I Have to Reverse It
“Hey, Na-rae. I didn’t sleep for a whole week straight or anything, right? Or at least not that long…?”
I asked while watching TV, and Na-rae sniped back that I must have taken brain damage while I was dead.
I chucked the cushion I was holding to fix that attitude of hers; she freaked out and snapped that I’d almost made her spill coffee on her laptop.
“That’s what you get for talking like that. Answer nicely and we both win.”
“…You didn’t sleep that long. Twelve hours tops, sprawled out like a corpse. More importantly, Min-a… I’m asking this seriously. If I bring you someone more competent than me, will you let me go?”
“No? Why would I let you go? I’ve got to keep you close and watch carefully to see if you turn into a decent person.”
I’d spared her because she hadn’t seemed particularly guilty at the time. After keeping her around a while, though, it was clear she wasn’t exactly innocent either.
I planned to observe her until she became a proper, upright member of society.
Besides, we were already tangled too deeply. If her feet were free, my future activities would get awkward.
I intended to bounce between this form and the monster form for fun. If that bitch ever exposed the fact that the two were the same person, it would all be over.
I couldn’t allow that.
“Ha, haha… Maybe it would’ve been better if I’d just died back then…”
“Speaking as someone who’s experienced death: no matter how shitty things look, living is better. What’s after death is pure hell.”
That was a lie. I had no memories of death at all. I was just recycling a little of what Su-hyeok had described about the afterlife in the original story.
“Really? What happens…?”
“That’s a spoiler. If you’re curious, go experience it yourself. I can help you out if you want?”
At that, Na-rae clutched her head and groaned that she’d been played again.
Her ridiculous expression was briefly entertaining, but the present situation was anything but.
On the TV, they were announcing that Radiant White had not been rescued by a search team—she had flown back under her own power.
It might not sound like a big deal, but she was never supposed to return on her own. That wasn’t how the original story went.
In the original, she still had to be with Su-hyeok. She was supposed to feel pity for him as he half-desperately tried to keep her, and end up living with him for a while.
She was supposed to spend time with him, pity his miserable life, and wonder why he was so desperate to hold on to her.
Not just fly back like this.
There was no way Su-hyeok had tried to stop her and failed. Radiant White was the type who, no matter how urgent things were, could never ignore someone asking for help.
Which meant Su-hyeok had simply let her go, cool and clean…
He had zero reason to do that. Su-hyeok was a man being hunted by the government itself.
They hadn’t put out an open warrant only because the reasons they needed to recapture him were so filthy that the current administration would collapse if they ever came to light.
A card that could finally let him strike back at the government had fallen right into his lap—there was no way he would just casually let it walk away.
A magical girl could give him so much. For him to throw all of that away and send her off—
—Ah. Fuck. There it is.
He’d made contact with the vampire family overseas. He no longer needed to cling to a magical girl who wanted to leave, begging her to stay and help him save one more life.
Why walk a tightrope by latching onto a magical girl when he could just take the emergency exit and flee abroad? That would be far easier.
A cornered rat will bite a cat, but a rat that still has an escape route will always run.
“Shit…”
I never expected the careless lie I’d spat out to come back like this. I clutched my head and cursed.
If only he still suspected me, things wouldn’t have turned out this way. Why the hell had I gone and earned his trust while getting grilled back then…!
The boomerang I’d thrown thoughtlessly in the past had come screaming back. It was enough to drive anyone insane.
I’d only meant to mess around a little. How had it come to this?
I wracked my brain for any way to link the two of them again, but nothing solid came to mind.
Even if I had knowledge of the original, that original had already gone wrong from the very first button. I doubted those scraps would be worth much now.
And before that—did I even need to cling to the original this hard? Maybe it was fine to just let things flow…
…No. That still didn’t feel right.
If the protagonist and the heroine never got properly entangled, neither of them would reach a happy ending. That was why.
Radiant White would fail to overcome increasingly fierce enemies and either break or die. Su-hyeok would… keep running forever, never knowing when the chase would end.
His kindness would go unrewarded, he would never be saved, and without a place to rest he would wander until he died alone somewhere.
I didn’t want the characters I liked to meet endings that miserable or half-finished.
Even if the entire world became miserable, I wanted my little sister to be happy.
…The Shining White inside me felt the same way. So I had to find some way to restore the original flow.
Someday I would have to talk properly with the magical girl inside me as well, but from the way she was speaking now, nothing sane was going to come out. I decided to keep her locked away a little longer.
Think, Min-a. I know I’m not the brightest, but I can’t keep dodging forever by saying I’m stupid.
After clutching my head and thinking hard, a conclusion that actually sounded plausible finally popped out.
Radiant White had chased me all the way to Incheon before. So I would throw out bait again and draw her back to Incheon.
After that, I would give Su-hyeok a “job” and tell him to try extracting some information from Radiant White or something.
…Even I could see it had holes here and there, but as far as I was concerned, this was the best I had.
I knew all too bitterly that my best was other people’s average. Things I put effort into rarely worked out cleanly.
That still wasn’t a reason not to try.
I had already dangled the hook that I would soon give Su-hyeok a commission. Soon I would have to appear openly in Incheon and pull Radiant White into the area.
We scoured every trace of the monster who carried Mother’s essence, yet all we found was a single scrap of paper.
ill go to korea
It was written in English, and the handwriting was a mess, but we had found it at the place where we met the monster, so it was safe enough to treat as something the monster itself had left.
At first I could not be sure who had written it. Only after time passed and the monster appeared in Korea could I finally be certain it was the monster’s hand.
Then why leave such a thing? For a while I could not grasp the intent, but now I thought I understood at least a little.
It had been an invitation to follow.
There was no other reason it would announce its destination to someone who had attacked it.
I still could not read its true heart. Whether it was friendly or hostile remained unknown. Nothing was certain.
Even so, it seemed worth the gamble now.
If we simply sat still, we would all die anyway.
“…Acting Elder. Is that truly the best we can do?”
“Ilie, if we join forces we can face them somehow. Of course… not everyone will come through unharmed, but we can at least protect our territory. So that—”
The thralls gathered in the council chamber and my sister kept saying we should fight the invaders, that it was still too early to give up.
“…Even if the two of us combine our strength, facing an Elder is no easy matter. You know that, Elise. And every thrall under them will move as well. Are you confident you can handle that?”
“That’s…”
“This is war. They intend to stake everything. Even if by some miracle we win, it will be only a temporary victory. Countless family members will die, and neighboring houses may seize the chance to attack us next.”
“…So you’re saying we should throw everything away and follow that monster?”
“Elise.”
“Abandon everything Mother left us, take only our bodies, and go somewhere we don’t even know…? Just because Mother’s essence is there?”
“Elise. I already told you. Mother is awake. She is simply working in secret from within for some plan even we do not know. When Mother awakens and learns that her children all died trying to hold a scrap of land—how do you think she would feel?”
My sister wore a pained expression and said she still did not know whether this was right.
I felt the same. I could not be certain this was the wise path either.
Yet if we wanted to survive even a little longer, this was the only way.
I could not allow our long-cherished wish to be severed in a place like this, over a petty struggle like this.
“…Prepare so that we may depart as soon as the sun sets. Sister, that includes you.”
“Acting like the Elder’s proxy now, of all times.”
Elise grumbled, but she had no intention of resisting and left it at that.
The other thralls scattered one by one or began telling the generations beneath them that they must leave.
…I could only hope I would not come to regret this decision later.