The World After the Bad Ending - Chapter 126



Affection Deficit

The Mad Witch

Vinesha

A time yet before she was called such.

She was tumbling amongst shards of the sky, spilled into the reverse world.

The evil spirit that cloaked Vinesha barely kept her safe.

Within the evil spirit’s hold, she clutched a pendant tight.

Her chest felt constricted.

Her mind, a tangled mess.

Distant, ancient memories, ones she thought she’d never recall.

Fragments of those memories were filling her head, brimming it full.

Vinesha was lost in the chaos.

She couldn’t gather her senses, not with the fractured memories rising within her like madness.

Was it because of this? Before her eyes, memories were unfolding like a panorama.

A childhood, abandoned by her parents.

There was a phrase her mother and father both said, in unison.

“Shouldn’t have birthed you.”

Words from her parents, that it would have been better if she hadn’t been born.

Words heard when she was still so young, yet etched sharply within the memory fragments.

When she was six, her parents abandoned her.

Abandoned by the parents who were her entire world, during the crucial time for forming attachments.

Nothing remained for her.

“Why are you here.”

Starving, throat parched, slowly nearing death.

Then, a certain woman appeared before her.

Her teacher, her stepmother.

Marisa.

Marisa cherished Vinesha more than anyone else ever had.

A love Vinesha had never experienced in her entire life.

But Vinesha had already lost everything, her entire world.

In return, she clung to Marisa with a desperation that bordered on manic.

Vinesha gave it her everything, just to never be abandoned again.

A gaping hole of affection, never once filled in her life.

Vinesha’s obsession with Marisa, the only one who could possibly fill it, felt almost…inevitable.

So, Vinesha learned the magic Marisa taught with a fierce, frantic hunger.

Luckily, Vinesha had a talent for it, and Marisa praised her greatly each time.

For the first time, Vinesha felt the sensation of her emptiness being filled.

This, she realized, must be happiness.

Then, one day, Marisa brought back two more children.

Two children younger than Vinesha.

Both also abandoned on the streets.

A boy and a girl, roughly the same age.

The boy was Grantoni, and the girl’s name was Musika.

‘Why did Master bring back more than just me? Am I not enough?’

At first, Vinesha didn’t take to them kindly.

It wasn’t easy hogging Marisa’s love to begin with, and now she had to share it.

‘I have to endure.’

But Vinesha couldn’t show it.

She figured Marisa wouldn’t like that.

Vinesha, along with Grantoni and Musika, grew quickly.

In that process, Marisa discovered that the two of them also possessed exceptional talent as spirit mages.

Marisa naturally raised them to be spirit mages as well.

Grantoni was clearly talented, but Musika’s talent surpassed even his.

Musika’s talent was beyond Vinesha’s reach, even.

As a result, Marisa, unintentionally, found herself shining the spotlight on Musika more and more often.

“Amazing, Musika! Your talent is truly top-tier, perhaps even the best in the world!”

“Hehe, it’s all thanks to Master’s excellent teaching!”

Musika was an incredibly bright child.

Wherever she went, it was as if brightness bloomed around her.

That’s why, initially, Vinesha definitely hated Musika.

She was a brazen existence, stealing Marisa’s love.

But Mushika was a good child.

“Vinesha, sister!”

Mushika would wave her hand first thing and run towards Vinesha.

At first, Vinesha felt uneasy around Mushika, trying to keep her distance.

But distance was something Mushika didn’t grasp.

Bright and cheerful, if she found something good, she’d find Vinesha and pester her to join.

Vinesha wasn’t fond of Mushika like that, but for some reason, she couldn’t refuse.

One bitterly cold, snowy day.

Marisa had some business, so Vinesha was preparing dinner that evening.

She was out shopping and got distracted, returning a little later than planned.

Compared to Grantoni and Mushika, she was older, but still at an age ripe with curiosity.

That’s why she got sidetracked by her own wondering gaze.

Still, it was alright.

The street was relatively bright and full of people.

Only, the wind was fierce, a midwinter blade.

Vinesha hunched her shoulders and hurried her pace.

Then, Vinesha’s eye caught sight of a girl.

It was young Mushika.

She stood shivering in the snow, blowing on her hands in front of a lamp.

Vinesha, seeing Mushika, started in surprise and went to her.

“Mushika, what are you doing here?”

“Sister, I was waiting for you. It’s scary to come alone at night.”

Mushika smiled brightly and took Vinesha’s hand with her frozen fingers.

“Sniffle, I was trying to keep my hands warm as best I could.”

Mushika, sniffing, had a face flushed crimson.

“Why did you bother waiting?”

“Because I wanted to see you.”

To wait like this, in the dead of winter, just because she wanted to see her.

Vinesha couldn’t understand, but she took Mushika and hurried home.

She worried Marisa might resent her if she caught a cold.

When she returned home, Grantoni was there.

A bit gruff compared to Mushika, Grantoni had lit the stove and prepared warm water.

“Sister, blanket here!”

As Vinesha sat before the stove, Mushika came scurrying over with a blanket in her arms.

Then, after draping it over Vinesha, she sat herself down before Vinesha’s knees and tugged the blanket down.

“It’s much warmer like this!”

Then Grantoni, too, slyly snuck his bottom under the blanket’s edge.

In that moment, Vinesha understood.

Ah, this is what selfless love is.

And these children, they’re giving their love to her.

It was the moment Vinesha truly accepted Mushika and Grantoni.

But it was also the start of another chain of tragedies.

The deep scars her parents had clawed into her, long ago, weren’t easily healed.

Mushika displayed ever greater talent as the days passed.

Accordingly, the days Marisa spent tending to Mushika increased.

Vinesha’s scarred heart certainly held a desire to support Mushika.

But, separate from that, the child within her cried out.

That if things continued like this, she’d have her parents stolen away again and be abandoned.

Marisa clearly loved Vinesha.

But Vinesha’s heart was a gaping hole.

A hole that continued to leak no matter how much love was poured in.

‘This, it’s just part of growing up.’

Surely, when she became an adult, even these feelings would disappear.

This ugly jealousy, it’s something that would vanish when she was grown.

That’s what she hoped for.

But unease continued to bind her.

Until finally, the day she opened the Otherworld with insufficient skill, in order to elevate her rank as a soul-weaver.

Something irreversible happened to her.

The aberrant being who had waited for Vinesha to open the Otherworld, planted a seed within her.

The memory of opening the reverse side was wiped clean.

The seed of aberration had erased the memories of that day.

Yet, from that day forth, Vinesha felt the throbbing of her emotions grow strange, little by little.

Before, even when seeing Musica, while there might be a stirring of feeling, fondness had been the greater part.

But now, the throbbing of her emotions felt like a tightening vise on her head.

Like a fire, once lit, that would never be extinguished on the fuse of her feelings.

Vinesha chastised herself again and again, trying to regain her senses.

But the seed of aberration was relentless.

Constantly goading and driving her emotions.

“Musica, you have no idea how much I’ve been bragging about you to the Spirit Sorcerers Association lately.”

“Aw, really? It’s just because Teacher instructs me so well.”

“Even so, talent like yours at your age is unheard of. You’re the best among your peers, bar none.”

Finally, the day Musica received high praise from Marisa.

‘I can’t be Teacher’s proudest child.’

Vinesha’s heart twisted, and the seed of aberration bloomed.

“Sister, I’m home!”

That day, Marisa and Grantoni had gone out on business, and Vinesha and Musica were home alone.

Musica had been invited to an academic conference on spirit sorcery and was returning from it.

“Sister, look! I bought this on the way home – it’s a delicious cream cake!”

“Musica.”

Musica was cheerfully talking, loosening her scarf.

In the midst of that, Vinesha cut her off, and she turned to look.

And with that, Musica’s face slowly began to freeze over.

Because half of Vinesha’s body was no longer human.

“I… so… sorry… seems I’ve reached… my limit.”

Tears welled in one of Vinesha’s eyes.

The jealousy and lack of affection she’d thought would be suppressed as time passed.

Her immature skill led her to touch the reverse side, summoning a being that should never have been called.

At Vinesha’s gesture, the reverse side unfurled.

She screamed, spitting blood, and rampaged like a madwoman.

Musica knew it in her gut.

If things stayed like this, Vinesha would surely die.

To save her, she had to cross over to the reverse world and stop the Gwejon.

And Musica knew what the consequence of that would be.

But she ran.

Vinesha was the sister she loved.

“Sister, I’m sorry. I guess I didn’t understand you enough.”

Not so.

Even while being controlled by the Gwejon, Vinesha cried out again and again.

It was all happening because she was weak.

Musica couldn’t possibly be at fault.

“You know, I liked Vinesha *unni* being my sister best in the whole world.”

Musica unleashed her soul magic.

“N-no. No!”

Vinesha screamed.

But Musica crossed over to the reverse world, and finally severed the connection between Vinesha and the Gwejon, closing the door.

In the blinding light, Vinesha’s mind was blown away by the shock of the severed cord.

And when she regained consciousness, everything was already over.

Her teacher, who gave his life to save Vinesha.

Grantoni, whose face was blown away after being caught up in Vinesha’s rampage.

And the invisible Musica.

In Vinesha’s hand was the pendant her teacher had pressed into it.

She laughed emptily in her precious haven, now a wrecked mess.

Her emotional core, shattered by the Gwejon, she couldn’t know what to do now.

So she simply walked aimlessly.

With each step, the memories she had left gradually crumbled and vanished.

She had become utterly empty.

An existence empty of memories, of emotions, of everything.

That was Vinesha.

Flash-

Vinesha’s eyes flickered open.

Only the tracks of ceaseless tears remained around them.

“Ah.”

Now she understood why her chest ached so.

She realized all the sins she had committed in the past.