“I want to liiive…!”
The evening wind blew fiercely, tossing my hair mercilessly. In the face of death approaching right before my eyes, not just tears but snot was flowing down endlessly.
“Save meee!”
My upper body was now almost completely hanging outside the railing. Every time my body struggled, I could hear the gasps of the students below.
That’s when someone called out to me loudly.
“Lionel! Lionel!”
At the familiar voice I hadn’t heard in days, tears welled up even more.
“Cesare! Uhuuung!”
There was quite a crowd gathered below, so I couldn’t see where Cesare was. No, before that, I was too scared to even look down.
“Mellans. Keep your eyes closed!”
At Cedric’s shout, I quickly squeezed my eyes shut. From the sound of rushing footsteps—tada-dat—I could feel Cedric running toward me.
But it seemed that just blocking my vision wasn’t enough. My body, sensing that Cedric was approaching, naturally kicked off the railing and let go.
“Aaaah!”
“Your hand!”
I stretched out my hand, but the distance was too far to reach Cedric. Seeing Cedric’s face fall into despair as he reached out his hand, I felt the certainty of death.
The moment my body floated in midair, my five senses sharpened and everything seemed to flow in slow motion.
‘I haven’t even written my will yet and I’m already dying…?’
If I die here, the probability of possessing someone else again is low, right? I’m really going to die. How sad. The position of being the only son of a Grand Merchant Guild family—I really liked it. *Sniff*.
Aunt. Grandfather. Your unfilial child is leaving first. I miss you so much.
As my cape fluttered, I could see countless students below. And among them, Cesare was pushing through people and running forward.
For someone who had coldly told me to get lost, Cesare’s face looked incredibly desperate.
“Lionel!”
I couldn’t see well through my fluttering hair, but somehow it seemed like he was crying. Ha, really. Whether it’s Cedric or Cesare, handsome guys look great even when they’re falling apart.
‘Ha. Cesare. I loved you so much. You seed-sprouting bastard.’
But without me, who’s going to take care of you now?
I closed my eyes in near resignation. But my survival instinct woke me up again.
‘I don’t want to die.’
In the end, I struggled and screamed uglily until the very end.
“I don’t want to die, Cesare! Uhuuung! Save me!”
In my fading consciousness, I heard Cesare’s voice dimly.
“Lionel! I’ll save you! I’ll—!”
— “Rye. Don’t die! Please…!”
In that moment, along with a scorching pain in my throat, his voice overlapped in two layers.
“……!”
And right when the ground was visible right in front of me.
— KWAANG!
With a tremendous roar, I lost consciousness.
* * *
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
Someone was poking at my stomach. No, rather than poking, it felt more like they were standing and stepping on it.
When I slowly opened my eyes, I saw a pure white background and pure white floor that seemed familiar from last time. Except what was different from then was that between the white walls, golden patterns were faintly glowing?
Those patterns formed a cube shape and were surrounding me. As I focused my dazed eyes to look at them closely, I gradually felt myself coming to my senses.
I—that is, right. I fell from the fifth floor.
Before I could recall my past memories, I discovered the identity of the heavy sensation coming from my stomach and just blinked.
“What… is this?”
What had been bouncing around on my stomach was a mini Cesare—Mitche—with black hair and pomegranate-seed eyes embedded in it. It was the first time I recalled Mitche right after waking up. Usually, it was an imaginary creation I summoned when something about Cesare pissed me off or when I desperately wanted to see Cesare.
“Byo!”
As if happy that I had opened my eyes, Mitche made a strange sound and jumped right onto my face.
“Ugh. Mitche?”
I was startled by the heavy lump touching my face. It felt dynamic, as if it were a real living creature, which felt somehow strange.
‘It feels real. Something’s weird.’
But.
“Byobyo~.”
‘Damn. It’s really cute!’
Mitche bit my cheek and went chuu-chuu while giggling, just like I usually doted on it. It was small and cute, just like a pet that follows a character around in a game.
And this guy resembled my love, my trash Cesare!
I immediately hugged the stuffed-animal-like Mitche and kissed and petted it back. When I tickled its belly like a puppy, seeing Mitche roll over while giggling cheerfully gave me a sense of relief even in this inexplicable situation.
“I’m glad you’re at least here.”
I hugged Mitche and went back to assessing the situation.
“Do you know where we are?”
“Byo….”
“Did I really die this time?”
“Byo-o?”
I couldn’t understand Mitche’s words, but it seemed like it had no idea where this was or what situation we were in either. It just giggled and stuck close to me.
‘It looks exactly like Cesare, but somehow… it looks a bit stupid, so maybe its personality resembles me?’
I cautiously approached the wall and caressed the faintly floating pattern with my hand.
— Crackle!
“Ack, it stings!”
“Byobyo!”
As soon as I touched the wall, a large spark occurred as if electricity was flowing. Fortunately, I wasn’t badly hurt, but my hand stung so I was shaking it when Mitche quickly approached my hand and made a gesture of gently rubbing it.
“……?”
At the action that gave me a brief sense of déjà vu, I thought carefully and realized it was similar to when I used to rub Cesare’s swollen wrist.
‘Since it’s something I created with my imagination, is it the same as me? But why does it seem to move more and more lifelike?’
I patted the head of the admirable Mitche and plopped down on the floor. I stared blankly at the patterns, trying to figure out how to get out of here and what situation this was.
That’s when I heard a woman’s voice from somewhere.
— Lionel! If I hadn’t given you a blessing last time, your soul would have slipped out for sure!
“Ju Shinyoung!”
At the familiar voice, I quickly looked up and shouted, and the patterns began to shine and sparkle even more. Perhaps because of that, Mitche seemed frightened and burrowed into my arms, trembling. When I patted its back saying it’s okay, it’s okay, I heard the voice again.
— So it was born after all. And quite large at that. I told you to be so careful of Cesare Yanox.
At Ju Shinyoung’s worried voice coming from around me, a wave of injustice rushed over me.
“Hey! Weren’t you watching me? I really tried to be careful! If there’s anyone who was more careful of Cesare than me, tell them to come out!”
— But in the end, ‘that thing’ was born.
“That thing? You mean this?”
When I looked into my chest again, Mitche was sniffling and clutching my chest tightly. It looks really stupid but it’s so cute.
“This wasn’t born, I created it with my imagination though? The setting is that it lives in the penthouse of my heart. Its name is Mitche. Isn’t it cute?”
— No. Lionel. That’s not your imagination—it grew by feeding on the price of a transaction.
“Huh? What do you mean?”
— Cesare Yanox made a transaction with an artifact.
‘If it’s an artifact, she must be talking about Addiction, right?’
— The more you love him, the more it will grow too. Because its source of power is your affection.
‘As expected. She’s talking about Addiction. Then is Mitche not my imagination but something like a parasite? A parasite created by Addiction’s effect?’
Ugh. Suddenly comparing it to a bug made me feel icky, so I lifted Mitche up. But seeing it flail with its small arms and whine, wanting to get back into my arms, softened my heart.
“What is it? Can’t I just keep it?”
— I can’t get rid of it anyway. That’s the product of your affection. It will disappear when your affection for Cesare Yanox disappears, but… with your current state, that would be difficult.
Thinking it might be extremely dangerous if it’s the product of affection, I held Mitche in my arms again and patted it while asking.
“Ju Shinyoung. Are you by any chance Saint Tors who gave me a blessing?”
— How astounding in a way that you’re only realizing that now, Lionel. I knew you were clueless about strange things, but.
Hey. There’s no need to be that dismissive. I just wanted to be sure.
Feeling disrespected wasn’t very pleasant, so I stuck out my lips sulkily and spoke curtly.
“What exactly is my situation? Why did I become Lionel Mellans and what am I supposed to do here? What do you want from me?”
— You didn’t suddenly become Lionel Mellans. Do you remember what your name was in the Republic of Korea?
“Of course… Huh? What was my name?”
Me, who lived such a pitiful life. Come to think of it, I had no family and was pushed around here and there, working part-time jobs since my school days, but I couldn’t remember my name. No, my past life memories themselves were blurry as if soaked in water.
— Lionel. The world is connected in much more complex ways than you think. You’re originally a person from this side, and your soul was just temporarily separated due to an old accident, so you lived there for a while.
“What? I’m originally from here?”
My surprise was brief, as Ju Shinyoung urgently continued speaking.
— I’m gradually losing my power now. I used an enormous amount of power, you see. The Age of Prosperity will repeat again, Lionel. First, break Addiction.
“How am I supposed to break Addiction!”
— Do you know how hard it was for me to write that novel for you, and you say things like that, it’s so discouraging…. It was all written there.
Ah, if only Cedric’s chest had been about half a span smaller. If only Cesare hadn’t been as handsome as if the God of War had manifested. Could the past me have focused on parts other than romance?
“Yeah, you failed at promoting the novel. It’s not my fault!”
While I hesitated, feeling guilty, she continued, seeming urgent about something, and got straight to the point.
— Cedric has an artifact. A silver wing-shaped brooch. But since it’s only half, you need to find the other half. Yanox of the Taitus Principality has it. Then you can release Addiction.
If it was a silver wing-shaped brooch, it came to mind immediately. It was the brooch that fastened the cape of the uniform wrapped around Cedric’s large chest.
“If Yanox of the Taitus Principality has it… Cesare’s father?”
— Right. That’s why I tried to guide you to send you to the principality, but things are going strangely wrong right now. Ah, no… I’m so… sleepy.
“Ju Shinyoung?”
— I’m so sleepy…. If I’m not here, the world…. Lionel. I’m sorry… I’m so sleepy right now…. Lionel, small and lovely boy. May my blessing always be with you.
Then bright light began to pour out from the patterns surrounding me.
“Ugh! It’s blinding!”
— “Lionel. I was completely wrong about everything, so please. Please just open your eyes.”
“This voice is…?”
“Bba-a!”
Soon Mitche and my body began to float up.
