*
The hospital becomes quiet and chilly at night.
‘Looks like the time has come. Lee Soo-hyun.’
I sneaked out of the hospital room and ran. In the end, someone had to be sacrificed.
A white corridor, pure white ceiling. Passing through the dim, sloping path,
“I’m spending the last Christmas of my life here.”
I reached the place that would mark the end. The auditorium, where I had just met Santa with a boy named Young-min.
I looked up at the huge tree on stage, adorned with all kinds of colorful little lights, topped with a shining big star.
If I’m here, I won’t be able to escape. I already knew that in my head. I grabbed the cold steel and locked the door again.
I don’t know why Young-min had been here in the past.
“Just in case. I’ll lock the door too…”
Maybe he wanted to see Santa one more time, or he might have waited here to really see Rudolph, like I had made up in my lie.
I got chills seeing the door ajar. If it had been properly locked, it might have been fine.
Destiny may seem light, but it can visit people in cruel forms someday.
And that sacrifice is mostly.
‘Only those who are unprepared to accept it.’
However, if it’s going to take away the life of that tiny child,
Isn’t it better to take away the life of a cowardly fly that was ready to give up once?
Young-min hadn’t even had a chance to eat the hamburger he wanted or play with the newly gifted combining robot.
“…”
If by sacrificing one of my lives, I can protect the child’s smile and happiness, it’s a pretty cheap price.
The guilt of not being able to save someone was heavy. If I didn’t know the Saintess, I would have felt like living in mud without end.
“It’s a bit chilly. Must be because it’s winter.”
That’s also why I tried to comfort Mardol Grancia in vain.
Even if I apologize to her now, it’s just a cowardly excuse, and I didn’t grasp her wounds properly,
What could the young her do against the Demon King named Magic Hat? It was already strange for that to happen.
Whether it was the bloodline of the Wolf King or the descendants of the Ten Heroes, everyone has weak moments.
An unforgiving reality that can do nothing. Surely, it must have been frustrating and sorrowful to feel powerless.
It might be a cheap sympathy. Maybe I forcibly empathized without knowing her situation well.
‘How pathetic. Lee Soo-hyun.’
But it didn’t matter. If deep wounds aren’t taken out and treated promptly like my burn scars, they’ll just fester and rot.
People can rely on others. I learned that through the Nameless Saintess.
I wanted to fill Mardol’s empty heart like glass. You can call me a cliché and common hypocrite.
‘..I didn’t expect to end it like this.’
I plopped down next to the Christmas tree. The outdoor air ruffled my hair after a long time.
I noticed my shrunk hands. When I first got possessed in the game, my body had shrunk in a similar way. Looking back now, a lot had happened.
“I met the drunkard Dennis.”
He was the protagonist from [Night Heart], the first part.
A drunken man with blue hair and striking white aura.
I knew that he had suffered a bad incident with the Demon King.
That’s because at the end of the original, I had teamed up with Dennis to fight the Head.
The Demon King of All Knowledge, who came prepared based on the player’s save file.
Because of that, I had informed Dennis about 3D Magic Circles as a precaution. I thought the Academy might get attacked like today.
In the game, events where enemies suddenly invade were common,
Since it’s a world where anything can happen. I had to do my best.
‘I hope Master White Lily can finish this well even without me…’
The brown-haired Eastern dragon with deer horns.
She’s a polymorphed figure who walks around in the form of a human woman and is my second master with a rather extravagant setup that a Celestial Demon from another world has been summoned as a hero.
She was Dennis’s lover, but due to ignorance, she was forgotten, and there were no traces of her in the world.
‘No, to be precise… it was hard to find her.’
The Demon King’s powers are not perfect, so traces of the Celestial Demon existing as Ten Heroes remain here and there, but only Dennis was longing for her.
‘I still remember the last words he said in the bad ending.’
Even while dying at the hands of the Head, he couldn’t remember his lover’s name and only faintly missed the spring season.
‘I think he still cultivates the Buttercup Flower.’
From the beginning, the golden flower in the club room was a foreshadowing. The flower called Buttercup.
It’s poisonous, and if touched carelessly, it can cause poisoning, making it dangerous.
At first glance, it seems like it’s about getting revenge (복수 – “Bok-su”) on people.
‘..But that’s not it.’
It writes the characters for happiness (복 – “Bok”) and life (수 – “Su”). Just like the Celestial Demon’s name, Lily, it’s a plant that blooms in spring.
Since Dennis had received it as a gift from her in the past, he cherished it, practicing magic to surround the poison with a barrier as I remember reading in the settings book.
‘What was the language of flowers…?’
A yellow flower blooming from the eye.
It was a plant that resembled Dennis’s fate, which had to overcome the hardship of winter to bring about spring.
If they can catch Head Ake, a happy ending is promised for the couple. In the sequel too, Dennis only stayed by her side like a sunflower.
“The heater doesn’t work either.”
I wore a thin hospital gown, and the cold, quiet hospital air pierced through my lungs. I gathered the nearby Santa outfit and covered myself.
“Speaking of which, I also tried to raise Kainel and Ariel’s affection levels.”
The protagonists of the sequel [Black Heart].
These characters are childhood friends, unable to be honest about their feelings.
You could say they smashed every characteristic of early 2000s romantic comedies into one.
A tsundere female character who pokes at you, and a blonde popular guy who has zero awareness.
‘But both their personalities are good.’
Both Kainel and Ariel were involved with the Demon King. The reasons he was looked down upon when chosen as the Light Hero and the reason the World Tree forest burned all relate to that.
“..Hero Church.”
In a way, it was the fault of the heroes who had fallen into demons.
If they have the Holy Sword, let’s cut off the sprouts before it turns into a Demon Sword. Radical thoughts like those NPCs were common.
“Truly the root of evil. When I think about it like this.”
I think being a hero requires actions befitting the title. Being chosen by the goddess or hearing voices from the Holy Sword doesn’t mean.
‘That’s not a sufficient proof of qualification.’
A hero should run towards saving people when everyone else is fleeing.
Though it sounds a bit cheesy, I’ve always pondered on it that way. A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth.
I couldn’t protect last time because I didn’t know, but this time I did. I reached out and caressed my smooth face, recalling old memories.
The scar on my face was from the flames caused by backdraft.
Hearing a scream, I dashed back into the hospital. While looking for the Young-min who couldn’t escape, as soon as I turned the doorknob, bang, the flames of disaster burst forth and only my face got badly burned.
Now, the situation had changed, even if my body was burning all over, I silently sighed, thinking this was enough to wash away my sins.
*
As Christmas was nearing its end.
“Evacuate here!!”
“Hurry!! Get to the stairs!”
“Patients, you have to leave now!”
Contrary to the phrase “Silent and Holy Night,” the hospital was noisy.
Black smoke was rising and flickering flames were gradually engulfing the white building.
“Licht..! Where the heck are you!”
Pina Grancia ran with her long white hair flowing. She moved against the crowd leaving the hospital, cutting through the chaotic mob.
COUGH COUGH! “What’s happening?!”
“Where’s the fire coming from?!”
The platinum wolf was going deeper and deeper into the hospital.
“I can’t see Hyung Soo-hyun! Hyung Soo-hyun..!”
“Young-min, let’s get out of here. It’s dangerous!”
“He’s probably in the auditorium! He said he was going to show Rudolph!!”
Then she met a young boy sitting in a wheeled chair.
“Santa! Can you please help save my Hyung Soo-hyun!!”
The boy wearing the red cap was being led by others towards safety, but was shouting at Pina.
“..Can you see me?”
Her keen eyes didn’t miss it and felt something off. Being able to see herself in this nightmare meant she was an important person.
“Yeah! You’re Santa, right..? Your hair is white..!”
Her masterpiece, without armor or glass armor, already dulled by smoke, her sense of smell was impaired.
Pina had to make a choice. Should she trust the boy’s words and go to the auditorium or hesitate for a moment.
‘Lee Soo-hyun..? Licht..?’
Soon, she felt sure. If it was the Licht she knew, he would be inside, rescuing the children alone based on her experiences from being together.
COUGH, the auditorium is over there! Sister..! Please bring my Hyung Soo-hyun out!!
“I got it.”
The boy in the red cap, even though he looked hurt, smiled while making a request to her.
Even while evacuating, she nodded in gratitude to Young-min, who pointed far away with fingers.
“..I’ll definitely protect Licht. Kid.”
In such a situation, the only fool who wouldn’t escape and do something was her.
She ran in that direction. She ran. Pain was felt in her legs from not using mana.
‘I have to hold on. This is nothing…!’
Sometimes, the gritty ash dust stuck in her mouth tasted bitter, and the burning heat in her lungs caused her to feel like she was on fire. Her esophagus was already burned.
“Licht!!”
But she didn’t care. No matter how much it hurt or how injured she was, her desire to save Licht suffering in the nightmare was stronger.
Pina faced a large iron door. It was clearly the end of the place the boy had pointed out earlier.
COUGH, KELLOCK.
A dry cough escaped her lips. She grabbed the doorknob and pushed, but it wouldn’t budge, making a clanking metallic sound.
“Licht!! Are you in there?!”
She knocked hard on the door but received no response. In fact, this was different from what Pina had initially heard.
‘No response. Or is it…?’
She clearly heard the screams and re-entered to get burned; maybe it wasn’t here.
“No, Pina Grancia.”
She briefly panicked from the flames approaching her from behind, but shook her head and slapped her cheeks to steady her trembling mind.
The man who wore the Black Knight helmet.
Strongest of all, yet sometimes also the weakest.
He was the one who awakened emotions in her, cold like glass, and lessened her guilt.
A lonely wolf who hated to hurt others, building up lies, and fighting alone.
Maybe he was innocent and cute, turning red just from looking at his own physique without any female experience.
“This man… is here.”
The man who gave her every feeling she was experiencing was on the other side of the door, and her instincts were howling like a wolf.
*
The fire alarm had been ringing for a while; now smoke was slowly seeping through the door gap.
“Our Saintess won’t see it through to the end.”
I thought I wouldn’t have any regrets at the end of life, but strangely there were some things I regretted.
I hadn’t met the girl with pure white hair, wolf ears, and a tail.
‘Since I couldn’t mention the characteristics to others fearing being detected by the Head.’
I got scared hearing that the Head could find her while fighting Servi.
Once the Demon King of All Knowledge issue gets solved, half the battle will be won. He was the final boss of the first part, so I had to ensure she wouldn’t come to harm as a possible variable.
No matter how much I scoured through the game community, nothing about the Saintess’s past or name came up.
I read comments from other players who entered the royal palace to search for records, but none contained details about the platinum wolf.
‘If there’s a next life… will I be able to meet her?’
As the flames drew closer, cold sweat dripped down. I still hadn’t healed from that trauma.
Looking at the clock on the wall, it was already near midnight. Was there to be no miracle on Christmas?
At the moment I closed my eyes, having given up everything.
“Licht!!”
The iron door blocking the auditorium’s entrance exploded with a bang.
It wasn’t even a backdraft. What just happened?
“Sure enough, you were here..!”
Someone called my name with urgency. At the end of that voice, she appeared, looking a bit different from my memory.
“..Saintess?”
Emerging in her pure white academy outfit, her waist-length white hair and softly moving white wolf ears and tail, shining golden irises.
This time, it wasn’t an attack from the Hero Church like during Servi, nor was it a fake imitating her appearance. I recognized right away she was the Nameless Saintess.
