Chapter 170. Only Now Am I Pulling My Own Weight
Clink.
I grabbed the chain connecting Pastien and Hayangi.
This chain belonged entirely to me, so only I could control and manipulate it.
Hayangi could only control the power of Madness contained within it.
Back when Hayangi and I were still one, we had researched it together, and at that time I confirmed for certain that Hayangi had no authority to control the chain itself.
“You must’ve suffered quite a bit because of this.”
She had been bound by a chain she couldn’t control.
And the person tied to the other end was a Great Hero.
Even if she had wanted to run away during those long twenty years, she couldn’t have.
“Was it hard?”
Hayangi looked me up and down, then smirked.
“Harder than what you went through?”
She felt so familiar.
Yet once she entered me again, she would try to take my place.
The relationship between this girl and me needed to be completely equal...
Or one where I stood above her.
But right now, I was the one who needed to ask something from her.
That made things troublesome.
Flash!
I pulled out the part of the chain connected to Pastien and absorbed it immediately.
The sensation was completely different from every other time I had absorbed a chain.
Rather than feeling like I was becoming stronger...
It felt like I was being dragged inward.
As though I wasn’t devouring the chain.
The chain was trying to devour me.
It’s already starting....
Once Hayangi joined me, I should at least be able to put up some kind of fight against Pastien.
I could endure this much trouble for that.
“This place has gotten pretty cozy.”
A beach.
A gentle breeze.
Warm sunlight.
The pleasant sound of rolling waves.
The place where I had originally met Hayangi had become...
Richer, maybe?
It looked much better.
...
If only Hayangi didn’t keep secretly reaching toward me whenever she saw an opening and trying to devour me, I could’ve enjoyed the scenery a little more peacefully!
“This reminds me of back then.”
Hayangi smiled.
“Twenty years ago.”
Her smile widened.
“I should’ve taken your body back then....”
“Hey, hey! That’s creepy!”
I shuddered.
“Don’t say things like that!”
“Just in case you don’t know, this isn’t a world I created.”
Hayangi gestured around us.
“This is your mental world.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means your heart has become this~ much richer.”
She stretched her arms wide.
“Lucky you.”
Then she narrowed her eyes.
“Meanwhile, someone else spent twenty years tied to some weird tree, talking nonstop just to avoid dying.”
“You two looked pretty close.”
“Did we?”
If this was my mental world...
Then my heart had changed from that empty place where there had been nothing at all...
Into something with grass, waves, and all kinds of different things.
Compared to back then in reality, when there had been nothing around me...
Now I had a new family.
I had small pieces of happiness.
So yes.
It had become richer.
I was just a little bothered that it had taken this particular form.
“...Want to talk?”
Hayangi looked at me.
“Last time I talked with you for a little while, Pie nearly died.”
“Is now the same as back then?”
I pointed at her.
“You came back as a completely different person.”
We leaned against separate trees and stared blankly at the rolling sea for a while.
The fact that we were sitting far apart because each of us was afraid the other might devour us was pretty funny.
It really reminded me of back then.
My head felt dizzy.
And having the version of myself from those days sitting right beside me made it even worse.
“Think carefully.”
“About what?”
“If you accept me here, it’ll affect reality too.”
I blinked.
“...Really?”
“That’s how your situation works.”
Hayangi continued.
“But I don’t exist in reality.”
“There isn’t even any space for me to enter.”
“Why wouldn’t there be?”
I frowned.
“Because of Modak?”
“...Haa....”
What was with this girl?
Even now, the moment she saw an opening, she tried to steal my body.
Yet she was pretending to worry about me.
Pretending to care about me.
I can see your Flow, you know?
I’m not the old Kim Ingwang anymore.
In reality, I’m completely overpowered!
RUMBLE!!!
Dark energy suddenly surged toward me!
Damn it!
Her worried expression made me lower my guard for just a moment!
I’d been acting so confident too!
I shook my hand as though brushing off dust.
Even though my fingers had been strengthened by the summoned old man, they were still left tingling as the black energy fell away.
“Damn, you really locked yourself up tight.”
Hayangi clicked her tongue.
“Meticulous, aren’t you? Hmm?”
“My mom is Game-Dori.”
I started counting.
“My girlfriend is Pie.”
“I’ve got two kids following me around in reality, and in the game I’ve got... how many?”
“One, two...”
I gave up.
“Anyway, a lot.”
I pointed at her.
“You think I’d walk around with my guard full of holes?”
Hayangi grinned.
“If I steal your body, all of them become mine.”
“Hey, I was thinking something similar about you.”
I grinned back.
“Like, ‘If I completely subdue Hayangi, will Pastien start helping me?’”
Hayangi leaned forward.
“You think she’d only help?”
She slapped her chest.
“Honestly! Be honest!”
“At this point, I’m basically Pastien’s boyfriend.”
“Even you said we looked close!”
Her expression suddenly turned serious.
“Do you think Pastien has feelings for me?”
“Is that what you think?”
