Chapter 16

“Is that Yoo Ah?”

“Yes, that’s right. From people who completely erase painful memories from their minds to those like Yoo Ah who casually cover up those memories with hypnosis, there are various types.”

I looked down at Ggotbi with a bitter expression.

The past that Returners can never escape.

Their past always grabs them, toys with them, and strangles them.

Returners all carry a sickness in their hearts.

And even on Earth, where they came to heal that sickness, they only let it fester further.

The endless cycle of suffering always torments them.

My gaze drifted out the window.

The tower swaying beyond the mountains, like a mirage, seemed to mock those Returners.

“Have you ever seen Yoo Ah’s activity records?”

“…No.”

As I lowered my head, Baekseolhyang handed me a piece of paper.

It was filled with the Hunter-related activities Blackstar Yoo Ah had been involved in.

And not just one or two pages—it was nearly twenty pages of unbelievable content.

“Yoo Ah is one of the most active Returners in preventing Dimensional Gate incidents.”

“That’s not all, is it?”

“No, you’re right. She’s also working as an idol, making moves on a global scale. In fact, she’s even stopped Dimensional Gates while abroad for idol work.”

I clenched the paper tightly.

In the game, Ggotbi was always bright.

When we failed a raid together, she was the first to cheer us up and lighten the mood.

When we got a good item, she celebrated with us and was as happy as if it were her own achievement.

As one of the youngest members of our guild, she always radiated positive energy to everyone.

I’ve actually been helped by her many times.

When the world felt like crap, she was often the one who comforted me.

‘Who’s comforting who here?’

Returners can’t be comforted by anyone.

Thinking of Ggotbi comforting me made me shudder with shame.

“Her overworking might be a backlash from her self-hypnosis. She forced herself to forget the past by burying herself in work. When you’re exhausted, you don’t have the energy to remember.”

She was saying that she forgot her terrible past by working herself to the bone.

Workaholics need to know their limits.

“…Will Yoo Ah try to hypnotize herself again when she wakes up?”

“I don’t know. But you know that hasty comfort won’t help.”

Self-hypnosis is dangerous.

Even knowing that, she had no choice but to do it to herself.

Knowing that, I let out a deep sigh.

“But isn’t it worth a try?”

As I bit my lip in gloom, Baekseolhyang suddenly spoke up.

Isn’t it worth a try?

When I looked at her in confusion, she tapped her forehead.

“Yoo Ah has to hypnotize herself anyway, right? So comforting her during that process isn’t such a big deal.”

“Ah.”

My eyes widened.

“But if Yoo Ah suffers during that process…”

“She’ll suffer either way with self-hypnosis. And even if it doesn’t solve everything, with the help of a mental ability user, it’s not impossible to keep her sane.”

Baekseolhyang smiled reassuringly, leaving that part to herself.

“And these days, there are ways to safely maintain the most detached state from reality.”

“…VR games.”

“Exactly.”

The game world is the best way to forget reality.

Especially VR, which feels so much like reality.

“I’ll bring the VR game system. I’ll handle the mental stabilization.”

“Please do.”

“Of course. It’s for a fellow Returner.”

Looking at Baekseolhyang, I suddenly remembered something.

“By the way, do you play VR games too?”

“Oh, do I look like I don’t?”

“It’s a bit surprising.”

She had such a sophisticated image that it didn’t seem to fit.

Hearing my words, Baekseolhyang covered her mouth and laughed softly, then spoke with a slightly pleased expression.

“I play a lot of games too. I even enjoy Road of Academy.”

When I heard the name Road of Academy, my eyes widened.

It was a game I had dedicated my entire 20s to, so it was a natural reaction.

Especially since she, with her immense wealth and high position in the World Returner Association, played Road of Academy.

Of course, I couldn’t help but be interested.

But in this situation, getting excited about game talk felt silly.

‘Ggotbi comes first.’

These questions can wait.

It’s a bit absurd to be talking about games with our company’s chairman in the first place.

*Thud!*

“Hey! Iron-Blooded Empress, you bitch, do you really want to die by my hands?!”

At that moment, Ayu burst in, fuming.

“Cheonma, you’re just in time.”

She glared at Baekseolhyang as if she wanted to kill her, but when Baekseolhyang greeted her, she stiffened like a cat on guard.

“What’s going on? What are you thinking?”

Baekseolhyang just smiled kindly at her.

“We need to play some games.”

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

“Right. Ayu, let’s play some games.”

“Wait, Domi Oppa, what are you talking about?”

Ayu’s confused voice echoed through the room.

—

*Tap tap.*

A girl sitting on a wooden chair in front of a burning bonfire stared blankly at the flames.

With black hair and bright yellow eyes, she wore a robe that looked like it belonged in a fantasy world.

The staff in her hand was the only thing that hinted she was related to magic.

Her expression was so dazed that it was hard to tell what was going on.

‘Why am I doing this again?’

Her name was Han Yoo Ah.

She was active as the idol Blackstar Yoo Ah, and her in-game nickname was Ggotbi.

She was currently logged into her game character, Ggotbi.

For some reason, her memory of how she got into the game was hazy.

Her head tilted slightly.

What was I doing just now?

Right, I was meeting some people.

And then there was some Hunter business, so I had to leave in a hurry.

But when I left…

Ggotbi suddenly felt overwhelmed by fatigue and pressed her temples with her hands.

The throbbing headache clearly showed how exhausted she was.

‘Am I tired?’

She had been running hard all this time.

After being caught in a dimensional shift, she had nearly lost her life several times in the chaos of war, and it was too much for a woman to survive in such a war.

But she managed to survive thanks to a certain connection.

The hero Leon and his girlfriend, Erinin Bianca.

「I’m Erinin Bianca, you damn demon bastards, you’re all dead today! Of course, our hero will take care of it.」

「Bianca, why are you acting so tough?」

Their first meeting was when they accidentally saved her while she was being chased by demons.

Bianca was fierce and flamboyant, but her confident demeanor was incredibly cool.

Leon was kind and gentle, but he was a prankster in front of Bianca.

「Yoo Ah, your singing is amazing. This is music from another world, right? I want to go there too.」

「Take me with you if you’re going.」

「What, you’re butting into a girls’ conversation!」

The two of them always bickered affectionately.

「Haha, I guess so. I’m a bit tired. Keep it a secret from Bianca.」

And sometimes, Leon would smile bitterly when he was tired.

「You idiot. You don’t have to act tough in front of me. You can tell me when you’re tired.」

Bianca, who saw right through Leon, would worry and grumble.

Yoo Ah liked those two.

Even though their affectionate teasing sometimes annoyed her, they genuinely treated her, a stranger, as a friend.

They grew closer and started traveling together.

As they did, the war with the demons grew more intense, and eventually, Leon decided to go to the battlefield alone.

「Bianca, let’s get married when I come back.」

And on the last night before he left, he handed her a ring and said those words, making Bianca cry.

“……We were supposed to sing a congratulatory song then.”

In the end, I couldn’t do it.

And I’ve been burying that memory ever since.

If only I hadn’t met them back then.

Maybe they would have started a happy family by now.

Showing me their child, smiling, and patting their child’s head.

That kind of life…….

“Ha, haha.”

Once again, the pit of memories grabbed hold of her and dragged her down.

The nightmare of that day came back.

The image of Bianca, who came to save her from the assassins hired by a noble because of her singing.

「Yoo Ah! Run away! Leon will come!」

Bianca’s voice, screaming to make her escape even as her vocal cords were torn and she was bleeding to death, echoed in her ears again.

“Stop.”

She covered her ears.

She didn’t want to face it, but the conflicting emotions tormented her.

And again, the horrific sound echoed.

The image of Bianca, pierced through the eye and brain by a blind arrow, collapsing.

And the ring on her finger, shining brightly.

The memory she had suppressed with self-hypnosis came back to torment her again.

‘I should have died that day.’

But she survived.

Even though she lost her voice, she survived.

The death of her dear friend and the agonized screams of Leon, who returned from the war, were too painful.

But Leon didn’t seek revenge.

He was a hero, born to protect humanity.

His sword was only aimed at demons, not people.

So Yoo Ah asked.

Then who will avenge Bianca?

No answer came.

She could no longer speak.

That day, she broke.

She lost her dearest friend because of herself.

Even the dream she had dreamed of her whole life disappeared along with her voice.

Leon couldn’t talk to her anymore.

Seeing her would remind him of Bianca’s death.

She went mad.

But there was no one in this world who could help her.

Then, Yoo Ah got a chance.

A retired soldier who pitied her taught her how to use mana to produce sound.

The awakening of a spirit mage.

Even on the day of her awakening, she still vividly remembered the scissors that cut her throat and the horrific faces born of human greed.

And Bianca’s brutal death, her head pierced in front of that greed.

The unfulfilled promise she couldn’t keep for her.

「If you can’t do it, I will.」

As she said to Leon, who left to kill the Demon King, her footsteps headed in the opposite direction of the hero.

On the day the hero killed the Demon King.

She burned the human king and the human kingdom.

And then Leon found her.

The sword of the hero, the protector of humanity, was now aimed at her.

「Let’s stop. Yoo Ah, you have to stop.」

Leon’s eyes looked so sad as he looked at her.

But she couldn’t stop.

The madwoman had long forgotten how to stop herself.

So the hero and she had no choice but to fight.

In the week-long brutal battle, her voice finally reached Leon.

And Leon’s voice also reached her.

By then, countless people had already been erased from the world.

It was a relief.

Or was it?

As she sat there dazed, Leon, for some reason, cupped her cheek with his hand as if pitying her.

‘Can I wake you up?’

After ending the war with the Demon King and dragging his dying body, cursed by the Demon King’s death, Leon entered the ruined castle and thought.

I couldn’t avenge Bianca.

But you avenged Bianca.

When Leon saw her sitting alone on the throne, he thought.

I wanted to protect the world.

But I couldn’t protect you and Bianca.

When Leon saw her face, broken beyond recognition, he thought.

If I tried to forget Bianca.

You tried to remember Bianca for the rest of your life.

When Leon saw the ring-shaped necklace around her neck, he thought.

Because I was a hero.

I protected the world, but I couldn’t save my people.

That was my regret.

But Yoo Ah tried to protect them until the end.

「Yoo Ah……. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you and Bianca.」

Leon, his voice breaking, smiled.

Oh God.

Please don’t let her live with guilt because of us.

Just as you chose me as a hero.

Please protect her, so fragile.

If that happens, I won’t resent you.

「……Let’s go back.」

To a world where she doesn’t have to suffer.

To a world where she can live without remembering us.

Leon held Yoo Ah’s necklace and, with the last of his strength, erased the ring on his hand and the ring on the necklace.

*Clang.*

At that moment, Yoo Ah felt something in her mind shatter.

Her broken heart finally found its shape.

The emotions that had stopped flowing finally burst out of her.

「No. No. No! No!」

She cast a spell on Leon.

She screamed until her throat tore, begging him to come back to life, but he didn’t.

Her tears turned to blood.

She held Leon’s corpse and quietly sang the congratulatory song the two had asked for in the ruins.

And months later.

The surviving nations came to the ruined kingdom, calling her the Great Witch, the enemy of the state.

Their eyes were twisted with anger toward the enemy of humanity.

Who made me like this?

Why are you looking at me like that?

But she didn’t say those words out loud.

Because she knew that the moment she spoke, they would disappear from this world.

She smiled as if she would break.

The blood tears fell, wetting the ground, and flowed down the cheek of the hero’s corpse.

「Han Yoo Ah, let’s go back.」

So she said to herself.

With all the power of a spirit mage, that one word was enough to bring her back to Earth.

And she hypnotized herself so that the memories of that day wouldn’t come back.

Because she couldn’t live otherwise.

「I like it best when Yoo Ah sings. I always want to listen next to you.」

「Why are you making your boyfriend jealous? I should practice singing too.」

Only the good memories.

Remembering the words Bianca and Leon used to say.

She sang.

And just as the hero raised his sword to protect humanity.

She fought the Dimensional Beings with her voice to protect people.

It was obsession and compulsion.

‘Everything I did was just a facade.’

I’m fine.

So that Bianca and Leon, who died because of me, wouldn’t worry about me even a little.

She had been running away ever since that day.

But running away has its limits.

Like today.

‘Is that why it’s a game?’

Yoo Ah stared blankly at her Ggotbi avatar.

The in-game appearance, different from reality, helped her forget those memories.

Road of Academy was close to a fantasy world, but it was distinctly different from Elysium, where she had lived.

It might have been unintentional, but she wanted to show that she could live normally in a fantasy world similar to but different from Elysium.

That’s why she clung to the game despite being exhausted from her idol and Hunter work.

‘I’m fine now.’

‘I can live in a world like this too.’

That’s what she wanted to show the two of them.

So, perhaps, having her self-hypnosis broken, she chose the game as her last refuge.

Her dazed mind still hadn’t settled.

The effects of the broken self-hypnosis made her feel like she was drugged, her mind constantly foggy.

*Thud thud.*

At that moment, she heard footsteps.

Yoo Ah looked up from the bonfire and saw someone walking through the dark night path.

There were two familiar faces.