63. The Shard of Musin

* * *

A ceiling I’m all too familiar with.

I woke up in my bed.

Or rather, it’s my room, yet not my room. It’s the room in my imaginary world, tailored for the life of a hikikimori author.

“What’s with that woman? Even if she’s a woman, does that mean you’re obsessed with her?”

Having a female body doesn’t mean I’m attracted to men. I’m attracted to pussies, no matter how many times I’m reincarnated.

“Then why not turn this body into a man? It’s only natural for someone with a man’s mind to want to be with a woman.”

“Would a man who became a woman want to be with another man?”

“Well, theoretically, it makes sense from your perspective.”

At least the theory holds. Preferences are to be respected. I wouldn’t judge a woman who’s turned into a trap pursuing BL.

It’s more about whether the other party is willing.

“No, that’s not what I mean. Even when you were the Demon King, you were always into women. Azhidahaka, you never cared about gender.”

Well, considering I’ve been both a man and a woman, it’s only natural.

“So, you just want to be with men now?”

I loathe male chauvinism, though.

“No, I mean, if you were so obsessed with women, why spend 100 years in the repository for just one?”

True, but still.

“Well, isn’t a mother-daughter threesome every man’s fantasy?”

“Hmm, I think that’s taking it too far. Not everyone fantasizes about that, do they?”

Indeed, if the woman in question were an unattractive middle-aged woman, no one would give it a second thought. But Rachel is in her 20s, and her daughter is the same age. How could I resist? Especially since, except for their breasts, they’re practically clones.

This is unbearable. Damn it.

“Maybe so, but why torment someone over it?”

“It’s not someone, it’s you. And 100 years is a long time.”

Spending 100 years here? I’d rather see it as a dream.

“So, you’ll just endure it then?”

“Azhidahaka, don’t forget who you are. It’ll be terribly boring for you.”

Even if I tried to interfere, she wouldn’t listen. Ending it abruptly would make it harder to raise Rachel’s affection.

“What can I do?”

“Well, if not the usual way, maybe there’s another. I can reduce the time a bit. Okay?”

The author muttered to herself and tossed me a book.

[The Hero and the Demon King]

What’s this book about?

“Complete the content of this book. There’s a magic spell that’ll make the time fly by. It’ll help you win Rachel’s heart.”

Only an author would think like that, making me do her bidding.

I sighed and opened the book.

* * *

After 100 years in the repository, I finally returned to the original world.

The task was completed, and as a reward, I received a strange magic that made time fly by, reducing 100 years to the sensation of just one day.

Or rather, it wasn’t just a sensation-only 24 hours had passed for me, while Rachel had truly experienced 100 years.

It’s no wonder she’s by my side now, gazing at me affectionately.

And, unknowingly, the fruit of our love had been created.

After 10 days, I brought Rachel to the penthouse in Songdo.

“Let me introduce you. This is Reina’s mother, Rachel Silverluck.”

Everyone was lounging in the living room when I introduced Rachel, now officially my girlfriend.

“””……”””

Everyone was stunned. Reina, in particular, had an unreadable expression.

Shock, confusion, joy, longing-it was all there, changing with each passing moment. It was almost comical.

“I don’t get it. You just disappeared for a moment, and now this?”

Outside, only five minutes had passed.

Considering the time spent connecting the gate and re-entering the repository, almost no time had passed.

But here, I had been bustling about, trying to complete the task. Outside, only five minutes had gone by.

It’s not so bad, really. If 100 years had passed, who knows if Reina or Si-woo would still be alive, but the world might already be gone.

“M-mother!”

“D-daughter…….”

Rachel and Reina embraced, a truly tearful and touching family reunion.

Especially for Reina, who had been swept into this world as a child through an unexpected gate, receiving government support but still feeling the loneliness of having no family.

Now, she could live happily with her mother.

And I had acquired a mother-daughter threesome.

“But what’s that?”

“Chirp!”

Yoo Jin-seok stared at a small dragon floating next to me.

A dragon with white, shimmering scales.

A dragon loyal to me. And also Rachel’s child.

Well, what can I say? It’s the fruit of our love.

“So, this is…”

“The manifestation of our magic.”

Rachel said, blushing and covering her cheeks.

Oh no, Reina is glaring at me.

I had planned to convince her by calling it magic, but now it seems I might get into trouble.

While in the repository, Rachel and I created something new with our combined magic.

It wasn’t something I intentionally made, but it formed on its own. Since it’s a mix of my and Rachel’s magic, I couldn’t just discard it.

Leaving it would make me a terrible mother who abandons her child.

So, I brought it with me.

“Let’s name him Lei. Not exactly born from us, but created through magic and love.”

“He looks just like Eunha. Eunha has the power of the dragon.”

Yoo Jin-seok held what could be considered my child.

It’s still small, about the size of a guinea pig.

Who knows how big it’ll get, but I’m curious about its combat abilities.

“Chew chew!”

It yawned approvingly and fell asleep in Yoo Jin-seok’s arms, like a pet.

While Rachel looked at the dragon with maternal affection, Reina, who felt like a sister to it, glared at me with jealousy.

“How could you! How could you go after my mother!?”

“Don’t be too hard on me. There’s a reason.”

Rachel stopped Reina from confronting me.

I had no choice but to explain everything to Reina before my favorability dropped.

That I had spent 100 years in the repository.

Reina, and even Yoo Jin-seok, who was holding Lei, were stunned.

“For me? Even though the repository was 100 years of time?”

“What else? Even Han Su-ji or Yoo Jin-seok would have done the same for me.”

I managed the image a bit.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You would have refused, and Rachel would have remained trapped.”

Records can’t be erased.

Unless someone burns the book containing the records, there’s no way for her to leave the repository.

“But you said she couldn’t leave. How?”

“Ghoul.”

“You turned my mother into a ghoul?”

“Well, how else could I save her? Right after reuniting with Eunha, she had to implant the core.”

It was necessary to save her. To revive her as a living being from a recorded state, the core had to be implanted.

Though it’s not exactly the same as having a physical body.

As a result, a strange scene unfolded where she had to dispose of her own remains.

-It’s funny, me cleaning up my own bones.

-At least you’re alive, so it doesn’t matter.

-But still, destroying my own bones like this-

-What can I say? You’re the only Rachel I have.

I had passionately kissed her even then.

The issue is that she gained a strange ability in the process of becoming a ghoul.

The ability to turn her body into paper. Like a character from a Japanese ninja manga. More precisely, she can transform into paper slips with recorded information and teleport between books.

In other words, she can enter the books in the penthouse and appear in the author’s books in my world.

It’s quite a useful ability.

The mother-daughter threesome will have to wait. There’s work to be done.

More importantly, my head is pounding.

Now that I think of it, Han Su-ji isn’t here.

I asked Yoo Jin-seok, pressing my temples.

“Has Han Su-ji not appeared yet?”

“No.”

Unbelievable. Even Park Joon-hyuk went through that event, but Han Su-ji hasn’t awakened? She’s even stronger than him.

There’s nothing I can do about the events. I can’t interfere.

“For now, let Rachel and Reina have their mother-daughter time. I’m a bit tired, so I’ll take a nap.”

Strangely, I felt exhausted. Living in the repository and playing with Rachel every day wouldn’t tire a Demon King. The issue is that I overused the Akashic Records.

Even I couldn’t handle the continuous extraction of information. Just connecting Elien’s world and Rachel’s world to this one gave me a headache.

And rushing to complete the task only made the headache worse upon returning.

Who knows how hard I worked to complete the story.

“Tired? That’s unusual for you.”

“100 years of fatigue hitting me all at once.”

Since I’m not going to the academy today, I can rest.

I left the heroes in the living room and threw myself onto the queen-sized bed in the penthouse.

* * *

How long did I sleep? The pounding headache felt like it was gnawing at my brain.

As I hovered between sleep and wakefulness, I frowned at the voice echoing in my mind.

[How curious. Even you have entered my shard.]

This is Musin’s voice. Seriously?

“What’s going on here?”

[I sent you to my shard to grant strength and experience to the red-haired girl, but it seems you’ve been pulled in as well.]

Does this mean I have to go through this annoyance too?

“So, I’ll be here too.”

[Yes. You must also escape this shard. Achieve what I couldn’t. This is beyond my power.]

“Wait, aghh!”

Before I could say anything, that damned Musin pulled me into the shard.

When I came to, I was in a military tent, like something from a historical drama.

“? Where am I? Han Su-ji?”

Beside me was Han Su-ji, looking clueless as ever.

Her armor was ridiculously revealing, like the outfits of female characters in the Three Kingdoms game.

And I was dressed the same. Musin really has peculiar tastes.

“Eunha? Why are you here? This is the space Musin prepared for me.”

“I was pulled here too. I guess our connection did it.”

Just as I was talking to Han Su-ji, a man in armor suddenly entered the tent.

Who is this guy?

He looked at us with a confused expression and spoke.

“Ladies. What are you doing? Hurry up and go.”

Go where?

“To conquer the castle.”

What castle?

“You two are to conquer it. Off you go.”

What nonsense is this?