episode_0027

Cain took a moment to think.

‘The escape plan was flawless.’

All traces had been erased, and even the summoned creatures monitoring him had been perfectly eliminated.

He had fled through a warp gate that Ria had never registered, so there was no way to track him.

Yet, they caught up.

‘A bug?’

…was his first thought, but this wasn’t a game—it was reality.

It wasn’t something he could dismiss as a simple glitch.

There was something. Something he had overlooked.

‘What is it?’

Hmm…

Now that he thought about it, there were too many variables.

‘For starters, I’m a walking anomaly myself…’

The guidebook being given to him, following him all the way to the icy kingdom of Gleysia, even helping him recruit his first companion, the Ice Princess Alice— none of that happened in the game.

So, it was only natural the outcome would differ too.

‘For example…’

In the game, he never knew she was the Goddess’s daughter. He never asked the Goddess for help.

But here, he knew. So, he could ask the Goddess for aid.

‘Is that it…?’

If the Goddess of Light, Serena, had twisted fate to assist him, then it wouldn’t be strange for her to follow him this far.

‘Ah…’ ‘I see…’

He had been caught by the Goddess’s surveillance, and she had used her divine warp gate to reach him.

He roughly understood now.

And then, he half-despaired.

‘Wow…’ ‘How the hell am I supposed to shake off this cheating bastard using mom privileges…?’

With the Goddess’s surveillance in play, running was no solution.

Even if he fled, every human who worshipped the Goddess of Light, Serena, would act as her eyes.

But, that was a problem for later.

Right now, this was the issue.

“Ria, Alice.”

“Master…” “Cain…”

“It’s fine, so just stay back and watch.”

“Fine?!” “There’s no way that’s true!” “Exactly!” “We’ve all heard what the Grail of Sacrifice is!”

Well…

If he were in their shoes, he’d tell himself to stop too.

An item that, when used, either kills the user within a year or takes the life of someone precious to them—a curse on par with the worst.

But, there was a way to bypass the penalty.

So, it was fine, but…

‘Sigh…’ ‘How the hell do I explain this…?’

The method to safely use the Grail of Sacrifice was simple.

[Offer semen as a sacrifice.]

That’s right.

It was the Grail Wank.

Huh? How was that possible?

‘Because sperm is treated as 0.5 of a human.’

Sacrificing two sperm counted as offering one full person.

A single ejaculation released around 100 to 200 million sperm.

If each sperm was worth six months…

Hmm…

Was there even any point calculating beyond 100 years?

So, there was no risk of the Grail of Sacrifice consuming him.

‘And this was tested in the game too.’

He had experimented with the male protagonist, Lian.

He made him rub it against the Grail, inducing a Grail Wank.

The result? Success.

The Grail’s countdown to consume him stretched to 999,999+ years.

‘Realistically, it’d be even longer.’

But the game only displayed up to six digits.

‘Makes sense.’ ‘No lunatic would sacrifice over a million people.’ ‘And even if they did, no one lives over a million years anyway.’

Six digits were more than enough.

…That was the gist of it.

Well, if he explained this, the misunderstanding would clear up.

‘It would, but…’

Declaring in front of two girls that he was going to Grail Wank?

‘Sigh…’ ‘This is social suicide…’

He agonized.

Would he be the cool guy who bravely sacrificed himself with the Grail? Or the pathetic loser who jerked off into it?

‘The answer’s obvious.’

He’d be the cool guy!

“This is the path I’ve chosen.” “Don’t interfere. Just stand back and watch.”

He delivered the line with perfect gravitas.

Hell yeah!

This was it! Even he thought he looked damn cool!

…For about three seconds.

“Ghk—!”

He was subdued within those three seconds.

“I won’t let you die, Master!” “You expect me to just watch you throw your life away?!” “No!” “I’d rather die than let that happen!”

The situation escalated into two peerless beauties restraining him in a tight embrace.

Well…

Not bad, honestly.

Ria was a buxom beauty, and while Alice wasn’t as stacked, she wasn’t flat either.

Both had wonderfully soft textures, and being hugged by them felt really nice, but—

‘How do I get out of this?’

Truthfully, the Grail of Sacrifice wasn’t a must-have item.

It was nice to have, but not essential.

He only went for it because it was obtainable along the way.

So, giving up here was an option, but—

‘After saying I’d bring their two dead lovers back to life, I’d just quit here?’ ‘Nah…’ ‘Can’t do that.’

The worst kind of person was the one who gave hope and then took it away.

That aside—

‘I’m right at the doorstep of a happy ending.’ ‘And I’m supposed to pick the option to run away?’

No way.

Lee Junseong, the Happy Ending Enthusiast, would never tolerate that.

‘The reason I fell in love with my favorite character in the first place was because of that.’

Her pretty face? Her kind heart?

Well, those were nice, but…

The sole reason he became obsessed was simple:

‘Because she was a character with no happy ending.’

His interest first sparked when he played Despair (Very Hard) difficulty.

In other modes, she was just a normal NPC, but in Despair, she became a significant character.

‘That difficulty was truly hopeless.’

The Demon King cast on all living beings—a downright bullshit mechanic.

S-rank characters gained 1 random mental illness. A-rank: 3 random mental illnesses. B-rank: 5. C-rank and below? Their minds shattered, turning them into zombie-like monsters.

It was essentially a zombie apocalypse mode.

‘No, worse.’ ‘A zombie apocalypse where the zombies could still use swords and magic.’

Having allies was practically a disadvantage.

Some mental illnesses were manageable, but most were outright debilitating.

If they developed something extreme, treating them as monsters was the safer option.

So, a character with three mental illnesses was as good as useless.

But, if you abandoned everyone, even defeating the Demon King led to the ending.

To restore humanity, you needed at least one male and one female character alive.

‘So, I sealed them all.’

Locked them away until the Demon King was defeated, then used them as baby-making factories afterward.

If their bodies deteriorated beyond usability? Killed them.

Then, raised the children to rebuild humanity.

That was the only Happy Ending he could find.

The world was so broken that this was considered a happy ending.

A world so twisted, you couldn’t even treat your allies as human.

‘It was brutal.’

The Demon King and the Four Heavenly Kings were also affected by , making the final boss fight easier, but reaching it was an insane challenge.

Yet, in that hellscape—

‘There was one relatively sane character.’

His favorite.

The only one who helped the protagonist in a world where everyone else had turned into monsters or lunatics.

Of course, she wasn’t completely unaffected.

Even the Hero and Demon King developed mental illnesses under that bullshit spell.

Statistically, over 90% of characters became monster-level insane, and fewer than 10% remained coherent enough to talk.

She wasn’t even a recruitable ally, so the chance of meeting her was near zero.

‘Our first meeting was pure luck.’

Had they not crossed paths, he’d never have known she existed—she moved that covertly.

She was on humanity’s side, but didn’t want her identity exposed.

Because of that, back then, he killed her on sight.

He thought she was just another monster.

But, after her death, he learned the truth.

She had been secretly aiding the Hero, sacrificing everything to help rebuild humanity.

In a world where even A-rank Hero candidates were useless, she was the only one who made a difference.

‘That’s when it started.’

He grew fascinated, wondering what kind of character she was in other difficulties.

So, he looked into it, and—

‘All…’ ‘Bad endings.’

A character who loved people so much, who dreamed of a happy future alongside them—

Her endings were never good.

No, they were horrifying.

That was when it began.

His obsessive research into started then.

For one reason alone:

He wanted to give his favorite character a happy ending.

That single-minded drive made him dissect the game like a madman.

Just one goal— to see her smile.

Everything he did was for that.

And then, he died from overwork and ended up here.

That’s how insane he was about happy endings.

And now, with a happy ending right there, he’d run away?

‘Not happening.’

If running wasn’t an option, he’d go all-in.

That was him.

So, he spoke.

“It’s fine.” “I won’t die.”

“Won’t die?!” “We know what that thing does!” “Exactly!” “It kills you in a year unless you sacrifice someone precious to you!”

“Right.” “That’s how it works normally.”

He looked at Darc.

“Darc.” “Trust me. Hand over the Grail.”

“Your companions will stop you.” “It’s fine.” “I can convince them.”

“……”

Darc thought for a moment, then lifted the Grail.

“I trust you.”

And just like that, Darc became the sacrifice.

“Phew…” “Now, as for you two…”

He turned to Ria and Alice.

“That thing won’t kill me.” “So, trust me.”

“How can we?!” “You ran away to sacrifice yourself! How are we supposed to believe you?!”

Sigh…

That wasn’t it…

They’d misunderstood hard…

But fine.

“Haah…” “Ria… Alice…”

“Yes.” “Yes.”

“There’s a safe way to use the Grail of Sacrifice.”

“Safe?…” “There’s a way?…”

“Yeah…” “It’s…”

His lips refused to part.

It was the most efficient method. It was necessary.

But saying “I’m gonna jerk off into the Grail” in front of girls?

Not easy.