“……Wonyoung!”
Faster than Heegang could grab him, Wonyoung ran out. He didn’t want to send Taerim away like this. He’d rather have him get angry, criticize him, and at least know the reason for their parting before leaving. Even if the memories would all be erased anyway…….
He hoped he’d at least know that his feelings had all been sincere.
“Taerim-ssi, don’t go! Wait!”
Wonyoung ran without even noticing his feet hurt. Stones embedded in the soles of his feet and drew blood, but he didn’t care.
Taerim-ssi, Taerim-ssi. I’ll tell you everything. I’ll explain it all. Please.
At the desperate call, Taerim finally looked back. And in that moment, Taerim’s eyes filled with bewilderment.
“……Who are you……?”
Wonyoung’s heart sank, but he clenched his trembling fists and said.
“……Narae. No, Heo Wonyoung. This is the real me.”
“What?”
Though he’d thrown out the words, Wonyoung trembled violently, afraid of the reaction that would come next. Taerim was still looking at Wonyoung with an expression of disbelief.
“What, are you saying?”
“All this time…… I pretended to be Narae when I wasn’t. The me in front of you now is the real me. Heo Wonyoung.”
If it was now, Taerim would probably be able to see the status windows too. Wonyoung quietly opened the status window. He opened the item window and mission window too.
Soon, numerous yellow status windows covered both their fields of vision.
Looking at the various windows showing favorability scores with his name written on them and information about the cards he’d given registered, Taerim blinked. It wasn’t just him. Ki Siyeon and Baek Heegang were there too.
“What is all this…….”
“……To me, this world is…….”
A game.
He just needed to say those words, but his mouth absolutely wouldn’t move.
In the end, after a long silence, what came out instead of a confession was an apology.
“I’m sorry.”
The tears he’d desperately held back finally forced their way out through his eyelids.
“I’m sorry, Kyung Taerim-ssi…….”
Taerim looked at Wonyoung with a ‘no way’ expression.
“Narae, ssi.”
Looking at his crying face, Taerim knew. This man’s face was completely different from Narae’s, but he was the person he knew.
Because there was no way he wouldn’t recognize his crying face, the pain he felt when seeing that appearance.
Then you, Narae, are…….
“Were you, fake?”
“Taerim-ssi…….”
“You too, and all the stories between us…… were they all lies from the beginning?”
At that question, Wonyoung’s face turned deathly pale. Fake, lies. The things Taerim hated most. The things that hurt Taerim the most.
He’d come this far knowing that. Only now did Wonyoung realize he’d committed an absurd act out of cheap greed. He’d been mistaken because Siyeon and Heegang had accepted him.
This would be the normal reaction.
“Taerim-ssi.”
Wonyoung tried to grab Taerim’s arm, but Taerim coldly shook it off.
“I, I don’t understand. Who are you? What is all this? Explain properly. Right now.”
“Taerim-ssi, this is…….”
“A game.”
Instead of the tearful Wonyoung, Heegang, who had approached at some point, said while examining Wonyoung’s injured foot.
“We’re game characters.”
“What?”
“At least by Wonyoung’s standards.”
Taerim stared blankly at Heegang speaking so matter-of-factly. A game? Characters? He was dumbfounded. All of this felt like a dream.
“Does that make sense right now…….”
“Ugh……!”
Just as Taerim was about to question him, Heegang pressed down on Wonyoung’s wound. At Wonyoung’s groan, Taerim’s body moved forward without realizing it.
“…….”
“See, your instincts know. Who this is.”
Taerim looked at Wonyoung again with tears welling up. Pale skin, eyes with slightly upturned ends, a small mole dotted beneath them.
It wasn’t the Narae he knew. But Taerim was barely suppressing the impulse to comfort him as he cried.
As the silence continued, Taerim, struggling to somehow understand this situation, asked weakly.
“Then all of this was a game to you?”
Wonyoung couldn’t say anything and just trembled. Tears formed on his lowered eyelashes.
As if unable to watch anymore, Heegang snapped at Taerim.
“That’s enough. Since you’ll be going home soon anyway.”
“What does that mean…….”
“It’s a game. There must be an ending, right?”
An ending? All of this has a conclusion?
“You don’t have many days left to see Wonyoung. Well, if you fuck off early, I’d welcome it.”
Then Wonyoung barely opened his mouth.
“Baek Heegang, stop it.”
But what came back was Heegang’s ice-cold harsh words.
“You stop it, Heo Wonyoung. You’re the one who disobeyed me telling you not to go. Didn’t you know it would turn out like this?”
“…….”
At their conversation, Taerim’s mind went blank. In the end, was he the only one who didn’t know? That everything was all an illusion?
Taerim couldn’t hold back anymore and shouted.
“What is all this, exactly! A game? An ending? You expect me to believe that now?”
“If you don’t believe it? Is there another option?”
“What?”
“Does the fact that you’re not real change?”
“I said stop it, Baek Heegang!”
Wonyoung restrained Heegang and stepped forward. He knew why Heegang was doing this. He was voluntarily playing the villain. For his sake, so he wouldn’t get hurt.
Unable to let that happen, Wonyoung hurriedly wiped away his tears and looked at Taerim to confess the truth.
“That’s right, this is all a game. I’m Heo Wonyoung, and I became Narae and…… conquered you all. Because they said they’d only send me back to my original world if I did.”
“Who, exactly who!”
“I don’t know either. There’s a guide I call the System, and recently someone called the game creator appeared and I talked with them through a chat window, but I don’t know who they are either.”
“Then show me now. Right now.”
Wonyoung hesitated before calling the System. The System didn’t appear, but instead a notification window popped up.
[Currently backing up the play situation, connection with the System is difficult.]
“…….”
Taerim stared blankly at the floating text before asking.
“You, Baek Heegang, knew this and still…….”
“Ki Siyeon knows too. And both he and I chose Heo Wonyoung.”
“Even though you’re game characters, even though all your stories are fake, you don’t feel anything?”
The one who answered Taerim’s question was unexpectedly Siyeon. He had appeared at some point too.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Siyeon. How did you…….”
“I thought it would turn out like this. It wasn’t something that could be hidden forever anyway. When Siyeon and Baek Heegang know, does it make sense for Kyung Taerim not to know? Well, I didn’t know it would happen today of all days either.”
Siyeon said that and looked at Wonyoung with pitying eyes.
“Don’t cry, hyung. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“But I…….”
“I know hyung was sincere with me. Whether it’s a game or whatever, that you treated me sincerely. If this is a game, I’ll just live as a game character. Rather than lose hyung.”
Then Heegang also added.
“I’m similar. At this point, I have no intention of letting go of Heo Wonyoung.”
And the gazes of the two ‘characters’ turned toward Taerim.
“I…….”
Taerim couldn’t easily open his mouth. Watching Taerim’s confused eyes, Wonyoung spoke first.
“You don’t have to answer. I know the shock must be great. Just…… I just wanted to say that it wasn’t all fake.”
At Wonyoung’s voice, Taerim’s expression turned fierce as he directed his gaze at him.
“But it’s all manipulation. You’re saying my wounds, my past, were all made up, aren’t you?”
“Taerim-ssi.”
“Did I look pathetic? Or pitiful? Watching me get hurt and blame myself over things that aren’t even real, how were you? Did you feel no guilt deceiving me since it was all fake anyway?”
Each of Taerim’s words stabbed into his heart like daggers. Unable to bear it, Siyeon stepped forward to restrain him.
“Is this hyung’s fault? Hyung was just dragged here too! Then what should hyung have done?”
“He should have told me.”
Taerim glared coldly at Wonyoung as he spoke.
“Before it came to this, much earlier. If I had any meaning to you at all, you should have revealed the truth long ago. In the end, you just enjoyed deceiving me.”
“This bastard, really……!”
“Ki Siyeon!”
Wonyoung shouted loudly to stop Siyeon from rushing at Taerim.
“Taerim-ssi is right. I knew everything and pretended not to.”
At Wonyoung’s admission, Taerim’s heart crumbled. Why don’t you just say no? Why don’t you say absolutely not, ask for forgiveness just once…… why are you to the very end.
“It was my greed and selfishness. Like this…… I wanted to leave while living as Narae.”
“What?”
In that moment, Taerim’s face flooded with rage. He grabbed Wonyoung by the collar.
“Live as Narae and then leave? Ha! Heo Wonyoung, is all of this just play to you?”
Then Heegang warned in a low voice.
“Let go while I’m being nice. Before I kill you.”
But Taerim completely ignored Heegang’s words. With a sneer on his lips, he jeered.
“Now I understand. You confessed to me to finish the game too. And I didn’t even know that, worrying anxiously whether something had happened to you. Comforting you with pathetic words. It must have been so fun, wasn’t it? Right?”
“Taerim-ssi.”
“Don’t call my name. Don’t put my name in that mouth.”
“I understand.”
Wonyoung quietly gave up.
His choice had been wrong. He shouldn’t have appeared before Taerim as Heo Wonyoung. He’d hoped he’d recognize his sincerity, but that was impossible.
He’d only thought of himself. He’d only cared about his own feelings. If this was punishment for that, he had to accept it willingly.
Anyway…… once the backup finished and restoration began, everything would be forgotten.
The existence called Heo Wonyoung.
“It was all my fault. I won’t appear before you anymore.”
He wouldn’t be able to appear even if he wanted to anyway.
“But.”
“…….”
“But, really…….”
But the truth was he’d wanted to be together as Heo Wonyoung. He’d never once deceived because he wanted to deceive.
The truth is…….
The truth is, you.
[Backup complete. Entering restoration mode.]
[Time remaining until restoration 24:00:00]
In that moment, Wonyoung’s appearance completely disappeared before the three men.
