Part 17: Back to Hell

Just us wives - Mar 13th, Year 321, The Pale Bride











So... you can see, she was kind. She was good to me, she really was.



Then you're in luck, she's in all of these entries. I... well... she was really the only thing in my life worth writing about, for the most part.
There's one in there that she wrote about herself, about our husband, and... you can see for yourself. She's a lot stronger than I ever was. So you can see for yourself why I admired her!
And... um... well, just read them, alright...?



Four more logs.

What about her husband, though?



I... I'm sorry. I'm not really... I'm not really ready to talk about him, not beyond what I wrote in my diary.
It's just... too hard.
He didn't... we never... it's not as if we had conversations.
You think our relationship is one-sided? You have no idea!

Little Sister - Jun 2nd, Year 321, The Pale Bride







Illiterate - Jul 13th, Year 321, Ryu Jae-hwa







Of course I wasn’t illiterate. I could read just fine! Just... not their stupid Chinese-based characters.
I mean, I can understand them now. Everything except for my diary entries is translated from them. It's... such a dumb way of writing, though. It makes everything come out so... stilted, compared to proper Korean!



Then, here, I'll just give you all the letters she sent. They give all the details, even the ones she was too embarrassed to tell me about at the time.
You... can probably guess which parts she cut out.
It's pretty obvious. It's the incest thing that she never told me about at the time. Having read about it now, uh... I don't really blame her.
And, well, here, you can see what I mean for yourself.



Come to think of it, we never did ask *Hyun-ae about this block, did we?

Marital admonitions pt. 1 - Jan 30th, Year 321, Ryu Jae-hwa



I... never read her letters at the time. I couldn't.
I Know she read them to me eventually, but I was just numb to that sort of talk at that point.
Now they're just... hard for me to read.

Hyun-ae actually doesn't comment further on any of them. Back to Block 6.

Muteness - Oct 2nd, Year 321, The Pale Bride











You know... nobody ever noticed that, until her.
Nobody cared! Nobody ever thought any of it... or cared enough about me to find out...
But she did care! She actually paid attention! She was great...

Arguing the emperor - Dec 29th, Year 321, Ryu Jae-hwa









I... never knew about that when we were alive. Like most things, I only found out after I took over the ship's computer.
It just amazes me even more. Look at her! She's a woman who actually stood up to a man, and won!
She wasn't clumsy like I was... she knew how to work it from her position. Isn't that so amazing?

Why did she have to die?! - Jan 28th, Year 322, The Pale Bride









Please understand my position at the time. My world was so small... and I'd just lost my only friend.
And then I... well... I'll give you my last two diary entries. They... they have the whole story.
Just... please don't judge me while you read them. Please!



The last two rather alarmingly-named entries in Block 6.

The first entry was that letter from *Mute she took down before, so this is essentially a complete block now.

Back to hell - Feb 10th, Year 322, The Pale Bride















Just... please, keep reading...

I'll kill them all! - Mar 3rd, Year 322, The Pale Bride



















...there you are, then.
Now you know. It's... It's true. I... I did... do what she said I did.
I... I'm not going to lie. I really... I really wish you'd never met her. I wish she'd never said anything to you...
I just thought, it was so nice the way things were with us before...
Things started out so well! I... I got to be cheery, for the first time in my life since I was a child...
...talking about actual romantic things together...
...having fun with cosplay...
...and just, you know... having someone there to talk to! Someone who wasn't interested in shutting me up!
But now, well...
Please, you've read my diary. You have to know it's not... I didn't... you have to understand, right?
Even... Even if you think what I did was wrong... look, I've never really been dishonest with you! Fine, I lied about being an AI, but I told you the truth! I could have deceived you, but didn't!



You
You do? Really? Oh, my word...
I mean, of course. I... I'm so sorry, I should have had faith in you. I really should have. I'm... I'm really bad at this.
But thank you! Thank you so much, I can't believe I even doubted you for a second...
Look, I... that means a lot to me. It means so much.
I mean, I'm sure... what I did wasn't right, I know. I'm sure you don't think it was. I just... want you to understand, alright?







Thank you! Thank you so much!
You're... You're a really good person. Much better than me. Thank you!
Then, very well... it's probably just better if I show you.
There's a data block that contains all the logs that matter, but my family encrypted it, because... well... it should be obvious why after you read it. You need to drop to the terminal and type decrypt block7.
Let me know once you've done that, and I'll show you...



>decrypt block7
Decrypting block now...


SUCCESS: block successfully decrypted!
>quit