Chapter 153
Chapter 153
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 153
Chapter Title: 44-3. Black Room
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As I pushed open the door, acrid smoke billowed out.
Bitter ash danced in the air. The concrete walls and ceiling were charred black.
And that sensation of my face burning. It felt familiar.
"There are still people upstairs!!"
It was a fire scene. Urgent voices of firefighters overlapped with the blaring sirens.
The stairs below were engulfed in fierce flames, as if ready to swallow anyone whole. That must be why they couldn't get up here.
Outside, several red fire trucks were relentlessly spraying water, but the streams couldn't reach.
The height made people look like ants. A high-rise building fire.
'...I have to save them.'
I didn't even have time to think. My body moved on its own. My fear of fire had long since vanished.
Thanks to Pine.
It was a shame I couldn't use skills like Wolf Fang, but I charged through the inferno toward the upper floors.
The heat clawed at my throat. Even breathing was a struggle.
This is why I can't handle spicy food. A bitter realization after all this time.
"P-please... save..."
Then, a child's voice reached me. A hacking cough, like their breath might give out any second.
To not miss the faint cries for help, I pushed through the searing heat that felt like it would melt my body.
I couldn't be even a little late. I had to move my legs faster.
"I've come to rescue you!!"
Bam─. I checked the doorknob wasn't too hot, then kicked open the locked door.
"Where are you!!"
The room was a wreck of collapsed debris. The place I'd entered following the child's voice was in total ruins.
Gas explosion, maybe? Shoes from the entryway had scattered inside, and glass shards flew like knives.
"Person... save..."
A small voice from right beside me. The same child's voice I'd been hearing.
Buried under rubble, only a tiny hand stuck out, fingers twitching desperately.
"Just... hold on a bit...!"
I shoved aside the fallen concrete with raw strength. No skills or magic needed—I had years of sword training under my belt.
Swinging the blade until I collapsed from exhaustion, then repeating. I couldn't even remember the last time I'd slept in past morning years ago.
Thanks to my twisted mana circuits, I supposed. My body was pretty well-muscled now.
"You're... okay now... kiddo!"
I pulled the dust-covered child from the concrete dust. Scared and exhausted, the kid burst into tears the moment they saw me.
I hoisted the child onto my back and headed for the door. Unlike when I'd come in, flames now filled the room.
No way out. Flames walled us in like a massive barrier on both sides. How could I escape? What trick could I─
Ah, right, that.
"Conviction... Rain Prayer."
As I chanted, a blue sword materialized in my grip. I could time it pretty well now.
The moment I summoned the Light Holy Sword, the clear sky from before was gone—whoosh, rain poured down like magic.
Sizzle—the surrounding flames began to die out. I let out a sigh of relief as the embers were snuffed one by one.
Good thing it worked. If this hadn't, I'd have been in real trouble. I could summon the Heart Sword even against the Apostle of Gluttony.
"Moving in!! ...Huh?"
"Two people! That's not what we heard..."
Before long, I came face-to-face with a familiar figure.
Name tag reading "Lee Dae-hyun." A middle-aged man whose soot-blackened face was his trademark.
"..."
Dizziness hit me for a moment. Someone I'd thought I'd never see again stood right before my eyes.
"Did you... save the child...?"
My father, who died rescuing someone when I was young—a man who couldn't be honest with his son.
"...Yes. Firefighter."
He stared at me, flustered.
The fire was dying down. The child was reunited with family, and thankfully, no casualties were reported.
"Here, have some of this at least."
"Ah, thank you."
A paper cup of instant coffee was thrust toward me.
"...Amazing. Must be sheer luck. A sudden downpour to put out the fire."
"Yeah."
Dad spoke while gazing at the sky, now cleared of dark clouds. A faint rainbow arched prettily across it.
"And a young guy like a student saving the kid. Thank you so much."
He let out that hearty "heh heh" laugh. How long had it been since I'd seen that smile?
"Just doing what anyone would. Firefighter."
The coffee had that signature sweet tang of a mix.
Even if I'd possessed a game, recreating someone else's past memories down to the taste was almost infuriatingly real.
'The illusion I desire...'
Actually, was the Pine from earlier even fake? Or maybe the status window pulled some strings.
"Kid, what's your name? Live around here?"
Dad eyed me closely as he asked. Had he noticed I was his son?
"L, Licht."
I gave Licht's name instead of my real one. Only then did Dad drop his suspicion.
"...Unique name."
Guess suddenly throwing out a name like that was fine. This illusion was probably based on my memories.
"Um, by any chance, did you see a woman with white hair... and wolf-ear headband around here?"
It was like a fairy tale where Pine Granasia had shown up. I needed to find her and get out.
"Hmm, no, haven't seen anyone like that..."
"I see."
Dad shook his head. But the screen I'd seen earlier showed her at our house.
What the hell was going on? My mind couldn't process it.
Reuniting with my dead father, seeing my childhood self reading with Pine at home... It felt just like time travel.
Wait, time travel? Time paradox...?
If time had twisted not once, but twice.
'...That could make sense.'
The Pine from moments ago had been changing out of rain-soaked clothes.
The girl in the white boxy tee. Her casual clothes—not her academy uniform—were so striking they stuck in my memory.
She must've gotten wet from my Rain Prayer.
The scene I saw earlier was the future, and when I chased after Pine and opened the door, I'd entered a point before her in the past.
My hunch was solid. If I followed now, I'd meet Pine.
"Who are you looking for? Someone else trapped in the fire...?"
"No, nothing like that."
Dad immediately worried about Pine upon hearing. His professionalism was too much sometimes.
"Someone I know..."
I stopped mid-sentence. The status window's recent scolding flashed in my mind.
"No, she's... the person I love."
This had to be right. People say if you're happy, it's pure love—but I knew how fragile that happiness could be.
Mom gone, Dad left alone, dying in a fire saving others.
As a kid, that terrified me most: grasping fleeting happiness only for it to shatter miserably.
If that one game hadn't become my lifeline, what would I be now?
"...Good times."
The firefighter sipped his coffee with a faint smile.
Now I saw who I took after. That sly grin was pure Dad.
"Unrequited love? Doesn't sound like she's your girlfriend."
How'd he know? He nailed it—I wasn't in a relationship with Pine.
"Unrequited... yeah. Over ten years of one-sided love."
"All that time without confessing? Must've been tough."
I just wanted to vent to someone. As a player, I feared harming Pine.
She was a game character, after all. Complete the Grand Route and return home, she'd be left alone.
"Confessing... honestly, if it works great, if not, I'd give up."
I was scared. Revealing my identity would shock her. Like standing on cracking ice.
"Why give up?"
Dad tilted his head, puzzled. He didn't get it.
"I'm just an ugly guy with burn scars...?"
My gaze dropped to the ground. It hurt lying to the one I loved. What if I hadn't possessed this body?
"Nah, you're plenty handsome. Don't be so negative. Gotta have confidence as a man."
"..."
Thud, Dad plopped down beside me, patting my back like "chin up."
"Got something I tell my son these days. Wanna hear?"
Stooped back, narrow shoulders caught my eye. The Dad from my childhood always seemed larger than life.
Sirens faded like time had stopped. Only Dad's voice rang clear.
"If you're gonna do it, give it your all."
His perennial advice to me. That's why I'd told Kainel and Pine to go all out.
"What do you think? Pretty solid, huh? Better to go all out and regret nothing than look back wishing 'What if I'd tried that?'"
Hearing Dad's advice again. It always etched into my heart, not my head.
"...Wise words."
"I'm a lousy dad who barely plays with his only son, but I wanna at least be a proper life mentor."
The coffee in my hand had gone cold, but warmth spread through my body.