All of a sudden, I was thrown back into the throes of reality.
I could feel it without having to look around. I was out of the black world.
As soon as I tried to refocus, I felt tremendous pain, so intense that I couldn’t even scream. My brain blacked out, and I had no choice but to grasp at my face.
‘Sh*t… Fuck…’
Perhaps this was a side effect of going into the black world with Yuno Kasugano. It felt like my eyeballs would pop out at any time, and a scream lodged itself into the back of my throat.
In the first place, I didn’t even know it was possible to head into the black world as well, so having dire side effects was natural. I didn’t know if the tears that streamed down my face were because of the pain, but they continued to run down my cheeks all the same.
My current body seemed to have forgotten the first timeline, but my tears flowed all the same.
‘What is this… sh*tty situation?’
Of course, I was impressed. I didn’t really care about the black world. All I wanted to know was when and where I would die and what I had done with my life. What was important was not me as a whole, but how I had chosen to survive.
I had come here only intending to know how to strengthen Park Deokgu, but I had ended up seeing more than what I had bargained for. I got to learn more about Yuno Kasugano.
The problem was that I couldn’t remember my own life from the first timeline, but I at least got a glimpse of what happened during that particular winter back in the black world.
Once again, I had to turn the story back to its origin.
I heard Yuno Kasugano’s story straight from her, so I already knew about this, but I didn’t think I would be able to witness this in detail.
The contents were ridiculously catastrophic. Park Deokgu died while protecting me, and I had betrayed Yuno Kasugano.
‘I really was a piece of sh*t…’
If Yuno Kasugano had decided to kill me right then and there, I would surely have died. Even though the black world Lee Kiyoung was sure that Kasugano would not kill him, he was still brave enough to take a risk and gamble the odds.
Meanwhile, Yuno Kasugano was staring at me, her tears streaming down her face.
‘How does she die?’
I didn’t exactly know what the sh*tty version of myself was thinking, but due to her pitiful state, I at least gathered that it wouldn’t be him who would’ve killed her.
‘Because he said he’d let her be with him.’
Chances were, I had made this decision since she had proven herself to be useful to me.
Based on Kasugano’s story, it seemed as if I had been with her for quite a long time, so I definitely wouldn’t have chosen to kill her. Therefore, it was only natural to conclude that an incident fell upon us, resulting in her eventual death.
It wasn’t just Yuno that lingered in my thoughts. The fact that Park Deokgu had died protecting me in the first timeline continued to bother me as well.
‘This stupid guy…’
I had already assumed that he would be dead by the time Yuno found me, but I had not expected him to die a heroic death, and all because of me.
I shook my head as I rubbed at my reddened eyes; my emotions were bubbling up from within me.
Park Deokgu was alive this time around.
I had at least managed to find some hints about his growth, so this didn’t seem to be all for nothing.
However, only one more question remained.
‘Access limited information due to external intervention. Checking the activation of the legendary-grade attribute, the Mind’s Eye.’
What external intervention?
Up until now, I had never heard or seen such a phrase while using my attribute. I didn’t know who it was but considering that I hadn’t even triggered Mind’s Eye, there seemed to be someone who wanted to show me something. Due to common sense, it was unrealistic to intervene with this legendary-grade attribute. Both Mind’s Eye and the Eye that could see through essence, past and future were not humane, ordinary attributes.
Therefore, I had no choice but to think that some transcendental had shown me this scene.
‘Why?’
Did they want to let me know that Kasugano and Park Deokgu were both important people to me? That wasn’t a bad hypothesis.
I at least was able to realize just how sh*tty black world Lee Kiyoung was.
‘Perhaps whoever wanted to show me is supporting me?’
It turned out that I was not the only one who didn’t want Park Deokgu to die.
‘Is it because that foolish bastard is my best form of insurance?’
That might be the correct answer.
One thing was certain: whoever had intervened here didn’t want a repeat of the first timeline’s events. This was a situation where our interests had coincided.
I had come to visit in a light state of mind, but what I had witnessed was a tremendous scene.
When I turned to gaze at Yuno Kasugano, my eyes widened.
“Uh… Huh…”
“Ah…”
She was lying next to me, completely naked.
‘What…’
As I turned to look out the window, I saw the sun starting to rise.
I knew that I’d spent quite some time in the black world, but I had no idea that it would take me all night. I wasn’t expecting this situation at all.
‘Sh*t.’
It couldn’t be. I pulled up the blanket, yet all the evidence pointed to the fact that Yuno Kasugano and I had indeed made love.
Yuno herself looked happy, yet tinges of sadness were still evident.
I didn’t know if the last scene I had seen was of her intent, but the fact that she and I had explored each other was undeniable.
Not wanting to think about this in-depth, I shook my head, which prompted the woman beside me to awaken.
“Ah… Master.”
“You woke up.”
“Yes… I have.”
Her face was strangely red, but the smile on her face was evident. Her expression contrasted oddly with what I had seen in the black world, but if she seemed happy, then this wasn’t such a bad situation at all.
Since she lived in Celia, I had neglected her. I didn’t know if yesterday’s events influenced me, but she seemed a lot cuter to me now.
Most of all, I was also responsible to a certain degree as her life had gotten twisted due to my doings. She had a completely different personality from Yuno in the black world because she had chosen to take a whole new approach.
I could say she felt quite ashamed of how she had chosen to act back then.
With these thoughts in mind, I patted her head for a moment, then began to ask her a question I felt the most curious about.
“I’m just asking, but…”
“Yes. Please do speak your mind.”
“Is it correct that you showed me the black world?”
“Oh, no, Master. I also couldn’t imagine you having the ability to do so. The Master came into me without any time for me to resist.”
Something seemed off with her reply, but I decided to play along.
“I see.”
“A deterrence of power that I couldn’t understand suddenly rushed in, like a flood. I didn’t know if the cause was Master or something else, but it was my first time being in the black world for such a long time.”
“Really?”
“Yes. It’s embarrassing, but I can usually only see one scene in fragments. Of course, if my ability grew a little more, this would improve, but… Ah! Does the Master know something?”
“No. I haven’t heard or seen anything like this. One thing is for sure. I’m not the one who triggered the Mind’s Eye. The attribute was already activated before I even looked into you with those eyes. Other than that, nothing changed, but… Anyway, it was a bit of a fresh experience. My greatest achievement is being able to understand what the world you are seeing is like.”
“Have you gotten anything?”
“I have. Thank you.”
“Ah…”
“And thank you for informing me about the black world.”
“M-Master.”
“I have one more question I wanted to ask.”
“Yes.”
“This is nothing but… Was the future you saw in the black world really the future with me?”
“I can’t confirm it. However, I think that that stupid Kasugano, in the black world, would have lied to capture her Master.”
“You think?”
“Yes. I don’t doubt it. She probably didn’t know that she would have disgusted her Master. Oh, I think maybe it was part of it.”
“Hmm?”
“It must have been because she wanted to be with the Master in the black world.”
“I see what you mean.”
In summary, she had lied in an attempt to draw black world Lee Kiyoung to her, for fear of me straying away for her. In this context, I could believe that Kasugano’s guess was indeed correct.
Anyway, the situation itself wasn’t that bad.
As I tried to recall what I had seen, I remembered something I had forgotten about up until now.
However, before I could voice it out, an explosion ensued.
‘Fuck…’
Realizing that I was indeed right about what I was thinking of, a frantic, familiar voice echoed from the outside of the room.
“Oppa! Oppa!”
‘Sh*t!’
I had forgotten that I had put Jung Hayan to sleep in my room.
“You shouldn’t do this.”
“Let… go of me!”
Crack! Crash! Based on this sound, I could hear Jung Hayan fast approaching with the use of her magic. I didn’t know if she was reacting in this manner because she thought I was in danger or because she had realized that I had been in contact with someone, but whatever the reason, I was not in a very good situation.
“Y-Yuno.”
“Yes, Master…?”
The wall next to me collapsed, and a familiar face peeked in before I could even think about how to go about in this situation.
There was an indescribable madness in Jung Hayan’s eyes, who had her hand outstretched, a ridiculous amount of magic all over her body.
Her eyes are swollen and red as if she had cried a lot.
Her hair was a mess, and she seemed to be staring straight at Yuno Kasugano. I cringed with guilt.
‘Fucking sh*t…’
I didn’t have much interest in Jung Hayan’s thoughts, but I knew this did not look like a good situation. Just a few minutes ago, I was thinking that letting Kasugano cling onto me was my karma for everything I did to her in the first timeline.
The same went for Park Deokgu.
When I thought about inflicting hurt upon Jung Hayan in the same manner, I knew I had done something wrong to her.
“Eeeeek!”
Blood oozed out of her clenched fist as well as her tightly clenched mouth. Jung Hayan was trembling all over, and seeing her in this manner was terrifying.
Before I could even think about this properly, a defensive statement erupted from my mouth.
“Nothing happened.”
“Ah…”
What nonsense bullsh*t.
However, the way I spoke seemed so transparent, almost as if I wasn’t lying at all.