What's That Syringe in the Drawer?
A little time passed, and Han Ye-seo and I were both running on empty stamina.
After all that bickering and tussling, it was dark outside before we knew it.
We hadn't even eaten dinner. Our stomachs growled almost in unison—mine and hers—probably from hunger.
Just teasing her about her small chest had triggered this kind of reaction. God forbid what would've happened if I'd piled on a few more jabs.
"Hah... hah..."
"Huuuh..."
We were both so wiped out we could barely groan.
We knew neither of our abilities were combat-oriented, so it had come down to good old fisticuffs.
...Though purely in terms of physical prowess, I'd been doomed to lose. Han Ye-seo had gone easy on me, more than I'd expected.
She'd been furious enough to spar for hours, yet she'd never forgotten to pull her punches.
I slowly pushed myself up from where I'd collapsed.
My back ached a little—probably from lying on the hard floor for so long.
"...Is it really worth getting that mad over?"
"It's like how guys flip out over their size down there. You get it—you're a girl too."
"Even if you say that..."
I'm a guy, so I don't really get that mentality.
Our sensibilities are just wired differently from the start, aren't they?
Excluding the super huge ones, guys generally prefer bigger. Girls seem to find smaller more comfortable. I saw it in some creative works—less shoulder strain, fewer muscle aches, all sorts of perks.
...Better not say that out loud. She'd start round two.
Honestly, I was pretty satisfied with Ivy Lane's body all around.
Imagine possessing a big-chested heroine. How horrifying would that be?
Aside from that damn period, it was decently convenient.
I'd have preferred to be the protagonist.
A rival position next to the protagonist would've been fine too.
But a heroine, of all things.
Back then, it felt like I'd just fallen into a game world. That was the vibe I lived with. Getting back to reality was the goal.
Before I knew it, I'd admitted it to myself.
This place was reality too. People lived and breathed here.
If you possess into a novel, everyone else is just letters on a page. In a game, they're code.
Living with that mindset would've been easy, no doubt.
Morality, ethics—all that nagging stuff vanishes in a flash.
I could've used regression to grab what I wanted, discard it just as fast, and keep looping. That path was always there.
Even in this precarious world, companies and stocks existed. Regression would've crushed it there...
Wait. Am I an idiot?
Why hadn't I ever considered stocks or investments until now?
I had a bank account. Money in it.
With a checkpoint set, couldn't I just OD on syringes, suicide-loop a few times, and copy cash infinitely?
Not the agonizing deaths from before—just painless euthanasia.
No sensation at all, right?
A near-zero-penalty money glitch?
Relics, items, books... maybe even drugs.
A way to boost my power and break my current limits. I'd just stumbled onto it, out of nowhere.
Alright. Let's do it.
Han Ye-seo suddenly bolted upright beside me.
"What?"
"Huh?"
"You just grinned out of nowhere."
"A good idea popped into my head."
"What idea?"
Oh, right—I'd lied to Han Ye-seo that my ability was precognition.
Did she know about anyone in a similar boat?
"Could I trade stocks using info from my foresight?"
"...Is that your registered ability?"
"For now?"
"Stocks or crypto would be monitored. Unfair gains via ability."
Ah, figures they'd have countermeasures.
But I'm a regressor.
A handful of top government brass, some A-rank heroes, and the principal knew it.
Special treatment territory.
The radicals might want to crush me, but the others would want to use me.
Might work if I beg just right...
Worst case, no more hassle with stocks or coins.
A quick word to the principal, and he'd probably sort it out.
I pretended to mull it over, then replied.
"Yeah, makes sense..."
"Want me to do it for you?"
"That's illegal."
"Kidding!"
No, that didn't sound like kidding at all. You.
Han Ye-seo muttered quietly, almost to herself.
"How long till those reporters outside leave?"
"Who knows. Better not go out tonight."
"In a small city like this, there's no real scoops usually. Barrier breach hasn't happened in ages, though..."
"And students—heroes—minimized the damage. Yeah, solid story material."
Han Ye-seo snickered.
"Are we famous now?"
"Looks like it."
"Silver lining! We might even get fan clubs?"
"That's not a silver lining at all."
"Hmmm..."
She wasn't buying it one bit.
"Why that look?"
"You seem like the type who loves the spotlight!"
"...Do I?"
"You like the attention from others too!"
True enough.
If I hated it, I wouldn't have acted up in communities or games.
...Old habits.
"Whoa... you're giving me that 'gazing into my past' look!"
"'Gazing into the past'? What's that supposed to be?"
"Dunno! It's just that look!"
Reading my mind or something?
Come to think of it, I had almost no ways left to dig into Ivy Lane's past.
Tried accessing the facility that raised her, but with my current abilities, no dice...
Maybe Ja-an could?
Ask him next chance?
But requesting a search for my birthplace? Kinda weird.
Playing the tragic amnesiac heroine might work short-term, but it felt off long-term.
I flinched. My body shuddered.
After boosting strength and stamina with syringes, my stats had solidly left normal human territory.
Stamina was still average, but overall senses were sharper.
Like an Olympian's instinct in their field—gut feeling territory.
Yeah. I was definitely shuddering now.
I eyed Han Ye-seo's movements.
She was pointing at something.
"Drawer. What's that?"
"...You."
"Planning to die?"
Regress via suicide?
"No idea what you mean."
The drawer held a clear syringe. My pocket had the black one.
Did Han Ye-seo know what liquid was in the clear one?
Unlikely.
Even on the front lines, a drug potent enough to shatter an ability user's mind was rare.
So this action was...
Got played.
A bluff. Testing my reaction.
No, how did she even see inside the drawer...?
Han Ye-seo spoke up.
"One thing I didn't mention about my ability. It's a perfect illusion over a specific space. But limited to black and white. That's why it's the Cave Allegory. Just light and shadow."
So that's why she lied about ink manipulation.
Got it.
But "didn't mention"?
"The unmentioned part: I fully grasp that space."
"...Huh?"
"Can't analyze object properties or living things, obviously. Inanimate only."
In other words, her ability boiled down to this:
She could roughly scan all surrounding terrain and inanimate objects.
Once scanned, her real body couldn't move. It turned transparent instead.
She conjured a black-and-white illusion. It looked physically real and fooled other senses too.
Ability...? Nah, not quite. It's a side effect baked into the ability.
To deploy such a precise, wide-area illusion that deceives human senses, she had to fully map everything in range.
The core was turning impossible into possible, defying physics.
Without total grasp, perfect illusion fails. Hence, impossible.
Her ability auto-activated it regardless of her will—to make the impossible possible.
A passive byproduct every time she used it.
Blink. My eyes blinked.
Pain was familiar now.
Couldn't breathe, senses screaming agony—yet my body pushed forward normally.
Crushed, torn, killed by monsters over and over. It'd become second nature.
Head throbbed.
Someone stared from ceiling and floor.
"Didn't you want to be a hero?"
Father's voice echoed.
"You could never become one."
Irritation surged. I scowled.
Han Ye-seo spoke.
"What's that syringe in the drawer?"
"...Meds."
"What kind?"
"Psych meds."
"Psych meds aren't usually syringes. Pills."
Ah, motion sickness hitting.
"So?"
"Tell me. Exactly. Honestly."
Annoying. Kill her? Wait, what did I just—
I slowly backed away from Han Ye-seo.
Step by step.
Father's voice again. Eyes blinked.
"Didn't I tell you? Skip redosing the same drug, and it worsens steadily."
Drug
"It's been just over a month now, so progression's slow."
A bit more realistic. Why no countdown? Or did I let my guard down because there wasn't one?
Ha. Ha...
"Ivy?"
"Sorry."
This was the only way.
I pulled the black syringe from my pocket and jabbed it into myself. Pressed down hard.
Vision blurred.