Ch.42Chapter 42 – Inflection Point (1)

The reason I set Kang Si-woo as the absolute worst scum in the world was to create a plot twist in the final part of the novel.

I actually wanted to write that the heroine who had been traveling with him wasn’t Azazel, but her older sister Gabriel.

So originally, I thought if I wrote an ending where Azazel, who had fallen and become the final boss, kidnapped and imprisoned Kang Si-woo, it would be a novel that readers would remember.

“…I’m worried that you might have been hurt.”

After coming to this world, the only possibility I believed in was that the characters would act differently from their original narratives.

Like how Bi-wol didn’t become a bloodthirsty madwoman, Verdandi didn’t kill her mother, and Azazel didn’t wait alone for Kang Si-woo in the north.

“Brother, did you tell me those things because you knew about this future…?”

“I did.”

I hoped that Kang Si-woo would also be different from how I had written him, that he wouldn’t cheat after being influenced by others. This world in the novel had already begun to escape my control as it started to breathe on its own.

“But the future is never certain.”

“…That’s true.”

Azazel and I both sighed deeply at the same time.

I knew the future by using the settings and stories I had created in advance, while she could see possibilities across various parallel worlds.

It was a burden that only we understood.

Azazel had made the mistake of equating the hero she had seen in the game with Kang Si-woo, while I had been careless in thinking that saving only the final bosses would solve everything.

In the original work, the narratives of the final bosses were created first, and then the protagonist would become entangled with them.

“That bastard I just saw was different from the hero, Kang Si-woo, whom I met.”

Azazel spoke with curses unlike a saintess, and the tentacles behind her back were writhing sharply. Still not calming down, she sat in the chair and kicked her feet forward.

“Few people make such sacrifices easily. If he truly loved you, he wouldn’t have fallen for your sister’s seduction so easily.”

In truth, such people are rare in this world. Just as I was fortunate to have Seol-hwa.

If I had fallen into a similar situation, I would have immediately noticed it was someone else and given them no chance.

Even now, I wasn’t falling for Shub-Niggurath’s tricks.

“Actually, I hoped he would miss me, even just a little. Maybe I wanted to believe it was an unavoidable accident caused by my sister using some seduction magic.”

“But I told you that wasn’t the case.”

“That’s right. My sister cherished me terribly and was just keeping bad men away from me.”

Azazel looked at me with a slight curl at the corner of her lips. Perhaps it was to hold back tears.

Her slightly reddened eyes looked so pitiful that I gently stroked her head.

“Haha, are you patting my head now too?”

“Sorry, did you dislike it?”

It was a habit I had developed with Bi-wol and Verdandi, something I did unconsciously.

Originally, it was something Yoo Seol-hwa would make me do by grabbing my hand when she was feeling down.

“…I never said I disliked it.”

Azazel looked up at me with puffed cheeks. A silent expression asking me to continue stroking her head.

What a troublesome woman. This way of twisting her behavior was her defense mechanism after being betrayed by Kang Si-woo.

Not wanting to trust people, yet still wanting to rely on someone.

Humans are creatures that cannot live alone. Just as I depended on Seol-hwa.

“…Was my problem that I trusted people too much?”

Azazel lamented her situation as if talking to herself. She was blaming herself because she had no one else to blame.

“What’s wrong with that? It’s not your fault.”

I spoke calmly to Azazel. In the end, the problem was that Kang Si-woo was trash, not that she had trusted him.

In reality, many people take love lightly.

Like flower petals scattered in the wind, fleeting connections—few people hold onto them tightly like Azazel did.

I understood those feelings better than anyone because I had continued writing without giving up for Seol-hwa.

“After all, he was someone you loved. I think it’s normal to have such feelings, even if you hate him now.”

I bit my lower lip. As soon as I thought Seol-hwa might be alive, I almost wavered before the Outer God.

A person already dead and beyond return.

A love I thought I had forgotten and given up on.

“But didn’t you say that love is when two people look in the same direction, adjusting to each other as they move forward?”

Azazel, who was like a daughter born between Seol-hwa and me, was asking me to clarify what love is with an expression that demanded a precise answer.

“That’s right. In the end, if only one side loves, it easily leads to unhappiness. One-sided love is inherently incomplete.”

I poured unrequited emotions into writing.

I captured silent regrets in black type.

The reason I began writing and have continued living until now was solely because of one person—Yoo Seol-hwa.

“Love is an emotion strong enough to change a person, but that’s precisely why it shouldn’t be confused with other things.”

My desire to save the final bosses and give this world a happy ending was also her wish.

I recalled those memories as I gave advice to Azazel.

“So this feeling is what you call lingering attachment.”

Azazel said with a slight hollow laugh. As if she finally understood what I had told her before.

“Let me ask you something.”

“What is it?”

“Why did you try to save children like me? Is it hypocrisy? Or do you want someone to miss you before you die?”

Azazel is testing me now.

She might have noticed something because of her connection to the Outer God Morgidian.

In truth, I knew some of this world’s secrets like Kang Si-woo did, so I could have obtained whatever I wanted.

“Why, when you can see the future, do you choose to live for others, unlike that trash?”

She’s worried that I might have ulterior motives. She’s concerned that she might be following the wrong person again.

“…Because it’s the right thing to do. Do I need a reason?”

I asked Azazel back as if something was strange about her question.

“What?”

“Why should there be a reason for doing what’s obvious? Isn’t that reversing cause and effect?”

It was something Seol-hwa had once told me.

When I was expressing negative emotions, asking why she liked someone like me, she hugged me from behind and said:

– Do I need a reason to love you?

I had misunderstood, thinking Seol-hwa loved me only for my appearance. I was under the delusion that if I didn’t have this face, I wouldn’t have met her.

“But… you’re terminally ill.”

This aspect of her is actually good. I somewhat hoped she would endlessly doubt and not forgive me, the source of all misfortune.

I made the final bosses unhappy by projecting my miserable past onto them. I thought it was enough to create happy endings just for the protagonists.

After Seol-hwa died, I couldn’t write stories where everyone was happy anymore. Sitting in front of the computer and typing became frightening, and I became scared watching the decreasing view counts and readers.

“Still, I don’t want to have regrets.”

“Don’t you have thoughts of toying with women as you please, or spending money extravagantly? Are you truly a person with restrained desires, brother?”

“I do have desires. Dreams that I can no longer fulfill.”

I wish more people would read my writing.

I wish more people would remember Seol-hwa.

I’m a person without talent. With my miserable writing skills, I couldn’t create captivating stories.

Coming into this novel world and saving the final bosses or helping unfortunate people was an extension of that work.

“What kind of dream makes you act this way?”

“Well, isn’t it more interesting if everyone has at least one secret they can’t tell?”

I smiled slightly at Azazel, who was curious about the dream I was talking about, opening my eyes wide.

Seeing Seol-hwa happy alongside the original protagonists and final bosses—that was what I wanted most now, but I didn’t know how long this miserable body would last.

“You’ll find a better relationship, Azazel.”

I gently stroked Azazel’s head as I spoke. She was pure and kind enough to be chosen as a saintess.

She had just gone astray after meeting a bad man, and in the original work, she was destined to become a tragic heroine who would kidnap Kang Si-woo to vent her twisted emotions.

“…Adults like you are really difficult to deal with.”

The fact that Azazel was showing me a sulky expression actually meant our relationship had improved.

* * *

At that moment, Kang Si-woo was biting his fingernails anxiously. He had acted according to the game choices he knew, so why hadn’t Azazel fallen for him?

‘Damn it, I thought the plan was perfect…!’

If things had gone just a little better, he could have been a man holding flowers in both hands. He could have created a harem with the twin sisters kneeling at his feet.

Why had he failed?

“That so-called master was the problem.”

“…What did you say?”

“Since that man Bing-yeon took Azazel as his disciple, her heart has cooled toward you. Isn’t it obvious how to win her back?”

Bing-seol-hwa appeared beside Kang Si-woo and chuckled. She spoke as if she had observed everything from afar, seeing through it all.

“How am I supposed to win her back? You told me to kill Azazel before, and now you’re changing your words?”

“Well, my goal is to make Bing-yeon hate me and you. The method can change without much concern.”

Shub-Niggurath spoke as if she found the unpredictably changing fate amusing. Her ultimate goal was to make Han Do-hyeon and Yoo Seol-hwa, who were lovers in reality, try to kill each other.

“…Do you want power?”

Harboring such dark intentions, Bing-seol-hwa smiled sinisterly at Kang Si-woo.