276 – 81. Special thanks ‘YOU’ (complete)
Suddenly, the breath I inhale and exhale feels heavy.
I did my best. Is it because I overworked my body to the point where even saying the word was a luxury?
I feel like a fish flopping for breath on a deck with no water.
She glanced at Fine, but it seemed like she didn’t have the power to heal me either.
The magic hat was looking at me even as it turned into dust and scattered.
It was still an expression that did not know what was going on.
“There is no oath as dangerous as a love that cannot be kept, but you weren’t just a talker, were you?”
I could see myself trembling on the remnants of the magic hat that looked like it was about to fall apart.
This is the unfamiliar appearance of Lee Soo-hyun that we have now become accustomed to.
It’s already been 5 years since I came here, and I feel disconnected from the person I knew.
With dark burn marks, it looks too much like a moth to be called a butterfly.
A nocturnal animal that only flies at night. I saw a small fire moth flying away from others.
The fate given to me, a stranger, would not have been much different.
I was destined to be swallowed up in the fire after struggling to endure the heat and pain, believing only that hope was shining brightly and thinking that there was no need to despair.
Even in my confidence, I felt uneasy.
Because there was an awareness that this world was created.
I wonder if my current decisions, resolutions, and will were also made by someone else.
I’m afraid there is nothing in this world that can be called ‘true mine.’
That’s why it took so long to become sincere.
‘I liked this world.’
It wasn’t just because I liked the character Fine.
Emotions such as longing, envy, desire, and romance are mixed together like paint on a canvas.
This world filled with memories has taken deep root in one part of my heart.
I wanted to reach an ending that would satisfy me someday.
I just didn’t want to follow in the same footsteps as other ‘main characters’ who ended up in terrible situations.
He is a coward who runs away and runs away, and is a person with many tears and stubbornness.
He would rather die of embarrassment than call himself a good person.
Sleep.
The sword slipped out of my grasp.
Magic Hat was still talking to me.
“If you want to be the main character, smile.”
It looks like paper being torn into pieces.
What was funny was that he was still smiling that bizarre smile.
“If you beat me, don’t lose to anyone.”
Magic Hat just smiled even as it was falling apart.
“Don’t lose, even if it means losing to yourself.”
The lowest and most heartbreaking laughter I have ever heard in my life.
It was a sound close to self-justification mixed with resentment, grief, and suffering.
“I didn’t waste my life to the point of having to listen to advice from a guy like you.”
I lived hard enough to not have any regrets now.
I solved the maze several times to get here.
“Even though it’s the last time, a person like you….”
From Noble mtl dot com
The magic hat makes eye contact with mine and hers.
She has eyes that you can’t see because they are always covered by a hat.
“…… “He’s a guy who doesn’t want to say a word.”
“Of course. “You don’t know, the winner’s world.”
When Magic Hat heard my answer, she threw her head back as if she had been hit.
“If you do it, in the next life, you will be born as a good person who can see the world with a friendly perspective.”
“If you know there is no next life, just be honest and tell them to search.”
Now, there will be no need to be reborn with the successor’s abilities.
After receiving permission, I fired.
“Then let’s go.”
That was the end.
Pow.
Like a balloon bursting, like a grain of sand scattering, like a water drop breaking.
Sometimes the end of the final boss ends in vain like this.
“Ah.”
I had something to ask this guy.
“I tried to listen to his will….”
Magic Hat decided to become an idiot and die without leaving a will.
Not long after he disappeared, a warm feeling touched my back.
“Suhyeon, Suhyeon, Suhyeon… !”
Finae ran towards me in a hurry, looking exhausted.
Sweat-soaked hair, broken and cracked armor, and dust-free skin everywhere.
“Are you…are you okay?”
I worry as I look around to see if I’m hurt.
“You’re not going to get hurt again and fall down like last time, right..?”
He doesn’t even think about his injury and seems preoccupied with worrying about me.
Fine was the one who suffered a broken bone while fighting the demon.
“It’s okay. Done.”
“No.”
She cut me off.
Then, she stopped talking for a while and stared intently at my face.
With a mixture of fear and terror.
“Soohyun… You’ve never made that kind of expression before…”
“What expression are you talking about?”
Fine with a white face hugged me tightly.
So strong, so strong that the veins on the arms surrounding me started popping out.
“You look like the world is ending right now.”
After hearing her words, I slowly traced my face.
It looks distorted, expressionless, and looks like it just finished crying.
It was a mess of emotions that couldn’t be easily described as what kind of expression it was.
This expression even makes me feel like I’m laughing in vain.
‘Ah, it’s all over.’
When I realized, I was already crying and smiling.
“I could have risked everything for Fine Grancia.”
From the moment I first made up my mind.
For the heart that encouraged me that I could always be happy.
In the blind faith that everything will be okay if we’re together.
That reassuring smile that always came out even when it was painful and bitter.
“I know.”
A swollen hand full of bruises stroked me endlessly.
A strong hand, as if caressing a soul that will disappear at any moment, yet believing that it will never disappear.
“… “My warrior.”
My body began to glow white.
I could feel with a trembling feeling that the ‘end’ of this world was approaching.
This feeling of brightness and darkness before my eyes.
The world began to distort unnaturally, as if time had stopped.
It would be a lie if I said I didn’t expect it.
Because the end of this world was decided from the beginning.
I was an uninvited guest here.
The fate of having to return to the real world in the end, disappearing into nothingness after today.
Thump.
At that very moment, I felt something breaking.
It was a loud noise.
Intense vibrations that seem to crush the world.
Wazijik, ujikkeun, kugugung.
Swarms of light bursting out from everywhere.
As if the sky had collapsed, pure white letters appeared in the gray sky, leaving only ruins behind.
“This is an emoticon I want to kill.”
[Notice of changes in world view]
[Grand Hearts Academia has been cleared.]
[Load the ending.]
─ The ending conditions for ‘Ariel Route’ have been met.
─ The ending conditions for ‘Chartineth Route’ have been met.
─ The ending conditions for ‘White Magnolia Route’ have been met.
─ The ending conditions for ‘Sophitia Route’ have been met.
─ The ending conditions for ‘Azmodeus Route’ have been met.
─ The ending conditions for the ‘Grand Final Route’ have been met.
—There are no more playable routes.
An untimely congratulatory gun rang out.
System messages were appearing one after another in the air.
These guys’ sense of humor is now mind-boggling.
I couldn’t even think of what to say, so I just stood there receiving countless Spacial Thanks.
“In the meantime, there are so many…”
I tried to read through the list a bit and quickly gave up.
Do you think you will remember gods that you don’t even know who they are?
And the long-awaited finale.
─ Has been completed.
It was a farewell in the truest sense of the word.
Can I say that I feel like I have become an adult?
It’s stuffy and bitter, but it’s the kind of feeling that leaves behind memories and lingering memories.
I don’t know what will happen from now on.
“It’s time to be happy.”
It may be unreasonable to have such expectations in this world that seems to stand at the antithesis of human happiness.
I became afraid of closing my eyes and opening them.
If I take one step forward, I wonder if this world will just turn into a game.
I was actually still in reality, and it could have been a crazy conclusion that all this hard work was just a dream.
Something began to be painted over the collapsed world.
The main characters are smiling.
A city that wakes up from a nightmare and begins to move.
The welcome of those whose powers have been lifted and who have returned alive.
The countless joys.
This is a scene where the drawing paper named ‘Ruins’ is dyed in full natural colors.
I can hear people laughing in my quiet ears.
The sight of others bursting into tears and hugging each other.
In this changing world, I had a gut feeling that I had to go back to being alone.
Unlike them who had a place to return to, my home was in another world, Mallita.
Lee Soo-hyun sighed softly.
As he watched the game’s ending, he slowly started counting down in his mind.
There are about 4 minutes left, or 276 seconds to be exact.
1, 2, 3, 4… ….
He rolled his eyes as if he never wanted to forget.
My body became lighter and I was even able to walk.
I’ve seen people laugh while standing in the crowd, I’ve seen them sneak into people’s arms, and I’ve seen them hug and cry together.
273, 274, 275… ….
Last moment.
My eyes fell on Fine, who was struggling as if he was looking for someone.
I tried shouting that he was still by your side, but he got so startled that he completely sat down.
I guess you can’t hear me.
When you reach the last part of Special thanks, ‘YOU’.
276.
After watching the scene where Fine was surrounded by a crowd of people and being spat out, character Lee Soo-hyun closed her eyes.
It is finally time to shatter this illusion.
I feel like the weight of ‘me’ in my heart is being pulled somewhere.
A fog fills my mind, as if I died for a moment and then came back to life.
276, 277, 278, 279… ….
“…… “Wait a minute, what is this?”
Even though I opened my eyes through the fog, the ‘character Lee Soo-hyun’ was still me.
No, is it the opposite?
I was embarrassed and just turned my head here and there.
‘It’s moving.’
Why is it moving?
The moment when embarrassment turned into worry.
I ended up seeing ‘me’.
In the corner of my vision, I was standing up from my desk.
“Oh, no way.”
Magic Hat’s final ability.
His ability should have disappeared with the completion of the Grand Final route.
It changed me into a person who exists both here and there.
“Ah… Magic Hat, this idiot…….”
Laughter began to escape my mouth.
“They said I would be born as a good person in my next life…….”
Did even that fail and you end up like this because you were absorbed by me?
The ability to touch truth and lies.
As he disappeared, he chose to become ‘me’ as his last struggle.
Under normal circumstances, the original character of ‘Lee Soo-hyun’ would have disappeared, and the magic hat would have replaced the real Lee Soo-hyun.
“No matter how you choose the timing…… Phuhahahahaha!!!”
As I was trying to escape from ‘Lee Soo-hyun of this place’, Magic Hat used its powers and ended up being the victim.
Not only was it not enough to be kicked out of the world that I thought was a game, the very existence of ‘Magic Hat’ was overwritten with ‘Lee Soo-hyun’.
Only the real body was dedicated to me and disappeared cleanly.
“Where have you been..!”
So, now I am here.
“I am here. “It’s blood.”
Because we can freely go back and forth between reality and this world.
I am now standing next to Fine by my own choice.
My legs gave out, and I almost fell down without thinking.
When he finally got back into form, he was down on one knee.
‘When a choice grows, it becomes a duty.’
‘Duty grows and becomes destiny.’
When the person I liked and chose suddenly became the fate of my life.
“I’m embarrassed to say it in words.. Do you just want to get the goods?”
“Hey! How will you.. Until the day of your wedding..!”
I haven’t found a way to express this in words other than affection.
***
“Mr. Helm!! Congratulations!”
“Licht! Congratulations!!”
“Junior!! “You must not make the princess cry!”
“Ah.. Our Fine finally..!”
“Licht, this is the end of hardship and the beginning of happiness.”
“Congratulations, disciple.”
“Children must be raised as prosecutors!!”
“It’s okay not to look at the future. “May you be happy.”
“You must be happy. “Soo-hyeon.”
“Fine! Nothing will be sad anymore!”
“Brother Licht! Please take care of my sister in the future too!”
“Loke, is it okay to cry on such a happy day?”
“…….”
You can hear people cheering.
Fine smiling happily in a pure white wedding dress.
Fine, whose eyes were slightly red, perhaps even shedding tears of joy, hugged my arm as if it were precious to me.
He is like a blooming blue rose.
She turned the impossible into a miracle, and with her love that never gave up on a love that could not have been achieved, she completely changed everything around me.
“Thank you for keeping your promise. “Soo-hyeon.”
It was a youthful voice leaking happiness that could not be hidden.
If anything, it would be me who should express gratitude.
Because it was you who taught love to a boy who did not believe in love.
“I want to publish your story in a book.”
“…… “What do you want the title to be?”
Fine told me that she wanted to write a romance novel.
From Noble mtl dot com
He said he wanted to share his experience with others.
No matter how difficult and painful life is, if you don’t give up and work hard.
I want the world to remember that miraculous happiness will come someday.
“Academy’s Pure Love Black Knight.”
And the last verse of the book ends like this.
Yes, like this one you are seeing right now.
─ Lee Soo-hyun kept all the love that existed for the happiness of Fine Grancia.
[Academy’s Pure Love Black Knight.]
─ Fin ─