#138
Silence. Jung Yi-dam’s restless movements as he leaned against the chair suddenly stopped.
“What did you just say?”
Jung Yi-dam’s gaze was so dark that it could be clearly distinguished even through Ki Baek-woo’s blurry vision. His pupils were dilated like a hunting animal, almost swallowing his irises. It was an unpleasant sight. Ki Baek-woo frowned and asked again.
“Tell me what you know. What this place is, how it works.”
“…And you? Do you know?”
“I do.”
“How?”
Jung Yi-dam was staring directly at Ki Baek-woo without blinking once. His blatant gaze and slow speech pattern. For some reason, he appeared excited. There was something unsettling about his voice, which trembled slightly towards the end of his sentences. Huff, huff. Jung Yi-dam’s breathing was becoming increasingly rapid. He was clearly having disturbing thoughts. Ki Baek-woo reflected on his previous encounters with Jung Yi-dam and responded coldly.
“Just answer what I’m asking. However I found out, does that really matter?”
Jung Yi-dam answered immediately, as if he had been waiting for this.
“It matters.”
With a face that seemed almost entranced and blindly devoted, he abruptly stood up from his seat. His passionate and exaggerated movement sent the heavy chair crashing backward with a loud thud. Jung Yi-dam lunged at Ki Baek-woo like a beast. His hands clung persistently to Ki Baek-woo’s battered face.
“Why wouldn’t it matter? What could be more important in this world? Nothing is more important than love. System…? Did you say system? Do you know what the system is? Have you figured out what kind of garbage dump this place is? How? You were just a fool who was being manipulated like an idiot even with Lee Han-sol by your side. You were no different from the others—a pathetic imbecile who didn’t know what true love was, who couldn’t praise its greatness…!”
Jung Yi-dam’s rough hands scratched across various parts of Ki Baek-woo’s face. Ki Baek-woo’s well-organized features gave the impression of someone who had grown up privileged. His face, now made vulnerable by wounds scattered here and there. Jung Yi-dam’s burning hot palms rubbed against them as if trying to crush them. It was a vicious touch. He whispered in a voice deeply fascinated by something.
“It’s because you love him, right?”
“Get your filthy hands off me.”
“Ah, yes. It’s love after all…. In the end, love has turned a fool into a human being…. Like Beauty and the Beast, Han-sol has finally turned a beast like you into a human. Among the miserable filth who wouldn’t know what love is even in death, you were lucky enough to be by his side, growing by consuming the god of love… And yet, a stupid bastard who only committed sins until the end… has finally overcome everything through love…!”
“You were just pretending to know things by scraping together past data not too long ago, and now you’ve even noticed the system! Amazing. How did someone as inadequate as you suddenly become enlightened? Why? Aren’t you curious? Shall I tell you?”
Jung Yi-dam clung persistently to Ki Baek-woo, who was trying to push him away. He continued to ramble on, excited by himself.
“It’s because you were abandoned…! You needed to hold onto Lee Han-sol, but Lee Han-sol, who knows so much, couldn’t be held by someone who knows nothing! You instinctively sensed it—you realized that if you didn’t match his level, you’d be abandoned forever! You were backed into a corner!”
Jung Yi-dam’s eyes gleamed wildly as he examined Ki Baek-woo like a test subject. Flushed cheeks, unfocused eyes. “I told you, I already knew, so I already said it!” Jung Yi-dam muttering incomprehensible words to himself definitely didn’t appear to be in his right mind.
Sometime in a previous cycle, when Ki Baek-woo was panicking after realizing Lee Han-sol’s death, Jung Yi-dam had crushed him, shouting that “Lee Han-sol is the only god who can save me from this insufferable hell,” and furiously condemning him, saying his love wasn’t perfect so he should get away from Lee Han-sol’s side. He looked similar to that half-crazed Jung Yi-dam now.
“I’ve already said it hundreds of millions of times! Love means defying death! It means overcoming all barriers! Yes, now you understand too, right? True love conquers all! Look at yourself! A clueless idiot who now, on his own, without me even having to intervene…! Yes, this isn’t my doing. If I could have done it, I would have done it long ago. But I can’t mess with the target character. So what I’m saying is, you figured out on your own what kind of garbage dump this world is!”
Ki Baek-woo’s movement to push Jung Yi-dam away momentarily stopped. The words scattered throughout Jung Yi-dam’s frenzied outburst were disturbing. Strange expressions. Target character, intervened, or didn’t intervene, yet Ki Baek-woo on his own…. Ki Baek-woo glared at Jung Yi-dam’s face, which was now right in front of him. What he was babbling about sounded almost like….
“In the end, I made your inadequate love perfect. Because I recognized Lee Han-sol, because I felt he would be my salvation! If I hadn’t realized that, if I had been a pathetic amoeba who didn’t know what love was, an insignificant piece of filth unworthy of salvation, could we have come this far? No way…! From beginning to end, from the moment I realized Lee Han-sol was a destined being who came to reveal the existence of love to me, to making Lee Han-sol remember everything and eventually abandon you—it was all my doing! I proved love, it was me!”
“What on earth are you saying…”
“The power that makes everything possible, that transcends everything… Ah, that’s love indeed. Yes, that’s exactly what I need….”
Jung Yi-dam, who had been talking so much he was out of breath, suddenly fell silent. His persistent voice overflowing with desire, his gleaming eyes, his dilated pupils. Jung Yi-dam’s face, which had been raging like someone obsessed with ‘love’ itself, instantly became cold. What remained on his face after the excitement subsided was bleakness.
He said, “But this isn’t mine either.”
In a voice filled with disgust.
“It’s not mine. It’s not mine…. This damn…”
I should just die. This world is hopeless. It’s not worth living in. I feel like I’m going insane from how tedious it is.
A warm light flowed from Jung Yi-dam’s hands, which were still clinging to Ki Baek-woo’s face. Immediately, Ki Baek-woo’s skin, which had been covered with wounds, became clean. His vision, which had been blurry and whitish, also became clear. It was Jung Yi-dam’s ability. And Ki Baek-woo didn’t miss this opportunity to grab him by the collar. He demanded in a low voice.
“Don’t even think about trying to escape. Tell me straight. What do you mean by that?”
“I just healed you when you were nearly dead, and this is how you repay me.”
“Don’t change the subject. Before I kill you.”
“Kill me? You… kill me? Is that even possible…?”
Ki Baek-woo pushed Jung Yi-dam backward by the collar. The IV pole, the bedside table, the lamp and clock on it all crashed loudly to the floor along with Jung Yi-dam. Ki Baek-woo immediately climbed on top of Jung Yi-dam, who was shaking his head as if dizzy, and grabbed him by the throat.
“Tell me. What do you mean it wasn’t your doing? Then who did you manipulate?”
“Is that what you’re curious about?”
“Answer me.”
Ki Baek-woo’s hands tightened around Jung Yi-dam’s straight neck. As if threatening to break it soon. His eyes, overflowing with hatred, were glaring at him murderously, but Jung Yi-dam remained unfazed. He simply snickered and whispered as if spreading an amusing rumor.
“Who else could it be but Han-sol… I did that to him.”
“What did you do to hyung?”
“I’m the protagonist, aren’t I? The center of the system, the most important part of the system…. Accessing the programming code of characters like Han-sol is nothing if I set my mind to it.”
“…And then?”
“So, I changed Han-sol’s data settings a bit. Originally, when a new cycle begins after an ending, the data of all characters except me should be erased… but I made it so Han-sol couldn’t forget. So he could remember everything—what you did to him, how painful it was—every single detail.”
“…Why? Why would you do that to hyung?”
“Because I was curious if he could continue to love someone like you even knowing everything. If he could stay by your side even with his heart and mind in tatters, if such love really exists… I wanted to know.”
“Just for that…?”
“But he endured too well. So later, I became curious about how long he could hold out. When he would get tired, how long a love without system enforcement would remain valid. Then, if he got tired of you like now and deviated from the story, he would give me freedom, ugh.”
A fire blazed in Ki Baek-woo’s eyes. His hands filled with strength.
This was a world where everything was planned, governed by a program. There was an already structured story, and it was so unfair that it only pushed Lee Han-sol out. Lee Han-sol had done nothing wrong. The reason he had to be sad was simply because it was predetermined. He was the biggest victim of this wretched world.
Ki Baek-woo found Jung Yi-dam horrifying for saying he had inflicted additional pain on such a person just out of his own curiosity, solely for his own needs. He was indescribably disgusted by the person who had made Lee Han-sol and himself like this. Jung Yi-dam and the system became indistinguishable. Both appeared to be the same evil.
“Gak…!”
“Why did you torment him? If you wanted to vent, you could have done it to me. Why did it have to be hyung? What did hyung ever do wrong to you!”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
