Chapter 195
Meanwhile...
After sending Suhyeok into the Memory Space...
Only Ruzian, System, and Kim Mihyeon remained behind.
The space was completely devoid of warmth or light.
Only a cold silence lingered.
And even in that atmosphere...
Ruzian wore a bright smile.
"Hmm."
System looked at him with a faintly displeased expression despite the slight smile on its face.
"What have you been smiling about this whole time?"
"Are you showing Lee Suhyeok some entertaining memories or something?"
Ruzian shrugged.
"Nothing particularly special."
"It's just..."
"I'm looking forward to seeing what happens inside this Tower from now on."
"I've been waiting for this for a very long time."
"Is that so?"
System nodded casually.
"Well, I suppose you've always been like that."
"Ever since you first became an Administrator of this Tower."
Ruzian's shoulders flinched for the briefest moment.
But he immediately returned to his usual smile.
"...Haha."
"I suppose that's true."
Then he glanced toward Kim Mihyeon.
"More importantly..."
"What did you do to Miss Kim Mihyeon?"
"When I saw her before..."
"Rather than emotionless, she seemed more like someone newly born."
"But now..."
"She looks like an empty shell with nothing inside."
System turned toward Mihyeon.
"Memories aren't stored only in the brain."
"The body remembers them too."
"I completely erased the memories inside her head..."
"But her body kept remembering."
"And because of that..."
"She kept deviating from what I wanted."
System smiled.
"So I erased those too."
"Completely."
"Every memory engraved into her body..."
"Without leaving a single one behind."
Kim Mihyeon stared blankly into empty space.
Her eyes were vacant.
Even the tentacles that had been lazily moving around behind her...
Stopped completely.
Just as System said...
There was nothing left inside her now.
Ruzian quietly stared at her.
Memories engraved into the body....
He slowly raised one arm.
Surely...
The same concept applied to him too.
Perhaps that was why...
Even before becoming an Administrator...
He had continued remembering one particular woman.
Ruzian examined Mihyeon's condition.
System had said it erased every bodily memory.
And indeed...
The tentacles sprouting from behind her were still gnawing away at whatever remnants remained.
Ruzian was no different.
He had lived as an Administrator for an immeasurably long time.
The Tower's binding force had shackled him through the authority of the Administrator role.
As a result...
Even after tens of thousands of years...
Ruzian had never fully recovered his memories.
But one woman...
Only that woman...
Had remained vivid.
Why──
"Wondering why that one memory remained even after everything else was erased?"
Ruzian flinched.
For the first time...
His smile disappeared.
System grinned happily like a child who had guessed correctly.
It lasted only an instant.
Ruzian quickly restored his usual sly smile.
But he couldn't completely hide his surprise.
His crescent-shaped eyes opened slightly...
Revealing the vivid red irises he'd kept concealed.
"..."
No one knew about those memories.
No one except Suhyeok...
Who was currently viewing them.
Ruzian had believed he'd hidden everything perfectly.
But System had seen through it.
Did it also know about that woman?
Countless possibilities flashed through Ruzian's mind.
If System knew everything...
His entire plan might fall apart.
Pretending ignorance wouldn't work.
The moment System asked that question...
That option was already gone.
Then...
System answered its own question.
"There's one exception."
"Memories carved deeply into the soul."
"Even I can't erase those."
"No matter what I do..."
"It's always the same."
"For a little while, it looks like they're completely gone..."
"But after some time..."
"They return."
System's expression became strangely curious.
"And the more I erase them..."
"The stronger those memories come back."
Even Ruzian...
Who had served as an Administrator for so long...
Had never heard this before.
For now...
He stayed silent.
He would listen first...
Then react.
"The other Administrators are similar."
"They don't remember much about their original worlds..."
"But strangely..."
"Each of them remains obsessed with one specific memory."
Ruzian thought back to the other Administrators.
System was right.
Over the long years he'd watched them...
He had noticed the same thing.
Each Administrator clung to one specific memory.
The form differed.
Sometimes it appeared as a habit.
Sometimes as a behavior.
And sometimes...
Like Ruzian...
It took the form of one specific person.
"So..."
"The reason traces of your memories still remain..."
"Is because of that."
"...I expected you knew quite a bit about me."
Ruzian gave an artificial laugh.
"But I never imagined you knew even that."
"Haha."
System didn't react to the forced laughter.
Instead...
It remained silent for a moment.
Then spoke.
"Of course I knew."
"I'm the one who suggested turning you into an Administrator."
Ruzian froze.
"And..."
"I'm also the one who planted that memory inside you."
System had been acting like a child until now.
Even its mannerisms matched its youthful appearance.
But suddenly...
Its attitude became serious.
"At first..."
"It was just curiosity."
"You were exactly as capable as I expected after losing your memories."
"But..."
"You were boring."
"So I wondered..."
"What would happen if I gave that memory back to you?"
System smiled faintly.
"Of course..."
"I didn't expect the Tower to cast me out afterward."
The final remark was delivered almost playfully.
But the eyes staring at Ruzian...
Were ice cold.
System calmly walked toward him.
Then stopped directly in front of him.
