The Unforgiven (1)

**

“Ghk.”

The sudden attack caught me completely off guard. Reeling from the pain, I came to my senses and saw Kang Se-rim standing in front of me.
She’d given me quite the enthusiastic welcome back from Floor 3. Not that I could blame her. The consequences of going up there without telling anyone had finally caught up with me.

“…I’m back.”
“Just fuck off.”

So cold.

“Why the fuck are you running around doing whatever you want?! Who said you could act on your own?”

Kang Se-rim huffed and whipped her head away. Translated, that meant, ‘I was really worried about you.’

“I thought this was the only way to prove I’d changed…”
“Give me a break…”

Kang Se-rim snorted in disbelief. Even so, I could see a question in her eyes. ‘Did this bastard actually change?’
I decided to press the point.

“Do you know how hard I had it alone up there? I even nearly died.”
“Should’ve just died, then.”

As we bickered, I looked around. No one else was in the lobby.

“By the way, where’s Gyeong-ah?”
“She’s in the Dining Room because of you. Why?”

The Dining Room?
They must have been holding some kind of important strategy meeting. And the topic was obviously Kim Yohan.
But hadn’t an entire day passed last time we went up a floor?
Except…
When I checked the time, only a little over an hour had passed. Almost exactly as long as I’d spent on Floor 3.
While I was puzzling over that, Kang Se-rim smacked me on the shoulder.

“Just shut up and follow me.”

I decided to figure out the time issue later and followed Kang Se-rim to the Dining Room.
I could already hear a commotion as we approached. From what I could make out, the mood wasn’t exactly pleasant.

“We need to go to Floor 3 right now!”
“I know how you feel, but it’s dangerous. We’re not even prepared yet.”
“Gyeong-ah, calm down. Besides, that guy might already have…”

What a mess.
I flung open the door and walked into the Dining Room. Every eye immediately turned toward me.
Everyone stared wide-eyed. The room went so quiet that I suddenly felt awkward.
Why were they so shocked?
They looked like they’d just seen a corpse come back to life. Shin Nam-jae was the first to recoil.

“Y-You…! How?!”

Judging by his horrified expression, he’d apparently assumed I was dead.
Joo Bada looked just as surprised.
I greeted them casually, like I’d just come back from running an errand.

“…Hey?”
“You… weren’t you on Floor 3?”
“I just got back.”

I briefly explained what had happened on Floor 3. Shin Nam-jae stared at me in disbelief.

“No way…!”
“T-That’s impressive…”

Joo Bada let out a gasp of admiration.
She seemed even more astonished by how much I’d changed than by the fact that I’d cleared Floor 3.

“Why would you do something that reckless?”
“I thought I needed to go this far for everyone to believe I was sincere…?”
“Ha… You’re something else.”

She let out a hollow laugh. Was she finally acknowledging me?
Their reaction was far more dramatic than I’d expected, and I felt considerably relieved.
Han Gyeong-ah stood there blinking with wide eyes.
She looked as though she wasn’t sure she could believe what she was seeing.

“You…”

We’d been together here for several days now. By this point, I could practically predict what came next.

-Why would you do something nobody asked you to do?! Did you forget you’re under surveillance? If you ever do this again, I won’t let you off!

Something like that.
I could see it already.
I obediently waited for her to start. But contrary to my expectations, she said nothing.
She didn’t scold me. She simply stood there staring.
Was she angry?
Just as I started getting nervous, she placed a hand against my forehead. Then she let out a deep sigh and spoke in a relieved voice.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Huh? Uh… no.”
“I’m glad you’re safe.”

An awkward silence followed.
Joo Bada kept shooting us meaningful glances. Finally, Kang Se-rim couldn’t take it anymore and cut in.

“Do you have any idea how much chaos you caused?!”

Apparently, everything had gone crazy after I left for Floor 3.
They’d even had trouble stopping Gyeong-ah from immediately going after me.

“Seriously?”

I was a little surprised.
At the same time, I remembered what kind of person Han Gyeong-ah was. She was a police officer with a powerful sense of justice and a strong sense of duty to protect people.
Apparently, that sense of duty ran even deeper than I’d realized. Almost to the point of obsession.

‘So that’s why she’s acting like this…’

What I’d done had practically been suicidal. She must have been deeply disappointed in me. I remembered what she’d told me in the basement.

-Never act on your own without my permission.

She’d made it clear that acting alone was forbidden. And I’d ignored her and done whatever I wanted.
She had every right to be angry. Even if I had ten mouths, I wouldn’t have an excuse.
It was entirely my fault.

“Gyeong-ah…?”
“Yes.”
“Um… well…”

I awkwardly scratched the back of my neck, unsure what to say. Eventually, I quietly apologized.

“…Sorry.”
“For what?”

Han Gyeong-ah asked flatly.
Her tone was firm.
Every hair on my body stood on end.
Uh…
What exactly had I done wrong again…?
Countless thoughts raced through my mind. I simply started confessing everything I could think of.

“Well… breaking my promise when you told me not to act without permission… going somewhere dangerous alone… complaining about eating carrots… and, uh…”

This wasn’t even a death game, yet sweat ran down my back. My throat felt clogged as though I’d swallowed a rock.
I confessed my sins like I was in a confessional.

“All of it… everything.”
“Hmm.”

Han Gyeong-ah gave a short hum and said nothing.
A deep silence settled over us. A few seconds felt like several hours.
The pressure weighed heavily on my shoulders. I almost wished she’d just scold me like usual.

“Umm… things are getting a little too heavy in here.”

Joo Bada, who had been watching cautiously, stepped in to mediate.

“Come on, he’s apologizing. Why not accept it? It’s not like he did it with bad intentions.”

She gently soothed Gyeong-ah in a calm voice.

“He must be pretty serious about changing if he went that far without anyone even asking him to.”
“Haah… fine.”

Han Gyeong-ah reluctantly nodded and beckoned me closer. I approached without daring to make a sound, and then,

Flick-!

she gave me a hard flick on the forehead.
There was enough emotion behind it to bring tears to my eyes.

“Ow.”
“I’ll let you off with this. Make sure it never happens again.”
“Got it…”

I stepped back, rubbing my reddened forehead, and realized something I hadn’t known before.
Gyeong-ah was terrifying when she got angry.
It was another side of her as a real person rather than just a game character. I’d have to be more careful from now on.
I’d finally been forgiven.
As I quietly retreated, Kang Se-rim clicked her tongue at me in disgust.

“Jeez.”

Once the atmosphere settled, Joo Bada looked at me and spoke.

“Anyway… this settles it. Whatever his methods, Yohan really does seem genuinely remorseful. Don’t you all think so?”

I’d gone to Floor 3 alone.
At this point, no one could dismiss it as an act. Apparently everyone understood that, because no one objected.
Even Shin Nam-jae, who hated me, didn’t argue this time.
It really drove home how one action could matter more than a hundred words.

“I’m glad you’re safe. Honestly, Nam-jae and I thought you were probably dead…”

Joo Bada spoke with visible relief.

“This really proves it. Kim Yohan, you’ve changed a lot. You’re a hundred times… no, a thousand times nicer than when we first met. You’re much better now.”

She playfully poked my cheek. The sudden physical contact nearly caught me off guard.

“…I told you I’ve changed.”

I stepped back and answered quietly. From Third-Rate Villain and human garbage to becoming a teammate.
I still had a long way to go, but at least I’d taken the first step. Somehow, I’d managed a successful start.

**

Several hours passed.
Far too much had happened today. She had even come to some shocking realizations.
The Tower, Administrators, games… Every one of them was absurdly unreal.
More unreal still was the fact that she was adapting to it all and beginning to accept it.

“Haah, seriously…”

After finishing her notes, Han Gyeong-ah closed her notebook. Its pages were packed with information that defied common sense.
They had decided to discuss the details further tomorrow.
Everyone’s heads were already spinning and they were exhausted, so the order for today had been to rest.

She glanced aside and saw a man sleeping soundly on the sofa.
Kim Yohan was crammed awkwardly onto a sofa shorter than he was, sleeping deeply despite how uncomfortable it had to be.
There was still plenty of time before designated sleeping hours, but he must have been exhausted because he’d already passed out.

Considering what he’d done today, of course he was exhausted.
He had nearly died twice. And one of those times had been entirely because of his own unilateral decision.

‘Does this man think at all…?’

Whenever she looked at him, she was overwhelmed by an emotion she couldn’t quite describe.
Whatever it was, it was definitely not romantic attraction.
It was simply an intense curiosity.
The Kim Yohan she’d first met had unquestionably been a villain.
Yet when she’d met him again, his personality had been completely different.

People did not change easily.
Not unless something significant enough occurred to shake the very foundations of their values, identity, and way of thinking.

Han Gyeong-ah knew that better than anyone. She herself had been changed by ‘that incident’ five years ago, and had remained that way ever since.
And Kim Yohan had changed. Seeing him throw himself into danger like a moth into a flame had convinced her.

Perhaps she’d sensed it from the beginning and simply hadn’t wanted to admit it.

‘How desperate must he have been…?’

To go so far as to do something that reckless.
Han Gyeong-ah was disappointed.
Not in Kim Yohan, but in herself.

By refusing to believe him, she’d practically pushed him toward the edge of a cliff.
Her complacent judgment had nearly gotten him killed.

She’d sworn to protect everyone… She’d become a police officer for that very reason…
She’d kept telling herself she’d set aside her personal feelings, but she hadn’t.
In fact, it was the exact opposite. She was furious at her own helplessness and foolishness. Self-loathing surged up her throat.

“Some police officer I am…”

Han Gyeong-ah let out the feelings she’d been suppressing and tried to calm herself. At the same time, she looked at Kim Yohan on the sofa.
What could possibly have happened to make him change so dramatically?
The more she thought about it, the more her head hurt. Then a faint possibility suddenly occurred to her.

‘What if the way he acted at first was the performance, and this is his real personality…?’

It was only a possibility.
If she reversed her thinking and assumed that the person she’d seen then was false while the current one was real…
then there was no need for some dramatic catalyst to explain how he’d changed overnight.
But that assumption naturally led to another question.

‘Why?’

Why would anyone willingly pretend to be a morally bankrupt villain?

“Hmm…”

She was lost in thought when a knock at the door snapped her back to reality.

Knock, knock-

“Yes? Coming…!”

Someone had come by late in the evening.
What could they want?
When Gyeong-ah stepped into the hall, she found a beautiful woman standing there. Even as another woman, the sight made her pause.
She exuded elegant charm and a captivating aura without even trying.

“Bada unni?”

It was none other than Joo Bada. She smiled brightly and beckoned to her.

“Can we talk for a minute?”

It was difficult to refuse such a gentle request.
Before she knew it, Han Gyeong-ah was being led away by the hand.
The supply room.
It was one of the quietest, least frequented places in the Floor 1 Hotel.
Joo Bada checked that no one was around, then quietly closed the door.

“This should be perfect.”
“What’s this about all of a sudden? We agreed to discuss everything properly tomorrow…”
“That’s not what I want to talk about. This is girl talk!”

Her voice was excited like a child’s. Han Gyeong-ah looked at her in confusion.

“What? What do you want to talk about…?”
“Who else could it be? Kim Yohan, of course.”

A mischievous smile spread across Joo Bada’s face.
Han flinched when Joo mentioned the very person she’d just been thinking about.

“What about him…?”
“He’s changed a lot. Mm-hmm, now I definitely understand why you said what you did.”

Joo Bada crossed her arms and nodded repeatedly before admitting apologetically,

“Honestly, I thought Yohan was taking advantage of you.”
“That again…?”

Exasperated, Han recalled their earlier conversation. Joo had asked whether she’d fallen for Kim Yohan…

“He was a terrible person practically yesterday! Then suddenly he says he’s sorry and that he’s a changed man. How was I supposed to believe that?!”
“…”
“Do you know how worried I was that that bad-boy Yohan had won over both your heart and your body…?”

It was an absurd assumption.
Needless to say, Han had never once viewed Kim Yohan romantically.
As she’d already said before, she made herself perfectly clear so there would be no strange misunderstanding.

“Unni, I’m telling you again. I don’t like him. There’s no way I could! Even if he regrets it now, what he did…”
“Right, right… You don’t like him. You were simply judging him for what he was. But Kim Yohan really has changed. That wasn’t acting or anything like it. Your unni knows a thing or two about that field!”

Joo Bada proudly placed a hand against her chest.
She was an actress. She could quickly tell whether someone was acting or being sincere.

“Then why did Yohan change? Why did that awful guy suddenly turn over a new leaf overnight?”
“Unni, I was actually thinking about that…”

Han Gyeong-ah was about to share the possibility that had just occurred to her.
That perhaps Kim Yohan had been acting when they first met.
But she never got the chance. Joo Bada interrupted with an outrageous theory.

“Love.”

Han had literally just denied that… Yet Joo was bringing up the same idea again. Han protested like an angry hamster.

“Stop teasing me! If you keep this up, I’m leaving…!”
“No, no! That’s not what I mean!”

Joo Bada waved her hands.
Then she elegantly twirled one slender finger.

“Think about it the other way around!”
“The other way around…?”

Han didn’t understand.
Think about it in reverse…?
What exactly did she mean?

“What do you think happened to Kim Yohan? What kind of change of heart could make his personality completely flip overnight?”
“I don’t know…”
“It’s simple.”

After a brief silence, Joo Bada smiled meaningfully and whispered,

“He fell for you.”
“…”

It was a truly astonishing claim.

“…What?”

If the man in question had heard it, he probably would have passed out on the spot.