiff Square, which was the meeting place. A merchant I know said he was looking at the bulletin board anxiously. It was an advertisement for renting a vacation home. It was a bit strange because it was an empty house, but at the same time, I thought it was the only place for my daughter who had no money to stay. Perhaps because she was the daughter of a detective, she was fearless and had a quirky side. So I called my friend River. I can’t tell you the details because I’m embarrassed, but I can at least make up an alibi that I really went on patrol in the area. But what we saw in that villa…
was our daughter’s corpse.
“There’s no need to explain what happens next. I won’t use the excuse that I was out of my mind. It was impulsive at first. But then a temptation arose. I wonder if I can turn it into something that never happened. I’m just a murderer. “A murderer who knows how to avoid being investigated.”
Curtis, leaning against the wall, took out a cigarette.
“All ordinary cold cases are like that. Coincidences that are beyond probability. The obsession with life is enormous. When it was treated as an unsolved case, I thought I should still live. I honestly don’t even remember how I was. Then… a letter arrived where I work.”
Chick’s cigarette caught fire.
-It’s not dad’s fault.
“Whoa.”
said Curtis, blowing smoke toward the ceiling.
“I was so embarrassed that I couldn’t bear it. I just wanted to forget. I could just die, but it seemed like what I did would still remain even if I were gone. “It was so unpleasant that I wanted to erase it completely, so I came to Melkidu.”
This was the full story of the Edrina incident.
“Stop it. Because I will stay. You don’t have to worry about the penalty. “There is only one thing left for me.”
He planned to expunge his record and take his life.
The handcuff method that killed my daughter.
‘Is that okay, Edrina?’
Curtis threw a cigarette butt into the hall of evil.
“Life sucks, really.”
“So live.”
Pena approached.
“What changes when you die? “There are things in this world that cannot be taken responsibility for through death.”
Curtis didn’t know either.
“So what should I do? Do you think I would even blink if I rotted in prison for the rest of my life?”
Even the prison in Parme, the capital, was a place worth living in compared to Curtis’ guilt.
“…I don’t know. So it’s a sin. “You shouldn’t do it because you can’t take responsibility.”
Pena continued.
“How did you feel when your daughter died? You are doing the same thing now. If you die like that, what happens to us who leave you behind? If you’re going to die, die alone in a place no one knows. “Please be responsible.”
She looked back at Sirone and the others.
“I will stay. Don’t worry and come back. “I will never just let you die.”
Shirone thought for a moment and then turned around.
“let’s go.”
When the group, led by Cain, disappeared, Curtis, who was left alone with Pena, spoke.
“It was a good performance.”
“what?”
“Expunge your record and run away. The core is reality. All you have to do is board a boat or something and find a new life.”
To be honest, it’s not that I haven’t thought about it.
“it’s okay. “I want to quit.”
“what?”
Pena sat next to Curtis.
“There are probably a lot of people who were hurt because of me. When I came here, I felt like there was no such thing as a new life. “If I don’t change, my life will be the same no matter what happens.”
There is no such thing as a shrine for the devil.
“So… what do we do now?”
“Let’s stay still. Let’s not think about what we are going to do. We ruined it. Accept whatever judgment the world makes. With a penitent heart. Nothing will change, but… Pena said, holding back her tears.
“Shouldn’t you be held accountable for the sin of failing to take responsibility?”
A sin of not taking responsibility.
“…Right.”
In the Hall of Evil, Curtis turned to the sky.
‘I’m sorry.’
I ruined everything.
‘So, thank God.’
If there really is a God, if that God has a mind like a human.
‘please??????
Please don’t forgive me.
