Episode 549. Confession (3)

“It wasn’t just Rebecca-ssi. Liliana. Daeun. Scarlet. … And other women were the target.”

Lee Hoyeon continued speaking calmly.

Even now, as he apologized to the heroines, he couldn’t express the emotions he felt while creating the fake dungeon magic circle.

Back then, he thought deceiving the heroines was an inevitable part of creating a harem.

That’s why he had created the fake dungeon.

Was he going mad?

Or was it because of his sharp mental clarity?

Or was he just a bad bastard from birth?

He still didn’t know.

But whatever the cause, the choice was Lee Hoyeon’s own, and he knew that choice was wrong.

He had done terrible things, so he had to reflect and apologize himself.

He had reflected enough while fighting Lucifer, so he should apologize too.

“So the women who had formed a deep relationship with Hoyeon-nim were the target. Everyone else was just a deception.”

“That’s right.”

Scarlet, who had been quietly drinking coffee without joining the conversation, chimed in.

“… Even knowing the target, I can’t understand. Why would you kidnap us like that and what did you intend to do?”

Scarlet is perceptive. She had naturally known that Lee Hoyeon had some secret.

She quickly realized that Liliana’s guess was wrong just by watching Lee Hoyeon’s actions.

But even Scarlet couldn’t understand the reason behind the terrorism Lee Hoyeon had committed.

“Exactly, Scarlet. Honestly, I don’t really know either. At first, I just wanted to impress everyone using dungeons, you know? But at some point, I started relying on the fake dungeon. I thought creating it would solve everything.”

The frustrating situation made Lee Hoyeon’s heart race too.

At some point, he had come to think of creating the fake dungeon itself as important.

“I don’t really get what you mean. Is this situation about your ridiculously large number of girlfriends?”

“Yeah.”

“Was it a plan to win women’s affection by stylishly overcoming traps or creating crises in the dungeon?”

“Yeah. It was incredibly stupid.”

“How could you possibly have such a pathetic thought?”

Lee Hoyeon gave a wry smile at Scarlet’s words.

“I felt cornered… like I had to do something. I’m sorry.”

“So, Baby Daddy, you made the magic circle to hook us more effectively.”

“…”

Rebecca nodded even after hearing Lee Hoyeon’s words and said something strange.

The way she put it is kind of funny.

Whether it was fortunate or not, the heroines living together at Lee Hoyeon’s place shared Rebecca’s lenient views on harems.

So he could speak a little more comfortably.

“How was the magic circle stolen? Since you and Baby Daddy made it, the security must have been incredible.”

“Well. I only realized it had been stolen while I was dismantling it.”

“Dismantling? The magic circle?”

“Yeah…. It felt wrong, so I tried to dismantle it.”

“Still, you repented in the end.”

“Don’t say it like that. Just calling me a bad guy makes me feel more comfortable.”

“Praising you seemed like it would make you more uncomfortable, so I praised you.”

“…”

Lee Hoyeon quietly lowered his head.

Right. Since he had decided to apologize, it was natural to feel uncomfortable.

“I get that Lee Hoyeon did something stupid. But why are you suddenly talking about it? If you had kept quiet, everyone would have just let it slide. Idiot?”

“… It’s late, but I wanted to apologize. I’m sorry if I surprised you by bringing it up suddenly. Still, I thought the people here wouldn’t be surprised.”

“I was so worried! You devilish bastard! If it hadn’t been for Lucifer, wouldn’t I have worried for nothing!”

“Baby Daddy, it’s fortunate that Lucifer stole the magic circle. It was a real crisis, thankfully. I was worried sick about everything, but if I had found out it was fake, I would have been furious.”

Rebecca might be right.

Since Lee Hoyeon himself fought like his life depended on it, the heroines’ negative reactions were milder.

“I’m still angry, though. You two seem too nice.”

Shaking her head at Rebecca and Liliana’s words, Scarlet immediately continued.

“… Hoyeon-nim. Don’t you think it would be best to properly cut ties with your girlfriends now? There are just too many.”

“Ah! Don’t cut me off!”

“Baby Daddy. We’re a strong married couple. We haven’t even made one baby yet.”

“… I have no intention of doing that. I’m sorry, Scarlet. That seems a bit difficult.”

“But weren’t you planning to tell the other women the truth about the dungeon too?”

“Probably… yes.”

Even if he didn’t mention the fake dungeon specifically, he had intended to tell all the heroines the fact that he was involved with multiple women.

He felt like he would suffocate if he didn’t confess it.

“Even if the women around Hoyeon-nim are nice… wouldn’t there be a few who would be disappointed enough to reconsider their relationship with you?”

“… Well. Then I’ll have to do my best to win them back.”

“For a piece of trash, your response sounds like something out of a romance novel.”

Lee Hoyeon sighed deeply.

Honestly, he didn’t know.

Since the heroines’ affection levels were all high, there was a decent chance things would work out well.

If the outcome was bad, he would have to win them back, no matter what it takes.

Squeeeze.

At that moment, something warm and soft wrapped around Lee Hoyeon’s hand.

He turned his head and saw Nam Daeun, who had been quiet until then.

“Hoyeon-ah. I don’t really know, but… wasn’t your behavior because of the curse on you? If it was unavoidable, I don’t think it’s Hoyeon’s fault.”

“… That’s not the important thing. It was simply that my thinking was short-sighted.”

Lee Hoyeon thought as he looked at Nam Daeun carefully holding his hand.

The curse. It seemed everyone had heard about the curse from Alice.

To be precise, it wasn’t a curse, but in a way, it could be described as one.

If they couldn’t clear the main quest, everyone would eventually die.

Lee Hoyeon’s actions could be attributed to the pressure of the main quest, but this wasn’t a game.

Even if they defeated the Demon King and cleared the main quest, everything wouldn’t end with a simple line like ‘And they all lived happily ever after.’

• ‘Hoyeon is mine!’

• ‘Y-you alley cat! Get away from there!’

• ‘Please stop fighting!’

~ END ~

He couldn’t be persuaded by cheesy ending credits like that.

Reality required concrete results.

“I messed up from the very first step.”

He should have convinced them one by one from the start, but trying to do it all at once was his mistake.

Confessing in front of everyone was also a stupid idea, now that he thought about it.

No one would want such an apology.

“I’m truly sorry, even if it’s late. I originally intended to say it when we were all together, but no matter how I thought about it, that seemed difficult….”

“If that was what you wanted to say in the dungeon, it was good that you didn’t say it.”

Scarlet nodded.

Although she was angry, not saying it there was a good choice. She couldn’t even imagine the disaster that would have occurred if this clueless man had dropped a bombshell statement back then.

“I’m sorry. Daeun too. Thank you for believing in me.”

“Mhm. To me, Hoyeon is a benefactor. I’ll believe you no matter what.”

Lee Hoyeon hugged Nam Daeun, who was clinging to him, and smiled.

The fact that he had tried to deceive Nam Daeun, who believed in him so much, made his heart ache.

“Maybe it’s because I knew the truth from the beginning? The shock isn’t that great.”

“What? Rebecca. If you knew, you should have told me from the start!”

“… I definitely said it. But then Liliana, you said something weird. Everyone else got swept up in the mood and doesn’t even remember what I said.”

“Huh? Did I?”

Liliana tilted her head.

Thinking back, she vaguely remembered Rebecca mentioning something about the magic circle.

“Well, I guess everyone here likes Hoyeon-nim, so we tried to think positively. But the reality was even more brutal.”

“I’m sorry, Scarlet. I’m truly reflecting.”

“… Sigh. It must be my fault for sticking around this house even though I knew you were trash.”

Scarlet was still angry, but since the other women living together were so devoted to Lee Hoyeon, it felt awkward for Scarlet to be the only one angry.

Besides, Scarlet knew Lee Hoyeon had fought harder than anyone during the battle with Lucifer.

He had sustained injuries that should have killed him three times over.

“When you saved me from Lucifer, you were a little cool too.”

If not for that, she probably would have been angrier.

Scarlet forced the corners of her mouth, which were trying to rise, back down, struggling to maintain a stern expression.

“I don’t care about the magic circle or anything, I’m glad we caught Lucifer. Anyway, the magic circle made Lucifer appear, and I had always wanted to catch him someday.”

“Thank you. Liliana.”

“And strangely, my magic returned after meeting Lucifer.”

Swoosh-

Liliana created a mana orb on her hand, tossed it up like juggling, and caught it repeatedly.

“… Yeah. Let’s look into the reason later too.”

It was something that definitely needed investigation: Liliana’s mana had grown stronger, when it should have been weaker than his.

It seemed the restriction placed on her had weakened….

It seemed necessary to investigate personally.

“Why? Are you busy today?”

“Yeah. I have quite a lot to do. I need to head out right away.”

The large-scale terrorist attack that struck Victoria Academy.

He had to go see the person who must be suffering the most because of this incident.

---

“It must be the security team, right? If it was security near the park, then the rear guard… No. If the upper streams are rotten, the lower streams must be too.”

Victoria Academy’s student council president’s office.

As soon as Moon Surin escaped the fake dungeon, she was faced with a mountain of piled-up documents.

Although the culprit behind the fake dungeon was clear, how they had breached the Academy’s security was the problem that needed figuring out.

“There’s no day I’m not busy… I was a victim too, you know.”

Directing things inside the dungeon and reassuring people as the student council president had been incredibly difficult.

Not to mention the battle with Lucifer. She had truly almost died.

If it weren’t for Hoyeon, she probably would have died three times over.

At least she fought from the rear, so this was the extent of it. Others must be in a worse condition.

Moon Surin looked down at the mountain of documents.

She knew it was work that needed doing, and that no one else could do it.

But was this much workload really appropriate right after escaping the dungeon?

“I can’t help it. Let’s power through.”

Scratch- scratch-

Moon Surin swallowed her disappointment and focused on her work.

How many hours had passed?

Moon Surin’s work speed was incredible, but the rate at which work came in was just as incredible.

The damage from the fake dungeon was small relative to its scale. Subsequent measures weren’t much of an issue, but investigating Pandemic, who instigated Lucifer, and finding the security loopholes proved quite difficult.

“I just want to rest and hang out with Hoyeon….”

Moon Surin stretched and leaned back against her chair.

Focusing on work for too long causes efficiency to drop.

She should take a break, maybe have some coffee.

Knock knock.

“Yeah. Just leave it on the desk.”

Moon Surin answered without even looking towards the door.

It must be more work piling up. After receiving deliveries so many times, she could tell it was the secretary just from the knock.

“President. It’s not additional work, you have a visitor.”

“A visitor? Who is it?”

The knock was from the secretary, as expected, but it wasn’t additional work.

Was there someone who would come looking for her?

The Chairman was also juggling a schedule as busy as Moon Surin’s, so they wouldn’t have time to visit.

“President. I’m here.”

“Hoyeon-ah!”

Jumped up.

Moon Surin, who had gotten up from her seat, came out to greet Lee Hoyeon at the door.

“So it was Hoyeon! If you had contacted me beforehand, I would have prepared something.”

“No. Surin noona. Are you busy right now?”

“Not at all. Besides, I felt bad that I couldn’t take care of you right after you came out of the dungeon.”

“I was the one who ran away because there were too many reporters.”

She had actually left to avoid them because she had many worries, but that was the excuse she used then.

Lee Hoyeon gave Moon Surin, who approached him, a light hug and glanced at the desk.

“… Why are you even asking? Of course, she’s busy.”

With what happened at Victoria Academy, there was no way the student council president, Moon Surin, wouldn’t be busy.

Skimming the titles of the documents, she could roughly guess their contents.

• Victoria Academy Security Team Reorganization…

• Follow-up measures and recovery from the terrorist attack…

• Ownership of Lucifer’s body.

“Is something bothering you? Ah. Right. There was a bit of a dispute over the ownership of Lucifer’s body. I insisted vehemently that Hoyeon was the first claimant and managed to get it, but… do you need it?”

“Ah… Yes. It would be good to have. For magic research.”

“That’s a relief. I’ll pack this up for you then.”

Moon Surin smiled brightly.

The geezers tried to claim ownership with ridiculous reasons, but if Hoyeon wanted it, it felt worthwhile to have snatched it.

“Anyway, why did you come visit? If you came because you missed me, I’d feel happy. Ah, have some coffee first. I was just about to take a break.”

“… Yes.”

Lee Hoyeon entered the student council president’s office, accompanied by Moon Surin.