In the tunnels of River Haunt, in the region of the west, the three soldiers stood on duty — guarding against any terrorists or soldiers from other regions.
The three of them smoking, boredom eating their minds.
"Hey, Sergeant," Gerald said.
Leonel exhaled, replying with irritation at having his peace disturbed.
"What?!"
Gerald looked at the ground, trying to muster the courage to ask.
"For fuck's sake, say what you want to ask already!" Nelson snapped, irritated by his behavior.
"Okay, okay, jeez."
He looked straight into the Sergeant's eyes.
"Why did you leave the half gypsy, half jester alive?"
Nelson nodded.
"True. He looked so much like his mother. We could have had fun with him."
His tone turned a bit playful.
"Have you gone soft after having a family, Sergeant?"
Sergeant Leonel rubbed his eyes, exhaling smoke.
"You two are just a bunch of idiots.
How could we have fun with someone who can't feel pain?"
The two soldiers' eyes flickered as they agreed.
"Besides, leaving him alive is more painful for him than death."
He threw his cigarette onto the ground.
"Living day to day, serving our great nation like a puppet — just like his family. Waking from a peaceful sleep that I doubt he'll ever have, knowing he lives only because we allowed him to."
Then he chuckled.
"He might even lose his mind and come to avenge his family!"
The three of them laughed.
But the sound of footsteps and dry chuckles soon interrupted, echoing across the tunnel and growing louder by the minute.
"Damn hell.
Is it that drunk old man again?" Nelson muttered.
"That old man never gives up.
Searching for his dead son here every day."
Gerald laughed.
"You two, shut it!" Leonel said.
"Don't you feel that presence?
It's rotten and suffocating."
He exchanged glances with both soldiers.
"Be ready. It might be one of the Corinthians."
The three of them pulled their guns, charging them with their blessings.
And at last he appeared.
"Huh?
What is this clown doing here?"
"Wait — isn't that the kid we spared earlier?
Why is he dressed like that?"
I knelt halfway.
"Hello, respectable soldiers. Have any of you missed me?"
The two soldiers laughed.
As they tried stepping closer, Leonel raised his hand, ordering them to leave me to him. How noble of him, I must say.
Leonel stepped closer, looking at my left hand.
"Great mark, kid. Have you become a Corinthian?"
"Well, I wouldn't want to disrespect their hard work by claiming that I am.
I'm just a clown, sir."
Leonel laughed, pulling out a pack of cigarettes.
He lit one and tossed one to me.
"Do you need a light?"
Well, I did really want a lighter — but I felt the need to be a bit cooler, so I copied what that witch Batrica did, summoning those faint dark flames.
And to my surprise it worked, my cigarette lit.
"Did you see that, sir!
I've got some tricks!"
Leonel smiled.
"Are those tricks enough to kill us?"
My eyes narrowed.
"Why would you even think of something as horrible as killing, sir?"
Leonel exhaled smoke.
"Then why are you here?"
I pointed at my face.
"Isn't it obvious?
To tell a joke that you'll all love!"
The two soldiers behind couldn't hold their laughter anymore.
"This kid is hilarious!"
I tossed the cigarette into the dirty water running beneath me.
Then I clapped my hands.
"Don't waste your precious breaths — we haven't even started the circus yet!"
The sound of footsteps returned, this time louder and faster.
The three of them exchanged glances again.
"Who the hell is coming, kid?"
Nelson pointed his gun straight at my head.
"Tell me or I'll blow your head off like I did your father!"
I stepped a little closer.
"Do it."
"Huh?
You think I won't?"
I licked my lips, stepping closer and closer.
Until his gun was touching my forehead.
"It's quite the opposite, actually. I know for a fact that you will."
"After all, you're just a scum with no family to come back to, no wife to lean on."
His fingers slowly pressed the trigger.
"But before you shoot me — may I say a joke?"
"Go to hell!"
He pressed the trigger and the sound of a gunshot echoed.
The running water below bloomed red.
Leonel's eyes widened, frozen.
"Nelson!" Gerald screamed, running toward his friend — whose head was now completely blown off.
My chuckles began to escalate.
"Now that's a joke!" I said.
Gerald burst with anger.
"You call this a joke?"
He pulled his gun but Leonel kicked it away.
"Sergea—"
Leonel grabbed him by the collar.
"Wake the hell up, soldier!
Are you stupid?
You'd be killing yourself!"
"But he killed Nelson…"
"So what of it?"
Leonel's words fell like swords piercing Gerald's heart.
The footsteps suddenly stopped.
Both of them raised their heads.
What they saw was nothing but a lovely woman and a little girl — both with blue star marks on their foreheads.
Leonel dropped his gun unconsciously.
His hands trembling.
"This must be a nightmare.
Yes — this must be it," he muttered.
"Sergeant, do you know them?" Gerald asked.
Well, I couldn't really blame him.
The little girl waved at Leonel.
"Daddy, why are you on the ground?
There's filthy water everywhere. You'll get yourself dirty!"
The woman stepped closer too.
"She's right, honey. You're a respectable soldier — you mustn't act that way!"
Leonel rose from the water slowly.
His trembling legs made him fall a couple of times as he walked toward his family.
He touched his daughter gently.
"Lucy… why are you here?"
He looked at his wife next, his voice breaking.
"Why are you both here?!"
"Daddy, the jester told us he's your friend and needs our help to make the ultimate joke!"
"Isn't that wonderful, honey?"
Leonel couldn't say a word.
Only stare at their faces with sorrow and guilt.
Gerald stood up. "Sergeant, what should we do now?"
Leonel didn't answer.
So Gerald kept asking.
"Sergeant?"
"Sergeant!"
"Shut up! I don't know!"
His voice echoed along the tunnel.
I smiled.
"Are you two ready now?" I said calmly.
Leonel slowly lifted his head.
"Ready for what?"
"Hey, you there!" I pulled my fingers across my cheeks, forming a smile.
"Cheer up, will you?
It's just a joke — don't be so stiff!"
His eyes looked at me like ignited flames.
He pulled his gun slowly.
"What happens if I simply refuse?
And kill the clown instead?"
His gun faced my head as Nelson's had before.
"Hmm… I don't really know. But you're free to do whatever you want.
After all, we live in the region of righteousness and freedom."
Leonel pulled the trigger — but the bullet this time didn't go toward my head as it had with Nelson.
"Lucy!"
It went to his daughter's hand.
Well, that was no surprise. I had ordered her to it after all.
"Are you okay?
Forgive me!
I didn't mean to—"
Lucy just laughed.
"It's okay, father. I don't feel any pain."
His expression was priceless — his eyes scanning the tunnel desperately for some kind of solution.
I chuckled, glancing at Gerald still on the ground, trembling with fear.
"Hey."
He looked at me instantly.
"If you want to live, I'd suggest you get up and kill the Sergeant's family."
Gerald's jaw dropped.
"W-what?"
I tilted my head. Honestly, dealing with such incompetent people was exhausting.
"What do you mean 'what'?
Just get up and kill them.
We don't have all day — I'm a busy clown after all."
Gerald stuttered.
"I… I c-can't."
I exhaled and walked toward him.
Passing Leonel, who was still holding his daughter's hand anxiously, trying to remove the bullet from her palm.
I whispered in his ear.
"If you kill Gerald first, I'll spare you and your family."
Before he could say anything, I walked away.
Standing face to face with Gerald, who was holding his dead friend's body roughly, I asked.
"Why can't you kill his family, sir?"
"B-because he's my friend…"
I sat in front of him.
"But just now, your other friend died.
Nelson, or whatever — and he didn't move a muscle."
Gerald's eyes darkened.
"Stop…"
"And not just that." I pointed at Leonel.
"He said 'so what' — as if your friend was nothing but a dog put down."
"Please stop…"
"And yet here he is, abandoning you for some woman he calls a wife and a child he never cared about until now."
"Stop!"
His brown eyes began to turn blue.
"Didn't you protect his back in wars?"
"Shut up."
"Didn't you sacrifice your own happiness for your country — and yet he outranks you?"
"SHUT UP!"
I touched his shoulder gently.
"Don't fight it.
After all — whose life here matters more?"
A blue star formed on his forehead.
His somber expression broke into joyful laughter.
"Yes! Yes, you are right, sir clown!"
"Show them hell, soldier — just as they did to my family."
As Gerald began to stand, a gunshot cut through.
The bullet cut through his heart.
I couldn't control myself. I laughed loudly.
"You did it, Leonel!"
Leonel's eyes overflowed with tears.
"I'M SORRY, GERALD!" he yelled.
"I had to — they're the only family I have!"
Gerald stopped laughing entirely.
He looked at the ceiling above as the blue star faded, and muttered.
"But we were your family too."
Then his eyes closed.
For some reason I watched something glowing rise from his body.
A soul perhaps — leaving upward toward the heavens, met by an angel of breathtaking beauty.
The beautiful scene shone brighter against Leonel's screams.
His hands nearly broken as he kept punching the floor with rage.
"I'm sorry…" He said nothing but those two words, as if he had never apologized before in his life.
"Daddy, are you alright?" Lucy asked, pulling his sleeve.
He couldn't answer. He just stopped hitting the floor.
"Honey, why are you still on the ground?
Get up!"
"Get up, daddy!"
"Get up!"
Leonel forced a smile and wiped his tears.
"You two are right…"
He began to slowly stand, like a child learning to walk.
He hugged his wife.
Patted his daughter's head.
"Thank you both…"
"I will be a better person from now on.
A better husband and a better father."
It was such an emotional scene that I clapped.
He frowned at me while I just… smiled.
I mean, why is he so mean to me?
Oh well.
"We're done here, right?
We killed your mother and father — and you killed both my friends."
He offered his hand to shake. A sign of peace.
"But Sergeant, I haven't really killed anyone.
One committed suicide and the other…"
Leonel's expression darkened.
"You're the one who killed him."
His free hand began to shake. I couldn't really tell if he was sweating — he was soaked in blood and water either way.
I licked my lips and shook his hand.
"The ultimate joke, wouldn't you say, sir?"
As we shook hands, we heard something fall into the running water.
Leonel released my hand instantly and looked behind him.
Both his daughter and wife — their throats cut cleanly by the black daggers they held themselves.
Leonel's legs gave out.
But this time he didn't yell or scream or even shoot me.
He just stared at their lifeless bodies.
That was actually reassuring. I had thought of myself as a sick-minded boy who couldn't cry at his own parents' deaths.
Yet here was my buddy Leonel, proving me wrong.
He really is a great man, don't you think?
But strangely — not a single angel came to take his daughter's and wife's souls as one had for Gerald.
I lowered myself just enough to meet his eye level.
Yet he didn't look at me.
Not even a glance.
"Hey?"
"Are you alright down there?"
"You're not going to kill me?"
"Don't you want to avenge them?"
"Here I am."
After a couple of minutes, Leonel raised his head and muttered.
"You are a monster." His tone filled with anger and rage, yet his voice so faint.
"How so?" I asked.
He chuckled and paused.
"Look around. What do you see?"
I tilted my head.
"A bunch of miserable people who committed suicide and killed each other."
His eyes widened.
"Isn't it hypocritical to call me a monster when your people started it?"
His eyes finally met mine.
"I just… did what I was ordered to."
As I looked through his eyes, something familiar surfaced.
My mother's scent.
Her screams.
My smile started to crack.
My eyes widening.
"It was you…"
"You alone…"
He smiled.
"Yes, it was me.
So what will you do now?
Order me to kill myself? Use my daughter's body to do it?"
My chest began to tighten.
A strange feeling began to tear through me — I hadn't even noticed I was already holding the same dagger from before. The one I had cut my wrists with.
"Become a monster."
Then I drove the dagger straight through his heart.
Watching his eyes slowly lose their light, closing gradually.
"Thank you," he said.
Then his eyes closed.
"Damn you," I said, and pulled the knife out slowly.
But as I pulled, that same feeling began tearing through my chest and wrist.
I forced my hand to release the dagger.
Yet the feeling continued tearing through me.
I looked at my left wrist, drenched in Leonel's blood.
The mark that had glowed bright blue now flickered with red and black.
Distorting more and more.
It felt… suffocating.
Is that pain? But I feel good too.
So what is this?
What is this?