The Goddess's Lap Pillow Supreme――No, Not That!
The explosion had stopped. My ears were ringing. It felt like my eardrums had burst. Smoke filled the air, blurring my vision. Kang Haneul lay sprawled on the floor. The blast's shockwave had hurled her back. As an EX-rank Awakener, nothing was torn or broken, but her clothes were in tatters, and her skin was covered in abrasions. Of course, those wounds wouldn't last. Regeneration had already begun, fresh flesh knitting them closed.
Baek Sehee stood rooted in place. Right before the blast, she'd instinctively deployed a psychokinetic barrier. The transparent shield blocked the impact. Thanks to it, she emerged unscathed.
Zerk Makerberg had been flung far away, slamming into the wall. His neck was snapped at an unnatural angle, his slit pupils unfocused and torn vertically. A hollow death.
The smoke began to clear. And then――the floor came into view. There... something was scattered in disarray.
First, metal shards. Remnants of the bomb collar, no doubt. Then, red. Smeared across the floor. Finally, flesh-toned fragments. Small. Lifeless. What had once been Moon Yujin.
Kang Haneul stared at them, frozen. For several seconds, she just gazed at the floor. She couldn't comprehend it. Didn't want to. What those pieces were. Who they had been.
In truth, she knew. As an EX-rank Awakener who'd fought countless battles, her mind had already analyzed the scene. But she couldn't accept it. That those... were Moon Yujin.
"Yu... Yujin-ah――!!"
A scream erupted. Kang Haneul crawled toward them, legs giving out beneath her. She couldn't run, but it didn't matter. She clawed forward, hands pressing against the floor.
"Yujin-ah...! Yujin-ah...!"
She reached for the fragments. But she couldn't touch them. If she did, she'd have to admit Moon Yujin was dead. It would force her to accept it.
Unlike Kang Haneul, Baek Sehee just stood there. Motionless. Expressionless. Only her eyes trembled.
Then――her knees buckled. She collapsed to the floor. Dazed. Lost.
Was Kang Haneul coming to terms with Moon Yujin's death? No. She was gathering the flesh chunks. Scooping them up, piling them together.
"If I... if I just put them back together..."
She muttered endlessly, then trailed off. Put them back together. These pieces of flesh. What then? Could he live again?
Kang Haneul knew it was impossible. But she couldn't stop her hands. She kept collecting them. One by one.
A little distance away.
"No way..."
Baek Sehee whispered.
"It's a lie..."
Tears streamed from her eyes. Silently. Endlessly repeating the same words.
It's a lie. It's a lie. It's a lie.
But reality didn't change. Moon Yujin's remains still littered the floor. Kang Haneul kept sobbing as she gathered them. Baek Sehee knelt, murmuring at the empty air.
Time passed like that. Moon Yujin didn't return.
……………
The devices on the wall and ceiling were still intact. A hologram feed continued from them. No one paid it any mind, but it didn't stop.
The devastation in Yeouido unfolded in real time. High-rises took hits from beam cannons. Glass exploded, shards raining down. Buildings tilted sharply and crumbled.
Reptilians advanced. Beam rifles spat fire, crescent blades slicing the air.
The soldiers' defensive line had collapsed. Unlike Awakeners, they had no room to retreat or the mobility. They held their ground and died.
Yeouido had fallen.
[Report: Bridgehead installation complete in 4 hours.]
Kang Haneul didn't hear it. Neither did Baek Sehee. To them, the scattered pieces of Moon Yujin were their entire world.
……………
How much time had passed? Kang Haneul was still slumped on the floor. The remains gathered before her. Her sobs had stopped. Her tears long dried. She just sat blankly, staring at what had been Moon Yujin.
Baek Sehee remained on her knees. Her muttering had ceased. Like Kang Haneul, she stared into space.
Yeouido in the hologram was fully overrun. No more resistance. Reptilians claimed the streets.
[Report: Bridgehead installation complete in 3 hours.]
Then, suddenly, Baek Sehee looked at Kang Haneul.
"Kang Haneul."
No response.
"You don't care either... right? What happens now."
Finally, Kang Haneul lifted her head. Her tear-streaked face reflected nothing in her eyes.
"...Yeah."
A short reply.
"I don't care."
Then she lowered her head again. To take in the sight of what had been Moon Yujin.
They stayed by those fragments. Yeouido in the hologram was lost. The bridgehead nearly complete. A massive mechanical structure rose. The dimensional gate expanded. Earth's fate tipped.
But Kang Haneul and Baek Sehee didn't move. A world without Moon Yujin held no value for them.
But if he revived. If he returned by the power of those three goddesses they didn't know.
Then they――
……………
Darkness. Neither heavy nor light. Almost nonexistent. No sight, sound, or touch.
But I could think.
...Regrettable.
That thought came first. It was a shame. Truly.
In Kang Haneul and Baek Sehee's world, I thought I'd done my absolute best. I'd forgiven Kang Haneul. Stayed by Baek Sehee's side. Though things got messy midway, I'd tried to keep good relations with them.
And in the final moment... I threw away my life. Rejected Zerk Makerberg's offer and detonated the bomb collar myself.
No choice. Better than branding Kang Haneul and Baek Sehee as humanity's traitors. Better than letting 8 billion humans become Reptilian fuel.
I thought my death... was preferable.
If I died with Makerberg, Kang Haneul and Baek Sehee would snap out of it and return to Yeouido. They'd salvage the situation somehow. Earth in that world might be saved.
...So.
No regrets. I'd done everything I could. I could've accepted Makerberg's deal. Lived safely as an honored Reptilian with Kang Haneul and Baek Sehee. Naturally passing the three goddesses' trial.
But I didn't. So maybe I could feel a bit proud.
...No, that's not it.
I realized it suddenly. Or rather, I'd known all along.
I'd thrown away my life. But it wasn't truly staking it. Because I knew...
I could come back even from death. Dying in Moon Yujin's body would return me to the original world's cafe. Where the three goddesses waited.
So it wasn't complete death. Not resolve to die. Just readiness to leave that world.
If it had been real death, would I still have blown the collar?
Probably hesitated more. Maybe even accepted Makerberg's offer. Everything ends with death, after all.
In the end, I hadn't done anything grand. No heroic sacrifice. Just what I wanted.
I hated Makerberg's proposal. Hated the future of 8 billion as fuel. So I refused. Thought it was right. A choice without bitter aftertaste.
That was all. Regrettable, but another trial failed. No normal, happy love. No happy ending.
Challenged four worlds, failed all four. Sounds simple, but damn hard in practice.
Could I succeed next? Would my soul endure, as the goddesses said?
I didn't know. Only consciousness floated in the dark. Then, slowly, sensation returned.
……………
Consciousness returned gradually. First... touch.
Something soft pressed against the back of my head. A pillow? No, too squishy... and warm.
...What?
Something off. I was on the cafe's long sofa chair. Maybe passed out lying down.
I cracked my eyes open. And――
".........?!"
My view was blocked. More precisely... something massive filled it. A black suit jacket. And curves of soft white skin no jacket could hide.
...Boobs!?
I got it instantly. I was lying with my head in someone's lap.
I bolted upright in shock. The obstruction vanished, vision clearing.
Right beside me, as I sat up――
The Victory Goddess gazed at me.
...Huh?
Was the Victory Goddess originally sitting here? No. The three goddesses always sat across the table, facing me.
More accurately, I'd been lying with my head in her lap.
"Ah, you're awake."
The Victory Goddess said. Her face... for some reason, was flushed. Different from her usual cool, rational demeanor. Her eyes sparkled, cheeks rosy. Excited about something.
"Ah, yes. I am, but――"
"I've seen it."
She cut me off.
"That you possess the qualities of a hero."
"......Pardon?"
"Your actions were heroic."
She continued.
"Though it ended tragically, like that man whose heel was his weakness, you still staked your life against a great evil."
That man whose heel was his weakness.
I knew who. The hero slain by an arrow to the heel.
"Such sacrificial spirit, such courage, such resolve――all qualities of a hero."
The Victory Goddess went on. But her body... was inching closer. She leaned in, pressing fully against me. Breasts to chest. Her face inches from mine. I could feel her breath.