Chapter 29
Lia recalled the day she first met a human.
An inexplicable hostility and hatred.
And violence.
After escaping from the monster’s hand that had imprisoned her, she instead felt the terror of death from humans.
“She’s the woman from the monster’s mansion. She must be a monster too.”
“Look at that enormous body and pale skin! We have to kill her right now!”
Their swords cut her flesh, and their torches burned her body.
She begged for her life, pleaded for mercy, but the humans never listened.
In the end, she had no choice but to flee from them— and walked back into the monster’s house on her own.
The monster approached her as if it had known she would return.
Frankenstein embraced Lia tightly and whispered,
“In this world, only you can understand me, and only I can understand you.”
The monster’s voice was sweet, as though comforting her.
But she realized it then.
The reason why he had never harmed the humans near the mansion, despite hating them so deeply— was precisely for this moment.
That memory, even after all the years she had lived, remained one of the traumas that bound Lia most strongly.
Her first memory of humans was close to the worst possible one, and that perception had not changed for a long time.
Even the countless humans she had seen within the fragments were no different.
They were still destructive, selfish, and greedy.
That was the kind of beings humans were.
What made her see humans differently was not the endless challengers who came seeking her.
It was one human— a girl captured for the creation of a puppet.
A girl who had been taken along with her younger brother. She was weak and powerless.
But she never broke.
To protect her brother, she never hesitated to risk her life. In countless memories, she had seen the girl beaten to death by prisoners, or turned into a monster by challengers who never came to rescue her.
Lia had watched the girl die over and over throughout countless challenges.
But in all those deaths, one thing never changed— the girl never died before her younger brother.
Amid the prisoners’ violence, she would hold her brother tightly in her arms to shield him.
And when monsters came to take them away, she stepped forward first, delaying her brother’s turn.
It was all meaningless struggling, nothing more than desperate resistance, and yet Lia couldn’t take her eyes off that girl.
A selfish, greedy human… showing self-sacrifice?
Wasn’t that strange, no matter how one thought about it?
That was around the time she began to take interest in humans.
To understand them, she wrapped her body in a thick hide and joined them in their short journeys.
Thus, she began to observe humans up close.
Humans were still greedy.
They betrayed their comrades for great rewards and drew their swords against one another.
But not all of them were like that.
Some joined forces to defeat monsters. Some gave up their own shares for their comrades.
These were sights she had never seen before— no, that she had never tried to see.
They weren’t just monsters driven mad by greed and destruction.
They were beings who struggled precisely because they were weak, seeking meaning in their fleeting lives.
Lives that burned like flames— that was the life humans lived.
Soon, she began to admire those human lives.
Yet, at the same time, she felt a terrible loneliness.
No matter how closely she watched humans, she could never share in their joy.
Only then did she begin to understand what that monster had once told her.
‘We are beings abandoned by our creator and forsaken by God. That is why we belong nowhere, and are doomed to eternal loneliness. In the end, you will seek me out and understand me.’
The more she longed for humans, the deeper her emptiness grew.
And she realized—
Hiding her true nature and living among humans was no different from being trapped in the monster’s grasp that once confined her.
From that moment on, everything began to lose its meaning.
The freedom she had so longed for, her yearning for humans, even her hatred for the monster— all of it.
From then on, she simply wanted to leave this place.
But escaping this space was not easy.
She had to awaken the monster’s true power.
She had to gather his hearts and hand them directly to him— but what kind of mad challenger would ever imagine that such an act would make the enemy stronger?
Then one day, someone appeared— someone strong enough to fight and defeat that monster.
A Black Knight clad in dark armor.
He possessed immense strength and wielded flames that would never extinguish.
He not only defeated monsters with ease, but also saved the girl who had never once survived before.
Upon seeing that, Lia became certain.
He could free her from this terrible prison and grant her rest.
Growing desperate, she interfered in his challenge for the sake of her freedom.
She borrowed a physical form that was supposed to remain asleep inside the glass chamber
and appeared before him.
And when he saw her, he said to her—
“Come with me.”
He reached out his hand to her without hesitation, pulling her out from the darkness.
The hideous creature that she was.
The one abandoned by everyone.
The one who never belonged anywhere.
It was only a few simple words— yet with those words, she was saved.
From the monster who had bound her, and from the humans who could never understand her because she was different.
And at the same time, she resented the one who had finally appeared before her.
‘If only you had appeared a little earlier… and reached out your hand like that….’
But such thoughts were meaningless now.
Her long-awaited rest was right before her.
And at last, the time for that rest had come.
She handed him the complete heart of The Nameless One— the core that had maintained the fragment.
All that remained was to find peace amid the loneliness of being left behind once more after he departed.
She had no lingering regrets.
Or so she thought.
But then, he asked—
“Will you come with me? Rather than disappearing like this, wouldn’t it be better to go outside with me?”
Hearing those words again, she felt her heart sink.
She wanted to think he said it casually.
That it meant nothing.
But soon, large tears welled up in her big eyes.
At that sight, Sung-woo’s face filled with surprise.
From his perspective, Lia suddenly bursting into tears must have come out of nowhere.
“Did I… say something I shouldn’t have?”
She shook her head.
Large tears fell from her big eyes as she did.
They were tears of joy—
Tears of joy for finally obtaining what she had truly longed for.
At last, she could escape that loathsome place.
She had met the knight who would rescue her from her endless solitude.
Though he wasn’t a fairytale prince on a white horse, but rather a dark, devil-like knight in black armor—
It didn’t matter.
Sung-woo approached the woman who sat down, crying.
“So, will you come with me?”
“……Yes!”
Through the endless tears, she smiled brightly.
It was the first radiant smile she had ever shown after years of loneliness and oppression.
But at the same time, she wondered.
How exactly did he plan to take her out of here?
When she asked, instead of answering, he showed her The Nameless One’s complete heart in his hand.
“Could it be…?”
The Nameless One’s heart could store anything and release it for use.
While it couldn’t absorb a physical body, it could store a soul.
He asked,
“Then I’ll take that as consent and begin the absorption.”
“Alright.”
When she nodded, Sung-woo brought the pulsating, glowing jewel to her chest.
A radiant light soon burst forth from the jewel, enveloping her.
As The Nameless One’s complete heart absorbed her soul, something strange began to happen.
【The Nameless One’s Heart resonates with the soul of its counterpart.】
【That which could never unite despite countless attempts has finally achieved union.】
【The counterpart’s soul is now bound to The Nameless One’s Complete Heart.】
【The counterpart’s soul joyfully accepts this bond.】
【The item’s information has changed.】
【Homunculus Core
– The core, the most essential part of homunculus creation.
– The item possesses an Ego.
– Contains the secret magic of a prestigious magic family.
– Increases the power of magic by 20%.
– Can absorb, store, and manifest.
– Magic power +5.
– When creating a homunculus, the Ego pledges loyalty to you.
– This is a soulbound item.
– When bound, the item’s stats are enhanced.】
【Would you like to bind this item?】
【Y/N】
“What the hell…”
The item’s entire information had changed.
He had never seen anything like this back when it was a game.
Its performance had skyrocketed— even the name of the item was different now.
And on top of that, it had gained a soulbound option.
A soulbound item.
Items of extraordinary power— impossible to steal unless the player died— and so rare that most could only dream of having one.
The result was beyond anything he had imagined.
A grin formed on my face as I carefully read the item’s description.
Perhaps the entire situation surrounding Seo Da-hee’s assassination would change completely.
Without hesitation, I pressed Y.
A clear, bright laughter echoed inside my head.
Then, the fragment’s space began to collapse.
With Lia, who had maintained the fragment, now gone, the space could no longer sustain itself.
My vision flickered— and was swallowed by darkness.
[Husband! Wake up, husband!]
“……You’re noisy.”
At the familiar voice, I slowly regained my dazed consciousness.
When I lifted my head and looked around, walls entirely made of tightly packed books came into view.
I had finally escaped the dungeon.
[Is this… your world, Husband?]
Lia’s excited voice rang out.
I felt a weight in my hand.
When I lifted it, I saw the Homunculus Core resting in my palm, emitting a mysterious, pulsing glow.
“Why do you still call me that? You don’t have to act like a child anymore.”
[Because you and I are now connected halves of one soul, Husband.]
“Me? Since when?”
[When you bound the heart in your hand to your soul.]
“Ah.”
It wasn’t wrong—so I had nothing to say.
Still, the word husband made me uncomfortable.
Lia, thrilled by the sight of this strange new world, chattered endlessly inside my head.
Ignoring her, I pulled out my phone to check the time.
22:49.
When I had entered the Forbidden Zone, it was Saturday morning at 8 a.m.
So about fourteen hours had passed.
Roughly the same amount of time as I had spent in the dungeon.
Unread messages filled one corner of the screen.
Seeing them, I tilted my head in confusion.
“Why the hell is he calling me?”