S-Rank is My Side Character - Chapter 52

Clack, the sound of a teacup hitting the saucer was heard. Nari looked around at the sweet scent of desserts and the aroma of tea.

Emerging from the bamboo forest, what appeared right away was a tea party spread out on the meadow.

A man dressed all in black with several layers of hats, a woman dressed all in white lying down asleep, and young Nari.

Crunch, the black-clothed man in front of her, Rude, bit into a cookie. As he grinned at her, Nari spoke.

“Are you… the Lord of Chaos? Or are you ‘me’?”

“Who knows? Can you distinguish between the Lord of Chaos and the ‘Rude’ you played?”

There was no way to distinguish them. It was impossible to create an entirely new person with illusions.

To create an avatar that really ‘seemed alive’, an original was needed.

However, if a real person was copied as is, it would eventually be found out, so Rude was created by borrowing the appearance of the Lord of Chaos’s incarnation.

The pleasant mannerisms were also modeled after the Lord of Chaos, so there was no way for Nari to distinguish between herself as Rude and the Lord of Chaos.

“Here, have a drink.”

Clack, Rude put the teacup down again and grinned. Nari sighed deeply and sat in front of him.

It was a moment where the main character and sub-character who should never meet, Nari and Rude, came face to face. Rude looked at Nari and smirked.

“Hello, ‘me’.”

“…Yeah, hello.”

Nari sat down and stared at the teacup. It was just plain water. She looked at Rude incredulously, but he only raised his eyebrows.

“What?! Why plain water?!”

“Well, where do you have any color? All your actions are mine. You’re just like water. An essential existence for me to move around, I guess?”

Eek, Nari clenched her fists tightly. He was blatantly stating the vague anger she usually held about her situation.

Rude burst into laughter. The little Nari next to him said cynically,

“You chose to die socially. So why are you upset?”

“You think I wanted to do that?!”

As Nari shouted, the white-haired girl sleeping next to her flinched and murmured in her sleep.

She slightly lowered her head to see the face, and Rude’s voice was heard.

“She won’t wake up.”

“Who is she?”

“…”

Rude stared straight at Nari. Little Nari also stared straight at Nari. Feeling suffocated for some reason, Nari just fiddled with the cup. Little Nari’s words were heard.

“I am the past, Rude is the present. That sleeping child is the ‘you’ of the future.”

“Me?”

“We are all you. All the people you’ve encountered on your way here are you, and I who am talking now am also you.”

Rude laughed and rested his chin on the table. It wasn’t the ridicule he had shown so far, but a kind smile he gave for Nari in front of him.

“Yes, we are your mental power.”

Mental power, the force mainly used by illusionists and the energy coming from an individual’s ‘mind’.

The black smoke that leaks out if you can’t keep your mind in check even a little because it’s so hard to handle. The stronger the illusionist’s mental power, the greater the effort required to control it.

“I wanted to meet you, nice to meet you. Nari. It was really hard to talk to you.”

‘To talk to me like this…’

Nari, her eyes widened in surprise, just blinked. The Rude in front of her smiled and took Nari’s cup to put a tea bag in it. A fragrant aroma soon spread.

“Everyone said I had to control my mental power. They said that’s why I fall into the deep world, because I can’t control my mental power.”

“But I don’t think so?”

Clack, the rosemary tea was placed in front of Nari. The plain water was slowly turning red. Nari looked at Rude and nodded her head a few times.

“The thing called the mind. It’s not something you can control just because you say you will, right?”

“…The Lord of Chaos tried hard to make it controllable.”

“That’s just blocking it. Even that can’t be fully checked in this deep world. That’s probably why the Lord of Chaos is so anxious about your dreams.”

“Anxious?”

“Yes, you also secretly think that way, don’t you? Maybe the reason the Lord of Chaos comes to the deep world every time is…”

At Rude’s words, Nari lowered her eyes. Honestly, it was a thought she had a few times. The reason the Lord of Chaos comes to the deep world every night is not to protect her.

But to thoroughly examine her every move and thought.

“Then why did you want to meet me?”

“Us? That’s your desire. It’s not us, but ‘you’ who wanted to meet us.”

Me? Nari blinked with a look on her face. Rude snapped his fingers. A sky-blue letter was in his hand before she knew it.

Nari, feeling taken aback, searched her pockets but they were already empty. Rude waved the sky-blue letter and said,

“Are you still troubled?”

The sky-blue letter of the nobleman. Nari nodded her head. As he said, she was still troubled.

The experience of being attacked by others was terrible, but the experience of attacking someone else and completely forgetting about it was also terrible in a different sense.

Even if she handled this gate, she had no idea how she should really treat Jung Suho. Rude looked at Nari and gently stroked the sky-blue letter.

“At this rate, the Lord of Chaos will give you advice as usual, and then you’ll say ‘Is that so’ and move on. Just like you brushed off the irritation you felt when he said he was going to the nobleman as PMS.”

“I guess so.”

“But deep down, your desire to think and decide things for yourself called us.”

“…With this strange fairy tale attached?”

“Well, the long way is sometimes the right answer?”

Haha! Rude laughed. He returned the sky-blue letter to Nari and said with a bright smile,

“This time, you didn’t turn away. Right?”

“Yeah.”

Nari firmly took the given sky-blue letter. Clap, Rude clapped his hands. Before she knew it, a brick road was spread out behind Rude who was having the tea party.

“The trial regarding the treatment of the Blue Peacock will be revised.”

“Yeah.”

“Look deep into your apron pocket, then you’ll know what to do.”

Nari rummaged deep into her apron pocket. Something sharp touched her index finger. Nari gently grasped it with her hand, took it out and blinked.

There was a red crown with a heart engraved on it. Hesitating for a moment, Nari took off her ribbon headband and put the crown on her head.

The apron dress was shining and changing.

“I make the judgment?”

“Yes, decide your mind for yourself. Not the Lord of Chaos, not Kang Ihyeon, but as you feel without following everyone’s opinions. That’s what this world was made for.”

Before Rude finished speaking, the sound of running footsteps was heard. Nari, dressed in the Queen of Hearts’ dress, was running down that brick road.

Rude and little Nari smiled as they watched Nari run. Their figures gradually faded.

[Timeline separator]

“Then, at this very moment, I will decide the punishment for the Blue Peacock who dared to take Her Majesty the Queen’s heart, abandoned it and trampled on it-!”

Bang!! As soon as the judge in a powdered wig lifted the gavel, the door to the courtroom opened. Everyone there looked at the door. Nari, dressed in the Queen of Hearts’ dress, stepped inside with a click of her heels.

“H-Her Majesty the Queen has arrived-!!”

In the moment of confusion, an extra shouted and everyone bowed their heads. Nari walked forward and looked at the seated spectators. There were many familiar faces.

Kang Ihyeon who made her move forward, Kang Sujin who made her realize her shortcomings, Min Jaeyoon who helped her overcome her pain, and Rude who had a sincere conversation with her,

No, he said all of these were Nari herself, so all those roles were probably Nari.

Shin Binnari who made herself move forward, Shin Binnari who made her realize her shortcomings, Shin Binnari who helped her overcome her pain, and Shin Binnari who had a sincere conversation with herself.

She wasn’t someone who couldn’t do anything without the Lord of Chaos or Kang Ihyeon. At least, she could decide her own mind.

“I will make the judgment.”

So she had to make the judgment herself. She could do that.

Nari went up to the top and took the judge’s microphone. Looking around, Nari said in a low voice,

“Jung Suho!”

“Y-Yes, yes!”

The Blue Peacock, Jung Suho, looked up with a surprised expression. Perhaps, he was the same as before.

Nothing had changed. It must have been the same when he came here.

Coming here and seeing him, more than hatred, the bigger emotion was gladness to see him. And the emotion bigger than that was.

“I’m sorry.”

The courtroom became quiet. Everyone blinked. Nari spoke again.

“It has nothing to do with you being different. I shouldn’t have said those things to you. I… I should apologize to you.”

Nari acknowledged her harmfulness. Crack, crack, the courtroom was cracking. As everything melted away, Nari spoke again in a serious manner.

“I was wrong. I’m sorry. Suho.”

Chang! At that moment, the world shattered. Everything became glass and began to collapse.

A status message appeared in front of Nari. No, it would be her subconscious mimicking a status message.

[Quest success! >] Little Adventurer in the Dream] [Your understanding of the constellation increases!]

“…Understanding?”

“Miss Nari. You worked really hard! Let’s go back now.”

In front of such Nari, Kang Ihyeon in the form of a white rabbit stood and held out his hand. A little surprised, Nari stared at him and then took the outstretched hand.

Clang, in the shattering world, Kang Ihyeon hugged and lifted her, taking a big leap into a huge cave. It was a rabbit hole. Looking around, Nari said,

“What role are you…?”

“My role is to safely send Miss Nari anywhere. This time I’m Kang Ihyeon, but I was also Jung Suho, and I was also the Lord of Chaos.”

“Your role changes every time?”

“Yes, I am…”

Kang Ihyeon looked at Nari. In the falling rabbit hole, Kang Ihyeon with his forehead fully visible smiled brightly and said,

“Because my role is ‘to protect Miss Nari no matter what happens without a doubt’! I’m glad to meet you like this.”

No matter what happens. Nari unconsciously grabbed Kang Ihyeon’s neck tightly.

She wondered when she had come to trust this man so much, and just averted her gaze.

Thud, before she knew it, the endlessly falling rabbit hole ended and they reached the bottom. The cave Nari was trying to enter was seen in front of her.

“Is this where I go in?”

“Ah~ no. This is the place I guard. It’s not time for Miss Nari to enter here yet. Turn around.”

Nari looked back and discovered a white door. It was the same kind as the door the Lord of Chaos used to prepare for her to leave the deep world, only the color was different.

“Now, both the lobby and the shallow layers of the deep world, you’ll be able to leave on your own.”

“…Is that so?”

“Oh, right. Lastly, there’s something I want to say. Miss Nari, keep this in mind. You have to be careful of this.”

Kang Ihyeon raised his hand to his head. The moment he was about to snap his fingers with a click, his expression suddenly changed greatly.

He kept looking around and soon looked ahead. Seeing Nari in the queen’s outfit, his eyes widened and he shouted,

“Wh… what? What? Here. Huh?”

“…What? What is it? What were you going to show me?!”

“Miss Nari?! Why are you here? And… what’s with that outfit?”

“What is it?”

For a moment, the two stared at each other in silence. After a brief silence, they finally realized that they were facing the ‘real’ each other. Nari grabbed her head tightly.

“So what did you mean be careful of?!”

One of the two best ways to anger a Korean is to trail off in the middle of a sentence,