197 – Epilogue (4)
The heroes who had not received engagement rings from Kim Hyun-woo quietly engaged in a battle of nerves, while the heroes who had received rings from him began to get excited about the upcoming wedding ceremony that Kim Hyun-woo was still unaware of.
Kim Hyun-woo stood in front of the door with a slightly nervous expression.
It was a place that was usually used as an empty room.
However, now there was Roria inside.
“Whew-“
In fact, Kim Hyun-woo’s memory had not yet fully returned.
However, it was funny that as time passed, his memories of Roria were gradually returning, and this process was quite strange to Kim Hyun-woo.
It was only natural, because the process of recovering his memory was not like suddenly remembering something in his head, but rather like naturally recalling memories that had been there all along.
That’s why Kim Hyun-woo, who had been scratching his neck, carefully opened the door.
“Ugh! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!!!”
“Why am I suffering so much because of you!!”
“That’s why- I said I’m sorry!”
He could see Charles strangling her, just like Merilda was biting Roria.
“…?”
And in the middle of it all, Kim Hyun-woo couldn’t help but look bewildered.
####
The reunion, which seemed like it should have started very gently and sadly, ended abruptly, and Kim Hyun-woo looked at Charles, who was holding her head as if it hurt.
She turned her head around a few times as if to look around, and then looked at Kim Hyun-woo.
“Hmm…”
Roria had definitely changed from before.
The cold sneer that had been on her lips was gone, and her eyes, which had been loosely open, were now sparkling and shining.
‘Strictly speaking, it would be more accurate to say that she has returned to her original self rather than changed.’
As he thought about it and looked at Roria, she turned her eyes to Kim Hyun-woo and bowed her head.
Then she glanced at Kim Hyun-woo and muttered something.
A moment of silence.
And then.
“…Hello?”
Soon, a greeting came out of Roria’s mouth with an awkward smile.
Kim Hyun-woo opened his mouth at the sight of her, who seemed to be slightly awkward about talking.
“I guess so.”
“No, Hyun-woo, it’s not like you haven’t seen me in a long time?”
“…Is that so?”
“Yes, I saw your appearance when he had my body.”
“Well, that’s true, but this is the first time I’ve met you?”
“Well, strictly speaking, it’s not like I haven’t seen Hyun-woo in a long time. I was the first one, wasn’t I?”
“…You were the first one?”
“Besides that, there was when I sent you a message.”
“…Ah.”
Roria asked with a smile as she recalled the time when she first fell into Arteia and let out a soft exclamation.
“Do you remember now?”
“…Was that you?”
“Yes, thanks to the contract with him, I couldn’t even say hello properly. But it was okay.”
Roria clicked her tongue as if she was sorry, and Kim Hyun-woo, who was watching her, decided to ask the most curious part that he had not been able to solve until now.
“But Roria.”
“Yes, why?”
“Why did you call me back to this world?”
To Kim Hyun-woo’s question, Roria replied as if she was answering something obvious.
“Because I missed you.”
“…Because you missed me?”
“Yes.”
“…Not because you wanted me to save this world or something?”
Roria laughed at Kim Hyun-woo’s laughter.
“Hey, do you think I care about that? Not at all.”
“Ah…”
At Roria’s words, Kim Hyun-woo could feel his memories of her gradually coming back to him.
“Definitely…”
Information about Roria began to emerge in Kim Hyun-woo’s head as if it had been loaded.
Her name was Roria, and the alias that Kim Hyun-woo had given her after she became a 3-star was ‘Chancellor’. The reason he gave her that name was because she had the ability to indirectly stop time.
…To be more precise, it’s not so much the ability to stop time as it is the ability to take away the ‘cognition’ of all living beings within a certain radius of her for a certain amount of time, but my past self thought it was much cooler, so I gave her that name.
And she, both then and now, was a cheerful character who loved to play pranks.
“Is that so?””That’s right.”
Kim Hyun-woo nodded at Roria’s answer.
“Certainly, I don’t think you moved to protect the peace of the world.”
As she continued to talk, she felt as if more and more information about her was pouring in, and Roria continued to speak with a chuckle.
“That’s right, I called you here because I wanted to see you. In fact, I didn’t really think about calling you here.”
“Why?”
“Why? Of course, it would be dangerous for you to come here. Have you lost what Lartania was like in the beginning?”
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“Ah…”
“That’s why I didn’t think about calling you. In the first place, what I asked him to do was just to tell Hyun-woo that I wanted to see you again.”
Roria sighed and continued.
“But he brought you here on his own. I just answered the question, ‘Don’t you want to see Kim Hyun-woo again?'”
Roria said that and then spoke with a slightly apologetic expression.
“Anyway, I’m sorry.”
“…Suddenly?”
“I wanted to keep talking to you since we met. Even if it wasn’t what I wanted, it’s because of me that you came here.”
At Roria’s words, Kim Hyun-woo was silent for a moment and then replied.
“You don’t have to apologize like that.”
“…Really?”
“Of course, it was a little hard at first, but it got better after a while.”
Kim Hyun-woo said that and then suddenly changed the subject as if he had just remembered something.
“Come to think of it, what happened when I came in and was attacked by Merilda and Charles?”
“Oh, that? Just um-“
Roria hesitated for a moment and then spoke with an awkward smile.
“…Just, a secret?”
“???”
“Well, I guess I’m feeling a little embarrassed now that I remember it again.”
Kim Hyun-woo looked confused at Roria’s words, but she didn’t seem to want to talk about it, so he nodded as if he understood.
Soon, Roria, who had been looking at Kim Hyun-woo’s face for a long time, suddenly touched his cheek and said.
“Still, it’s good to see your face again.”
“…Is it?”
“Yeah, you don’t know, but I really regretted a lot. After you disappeared.”
“…”
“If I had treated you a little better, if I had supported you without being jealous like the other heroes, I had a lot of thoughts like that.”
“…”
“Like an idiot, I only realized how precious it was after it was gone.”
Kim Hyun-woo was silent for a moment at Roria’s bitter expression and then said.
“But you came back like this?”
“…That’s good.”
“Don’t be so depressed.”
Kim Hyun-woo said that and stroked Roria’s head.
In fact, various words of comfort came to mind, but he didn’t say them out loud.
At least for now, he thought that showing it to her with actions like this would reach her a little deeper than words of comfort.
And.
“…I guess it won’t work.”
“Huh?”
After a while, he wondered at Roria’s voice in his ear.
Roria, who had filled her face with a smile instead of a bitter expression, hugged Kim Hyun-woo and said.
“I’ll take responsibility.”
“What?”
“You came to this world because of me, so I’ll take responsibility for it.”
“…I keep telling you, but you don’t have to feel burdened by it…”
“No, I want to feel burdened? That way I can be with Hyun-woo, who I wanted to see again so much? And-“
Roria smiled playfully and showed her finger.
“-Here, I can put a ring on it too.”
“…”
At Roria’s words, Kim Hyun-woo belatedly realized what she was hoping for and chuckled and said.
“Was that it?”
“That’s it.”
Roria smiled confidently and giggled.
“Will you give it to me?”
“I’ll give it to you.”
Kim Hyun-woo didn’t open his mouth any more.
Roria didn’t open her mouth any more either.
However, the time when they kissed each other in silence was a little longer.
After a while.
“But are you really okay?”
“What?”
“No matter how much I think about it, I was dragged into this world because of me.”To Loria’s question, Kim Hyun-woo answered as if he was okay-
“I’m okay, I can go back.”
“Huh? You can go back…?”
“Yeah. Even if I don’t, the Mysterious Merchant said he’d help me go back to my original world-“
-Suddenly, all of Lartania’s former heroes jumped out.
And.
“I, I was wrong. Now- you won’t leave, will you? Please…don’t leave.”
“If you tell me what I did wrong, I’ll fix everything, okay- I’ll listen well-“
“Look, I, I? I reflected? Huh? I cut it as a sign of reflection…I won’t do it again. Never again-“
“I don’t need gold, or any famous swords or artifacts. Rather, to me…to me, you’re all I need. So please- don’t throw me away.”
To the heroes’ words that seemed to have been waiting to be said.
“…”
Kim Hyun-woo made a dizzy expression.