Attempting to take down Aishachan almost ruined my social life for the second time.
How bitter it was, standing before Tear Mole Guy and Scarface Senpai. I had only punished an evil-doer in the name of justice, but the world didn’t care about the backstory, leaving me feeling unjustly treated.
Today was no different.
"⋯⋯⋯⋯."
"⋯⋯⋯⋯."
The suspicious stares stabbing into my heart hurt more than I’d like to admit.
I tried to explain.
Sure, from the outside, tearing clothes off might seem aggressive or strange, but it was all a misunderstanding.
It was more of a consensual game, really. If I were serious, I’d have brought out Pashim Hyeonjeon and she’d have unleashed Dragon Scale , right?
Somehow, I managed to get them to accept that explanation.
Roderus, who had experienced my strength firsthand, seemed to understand, and Aisha had a certain wild streak that he might have investigated. Maybe he had done some research on his way here?
After all, we’d had a pretty public fight, and there were probably plenty of witnesses to Aisha flipping the pavement over with Dragon Scale .
Suddenly, Kim Lulu’s expression twisted, and she asked with a strange tone:
"⋯⋯So, are you two into that whole... couple's SM thing?"
"Uh, no, not really."
"Yeah, that’s a bit much."
Both Aisha and I went stone-faced at the same time, turning the atmosphere ice-cold.
"Oh, uh... sorry."
Kim Lulu hastily apologized, realizing we clearly weren’t fans of the idea.
And, of course, Aisha had to hammer the point home.
"Look, this guy is... more like a 'dad' than anything. It’s different."
"You're telling me a ‘dad’ tries to dress you up like that?"
"My dad’s got some weird fetishes and a crazy attitude to match—"
"That’s enough."
I physically covered Aisha's mouth before she could dig my social grave any further.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t block the increasingly skeptical stares from the magical girls around us.
Anyway, why had they shown up so suddenly? What’s your business here, magical girls?
I motioned for them to sit down and tell me what was going on. Roderus, with the serious expression of a man about to carry out an assassination, finally asked:
"⋯⋯Was it you?"
"Was it me, what?"
"Who sent me—no, sent all of us... to South Korea."
"⋯⋯⋯⋯."
Busted?
I quickly put my now fully functioning brain to work.
If I’d been a fake Mima, then handling Kim Lulu would’ve been tricky => Leave them out of it => I could use the backdoor I’d set up earlier to trap them in a session.
But then I wiped the fake out, freeing Roderus and Kim Lulu, and they must’ve realized the timing of their awakening perfectly matched the fake Mima’s demise.
Right, they must be about 80% sure it was me.
My mind raced. How could I deflect without giving away my secret? Should I go with the “dimensional mage” excuse again? Or maybe come up with something clever...
⋯⋯No, wait. Do I even need to deflect?
I reversed my thinking. I had gotten too used to being misunderstood. Why not just come clean?
For one thing, there’d be no fallout. Unlike Irid, no one would chop my head off for admitting, "It was just an illusion."
There was also no need to worry about existential questions like, "Was my friend a fabricated person?" Roderus tried to kill me in the past, after all.
So why not?
"Yeah, what you guys experienced was a virtual reality. I used bio-magic engineering to create a simulated world. Every character was an independent AI."
"Virtual reality, huh!"
"⋯⋯Virtual reality, you say? Like the Matrix?"
Since the session took place in modern-day South Korea, they were familiar with these kinds of concepts.
===============================================================
The mad mage, surprisingly, came clean without much resistance.
He explained that the world they had experienced was a magically created virtual reality, with Oh Hye-in, Munge, and even the Four Heavenly Kings being nothing more than AI programs. The threats to the world were all staged.
He was excited as he shared this, but there was a hint of solemnity in his tone. Despite the lighthearted air, it didn’t feel like he was mocking them. Even as they conversed face-to-face, Roderus couldn’t quite read him. A strange man, indeed.
Between the dark strands of his long hair, his red eyes blinked. They looked at Roderus as if waiting for an answer, prompting him to consider the deeper question.
Was the world they lived through real?
And now that the truth was revealed, did it change the meaning of everything they had experienced?
No.
"⋯⋯I won’t give you the answer you’re expecting, mad mage."
"What kind of answer do you think I’m expecting?"
"You’d want me to be confused, for me to suffer over this. After all, I tried to kill you... And for that, I apologize. But my resolve remains unchanged."
"Oh, really."
Had he encountered this concept for the first time, perhaps it would have shaken him. But Roderus had been prepared for this, maybe for a long time.
Life, after all, was often at the mercy of someone else's designs.
Roderus Redburn had been raised as an assassin under the control of powers manipulating fate. From his birth to his growth, nothing had ever been under his control. But did that make his life any less real?
No.
Oh Daesu had gained his new form through a distorted metamorphosis ability, filled with lies and illusions. But did that make the justice he enacted as a magical girl across Crown Hall any less real?
No.
Could Oh Hye-in, a creation of humans rather than gods, not be Roderus’s friend?
Absolutely not.
Grasping his transformation device tightly, Roderus spoke in a steady voice.
"Everything was real. The time I spent in South Korea, the friends I made, all of it."
"──That’s right! It was all real! If Daesu didn’t think it was real, I would’ve been a bit sad. I’m made too, you know!"
The mad mage chuckled.
"Haha! That’s the correct answer, magical girl!"
The way he laughed made me worry for a moment, wondering if he would follow it up with, "But didn’t you know your friend has been suffering for 300 million years?" Thankfully, nothing so ominous came next.
He had a surprisingly laid-back and almost goofy expression.
The tension in the atmosphere softened as the mad mage waved his hands lazily, grinning all the while.
He told them they needn’t worry, everything was fine.
"I told you because you asked. I didn’t have any grand plan in mind. Our relationship may have started off as enemies, but in the end... I became your fan."
"⋯⋯⋯⋯."
"Oh Hye-in and Munge are living happily in the simulation. Hye-in is getting along well with her family and learning how to knit scarves from some old guy named Abraham."
"⋯⋯Is that so."
Roderus and Lulu both sighed in relief.
It was a short exchange, but Roderus felt like he had gained a deeper understanding of the mad mage as a person. He was... a good man.
He could feel the mage’s goodwill.
Given his terrifying ability to create virtual realities and trap people's minds within them, the mad mage could have done much worse to Roderus. Just the thought sent a chill down his spine.
The horrors he could have faced: the 100-billion-year button, tortures that inflicted pain without death, endless trials designed to strip him of his dignity.
But the mad mage hadn’t done any of that. Instead, he had shown Roderus—who had lived most of his life as an assassin, deprived of so much—countless valuable experiences and joys.
Sure, the process had involved a lot of teasing and mischief, but in the end, Roderus had learned what happiness felt like.
Wait a second.
Did that mean the tentacle... and everything else... was also this guy’s doing...?
The mad mage’s lips curled into a sinister grin.
"Roderus. This is Aisha, and she could use some of your advice. So, I have a question for you."
"? What is it?"
"As someone who’s accepted their inner female and embraced frills and exposure, could you give us some words of wisdom, Senior Oh Daesu?"
"⋯⋯⋯⋯!!"
I should’ve known from the tentacles and everything else. This guy clearly enjoys messing with people!
This conversation had gone on long enough. The mad mage was clearly a man starved for an audience to share his twisted sense of humor with. He bombarded Roderus with teasing remarks like a fish swimming in its element.
"I heard you’ve started choosing girls’ clothes lately..."
"Shut up!"
"So, will you spend your first night with Kim Lulu as Oh Daesu or as Roderus?"
"Shut uuuuup──!!"
This damned villain!
Should I just kill him to silence that mouth? No, this guy was the one who gave me friends, a girlfriend, and even taught me how to enjoy life. I can’t just stab him.
Still, the words he was throwing at me were hitting way too hard.
And to make things worse, the girl Aisha, who had been quietly sitting there until now, started snickering along with him.
"Hey, Roderus. Honestly, I’ve been curious—do you prefer the body of a woman or a man?"
"Escape! 『Transformation』! 『Magic Rope』!"
With sharp judgment, Roderus decided to retreat. He grabbed Kim Lulu by the waist and bolted out of the room.
Behind him, the evil mage and the girl cackled together in unison.
But his ordeal wasn’t over yet.
After their lifespan issue had been resolved, Kim Lulu had been spending more time fantasizing about the future. Naturally, she had already thought about weddings dozens of times, even deciding to ask Grandpa to officiate.
But thanks to the mad mage’s question, she realized there was still one thing she hadn’t figured out.
With the expression of a newlywed bride in Oh Daesu’s arms, Kim Lulu, blushing furiously, held her cheeks and shyly asked:
"Da, Daesu... when we get married... which form are you going to...?"
"I don’t know! Just be quiet!"
Oh Daesu yelled back.
===============================================================
Finally, I had someone with whom I could truly be myself!
Irid, Elaine, and the other players... well, technically speaking, they weren’t exactly “friends” with me . Maybe Bennett was a bit close.
But now that Roderus had become my "secret friend," I no longer had to pretend. Finally, I could confidently say this:
I’m hanging out at a friend’s house right now!
"Hey, Roderus! I’ve come to visit! And I’ve brought the adorable Aisha with me too!"
"Get out, both of you!"
"And I’ve brought some healthy food for your wife!"
"⋯⋯Leave it and go."
For the record, this was my third time seeing them. Twice at a café, and today, I was visiting their home for the first time.
Oh Daesu, in his magical girl form, grumbled like he couldn’t be more annoyed. His sharp attitude, which I had observed from the session's omniscient viewpoint, felt entirely different now that I was seeing it up close.
I brought a gift bag as I stepped into Oh Daesu and Kim Lulu’s love nest. Inside were some health drinks for Kim Lulu, but the real star was the Dream Phone .
It was a direct line to the simulation, where Oh Hye-in would answer. I bet Roderus would love it.
I could already feel the dopamine kicking in. He must have been dying to ask me if he could meet Oh Hye-in again, and here I was, beating him to the punch.
And as a bonus, I’d even managed to save Munge, who had been shattered by the fake Mima, piecing him back together somehow...
Peeking out from upstairs, Kim Lulu suddenly called down.
"Oh, the mad mage is here again today? You better fix that mess before the imperial family finds out!"
"Don’t worry, Miss Lulu! The restoration is going smoothly!"
"Oh, right. I’ve got someone to introduce to you. This is Hayang. Go on, say hello."
Huh?
A girl with pale, almost bleached-white skin appeared behind Kim Lulu. She bowed her head with a rather clueless expression.
Wait. No way.
"Hello there."
"You’re supposed to say 'Hi,' not 'Hello.'"
"Hi there!"
That’s... that’s Redburn’s puppet master!
Her apparent age looked much younger, but no matter how I squinted, she was definitely the same puppet master. Even the crow within me was cawing like crazy.
She hadn’t died from that fatal blow and had been hiding in Roderus’s household all this time, waiting for the right moment...?
In that case, now that I’d figured out her true identity, it was only a matter of time before she revealed her true colors. I immediately gathered my magic and prepared for a confrontation.
"⋯⋯Aisha, battle mode! And be careful, Miss Lulu! That girl is a Redburn agent! She’s a powerful user of illusion magic!"
"Huh? Hayang?!"
"Wait, wait, Mima. Something’s off. There’s no sign of intelligence in her eyes."
Aisha tried to stop me, but I wasn’t letting my guard down.
"She must be hiding it! If she can manipulate her body at will, she could’ve messed with her brain too, taking the risk of becoming a vegetable in the process!"
"Unless she’s a world-class genius like us, an ordinary human wouldn’t be able to fiddle with their brain that precisely. They’d probably go mad or die."
"That’s... not wrong."
"Mooong."
Redburn's puppet master mumbled blankly. Had she really gone brain-dead...?
I had stumbled upon a critical enemy who had seemingly lost her mind.