Standing behind me was a rotten wooden log, a black tree weeping black tears.
Bang, a thunderous roar deafened me. The tree, having raised its arm, stood still amidst white smoke for a while before collapsing with a thud.
“Ah.”
I screamed. Who? Me? The monster? These soulless things? Or these unconscious children?
Ahhhhhhhhhh!
Blood gushed from my nose. The sound of thunder, induced by lightning, had left my ears ringing before the screams became increasingly clear.
“Ha, the boss monster’s going berserk for the last time. If we don’t get it in time, a break will happen, right?”
The black figure spoke.
Everything in the forest, as if in sync with that voice, went berserk.
Kali, who had been fighting, froze.
“……This is.”
Chun Sin-woo covered one ear. The sound soon turned into a horrible noise scraping against the ears and brain.
“Ugh.”
It resonated. The tree, the guardians, even the owner of this forest.
“Do you have time to be distracted, hyung?”
“How dare, such a wretch……!”
The man with the unsettling presence swung his greatsword, and Chun Sin-woo blocked it with his weapon. That single swing sent everything around flying. Chun Sin-woo’s clothes tore, and red blood appeared through the rips.
“Calling me trash, that’s harsh.”
It was true, though. The man continued with a laugh, and suddenly, everything stopped.
Kali, Chun Sin-woo, the rampaging monsters, everything.
Turned into a white space.
“…….”
The song resumed. I approached its source.
All living things seemed to be asleep. The rampaging boss monster had dragged everyone into a nightmare.
That’s the feeling I got. Everyone here was having a nightmare, except for the man who suddenly disappeared just before the space froze.
“……It’s okay.”
I approached a giant woman’s statue, frozen white.
“Now it’s okay.”
Even if I couldn’t answer what was okay, I said so.
The frozen woman seemed to want to answer me. It was sad not to understand.
Her white figure scattered into light.
I just took in the sight.
Why does my heart ache so much?
“……Even after all this, it’s still blocked, is it?”
The man, a lone darkness in the world turning to light, reappeared from somewhere and walked towards me.
“I only have this much authority to interfere, I need to hurry.”
“……Who are you?”
“What answer do you want?”
“……What should I call you?”
“Ah, my name. ……A name.”
The lonely man, being the only blackness, spoke.
“There are countless words to name me. Destruction, Demon King, Sin, or even trash.”
“…….”
“But I’d like you to call me this.”
He reached out his hand.
“Ha Young. Park Ha Young.”
The world went dark.
Slowly regaining my vision, I saw a familiar yet unfamiliar landscape. A dried-up lake, bare branches, and a sky red as if heralding destruction. And among them, a man, kneeling and coughing up blood.
“…….”
I approached him.
“……Are you okay?”
“Who are you?”
“…….”
“Why do you look at me like that?”
It was an innocent question, and a foolish one too.
How dare I ask the ranking number one who he is?
Yet, I had to hear the answer.
“……I’ll tell you outside.”
Chun Sin-woo, with a bittersweet smile, spoke. He stood up and headed somewhere.
“Everyone is heavily contaminated; we need to get out quickly.”
“…….”
I had many questions, but I obediently followed his instruction.
Why, why, why us.
Ah, our king. Our king…
Please, avenge this grudge…
Ignoring the endless screams.
And that day, I obtained a mysterious egg as a reward for clearing the gate.
“You don’t need to sacrifice yourself, ██. Please…!”
He said with a desperate voice. I already knew why he was saying this.
“But if I don’t step forward, many people will die. If they all die, there will be no way to confront ██. I can’t just stand by and watch… So, I have to go.”
“███!”
“It’s okay. It’s not certain that I’ll die.”
I knew what was coming next. And I knew the expression he would wear when saying these words.
I shouldn’t have spoken like that. What I should have said was different.
I should have apologized for leaving him alone, assured him that he could handle it, and expressed my trust in him.
That’s what I should have said.
I…
When I opened my eyes, I saw an unfamiliar ceiling. It wasn’t completely unknown, as I had been here once before.
What dream did I have?
A sticky feeling enveloped me. Tears continuously streamed down my cheeks. I couldn’t remember why I felt so sad.
I clenched and unclenched my palm. My voice, hoarse from crying, didn’t come out easily.
I was in a hospital, the annex hospital of Cheonrang.
After escaping the gate, I was rescued by people who arrived late at the scene and fainted during the investigation. The students, once they regained consciousness, would undergo the same investigation.
I didn’t know what happened to Kali.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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