Breaking Up with the Heroine of the Female-Oriented Game - Chapter 129
Chapter 129
Anomaly (3)
***
“The way I acted after you died.”
“…”
“Because I hung out with those boys who had troubled you, even though I didn’t know anything.”
“…”
“I felt betrayed, uneasy, and upset… so you don’t trust me, right?”
“…”
Jinhyuk suddenly closed his lips tightly.
And he quietly sank into contemplation.
Certainly, Soyeon’s words had some truth to them.
Because he knew well how Soyeon behaved after his death in the game.
Therefore, it was natural to feel a bit suspicious of Soyeon due to the influence of the original content.
Of course, he wasn’t equating the Soyeon in the game with the real Soyeon.
But it was inevitable that an uneasy thought lingered in a corner of his mind and wouldn’t go away.
…The negative thought that even if he died, someone like him would be quickly forgotten and she’d get along well with other boys, laughing and having fun.
“Yes… I see… Yeah, of course you would…”
Did she read his expression in that moment?
Soyeon stared at Jinhyuk’s face for a while and then muttered to herself with a self-deprecating smile.
It was a voice tinged with a hint of sadness.
“I can tell just by looking at your face. What you’re thinking right now.”
She mumbles quietly with her head slightly lowered.
“But… but… you know.”
Soyeon bit her lower lip slightly and then slowly released it as she began to speak.
“Do you really think that? That I forgot about you and quickly got along well with other boys?”
“Well…”
Jinhyuk answered in an ambiguous voice, slightly trailing off.
That was because all he remembered was Soyeon gradually healing her emotional wounds through the comfort and encouragement of the male protagonists who had troubled him, and defeating villains together with them.
“Jinhyuk… you don’t know.”
Know what?
“With what thoughts… what feelings… I fought against the villains with their help…”
Soyeon’s thoughts in the game?
To be honest, he couldn’t be certain what Soyeon thought in the original story.
There were hardly any monologues despite her being the protagonist, and she didn’t reveal her inner thoughts much.
So he could only guess her inner feelings based on Soyeon’s outward words, actions, personality, and so on.
He remembered that after his death, Soyeon was quite depressed but still got along quite well with the male protagonists, as expected of an otome game.
Yes, on the surface.
“And after everything was over.”
After everything was over?
Could she be talking about after the ending?
“When I finally found out that you had been severely bullied by those guys, what I thought…”
Come to think of it, he hadn’t really considered what happened after the ending.
Well, of course not.
The goal of the game was just the ending, after all.
As a mere gamer, he had no way of knowing what happened after the protagonist and her companions magnificently defeated the final boss and the story concluded.
He had vaguely thought that since it was an otome game, she must have gotten along well with the male protagonists somehow.
But.
If the Soyeon in the game had a life, a story that continued on like a real person, what kind of life would she have lived after the ending?
Would she have lived happily ever after, laughing and getting along well?
Or…
“…You don’t know anything, do you?”
“…”
Of course he doesn’t know.
After all, the original was just a game, a game.
But the Soyeon he had unconsciously created was speaking as if it were reality. To the point where it felt somewhat dissonant.
“Aren’t you curious what I thought back then?”
“What did you think?”
“Well, what do you think I thought? Want to guess?”
“What?”
“Actually, by now you should be able to guess to some extent, Jinhyuk.”
Soyeon looked straight at Jinhyuk with a bitter and pitiful smile that had multiple meanings.
“What I thought and how I acted.”
“What do you mean…”
“So Jinhyuk.”
Soyeon, who had suddenly come right up close, slowly stretched out both hands.
Her slender hands, trembling slightly as if nervous, warmly embraced Jinhyuk’s neck.
Then Soyeon hugged Jinhyuk tightly and slowly moved her lips with a sorrowful and affectionate voice.
“Me… me…”
Soyeon, who had been choosing her words for a bit, finally opened her mouth.
“Don’t leave me alone.”
As if trembling finely.
“Don’t let me go astray.”
Quietly, very quietly.
“Don’t give up on me.”
She only whispered gently into his ear.
“Soyeon, you.”
“Hehe, Jinhyuk’s embrace is warm.”
Soyeon smiled brightly with a mischievous expression, as if her affectionate whispering just now had been a lie.
Soyeon’s warm temperature was slowly spreading.
Soyeon’s feelings, thoughts, and warmth towards him were gradually warming a corner of his heart.
A familiar yet unfamiliar warmth.
This emotion was like poison to him.
So he bit his lip slightly and hurriedly pushed Soyeon away from his embrace.
When he pushed her short body away with a bit of force, Soyeon moved away powerlessly. Then an “Ah.” sound with a hint of exclamation tickled his ear.
Suddenly Soyeon’s warmth grew more distant, and though Soyeon made an expression as if she had some lingering attachment, she forced a smile as if everything was fine.
“We-well, I guess hugging was a bit too much…?”
Towards Soyeon who was laughing awkwardly, Jinhyuk slowly began to speak.
“Don’t give up on me, don’t let me go astray, hold onto me…”
It was a really sorry thing to say to Soyeon who was expressing her feelings purely like a child, but it was a burdensome request.
To be honest, it was far too much for him.
For someone like him who had no ability, power, or qualifications.
“Sorry. I’ll try my best, but it still seems a bit difficult.”
“Why?”
I plan to help as much as I can, but what you, no, what I unconsciously want is not just that, Soyeon.
So let’s keep to the line I’ve set in advance.
To not have unnecessary feelings for Soyeon.
“As you know, I have no power, no talent, no special ability, I’m just an extra. For someone like me to take care of you to that extent is difficu-”
“Jinhyuk, do you know?”
Abruptly.
“That everyone has their own ideal?”
Soyeon cut off Jinhyuk’s words.
An unexpected change of topic.
But Jinhyuk just stared at her without saying anything.
Because Soyeon had brought up the topic of ideals unexpectedly.
“Everyone lives with their own ideal in their heart, but very few people can actually face their ideal self.”
Soyeon lightly extended her index finger and poked Jinhyuk’s chest.
“If my dream ideal is to be the greatest hero, what do you think your ideal is?”
“…”
“You seem to think of yourself as a weak person with nothing, but I know.”
“…Know what.”
Soyeon tapped Jinhyuk’s chest a bit more strongly.
“That deep in your mind, a greater ideal than anyone else’s is sleeping.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Well~”
She smiles prettily with a bright grin.
“Just like you think of me as the heroine of this world, I think of you as the hero of this world.”
She was saying that Jinhyuk was no different from a protagonist to Soyeon as well.
“So promise me, Jinhyuk.”
Soyeon carefully held out her pinky finger.
“That from now on, you won’t lie to yourself anymore and will be more honest.”
“Ah.”
“And that you won’t give up on me.”
“That’s…”
While Jinhyuk hesitated, Soyeon reached out her finger and intertwined their pinkies.
Like children making a promise.
Like when he used to make promises with Soyeon in the past.
Firmly hooking their pinkies together.
One promise.
“I’ll help you too.”
“Huh? Wait, hold on?”
In that moment.
With just a blink of an eye.
Suddenly Soyeon’s appearance had changed.
The short stature from kindergarten was nowhere to be seen, and the person making a pinky promise in front of his eyes was a quite young-looking adult woman.
She had a very beautiful but cold impression, so it was a bit startling, but now that he looked closely, she resembled Soyeon a lot.
“So that you can face your own ideal.”
It was quite a chilly and cold voice, but an inexplicable affection for him was embedded in it.
“So that you won’t hesitate anymore.”
Her golden eyes that had been shining brilliantly as if she had experienced all the hardships of the world were now half-dimmed and coldly extinguished.
“So we’re making a promise, Hyuk-ah.”
“Who exactly are you? Why did your appearance suddenly…”
Without time to collect his bewildered thoughts.
“It seems it’s already time. Then Hyuk-ah, take care of yourself.”
Jinhyuk’s vision went dark.
“Don’t go… astray… I’m… begging… you…”
Her voice echoed in his head as his consciousness gradually blurred, then faded away.
And.
***
“Cough, cough, cough, ugh? What’s this all of a sudden.”
Jinhyuk, who immediately regained consciousness, couldn’t help but be flustered.
It was pitch black and he couldn’t see anything in front of him, and he was trapped in something like a long box.
He couldn’t move at all because of the long rectangular frame that fit his body perfectly.
Moreover, he was suffocating.
He couldn’t, couldn’t breathe.
‘Wait, a box? Did I say box?’
Jinhyuk habitually raised his perception and carefully examined the box confining his body.
‘Shit, don’t tell me this is a coffin?’
Coffin.
It refers to the box that holds the body at a funeral.
W-why am I suddenly in a place like this?
Until just now… Ah?
‘Th-that’s right, I’ve come back to life? I’ve come back to life thanks to the resurrection artifact!’
Then it makes sense.
Why he opened his eyes in a coffin during his near-death experience(?).
It seems he was revived in the coffin where his corpse had been buried.
…But there’s not even a resurrection artifact on my body right now, let alone anything else? No protective barrier, no space ring, nothing at all.
No, now’s not the time to think about that.
Let’s focus on getting out of here first.
It’s getting harder to hold my breath.
Surely I won’t die from suffocation right after coming back to life?
Shit, there’s no other choice.
Jinhyuk gathered all the mana in his body at once.
Fortunately, the Tears of the Moon inside his body seemed to remain intact.
He used the Tears of the Moon to gather as much mana as possible and exploded it all at once.
Then with a “Kwaaaang!” sound, the coffin lid along with a large amount of dirt and dust soared high into the air.
Jinhyuk quickly reinforced his body with mana and dug through the dirt as fast as possible to escape outside the grave.
“Haa, haa, haa, I-I thought I was going to die.”
If he had been an ordinary person, he would have died again without being able to do anything.
He survived because he was a hero trainee close to being superhuman.
Even though he was the lowest ranked at Union, a hero trainee is still a hero trainee.
His physical abilities are incomparably superior to ordinary people.
“Ugh, it’s cold.”
The weather is quite chilly.
Jinhyuk shivered and crossed his arms.
What’s this, why is it so cold? It should be summer. Ah, is it because I’m wearing burial clothes?
“Huh? That’s, uh?”
What he saw before his eyes then was.
“It’s snow!”
A thin layer of pure white snow.
Hmm. Snow, snow…
“…Don’t tell me it’s winter now?”
Just how much time has passed since I died?
End of Chapter
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Jhonrock
Uuummmm… so, my question from a few chapters ago was answered, well, half-answered. Now another question came up. Was the adult Soyeon who summoned MC to that world?