Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Sleep Well
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Just the repetition of ordinary days.
When Sister headed out to work, I played games.
It wasn't for fun, though.
I was simply wondering if there was any way I could help her.
Something more productive than just mooching off her at home.
Right after I learned you could convert in-game money to cash, I'd been grinding away ever since.
Of course, it wasn't a huge amount. A full week got me around 40,000 to 50,000 won.
It felt like a fortune to me, but it was still too little to make much of a dent in our lives.
Still, if I could at least lighten Sister's load—even just a tiny bit—that was enough for me.
Sister was my last remaining family.
She was the reason I kept going.
Today, too, I'd worked hard and hit this week's goal of 50,000 won. My birthday was coming up soon.
I let myself daydream happily about what to do.
Even so, since it was my birthday, maybe I could splurge on a slice of cake? I grinned at the cheeky thought.
Sweet and delicious.
Cake.
As I indulged in that happy yet presumptuous fantasy, a strange light appeared before me.
"A rainbow?"
But a rainbow had no business showing up in this dingy basement room.
Besides, it was too murky to call it a rainbow.
An inexplicable phenomenon.
But it was fascinating.
And curiosity stirred within me.
I reached out my hand and grasped the light that shouldn't have been graspable.
I steadied my trembling heart and calmly recalled the existence from my memories.
It was harmless. Even if it attacked me, I was confident I could win.
But it was something even I, well-versed in magic, couldn't explain.
Unknown.
Thus, I wouldn't approach it.
With that rational and reasonable conclusion, I took another sip to wet my throat and turned back to Madness.
Skip the unknowns and focus on the now.
"Madness, I entrust you with chat moderation tomorrow, just like today."
"Understood."
Madness's chat management was top-notch.
From my perspective, she might have been a bit too strict at times, but regardless, her speed was impressive.
Today's chat had been blazing fast.
Yet no troll message lasted more than two seconds, making me wonder if this was her true calling.
I looked at Madness approvingly and reached up to stroke her head.
I smiled softly at her closing her eyes to accept my touch, then sat back in my chair and placed my hands on the keyboard.
At least it hadn't been a total waste.
I recalled the game Ida Yeon had played.
I didn't know the ID or password, but now that I was Ida Yeon, I could just dig them up from memory.
"If there's one thing I wouldn't forget, it's anything to do with money."
Especially a hefty sum like 50,000 won—it couldn't have slipped her mind.
The fact that I didn't remember it meant the in-game gold hadn't been cashed out yet.
In other words, that 50,000,000G was still sitting there in the game.
All I had to do was find it and sell it off like she would have, and 50,000 won would be mine.
"Madness, it looks like I can fulfill our promise of chicken a little sooner than expected."
This time, I was definitely going to try this thing called chicken.
Crispy, salty, savory—
This world's luxurious delicacy!
With the streaming setup still needing upgrades and no steady income, I should be saving money.
But honestly, this 50,000 won was just extra—like pocket change found on the street. Surely it was fine to spend it.
This wasn't theft.
Ida Yeon had grinded for a week to earn it, but now I was Ida Yeon, so wasn't the money rightfully mine?
Grinning to myself, I easily retrieved the ID and password and logged into the game.
And there it was.
Ida Yeon's dark side.
The 50,000,000G was intact.
That was good news, but while poking around, one glaringly obvious term jumped out at me.
Popularity.
Straightforward. It must indicate how well-liked the account was.
The problem? It was negative. And the number was a whopping -942.
"What in the world is this...?"
I was baffled.
It might be a misunderstanding on my part, so I quickly looked up the details.
If it was just a meaningless stat you could tweak up or down, it wouldn't be a big deal.
But my faint hope shattered immediately.
The game had a feature to boost or lower other accounts' popularity.
To prevent abuse, it was limited to once per account—which meant nearly a thousand users had hated me enough to use it and tank my popularity.
"What on earth does it take to rack up four digits of negative popularity...?"
This wasn't something you could brush off as coincidence.
"...I should cash out the gold fast and seal this account away."
I had no clue what had happened to leave it like this.
Ida Yeon's past was starting to feel increasingly off.
But I didn't need to know, nor did I particularly want to dig into it.
I was Ida Yeon now, but also Abyss, sovereign of the Demon Realm.
What reason did I have to obsess over someone else's past?
"Anyway, I've confirmed the money's there. That's what matters."
As someone who'd frequented game communities, I knew exactly how to go about selling it.
Oddly enough, today I gathered an unusual amount of info.
The bizarre entity living inside me, the inexplicably abysmal popularity in the game, my own warped common sense...
"My head hurts..."
A throbbing headache set in.
Glancing at the clock, it was nearly 1 a.m.
"...Ahem. It's not information overload—I'm just sleepy."
I'd long passed my bedtime, so this was just sleep deprivation headache.
A bit embarrassed, I scratched my cheek, but there was still work to do.
I recovered the account on the item trading site and posted a quick listing to sell the gold, then turned to Madness.
Having stayed up this late, I'd probably wake up in the afternoon tomorrow.
I stood from the chair, sat on the bed, and spread my arms toward her.
"Madness, let's sleep together."
"I, dare not..."
There was only one mattress bed, springs half-broken. I'd taken the bed, while Madness slept on the floor with blankets.
But considering the humiliations she'd endured, the twisted common sense forced upon her,
and knowing it was all because of me, how could I make her sleep on the floor again tonight?
"This is a sovereign's decree. I permit you to sleep in the bed tonight."
If it wasn't an order, she probably wouldn't come up, so I framed it that way. She turned off the light and approached hesitantly.
"Come on, lie down here."
I lay down first, hugging the wall side, and patted the spot beside me. With no choice, she awkwardly settled in next to me.
Maybe because it was unfamiliar—her body went rigid like a wooden doll.
I gently stroked the hair of the woman lying beside me.
And whispered.
"Being with you is my fortune."
This was sincere.
Without Madness, I'd have been left alone in this basement, starving to death.
That I was still scraping by was largely thanks to her.
I wouldn't forget it even after returning to the Demon Realm—and if I couldn't return, I'd never forget regardless.
Come to think of it, this was the closest I'd ever been to her.
The lights were off, so it was dark.
But because we were so close, her scent was even more intense.
It was sweet. Not imagination—distinctly so.
Peach-like, though I wasn't sure exactly what peaches smelled like. Like the sweet candy flavored as peach.
The sister of Ida Yeon, now inhabited by Madness—
Ida Yoon's body carried that fragrance.
But it wasn't all pleasant.
Her clothes reeked, just like mine. A musty odor.
I did laundry often enough, but it must have absorbed the house's smell while drying.
I lifted my head to look at her.
The room was dark with the lights off, but my eyes adjusted quickly.
Her lashes were long. As Ida Yeon's sister, she was beautiful, of course.
"...Madness, you don't seem much changed from your days in the Demon Realm."
In Demon Realm terms, Madness was a succubus.
Her race, born with beauty, wielded it as a weapon.
Madness was an outlier, hiding her allure to focus on magic and rise to legion commander.
In any case,
I'd changed so much, yet she seemed largely the same.
A twinge of envy hit me, and I suddenly lunged—
waaah!—wrapping her tightly in my arms!
"Y-Your Abyss Majesty?!"
"Madness, you must stay like this until morning."
This was a request, not an order.
...?
No, this was an order, not a request.
I burrowed deeper into her embrace.
"Sleep well!"
If you can, that is.
I pictured her in that awkward position and grinned wickedly.