Chapter 129
Chapter 129
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 128
Chapter Title: Time to Return It
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“What?”
Was it because of my utterly confident response? Aria looked at me with bewildered eyes instead.
Before she could even muster a proper reaction, I made her a proposal.
“Then let’s go look for the real Dayus together.”
“...Look for the professor?”
“Yeah. If we go up to the rooftop and look down on the academy, maybe we can spot Dayus.”
Aria seemed confused by my words and followed me in a dazed manner, as if being swept along.
Even so, she kept her mana at the ready, poised to pierce through me at any moment—a chilling presence drawing near.
For now, Aria and I arrived at the dormitory rooftop. The others had made sure no one else was around, controlling access along the way.
“If we look down on the academy, we’re bound to see something.”
At my words, Aria slowly approached the railing, then paused and shot me a sharp glare.
“You have a face similar to the professor’s, but why is your way of speaking so different?”
It was like the reaction of someone seeing a beloved character ruined.
Aria clearly didn’t like my manner of speech, and because of that, a subtle smile escaped my lips.
“Because you don’t see me as Dayus.”
I disliked speaking like Kim Shin-woo while in Dayus’s body.
I wanted to keep Kim Shin-woo and Dayus as separate people.
That’s why I deliberately changed my speech to a unique style that didn’t resemble his at all, and I avoided mentioning my own story unless it was absolutely necessary.
“I’m someone else, not Dayus.”
“...R-Right.”
Perhaps feeling like she was being led along, Aria frowned slightly but agreed.
“So just think of me comfortably. I’m just some stranger you don’t know.”
“...”
The confused Aria eyed me suspiciously, but I slowly extended my hand and pointed to the visible training grounds below.
There, the first-years were training in preparation for the upcoming practical exam.
Among them, Elenoa stood out prominently, and original story supporting characters like Happy, Florensia, Leorus, and Jin were also more noticeable than the other students.
“Ugh.”
Seeing them, Aria winced as if struck by a headache.
But toward her, I asked as gently as possible.
“Those kids... they were your friends, right?”
“...No. They’re all fakes.”
Aria, still afflicted by Kagras Syndrome, believed even the students were fake.
But on the contrary, I nodded. Aria was absolutely right.
“Yeah, they’re not the friends you knew. The ones in your memories who adventured together, shared friendships, traveled, ate meals, and divided joys and sorrows—they’re gone now.”
“...”
Aria’s head turned slowly. Her gaze fixed steadily on me.
“But they’re not fakes.”
“F-Fakes... aren’t they?”
“Yeah, because as you know, everything started over.”
I didn’t know why she had developed Kagras Syndrome. Whether she couldn’t overcome the discrepancies with the previous timeline, if it was a side effect of regression, or simply mental self-torment from the burden.
Whatever it was.
She had always moved toward the right answers, and perhaps even this illness binding her now was a step toward the truth.
“You can’t meet those people you knew anymore.”
“Ah.”
“You know that too. Well enough to feel everything is fake.”
“Ah, ah.”
Aria’s gaze whipped back around. She stared at her old friends in the distance, laughing ha-ha-ho-ho and enjoying their youth.
“Why... am I not there?”
The words tumbled out.
It was hard to say her extreme aggression was simply obsession with me. There’d be no need to show thorns to other students otherwise.
Aria hated it.
That her friends didn’t remember her.
Even though she hadn’t meant to abandon the world but saved her friends, they had forgotten the tragedy.
She rejected it because she hated it.
Gazing at pitiful Aria’s hunched back as she choked up, I continued speaking.
“And even the Dayus you loved is no longer in this world.”
“...!”
Aria’s back flinched and trembled. Her shaking hands gripped the rooftop railing forcibly.
Otherwise, she seemed like she’d collapse.
“You saw it yourself. Dayus dying.”
“Ah...”
What could I do for her?
I had thought about it endlessly.
Dayus from the first timeline.
No, to restore the twisted Aria created by first-timeline Kim Shin-woo, what could I do?
I pondered countless times, reconsidered, revised.
Was there a way that hurt less? A way she wouldn’t be wounded?
But.
There was no such method.
That obsession and dependence, so viciously imprinted by first-timeline Kim Shin-woo, had taken root in Aria and sprouted thorns, firmly embedding itself.
To pull it out.
I had no choice but to kill the root itself.
Kill first-timeline Kim Shin-woo with my own hands.
“The Dayus you love is gone now. He’s already dead, and the Dayus in this world is a completely different person.”
“Ah.”
Aria couldn’t respond.
It was proof she’d vaguely thought the same. First-timeline me and current me were vastly different people.
“Th-That’s.”
“Aria, you have to accept it.”
“...”
Aria’s body trembled.
Tears fell one by one, wetting the ground at her feet.
Only now, when she recognized me as someone else, could I say this.
If she thought of me as Dayus like usual, she might have brushed off these words.
But her heart, her mind was screaming.
That Dayus is fake.
A different person.
So Aria had no choice but to accept it. Everything—even herself—was telling her I wasn’t the Dayus she knew.
“Why...”
It was a kind of whine.
So I didn’t answer, and she didn’t seek one.
“Why, why, why on earth! I did my absolute best... my family, the professor, my friends. I just wanted to save everyone!”
“...”
“Why is this happening! Why did everyone leave me! We all shared those memories, but everyone forgot them!”
Her strength gave out, and on her knees, Aria clutched her face with both hands.
Yet the tears still flowed mercilessly through her fingers.
“Why do I see them? Everyone’s different now! No one remembers me! We—we parted ways! But why are you all still here! Leaving me alone! Laughing and chatting! Having fun!”
“...”
“I still hurt so much! I still haven’t forgotten you! I, I, I still!”
Sobbing, Aria’s forehead touched the ground. The tears pouring out desperately showed no sign of stopping.
“I want to see you all!”
I don’t know how much time passed after that. Gazing at the sunset sky, I waited, and the girl continued pouring out the tears she’d held back until now.
I knew it would take all the time in the world just to release the resentment she’d bottled up.
“Cha, rari.”
In a hoarse voice, Aria spoke while curled up. Even her strength seemed utterly spent.
Yet she sought an answer from me.
“If I forget everything, will I be free?”
“...”
“My feelings for the professor, memories with friends, everything I did—if I forget it all, will I be free?”
Only after hearing it fully did I realize it wasn’t a question. It was a wish.
What would you do if you won the lottery?
Wouldn’t it be great to get first place in midterms?
What if your parents were actually chaebol?
Trivial, age-appropriate dreams and fantasies.
I want to forget.
That’s what Aria longed for.
But.
“That’s not freedom.”
I couldn’t let that happen.
I couldn’t allow it.
I can’t make you forget everything you’ve done.
“It’s just escape and repetition. In the end, you’ll come back as the same you.”
Slowly.
Very slowly, Aria lifted her head.
Trembling hands gripped the railing again as she stood and glared at me.
With fierce hostility.
“So what! What’s wrong with that? No one remembers anyway. No one knows! No one remembers me!”
Fists clenched tight.
A voice cracking from exhaustion.
A tear-streaked face.
The pitiful girl was convinced her past held no value.
“Then I can forget everything I did too, right? My worthless life—can’t it just be as if it never happened?”
“I remember.”
But that was just limited to this continent.
“...What?”
“And I was saved by witnessing your life.”
A bit further.
Beyond the world, across dimensions.
“I think I know why I came to this world.”
The boy who found salvation watching the girl steadfastly overcome tragedy.
“It was to return what I received from you.”
The time had come to return the salvation he’d received—to the girl.