Chapter 293

〈 Chapter 293 〉 Part 1, Chapter 13, Page 10

<July 23rd, 11:23 AM, Phoenix's Personal Room.>

After returning from the training room, I immediately set up a barrier in my room.

“Now no one can get in here.”

Inside the room, not a soul could enter, and even Baek Hee-a couldn’t detect what was happening within the barrier’s confines. On top of that, I removed the two earrings I had been wearing and temporarily entrusted them to Cheon Gaeul.

“Even Jo Deokbae and Black Flame Dragon?”

“Yes. Could you hold onto these for a bit?”

“Holding them is fine, but what exactly are you preparing for…?”

Gaeul questioned my plan. Considering Tubulus’ current location, it was only natural for Gaeul to suspect me.

“Don’t worry. It’s not some underhanded method.”

“Hmph… something feels off. Can’t I at least watch from the side?”

“No. You never know. Would you want Tubulus inside you?”

Gaeul stiffened and shook her head violently. Given that after Illusion Magic, Wind Attribute magic compatibility was the highest, there was a chance Tubulus might consume her quality magic power—even more so than Yu I-shin.

“So please trust me. What would I do to them anyway?”

“Alright. But if anything happens, I’m coming in immediately.”

“Don’t worry.”

I sent away Gaeul, the last obstacle. A sigh of relief escaped me as this 7-pyeong room became solely mine with both Jo Deokbae and Black Flame Dragon gone.

“It’s been such a long time since I’ve done this.”

“Wasn’t it when I came back from China? About a month ago…”

Alone in the room once used by the protagonist, I brushed the soft sheet on the mattress with my hand.

“So much has happened here.”

On this plush mattress, countless moments unfolded.

“The bedsheet had to be changed at least once a day.”

Without fail, scenes with heroines always took place in this room. Even outside of scripted events, thanks to the semi-realistic nature of the setting, I often shared intimate moments with heroines here.

My technique was honed right here on this queen-sized bed.

“But now, there will be no one else beside me.”

I wouldn’t let anyone—any heroine or anyone else—near me anymore. If my story were a book, I wished for Chang-yeom to be the final page in this world.

“But until then, things are different.”

Though many blank pages remained, they couldn’t all belong to Chang-yeom. As she once said, out of 10,000 pages, 9,900 belonged to her, while the remaining sixteen heroines held about six pages between them.

I wanted those six pages to also be filled with Chang-yeom, but to resolve the heroines’ issues, I had no choice but to bring them into my bed.

“What can I do against a world built like this?”

This wasn’t an action RPG or a large monster-hunting game; it was fundamentally a world based on adult visual novels.

“Ultimately, the heroines’ problems must be resolved in an adult way.”

If I didn’t extract Tubulus from Park Ra-on, she’d keep losing her wind attribute magic power, eventually being taken over by Tubulus and becoming a natural-born monster.

“That can’t happen.”

To solve this, I decided to first seek Chang-yeom’s approval. Lying down, I summoned a blue canary with my magic floating in the air.

“Why did you call me?”

The mini-Phoenix perched calmly on my palm. This manifestation of part of Chang-yeom’s consciousness subtly conversed with me as herself.

“I called because there’s a reason.”

Placing the mini-Phoenix next to my face, I leaned over and pulled out a small object from my inner pocket.

“Not coming out?”

I placed the cube between us. The mini-Phoenix lay on its side, facing me, feigning disinterest despite the cube right in front of it. Frustrated by its indifference, I prodded it with the cube.

“You’re really not coming out? Or do you already know what I’m about to ask and are genuinely upset? Am I right?”

The mini-Phoenix, Chang-yeom, remained silent.

“This won’t work now. You know that with the cube, your consciousness can come out.”

“No, I don’t.”

Despite knowing full well that the mere presence of the cube allowed her consciousness to manifest, Chang-yeom refused to talk to me.

“Really, why isn’t this working?”

“…”

Even though I could understand why she might refuse from her perspective, I asked again.

“S… I may be shameless, but didn’t we receive a lot of help from Park Ra-on?”

“That was all part of the game, wasn’t it?”

Finally, Chang-yeom responded. Her voice was sharp, and I reached out toward her wings in excitement.

Slap!

Before I could touch her, she spread her wings and slapped my hand away.

“Don’t touch me. Don’t push your luck.”

“Understood… but still…”

Retrieving my fingers, I began persuading her.

“It’s true that during the game, she put in a lot of effort. I’m not trying to make her mine or anything. I just want to repay her by making her SS rank. What good is having a water attribute SS if it doesn’t counter Hydra or sync with Penril? She needs to be an SS rank wind user.”

“So you’re going to do *that* with Park Ra-on?”

“…”

Silence. But it was the only way to meet Park Ra-on’s condition.

“She can endure her own pain, but she can’t bear seeing Yu I-shin hurt.”

“Wow, you sure have become quite the righteous hero.”

“The heroes being overly kind is something you know too, right?”

Park Ra-on agreed to remove Tubulus from herself. However, she firmly rejected the idea of Tubulus entering someone else and causing them pain—even if that person was the regenerating monster, Yu I-shin.

“If it causes harm to others, she insists on carrying the burden herself forever. At least monsters have fewer side effects.”

“Gongsung can replenish lost magic through cores, but his core consumption will increase throughout his life. He’ll need to eat cores daily.”

True enough, using Tubulus to transform Gongsung into a new form meant sacrificing Yu I-shin as the host.

“To use Tubulus to enchant or bestow a title upon him, right?”

“Yeah. Kind of like how Gaeul used the power of Tentacle Slime. If Tubulus’ power enters her, Yu I-shin will undoubtedly grow stronger.”

While human Park Ra-on lacked a way to replenish her consumed magic, monster Yu I-shin could maintain her strength by consuming cores.

“Why are you so concerned about Yu I-shin? Are you thinking of switching to non-heroine women now?”

“What are you talking about? Why would I lust after my subordinate? I treat her well because I’m a Blue Wind Sect executive. And she works hard.”

Although Yu I-shin wasn’t a heroine, she was female—but more importantly, she was a member and officer of my organization. Since she worked hard and achieved results, I needed to reward her properly.

“Hold on.”

Chang-yeom raised her wing, interrupting me. Something seemed to bother her.

“Subordinate woman?”

“Huh? Didn’t you know? Yu I-shin and Kim Ji-hwa are apparently very close.”

“…Hmm, is that so? Then I approve.”

As soon as Chang-yeom confirmed that Yu I-shin’s affections were directed elsewhere, she appeared to relax. Whether that was truly the case or not, who knows?

“So, are you giving permission now? To transplant Tubulus?”

“…I understand your intention. If you let another heroine die, I’d be the one blamed. Saving Park Ra-on makes sense. But…”

Chang-yeom adjusted herself and pointed her wing tip toward my throat.

“Why does your solution involve pushing those two to their climax?”

“…Isn’t pleasure the best way to avoid pain?”

“Covering pain with pleasure?”

“Pain cannot cover pain. Luckily, I can handle it.”

Administering sleeping pills?

Sleeping pills wouldn’t work on ability users. Even if they were administered, Park Ra-on would wake up due to the pain.

Knocking her out and doing the procedure?

It’s not just any ordinary monster—it’s an S-rank monster bursting out from inside her. There’s bound to be severe aftereffects. Perhaps only the pain of being stabbed through the heart could match it.

“Besides, we’ll be arriving in India in an hour. I can’t let her go through this pain before we land.”

“Just say she has her period and needs rest. Anyone would believe her limping around in obvious pain.”

“This is getting ridiculous. She doesn’t even have periods. Aren’t you worried about Park Ra-on’s pain?”

“Hmph. Whether she’s in pain or not, why should I care?”

“That’s fair.”

I reached toward Chang-yeom’s wings, but she swatted my hand away again. Finally, I leapt onto the bed and faced her directly.

Chang-yeom looked up at me.

“Stop it and give me your blessing. Please?”

“Ha! That’s rich. What’s the reason behind this request? Did you really think I’d grant it?”

“Well, ethically speaking, I need your permission.”

“Ethics? Pfft, you’re just trying to ease your conscience, aren’t you?”

Right. If I acted without telling Chang-yeom, I’d have to deal with the aftermath, so I summoned her to seek her consent for peace of mind.

“Exactly. I’ll choose with a clear conscience. So you decide.”

I placed the cube in front of the mini-Phoenix’s beak.

“Without the cube, Park Ra-on will surely experience immense pain. Without the bonus from the interdimensional god’s romance novel effect, instead of forgetting the pain, she’d likely feel excruciating agony.”

“Truly despicable.”

Chang-yeom glared daggers at me.

“And what will you do if I block this? Will you swallow the cube?”

“If I don’t, Park Ra-on will continuously be devoured by Tubulus until she’s consumed entirely, turning into a monster version of Tubulus.”

“So you’re saying if I don’t allow this, you’ll cheat on me?”

“It’s not cheating. Doctors helping pregnant women doesn’t mean they’re having affairs, right?”

At my analogy, Chang-yeom clicked her tongue in genuine disbelief, even in bird form.

“Tch, is this really medical treatment? Ridiculous.”

“It’ll be a major surgery.”

Chang-yeom rolled her eyes and finally took the cube in her beak.

“If you had asked nicely, maybe I’d consider it.”

“Would you approve if I asked nicely?”

“Ugh, so annoying.”

Despite frowning—though she was a bird—Chang-yeom tilted her gaze toward me. After staring at me for a while, she nodded as I stroked her head. Fortunately, she didn’t reject my touch this time.

“Alright, alright. I won’t do it. Sorry. I made you look bad. I’ll find another way—”

Thud!

Something hit my forehead. It was the cube, which Chang-yeom spat out like spittle. The cube rolled to her side.

“Trash.”

“…You’ve got nothing left to say.”

“Fine. In the end, Park Ra-on is also a victim of this unreasonable world’s settings. Since I helped Gaeul avoid such suffering, I shouldn’t deny her the same. Fine. Do it.”

“Thank you so much.”

In gratitude, I tried to gift Chang-yeom a kiss, but I regretted it since this body wasn’t hers.

“Should I transform you into your monster form to do it?”

“No need.”

Chang-yeom coldly refused.

“Do it properly. Considering how you manipulated Park Ra-on, she could kill you a hundred times over and it still wouldn’t be enough. No, let me tell her what happened?”

“…Don’t.”

As always, I was powerless against Chang-yeom.

“Pfft. Coward.”

She had a firm grip on my biggest weakness, so even if she annoyed me, I had to tolerate her.

“If only I had another cube, I could summon you fully and touch you…”


“Maybe next time.”

Just being able to converse by summoning her consciousness alone was a blessing.

“Oh, by the way. Now that I think about it, in the original story, didn’t you start with Park Ra-on?”

“…”

Perhaps my greatest weakness wasn’t my feelings, but my memories.