Chapter 46
Beep— Beep—
I opened my eyes to the familiar sound of an alarm.
For a moment, I just stared blankly at the white ceiling.
Yesterday’s events still didn’t feel real.
Slowly, I got out of bed and splashed some water on my face a few times, and the fog in my head began to lift.
I recalled what had happened yesterday.
After finishing the interrogation, I had gone straight back to the dorm and collapsed onto my bed as if fainting.
I had truly drained every ounce of mental strength in just a few hours.
From almost being killed by the Guardian, to facing a Demon, and even dealing with Instructor Kang Jae-seok, who seemed to doubt me—
I picked up the phone lying beside my pillow.
[25 missed calls]
[99 messages]
“Oh……?”
My phone was overflowing with notifications.
The problem was, they were all from one person.
Only then did I remember the person I had forgotten about.
Lia.
Things had been so hectic that I completely forgot to contact her.
Moreover, since I’d extracted power from the Homunculus Heart during the battle, she—being bound to me—must have realized something dangerous had happened.
She must have been terribly worried.
I needed to call her right away before she panicked even more.
I dialed her number.
Barely after a few rings, someone picked up.
A familiar voice came through.
[Husband? Is that you?]
“Yeah, it’s me.”
[Eek……!]
Then came the sharp sound of teeth grinding and a shout that nearly pierced my ear through the receiver.
[Hey!! Why didn’t you answer! Do you even know how worried I was? Do you know how much I was on edge thinking something happened to you?! Your magic power suddenly plummeted, the connection between us nearly broke—! I was this close to rushing straight to the Academy!]
“I know, I’m sorry.”
Lia’s voice trembled.
And I could hear the faintest hint of tears in it.
I really must have put her through a lot.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t expect things to turn out like that.”
[Explain. Now. What happened?]
I slowly explained everything that had occurred yesterday.
As she listened, a faint anger seeped into her tone.
[What in the world are you doing?! You told me not to step outside the studio because Da-hee shouldn’t be exposed, and yet you appeared at the Academy again as the Devil Knight? Are you out of your mind?]
“No, it was all necessary—”
[Quiet! I didn’t tell you to justify yourself!]
Her sharp voice stabbed at my ear.
She sounded furious.
I quietly shut my mouth and endured her scolding.
It felt as if our positions had completely reversed since the first time we met.
Lia had fully adapted to this world now.
She absorbed vast amounts of information through the internet, raised her level of knowledge, and perhaps thanks to having a degree of freedom through Seo Da-hee’s body, her mental maturity had grown rapidly.
Of course, that didn’t mean her childlike side had disappeared.
[Are you even listening to me?]
“Ah, yeah, I’m listening.”
[What did I just say then?]
“……”
[Seriously! I was talking about Da-hee!]
Da-hee?
I perked up at that.
Had something happened to her while we were out of contact?
“Why? Did something happen to Seo Da-hee?”
[I’m not the only one who can sense your condition, you know. Da-hee’s also linked to the Homunculus Heart. She was really worried about you. She wants to talk.]
“She hasn’t shown any signs of memory returning or anything unusual?”
[Not yet…….]
She was my hidden card to bring down Berid.
It might not have been my immediate priority, but I still had to help Seo Da-hee regain her memories someday.
Just then, Lia’s voice changed.
[Hello? Seongwoo?]
“What—Da-hee senior?”
[Ah, um, yes…….]
“Why did you want to talk to me? Is there something you wanted to say?”
Seo Da-hee asked quietly about my well-being.
She had always been bright and a bit noisy, but now her voice was timid and gentle.
[Lia was really worried about you, Seongwoo. She didn’t sleep all night, just stared at her phone. When the connection almost broke, she was ready to rush straight to the Academy.]
“I’ll be more careful.”
Lia and Da-hee.
The two of them seemed to have acknowledged each other’s presence and were getting along surprisingly well.
[Will you be coming this weekend?]
“Yes, I think I will.”
I needed to soothe Lia’s anger, and also check on Seo Da-hee’s condition.
After all, her body might have suffered strain from the massive amount of mana I had used.
It was also a good opportunity to observe any signs regarding her memories.
After promising to bring something delicious this weekend, I hung up.
It was time to head back to the Academy.
After the call ended, Seo Da-hee stared blankly at the phone screen.
[Are you okay?]
Lia’s voice echoed in her mind.
Seo Da-hee shook her head.
“I don’t know. I don’t know how to face Seongwoo.”
She staggered to the bed in the small studio and sat down.
A deep sigh escaped her lips.
Seongwoo probably hadn’t noticed, since she didn’t show it.
But now, Da-hee had regained quite a lot of her past memories.
Maybe that was why.
It was hard for her to even describe what she was feeling now.
Honestly, my head was a mess.
It happened last night—after dinner, when I lay down on my bed as usual.
In the darkened room, Lia and I, Seo Da-hee, talked for quite a while.
It had become a routine after we started sharing the same body.
We would end the day by talking about how we saw the world, trying to understand each other.
Usually, it was Lia who spoke.
After all, I didn’t have many stories to tell, since I’d lost all of my memories.
Our conversations often revolved around Lia’s past or Seongwoo.
About what kind of person he was, how he lived, and the situation he was in now.
“Lia.”
[Yeah?]
“Today, I want to hear something different. Why did he kill me? Tell me the truth.”
[Ah… th-the truth?]
“Yes. From your stories, Seongwoo sounds like such a good person. Someone who cherishes, respects, and cares for others. But if that’s true—why did someone like him kill me, even while burdened with guilt? That doesn’t make sense.”
Lia had been reluctant to talk about him, but I had been persistent.
After all, he was the only one who knew the me from before—the me lost in a blank slate of memories.
And I had been curious about the lunatic who confessed to me that he had killed me.
When I first heard that he was the one who’d killed me, I hadn’t felt much.
No matter how much I heard about my past self, to someone without memories, it all just sounded like someone else’s story.
So I asked about him—and the moment I understood his emotions, a piercing pain had shot through my heart.
A red light had burst from my chest, and I’d heard Lia’s voice trembling with fear and panic.
At the same time, a faint image surfaced in my mind.
A black knight, his chest pierced by a spear of light.
The moment I saw it, my heart sank—and as if something locked deep inside me had been unsealed, waves of memories came flooding in.
That was how I regained my memories.
Even now, whenever I closed my eyes, the moment of my death appeared vividly before me.
The pitch-black hand that burst out of my chest.
The pain, the agony—
And the betrayal that hurt even more than both.
I had liked Yoo Seongwoo.
But the look in his eyes back then…
His hand that pierced my heart was cold—
And his golden eyes burning like fire were even colder.
I asked,
“Lia.”
[Hmm?]
“All those times you talked about Seongwoo before… you did it on purpose, didn’t you?”
[…]
Lia fell silent.
But I didn’t need to hear an answer.
Our souls were connected, after all.
Looking back, it was strange—Lia had always brought up topics related to Seongwoo.
How he had saved her, fought for her, what kind of past he had.
At first, I thought it was just because she didn’t have many topics to talk about.
But that wasn’t it.
“You didn’t want me to hate him, even if my memories came back.”
[I’m sorry. But it wasn’t just for Seongwoo’s sake. I didn’t want you to suffer too much when you remembered everything…]
“Do you really think I’m not suffering right now?”
At my words, Lia fell silent.
I had learned too much about him.
‘If only I didn’t know all that… at least I could’ve hated him without guilt.’
Then Lia’s voice came softly, as if she were trying to comfort a child.
[I understand how you feel. You must be angry at Seongwoo, and you probably resent him, too. But please remember this one thing—back then, the choice he made was the only one he could make.]
“The only choice?”
That was supposed to be the best way?
Cutting off every connection I had—dying and being brought back to life? That was the best choice?
Lia hesitated for a moment, then made up her mind.
Seongwoo hadn’t told Seo Da-hee the whole truth.
He had only said that he was forced to kill her under Pandemonium’s orders.
He had mixed lies with the truth—to keep her eyes closed a little longer.
But even now, Seongwoo lived burdened by the guilt of killing her.
So at the very least, Lia thought, Da-hee deserved to know the truth.
[Even if Seongwoo hadn’t acted, you would’ve been killed by Berid. You were too much of an obstacle to Pandemonium’s plan.]
“…What are you talking about?”
Hearing something completely new, my eyes widened.
[The Groom told me not to say anything, but…]
“What else are you hiding from me? Tell me everything.”
My voice turned cold.
How could I know nothing about something I was directly involved in?
I could no longer tolerate being kept in the dark.
Lia’s voice continued.
She began to slowly reveal the rest of the truth she had never spoken of before.
As I listened, my expression stiffened.
One by one, the questions I hadn’t understood even after regaining my memories began to fall into place.
Why someone like me—just a mere Student Council Executive—had become a target of Pandemonium.
And the existence of the traitor within the Student Council who had tried to kill me.
As I faced the truth, fury welled up inside me until my whole body trembled.
“Ha Yoon… no, Berid…!”
He was the true root of it all.
A wicked Demon seeking to take control of the Academy.
Learning that Ha Yoon had been a Demon hurt even more than Seongwoo’s betrayal.
Ha Yoon had been my childhood friend since we were young.
Sure, we bickered a lot and often fought over Yoo Iseo, but—
We had grown up together in the same orphanage, sharing most of our memories.
We had no family, so we had made each other family.
To think that person would betray me…
“The man I loved, and the person I thought of as family—both tried to kill me.”
It was a hollow feeling.
As if everything I’d ever believed in had shattered into pieces.
And now, all I could do was wonder how I was supposed to face Seongwoo when we met this weekend.