My Life Used to Be Like This Too
My Life Used to Be Like This Too
I got up in the early morning, at a time when everyone was asleep, and groggily opened my eyes.
Days passed meaninglessly, without any achievements, just living day by day. A sense of unease, wondering if it was okay to live like this, sometimes brushed past me, but seeing Kylon so relaxed, it seemed I didn't need to act so hastily.
Honestly, my unease stemmed simply from the future of this game, which I hadn't fully heard explained.
When I thought about it, Kylon was truly worthy of being called a Hero because he had cleared this game once, making him practically someone who knew the future.
But compared to him, what was I?
I hadn't even played the game, so what I heard from Kylon was merely information through words, not understanding gained through actual gameplay.
And in the midst of that, I only knew the general outline, and the details were difficult for him to convey, making them hard for me to grasp.
He said he'd only played the game once, so if someone suddenly came and asked him to write a guide on how to clear it, how well could he possibly write it?
In the end, I found myself having to rely on Kylon.
Chirp, chirp, enjoying the morning birdsong announcing dawn, I opened my eyes and, as always, brushed off my Saintess's Robes and sat on the edge of the bed, staring into space.
And then came the moment when a brief wave of self-loathing washed over me.
Honestly, I had no feelings for Kylon, who masturbated while watching others, but because my body would cry out in anxiety if he started to distance himself or disappear from sight, the problem was that I kept unconsciously seeking Kylon out.
And in the midst of that, it was also a problem that I felt relieved just by hearing Kylon making groaning sounds from the next room, announcing his presence.
As I was lost in self-loathing and let out a sigh, I then heard a knock on the door.
Knock, knock, knock.
Startled by the rapid knocking, I opened my eyes wide and looked beyond the door. Then, Kylon's voice came from beyond it.
-Are you asleep?
"I'm not... Just a moment."
As I was about to speak loudly enough to be heard outside the door, the thought of what if someone else heard me made me hesitate, so I carefully got up and immediately opened the door.
It was easier to either speak entirely like a Saintess, or speak entirely casually, definitively choosing one side.
More than that, I had been agonizing over Kylon, and his appearance at that very moment made me wonder if he could somehow see my Status Window.
Kylon, who carefully stepped into my room, was dressed casually.
At that moment, Kylon let out a deep sigh, then scratched his head vigorously and mumbled.
"...Excuse me."
After saying that, he plopped down on the bed.
In the narrow single room, there were no chairs, only a table that doubled as a drawer and a bed, so it was natural that there was nowhere to sit but the bed, but seeing him come in and plop down as if it were his own room, my brow furrowed.
Without saying anything, I carefully sat down next to him, maintaining a slight distance, and looked at his face.
He was ridiculously tall, so even sitting down, there didn't seem to be much difference between us.
Well, when he stood, there was a whole head's difference.
"...Why did you come?"
"No, it's just... there's something bothering me."
At Kylon's reaction, which was a little far from his usual playful demeanor and frequent jokes, I opened my eyes wide and glanced at him.
His appearance, as if he had a real worry, needlessly made me anxious too.
Perhaps there was a bad obstacle in the way of future events? Or maybe the content was a little different from the game he had played? Or perhaps he had a falling out with Linda.
Many bad thoughts flashed through my mind.
What kind of difficulties awaited us right here? That fear was present.
"......."
But even when I closed my mouth and urged him with my silence, he just kept his mouth tightly shut without saying anything.
Wondering what on earth he wanted to say, I quietly watched him, and then, breaking the long silence, his lips parted.
"...Are you okay? Your body, I mean. Nowhere was itchy today, right?"
Kylon, saying that, looked around my neck, checking everywhere to see if there were any bloodstains on my white clothes.
Since I had slept listening to Kylon's sounds after he left yesterday, it was only natural that nothing was left on my neck.
"Oh, I'm fine. You don't have to worry."
I pushed away Kylon's hand, which was about to touch my neck, and nodded my head once as if to say I was fine, then shrugged my shoulders.
When I acted that way, with a 'See? There's nothing, right?' kind of feeling, he slowly lowered his awkward hand.
"I've only played the game once, so there's a lot of story I've missed, and in my eagerness to see the tteok-scenes first and then play, I skipped a lot, so there's a lot I don't remember..."
This guy, he was a skip-addict.
Well, in an adult game with tteok-scenes, it was clear there were some people who would put the story aside and quickly skip through to collect the CGs first.
Yet, since he still had to clear the game, it was inevitable that he would know various quests.
Anyway, hearing such a story, I nodded my head with difficulty and listened carefully to his words.
"...Have you ever heard that you need to repeat several playthroughs to reach the True Ending?"
"Wait... I'm hearing that for the first time right now?"
"So, you have to find the conditions and routes for each playthrough to eventually find the True Ending, and since I've only cleared it once, I only remembered this as soon as I woke up today."
My head throbbed.
That was too sudden. I also wondered, 'Is it usually like this?' and felt like shouting, 'What True Ending in an adult game?'
If he said that, it felt like he was immediately telling me that even Kylon's single clear wasn't the True Ending, but merely a path towards the Normal Ending, and I felt frustrated.
If that's the case, shouldn't we avoid the route Kylon knows?
But we've already embarked on Linda's capture, just as Kylon knew, so what do we do about this?
The confusion intensified. Just as I was increasingly at a loss for words, Kylon mumbled, making a low sound and looking helpless.
"...I'm sorry."
That apology was so absurd that I could only let out a hollow breath and say this:
"Ha, ah, no. It's not about being sorry... This means even if we see an ending, it's not *the* ending, right?"
There's a reason why something is called a True Ending. If that's the case, then not being the True Ending was no different from being told it was just an ordinary story, and cold sweat broke out.
More than that, it felt like I had been shouting that I wanted to go home, only to be told the next day, after being told 'I understand', that 'actually, there's no such thing'.
My brow naturally furrowed. I felt like I was going to get annoyed.
But pushing that thought aside for a moment, I let out a deep breath, and then different words came from his mouth.
"In the Holy Kingdom, was there a Pope?"
"I don't know."
But I couldn't answer his question.
After all, I had spent several days isolated from society in the Nunnery Training Center before being dragged away.
"Then is the King the only one in the Holy Kingdom right now?"
"I don't know..."
So I couldn't answer the questions that followed either.
He pondered for a long time at my reaction, furrowed his brow, and then, as if he had reached a conclusion, he told me.
"Oh, let's just get one Holy Sword Enhancement Stone today and return to the Holy Kingdom tomorrow."
At his sudden deviation from the path, I opened my eyes wide and reached out a hand to stop him.
Thwack, I grabbed his sleeve and pulled him, and his stern expression turned towards me.
"Why, why are you suddenly doing that? That's not our next destination."
If we didn't know, we still had to go for now.
But perhaps my thoughts were always a little different from Kylon's, as he brushed aside my opinion and, though not causing a disturbance in other rooms, he told me almost shouting, his voice filled with passionate emotion.
"That, that's not the problem! ...Think about why you, a Saintess, were imprisoned there!"
"...What's the reason? Does Kylon know?"
After a moment of deliberation, and at my subsequent question, Kylon's breath hitched.
"I don't know. I'm sorry, I was a crazy bitch for tteok-scenes."
What followed was an apology, not an answer.
At his honest apology, saying that he hadn't properly seen the story, but had been too immersed in the tteok-scenes to know well, I could only let out a 'Ha' and exhale.
Ultimately, what I could gather at this moment was that Kylon had only been immersed in the progression method of opening the path to the next route without any problems, and hadn't properly read the content.
Perhaps that's why he seemed to have just found out about the existence of a True Ending.
After his apology, our mouths were sealed, and silence settled heavily in the room.
Amidst my cooling emotions, I let out a groan.
Perhaps startled by the sound, Kylon flinched his shoulders, and then began to speak to me.
"...I've never seen the Pope during the game. The ultimate authority figure right now must be the King. That's why you were imprisoned."
Kylon slowly voiced his thoughts.
He informed me that, unlike the other girls, the Saintess had a salvation narrative, and based on that fact, he began to deduce things one by one.
"...Perhaps, if we find the Pope, somehow..."
"What then?"
"If the King is truly evil, you just need to testify..."
"What if the Pope was in on it too?"
But Kylon's words were too optimistic, and I found myself unconsciously thinking only negative thoughts, so I cut him off.
In truth, there's nothing more bothersome than just denying and refusing someone who offers an opinion, but even so, I couldn't help but act this way.
The fact that a King could imprison a Saintess to this extent, if it wasn't just a sudden, impulsive act but part of the game's ongoing narrative, then it felt more correct to assume there was something more to it.
Of course, even if the Pope's absence allowed such an act to occur, where were we supposed to find this Pope?
If he said he hadn't seen the Pope throughout the game, were we supposed to search the Holy Kingdom for clues? What would happen if we tried to stop the King now, when he was the highest authority?
We hadn't even properly raised the Favorability Scores of the other Heroines yet, so if we acted arbitrarily in a way that bordered on rebellion, it was clear we would incur their resentment.
Therefore, I was currently against Kylon's words.
"It's too dangerous, so let's just stick to what we were doing."
"No, we have to do it now, right now...!"
"There's no evidence. What you're trying to do now is baseless rebellion...! What if the Heroines, whose Favorability Scores haven't been properly earned yet, become resentful and all abandon us? Even if we do this, we should at least deal with the Heroines first...!"
Given the Heroines' Favorability Scores right now, it was clear that their Favorability Scores would drop and they would abandon him depending on what he did.
Even if he was Kylon, the protagonist, there were things that could be done right now, and things that couldn't.
They weren't girls who would obediently follow him, giving their all, no matter what he did.
So even at his anxious voice, I couldn't help but shake my head.
But he kept pressing me.
Saying all of this was for me.
"You're suffering like this, so we should confront the King right away...!"
"I said it's fine..."
That didn't sound like a pleasant story to me.
Even while saying that, the fear also arose, 'What if this *was* the path to the True Ending?'
How should I react? What choice should I make?
Not knowing that, I could only feel frustrated.
When the daunting feeling of not knowing the future, and having to move forward, came upon me, I finally realized.
My life was like this originally too, so why did this suddenly feel so scary?