Lee Hyo-ju, Shaking Off The Past

As soon as I entered the room, Lee Hyo-ju who greeted me was completely defenseless.

A face stained with tears, sitting collapsed on the floor.

And even blood gathered on her lips from when she had bitten them.

Even Lee Hyo-ju, who was always rational and never flustered, was stunned and shocked by the sudden situation and couldn’t utter a word.

Worried another member might see, I hurriedly closed her door, lowered myself, and met Lee Hyo-ju at eye level.

I opened my inventory and took out a top-grade potion. I opened the cap, dropped a few drops on my index finger, and slowly applied it to Lee Hyo-ju’s bloodied lips, still spaced out.

True to the potion’s quality, as soon as I applied it Lee Hyo-ju’s lips quickly returned to normal.

A different Lee Hyo-ju than before. I’d seen this look once before. Only once.

And that was Lee Hyo-ju’s last appearance.

Shaking off my unease, I asked her sharply but briefly.

“What’s going on?”

“Ah, no, it’s nothing.”

But despite Lee Hyo-ju’s words I spoke decisively. It was a conclusion with solid reasons.

“No, something’s definitely wrong with you. You know I can gauge someone’s condition to some extent, right? In this state I’d have to leave you alone in the legion house and go on the expedition.”

Using the expedition as an excuse, I asked about the stress and self-harm Lee Hyo-ju was undergoing. Then…….

“…sob. sobsob!”

Lee Hyo-ju is crying…? Maybe because in my previous life I only saw her cry once. Her crying face felt unfamiliar.

Also, when she cried that first and last time, I remembered her sobbing with her hand on my heart, and my chest ached and felt heavy.

I subconsciously stepped back a little, and Lee Hyo-ju lunged into my arms, crying miserably for a long time.

She cried so pitifully I couldn’t bring myself to pull away; I could only pat her shoulder.

After sobbing as if expelling all the stress and resentment from her chest, Lee Hyo-ju sniffled and said something that made me doubt my ears.

“I… sniff— I heard it. Sob— that you’re a returnee, Kim Han. From Aetas.”

“…What?”

Her disjointed words were unlike her, but just the words ‘returnee’ and ‘Aetas’ were enough to make me jerk back in alarm.

Fortunately Lee Hyo-ju was busy wiping her tears and composing herself, not looking at me.

Trying not to show my surprise, I asked her.

“What did Aetas say? Exactly.”

“Huu… She said that Kim Han returned because of me. And he saw fragmented memories involving me and Kim Han. And the final battle, briefly.”

“……”

The moment Lee Hyo-ju finished speaking, I couldn’t keep a calm expression.

Above all, Ludiker must be watching this situation too—what a nuclear bomb of information.

It was at that moment my inventory opened on its own and a notebook-like book unfolded itself before me.

A single notebook floating in midair.

It was the “Spellbook — Is Anyone There?” I had received as a Monster Wave gift.

—Kim Han, are you alright? As when Manus intervened before, I cannot monitor Kim Han.

Ludiker can’t check us right now? Why? For what reason?

I’ll think about that later. For now, I need to report the situation. Maybe if she tries to intervene like last time she might learn something.

I quickly wrote on the spellbook with my finger.

—I’m fine. More importantly, can’t you see me?

—Yes.

—That’s strange. Okay, it won’t take long.

—Yes. Please be careful.

The spellbook folded itself and returned to the inventory. Is that how it works? If I write it down it automatically pops up in front of Ludiker?

Anyway, I’ll think about that later; it’s not important right now.

I turned my gaze to Lee Hyo-ju, who was staring at me blankly.

“Lee Hyo-ju, exactly what did you see?”

“…I glimpsed Kim Han loving me for 25 years—no, loving me. You confessed seventeen times, and I saw all of them being rejected in less than five minutes. And… huu… the final battle. The final battle with Violentia!”

Was she recalling the scene as she spoke? A faint killing intent lingered in Lee Hyo-ju’s voice.

Who was that intent aimed at? Violentia? Unos? Or herself?

It seemed there was a lot we needed to share with each other.

Lee Hyo-ju slowly recounted, from her perspective, the things she had seen one by one.

The past Kim Han endlessly courting the past Lee Hyo-ju.

The past Lee Hyo-ju who knew of Unos’s betrayal in advance but didn’t show it.

Before the final war, the past Lee Hyo-ju who had some inkling of Unos’s plan but took no particular action.

The past Lee Hyo-ju who comforted and rationalized herself by believing she had saved her comrades from danger.

And finally, the past version of herself who killed Kim Han, who was striving to save her till the end.

“I can’t understand it! That was the past… no, the future…? A past life? Whatever it was, that was me! There’s no way I’d be such an idiot! If I were me—if I were the present me in that situation I wouldn’t wish for something as pathetic as erasing memories! At least I’d have wished to kill that bitch Violentia.”

“…What wish?”

There was something odd about Lee Hyo-ju’s words, poured out like a lament.

“I… I made a wish on the condition that I would send Kim Han back in time. Stupid me in the dream… I wished to have all my memories erased.”

What was this again? When she met Aetas on Earth she told me she had asked not to become a representative in exchange for killing me.

“Are you saying that in your previous life—your past life—you wanted your memories completely erased?”

“Yes……”

“Not to become a representative again?”

“Ah… She did make that kind of offer, Aetas did. She said she’d erase my memories and consider not taking me as a representative when the Battlefield of the Gods opened again. That was an uncertain promise, and the divine oath specifically promised to ‘completely erase my memories as a representative.’”

Now it started to make some sense.

No matter how high-ranking a god Aetas is, she can’t refuse what she promised.

But contrary to what she said to me, she blatantly made Lee Hyo-ju a representative. That’s absurd.

And yet Aetas still exerts power and lives on. I’d always wondered, but I couldn’t ask because other gods—especially Ludiker—were always present.

“But you said she promised by divine oath to erase your memories—so how did you recover them… Ah! Is that it?”

“Yes. She certainly kept her promise to erase my memories. She just never promised not to resurrect them again, so Aetas technically kept her promise.”

It was frustrating. The same Lee Hyo-ju who had been sobbing from stress a moment ago was calmly defending Aetas now.

I couldn’t understand her psychology or Aetas’s reasoning.

“Why on earth did Aetas restore those memories?”

“I… I asked her.”

“How did you know?”

“I sensed something odd in Aetas’s slip of the tongue.”

“Slip of the tongue…? Hah!”

Lee Hyo-ju, tearful and looking up at me, was not like her usual self.

She should have been able to rationally suspect some Medical Arts in Aetas’s actions, but she hadn’t noticed at all.

It reminded me of Hazel in bed, excited—following emotions blindly, unlike her usual self….

Even gods can slip up. That’s part of why Creator fangirls berate me, a mere human.

The Creator isn’t perfect either, so it’s not strange for a god to make a slip of the tongue.

The problem is Aetas revealed something she considered most important—something only the Creator, Aetas, and Sophia knew even among all gods—to Lee Hyo-ju. And so easily?

‘She can’t be that sloppy. Despite her actions, she’s clever.’

Then what Medical Arts did Aetas have in mind when she told Lee Hyo-ju that huge secret?

“And now I know why Kim Han doesn’t like me.”

Her low, resolute voice pulled me out of my reverie.

Lee Hyo-ju looked at me with a look of regret and injustice.

“Kim Han doesn’t like me, huh……”

“Yes. Kim Han doesn’t like me.”

She might be right.

To be precise, she makes me uncomfortable.

It’s like those things you don’t notice when someone’s madly in love, but realize when you take a step back. It’s like that.

The past-life Lee Hyo-ju was extremely rational, but when it came to Unos she was maddeningly emotional.

If I stayed behind to block the enemy and ordered a retreat, would Lee Hyo-ju comply?

She learned magic, but would she approve of someone like me—a vanguard—charging into battle?

“I…”

Just as I was about to say I didn’t like her, the image of Lee Hyo-ju suffering because of Unos before the return flashed up and faded.

Was Aetas right that she had some kind of mental illness? Or did the Battlefield of the Gods and Unos cause such a condition in her?

Was I really sane before I returned?

My talents ‘Analysis’ and ‘Insight’ continued their logical assessments even in this situation. And words different from before began to come out of my mouth.

“I don’t… dislike you. No, it’s more accurate to say I like you. But what you said is also true. You killed me. You killed me while I was trying to save you. Before we leave on the expedition, I’ll execute Unos. Maybe that’s for the best. See him then and judge for yourself.”

“Huh? What?”

“Whether the feeling you call love is for me or for Unos. You didn’t know before, but now you do, right? If you beg to have him spared, I might grant it, for Unos.”

Lee Hyo-ju’s face noticeably hardened at my words. She looked so cold it was piercing. For the first time she revealed killing intent directed at ‘me.’

“Unos—do you really think I could still love that piece of trash? Seriously?”

“People’s hearts are unpredictable. Think about your past life. Does that even make sense?”

In her past life, Lee Hyo-ju’s love for Unos was bizarre, almost like a kind of mental illness.

No matter what Unos did, she supported him, and somehow forced herself to believe his words were right—that was her power.

Did Lee Hyo-ju see something too? Her mouth, ready to spit hatred, shut, and her pale brow furrowed.

Of course, the current Lee Hyo-ju is different from her past life. Whether that’s because of the special skill Gwaneum or for some other reason, I don’t know.

Even a single observation, like how she doesn’t react when another female representative stays by the side of the person she likes—unlike in her past life—shows the change.

“And one last thing.”

“……”

Lee Hyo-ju clasped her hands to her chest and looked up at me as if she would listen.

“No matter what you were like in the past, I don’t care. You were my family then and you’re my family now as a member of the Rebound Legion. So don’t agonize over the past. It’s already gone. If you have those dreams, think of them as practice problems—come up with strategies for those situations or think about escape plans.”

Maybe my words surprised her. Lee Hyo-ju opened her already-large eyes even wider and parted her lips.

Then she sprang up and pressed her lips sharply against mine again.

Once again I tasted blood.

Before the expedition departed, after eating breakfast early and while the other members were preparing, Lee Hyo-ju, Arun, and I gathered at the training ground.

Unos writhed on the floor of the training ground, and we stared blankly at him.

“Kim Han, are you going to kill this piece of trash?”

“Yes.”

“Good choice. I always hated that we sheltered and fed him! What about that bitch?”

Arun, unusually serious, glared at Unos and ground his teeth. His grudge against Unos and Katarina runs deep.

“A brothel. I made him surrender, drafted a slave contract, and sent him to a brothel. A place that serves rough men.”

I answered Arun’s question about Katarina briefly and glanced at Lee Hyo-ju’s expression.

“Shall we do it now?”

Lee Hyo-ju spoke so calmly and nonchalantly. She asked me as if she were about to slit Unos’s throat, her gaze fixed on him.

“No, wait.”

I stopped Lee Hyo-ju and waited for someone.

About twenty minutes into waiting, Shumix hurriedly approached the training ground.

“It’s ready. Start.”

“Yes!”

Lee Hyo-ju took out a ‘Transporatio.’ I thought she’d given it to someone else, but she still had it.

The Estoc, a sword specialized for thrusting, was long and tapered to a point. She placed its tip on Unos’s right thigh and thrust it in.

One characteristic of the ‘Transporatio’ was that its thickness increased from tip to hilt.

Lee Hyo-ju used divine power to drive it through not only Unos’s leg but into the training ground floor.

Blood spurted like a fountain in proportion to the widening wound.

Does Unos not feel pain? Even with a thick sword in his thigh he didn’t flinch.

But on closer inspection, it’s not that he can’t feel pain—he can’t show it. His limbs were twisted so grotesquely they couldn’t regenerate.

After probing each limb, Lee Hyo-ju thrust the ‘Transporatio’ into his abdomen and twisted. With each twist Unos trembled and expressed his pain through his whole body.

“Stop.”

Lee Hyo-ju looked at me, still not fully satisfied, then put the estoc into her magic pouch and stepped back.

I approached the groaning Unos, crouched down so he could hear, and spoke.

“Do you want to live?”

My voice was small, but did Unos hear? His pupils trembled and he forced himself to nod.

“You want to live? If you want to live, move that neck and bite this with your mouth. Then swear you’ll think positively. Don’t drop it or let time pass.”

After saying that, I placed a small potion vial on his sternum where the ribs meet and stepped back.

Unos made an awkward face, bled all over, and slowly stretched his neck out pale-faced. To him I said, as if I’d momentarily forgotten.

“Ah! The time limit is five minutes.”

Of the four of us, except me, Lee Hyo-ju and Arun were laughing, while Shumix watched with an expressionless face.

“What are you doing? Time’s ticking.”

I urged Unos again and watched him struggle to survive.

Even when he barely lifted his neck it was far from reaching. Unos struggled for a long while, then, gauging my reaction, moved his torso slightly and used a faint amount of mana to flick the vial into his mouth.

“Whoa!!”

“…Damn!”

“…Hmph!”

“……!!”

Unlike the surprised others, I was genuinely impressed by Unos’s divine power control. Impressive, isn’t it?

Unos’s mana stat is only 11. His mana rose from 1 to 11 over five years, yet with such a tiny amount he performed that feat. It’s almost a trick!

Clap clap clap—

“Amazing. Wow, I need to look at Unos again, huh?”

In a teasing tone, with a swaggering posture, I clapped and approached Unos, drawing everyone’s attention.

Unos’s eyes jittered wildly as if imagining something ominous, and he even shed tears.

“Good show. Now die.”

“Uuuuuu—!!”

“Huh? Why? Feeling wronged? What’s there to feel wronged about. I said I’d try thinking positively. Fine. Actually, I tried earlier but you didn’t seem to believe it, so from now on I’ll consider your fate with a very positive mindset. Um… um… positive, positive… nope, still not working. Die.”

“Uh, uh! Uuuuu!!”

Unos, tongue cut so his throat bulged, manages to say something.

But the others watching burst out laughing, clutching their stomachs. Especially Lee Hyo-ju—she laughed heartily for a while, then ran to me and hugged me. It’s quite a habit.

“You’re really the best!”

she said. I instinctively leaned my head back—an automatic reflex to violence, perhaps?

Anyway, before killing Unos I took out the spellbook, wrote a line, and had the group step back.

I now simultaneously wield Deicide and Destruction, which I’m fairly used to.

Using each separately is natural now; it’s just that the success rate for using them together is very low.

Deicide arises on the right, Destruction on the left.

As the two energies merge, whether due to chaos or as a trait unique to the union of the two powers, a vortex of black energy coils upward like a soaring dragon to a considerable height.

“Dying isn’t the end. See you again.”

When Deicide and Destruction fused, a deep black current appeared, as if that part had simply vanished.

It always gives the illusion that my hands, wrapped in the successfully fused energy, are being sucked into a black hole.

I scattered it as if injecting an abyssal extinction into Unos’s head.

After receiving the attack—Deicide and Destruction merged—Unos’s head vanished, and he couldn’t let out any scream or shout.

At first glance it seemed almost too peaceful a death.

“[You successfully fused Deicide and Destruction to strike the target. Remaining until this is registered as a power (9/25): 16 times.]”

“Shumix.”

“Yes!”

Shumix immediately muttered a spell, and I took the spellbook from my inventory. Until Shumix finished the incantation the book gave no reaction.

“It’s done.”

Shumix handed over a dull gray crystal.

[The soul stone filled with grudge]

A soul stone that traps a soul filled with one-sided grudge against someone.

Made by representative Shumix, it has no interest in purifying or stabilizing the soul. It serves a single function—more like a torture tool to hear the trapped soul’s voice and inflict pain as desired.

This was the plan I’d envisioned the moment I received the ‘soul stones of the six heroes.’

They say the Creator made even near-godly beings into soul stones, so what about a representative much lower in rank—one whose soul was damaged by Deicide and Destruction at death?

Originally I planned to call the Black Tower mage for cooperation, but Shumix, who is even better at handling souls, came to me, so I wanted to try it.

Whirr whirr— wooong—

I held the trembling soul stone in my hand and smiled broadly.

“I told you, didn’t I? It’s not over yet.”

Whirr whirr— wooong—

For some reason I had a pleasant feeling that this expedition would be a great success.