Unqualified Person -5-
Once again, Yuria's vision went dark.
The fresh dawn air she'd been breathing moments ago turned into the musty dungeon atmosphere, and Yuria slowly opened her eyes, letting out a deep sigh.
I was the one who misunderstood Ricardo...
Yuria's mind was a whirlwind of confusion.
I thought it was all Ricardo's doing. Me, of all people...
The realization that she'd harbored hatred and resentment toward an innocent person darkened her expression.
I should apologize, shouldn't I?
Yuria took a deep breath and lifted her head. She stood in a dungeon corridor with a stone ceiling overgrown with moss between the bricks. And in one corner of the dungeon stood a pink-haired girl covering her eyes and sobbing alone.
Her past self, weeping at the sight of the collapsed entrance. Seeing this, Yuria clenched her fists.
[Viewing will begin in 10 minutes.]
The sight of herself crying, head bowed in sorrowful tears—it filled her with a mix of bitterness and overwhelming emotion.
That was when the blue window began narrating the story she'd lived through.
[That day, you were abandoned by your friends.]
It was a familiar story she already knew. Abandoned, with no way back, drowning in heartbreaking sobs—the blue window unnecessarily recounted the painful memory.
I know that already.
Yuria glared at the blue window with eyes full of resentment, her fists clenched tight. But the window simply continued its tale of her past.
[It was a suspicious proposal. A friend showing up at your dorm in the early dawn, someone you'd only exchanged light greetings with before—suspicious, yet you nodded to the invitation to explore the dungeon together. You were being bullied at the time, lonely. Ricardo had grown distant. Your once-close friends had started avoiding you, so their sudden invitation felt welcome. Enough to agree to the odd request of dungeon delving at such an early hour.]
Yuria muttered under her breath, her voice laced with anger. She was usually far from wrathful, but the window's cruel words stirred her heart into turmoil.
I know that already.
Why dredge up my pain like this? she screamed inwardly, fury boiling over.
I know it all too well, so shut up...
Her mind was already in enough chaos, and the window kept provoking her. Yuria poured out her resentment at it. I know, so please... just stop... shut the hell up... don't say another word.
She plugged her ears and crouched down, but the window's emotionless narration began to chill her blood.
[That day, the friends who went into the dungeon with you were cadets gathered at the request of your close friend 'Kayla.' She offered a tempting sum of money and coverage of academy tuition fees to abandon you in the dungeon. Your friends, who already harbored negative feelings toward you, accepted the proposal and conspired to leave you even deeper than originally planned.]
[When they abandoned you, they said:]
"Why are you acting so bold? You that into guys?"
"Because of you, all us commoners get lumped in and trashed. Act like a commoner if you are one."
"Never liked you from the start. Flirting with guys like that..."
Kindness repaid with venomous words—it was bound to hurt. Now, before the collapsed exit sealed by magic, you sank into despair. No way back. A wounded heart. Your tattered spirit dreaded returning to the academy. You couldn't face them, and the pain wouldn't subside easily.
And in that moment, a fatal whisper slithered into your fragile ears.
"Come here."
"I'll get revenge for you."
"Don't you want to kill them? Any wish, I'll grant it."
A black mage named Calips, defeated by imperial knights a century ago, was tickling your ear.
[The blue window's tale began revealing truths she hadn't known.]
[Calips is preparing his resurgence. Recovering his body wounded in the battle a century ago, he's scheming to lure people like you and replenish his dark magic.]
[You walked toward that place.]
[And.]
[A certain man following behind you grabbed the hand of you, walking toward death.]
The final lines hit Yuria's ears like thunder. You nearly died, but Ricardo saved you.
Clutching her pounding heart, Yuria glared at the blue window before her.
This can't be true... how...
Crack...
Crack...
Crack...
As the timer on the blue window hit '00:00', Yuria's break time ended.
[Viewing begins.]
The blue window vanished, and a sorrowful sob echoed.
Hic... snff... haaaaa...
The voice of her past self, weeping pathetically, rang in Yuria's ears.
"I... hck... what did I do wrong? I just wanted to get along with everyone.... hck..."
Rubbing her eyes and shedding tears, her past self made Yuria watch with trembling eyes.
"Waaah... why does everyone hate me? I tried so hard."
Watching herself cry wasn't a pleasant feeling.
Don't cry.
"I just..."
Crying won't change anything, so stop. Yuria.
"Wanted to get along with everyone..."
Stop crying...
Her past self trudged weakly toward the dungeon's depths.
The blue window was right. She was scared to return to the academy, terrified of facing those guys again—her vision went black just thinking about it. Honestly, she was afraid. Even if she got along with professors and a few friends, the classroom atmosphere turned icy cold. She felt like filth. Something no one wanted to touch or approach.
So her past self had fled deeper into the dungeon. Better to hide away where it felt easier.
Yuria muttered at her past self's slumped shoulders.
That's enough now.
She didn't know why this was showing in her eyes, but she'd realized her mistake. She hoped it would end. She'd learned Ricardo wasn't behind it. Her misunderstanding had been corrected.
Yuria clenched her fists and yelled at the blue window, but it gave no response.
She screamed in frustration.
"It was just once... just once! I misunderstood him once, but Ricardo tormented me way more!"
Admitting fault didn't erase it. But compared to what Ricardo had done to her at the academy, her misunderstanding was a drop in the bucket.
Yeah, just once. The time she got left behind in the dungeon. Once. She'd suffered worse from Ricardo back then, cried more over it.
If this blue window wanted her to face her wrongs, it had the wrong target. This should be shown to Ricardo, not her. How much pain he'd caused. How much agony from unrequited love he couldn't even imagine.
So... please stop now.
Otherwise...
Hic...
Her past self looked too pathetic.
About ten minutes passed. Her vision walking the corridor began to blur. Unfocused, entranced, her past self headed deeper into the dungeon.
"Shut up...!"
"I never thought about killing my friends!"
"Be quiet...!"
Yuria felt a chill from her past self clutching her head, muttering to herself repeatedly.
"No..."
She shook her head vigorously.
"I'm not alone."
Her past self began spitting negative words, visible before Yuria's eyes.
After muttering like a madwoman for a while, plugging her ears and staggering, her past self gradually calmed and murmured.
"Yeah, just start over from the beginning. Get rid of friends and make new ones—then I'm not alone."
"Yeah, they're the bad ones. Gotta punish them, right?"
With unfocused eyes, her past self stood before a dungeon wall and knocked.
The passage leading to the Greed Foundation where she'd confronted Hans moments ago—her past self was knocking there.
Knock knock.
The knock echoed into the space beyond the wall, and with a rumble, it crumbled down, exuding an eerie aura.