*
How long was I unconscious?
A floating sensation as if being pulled up from deep sleep.
A creepy feeling like my whole body shattered and then pieced back together.
“…Cough, cough.”
I shook my head clear as I spat out water repeatedly.
I almost drowned just like that.
Where am I?
I thought I died for the past Pina a moment ago.
“I can’t see anything.”
When I opened my eyes, all I saw was darkness.
Did I fall into hell? But I can still breathe, so it doesn’t seem like it.
Every step I take makes a splashing sound under my feet.
So this is why I almost drowned. I looked around, feeling the strange sensation of walking on water.
[Lee Soo-hyun♡Pina Grancia 91% ‘NEW!!’]
“……”
All I see in front of me is the status window that says Grand Route.
Pina, who became a Demon God, said the inheritance system broke down, so she couldn’t resurrect twice.
A tiny light given in the darkness.
Seeing it shining like an emergency exit light made me smile in a hollow way.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
I took a step forward, using the status window as a guide.
[Lee Soo-hyun♡Pina Grancia 92% ‘NEW!!’]
Clang clang.
The numbers went up with a metallic sound.
It sounded like a safe’s dial moving.
Why is the Affection Level increasing right now?
I haven’t defeated a Demon King or made progress with Pina or done anything particular.
As I narrowed my eyes, trying to find the cause.
[Hehe, Sir is such a shy one.]
A soft and cute voice, wafting like the scent of flowers.
A figure of the Saintess, white as a snow rose, rippled on the water’s surface.
“Saintess..?”
Next to her was Licht, wearing a Black Knight helmet and armor.
This was my first life since coming here.
[True love means liking just one person no matter what hardships you face.]
[I know that..]
[Then why don’t you understand my feelings!! You like me too, don’t you! Silly puppy! Pervert who just looks at my chest!]
Having possessed Licht, I had never even had light physical contact with the Saintess back then.
The Nameless Saintess, who was always tongue-tied at my dullness.
There was a moment she tried to get closer after giving me alcohol for fun.
[Why don’t you ever say you love me..? I can’t live without you..]
She always had a weak tolerance and fell asleep before me.
“……”
Probably because everything was taken away by the Demon Kings.
If it were the original Pina Grancia, she would have a stronger tolerance than me, so it would have been dangerous.
[Lee Soo-hyun♡Pina Grancia 93% ‘NEW!!’]
As I recalled memories with the Nameless Saintess, my Affection Level rose.
I intuitively realized an important fact watching it.
The status window before me is the key.
The one and only key to escape this dark place.
Avoiding paths where the Affection Level does not rise, and walking backwards.
I began to dash, searching for an exit.
[…Saintess?]
[You showed your face..]
I was shocked by what I saw.
Trembling lips, drooping wolf ears and tail.
Unlike the original history, Pina’s helmet had come off during the semester exam.
Her white hair was fully exposed because she didn’t control her strength.
[Why is Mardol the Nameless Saintess..?]
Then everything flowed exactly as Black Rose Pina had told me.
[Why are you suddenly avoiding me? Please listen to me..!]
[I’ve been found out. I’ve been found out. It’s all over..]
Knowing Pina was the Nameless Saintess, I tried to reveal everything and save her from danger.
[I’m scared.. Can I really trust you..? Even your name Licht is a lie..]
After her identity as a princess was discovered, Pina started avoiding me.
She must have thought I was a pawn sent by the Hero Church to take her life.
In front of her, I transformed into a Demon King and tried to forcefully confirm my identity.
‘It’s karma.’
When we met in the same classroom, she would ignore my greetings.
Our relationship, once friends, quickly soured into bitterness.
[This is a Mana Rose.. for the Nameless Saintess..?]
Even the blue rose I prepared for Pina wilted without her choice.
The Demon King of All Knowledge even pierced a hole in my chest.
[No..! No..! Licht.. Please..!]
Life was getting messier by the minute.
How did the outcome change so drastically just because her helmet came off during the semester exam?
In the end, I even witnessed Pina crying at my grave.
So this was the future the sage saw.
‘Things that might have happened in another world line.’
[Lee Soo-hyun♡Pina Grancia 94% ‘NEW!!’]
With every step I took, countless images of Pina began to appear.
The times we laughed together while attending the Academy.
Her crying because she couldn’t even heal properly as a Saintess.
Lastly, Black Rose Pina, leaving me behind with a bittersweet expression as we kissed.
24 failed attempts, 25 tries.
All the roots that could exist until now passed by.
When I was killed by Magic Hat.
When I begged Pina, who had become a Demon God, to save me.
All the lives I lived until now were filled with countless failures.
A dark path where I couldn’t see an inch ahead.
Just when I was feeling despair about whether there was an exit in such a place.
‘……!!’
As I watched this bizarre scene, I noticed one commonality.
No matter what world line, there was always one person sticking closely by my side.
The Nameless Saintess, the Hero who fell into a Demon God, the princess of the Grancia Empire.
It was as if they coordinated, pointing the same direction with their fingers.
‘Pina Grancia..’
As I saw that, my jaw clenched tightly.
Even in repeated lives, Pina always maintained her spot next to me.
Even in this pitch-black place where hope seemed nonexistent, she wanted to show that light existed.
She wanted to support me by my side.
As I started running in the direction she indicated, the surroundings gradually brightened.
“This place..?”
Signboards with no lights.
Familiar enough to slip into my memories, the street emerged.
A rooftop from a hazy memory.
The place I had tried to jump off during my school days.
‘A streetlamp? No way. That can’t be a streetlamp.’
I felt the hairs on my body stand on end, realizing what I was seeing was not a hallucination.
A boy with black hair and brown eyes.
A face marked with severe burn scars.
Without a doubt, it was my younger self.
If it were the original me, I would have given up on suicide and gone home.
But why am I trying to die now?
‘I have to stop it.’
He was already precariously half over the rooftop railing.
I reached out to save my younger self, but my attempt was in vain as the boy fell into the air.
Just when I thought it was all over.
[Soo-hyun had such a painful past.]
As Pina’s voice echoed, a burst of light resembling a woman with white wolf ears appeared.
With each step I took, the figure transformed in the order of the Nameless Saintess and the Jealous Demon God.
They seemed to overlap as one, eventually morphing into Pina, the Glass Knight.
[It’s okay now….]
As she opened her mouth, time reversed.
The boy who was falling from the rooftop returned to his original position as if nothing had happened.
“Uh.. Uh? I.. surely..”
Could it be that I met Pina in the past as well?
I see my younger self, endlessly crying for the life he got back.
“I was.. scared..”
The boy’s expression showed confusion.
As he kept looking around, he didn’t seem to notice the presence of me and her.
Should it be called a time paradox?
Or should it be called destiny, rather than believing it was all a coincidence from the start?
[Someday, a day will come when we can meet again.]
A somewhat suspicious phrase was written on a poster.
Pina dropped an RPG game poster with [Night Heart] written on it.
Why was there such a poster on a rooftop? I wondered.
[Until then.. I will wait. Soo-hyun.]
Pina saved my past self and then let him go.
*
[Lee Soo-hyun♡Pina Grancia 95% ‘NEW!!’]
As soon as I witnessed that scene, the status window began to glow.
Then the whole world started to turn white, and voices of a man and woman could be heard.
“It’s nice to see you again, Hero of Conviction.”
“Well met, Demon King of Conviction.”
A woman with white snakes coiling around her arm and a man entwined with black roots appeared before me.
The starkly contrasting figures of black and white stood before my eyes.
“Who are you..?”
I recognized those faces.
I wished for the Saintess’s happiness after defeating Magic Hat in my first run.
“I am Starter, the Goddess of Light, governing time and light.”
“Indeed, I am Lisette, the God of Darkness, governing space and darkness.”
Why are the supreme gods who determine heroes and demon kings here?
I narrowed my eyes at the smiling couple facing me.
“Am I.. dead?”
I had just uncovered the situation where Pina reversed time to save my past self.
It felt like a scene from a lantern show.
I could still breathe, but this dream-like sensation blurred the line between reality and illusion.
I began to feel confused about whether I was alive or dead.
“No, you are ‘not yet’ dead.”
“It’s so awkward to say you are alive!”
They shook their heads at my question.
So that means there’s still a way to return to Pina?
“Because your existence has been erased by the Power of Pure Thought. Now you have become the Demon King of Innocence.”
My brief hope was dashed as Lisette delivered the shocking news.
Demon King of Innocence.
It meant I transformed into the being I first saw in [Black Heart].
I never imagined that would be me.
I went through a rough simulation once.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Literally, it means you turned into a monster that spreads poison around.”
“We’re sorry for our negligence.”
Starter and Lisette sighed, touching their foreheads in frustration.
Thinking about it, these guys were the epitome of incompetence.
“Pina Grancia.. is crying beside you..”
“If left like this, it’s dangerous.”
Pina is crying?
Drip.
Hearing that made me feel something breaking in my head.
“What on earth are you doing..?!”
I couldn’t hold back my rising anger and shouted at them.
The unfortunate world lines I faced in the continuous loops.
In those, Pina had no happy ending.
“You two, the God of Light and the God of Darkness.. rather than helping people,!!”
If only they had helped once when Pina was sad.
“Don’t they pick heroes as trash!!”
If you hadn’t chosen Magic Hat as a hero, Pina wouldn’t have ended up unhappy.
Moreover, I wished they would have shown even a bit of mercy, just once.
The actions of the divinities felt so trivial and ludicrous.
“Why do you keep making Pina unhappy!!”
I burst forth with the accumulation of all my sorrows.
Then, after a long silence, they uttered one line.
“You wished for the true happiness of Pina Grancia, didn’t you?”
That was the real reason I had to increase the Affection Level and achieve the Grand Route.
