episode_0129

129.

“The way I appeared after you died.”

“….”

“Even if you didn’t know anything, it’s because of the guys who made you suffer and the ones you hung out with.”

“….”

“It just feels like betrayal, uncomfortable, and unpleasant, right? That’s why… you can’t forgive, right?”

“….”

I tightly sealed my lips between the window frames.

And quietly sank into contemplation.

Certainly, Soyeon’s words had some logic to them.

Because she knew well how Soyeon would behave after I died in the game.

Therefore, it could be said that it was a natural progression to think of Soyeon a bit harshly, influenced by the original content.

Of course, equating the Soyeon in the game with the real Soyeon was never the case.

But the uncomfortable feeling lingering in the corner of my mind was inevitable.

…I mean, I might as well die, and the negative thought that I, like myself, would soon forget and get along well with other guys.

“Yeah… I see… Yeah, of course, that’s how it would be…”

Did she read my expression for a moment?

Soyeon stared at my face intently, then slowly chuckled self-deprecatingly and muttered to herself.

It was a voice tinged with a hint of sadness.

“Just by looking at your face, I can tell what you’re thinking right now, Jinhak.”

She lowered her head slightly and murmured calmly.

“But… but… you know.”

Soyeon bit her lower lip slightly, then slowly released it and began to express her feelings.

“Do you really think that way? That I would forget about you and get along well with other guys quickly?”

“…I don’t know.”

I answered with a slightly drawn-out tail of my words in an ambiguous voice.

Because all I remembered was Soyeon gradually healing her emotional wounds through the comfort and encouragement of the male protagonists who tormented me, and fighting villains together.

“Jinhak… you don’t know.”

About what?

“What I was thinking… what feelings I had… when I received help from those guys and fought against villains…”

Soyeon’s thoughts in the game?

Honestly, I couldn’t be sure what Soyeon in the original was thinking.

There were hardly any monologues like the protagonist’s, and she didn’t reveal her inner thoughts well.

So I could only guess her inner thoughts based on Soyeon’s words, actions, personality, etc., that were visible.

After I died, Soyeon seemed quite gloomy, but I remembered that she got along quite well with the male protagonists, as expected of a female-oriented game.

Yes, outwardly.

“And after everything was over.”

After everything was over?

Could she be talking about after the ending?

“When I barely found out that you had suffered severe torment from those guys, what I was thinking…”

Come to think of it, I hadn’t really thought about what happened after the ending.

Well, that was obvious.

The goal of the game was, after all, the ending.

As a mere gamer who had heroically defeated the final boss and concluded the story, I had no reason to know what happened after that.

I just vaguely thought that since it was a female-oriented game, the male protagonists would get along well on their own.

But.

If Soyeon in the game, like a real person, continued with life, existence, and story after the ending, what kind of life would she have lived?

Would she have lived happily ever after?

Or…

“…You don’t know anything, do you?”

“….”

Of course, I don’t know.

Anyway, the original is just a game, a game.

But unconsciously, the Soyeon I evaded seemed to be speaking as if it were real life. It made me feel a sense of unease.

“I wonder what I was thinking at that time?”

“What were you thinking?”

“Well, what do you think I was thinking? Want to take a guess?”

“What?”

“In fact, by now you should be able to guess to some extent, Jinhuk.”

So-yeon looked at me straight in the eye, with a bitter and lonely smile that held multiple meanings.

“What I was thinking and what actions I took.”

“What is that supposed to mean…?”

“That’s right, Jinhuk.”

So-yeon, who had suddenly come close to me, slowly reached out both hands.

Her slender, trembling hand, slightly tense, warmly wrapped around my neck.

Eventually, So-yeon embraced me tightly, her lips brushing against mine gently and tenderly.

“Me… me…”

So-yeon, who was hesitating with her words, finally opened her mouth and whispered softly.

“Don’t leave me alone.”

Trembling slightly.

“Don’t let me go astray.”

Quietly, very quietly.

“Don’t give up on me.”

Whispering gently in my ear.

“So-yeon, you…”

“Hehe, Jinhuk’s embrace is warm.”

So-yeon, who had just whispered tenderly, now smiled mockingly, her warmth slowly spreading.

So-yeon’s thoughts, feelings, warmth, were slowly warming a corner of my heart.

Familiar yet unfamiliar warmth.

This feeling was poison to me.

That’s why I bit my lip slightly and pushed So-yeon away from my embrace.

With a little force, I pushed her weak body away, and as she moved away weakly, her voice let out a soft “Ah” and tickled my ear.

So-yeon’s warmth suddenly began to fade, and she looked a bit regretful, but she forced a smile as if to say it was okay.

“Well, maybe it was a bit awkward not to hug you…?”

I slowly gathered my courage and faced So-yeon, who was smiling hesitantly.

“Don’t give up on me, don’t let me go astray, hold on to me…”

Although it was a sincere expression of her feelings like a child, it was a bit of a burden.

Honestly, it was too much for me, who lacked the ability, strength, and qualifications.

“Sorry. I’ll try my best, but it seems a bit difficult after all.”

“Why?”

I do want to help as much as possible, but what you, no, what I unconsciously want is probably not that much.

So let’s stick to the line we’ve set in advance.

So you don’t have unnecessary emotions towards me.

“As you know, I’m just an extra, with no power, talent, or extraordinary ability, so taking care of you to that extent is difficult…”

“Jinhuk, do you know that?”

Suddenly.

“Everyone has their own ideals, right?”

So-yeon interrupted me.

An unexpected change of topic.

But I just stared at her without saying anything.

So-yeon brought up the topic of ideals unexpectedly.

“Everyone carries their own ideals in their hearts, but only a very small number of people can face their own ideals.”

So-yeon lightly tapped my chest with her index finger.

“If my ideal is the greatest hero, what do you think Jinhuk’s ideal is?”

“…”

“Jinhuk, you may think of yourself as a weak and powerless person with nothing, but I know.”

“What do you know.”

So-yeon tapped my chest a little harder.

“Deep down in your heart, there lies a greater ideal than anyone else.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Well~.”

With a lovely smile on her face, she laughed heartily.

“Just as you think of me as the heroine in this world, I think of you as the hero of this world.”

I also said that I was no different than the protagonist in Soyeon’s eyes.

“So promise me, Jinhyuk.”

Soyeon cautiously reached out her pinky finger.

“From now on, stop lying to yourself and be more honest.”

“Ah.”

“And don’t give up on me.”

“That’s… ”

As I hesitated, Soyeon extended her pinky finger and intertwined it with mine.

Like making a promise between kids.

Just like when Soyeon and I made a promise in the past.

Firmly linking our pinky fingers together.

Making a promise.

“I’ll help you too.”

“Huh? Wait, what?”

In an instant.

With just a blink of an eye.

Soyeon’s appearance had changed.

The childish, innocent look from kindergarten days was nowhere to be seen, and the person intertwining pinky fingers with me now was a quite young-looking adult woman with a beautiful yet cold demeanor, which was a bit surprising, but now I could see the resemblance to Soyeon.

“Face your own ideals.”

Her voice was quite chilly and aloof, yet there was an unknown sense of emotion in it.

“So you won’t hesitate anymore.”

Her eyes, once shining brightly like golden light after weathering all the storms of the world, had now lost half of their sparkle and were coldly dim.

“So let’s make a promise, Hyuk.”

“What are you? Why did you suddenly… ”

Before I could calm my bewildered mind.

“It seems like it’s time. Then, Hyuk, take care of yourself.”

My vision went dark.

“Wait… me… please… help… ”

Her voice, fading away slowly in my hazy consciousness, echoed in my mind before disappearing completely.

And then.

***

“Cough, cough, cough, ugh? What’s happening all of a sudden.”

I immediately regained my senses and couldn’t help but be flustered.

It was pitch black, and I couldn’t see anything in the elongated, coffin-like space where I was trapped.

I couldn’t move a muscle due to the snug rectangular frame that fit my body perfectly.

And I couldn’t breathe.

I couldn’t breathe at all.

“No, wait, a coffin? A coffin?”

I instinctively raised my strength to examine the coffin that was enclosing my body closely.

“Damn, is this really a coffin?”

A coffin.

It refers to the box used to contain a body in a funeral.

Why am I suddenly here?

Just a moment ago… Oh?

“Oh, right, I’ve been resurrected? Thanks to the Resurrection Artifact!”

That would make sense.

Why I woke up in a coffin during the corpse experience(?).

It seems like I resurrected from the coffin where my body was buried.

…But right now, I don’t have any Resurrection Artifact in my body, not even a Guardian Barrier, Astral Ring, nothing.

No, now is not the time to think about that.

Let’s focus on getting out of here first.

It’s getting harder to hold my breath.

I hope I don’t die from suffocation right after coming back to life, right?

Damn, there’s nothing I can do.

I gathered the mana inside my body all at once.

Luckily, the Moon’s Tears seemed to still be there in my body.

Using the Moon’s Tears, I exploded the gathered mana all at once.

And with a loud bang, the lid of the coffin and a large amount of dirt and dust shot up into the air.

I quickly reinforced my body with mana and dug through the dirt as quickly as possible to escape from the grave.

“Ha, ha, ha, I thought I was going to die.”

If I were an ordinary person, I would have faced death without a chance.

But as a hero apprentice close to being a superhuman, I survived.

No matter how much I may be at the bottom of the Union, a hero trainee is still a hero trainee.

Compared to ordinary people, their physical abilities are superior beyond comparison.

“Ugh, it’s cold.”

The weather is quite chilly.

I crossed my arms, shivering.

What’s this, why is it so cold? It should be summer. Oh, is it because I’m wearing a uniform?

“Huh? What’s that, huh?”

At that moment, what appeared before my eyes was…

“Snow?”

Lightly piled up, it was pure white snow.

Hmm. Snow, it’s snow…

“…Could it be, is it winter now?”

Just how much time has passed since I died?