Omniscient Victim's Perspective (5): Day 6

I realized I could sink even deeper into depression here.

Yeon-woo smiled for the first time in ages.

Not at me, but at another girl.

I had to watch it from the window of the Student Council Room.

It was an awkward smile, somehow off, but enough to make my pen stop mid-sentence on the letter I was writing to him.

I knew the girl vaguely.

Only two people in this world would classify her that way.

Main Heroine.

…

I didn't think it was a coincidence that, out of all the kids around, he chose to talk to the Main Heroine.

'Why?'

Why all of a sudden?

“...A whim... maybe...?”

A whim...?

To remind myself how absurd that guess was, I opened my laptop.

It had been a while. This folder.

…

A whim was too flimsy an explanation for someone who'd invested over five years—leaping past that in a single day.

…

'......Something else must be...... Huh...?'

The clock had stopped.

“...?”

I shot to my feet, knocking my chair over backward. I looked out the window again.

He was definitely down there, smiling.

“?”

I glanced back and forth between him and the playtime clock.

Why had time stopped? He's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠moving, so why?

'...'

As if to answer that, a new folder appeared inside.

–Click...

It was large—enough that even my high-spec laptop needed time to load the contents.

“...What the hell is this.”

Memo files with my name on them, endless. I clicked the first one.

…

I knew instantly what this was. And who wrote it.

…

But there was something else to check first.

Ending Conditions.txt

–Click

“......?”

A curt text file with barebones explanations. A few lines stating that the True Ending condition was linking up with the Main Heroine.

–Scroll

–Scroll

The mouse wheel spun furiously.

…

A hypothesis bubbled up inside me.

The reason he wouldn't talk to me.

The reason he left the seat next to me.

The reason he stopped giving me my favorite drink.

The reason he no longer held my hand.

The reason he said goodbye without any explanation.

…

My eyes fell on the nameplate on the desk.

Maybe it could be changed like this too.

I looked out the window at him.

As usual, he pulled a flower from his pocket.

This time, it wasn't a pansy.

*

That night.

In the bathtub, I replayed his ordinary farewell words.

…

Favorability. System.

Things I couldn't ask ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠about.

And if he was under the same constraints as me, he couldn't explain to me either. No—not just me. Not to his friend Kim Hyun-jik, not to his parents, not to anyone in this world.

“...Like me.”

Like me.

…

Magic had happened.

Not magic for me.

He hadn't come here by choice.

He hadn't come to meet me.

Now, I'd become fake to him.

…

*

It had been seven days since I last received a pansy.

No idiot picking out drinks at the alley pole anymore.

'...'

The classroom buzzed noisily.

Even without those two speaking, the world stayed the same.

I no longer cried. Instead of tears, I thought about him.

“...”

At the very least, the Yeon-woo I knew wasn't the type to commit needless misdeeds just to see a girl cry.

This time, I thought about the him sitting beyond the monitor.

…

Reward. Return.

He wants to go back, right?

Why? Because he has someone he loves? Too much money to leave behind? Or did he finally grow to hate this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠world too late?

'...'

Whatever it was.

It just hadn't tipped the scales in the direction I wanted, with that weighing against it.

'...'

Then what more was there to say?

…

I pitied him.

'...'

I wanted to let him have his way. Sincerely...

'Go back. I'll be fine.'

Just sending the original owner back where he belonged.

It was never mine to begin with.

…

But...

–Drip

–Drip –Drip...

“......If you go back...... you won't ever come here again... right...?”

There was no way he'd come back......

Of course not. After an experience this terrifying.

He'd probably delete this world, these files too......

Never again.

…I...

I......

…If I just had you...

…Being a character on your screen... would be enough...

…You who stayed in this fake world for five years...

…How much you saved me...

…And only now...

…Finally...

…I've come to like this place...

“...Seon-ha...?”

A classmate caught me.

“Sniff.”

I hastily wiped away the mess and stood.

As I slung my half-open bag over my shoulder and rushed out, something fell.

My eraser. Pink.

“...” “...”

Of all places, right at Yeon-woo's feet.

……

I didn't want him seeing me cry, so I blurted something pointless.

“Yeon-woo, could you pick up my eraser?”

…

The kind him bent down.

“...Here...”

…

“Thanks.”

*

I got home.

The pansies in my room had wilted even more over the past few days.

I slumped over the desk, cheek pressed sideways.

I rolled the pink eraser around.

–...Here... –Thanks.

That tiny kindness lingered in my head all day.

“Don't throw it away.” “Yeah. I won't. You win.”

Yu-ri, coming in with the vase, sighed and left again.

–Ping!

The eraser wriggling in my hand bounced away, landing neatly somewhere amid the wilted pansies on the floor.

…

This was it.

This was fine.

If I just step aside...

That's the role of the fakest of the fakes, right?

'...'

Everything I needed or wanted to say, I'd already said. What more was left here...?

…

There was still something I hadn't seen...

Seon-ha (1).txt. His Strategy log for me.

–Click

I read the five years of Strategy notes he'd written on Seo Seon-ha.

…

Dawn broke. I gave up managing my creeping smile.

…I know all this already.

…

“Me too, I like you too.”

–Thud

The wilted pansy fell. As I gripped the vase, the petals drooped limply.

'...'

But... why do I like this flower? ...

No... I know the reason.

Because it's one of the traits assigned to the character Seo Seon-ha.

'Still.'

After receiving the same flower for five years.

I didn't want to chalk it up to some technicality.

I looked up pansies online.

I learned their flower language.

…

“......Please think of me.”

…

The words slipped from my lips and echoed back into my ears. They lingered in my head. For a long time. So long.

'...'

Step aside for him?

Yield and vanish?

Wither away like before?

Without trying anything?

Because I'm fake?

Is that what I want...?

“No.”

It's a lie. What I really want to say is right here.

…

I'd been playing nice, uncharacteristically.

I'm the girl with the worst personality in school, aren't I?

Yeon-woo, who chased me for five years, knows that best.

*

I unzipped my bag.

Dumped everything onto the desk.

First, think about what I'll do tomorrow.

"Sorry, Yeon-woo. You're gonna end up hating me."

End this game with me. I'll take the pansy by force if I have to.

Hell, maybe I'll spend the whole day throwing erasers and asking you to pick them up?

…What?

Why do that to someone you say you hate? Why force your feelings on him?

“Come on, Yeon-woo started it, didn't he?”

Yeon-woo.

This is way too unfair, no matter how I look at it. It's my turn.

Five years.

Give me the same time with you.

That's fair, right?

If I lose, I'll let you go then.

…

You changed me.

Now I'll change you. By force if needed.

Back to the you who loved me, this place.

Never happened? Don't dodge it. I read everything all night.

…

I'll try.

So you too.

Every now and then.

Even just occasionally.

“Please think of me.”

…… No. Too obedient. Again.

Let me say it more like Seo Seon-ha.

“Keep doing what you were doing.”

I slipped off the ring on my ring finger.

A cheap zinc alloy ring.

I fetched a jewelry box and opened ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the lid.

“Stay in here a bit.”

I carefully placed the ring inside.

…

When I open this box again, this room will be full of pansies once more.

* * *

–Snap

I closed the box lid.

“......That was a few months ago, huh.”

Instead of a pansy field, the room was piled with papers about one person.

…

“Don't scowl.”

I didn't want him hating me too much.

This world either.

Or me.

“Gotta do it with a smile.”

Haa...! I stretched.

Prepared what I'd use tomorrow.

“......Maybe start with this tomorrow.”

*

The next day.

Hiding by the pole, I heard footsteps approaching.

“Oh, Yeon-woo. What a coincidence?”

He varied his route to school pretty well, but I caught him.

His face said he suspected I was tracking him via satellite.

Spot on.

“Sleep well last night?”

“Yeah.”

“Apple or banana, which do you like?”

“...”

While he pondered the intent behind my question, we headed to school as usual.