Chapter 685: I Erased My Memories (2)
“Why all of a sudden?”
‘I don’t know. Sh*t.’
“Are you alright? Do you happen to have a headache…?”
Park Deokgu’s face with a blank expression began to look blurry.
Next to me, Cho Hyejin was making a fuss.
Even I didn’t even understand how things were going at that moment, so how much more would it be for Park Deokgu and Cho Hyejin?
It was ridiculous.
I didn’t know how to react to the tears that were flowing from my eyes. I wanted it to stop, but I couldn’t control my emotions properly.
Not only was my view getting blurry, but their voices were slowly disappearing as well. The situation in which my body wasn’t listening was beyond confusing and scary.
“What? Are you sick? What are you feeling? Do you have a headache? A disease?”
“I’ll call Hee-young or Elena now. No, I’m sure they’re inside.”
‘No, sh*t, don’t do that. It’s not because of that.’
I couldn’t seem to calm myself down. I was forcing myself to bite my lips so I wouldn’t let out any sounds, but I still couldn’t stop crying.
While Park Deokgu hurriedly ran, grabbed my shoulder, and checked my face, the tears showed no sign of stopping.
“Wait, what’s in your eyes…”
I knew it sounded ridiculous, but he was worried enough to say that.
“What’s in there? No, we need to talk about what’s wrong.”
“Hyung-nim…”
“…”
“…”
‘I can do better.’
“Noona, is hyung-nim okay? Why all of a sudden…”
‘I’m not bluffing. I’m telling you.’
“Is it a headache? No, why am I the only one who doesn’t know about this?”
‘I said that I’d save you, hyung-nim. Do you still remember that?’
“You’re really sick, aren’t you? What’s wrong with you all of a sudden?”
‘Do you remember how many times you saved my life, hyung-nim?’
“Oh, did something happen? Something difficult…”
‘I don’t think so. Whatever you say, it doesn’t change that you saved me. The same goes for the mental and physical parts. Thank you for being stabbed several times for me.’
“Uh… Woo, don’t cry. Why do you keep crying? Look, I’m crying now too because you are…”
‘Thank you for defending me when I went to the dungeon, and thank you for choosing me. No matter how hard I look back on my memory, I feel like I’ve only been saved by you. That’s the only memory I have, and I owe you. So it’s my turn now.’
“No… no, don’t cry. Why do you keep…? Well, say something.”
‘I told you for sure that I would save you, hyung-nim. Don’t forget that.’
“Calm down, please.”
‘If you can do it… I can do better.’
“Calm down, calm down. It’ll be alright.”
‘What you can do… I can do it as well.’
“Everything’s going to be fine. I mean… well, I don’t know what it’s about… But you don’t have to worry about anything.”
‘Hyung-nim, If you can… I can…’
“…”
‘I can do better…’
“…”
‘If you can…’
“…”
‘I can… I can…’
“…”
‘Yes, I can…’
“This…”
‘…’
“You crazy pig. You dog. You useless pig.”
“…”
“Saying such things out of nowhere… I’m a little hurt…”
“Get off of me, pig.”
“…”
“You smell like sweat. Get out of here, quickly.”
“I-I was in a hurry because I didn’t have much time… And… and that’s not what matters now. Why all of a sudden? No, what…”
“Nevermind.”
“How can I not care…”
“…”
“…”
“It’s really not a big deal, so don’t worry. And get off of me quickly.”
Only then did he take a step back.
My voice kept shaking, but I could feel myself stabilizing little by little over time. Slowly, my world began to return to its original state.
Park Deokgu, who was dying in the first round, had now returned to his current appearance. Of course, no voice was heard from him.
‘What the h.e.l.l was that.’
Unknowingly, when I recalled the scene of the first episode, my head started pounding.
Once again, when I hurriedly shook my head when I felt like I was getting tearful, Park Deokgu looked at me with a trembling face.
‘That pig.’
I didn’t know why that b.a.s.t.a.r.d was doing that, but it really did feel uncomfortable to show tears in my eyes.
Cho Hyejin was also looking as if she was more panicked than I was.
Her face turned red, perhaps confused by my unexpected behavior.
As I took a short breath and exhaled slowly, I felt that the sensation of the moment had completely disappeared.
It was a little close, but there was no big problem.
Maybe it was because another issue that suddenly came into my mind filled my head.
‘What is it? Sh*t, what is it? Why did I see that all of a sudden, and why did I cry in the first place?’
I didn’t want to imagine it, but I thought I could find the answer quickly when I thought about it in a one-dimensional way.
Of course, it was a ridiculous a.s.sumption. It was an a.s.sumption with a slim chance, and there was no evidence. I just had the interest to support my hypothesis.
The memory of the first round.
Maybe it’s because I had recovered the memory of the black world. Maybe it’s not just the memory, but the emotions of that time poured all at once into my heart.
‘What kind of bullsh*t situation is this?’
It was unclear how I recovered, but it wasn’t strange to think that Lucifer helped.
a.s.suming that my memory of the first round was related to Lucifer and our bet, and that I deleted my memory to win the game, it sort of made sense.
The puzzle wasn’t perfectly set, but the picture on the puzzle continued. It was just the right timing. When I saw Park Deokgu before, he didn’t react like that.
If it happened between that day and when I met Park Deokgu and talked about the landing operation, I understood.
Of course, I could a.s.sume that I had been suppressing it because I found a clue, but the a.s.sumption that was more likely to happen was the former.
To be honest, I didn’t think I’d change just because I recalled my memory of the first timeline.
However, if the bet was related to Kim Hyunsung…
‘There must be a
Unlike me, who called Kim Hyunsung a lovely regressor, Lee Kiyoung, in the first round, seemed to hate Kim Hyunsung.
If I had accepted my memory of the first round, I would have judged that it would have an adverse effect on Kim Hyunsung somehow.
The bad effect would mean losing the bet with Lucifer.
Maybe she didn’t like the first timeline in the first place…
‘So is there still something left?’
Personally, I wanted that hypothesis to be right.
There was nothing to confirm yet, but it was much more hopeful than the one-time ego of Lee Kiyoung that started to wriggle in me.
Two consciousnesses fought each other in one body, and clichés played, shouting at each other to ‘get out of my body! you Masked Trash!’
It meant that I didn’t want to ask myself questions such as dogsh*t philosophy about whether Kiyoung 1 and Kiyoung 2 were the same people.
‘Someday, you’ll pay for your lies, disgusting piece of sh*t. Remember me. I’ll make sure you pay for it. ‘
The famous line of the Masked Trash, Jin Qing, who said so, lingered in my head, but I couldn’t help but shake my head hard.
‘There’s room for trouble…’
There was confidence that the case should continue to be investigated, but I wasn’t prepared to take responsibility for the consequences.
If my hypothesis was really correct… then it was already a confirmed story that everything would go wrong.
The fact that Kim Hyunsung, a lovely regressor, suddenly started to look like a dog in the eyes of the public was tantamount to declaring that we should go bankrupt together.
I thought that I would be itching to punch him in the back of the head.
I was certain that the spirit of the mask in my body would cry out for Kim Hyunsung’s back.
“And why are you standing so blank? Do you really have a problem?”
To be honest, I still felt uneasy.
Big emotions were shaking me up.
There was no reason that what happened when I saw Park Deokgu wouldn’t happen if I saw Kim Hyunsung.
I wasn’t even sure if entering the meeting place was a good idea at that moment.
“As expected, it would be better to just rest today. Why don’t you see a doctor first? No, it’s better to check what’s going on, even if it’s not medical. Did you know that you’ve been really weird today?”
“…”
“To exaggerate a little, Vice Guild Master… You look crazy right now.”
“Well, what are you talking about? What the h.e.l.l are you talking about? Why do I have so many things that I don’t know? You guys have to tell me so that I can help with something.”
‘You piece of sh*t, you staying still will be more helpful.’
“You don’t have to, Hyejin. And Deokgu, please be quiet. It’s not a big deal. It’s because I have something to think about… It’s not like that. Let’s hurry up and go in. They’re probably waiting.”
“Are you sure it’s not a big deal?”
“It’s really no big deal. I can bet on Benignore. Just get in there. Don’t talk about the problem that just happened, and the same goes for Hyejin. I don’t want to ruin the mood, so let’s let them know after today instead. It’s best to just bury it. What are you doing? Let’s go in now.”
“…”
“…”
“Get in.”
Only then did we sneak past the door after exchanging glances. Naturally, the interior was immediately visible.
The gathering was fancy but not too much, considering that we were on the brink of war.
I thought it would be in full swing, but it seemed like they were waiting for us. I opened the door curiously because I thought it was right to check it myself, but I bit my lips without realizing it.
It was because I couldn’t predict a single response.
The first thing that came into view was Hayan.
“Over… Over here, Oppa.”
She exaggeratedly waved her hands and called me to her side.
I was worried that my sorry feelings toward Jung Hayan might explode, but I didn’t think there was anything wrong so far. She looked as cute as ever.
‘I should enjoy this, right?’
It didn’t pop out as I did with Park Deokgu.
Next up, I saw Sun Hee-Young nodding slowly.
I thought I would feel something different as I had been active with her, but there were no signs of that either.
Kim Ye-ri, Ahn Ki-mo, Kim Chang-ryul, Yoo Ah-young, and Hw.a.n.g Jeong-yeon had no contact point with me in the first round, so they didn’t matter much. The same went for Elena.
The new guild member Alps was naturally excluded as well. I looked back once again, but even when I looked at Cho Hyejin, I didn’t react the same as when I was with Park Deokgu.
The problem was Kim Hyunsung.
Right after I showed up, he came out of the door and greeted me.
“Kiyoung.”
I opened my mouth as if I had something to say, but I had no choice but to pa.s.s by for the time being.
“Here you are…”
“Long time no see, Chang-ryul. How long has it been?”
“Kiyoung… I mean…”
“You seem to grow every time I see you, Chang-ryul.”
“…”
“…”
‘What am I going to do? I can’t look into your eyes.’
“Well…”
The moment I made eye contact, I felt like I wanted to hit the back of his head.
‘Why am I even here? Oh, sh*t, I want to hit the back of his head so badly.’