translation by mourningmoor
They say even a tiger comes when you talk about it.
Yoo Noah walked into the hospital room holding a beautiful bouquet of flowers.
Seeing his bright smile, it seemed the red bastard had settled well into Yoo Noah’s body.
“Hoobaenim. You’re really awake?”
Then, PD Pyo proudly said he had been the one to contact Yoo Noah, looking quite pleased with himself.
“PD-nim.”
I fixed my gaze on Yoo Noah and called PD Pyo sharply.
“Could you give us some space? I need to talk to my grateful sunbaenim.”
At that, PD Pyo smiled brightly and quickly made way.
Yoo Noah, who had placed the bouquet on the table next to the bed, looked at me with a fresh sense of emotion.
“Jess.”
Then, he spread his arms wide and approached.
“Can I give you a hug?”
“Get lost.”
I pushed him away firmly and glared at him sharply.
“Talk. What’s going on? Why am I here?”
Yoo Noah snorted and frowned.
“If you’ve come back, you should be a bit more compliant. Still as stiff as ever.”
I’m not in the mood for jokes.
I haven’t looked in the mirror yet, but it’s clear that I’m… Kang Ichan, right?
Are the kids all safe? Is the Demon King properly settled in Yoo Noah’s body?
Did my mom return safely to Samcheok? Has Gyuhyung hyung woken up?
What about the concert? What happened to the concert schedule?
There were mountains of questions.
But before all that, there was one thing I needed to ask first.
“Did you, by any chance, meet the goddess?”
If Yoo Noah was the first to find me, then he should be the one to explain this unexpected turn of events.
“Forget about the nonsense about the Dutch canal. Just tell me what’s going on. Why am I here? No, more importantly… didn’t you erase my existence? Why?”
“Calm down a bit. Let’s take it one step at a time.”
Then, Yoo Noah began his astonishing story.
“It’s not a week. It’s been a year.”
“What?”
“Jess disappeared a year ago.”
A year ago, not even five minutes after I disappeared, the Demon King returned to Yoo Noah’s body.
It was only natural, as the Demon King was the only one who could properly explain such a surreal event. Yoo Noah also willingly woke the Demon King.
As soon as the Demon King woke up, he reset everyone’s memories without hesitation.
Explaining everything in detail would only cause more confusion, so he immediately began manipulating memories.
He erased the existence of Kang Ichan from people’s minds and turned LIT into a four-member boy group. As promised.
Kang Ichan was said to have died three years ago, on the day the sinkhole was created.
That’s how the Demon King reset the world’s memories, as per our agreement.
“You have no idea how perfectly I manipulated their memories. I instantly modified three years’ worth of memories and properly built LIT into an amazing boy group.”
And so, a year passed.
“But three days ago, Goddess Kinier appeared.”
* * *
《Demon King Daimon.》
It was a strange voice.
Neither male, nor female, nor child, nor adult. No, it was as if all those voices were mixed together.
《Open your eyes.》
Then, his eyes, which hadn’t been able to open properly, opened on their own.
At that moment, a thin golden thread-like light emerged from the center of the light and wrapped around his wrist.
《From now on, you will be subservient to the Grand Mage Jesquière, no, Kang Ichan.》
As soon as the words fell, the light binding his wrist tightened.
Instinctively, he knew the owner of the voice was Goddess Kinier.
The appearance of the goddess must mean she met the Grand Mage. But subservience? That’s only possible if the target is alive.
“Is Jess… alive?”
《No. Grand Mage Jesquière has been annihilated.》
“Annihilated…? Why would Jesquière…? That guy devoted himself to Armania until death. As a goddess, you should know that.”
Just then, the room, which had been filled with light, slowly returned to normal, and a strange woman revealed herself.
《Just as the Grand Mage said. Not a Demon King… but an ordinary human of this world. Nothing more, nothing less.》
Her massive body, as large as a giant, seemed like it could pierce the ceiling, and her metallic-like body gleamed coldly. Her eyes were like a dark night, and her voice remained strange.
《A year ago, the Grand Mage came to me and, amusingly, requested annihilation alone. Even though the imbalance of the continent was caused by both the Grand Mage and the Demon King.》
Her night-like eyes shone distantly, as if piercing through his very soul.
《The Grand Mage said this. The Demon King is no longer a Demon King. He’s just an ordinary human who wants to protect his friend. Please leave him be so he can live an ordinary life with his friend. Annihilation is enough for me alone, he said.》
That guy, was that why he locked me in the blade and left me alone?
The Demon King clenched his teeth.
“But suddenly, subservience? Can I really be subservient to the Grand Mage who was annihilated a year ago?”
《Jesquière has been annihilated, but Kang Ichan remains.》
“…?”
The goddess smiled.
《Tell the Grand Mage. This is my gift to him.》
* * *
“Then, the goddess took me to a canal in the Netherlands.”
There, she found Kang Ichan’s body.
Just as he had been when he disappeared, covered in blood.
The goddess told the Demon King to turn back time.
When he said he didn’t have the ability to turn back time, she suggested manipulating a year’s worth of memories.
“She was such a funny woman. She gave me a rough scenario and said, ‘You can handle it, right? With two fragments of light, it should be easy for you.’”
So, they returned to the beginning.
“Reconstructing the events of a year ago was difficult, but erasing what happened over the past year was even harder. Time had passed, but she wanted me to make it as if it never happened. She’s not a goddess; she’s a lunatic.”
Then, he quietly boasted about how much he had struggled and how amazing his abilities were.
The goddess only provided a rough scenario and did nothing else.
But the nagging she did was absolutely horrifying.
“I had to recall the details of what happened a year ago and flesh out the goddess’s scenario.”
He used the ‘racist’ frame Bartholomeus had created to craft a perfect scenario. He created random witnesses and meticulously reconstructed people’s memories.
“Ah, the goddess did do something. She physically manipulated things according to the memories I created.”
“Physical manipulation?”
“She erased a year’s worth of records and created a week’s worth. Like news reports and photos?”
Come to think of it, earlier, the news was continuously broadcasting interviews with witnesses who didn’t even exist.
“Now it’s all clean. I caught a few guys who had sided with that crazy old man and turned them into kidnappers, making them turn themselves in.”
The scene of those brainwashed by the Demon King calling themselves racists and tearfully turning themselves in was hailed as the best moment in the news over the past week. Even that was fabricated, though.
“Ah, and the financial losses from the canceled concert will be handled by the Belgian government and SS Group. We wrapped it up by implicating them in the crime.”
Even worrying about Blade Entertainment’s financial losses, how commendable.
“But didn’t you go a bit overboard with the scale?”
“I got a bit stronger.”
Yoo Noah smiled faintly.
“You know what? I now have Jess’s power that the old man had.”
I thought so. That must have been what the Demon King was aiming for from the beginning. To survive in this world without me, he needed to get stronger. After all, he now had people he wanted to protect too.
Though it doesn’t suit him, I guess I have to admit that the Demon King has made friends too.
“So, I played on a bigger scale.”
Then, with an arrogant look, he gathered red energy at his fingertips and moved it around. He definitely seems stronger.
“I always feel like people in this world have no immunity to these things, so they’re easily fooled.”
He looked quite pleased.
“You’re still dangerous. In that world, and in this one. I can’t just leave you…”
“Don’t worry.”
I was about to say I couldn’t just leave him be, but the Demon King shook his head and spoke first.
“Because of that scary woman, Kinier or whatever, I can’t do bad things anymore.”
Then, with a more serious expression, he continued.
“The goddess said to tell you. Be happy with the family you’ve made in this world. If you want to share the flow of time, she’ll allow that too.”
Only then did I raise my hand and touch my face.
My body, which had been annihilated, had been reconstructed.
I couldn’t believe it, and my fingertips trembled.
“Don’t worry. Kinier was so meticulous she even recreated the mole next to your nose.”
Yoo Noah, smiling, suddenly took out his phone and took a picture.
Then, he showed me the photo.
“See? It’s the same, right?”
It’s the same.
Except for the slight tear near the eyebrow and the split lip.
When I furrowed my brow, the Demon King added an explanation.
“Ah, the goddess said she liked my scenario and added a bit more realism to your face.”
Then, he snatched the phone from my hand.
“Anyway.”
He tapped the phone a few times and put it in his pocket, then looked straight at me.
“Thanks to this, we’re now in a subservient relationship.”
He showed me the mark of the subservience spell on his wrist.
A thin golden thread shimmered on Yoo Noah’s wrist.
“From now on, survive more surely. Jess.”
The Demon King seemed quite happy with the mark of the subservience spell, even though he couldn’t use his power recklessly without my permission.
“Ah, even though we’re in a subservient relationship, don’t tell me to enter another body just because Noah needs me.”
Worrying about such things. I chuckled and brought my palm to my lips, whispering quietly.
“Yoo Noah sunbaenim. You take care of this crazy guy. Keep a close eye on him so he doesn’t do anything bad. Call me if anything happens. Got it?”
Now it’s done.
I’ve received my own form of annihilation, and the gate to the other world is firmly closed.
No key can open it, and no one from that side can peek into this one.
Somehow, my nose tingled.
I pulled the IV needle out of my arm and stood up.
Yoo Noah, surprised, widened his eyes.
“Where are you going?”
“Home.”
Let’s go home. I want to see the members.