*
Familiar landscapes pass by.
A shabby snack shop, children gathered in groups in front of a stationery store.
I used to play in places like that back in the day. Before I got my burn scars, I often visited those places with friends.
“…Where did you agree to meet your girlfriend?”
“Oh, just keep going around here.”
Thanks to my father’s consideration, I got a ride in his car. He offered to drop me off since he was on his way home too.
“Our house is in the same direction, so you don’t have to worry.”
He’s just as intrusive as ever. I can’t deny that the father in my memory is indeed him.
In a car without a navigation system, a map faded from prolonged sun exposure is sticking out of the glove compartment.
“…Is this the son you mentioned earlier?”
It’s a photo of me from my first birthday party.
There I am, holding a red thread. I must have been playing with it because I was tangled up in it from head to toe.
“Isn’t he cute? He’s just started elementary school now.”
“Really? He looks a lot like you.”
Black hair and brown eyes. No matter how you slice it, a father-son pair that looks identical.
“Haha, if he looks like me, that’d be a disaster. I often hear that I lack tact at work.”
“You lack… tact?”
I feel a jab at my pride. Kainel and Pina had brought this up often too.
Hearing this from my father, of all people, feels like a punch to the gut, making my stomach churn.
“Yeah, he’d be better off taking after his mom.”
My hands tremble. It feels like a huge spike is pierced in my heart.
So she’s still alive.
When I was about six years old, my mother passed away in a fire. Our family had become miserable due to that incident.
It was a rainy day, and the flames wouldn’t die down, how unfair it was.
“You’ll probably be fine. I’m sure your son… will be proud of you.”
Thinking of my current Mind Sword skills makes me laugh. The guy who prided himself on hating rain more than anyone else.
All because of one girl.
“I really hope so. He’s quite a troublemaker.”
My father, who was driving, forced a smile. He was pretty immature back then. After getting burned, he went through a whirlwind of emotions.
“…Firefighters are like heroes, aren’t they? The day will come when you understand.”
His hand on the steering wheel is stained black with soot, similar to how my hands have become calloused and rugged from swordsmanship training.
Like father, like son, I guess. We share the same willingness to put ourselves at risk to save others.
“Oh, I think you can drop me off here.”
I can see a blurry memory of a building up ahead.
If I’m about here, I guess I won’t get caught. I might run into problems if I really have traveled back to the past.
“Take care, student.”
“Thank you for the ride.”
Pina will feel my presence soon and come looking for me.
“Always… thank you, Father.”
I continued my words while watching the white car vanish into the distance.
At this distance, I should be out of earshot.
*
People stopped Pina, who was trying to go out wearing only a single piece of clothing.
“Pina, it’s night. You should dress a little warmer.”
“Thank you….”
Lee Soo-hyun’s mother draped a warm coat over Pina to keep her from getting cold. Watching her, Pina was reminded of Queen Bellin.
The genuine concern was enough to make her eyes water a little.
“Are you going, Pina?”
“Ah, Father… yes…”
The middle-aged man reading the newspaper tilted his head at Pina.
“Then head over to that building by the intersection.”
“…Huh?”
“I think a young man saw you at the scene earlier and was looking for you.”
Lee Daehyun couldn’t see Pina’s wolf ears and tail, but,
“There was a young man with a big burn mark on his face. He was quite composed while saving people. I think his name was Licht…?”
It rang a bell. Someone had mentioned this to me before.
‘…Licht?’
Thump, my heart skipped a beat. I had only assumed the man in the black knight helmet would come to save me, but now my body feels strange.
Like being wrapped in clouds, a warm, comforting happiness envelops me. Where have I read this before?
“I don’t want my sister to leave…”
Young Lee Soo-hyun held Pina’s arms with both hands, shaking his head. His big eyes were brimming with tears.
“Su-hyun, Pina will have family too.”
It was Lee Soo-hyun’s father who separated his son from his tantrum. His hands and face were slightly burned, as if he had touched fire.
“I’m sorry. Because of my child…”
A harmonious family. It felt so different from the circumstances I had heard about my family in the north.
“Su-hyun, I think I need to go now…”
Pina gently patted young Soo-hyun’s head to say goodbye, just like he used to do to her, lightly touching her ears.
“Are you going to see the prince?”
At that, the boy finally stopped crying.
Licht must have cried a lot as a child. I learned something new.
“Yeah, that’s right… the prince…”
Pina didn’t know much about Licht. At most, that he was a hero from another world.
That he had a scarred face, which made him downplay himself, and that he sometimes missed the Nameless Saintess.
What have I been doing all this time? I had only thought about seducing Licht and keeping him for myself.
“Oh, and. Make sure you get along with that scarred young man, Pina.”
“…Huh?”
Soo-hyun’s father spoke comfortingly while soothing his son.
“He seems like a pretty decent young man. It’s rare these days to find someone who dives into flames to save a child.”
A soft smile, as if in recognition. The things I’d heard from the black knight’s father felt refreshing.
“Dear, you know it sounds awkward to say that as a firefighter, right?”
“Who cares? Saving people is a noble thing.”
The couple laughed and chatted. But Pina couldn’t even hear their voices.
‘Licht and I… have been given permission to date…’
What a stark contrast to the stories found in the romance novels Pina had read before.
Stories where parents from different backgrounds meet and forbid their union. Leaving behind their families due to class and upbringing differences, the protagonists would run away for love.
The reason she frequently read such stories was out of curiosity. Overcoming class and species differences for love, what on earth drives someone to do that?
Though the concept of love felt close yet very distant to Pina,
“Thank you, Father…”
She began to understand, even if just a bit, why the protagonists in her novels wanted their parents’ permission so badly.
She thought they lived similar lives, but Licht grew up with these wonderful parents.
If her father, Emperor Rock, were here, he would have gone on a rampage with an axe.
“One day… definitely…”
Pina has been feeling strange whenever it comes to anything related to the black knight lately. Her reason seemed to melt away, replaced by her unique icy emotions.
She wanted to run to his side immediately, to rely on him.
She wanted to spend as much time as possible with him.
She didn’t want to lose him to anyone and wanted to become Licht’s most treasured person.
What should she call this mysterious, bittersweet magic?
Pina’s racing heartbeat pointed towards Licht like a compass.
“…I’ll come back to see you. With Soo-hyun.”
Looking at the faded memories of Lee Soo-hyun, she clenched her hands tightly and made a promise.
*
Here again. The place where I first saw the advertisement for [Night Heart].
The rooftop of the building where I gave up jumping.
“…Here we go again.”
A swarm of cars passed below. The honking fills the air, and the headlights flow like water.
If I go home with my father… Pina will be there, and so will my mother.
If that happens, I won’t be able to escape this illusion.
“….Ugh, damn it.”
But I know I shouldn’t cling to the past.
The pure-hearted saintess who taught me about love when I had no knowledge of it. This time, I wanted to repay her.
A single thought: I want to bring happiness to the nameless saintess, who knows nothing about joy.
Even if it means sacrificing my own happiness to achieve it.
Because she was everything to me and my hope itself. Maybe I was just overthinking it.
“Licht…”
Creak, the sound of a doorknob turning echoed behind me, and there stood a girl with white hair.
“…Pina, you’re here?”
The princess who doesn’t understand love. As soon as she sees me, her wolf ears and tail sway cutely with excitement.
“This is Tardun’s test. This should be… my past.”
“…I know.”
She steps closer. The rose scent wafting makes something stir in my heart.
Guilt? Or perhaps embarrassment? There are so many things I’ve hidden from Pina.
“…I’m sorry. For dragging you into all this.”
“Why are you apologizing…?”
“Perhaps this is… the happiness I wish for.”
I scratched my head as I apologized to her. I wondered how it would have been if I had been a little more honest with Pina.
“I’m just a nobody, Pina.”
“…Licht.”
My heart felt heavy as if it were made of lead. My lips were parched, and my breathing quickened.
“You know Licht is just a pseudonym, right?”
“…Yeah, my real name is Soo-hyun.”
Every time I pronounced my name, her golden eyes widened in surprise.
It’s clearly different from when she looks at others.
“When I was young, both my parents died in a fire. I couldn’t be there for them.”
With a thud, Pina stopped in her tracks, her ears and tail drooping down.
“…My identity isn’t Licht or the Hero of Conviction. I’m just a fool named Lee Soo-hyun.”
Though I couldn’t bring myself to confess that I was reincarnated into a game character, I still tried my best.
“….”
Pina bit her lower lip hard and glared at me. She must be angry. I know it’s impossible to find a breakthrough with such emotional manipulation.
“If you feel disillusioned, that’s okay. No one usually has a good impression of a scarred orphan…”
In that moment, pearly tears welled up in Pina’s eyes and fell. Why? Why are you crying?
“…No.”
Pina’s voice grew louder, her hair brushing against my fingertips.
“I don’t care if you’re scarred or not a hero…”
Those moonlit eyes glistened with beauty right up close.
“You will always be my black knight.”
Pina embraced me. Her warm body transmitted a comforting heat through me.
“Why do you keep talking like that? Don’t do it…”
She scolded me while crying. I had vowed not to cry, but once again, I broke that promise.
“You’re important to me. It’s okay.”
My heart pounded as if beating in sync with hers, a warmth thawing the cold night air.
“From now on, if something difficult happens…”
It felt as if our bodies had fused into one.
“…Let’s face it together, Soo-hyun.”
Finally, when Pina’s gentle words came to an end.
[Lee Soo-hyun♡Pina Grancia 10% ‘NEW!!’]
It popped up in the night sky like a celebratory firework, a status window emerged brightly.
