episode_0117

It took 30 minutes to throw the silver-haired guy wriggling with his arms cut off outside the iron fence and come back.

Even though I thought I flew back at a pretty fast speed, it took quite a while.

The score kept rising even while flying.

It seemed that thinking about wanting to see something subconsciously was fully reflected in the score.

This is serious.

Just breathing is enough to raise the score significantly.

Maybe.

Today might be the last day.

*

Upon arriving at the hospital, I folded my wings and quietly passed through the lobby to go to Lager. Since I am also affiliated with the academy, there was no need to sneak in through the window crack, and I didn’t even know where Lager was now that he had just finished the admission process.

Lager was lying in bed receiving treatment after receiving the rapid recovery treatment. The rapid recovery device seemed quite familiar.

Lager had a slightly gloomy expression.

Perhaps he was vaguely expecting it.

“Lager.”

I approached Lager.

My voice seemed to be trembling a bit already.

“I’m about to reach 10,000 points.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you know what that means?”

“…Yeah.”

Lager nodded.

It’s pitiful to see him not meeting my eyes like someone who has committed a crime.

“Why did you create such a system? Couldn’t you have just kept it simple, like ordinary novels?”

“…”

“Returning to the original state after achieving all the goals. Where does such a development exist? Have you seen a novel that progresses like this? It doesn’t end in just 5,700 characters, it ends up with a sword.”

This should be a time to laugh.

Lager mumbled with a gloomy expression.

“It’s a plan to make you like me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t know you would suffer so much from being able to go back.”

Of course, at first, it was just good.

There was hope that we could return to the original world after a brief play.

But this is not just a simple book overlay, it is a survival to protect the world we live in, and once we realized that if this world is destroyed, the original world is also threatened.

I didn’t want the time to leave here.

Thinking about Lager, who will continue to fight to protect everyone in a fight with no end in sight, even if we weren’t in a loving relationship, it wasn’t so easy to leave after knowing this system.

But.

“Rather, should I make you like me?”

What do you mean by making someone’s heart like this and then telling them to leave?

You don’t know when or how you will die, and you don’t even have the certainty that you can come back.

“Was it wrong for me to start liking you again?”

“…Ael.”

“No, it’s you. You were the one who actively pursued me, and now what? I didn’t know you would like me and made a plan?”

…”

Lager closed his mouth like a mute person who ate honey and avoided eye contact.

His appearance is both cowardly and poignant.

“Do you think that makes sense? You’re going so far. Of course, of course…”

Of course, I will like you again.

Because…

“I’ve been liking you all along.”

I tried to deny it with a stubborn heart, but I knew the truth.

I liked you.

Even after that day.

I tried to pretend to forget for a moment and live as if nothing happened, but where would that feeling go?

“You know. I drew a lot of illustrations for your novels.”

“I remember.”

“But if you explain vaguely. When a female character comes out and you describe her as having no specific characteristics but just being pretty, do you know what happens?”

I crossed my legs and rested my chin on my hand, smiling bitterly as I complained.

“When I come to my senses, I find myself drawing you. When I was a woman, Min Jisoo.”

I liked you so much that I would instinctively draw you if asked to draw the prettiest person. There was no other word to describe how much I liked you.

“But now you’re telling me to run away alone?”

The score keeps going up.

What kind of eyes Lager is looking at me with, what kind of breath he’s exhaling, and what he’s trying to say. Just by looking at those eyes, nose, and lips, the score goes up.

“Ale.”

Lager, who had been listening to me for a while, finally opened his mouth with a strained expression.

“I feel the same way. When I think of the most beautiful appearance in a novel, when I think of the most ideal protagonist, it’s always you moving in my heart.”

Lager smiled at me.

And at the same time, he cried.

“You were always the protagonist in my life.”

So what now?

What’s the point of creating such a desperate situation and then crying about it now?

“Can I come back? I won’t ask you that.”

“……”

“There’s no way to do that, right?”

Lager nodded while crying.

If he already knew about the system, he could naturally infer that point.

When the author dies, that world is destroyed, and even the original Earth is threatened. There’s no way to just abandon everything and come back to Earth.

Even if there was.

Lager wouldn’t do that.

So this is the end.

This is the last time we face each other and have a conversation.

Never again.

I won’t be able to see Lager for the rest of my life.

Thinking like that made my chest tighten suddenly.

And then.

Tears poured out.

“Oh, why is this… no, you, when I think about the things you’ve done, it makes me so annoyed, but why suddenly, no, ah…”

He wiped away his tears, speaking incoherently.

I know. I understand.

“I hate things like you, ugh, I really hate it. I hate being put in this situation, ugh, it’s the worst. You, you’re really…”

I know that saying these things won’t lower the score.

But even for a minute.

Even for a second, can’t I reduce the score?

But I quickly gave up.

This is really the end, and there’s no way to turn back. Lager must be thinking about what I look like now and how he’ll have to endure living in this world where he might die at any moment.

Let’s not do that.

I’m suffering too.

“Lager.”

“Yeah.”

“Kiss me.”

With good memories.

I want to be remembered with soft and warm memories.

Lager slowly pulled his body out of the healing device and reached out his arm towards me.

And gently reached out his hand to cup my cheek.

He leaned in.

Our lips met.

I closed my eyes. Maybe in that brief moment when all the points were filled, I desperately wished for a new quest to appear as a condition to give up on regression, if there was a way to not part with Lager.

“…Ah.”

When I opened my eyes.

Lager was gone.

Familiar ceiling. Familiar bookshelves, bed, and workspace.

Even the familiar atmosphere and smell.

Oh.

It’s Earth.

It’s my room.

That was real.

Without any choice.

I really came back.

I laughed in disappointment.

And then, disbelief overwhelmed me, and tears flowed.

Damn it.

That bastard Lager.

Min Jisoo, you evil bastard.

“What if I really send you away….”

I muttered with a voice mixed with tears, clutching my head.

But.

“…Huh?”

Something was off.

I tried speaking again.

“Ah, ah. Ahem. Ahhh.”

Although it has been a long time, it’s only been about 3-4 months. It’s too short of a time to forget my original voice.

I quickly looked down. And using my usual familiar sense, I swayed my hips above.

It’s still the same.

But it’s strange.

What happened?

“What the heck.”

I couldn’t believe it, so I quickly searched around for my phone. As usual, I took out my phone that was charging at the head of the bed and checked myself in selfie mode.

“This can’t be happening.”

I am not Cha Yujin.

I am Aylee Chloe.

I have returned to Earth just as I appeared in the novel.