Chapter 11: Two People in Another World

Ŕеαｄ оη КаṫṚεαⅾ​ɩｎģСａｆҽ

The surroundings are hazy, as if shrouded in fog.

No matter where I look, everything is blurry and indistinct.

‘Where is this?’

How did I end up here? Sugar tried to recall what had happened just moments ago, but nothing came to mind.

‘I feel like I was doing something important.’

After pondering for a while, I suddenly gave up.

There’s no point in staying here like this. Let’s go somewhere, anywhere. So, I started walking wherever my feet took me.

Though it felt more like floating through the air than walking. I drifted around, enjoying the sensation like a child playing in the air.

As I did, the scenery gradually became clearer.

Rocks, trees, and all sorts of natural objects floated in the air, swaying gently. A reddish glow spread across the ashen sky. The more I became aware, the faster everything sharpened, and soon the entire world looked like this.

A dreamlike space that didn’t feel real. Yet, I had a vague memory of seeing something similar somewhere.

A water droplet the size of a person floated right in front of me, and I wanted to get a closer look, but for some reason, I couldn’t move forward. It felt like an invisible wall was blocking me.

When I strained my ears, I heard voices and turned my gaze toward the sound.

Two people were sitting on a large rock in the distance.

One was a pale, faded girl.

Her hair was pure white, without a hint of any other color. Her skin was white too. Unlike the natural objects around her, she looked so out of place that it seemed as if something had drained all the color from her.

The other was a tall man.

His golden hair fluttered as he looked down at the girl sitting quietly.

“…Even in the midst of this… you still hold onto it. You must be out of your mind…”

He was saying something, but I couldn’t make out the words clearly. It was too far to hear properly.

For some reason, I felt uneasy and pressed myself against the invisible wall, watching the two of them.

“Well… in that state… it’s no wonder you’re not in your right mind…”

As soon as the man finished speaking, he raised his hand, and a book appeared in it.

The pages flipped open on their own, which was strange.

The once calm and mysterious atmosphere suddenly shifted.

Shadows stretched and shrank in various places. An incomprehensible voice filled the space, creating an ominous feeling.

Sugar suddenly lifted her head, her eyes widened, and cold sweat dripped down her face. Her entire body stiffened, and he couldn’t move.

What was there was enormous and pitch black—something I didn’t even dare to name—

“…Huff… huff…”

When I opened my eyes, I was in a dark room. The dim light outside the window suggested that dawn was approaching.

‘…A dream?’

Though I couldn’t see their faces clearly because they were far away, those two were probably the original Sugar and Riley.

Imagination. Images. I had dreamed of their final scene. It was a reinterpretation of the part I had experienced in the game.

No wonder it felt familiar.

I don’t know why I keep having dreams like this. It’s not like they’re taunting me with, “This is your future.”

Feeling uneasy, I tried to drink some water.

“…Huh?”

But I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even twitch a finger.

“What’s going on…”

I struggled to twist my body, but it didn’t budge. It felt like I had no sensation at all.

The only things I could move were my eyelids, mouth, and tongue—just three things.

A chilling feeling ran down my spine at the thought of what this might mean.

Am I going to have to live like this forever?

The ominous dream I just had didn’t help. Remembering what happened to the original Sugar’s body naturally made me anxious.

The current Sugar hasn’t been captured by the cult yet, but in another world, she had already suffered that fate, which added to my unease.

‘At least her limbs were intact… But if I can’t feel anything, I won’t be able to move on my own, so does it even matter?’

I tried to stay calm, but I was seriously considering the situation.

Then, I heard someone coming up from below. The light footsteps of a child. At this hour, there’s only one person who would come here.

“…Tommy!”

I called out in a small but joyful voice, expressing my relief. A snapping sound followed, and the room lit up as if candles had been lit.

Tommy’s face, now visible, was filled with exhaustion.

“What’s wrong with your face? Did something happen?”

“You’re the one something happened to…”

“What?”

“Did you lose your memory? I expected short-term memory loss, but…”

“What are you talking about?”

“You. How long have you been awake?”

“Hmm… About five minutes? But why? I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“First, the procedure… if you can even call it that. Anyway, the plan was to push you to the brink of magical overload. It worked. The fact that you’re talking to me now is proof.”

Sugar looked bewildered. I’m not sure if my expression showed it, but Tommy must have noticed my reaction.

“The basic requirement for a mage. You said you wanted to achieve the first stage, remember?”

“Ah… Ahh… Ah!”

It all came back to me in a flash.

I had definitely been infused with magic. While it was happening, I only felt something filling me up, so I kept chattering away. But at some point, I started feeling nauseous and had trouble breathing.

My head spun, then I blacked out and now I’ve just woken up.

“I remember now. I definitely… suddenly felt strange and tried to say something.”

“You said ‘Ah’ and then passed out immediately. I noticed something was off earlier, so I managed to cut it off in time.”

“I knew it…! I trusted you! You’re the best… you’re number one…!”

“Enough. The problem is what comes next.”

At the mention of something more, Sugar froze. His body was already stiff, but now his mind felt frozen too.

“This is something you’ll have to endure fully. About five to ten minutes after you regain consciousness, excruciating pain will hit you.”

“…Why?”

“Because your body is on the verge of exploding, of course. It’s only been a short while since you regained consciousness, so it’ll take some time for your senses to come back.”

“…So?”

“I’m going to extract the magic again, but don’t lose focus no matter how much it hurts. Pay attention to how the pain flows. That’s your magical pathway.”

Tommy, sweating but remaining calm, finished the briefing and took a wet towel from the bucket he had brought, placing it on Sugar’s forehead.

Next, he firmly pressed Sugar’s soft cheeks, forcing her mouth open, and stuffed a dry cloth inside.

‘…I’m doomed.’

This meant that her screams would be so loud that her mouth needed to be covered. It was a clear indication of what was to come.

For some reason, it felt like every part of her body was starting to ache.

“By the way, the reason you can’t move is because I immobilized you. I didn’t want you thrashing around and making things worse.”

What a thorough friend. Part of me wished he had cast some kind of ‘painless magic,’ but maybe that’s just me being greedy.

Not that such magic exists, and even if it did, this method of awakening the magical pathways through pain wouldn’t allow it anyway.

Sugar closed her eyes, half-resigned.

She decided to accept the pain. If enduring a day of agony could bring her closer to mastering magic, it was worth it.

She had once been a warrior.

This wasn’t about getting beaten up or losing her senses—it was just her magic overloading.

This was nothing.

Trembling but steeling herself, she prepared for the impending pain.

At dawn, inside the attic.

A girl writhed in pain, tears streaming down her face.

She wanted to scream out the agony, but all that came out were heated breaths and saliva.

Even if she had tried to scream, the sound would have been muffled by the cloth. But the pain was so intense that she couldn’t even make a sound.

Tommy, though his heart raced at Sugar’s reaction, tried to remain calm and focused, applying pressure to her abdomen with his hand.

‘What is this magic…?’

His thirst for knowledge and curiosity kept him grounded.

He was supposed to extract his own magic from Sugar, but what came out was entirely different—it was Sugar’s own magic. Tommy’s magic had vanished, completely transformed and yet, when it flowed back into Tommy’s body it assimilated seamlessly. There was no rejection—just incredible compatibility.

He tried to recall what kind of magic this was.

Pure magic, free of impurities.

It was unheard of.

This was something that could only be achieved after refining and purifying magic over and over again. Who would have thought someone could inherently possess such magic?

-There’s someone who isn’t affected even when they come into contact with that mass of magic.

I don’t know what kind of person she is.

Her unique magical properties were one thing, but even though she hadn’t mastered the first stage of a mage’s basic requirements, she already understood her own magical nature.

And she used that knowledge to come up with bizarre plans, dragging others into them.

She even spouted nonsense about trusting someone who was clearly out to kill her.

Honestly, she’s hopeless.

“…It’s almost over.”

He could feel the magic that had been drained starting to recover. It would be over soon.

The erratic pounding of her heart, which he could feel through his hand, gradually calmed. Her irregular breathing steadied and began to return to normal.

“Huu… huu…”

“Your magical pathways run throughout your entire body. Think of them like blood vessels. Try to visualize the magic circulating through them.”

“Huuu…”

“…Do you feel something?”

Sugar nodded weakly.

“Phew…”

Tommy let out a sigh of relief.

Then, Sugar’s teary eyes turned toward him.

Her eyes, filled with tears from the pain and exhaustion, still managed to convey gratitude as she gave him a faint, knowing smile.

She mumbled something, and from the tone, he could roughly guess what she was trying to say.

-Was I brave?

The expression that followed was unmistakably that of a mischievous child.

Even in this state. Seriously.

“…Yeah. You were brave.”

Feeling a slight sense of admiration, Tommy answered honestly. Through the hand on Sugar’s stomach, he felt a faint vibration. Haha. Sugar let out a weak laugh and gently closed her eyes.

Tommy quietly removed the saliva-soaked cloth from Sugar’s mouth and wiped the sweat from her face.

He could at least do this much. Leaving her alone and walking away would have been too cruel.

It’s not like he felt any particular sympathy for this hopeless girl or anything.

In any case, he was just glad things had turned out alright.