65. I'll Heal You
65. I'll Heal You
65. I'll Heal You
The steady motion of the clock's second hand brought morning with it.
Ring-g-g...!!
Lee Seol-ha didn't own a cell phone in this day and age.
Her analog alarm clock was forcefully informing us that it was morning.
"...Morning already?"
Led by Lee Seol-ha's hand the night before, I'd had no choice but to sleep in her room.
'Things are still noisy outside anyway, so why not just sleep here and go...?'
Lee Seol-ha had said that, her face flushing.
She'd probably wanted to stretch out the time we could maintain our secret-friend relationship as long as possible.
That was why, even when I tried to fall asleep, she kept touching my hand.
'Han Si-jun. Are you... asleep...?'
Every time my eyes slowly closed and my consciousness drifted toward dreamland, Lee Seol-ha would wake me with a small voice.
Maybe it was because the door to her heart had opened, and her rational mind wasn't functioning properly.
She wanted to keep talking with me, no matter what.
In the end, I stayed up with tired eyes and talked with Lee Seol-ha about all sorts of things.
The story of how she'd ended up guaranteeing her uncle's debt because of side effects like the ones right now.
The story of how her family had been dragged into a Gate during her childhood, and she'd survived alone.
The story of how her trauma had made her slap a man who confessed to her.
Maybe because she'd opened her heart to me.
Holding my hand until she fell asleep, she laid all those stories out before me.
As if asking me to understand her.
A night of that kind of conversation.
And now, morning approaching.
I rubbed my tired eyes and got up.
And I noticed one change that had happened to me.
"Hold on..."
Unlike before, the voice coming from my throat was no longer thin—it was deep.
Not the grating elementary-school voice I'd had before going through puberty, but my real voice, the one from after it was all finished.
'Then my body, too...?'
I immediately checked myself with my own eyes.
The size was clearly different from before.
The thickness of my arms, the width of my shoulders, the size of my palms.
All of it had returned to my middle-school proportions.
While I was adjusting to those changes, a drowsy voice came from beside me.
"Nnnn... you're awake...?"
Lee Seol-ha's voice, not long out of sleep.
Watching her stretch and get up, I thought to myself.
'...What exactly is Lee Seol-ha's preference range...?'
The scope of Lee Seol-ha's misandry.
Where did it begin and where did it end? And did my current appearance fall inside that range?
'If my current appearance falls outside the range...?'
How would Lee Seol-ha react to me?
Remembering what she'd said yesterday about slapping a man across the face, I quickly got to my feet.
At that, Lee Seol-ha looked at me with drowsy eyes.
"Huh...?"
Lee Seol-ha let out a startled sound, her sleepy eyes snapping wide open.
Her expression looked like sleep had flown straight out of her head.
I awkwardly greeted her.
"Uh... hey...? Did you sleep well...?"
"..."
I waved at her, my deepened voice coming out.
Lee Seol-ha just stared at me without a word.
'Was greeting her a mistake...?'
Lee Seol-ha's expression was rapidly souring.
Evidently, my current appearance fell squarely inside her misandry range.
"I..."
"..."
Lee Seol-ha wore a look of deep inner turmoil.
The situation seemed to confuse her, and she appeared to be agonizing over how to act.
Lee Seol-ha stayed still like that, exchanging gazes with me.
Then she suddenly shouted.
"G... get out...!! Right now...!!"
Lee Seol-ha pointed a trembling finger toward the front door.
Being in the same room as a man was clearly something she simply couldn't help.
"...Fine. I'll leave for now."
Talking wouldn't get us anywhere at the moment anyway.
Having made that judgment, I decided to wait until later and made to leave the dorm room.
"Don't go... wait..."
Which is it.
Lee Seol-ha murmured at me in a fading voice.
The corners of her eyes held a trace of moisture.
"No... I c... can do this..."
Lee Seol-ha muttered, then sprang to her feet and approached me.
Shaking legs, eyes glistening with moisture.
Every single one of her movements was saturated with reluctance.
Lee Seol-ha kept coming toward me.
I spoke to her firmly.
"Don't force yourself. You know you can't do this."
"..."
Lee Seol-ha hung her head without a word.
Right now, my appearance fell inside the range she recognized as male.
With her current misandry, Lee Seol-ha would probably dislike me less than other male students,
but she rejected me all the same.
Lee Seol-ha, her head still lowered, spoke in a small voice.
"Why does it have to be today...? Do I have to live like this forever...? I hate it now..."
She'd probably expected this, but it seemed the shock was still considerable.
Affection and revulsion.
Two emotions that shouldn't mix.
Lee Seol-ha would hate herself—despise herself—for feeling revulsion toward someone she'd shared affection with.
A person's appearance, changed in a single day.
And her own emotions, which she didn't want to accept.
I couldn't just stand by and watch Lee Seol-ha suffer.
"Lee Seol-ha. I'll help you."
"D... don't come near me..."
Her eyelids trembling, Lee Seol-ha rejected me.
This was partly my responsibility too.
I felt bad for Yu Ha-yeon, but I couldn't abandon her.
I moved in front of Lee Seol-ha and met her eyes.
Her eyes trembling, she was suppressing her reactions as much as she could.
"Curing your misandry. I'll help you do it."
At my words, Lee Seol-ha's eyes went wide.
For just a moment.
Then her expression returned to its usual blankness.
"...You think it's easy? Words are easy, aren't they? You think I'm ridiculous?"
"Lee Seol-ha. That's not it."
"D... don't say my name...!"
With the side effects subsiding, Lee Seol-ha had reverted to her usual self.
She was exposing her greatest weakness: her inferiority complex.
'Whatever the case, the treatment has to happen no matter what.'
I wasn't a philanthropist, and I wasn't offering to cure her because I wanted to kiss Lee Seol-ha again.
'...The kiss was good, though.'
Lee Seol-ha's lips had a different feel.
A cold sensation, smooth lips.
Tongue movements that coiled around me but were clumsy.
She'd told me, 'Big Sis will take the lead...'
but in reality, I'd just pretended to follow along while showing her how to move.
Anyway.
In V. AGE, curing Lee Seol-ha's misandry also changes her ability scores.
If her misandry is cured, her inferiority complex—her weakness—diminishes,
and she becomes a hero somewhere between A-rank and S-rank who doesn't wreck the party atmosphere.
But if she isn't cured?
Her inferiority complex makes her jealous and envious of others, and she only manages to unlock about half of her talent.
There was even an event where she assaulted an innocent male citizen during a specific scenario and got disciplined for it.
For any player aiming to clear V. AGE, curing Lee Seol-ha's misandry was mandatory.
I spoke to Lee Seol-ha, who was suppressing herself as much as she could.
"I'll cure you, no matter what. Just trust me and follow my lead."
"I said I don't want to... get lost..."
Lee Seol-ha clenched her teeth and kept pushing me away.
She was clearly speaking harshly because she didn't want to cause me harm.
Even if Lee Seol-ha pushed me away, I had no intention of giving up on her.
"Lee Seol-ha. Remember that wish coupon you gave me last time?"
"...!"
"I'm using it. Until your misandry is cured, you do what I say. That works, right?"
The wish coupon I'd gotten in exchange for calling her Big Sis.
Lee Seol-ha had an inferiority complex, but her pride was immense—she would absolutely keep her word.
She murmured at me with a shocked expression.
"Wh... why? Why are you doing this for me...?"
Her eyes looked genuinely curious.
In this moment, at least, she wasn't reviling me.
How should I answer Lee Seol-ha's question?
I started to think.
'...Can't exactly tell her she'll get stronger if her misandry is cured...'
Telling the truth would obviously make me sound insane,
and Lee Seol-ha would definitely kill me on the spot.
I had no choice but to answer her plainly.
"Just because. Does there really need to be a reason? I'm doing it because I want to."
I act according to what my heart tells me.
'Ugh, that's so cringey.'
Even by my own standards the words were embarrassing, and Lee Seol-ha gave me a puzzled look.
"What's that supposed to mean...?"
Yeah.
What was it supposed to mean.
I didn't know the answer either, so I decided to leave it to Lee Seol-ha.
"...Figure it out on your own. What it means."
Leaving those words behind, I quietly walked to the front door.
Then I turned around to say goodbye.
'Why is her face so red...?'
The expression of revulsion toward me had subsided,
but her cheeks were flushed, a stark contrast against her short hair, which was the color of the deep sea.
I waved at her and made to leave,
but Lee Seol-ha called out and stopped me.
"Han Si-jun."
"Huh?"
"That thing you said. It means what I think it does... right?"
Lee Seol-ha's expression shifted in real time, cycling through every shade.
One moment she looked expectant, the next she'd go blank, and then she'd frown.
I smiled and answered her.
"I'll give you the answer later."
What Lee Seol-ha needed right now was time to sort out her thoughts.
Out of consideration for her, I stepped through the front door.
Creeeak...
I opened the door just a crack and checked that there were no female students nearby.
My destination was Yu Ha-yeon's dorm room.
If I went out alone, I'd definitely get caught,
so I needed Yu Ha-yeon's help to escape.
Just as I was about to leave, Lee Seol-ha's voice came from behind me.
"Han Si-jun."
"What now."
"Tha... no, get lost..."
"...Right."
I answered and left the room.
The moment I was out, I heard a thud!—like someone slamming their head against the wall.
'Well, that's... good, I guess...?'
Kissed Lee Seol-ha. One person left on the lifespan count.
And on top of that, I'd made a promise to cure her.
Things couldn't possibly be better.
Lost in such happy thoughts, I was about to head toward Yu Ha-yeon's room.
Then a memory flashed through my mind.
'Wait, but...'
The promise I'd made: if I kissed someone else, I had to tell Yu Ha-yeon.
No—a vow.
And now I needed Yu Ha-yeon's help to escape the girls' dormitory.
'...'
Imagining the future that awaited me, I silently walked toward Yu Ha-yeon's dorm room.
Mentally preparing myself for the possibility that Yu Ha-yeon might kill me.