Part 1, Chapter 10, 31

The 48th sparring session with Changyeom ended.

I succeeded in destroying two of Changyeom’s pistols, but in return, I ended up dying by being thrown into the Han River.

“So why do we have to bathe together?”

“Because we’ve been sweating a lot. It’s nice, isn’t it~?”

“That’s true, but.”

Changyeom turned her head and smiled sweetly. The bathroom Changyeom had manifested was none other than the small one attached to the captain’s cabin of the Deathdinath, a place where countless histories had been made between me and several heroines.

“You really have a twisted hobby.”

“What are you talking about? You’re the pervert for thinking about *that* while washing.”

Changyeom rested her head on my shoulder, meeting my gaze. It was a bit of a squeeze for two people to fit into the somewhat narrow bathtub, but Changyeom solved the problem by having me sit first, then sitting on top of me as if nesting.

“If it had happened, it would have been a big problem.”

“You mean it would have been 100% hard?”

“Yeah.”

Changyeom kept pressing her body against mine. Whether lying on the sofa, walking in the park, or even bathing.

“At this rate, it’s no different from what real lovers do.”

“I’m sacrificing myself for your poor sake. It’s like a wet dream. Though I can’t even cum without it! Fufufu.”

Changyeom’s hand, turned backward, brushed my crotch. Normally, I would have flinched, but according to Changyeom, it’s a universal rule that spiritual bodies don’t have genitals.

“It’s the same for me too.”

Changyeom took my hand and placed it on her crotch. Similarly, Changyeom’s body was smooth like a mannequin’s, with nothing but skin.

“It’s a little embarrassing, but remember that you can’t do *that* kind of thing unless it’s in reality.”

“Why are you specifically telling me this?”

“It’s to tell you not to even think about subduing me with *that* in the mental world.”

“Is that so. Then let me ask you something.”

Changyeom took both my hands and made me wrap them around her waist.

“Didn’t you dislike me?”

“Yes. I dislike you. A lot.”

“Then why are you doing this? No matter how I think about it, only I seem to be benefiting.”

“Considering your lonely life, you need somewhere to vent, don’t you? So that you don’t go crazy and mess with other spirits, I’m sacrificing myself to keep your mind sane.”

Changyeom poked my chin with her finger.

“Right? Someone out there might have fantasies about putting a phantom dragon into a Heuksagal’s body to mass-produce legal cores, you know.”

“……That hits pretty hard.”

“So, I, your landlord, will resolve your sticky fantasies. Don’t get too depressed.”

Changyeom lifted her body slightly and whispered into my ear.

“Want to touch my chest?”

“Thank you.”

I was simply grateful. I subtly pulled up the hand wrapped around Changyeom’s waist and firmly grasped her ample breasts, which seemed to emerge from her petite frame.

“Hmph….”

Changyeom let out a nasal sound and leaned her body against mine. She looked as if she were receiving a massage.

“It’s nice to have a human body sometimes. To feel all these sensations.”

“Call me anytime you want. I’m 100% welcome to this kind of thing.”

“Pervert. Do you want to do it with me that badly?”

“Didn’t I choose to enter this world in the first place because I heard I could do it with you?”

“……Ugh.”

Changyeom tilted her head back again and rested it on my shoulder.

“Well, I’ll acknowledge that resolve of yours. Speaking so frankly even with me right in front of you.”

“I’m a person who only goes straight for one thing.”

I firmly grasped Changyeom’s chest. It was quite enjoyable to feel her full breasts, which couldn’t be held in one hand, squish under my touch. Changyeom surrendered her body to my touch as if she were truly receiving a massage.

“Yes, yes. Your words are certainly flashy. I hope you keep them. Otherwise.”

Changyeom took my wrist and gently removed my hand from her chest.

“There won’t be anything like this again.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“You answer well. Oh, right.”

Changyeom turned her body to face me. Her beautiful, moist female form was clearly revealed to my eyes.

“You said Cheon Gaeul had the prettiest body, according to you. How do I compare? No, who’s the top body among the heroines?”

“You.”

“……No hesitation.”

I hugged Changyeom. Changyeom also willingly embraced me.

“Ah, this is good. It’s good that I’m alive after all.”

“Th-this is a bit embarrassing….”

Changyeom’s face was flushed. Her chest pressed against mine.

“This is NG. Invalid. Ah, no. It’s too stimulating.”

“Where did the person who was so relaxed while making sex jokes go? Hehe, don’t worry. I’m confident in this one thing-“

“Eek!”

Changyeom raised her index finger and aimed it at my chin. It looked exactly like firing a finger bullet-

Bang!

My consciousness cut off.

* * *

“I feel like I forgot something really important.”

“It was nothing. You were saying strange things again, so I took your memories.”

Changyeom rolled a small orb in her hand. Seeing her face flush, I instinctively knew that my mind, which I couldn’t even remember, had done something again.

“Did I sexually harass you?”

“Yes.”

“……Sorry.”

I apologized readily. Changyeom, surprisingly, nodded and accepted the apology.

“I’ll forgive you. It was an unavoidable situation.”

“Did I have a Lucky Sukebe moment? I’m not some romantic comedy protagonist.”

“You were a harem protagonist, though.”

“I can’t deny that. Ah, let me ask you one thing.”

Clap!

Changyeom clapped her hands, her eyes sparkling.

“What do you want to ask so badly?!”

“Ah, that, whatchamacallit, that ‘protagonist’ guy, what happens if I meet him?”

Did she not like my question? Changyeom’s eyes quickly filled with disappointment.

“Are you harboring feelings for someone else, leaving me aside?”

“No. I’m worried about losing my heart to that bastard. Anyway, aren’t you a heroine too? You must have seen it, right? How you and the protagonist fell in love in your route.”

“…….”

Changyeom stared at me intently, then wrinkled her nose. Again, I couldn’t understand what she disliked about my answer.

“No, why again? I’m just curious. If I were to meet the protagonist, there might be a situation where I fall for him without realizing it, you know.”

“……You’ve already met them many times and you’re saying that.”

Changyeom pouted her lips and sneered. At Changyeom’s words, I realized that what I had been assuming in my head was somewhat correct.

“As expected. Those guys are the protagonists, aren’t they?”

“Yes. More accurately, ‘those who could be protagonists’ would be a more fitting expression.”

Changyeom flicked a flame, creating four dolls. Those four were all too familiar to my eyes.

“One is the original protagonist.”

“Lee Seung-hyung, Baek Cheong-yeong, Cheonja.”

They were beings different from the original, not appearing in the original. I felt quite displeased that each of them had connections with the heroines, and through that, I felt a sense of certainty.

“Are these guys DLC protagonists?”

“Yes. They are scoundrels who tried to NTR the heroines from the past, years before the original protagonist.”

Changyeom pointed at me with her finger.

“In that sense, you’re not much different! Fufufu.”

“…….”

“A leopard can’t change its spots, the way you flirt and scheme as soon as you meet someone. Ugh, isn’t it embarrassing to do such things when the person inside you is watching with wide-open eyes?”

“I can’t help it. The heroines have the most potential. Frankly speaking.”

I spread out five fingers.

“Do you think it’s easy to find beings with SS-rank potential? And one for each attribute, at that.”

“Why does it have to be heroines?”

Changyeom asked me with an innocent face.

“You could find other talents besides heroines, couldn’t you? Why are you so obsessed with heroines?”

“Is that you, as the true heroine, trying to keep the other heroines in check?”

“No. I just don’t understand why someone who emphasizes efficiency keeps attracting only women around them. Ah, perhaps it’s this?”

Changyeom smiled widely and scoffed at me.

“Because if the heroines get involved with other men, you somehow feel like you’re being NTR’d?”

“……I can’t deny that. But honestly, you have to understand this?”

I pointed at myself with my thumb and continued.

“There’s no one in this world who wishes their ex-girlfriends, who they broke up with amicably, to live happily with someone else.”

“What about ‘I hope you meet someone better than me and be happy’?”

“That’s just pretending to be cool, hoping they’ll come back because I’ll become a better person than before.”

“Isn’t that too much of an overgeneralization?”

“Think what you want.”

Continuing the conversation would only make both Changyeom and me uncomfortable anyway.

“If only you had opened your heart to me, I would have been more at ease. Because then I’d only have to look at you.”

“It sounds like you’re making excuses, saying your heart is wavering because I haven’t accepted you.”

“It’s just a little complaint. Honestly… there’s no one else I can talk to like this besides you. It’s not like I can easily hide it.”

“Thank you for speaking your mind so frankly. You trash.”

Now even Changyeom was calling me trash. But there was no way to refute it.

“To save the world, I have to conquer you, but then I see that I’m so lovable that I have a one-sided love for you, but you don’t accept my love, and my heart wavers when I see my ex-girlfriends getting involved with other people? What do you think of a person like that?”

“An irredeemable piece of trash.”

“Yes. That’s you.”

“There’s only one way to save that trash.”

“What is it?”

I approached Changyeom and took her hand. Changyeom did not pull her hand away from mine.

“For you to open your heart.”

“That’s just a means to save the world and save your ex-girlfriends, isn’t it?”

“No. The causality is wrong.”

I affirmed to Changyeom with my true feelings.

“I’m saving the world to save you. Have you forgotten? There are many ways to save the world. But.”

I knelt on one knee, meeting Changyeom’s gaze.

“There was only one world where you could survive.”

“True ending?”

“Yes.”

“……Oh, for goodness sake. I’m so dumbfounded.”

Changyeom’s face contorted as if she was laughing and crying at the same time.

“Aren’t you annoyed with me?”

“Annoying.”

“Don’t you want to kill me?”

“Sometimes.”

“Do you really not want to give up and switch to another woman?”

“It would be a lie to say no, wouldn’t it? But still, what else can I do? Why do you think I don’t sleep and work every day, awakening spirits and collecting cubes?”

Changyeom silently waited for my words. I, too, cleared my voice, which was about to falter, and continued.

“It’s all because I want you to remain in this world.”

“……If I only heard up to this point, it’s practically a love confession.”

Changyeom took a step closer to me. She stepped on my foot and stood on her tiptoes to look up at me.

“And while you’re at it, you want to have sex with me too?”

“…….”

“And while you’re at it, you want to save all the heroines while saving the world?”

“…….”

“And while you’re at it, since you’re saving them anyway, you want to build a harem with Changyeom and 17 other heroines?”

“No, not that far. No matter how much I might want to-“

“Then you agree up to wanting to save the heroines?”

“…….”

I’ve been tricked. Changyeom spread her wings and flew up, poking my forehead with her index finger and scoffing at me.

“Alright. I’ll watch from inside you to see how far you struggle.”

The surrounding scenery changed. Not a park, not a guest room, not a penthouse, but Changyeom’s original space-a temple.

“Then show me that resolve, with all your might.”

Changyeom ascended to the throne and picked up the staff offered by an eagle doll. The staff, like a ceremonial artifact, was shaped like the sun.

“……Where’s the gun?”

“That’s what I used when I came to this world and conquered America. Originally, this is my ‘true’ form.”

“Huh.”

I let out a hollow laugh.

“How much are you hiding from me, exactly?”

“A woman with many secrets is always more attractive, you know. How about it? Have I become even more lovable?”

“Always with your words.”

The space changed. The background transformed back into Yeouido Han River Park, a battlefield.

“It’s the 49th battle. Are you ready, Challenger?”

Changyeom planted her staff on the Han River embankment and smiled brightly. I clenched my fists and regulated my breathing.

“Do I get multiple coins?”

“One coin. If you can’t win this battle, you’ll be trapped in here forever. And.”

Changyeom tilted her head and shrugged her shoulders.

“No matter what happens to the outside world, you’ll meet your demise in my embrace.”

“Then there’s no helping it.”

I adjusted the mana in my gauntlet and created a weapon. Changyeom smiled widely, looking at the weapons I held in each hand.

“You’re finally starting to understand me!”

“If I couldn’t learn after seeing it 48 times, I’d be an idiot.”

Click.

“It’s not exactly to my liking to imitate the protagonist’s default combat style, but.”

“He lived in America, didn’t he? Then there’s no helping it. Do you think you can live in America without a gun?”

“That’s only limited to this world’s America.”

“Let’s say so. Then let’s really do this. If you win… it won’t end with just a kiss!”

Fwoosh.

Three flames rose in the air.

As if counting down, they disappeared one by one, and we each raised our mana, ready to defeat each other.

“Apostle of the Sun, .”
“…….”
Before the last flame went out, I recited my ‘name’ that Changyeom had given me. Changyeom hesitated, about to open her mouth, then smiled bitterly and spoke.
“■…… No, . I want to be called that by you.”
Fwoosh.
The last flame extinguished. I raised the guns in both my hands.
“Then here I come!”
“Ah, I’m sorry. Did you think that was the combat start countdown just now? Ahahaha!”
Changyeom, shaking off the gloomy aura, clutched her stomach and cackled.
“Ah, that was to announce that I used my authority. Did you misunderstand? How cute. Hehe.”
“……Authority?”
“Yes. In your words, like a ‘skill’? Do you smell something burning anywhere?”
“…….”
Far from smelling anything, even if I scoured with my eyes, I couldn’t see a thing-
“Up.”
I looked up. And I was dumbfounded.
“Are you doing this from the start?”
“Using a skill with a long cooldown right from the start, I learned that from someone, too~”
Changyeom tapped her staff on the ground repeatedly and pointed at the sky.
“To continue what I was saying earlier.”
A meteor engulfed in blue flames was falling from the sky.
“Don’t you smell the world burning?”
It was too obvious, and that was the problem.