CH 2

“Sia, I’m sorry.”

Those were the last words she said before leaving me. I was only 9 years old at that time.

“Eh, a young person suffering from annoyance every day. In the end…”

“Hagi, you’ve had a lot of problems before you got married. Your wife and children are weak.”

“Fine. I’ll listen.”

Mom’s funeral hall was full of people I didn’t know. Except for the relatives, people dressed in black constantly came to pay their respects. But none of them were interested in me alone. No, not just them, but my dead mother too. All the attention of those who came was focused only on the father and grandfather.

“Follow me, I knew it was going to be like this. I know, I didn’t stop you in the first place.”

“…”

“If you had married the women who I told you to, this would’ve never happened. Why did you bring that poor, less-than-deserved child into the house…”

“This is the funeral home, father…”

The surrounding area became quiet as my father stopped talking to my grandfather.

An unwelcome marriage in spite of family opposition. It was a common and romantic narrative in dramas, but not when it becomes reality. Nonetheless, my mother’s health, which was particularly weak, worsened day by day due to the pressure and suffering people put on her.

My birth probably also contributed to that.

‘Sia, thank you always for coming to see this weak mother.’

Mom would always whisper that to me before going to sleep. In my memory, she was like that: a warm, sweet, and affectionate person. After she died, my father rarely came home. He always worked late at night, came home after I fell asleep, and then went to work before I got up.

We only ever spoke three or four words to each other every month. In the meantime, as I grew older, I became more dry. I knew my dad wasn’t a warm person to begin with. But after mother died he became more… crazy.

My grandfather regarded me like a thorn in his eyes and did not recognize me as his granddaughter. Plus, my relatives said it was all my fault that my father did not remarry. How insensitive. They didn’t even notice when I left.

I had always lived an exemplary life. But I began to wander around when I became a high school student. That was the first time in my life where I hung out with so-called bullies. I didn’t do anything bad, I just learned to play games all night in the PC room. Well, my wandering ended quickly because playing games became my hobby.

After I became a college student and got away from my family, I enjoyed a full-fledged game life. Meanwhile, I started to play {Nectar Electric}.

“The graphics aren’t even good, who even plays games like this these days.”

That was my first honest impression of the game. Even the controls were difficult to grasp, so the entry barrier seemed very hard.

“It’s not that interesting… let’s play for a little more.”

I remember saying that, and it’s been 3 years since. Who would’ve known that I would fall in love with such a poor game.

***

“Once upon a time, there lived a very wicked devil in the north.”

Tina sat beside me, her eyes glistening as she focused on the story. She looked completely different from when I first saw her. I found some children’s dresses in the castle, washed and cleaned them for her to wear. There’s no other little princess as cute and as lovely as her now.

“The devil was very cruel and evil. It planned to destroy every human being in the world.”

“Hyuk!”

Tina squeezed the hem of my clothes with her little hands. It was a pure and lively reaction from a child.

“Miraculously, the warrior killed the devil and saved the world. The end.”

I said, closing the book I had in my hand.

“…Of course, the princess who was taken was rescued.”

Tina’s face brightened at my added words. In fact, rather than a storybook, I wrote the contents myself in order to organize what happens in {Nectar Electric}. Tina looked bored alone, so I read it once to her, while finding myself eagerly listening to it too.

It would be great if everyone had a happy ending like a fairytale. But the reality I’m in is rather the opposite, since I am the devil that will be killed. I quietly looked down at my palm. There was a small pattern engraved faintly. On the day this pattern turns completely black, the human world will collapse.

The devil’s greatest power, massacre. To activate this power, I’ve killed innocent people throughout decades. An oracle came down to the humans who were helpless against the Devil. It was that a warrior would appear and kill the Devil and save the world right before the power of massacre is completed. He would save the princess, and they would fall in love and get married.

Anyways, it’s a happy ending, except for me. I stroked Tina’s head gently and smiled bitterly.

“Did you have fun, Tina?”

“Oh, yes. It was fun!”

She responded with a slightly awkward smile. Unfortunately, Tina hasn’t fully opened up to me yet. She is 6 years old and quick-witted. I tried to be as sweet as I could, but my mouth felt bitter whenever I saw a child wandering around while acting.

“By the way, do you happen to be…”

Tina glanced at me with a cautious face.

“Huh? What?”

“Oh… no it’s nothing. Do you mind if I go to bed now?”

“You will? I guess it’s already time.”

I held Tina while she tried getting off the sofa. I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to just have her sleep in my room.

“Tina, aren’t you scared? Do you want me to sleep with you tonight? Or do you want me to sing you a lullaby?”

“Oh, no! That’s okay! I can sleep alone!”

She struggled to hurriedly get out of my arms. But I thought you liked it when I sang you a lullaby…?

I was a little suspicious, but I simply dropped her from my arms.

“Oh, good night!”

As soon as her foot hit the ground, she ran off. I stared blankly at the door where she left, then turned around and approached the window. I opened it and felt the cold night air coming inside.

“This reality… I can’t help but feel like it’s real.”

Even the cool wind on my face feels vivid. I sensed it so clearly where it’s impossible to even mistaken this as a dream. Feeling the silence of the empty place, I leaned against the window frame.

“I thought I was used to being lonely.”

Maybe because it’s nighttime, or the fact that Tina rejected me. I feel a little depressed.

I looked down at my palm once again. The faint, but correctly imprinted black pattern was gradually absorbing the mana in my body. When the imprint is completed, the human world will be destroyed. This may sound like a vain story, but it’s not.

“I wish I could cancel it.”

However, after I became the Devil, I was somehow incapable when it came to dealing with its power. At this rate, the human world might really collapse in the future… If not, I’ll die by the warrior. Neither of those options seemed attractive to me.

My hair brushed against the wind. There’s only one thing I can do, and that is to regain the power of the Devil.

“…It’s a little cold.”

I tried reaching out to close the window. At that moment, a girl’s scream was heard with a loud noise outside. I looked out to see where it came from.

“What… Tina?”

Tina was hanging outside from a window while holding a white cloth. Her face was filled with fear and tears.

“Tina! Stay where you are!”

I didn’t even have time to think about how or why she’s there. Her room was on the third floor, and the castle is quite tall, so if she fell from that height, she’d die.

I quickly ran to Tina’s room. When I entered, the situation became clearer. The white cloth that Tina managed to hold onto was a string of several bedsheets. The other side was tightly tied to a pillar on the side of the room.

“Tina!”

I quickly stuck my head out the window. Fortunately, there was a small railing near where she was hanging.

“Oh, my. Devil… I’m scared.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Reach out your hand.”

I stretched out my hand. However, there’s a close gap between Tina’s hand and mine.

A little more…

I stretched out my arm as far as I could, but it was no use. At that moment, the cloth Tina was holding onto began to tear little by little.

“Ahhhh!”

“Tina!”

When I saw the child’s body swaying and then falling, my face turned white. It’s too late to think normally. I threw myself straight out of the window with no hesitation.

The next moment, my vision began to flash.