Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 123

Episode 123

As I moved my lips, unsure of what to say.

Nise glanced toward the only window and whispered like a sigh.

"Someone needs to hurry up and fight the dregs to provoke them... That's the only way they can tear me apart."

"What does... that mean..."

"They've been purified by me for so long, I guess they don't have the strength to break in here."

Thud, thud, thud...

Even though I had cut down quite a few with my dagger, the black figures were still swarming outside the window, pounding on the walls.

R-r-r-rumble.

The crude shack shook violently, as if in an earthquake.

It was barely holding, but according to Nise, it seemed only a matter of time before those things broke the house and got inside.

'He definitely said "tear me apart"...'

For a moment I thought I'd misheard, but Nise's words were clear.

Moreover, he seemed to be waiting for it to happen.

My chest tightened at the expression of the child, who was calmly awaiting his own death.

"Nise, what on earth are those evil spirits?"

"...Evil spirits?"

I'd called them that because the system window said 'Evil Spirit's Curse', but Nise's eyes went wide as if he'd never heard the term.

"Those... aren't evil spirits."

"Then what are they?"

"The bad dregs that were inside the string of life."

He added with a slightly sullen expression.

"I gave all the negative parts to Samsaek, and gave only the pure life to Liv."

It was one of the pasts I'd seen when swallowed by the eyeball monster, so I wasn't surprised.

I calmly asked only the important questions.

"What happens if those things break in here and tear you apart?"

"Won't I become dregs, just like them?"

Nise smiled weakly with a resigned expression, belying his young age.

"Samsaek hated it. Trapping them in its body. It changed horribly after it trapped them."

"Mrow-"

The cat-shaped monster next to him cried out, as if agreeing.

Recalling that form, covered in hundreds of eyeballs, it was understandable.

"But I forcibly purified them and locked them away."

"..."

"I had to save Liv."

Nise muttered, his face contorted in an expression between crying and laughing.

As I'd expected, those evil spirits and Liv were connected.

That must be why in the main scenario, when Liv stabbed that thing to death with a dagger, she vanished along with it.

'This has become a headache.'

I rubbed my temples and let out a sigh.

Whether they were dregs or evil spirits.

Hadn't I eliminated dozens of them on the way here?

If they were connected to Liv, her condition must have been affected.

'I have to get out of here. Fast.'

It was when I looked down at him, steeling myself to grab him, by force if necessary, and get out.

"But, Angel-nim. What's wrong with your hand?"

His gaze, which had been directed out the window, suddenly landed on the hand clutching the dagger.

I flinched and hid the hand, mottled with the traces of the curse, behind my back.

"It's nothing."

"It looks painful..."

'HP -99'

HP 646

Just then, my health decreased due to the penalty.

It didn't hurt.

I was just anxious about the reduced HP bar and the little time I had left.

It was then.

"I think... I can get rid of it for you."

Nise, who had been lying helplessly, slowly sat up.

His damn kind-heartedness, worrying about me, a stranger, even in this situation.

I let out an empty laugh.

"...Why. So I won't mistake you for Liv, you're going to kiss the back of my hand again?"

"B-because... I was afraid you... would mistake me."

Nise's answer to the question of why he covered his face with his hair.

I'd thought about what that meant every so often since then.

When I thought of him not as a game character, but as an individual, the answer was simple.

Anyone would be thirsty for affection and attention.

Nise, who had been so lonely and weary, must have cherished the attention given solely to him.

He must have wanted to be remembered, even going so far as to remove the curse of his own kidnapper.

All while secretly holding onto the hope that he wouldn't be mistaken for the Saintess.

"Don't worry about it. If you die like this, Liv will take care of it."

I deliberately spat out the words coldly and pushed away Nise, who was reaching for me.

"A-Angel-nim..."

"Then I can just live remembering that the one who healed me was Liv, right?"

It was half a gamble.

Nise, in his childlike state, might not understand what I was saying.

However, Nise seemed to be in great shock just from being pushed away.

His silver eyes, instantly welling with tears, trembled faintly.

"You too, Angel-nim... are you going to forget me?"

"Isn't that what you wanted?"

Suppressing the faint guilt, I murmured heartlessly.

"You said you wanted to switch destinies with Liv."

"But still..."

Nise, as if having nothing to say to my words, dropped his head.

Then, he asked pitifully, his voice trembling.

"Can't at least you remember me, Angel-nim, without forgetting?"

"The dead are meant to be forgotten, Nise."

"I...!"

At my pointed words, Nise finally snapped his head up, as if provoked.

His face, both fists clenched, was now soaked with tears.

He looked different from just a moment ago, when he'd been lying helplessly as if he'd given up on everything. I let out a secret sigh of relief.

"...I... I just wanted to be happy, that's all."

It seemed my deliberate provocation had worked. Nise revealed a small part of the feelings he had kept pent up.

"But... since I couldn't seem to be happy... I thought at least Liv should live happily. That's all."

"..."

"I didn't want to die and be forgotten."

"..."

"That's just too scary..."

Nise covered his face with his arms and trembled.

A desperate sob.

I could keenly feel what state of mind he'd been in to walk in here of his own free will, and I couldn't stop my own expression from twisting.

I gently grasped the shoulder of the child who couldn't even cry out loud.

"...Why can't you see that Liv feels the same way, Nise?"

What foolish twins they were.

Listening to him, Liv was, in the end, the same as Nise.

That's why she would run to an apothecary she'd only seen a few times and ask for help saving her brother.

"Even though she hates and resents you, why do you think she wants to become the 'perfect Saintess', enduring the Pope's abuse?"

At my question, Nise lowered the arms that were covering his face.

And with a tear-soaked face, he trembled and asked me.

"Is Liv... unhappy?"

"Yes."

It was cruel, but I nodded immediately.

"Why... Why?"

Nise blinked repeatedly, looking confused.

"Sh-she became the Saintess. A noble status that everyone looks up to..."

"..."

"Why? Why is she unhappy?"

He kept asking me why, as if he just couldn't understand.

There was only one answer I could give.

"Because you weren't happy, Nise."

Nise's agitated trembling abruptly stopped.

"You're getting beaten and sacrificing yourself for her. How could she be happy all by herself?"

"..."

"Is the sister you know that kind of person?"

"But... But, Liv always obeyed the Pope's words."

"Because she knew if she didn't, you'd get beaten again, or they'd both be kicked out."

At first, I, too, had found Liv detestable for not even recognizing her brother's sacrifice.

But after hearing her side, I understood.

Liv was also doing her best to protect herself and her brother in a frightening and harsh reality.

That's why she must have unsparingly given the high-grade potions provided to the Saintess to her beaten brother.

If she'd truly intended to coldly use her brother, she would have pulled a stunt like this and stolen Nise's powers long before the Pope did.

But the her I saw at dawn today...

'She looked exhausted.'

If not for her connection to Nise, she looked anxious and precarious enough to give up on everything.

But that wasn't my story to tell.

"Listen carefully, Nise."

I met his crying eyes and pulled the final trigger to change Nise's mind.

"Even if you give your life and your powers to change destiny, you'll just be forgotten, and Liv will continue to be manipulated in the Pope's grasp."

"Th-that..."

"Do you want things to go exactly as the Pope wishes?"

His silver eyes wavered endlessly.

He couldn't possibly want that.

I grabbed his wrist, which was hovering awkwardly in the air, and spoke.

"But if you leave, you can change things with your own hands."

"...With my own hands?"

"Yes. You have special powers, don't you?"

I nodded and added.

"I don't know what kind of bullshit that angel spouted at you."

"..."

"If I were an angel, I absolutely wouldn't have said that with the intention of you dying in Liv's place."

"...Then?"

"They would have wanted you to atone for using your powers incorrectly so far, and to work harder to benefit the world instead."

Times like this, those developers were useful.

When I quoted Ari's words, which I'd found incomprehensible, Nise let out a small gasp.

"Why? Did that angel not say anything about benefiting the world?"

When I asked just in case, he shook his head, his face pale.

I couldn't tell if that meant 'yes, they did' or 'no, they didn't'.

In any case, it was clear that he, who had been resigned to everything, was shaken by my words.

I spoke with more conviction than before.

"This kind of shitty outcome isn't what Liv wants, nor what the angel wants. And it's not what I want either."

"Who... are you?"

He stared at me, his expression still full of chaos.

It seemed he'd finally realized I wasn't an angel or whatever.

Seeing Nise slowly returning to reality, I let out a small smile.

"Try to remember."

"..."

"You said we were accomplices, right? Before the Pope and those temple bastards notice, you have to get rid of this for me again."

"Ah..."

As I spoke, showing him the curse-stained hand I had hidden behind my back, Nise's eyes flew wide.

And he muttered, as if in disbelief.

"Teacher... Apothecary-noona...?"

"I-I-I told y-y-you that's not m-my name..."

I'd been grinding my teeth in irritation, but seeing Nise's form again, I felt a great sense of relief.

His face was still a chaotic mix of emotions, but Nise had, as if by magic, returned to his original state.

Meaning, he was no longer in a child's body, but had returned to his original, grown-up form.

But there was one problem.

"Uh... You don't have any clothes?"

I guess this is how he looked when he was eaten by the eyeball monster.

The fully-grown Nise was stark naked, without a single thread on him.