It’s a tense moment.
The moment I face the women I carelessly discarded.
It’s the moment my karma has come back to haunt me by reversing time.
The reason I gathered all three of them in one place is simple.
It’s to ensure my safety.
If I had met them one by one, I couldn’t rule out the possibility of achieving a 100% completion rate and then hitting game over.
But if all three are in one place, I can reduce that danger.
They’ll be keeping an eye on each other, so there’s no worry of being captured and kidnapped by one of them.
Of course, it’s possible that Yerina could overpower everyone and take me away afterward…
But I believe that Yerina won’t do that right now.
I just have to pray that the Frenzy Technique shows enough effect to suppress her mania.
‘Don’t tell me there aren’t any barriers or trap spells…’
Before entering the room, I check for any traces of magic or demonic energy.
I don’t want to do this, but I have no choice.
In the previous iterations, they’ve already had several encounters.
Even if they don’t remember, I do.
I’m still on guard against them.
Whether this is mere paranoia or not is something I’ll have to check from now on.
“…I’m here.”
Mi Jeong whispers as she clutches the hem of my pants.
Hearing those words brings me a bit of relief.
With a companion who won’t betray me, no matter what happens, my courage surges.
I take a deep breath, then exhale.
I turn the doorknob.
With a creak, the large round table comes into view.
Seeing the familiar faces seated around the table takes my breath away.
In stark contrast to me, they’re surprised, mouths agape, staring at me wide-eyed.
Mi Jeong stands firm by my side.
Mia, who followed me in, stands across from us.
The women in front of me can’t seem to break their silence, their pupils wavering.
“…”
What should I say to break the ice?
Why did you do this to me, you bitches?
…I want to blurt it out, but I hold back.
The first thing that comes to mind is the dungeon lockdown.
But I suppress that too.
Instead, the words that come out of my mouth are as follows.
“How did it come to this?”
As if there’s an invisible line drawn in the air.
I can’t approach them, and they can’t come over to me either.
There’s so much we wanted to say to each other.
So many misunderstandings to untangle.
I’m not sure which to bring up first, and my head is spinning.
“I doubt anyone wanted this to happen.”
“Yoo Jin…”
“Wait. There’s something I need to explain first.”
The moment Jill calls my name, I immediately cut her off.
There’s something I must say first.
Everything else can wait.
If I were just going to gloss over it, I wouldn’t have gathered these three here in the first place.
“You all might have guessed, but I’m cursed. I bear the fate of repeating the same time, acting out emotions, deceiving people, and betraying them. I have no excuses, but I’ve hurt all three of you in the process. Jill, I left you without a word after leaving just a note.”
“Yeah…”
“Yulia, I reunited with you in the ruins of the explosion, then turned and left right away.”
“Oh, um…”
“Yerina, I constantly deceived you and left the moment we got engaged.”
“Huh?!?”
First cycle, sixth cycle, and twelfth cycle.
Though they are from different timelines, the ones who met me were one and the same.
I guess all three of them only have a vague idea about the regression; they probably don’t fully comprehend it.
I’m in the same boat.
Once I confirmed that the main heroines had altered their trajectories, I merely thought, “I’ve regained my memories,” and that was it.
As I provide a clear explanation, their eyes widen, and they freeze in shock.
They only surmised it; it seems they weren’t prepared for it yet.
After all, who could expect or prepare for such a thing?
The brutal truth that your passionately loved partner is actually messing around with other women across different timelines…
“The burden I bear is twofold: either conquer all of you at once or defeat the colossal enemy known as Draken. But now, achieving the first is impossible.”
“No, Yoo Jin! It’s still okay! I understand! So please just come back…”
“It’s impossible. This isn’t just talk.”
“…”
Jill, who was about to urgently protest, clams up again at my decisive response.
I’ve tried it.
After everything was exposed, I even attempted to raise the conquest rates of all three main heroines to above 95 percent by professing my love for all of them at once.
But that was a futile effort.
Yerina can’t exceed 95 percent even if I conquer her perfectly without any slip-ups, not to mention Jill and Yulia are stuck at 94 percent too.
The remaining 6 percent must be filled by satisfying their possessive desires.
I tried and failed.
After all, once it’s exposed, the multi-conquest ending is out of the question.
“And even if it were possible, I wouldn’t end it that way.”
“Why? For what? For that purpose… you’ve been repeatedly regressing this whole time…?”
“Exactly. If I end my curse, I can return to the world I originally lived in. Until now, I’ve been regressing to escape. To get out of here. To abandon you all…”
“Huh?”
Once I confess the truth, their faces begin to lose color.
Just a moment ago, their lips were quivering and they seemed choked up.
But now that I’ve started to speak, the words flow out calmly and smoothly.
I regressed to abandon you all.
Every declaration of love was a lie.
As I say this, I can’t help but think that if there were any traits showing real-time conquest rates, they’d probably be in the negative by now.
“And I’ve reached this iteration. This is the last one. There won’t be any more opportunities. In this cycle, I’ve decided to give up on conquering you and instead focus on fulfilling the second command. Originally, I was supposed to have no contact with you, but it wasn’t my intent for you to regain your memories from the previous cycles…”
The atmosphere has grown solemn.
Yerina shakes her head, almost pleading me to say it’s a lie.
Yulia appears somewhat composed, but I’m sure she’s thinking the same inside.
And Jill… looks like she might burst into tears at any moment.
“So I desperately ran away. Not knowing how to face you. I thought I’d abandoned you together with the lost timelines. I didn’t know how to deal with you, so I kept avoiding you.”
I was also scared of what might happen to me.
I actually did face some consequences.
I got locked out of the dungeon because of the curse.
But as I observe the reactions of the main heroines, I gain a sense of certainty.
That curse wasn’t intended by them.
It must have been an unfortunate accident or a result of ‘someone’ distorting things.
“But now I’ve decided to stop that. I won’t run away anymore. Even if I fulfill my command and the curse placed upon me is lifted, I won’t run away from this place. This is my home now… All my memories, good or bad, have become cherished memories…”
“…”
After seeing the ending, could I choose to leave this place?
I imagined it, over and over, but my answer remains the same.
I can’t leave.
I can’t leave Mi Jeong behind, nor the Nameless, and I can’t simply abandon my karma.
It’s not just a matter of like or dislike.
I’ve become so deeply entwined in this world.
I’ve developed feelings of so much attachment.
I am now a part of this place.
This is my home, where I belong.
That has become an undeniable fact.
“So I’ve made my decision. I will risk death to take down Draken. There’s no other way if I want to protect the world I’ve chosen to stay in. And to take revenge on whoever placed this command on me…”
My teeth grind together.
Though I only had baseless suspicions, I can now declare with confidence.
It’s clear that Draken orchestrated all of this.
Draken is the one who trapped me in the cycle of regression.
The one who turned this into the last iteration.
The one who framed the main heroines with curses and locked down the dungeons—all of it was Draken’s doing.
‘The error message that popped up when the system window malfunctioned… sounded similar to something Draken would say.’
In hindsight, I should have suspected it long ago.
The connections were too obvious.
Maybe he even wanted me to realize it and drop hints.
Draken’s antics have pushed me onto one particular path.
The conquest of Draken.
If he desires me to come hunt him down in the underworld, so be it.
Whether he wants an equal opponent or is simply thirsting for death is irrelevant now.
For the sake of myself and the women I’ve hurt, I will kill him.
No more running away.
I’ll face him head-on.
I’ll risk my life to fight for survival.
“Let me tell you the most curious thing you all might wonder…”
I say this, and as I gather my waist, I place my hand on my belt.
It feels as if this is where it belongs; I draw out a dagger that fits perfectly into my hand and place it on the round table.
Jill’s mouth slightly opens.
The dagger that Jill had given me as a gift in the first cycle.
Though it was too extravagant for me to use properly, I’ve kept it all along.
I brought it with me in this iteration too.
“Jill.”
Then, next comes the hip flask.
After becoming fond of whiskey thanks to Yulia, I’ve been drinking from this hip flask every day.
I think my taste for alcohol will be fixed forever.
“Yulia…”
Finally, I take off the two thick steel rings that were on my left hand.
Armor that I wore like knuckles as modeled by Yerina.
Though I didn’t use them often, there were a few times they saved my life.
“And Yerina.”
These are the symbols of my regrets.
The traces left behind by the three of them clawing at me.
And finally, I throw off the shackles.
For the first time.
I sincerely say the words.
“I loved you.”
“…!”
The expressions of the three of them turn into sorrowful faces.
I’ve put an end to my relationship with them.
I’m the one who came back with the past cycles buried in the past.
Just because they returned doesn’t mean I can revive those emotions that have already faded away.
The passionate love from back then no longer exists.
The impressions I felt when I first saw them have changed a lot.
Now it’s impossible for me to love them purely.
“To me, you’re not just one person. In repeating this regression, all the timelines where you vanished will overlap in my view. There’s no way around it… But if you all want, then after I complete this mission and break the curse…”
If a love stained with suspicion and possessive desires is fine with you,
Then even an incomplete love that remains at a 94 percent conquest rate is okay with me.
“I want to embrace all three of you.”
I want to love all three of them.
That’s my choice.
They’ve tortured me throughout the twelfth cycle, so I think I deserve to at least see what faces they make in bed.
Their ugly desires mix with my messy greed.
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