—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
I wouldn’t form attachments. I had repeated those words to myself countless times. It was an essential mindset for a regressor.
This world was a game.
Everyone but me was an NPC or an extra.
When I regressed, they would all disappear.
All events would be reset, and the memories we shared would be forgotten. They would reappear before me as different people.
Therefore, forming attachments was foolish.
The more attached I became, the harder it was to deceive them, to face them. And the more I feared regression…
But things didn’t always go as planned. I wasn’t a machine, I was human. Even if I tried to avoid it, I couldn’t help but form attachments.
I couldn’t help but feel affection for good people. Even the strongest animosity eventually turned into a complicated mix of love and hate. Even if I tried to forget, the memories lingered.
It was inevitable.
But I never crossed the line. No, I couldn’t. The system prevented it.
If I crossed the line and developed a certain level of intimacy with the main heroines, their affection levels would hit 100%, triggering an ending and resetting the loop.
That’s why I was trained to avoid crossing that line. It was a deeply ingrained psychological barrier. I had even been mistaken for being impotent on numerous occasions.
But today…
“You seem so aloof, but you’re not, are you? You’re just pretending. You deliberately avoid forming attachments. Why?”
“…”
“Because you know… everyone will leave eventually?”
“I won’t deny that.”
“Every meeting is followed by a parting. It’s just a matter of time. It’s all the same. So, Yoo-jin… don’t suppress your feelings so much. You’ll only end up hurting yourself. Acknowledge that partings make meetings precious, and be honest…”
I could feel it. I was being persuaded by Cornelia.
I hadn’t said a word about regression or the system, yet she seemed to see right through me, dismantling my arguments one by one. It felt like she was calling me a coward.
And she was right. I was a coward, afraid of parting, unable to initiate relationships.
But then I realized, listening to her words, that I hadn’t been cautious, I had been half-hearted.
I hadn’t given this loop my all, always preparing for the next one.
How could I expect to win the heroines’ hearts if I was afraid to give mine?
A coward, always looking ahead, could never achieve the best possible outcome.
‘Should I have… been honest from the beginning…?’
My heart shouldn’t have been hidden. Perhaps I could have cleared the game long ago if I had been honest.
I had prolonged my suffering, all because I was afraid of parting.
‘Partings make meetings precious…’
There was no meeting without a parting. Every relationship had an end. And even after parting, the memories remained.
Their value lingered within my heart. I had to acknowledge that. But I had been using my regression as a crutch, postponing the inevitable, seeking relationships without endings.
Perhaps that’s why my regression was blocked.
Perhaps it was because my behavior was unsightly, cowardly. Perhaps it was because I kept running away, and the system, frustrated, was forcing me to finally confront my problems head-on.
‘This is the last loop. I won’t hide my feelings anymore.’
Cornelia’s small piece of advice had given me a great epiphany. I wouldn’t suppress my feelings any longer.
And only then, at this moment, did I truly realize it. Cornelia’s affection for me. And I… I didn’t dislike her.
No, I definitely liked her.
I finally acknowledged the feelings I had been denying. Cornelia wasn’t a main heroine, so crossing the line with her wouldn’t trigger an ending.
There was no reason to hesitate any longer.
“Hmm…”
It was a light kiss.
It had been so long, it felt like my first time.
My body trembled. A pleasure I hadn’t felt in twelve years surged through me. Cornelia seemed equally overwhelmed, unable to regain her composure.
There was a hint of fear in her eyes as she looked up at me, but her arms around my neck tightened.
Our embrace was passionate, but our lips moved clumsily. We kissed awkwardly, like a virgin and a novice, even though neither of us were.
“Mm…”
An uncontrollable urge overwhelmed me.
I pushed her against the door.
Thud.
As our lips met again…
“Cornelia?”
A familiar voice called out from beyond the door.
My eyes widened.
A chill ran down my spine. I tried to lift my head, but Cornelia’s grip on the back of my neck tightened, preventing me.
Perhaps this was the right course of action.
If I pulled away, I might have cried out.
“Cornelia, are you in there?”
“…”
Knock, knock, knock.
The door rattled.
Oblivious to the knocking, we continued to kiss, sharing breaths, calming our racing hearts.
When we finally regained our composure, I gently disentangled myself from Cornelia’s embrace.
I carefully pulled away, trying to avoid making a sound. I thought we hadn’t exchanged saliva, but a thin string stretched between our lips before snapping.
“Yes, I’m here.”
“May I come in?”
“No! I’m changing!”
“You’re changing right in front of the door…?”
“I forgot to lock it, so I came to lock it now.”
“Ah…”
The conversation continued through the closed door.
Meanwhile, Cornelia quickly changed from her skirt into the pants she had left on the sofa and pointed towards the window.
I nodded and quietly made my way to the window.
‘I’ve gathered all the information I need. And I’ve confirmed that Cornelia is safe.’
The white smoke Jill had seen… Honestly, I hadn’t taken it seriously in the first loop. There was no mention of it in the original story…
Even so, I had followed Jill’s lead back then, simply to indulge her. But now that Cornelia had mentioned the same thing, it was unlikely to be a lie.
Perhaps Jill really could see the white smoke.
There was another threat lurking in Cologne.
I reached that conclusion, listening to Cornelia’s story.
‘This is…’
As I was about to jump out the window, I noticed something inside the room.
The mana stone I had given Cornelia.
Not the top-grade one from Elvenguard, but the cheap, mid-grade one I had given her as a gift, along with a letter, after clearing my first dungeon with her support.
It was displayed as if it were a precious gem.
‘Hurry up!’
Cornelia, now fully dressed, mouthed silently.
I grinned and jumped out the window.
“I’m done changing. What did you want to talk about?”
“Um… I needed some advice. Were you… with someone else in there?”
“No? Why would you think that?”
“Just… a feeling…”
I landed softly, using the wall’s crevices as footholds. Cornelia closed the window and drew the curtains.
I slipped over the mansion’s wall.
Undecided, who had been waiting by the roadside, kicking pebbles, ran towards me.
“Let’s go. I’m done.”
“…Yoo-jin. Something… changed.”
“What?”
“…I don’t know. But… you’re different.”
“In a bad way?”
“…No. In a good way.”
I thought I saw a faint smile on Undecided’s face, but perhaps it was just my imagination.
‘Come to think of it, Undecided played a big part in me starting to form attachments.’
Cornelia’s words had easily swayed me, and Undecided was the reason.
I had broken my resolve to treat her as a tool, not a person. She had become precious to me. But that didn’t mean I was weaker.
People were strongest when protecting what they cherished.
If I lost Undecided, I would be heartbroken. But I would overcome it.
I would be much stronger than the cold, calculating version of myself who treated her as a tool.
That much was certain.
“I’ve decided to be honest with my feelings from now on.”
“…Oh. What… feelings?”
“I’ve accepted it. I seem to be the type who can love multiple women at the same time.”
“…Scumbag.”
Undecided’s sharp rebuke stung, but it was the truth.
These were my true feelings. What else could I do?
It wasn’t indecisiveness. I loved all three main heroines I had pursued for twelve loops, and I loved Cornelia.
Even knowing that our time together was limited, I could confidently confess my feelings.
“Now, let’s investigate the sewers. If there’s anything suspicious in Cologne, it’s likely to be there.”
“…Scumbag.”
“Belphegor isn’t here, but another Heavenly King might appear. So be careful.”
“…Scumbag.”
It seemed Undecided had developed a new verbal tic.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
|Hee hee hee hee hee!*|
Drip, drop.
Water droplets echoed through the sewers.
A sinister laughter reverberated through the darkness.
It was a massive rainwater tunnel built long ago beneath the cathedral to prevent Cologne from flooding, but it had been closed due to its age and the risk of collapse.
From the walls of the sealed tunnel…
|Hee hee hee hee hee!*|
A person, no, a spirit emerged.
The spirit, having passed through the wall, stumbled towards the tunnel’s depths. Inside, countless people stood in neat rows, their faces lifeless, like mannequins.
The spirit examined them one by one, then stopped before a woman, smiling brightly.
|Hee hee, I choose you!*|
The spirit entered the woman’s mouth.
Color returned to her pale face, and life returned to her eyes.
She mimicked the spirit’s slack-jawed expression and began to stumble forward.
|You’re finally here!|
A long object floated through a small drain. The woman retrieved it and tore off the tape wrapped around it.
A human corpse was revealed.
She caressed the body lovingly and infused it with demonic energy, preserving it from decay, making it appear lifelike even in death, turning it into her puppet.
|That’s ingredient number 665! Hee hee! It’s almost time!|
The woman placed the new puppet alongside the others and stumbled towards the center of the formation.
A giant spider’s corpse lay there, a deep wound in its abdomen.
|Kali, just wait a little longer. Hee hee. I’ll revive you soon. No one ever comes here, so there’s no need to worry about interruptions. Hee hee…|
The woman caressed the female torso protruding from the spider’s body and let out a chilling laugh.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
…Scumbag
…Scumbag
…Scumbag