The One Who Isn't Fooled (3)
Reality Manipulation
In front of her was a white mask. The corners of the mouth lifted in a mocking grin. One voice came from that mouth.
“Miss Dahui, long time no see. Nice to meet you.”
The familiar voice made Yoo Dahui’s body move on its own. The moment she tried to think coldly, it was already too late. In rage, she thrust her sword toward the masked man.
“You… you fucking bastard!!!”
The mana that had been piled up inside her, the mana she hadn’t pulled out in so long, gathered at the tip of the blade. Mana twisted and clumped together, beginning to pour out light. Sword energy. The sword energy that had a complete shape swung toward the masked man.
“Ugh…”
**BOOM-!**
The masked man blocked it with no movement at all, as if he had never been attacked.
“You’ve gotten pretty strong. I’m looking forward to having some fun with you for the first time in a while.”
The masked man opened his mouth in surprise. Then he grinned, licking his lips. His pink, glossy lips caught Yoo Dahui’s gaze.
Yoo Dahui sheathed her sword and took one step back.
*I can block this…?*
It was unbelievable. She had thought she had become quite strong after being raped for the first time. She still couldn’t catch up with the gap between her and the masked man.
“Ah, this pisses me off. Goddammit…”
It was far too unjust and infuriating. The anger and shame she had been desperately trying to ignore, thinking the masked man was Kim Jinwoo, and the emotions she had barely held back, all surged up. In the situation where she was being molested again by the man who had raped her, tears welled up and she couldn’t stop them.
If I regress and start over, it’ll be fine.
A weak thought dominated her mind.
‘No. No way.’
Yoo Dahui widened her eyes. Tears or no tears, she didn’t care.
*This time if it doesn’t work, next time. The time after that. Over and over, I’ll regress, and no matter what…*
“I’ll kill you!!!”
“Ahaha. Is that so? That’s quite the promise.”
She had to figure out exactly how much difference there was to create an opening. It was something that had to be done someday. Yoo Dahui decided to do it right now.
She swung the sword. She hadn’t even learned swordsmanship, so she could only swing it clumsily.
The masked man dodged her sword strike while mocking her. It was light movement, like playing with a child.
“Kyaaah!”
The masked man, who had been blocking and dodging repeatedly, slammed his fist into Yoo Dahui. The exact spot the fist struck left Yoo Dahui unable to breathe for a moment. Yoo Dahui was sent flying far away in an instant.
Yoo Dahui, who had fallen, didn’t move for a while.
Kim Jinwoo’s eyes went blank.
“Dahui! You fucking bastard!!!”
Kim Jinwoo gripped his sword tightly and rushed toward the masked man.
For some reason, all the beastmen around them had collapsed, withered away.
**BOOM-!**
Kim Jinwoo and the masked man collided.
The movement was loud, but it lacked substance. Kim Jinwoo almost dropped his sword. His grip was numb, and holding the sword felt like torture.
The masked man whispered to Kim Jinwoo.
“Kim Jinwoo, what the hell are you doing? Why are you doing this…”
“To steal Dahui from you. Act like you’re not a scumbag. Your lips and voice sometimes don’t match.”
“…Miss Dahui must feel pitiful. She thought you two were in love, but she ended up with a man like this…”
“You were also molested by Pluto, weren’t you?”
“That was the price of defeat. This is just deceiving a person.”
In an instant, many lines of dialogue passed between them.
“Well, that’s none of your business. If this fails, I’ll shove my shit straight down your—”
“What? What are you going to do?”
“How can I not do it? I’ll fuck you senseless in front of the princess. If you don’t want the princess to find out you’re a pervert bastard, act properly on your own.”
The masked man’s body trembled for a moment. The first emotion that rose was disgust, but disgust vanished quickly. After that, the image of him being molested by Kim Jinwoo in front of Elysha and howling came to mind, making his lower body wet.
*This crazy bitch…!*
He had thought he was already crazy from holding back his lust for so long, but he hadn’t expected it to be this bad.
Elysha scolded herself inwardly and asked Kim Jinwoo.
“Are you serious?”
“…Just don’t die…”
“Alright.”
The masked man laughed, his mouth corners curving up to his ears. The scene he had just seen was not fake.
*Damn it…*
Kim Jinwoo decided it was just a taste of an 8-star player.
The masked man’s movements grew faster. Kim Jinwoo couldn’t keep up anymore.
“Ugh!”
At that moment, the masked man’s leg stabbed into Kim Jinwoo’s shield. It shattered the shield and broke Kim Jinwoo’s left arm while grazing his side. But he didn’t fly away.
“Huh!”
Kim Jinwoo hung in the air like a slaughtered pig.
The masked man grabbed Kim Jinwoo’s neck.
“Miss Dahui, if you don’t get up, your boyfriend dies.”
“Fuck…! I told you to go easy…! I’m gonna die…! Kuh!”
“Miss Dahui, can I understand that as ‘it’s okay to kill him’?”
The masked man fed Kim Jinwoo a fistful of rice while he was groaning.
Whether or not he was unconscious, Kim Jinwoo could no longer speak.
*Was I too harsh?*
Looking at the limp Kim Jinwoo, a twinge of guilt appeared.
*If this happens, am I ruining Kim Jinwoo’s plan?*
*No, no, stop imagining that. Elysha, you’re not like that, right?*
*The honorable central knight squad of Alvheim, the captain!*
*Isn’t it embarrassing to look my subordinates in the eye…?*
Strange fantasies floated in his mind. Most of them were Kim Jinwoo bullying him.
“Miss Dahui, your boyfriend will be a gift!”
Elysha desperately threw away the fantasy and entered the act.
The masked man threw Kim Jinwoo far away. It was as light as throwing a pebble.
Kim Jinwoo flew toward Yoo Dahui, who was struggling to get up.
Yoo Dahui fell again, crushed beneath the weight of Kim Jinwoo who had flown toward her.
He laid Kim Jinwoo on the dirt without even letting him move and looked up.
“Ki-Kim Jinwoo…!”
Yoo Dahui looked at Kim Jinwoo’s face and clenched her fists. A boiling rage surged inside her. Looking at Kim Jinwoo’s face, which was crushed to the point where you couldn’t even tell the shape, like it had been pounded in a mortar, tears blocked her vision.
*You weren’t even handsome to begin with…!*
“No…! I was a little handsome too…! I didn’t know because you were so pretty…”
“Kim Jinwoo! Don’t die. You can’t die…”
Kim Jinwoo mumbled while spitting blood.
Kim Jinwoo, who had barely opened his eyes, looked at Yoo Dahui with trembling eyes.
“Kim Jinwoo…”
Kim Jinwoo looked at Yoo Dahui, who was a mess of snot and tears, then stood up. His body was shaking so badly it didn’t look like he could stand.
Yoo Dahui supported the trembling Kim Jinwoo.
The masked man approached leisurely.
“Yo… Dahui…”
“You okay? Can you stand?”
“That’s… I’m fine. I’m perfectly fine.”
Kim Jinwoo answered calmly, but to Yoo Dahui it looked like he was on the verge of death. His voice was filled with fear, and his legs trembled so hard he could barely stand.
“Huu…”
Looking at Kim Jinwoo, who took a rough breath, Yoo Dahui’s chest felt like it was tearing. That expression, pretending to be calm, was the same gaze he had shown in the first regression. An expression of complete surrender. With that expression, he had sent her away.
“Yaah, Kim Jinwoo…”
Yoo Dahui grabbed Kim Jinwoo’s sleeve pitifully.
The masked man approached slowly. As if hiding her from him, Kim Jinwoo sent Yoo Dahui behind him.
Yoo Dahui stared at Kim Jinwoo’s back standing in front of her. Normally there was no such fool…
“Dahui, can I ask you for just one thing?”
“No. Don’t ask. I won’t hear it.”
It was the familiar development.
Yoo Dahui wiped her tears and sniffled while muttering.
“Being a man and talking about sacrificing… what a load of crap.”
“…I’m a gender equality enthusiast. I don’t sacrifice just because I’m a man.”
Kim Jinwoo tried to joke but couldn’t smile. Kim Jinwoo had always been so carefree, but Yoo Dahui found his pathetic appearance in this predicament deeply saddening. It felt like it was her fault for creating this situation…
Kim Jinwoo raised his sword. He threw the shattered shield aside and gripped the sword with both hands.
“Just… promise me one thing.”
“…No… I won’t promise…”
“Promise me you won’t die.”
“No… I’m not going alone.”
Yoo Dahui looked at Kim Jinwoo’s back and whined.
The image of Kim Jinwoo collapsing surrounded by the dead men remained vividly in front of her. Even if she died, she wanted to die with him. She didn’t want to watch the man sacrificing her die alone again.
“Please… listen to me…”
It looked like speaking was already difficult.
“What are you babbling about? You sound jealous.”
The masked man appeared in front of Kim Jinwoo.
*Eh? How?!*
In the blink of an eye, he jumped about fifty meters in an instant. The masked man’s voice came right in front of him, and Kim Jinwoo’s trembling stopped. His body had frozen.
**POW-!**
Kim Jinwoo flew far away. He couldn’t even make a sound and was thrown to the dirt powerlessly.
“Kim Jinwoo!”
“Miss Dahui, there is no longer anyone interfering between us.”
Yoo Dahui looked at the unmoving Kim Jinwoo.
*My chest hurts…*
If she regressed, it would be a thing that never happened, but Yoo Dahui’s memories would not disappear. That was what a regressor was. A pitiful person who clung to things no one else remembered and tormented himself forever.
The extremely clear sensations of the present would remain as memory, making her affection for Kim Jinwoo even deeper and her anger toward the masked man hotter.
“You, you fucking…! Go easy already…!”
“Ah…”
Kim Jinwoo twitched. He was still alive. For some reason, his heart was pounding. In a hopeless moment, his heart felt a little lighter for a moment.
“Oh. You’re still alive? I thought I hit you properly, but it seems I’ve gotten quite rusty too.”
A foreign voice. A sense of disconnection. But Yoo Dahui’s senses were entirely focused on Kim Jinwoo.
Kim Jinwoo crawled on the ground. At a sluggish pace, he approached toward the masked man and Yoo Dahui.
“You’re like an insect. Miss Dahui, I’m quite disappointed that you chose an insect as your boyfriend. Look at that pathetic state. Isn’t it amusing?”
“Uwooooooo!”
He couldn’t understand.
*Why… why did he do this to me like that…?*
He didn’t understand. His head couldn’t grasp it, but he knew this situation was hurting him.
“Stop! Kim Jinwoo, stop it now! I’ll end it. I’ll end it right here!”
The resolve he had sharpened so sharply weakened. The will to burn the next fight was broken. He didn’t want to watch.
“Dahui, don’t die…!”
Kim Jinwoo shouted in agony.
“Ah… please…”
Her vision started to blur. She couldn’t say “stop” anymore. Because she regressed every time she breathed, she had forgotten from some point onward. The Kim Jinwoo thrashing in front of her was burning his only life.
The regressor herself and Kim Jinwoo in the fourteenth regression. The weight of the lives they carried was different.
“You fucking bastard! Cough, cough!”
In the end, Kim Jinwoo reached the masked man. He successfully grabbed his foot.
The masked man crushed his hand.
“Aaah!”
“You fucking bastard!!!”
Yoo Dahui swung her sword. She no longer even thought of activating the **Blessing of Suicide**.
“What a pitiful love. Well done.”
“Kyaaah!”
Yoo Dahui flew again. She rolled on the ground. She was pushed into a corner.
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”
Kim Jinwoo stood up with a roar. As if he were an actor on stage, he hypnotized himself.
“Dahui! Run away!”
“…No…”
Yoo Dahui decided she would not die. The decision was unclear what would happen if Kim Jinwoo lost his life, but for as long as Kim Jinwoo was alive in this regression, she would not give up on this timeline.
Kim Jinwoo sensed that heart. He told her that the **Black Magic** was possible for him. The condition was complete.
**[‘Perception Manipulation’ has activated.]**
*I got you.*
The single thing Kim Jinwoo manipulated was perception. From now on, as long as Kim Jinwoo was alive, Yoo Dahui could not activate the **Blessing of Suicide**. She wouldn’t even be able to think that the **Blessing of Suicide** existed.
Kim Jinwoo gave Elysha the command.
“Knock her out and kidnap her.” Of course, naturally.
“Perception Manipulation activated. Yoo Dahui cannot activate the Blessing of Suicide while Kim Jinwoo lives.”