Divergence Point
Divergence Point
"Dabin-ah!"
Far in the distance, oppa soared high into the sky.
- Kuooh.
The giant shadow of T-Rex covered the city.
Dust rose between the ruined buildings, and the air trembled with a single roar.
Toward that monster, oppa was falling.
From high in the sky like a comet.
The moment I saw that, I clasped my hands together without hesitation.
"A ray of hope."
Starlight bloomed at the tips of my hands gathered before my chest.
A light so tiny it could be obscured even by sunlight reflected on a sand desert.
A light so faint it seemed like it would go out at any second.
'But hope is supposed to be like that, after all.'
So small it felt like it would vanish in an instant, so weak it felt like it couldn't change a thing.
Yet, something that never goes out in the end.
"Courage to the one who cuts through the darkness with a comet-like light."
Beneath the giant shadow of T-Rex.
That light flickered precariously as if it would be swallowed at any moment, consumed by the darkness.
But courage is not the power to move forward because you aren't afraid.
A flame that doesn't go out even when you're scared, even when you're trembling.
A companion that firmly holds onto hope that looks like it's about to go out any second.
The light, seeming about to die out yet refusing to, left my hands.
And toward the trajectory where oppa was falling, a small starlight advanced, cutting through the shadows.
"Love that can overcome anything!"
At that moment.
The feeble light began to grow explosively, burning the infinite fuel of love.
Brilliantly and boundlessly dazzlingly.
Like a comet cutting across the night sky.
'Oppa. Please.'
The light reached oppa.
"Rising Star!"
Brilliant starlight crossed the sky.
The light wrapping around oppa's body flared up brighter for a moment.
Hope.
Courage.
Love.
Becomes a single star and shines brightly.
- Gruoooooh!
T-Rex raised its head.
Starlight was reflected in its inorganic, machine-like eyes.
And.
Oppa's fist, falling like a comet, pierced right through the center of T-Rex's head.
- Guooo..
T-Rex's movements stopped.
Along with the sound of the machine stopping, T-Rex collapsed right on the spot with a koong.
Beyond the dust cloud, someone was running at high speed.
'Is that oppa?'
"Dabin-ah!"
"Oppa!"
Oppa, who approached me in an instant, stroked my head.
"Great assist. As expected of my sister."
"..No, oppa was even more amazing."
"Look at you being shy."
"...."
And after giving a refreshing laugh, he tapped my shoulder and put on a serious expression.
"Be that as it may. It looks like we'll be moving soon. It popped up on my status window."
"Really? How soon?"
"5..."
"5 minutes?"
"3..."
"Was it in seconds..."
A moment later, feeling the unique sensation of the tower's teleportation, we moved.
"Again..."
Coming to my senses, I found myself restrained.
'It's bright...'
And the blindingly strong light made my face involuntarily wrinkle.
Then, a familiar voice was heard.
"Ah, Dabin-ah. You woke up early this time."
Raising my head in the direction of the voice, oppa was visible right in front of me.
"Oppa?"
"Ah, Dabin-ah. You're awake."
He was smiling brightly, but checking near his wrists, he was restrained just like me.
"Oppa too...?"
As my gaze naturally tried to move from the wrists to the face, I sensed something strange.
'Huh?'
A sense of incongruity different from before coming here was felt.
'Something's weird, right?'
To figure that out again, I lowered my gaze step by step from oppa's face.
Pure white skin, firm chest muscles, slim yet high-density chocolate abs, and fine muscles.
And right below that, even that plump... thing proudly displaying its existence.
I swallowed my saliva without realizing it and thought.
'Why... are there no clothes?'
"Why? Dabin-ah?"
The identity of that incongruity was the vanished attire.
"...?"
"Dabin-ah?"
For now, I know the clothes have disappeared.
But...
'Did oppa... originally have a body that good?'
While blankly admiring oppa's body for a moment like that, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.
'Naked...?'
If oppa is naked, then no way...?
As I creaked my head down, my own naked body was blatantly visible.
"Kyaaah!"
"What's wrong! Dabin-ah! Calm down! Calm down!"
I squeezed my eyes shut and shouted.
"Do I look like I can calm down right now? Turn your head away!"
"Calm down, Dabin-ah! This is the tower right now, the tower!"
"I don't care about that, just turn your face away!"
My face is burning hot.
'No matter how much it's oppa, this is embarrassing!'
Especially being restrained so I can't do anything, showing my precious parts so blatantly is even worse.
While I was screaming like that, an unfamiliar voice was heard from somewhere.
"You finally found us, Climbers."
A voice echoing in the room.
"Who are you!"
"The research lab director of the Future Strategy Business Research Institute. I am Ruind."
'Ruind?'
The NPC of the hidden gimmick oppa talked about.
And...
'The trash who burned oppa to death.'
Kadeudeuk.
As my teeth grind, strength naturally enters my fists.
The culprit who made oppa, who used to smile brightly whenever he saw me, writhe in such agony.
'Magical Girl Transformation'
- [ Due to the current <Mana Freeze>, <Magical Girl Transformation> cannot be used. ]
'As expected... what oppa said was right.'
I glared with hostile eyes toward where the voice came from.
Then Ruind's voice became even lower.
"..You know me."
"Ha. What did you say?"
"Judging by your reaction, this isn't the first regression cycle."
Wiiiing.
Along with the sound of the door opening, researchers entered.
"Foolish ones who don't know the truth might call you heroes who save us, but I know. You didn't come to save us."
"What are you talking about!"
"Which of you is the regressor? Answer."
The researchers aimed strange tools at us.
At that moment, I screamed.
"Oppa!"
"Got it! Dabin-ah! <Super Strength>, <Instant Acceleration>!"
When I shouted, an udeuk sound was heard, followed immediately by the sound of the locks being smashed to pieces.
And in an instant, all the researchers collapsed.
"..Is this how it ends after all."
"Ha! You were going to kill us anyway! What are you talking about! Where are you!"
"If only I had been a little more perfect."
A sentence whose meaning could not be known.
Tang.
And the subsequent report of gunfire.
Right after that, the voice filling the room cut off.
"..What is this?"
- [ 14th floor hidden gimmick clear complete. Escape is possible. ]
- [ <Mana Freeze> is lifted. ]
'Behind my back.'
Turning my head toward the direction where the gunshot was heard, there was large reinforced glass.
And red liquids visible all over the glass.
Beyond the glass, a man wearing a white lab coat was leaning against a chair with a handgun in his hand.
"He's dead...?"
"Is it suicide."
"Oppa?"
Oppa, who had approached me at some point, draped a lab coat over me.
While covering my eyes with his hand.
"Don't look. It's bad for your mental health."
"...."
"Dabin-ah. Turn your head away for a moment. I'll go check if there are any rewards."
"Okay..."
And a moment later, oppa brought something over.
One was an old book. And the other was an iridescent sky-blue potion.
"Eh? What's that, oppa?"
"Ah, this? Want to take a look?"
I checked the book and potion oppa handed over.
- [ Last Chance ]
- Grants self-repair to a damaged soul.
- Just once, returns a soul on the verge of complete destruction to its most desperate moment.
- [ Regressor's Obsession ]
- A record left behind by a regressor of a ruined civilization.
- Traces of trying to find the cause of failure within oneself to the very end.
- "If only I had done it a little more perfectly."
"This is..."
"That research lab director must have been a regressor too. This must have been like that bastard's diary."
"Last... Chance?"
I blankly read that sentence.
Damaged soul.
Self-repair.
"Oppa."
I picked up the potion and handed it to oppa.
"Eat this, oppa."
"Huh?"
"Oppa, you have a hard time. I have <Rebound Healing> too... and every time you regress you look like you're in pain... if you eat this, you might get better."
"Dabin-ah."
"Huh?"
Oppa smiled.
"No."
"What do you mean, no?"
Oppa gently grabbed my wrist.
"You should eat that."
"Eh?"
Before I could react,
oppa put [Last Chance], which was in my hand, into my mouth.
"Wait, oppa. I'm fin..."
Before I could finish my sentence, the potion entered my mouth.
A contradictory sensation, both freezing and hot, flowed down my esophagus.
And a burning sensation began to spread from deep inside my chest.
A sensation as if forcibly stitching together broken parts.
"Ugh..!"
I clutched my chest.
'Something... feels weird...'
It felt like the strangely dull world was becoming vivid again.
"Oppa, why..."
"It's fine."
Oppa stroked my head.
"It's harder for oppa to see Dabin in pain."
The moment I heard those words, my throat choked up.
"...."
I wanted to say it was hard.
That I was scared.
That I hated seeing oppa die.
But I couldn't say it.
Because oppa's bright smile kept lingering in my eyes.
So it was fine.
I forced myself to nod.
"Yeah."
Oppa's touch was warm.
"It's okay. As long as I have Dabin, oppa feels secure."
Suddenly, the words Ruind left behind at the end came to mind.
- If only I had been a little more perfect.
"If only... a little more perfect."
"Huh?"
I hastily shook my head.
"It's nothing. Not a thing."
But strangely, that sentence didn't disappear from my head.
If only I had been a little more perfect.
If only I had been a little faster.
If only I had been a little stronger.
'Would oppa not have died?'
Mom. And dad too...
The moment my thoughts tailed one another and were about to make me depressed.
Oppa grabbed my cheek flesh and stretched it out.
"Ow!"
"Why are you pulling such a long face, Dabin-ah."
Oppa said with a bright smile.
"Eh?"
"I gave it to you for your own good, so if you look all gloomy like that, what does that make me."
"...."
"Look at this kid. Smile!"
"Ugeugeup... S...Smile..."
"Yeah, you look good when you smile. Ah. Dabin-ah, shall we go to the Purapri Festival? You wanted to go."
'Eh? Purapri?'
It's the name of the magical girl animation I like.
And around this time, the 30th-anniversary event was held.
I always wanted to go, but couldn't because the dates didn't align.
I said with a gloomy expression.
"The dates for that are already over..."
"We finished clearing early, didn't we? What usually takes several days, we finished in a single day?"
However, upon hearing what oppa said next, my mood improved in an instant.
'Ah! That's right!'
"Yay! Let's go! Let's go!"
Thus, safely finishing the hidden gimmick and finishing the tower clear.
As I returned home with oppa, I spilled out what I had been curious about.
"By the way, oppa... is it... okay to ask just one thing..."
"Huh?"
Oppa's face looking at me.
As earlier's naked body overlapped, my face burned slightly.
'Is it... really okay to ask this...?'
"Oppa, um... no..."
"What is it. Spit it out quick."
"No! Never mind! It's nothing."
"This little one?"
Then oppa tickles my armpits.
"There are two ways to piss people off, Dabin-ah. The first is stopping halfway through a sentence, and the second is."
"Ah! I know, I get it! Puh-hee-heek! St...stop! Stop!"
"So what is it."
"Oppa, um... why is my... Ah, seriously! Fine, I'll just talk!"
"No, so what is it, hurry up and tell me."
After taking a deep breath once, I asked cautiously.
"Um... oppa... why aren't you getting hard?"