CH 22

{ Chapter 22 – How to get revenge }

“Well?”

I walked into Pandora's room and found her staring at the game with excitement. But, suddenly another visitor came in.

“Dice?”

For some reason, Dice had followed me to Pandora's room.

[ What’s going on? Kang Ha-neul now belongs to me. ]

A warning message appeared as Pandora's drone floated next to me.

‘Is she complaining?’

Pandora's usual cold expressions with sleepy eyes and messy hair always lead people who didn't know her well to believe that she rarely expressed emotions.

[ You can’t disturb our date right now. ]

However, when one spent time with her, one could sometime see her expressing emotions. Just like now, as she held onto my sleeves, hiding behind my back and poking her head out.

She didn't even talk, but her assertiveness was clear.

“It’s not a date…”

[ How can drinking with members of the opposite s*x not be considered a date??? ]

“Isn’t it just drinking with close friends?”

As I held back my laughter and thought that it was really just drinking with close friends. Pandora, who was fighting with Dice, was either speechless or frozen.

[ Ahjussi... Help me...]

“Yes?”

[ I don’t know how to deal with her. Her mind itself is different, so it’s even hard to speak… ]

Then, she pulled my sleeve and asked for help.

“Hahaha.”

It was so funny that I burst into laughter without realizing it, and Pandora, who was startled, hurriedly sent a chat.

[ Why? Do you think so too? ]

“No, no, it’s not…”

[ Did you end up in something you don't want? ]

“It’s not like that.”

As I held back my laughter as much as I could and shook my head to comfort her, Dice, who had been staring at us from the side, quietly opened her mouth.

“Yes, calm down Pandora. I’m here for just 'Miyeon-shi'.”

[ …Really? ]

“Yeah, I like that game too. I’ve played it a lot.”

Then, Pandora’s eyes began to shine.

[ Then sit next to us! ]

‘… It looks like a lie.’

I thought about that for a while, but when I saw Pandora’s smiling face as her gaming friends increased, I decided to stay still.

[Romance Paradise II]

As Dice sat down next to me, the game finally started.

“Ah… Miyeon-shi was like this… That’s right.”

Dice, who stared blankly at the pretty characters that appeared on the screen, mumbled with an awkward smile.

[Welcome! MiNaMoTo073!]

“…What?”

At that moment, my eyes focused on the player’s name floating down below.

“Minamoto?”

It was because the player's name was quite familiar to me.

“Pandora, Are you Japanese?”

[ What do you mean? ]

After scratching her head for a while, when I asked that question, she put a puzzled expression on her face.

“Because the player’s name is Minamoto.”

[ Ah, that’s my friend's ID. ]

“Friend?”

'Pandora has friends? This is a little surprising.'

“Did you have friends too?”

I held back the question I wanted to ask, so Dice asked her that question on my behalf.

[ Internet friends are friends too! ]

At that, Pandora got angry and sent a chat.

“I see…”

[ Don’t look at me like that! She is my best friend to the point of lending me her game ID! ]

As Dice quietly shut her mouth in response, Pandora, who was clearing her throat, immediately stared at me and asked.

[ But why do you ask if  I'm Japanese? Will there be any problem? ]

“No, just…”

[ Maybe the grudge from the era of the Japanese Empire? If that’s the case, I’ll apologize on their behalf. ]

“…what are you talking about, that again.”

Naturally, I wasn’t surprised that she was Japanese.

Since the beginning of this dark era, most of the countries except the United States and some parts of East Asia had suffered catastrophic damage, and the borders of countries had blurred since the survivors began to migrate to safe areas.

What surprised me was the name ‘Minamoto’.

Because that was my ex-girlfriend, Himari's surname.

“What's she like? Do you know her real identity?”

[ She’s the same age as me. She like gaming very much. But why do you ask that? ]

But I guess it was just in vain.

If her friend was the same age as Pandora, she couldn't be Himari. And for some reason, Himari hates games.

‘Come to think of it, she’s not the only one with the surname Minamoto.’

[ It’s a game that came out yesterday, but it’s not normal to have already progressed to Chapter 3. Just call her my rival. ]

After calmly organizing my thoughts, I began to look at the screen with Pandora, who had already begun to focus on the game.

“Mmm.”

And  I tried to ignore Dice, who for some reason was creeping up next to me.

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“Wow, what? Why is she suddenly dying?”

Dice asked a question with a surprised expression, when the heroine died within 10 minutes of starting, and the 'game-over' came up.

[ It's Normal.]

“Why is that normal?”

Pandora, who looked at Dice as if she was cute, was excited like an old-timer-

[ A really tricky heroine... ]

-And her explanation began to follow.

[ She has no will to live. So no matter how you try to play, she keeps dying. ]

“Ah…”

[ What makes it even more crazier and fluttering is that if the main character tries to attack, she will accept it warmly. ]

As the explanation continued, Dice’s expression, who had been listening with twinkling eyes, began to darken.

[ Then, if she achieves her goal, she dies. Or become the final boss of the work. ]

“……..”

[ A heroine like a sunfish who can’t really grow. So she is popular, but he also has a lot of haters.]

Then, with her mouth closed, Dice began to stare at me.

“…What’s the matter?”

Even when I asked that question, she just kept her mouth shut and looked at me softly.

“It’s similar…”

“……?”

I scratched my head and looked at her quietly, then frowned and asked her a question.

“By the way, the game came out yesterday. How do you already know all of this?”

Then, Pandora shrugged and answered in chat.

[ Data mining. Breaking through this kind of security is not big deal for me… ]

“That’s not polite...”

- Slap!

[ Ouch! Violence! ]

Unknowingly, I slapped her head who was staring at me with tears in her eyes, and asked the question again to her.

“…Then, do you understand the ending?”

While stroking the lump on her head, she answered.

[ I didn’t see that part, but the ending is obvious anyway unless it’s a harem route. ]

“Which is?”

[ First of all, I raised everyone’s favorability to the limit. And at the last moment, I'll choose the one I want. ]

Pandora, who stepped out a little farther away for fear of being hit by another blow, looked at me and sent a chat.

[ Then it’s the happy ending... Where a happy life with the chosen partner awaits. ]

“Well.”

[ Of course, the unselected heroine will be thrown away.]

For a moment, I suddenly felt like a flash of lightning struck my head.

[ Isn’t that really cruel? ]

“Yes, that’s really cruel.”

[ ??? ]

After I said that, I jumped up from my seat, and looking at me, Pandora put on a puzzled expression.

[ We just started, where are you going?? ]

My last and most important goal,

Revenge on Lumia and everyone.

In the case of Lumia, who was currently unable to touch me due to not grasping my exact abilities, I could spend time digging up information and slowly dropping her to hell.

But, what about the traitors attached to her?

Even though I had quite a bit of time, I hadn't really accomplished anything.

The only thing I did was put a limit on Noona's abilities. But, of course, it wasn’t perfect revenge.

‘It’s because of my stupid personality.’

I already knew why.

It was because no matter how much revenge I envisioned in my head, I could not put it into action.

When I thought of wanting to indoctrinate Noona more brutally, I soon thought of the woman who used to bring me to ride a wooden horse when I was young.

When I imagined the causing downfall of Himari, I remembered my first kiss with her, who had a very tense expression on her face at that time.

When I imagined going to Lee Se-ah and taking revenge, I remembered the woman the in my arms who whispered to me that we would get married when became an adult.

Although they abandoned me first, I was still unable to treat them badly.

Rather, I wanted to do everything I couldn’t do before the relationship broke up.

I was such an idiot.

“Then I can do that.”

But there was also a law of revenge suitable for such an idiot.

“I can do what my heart tells me to do.”

Sincerely preparing food for noona, a sincere heart for Himari, and being support for Lee Se-ah to lean on.

If I couldn't treat them harshly, I just had to do what I did best and I was proud of.

However, not in the form of Kang Ha-neul, but in the form of ‘Oh Ji-seok’.

Ira, who used to be a sidekick, imagined how I would look in my future and used her ability to make me shapeshift into it. 

'Come to think of it, every time Dice saw me like that, she was surprised.'

It was not time to think about it.

“Like Miyeon-shi, I'm going to 'attack' everyone again.”

The ultimate goal of such action was to steal their hearts from Lumia again.

Noona, ex-girlfriend, and childhood friend...

The girls who had been taken away by Lumia would be attacked again like the Miyeon-shi characters.

It seemed very difficult at first, but nothing was impossible.

If I got full support from the Dominating Hands, if I made the most of my position as an academy temporary professor who would have a lot of contacts with them... 'I can do it.'

I knew them better than anyone.

If it became a completely new relationship, if only Lumia was properly checked, the possibility was sufficient.

And if the operation succeeded... Then it would be time for revenge.

'Didn't Pandora say that being abandoned was the cruelest thing?'

As someone who had experienced it firsthand, I fully sympathized with it.

And that's why, I decided to return that position to them.

Because that was the best revenge I could have right now.

Because...

Anyway, around that time-

“Kang Ha-nuel.”

“……?”

-As my eyes lit up and I thought over and over again, I quietly turned my head to the call of Dice who grabbed my arm.

“Pandora is angry...”

True to Dice words, Pandora was inflating her cheeks while holding a game console without even chatting.

[Okay. If you don’t want to play, why don't you go have a drink with Dice?]

“…Oh sorry.”

Only then did I come to my senses and sat down again, muttering quietly with an embarrassed expression.

“Thanks to you, I suddenly came up with a good idea.”

Then, after blinking her eyes, she urgently sent a chat.

[ Oh is that so? Then going out for a drink with Dice is canceled.  I was just having useless thoughts. I can’t send my friends alone with such a dangerous person.]

“Okay, let’s do it right this time.”

‘Let's do it once, Let's do it right.’

I quietly smiled and thought as I watched the gameplay again.

I was really looking forward to tomorrow when I would go to the academy.

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Several hours after that:

[ Here… ]

Dice, who was staring blankly at the game screen, received Pandora’s chat and turned her gaze to the side.

[ Don’t just watch… Help me… ]

When Kang Ha-neul, who had fallen asleep without being able to overcome his drowsiness, leaned his head on her shoulder, Pandora, whose body had hardened like a stone, was eagerly sending a chat.

[ It’s the first time in my life that a man touched my body… I mean, I’m nervous and my body doesn’t move… ]

Dice, who was staring blankly at her, smiled and asked a question.

“Now? After playing games together in the same room every day?”

“……!”

Upon receiving that question, Pandora’s mouth widened and her breath stopped.

[ It is… it is. ]

“Oops, I guess I wasn’t aware of it.”

Dice, who unintentionally gave her the red pill, got up from her seat while scratching her head.

“I’m going to take away the player.”

Then, she slowly started heading toward Kang Ha-neul.

“……?”

With her face blushing and her head bowed, Pandora, who was trembling at the breath of Kang Ha-neul in her ear, looked at the approaching Dice with bewildered eyes.

Dice, who quietly caressed the cheeks of Kang Ha-neul, quietly lowered her head.

– ….

And the next moment, a small sound echoed in the room.

“I will definitely 'attack' you, Kang Ha-neul.”

She quietly opened her lips and whispered in a low voice.

“Your eternal assistant, Dice.”

After saying those words, she quietly left the room.

“Oh, Pandora. Let’s continue the game tomorrow.”

“……..”

“I’m also curious; How to save the sunfish heroine?”

And the stillness started.

[ Is this… a bargain? ]

The smartphone, where the text that the bewildered Pandora had unknowingly typed, was quietly reflecting the face of the sleeping Kang Ha-neul.

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That morning:

“Calm down… let’s calm down, Lee…”

Lee Se-ah, who had been tossing and turning without a sigh of sleep, eventually got up early and was preparing to leave.

“First of all, check the facts. Because that’s first…”

She murmured with bloodshot eyes and put on her clothes.

– Ding-dong…!

At that moment, the doorbell rang.

“Ah?”

In the eyes of Lee Se-ah who turned her head involuntarily, a familiar face came into view.

– Lee, are you there?

Lumia’s smiling face was reflected on the intercom at the entrance.