Chapter 36

It was an unfamiliar ceiling. As I mutter the words that people reincarnated into another world always say, I lift my body up.

If there was any reward for my overexertion yesterday, it would be the overwhelming amount of notifications popping up in front of me now.

Though, not many of them seemed to be anything good.

[Your current abilities are overloaded. Protective effects are suspended for 10 days.]

[You are currently very vulnerable to mind-affecting abilities such as brainwashing or charm. Please avoid all mental influence users and cease any necessary activities while protection is off.]

[You have successfully unlocked the level 3 likability cap. However, this wasn’t solely achieved by your own will. In exchange for not receiving the unlock reward, unusual aspects in Lee Seo-ra’s favorability towards you will be removed.]

[Lee Seo-ra Likability: 40(90)]

Thinking back to the girl who once prepared meals for me, even 40 seems high. It’s practically 1.5 times the difference. The unusual aspects must refer to the favorability this body’s original owner felt towards Lee Seo-ra.

I can’t tell if this favorability score truly reflects how much I actually like Lee Seo-ra. But as the system says so, I just accept it.

More importantly, it’s about the red-haired woman who woke up upon hearing my movement.

Never did I think I’d wear it, yet there she was, rising while wearing a pink sleepwear, looking undeniably adorable.

[Infatuated by Lee Seo-ra’s cuteness. Likability increased by 1. 41(90).]

Although, it wasn’t as if I had been completely enraptured by her cuteness. Who decided to increase the likability score anyway?

While grumbling to myself about the system notifications, I still saw the woman beside me rubbing her eyes.

“… I’m awake.”

“You can keep sleeping if you want.”

Contrasting the poised demeanor she usually displayed, she appeared quite tired. Although I was still disoriented in this strange room, I didn’t feel the urge to disturb Seo-ra’s rest to accomplish anything further. Although the bed seemed designed for one, by lying close enough, we could have continued sleeping like before.

But in response to my words, Seo-ra managed to rise despite her unsteady balance. She was a character with strong willpower.

“Uh… good morning.”

“Good morning.”

Despite my own tendency to be groggy in the morning, Seo-ra seemed exceptionally so.

Considering she likely moved me from the street to here before we slept, it made sense she was tired.

Still seated on the bed and trying to wake up, she seemed so much like me that I couldn’t help but closely observe Seo-ra’s face.

Yesterday, she had surprisingly fought well.

Though not to the point of infatuation, she was undeniably impressive.

If wisdom is the specific ability I assumed it to be, there was no particular reason for her to stake her purity just to protect me.

Because she must have already known.

Known that I couldn’t remember our shared memories.

What sense would it make to risk everything to protect someone who has completely forgotten their past with her?

I didn’t know, couldn’t understand.

And hence, I couldn’t help but delve deeper into her face, searching for something I couldn’t yet grasp.

“… Fool.”

As if she had fallen asleep again while sitting on the bed, I left my silent appraisal on her face before standing up.

Though I’ve temporarily entrusted some household chores to Inna, it’s not that I can’t handle them. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to live alone.

By no means am I the type who avoids housework. In fact, I’m quite proficient at it—practically an expert at independent living.

“I’ll use the fridge myself.”

“No, don’t… please…”

Did she just mumble something in her sleep? Suddenly flailing her hands, it seemed like either she hid something in the fridge or was having a nightmare. However, I didn’t need her intervention—I was quite capable of managing things on my own. As I stepped out of the bedroom, I paused in the familiar corridor.

‘Impossible…’

I assumed Seo-ra had brought me to her own home.

Given that her change of sleepwear indicated we were in her space.

But perhaps the relationship was not just between lovers. Maybe it was simply her sleepwear placed here.

What if this house where I woke up was actually where I had lived?

Then what does that make the place where Seo-ra and I slept?

It certainly wasn’t like some psychiatric hospital with white walls. There was a chance this could be Erica’s true room.

Instead of waking Seo-ra, I decided to check the upper floor.

Sure enough, it was indeed the room where I first woke up.

*

I am a genius in cooking.

What makes someone a cooking genius? Is it simply being able to cook delicious meals like Inna does? No.

Even if the fridge has anything in it, being capable of using all cooking techniques to make edible dishes without causing harm to anyone through food can also be deemed a form of genius.

“… This is quite tasty. Truly an incredible genius-like taste, Erica.”

“If it tastes bad, don’t eat it. Your stomach isn’t a garbage can.”

So even if I am a cooking genius, it doesn’t mean the dishes I make will always appeal to other people’s tastes.

Watching Seo-ra, who had dumped the contents of her plate directly into the trash, I slumped onto the kitchen chair.

“So the place we woke up in was your room, right?”

“Yes, Erica warned us not to go upstairs, so I wasn’t entirely aware. Moreover, I just learned that CCTV was installed.”

Regardless of how poorly my fried rice tasted, seeing Seo-ra continuously drink water made me feel slightly disheartened.

I had always considered myself decent at cooking and assumed I could hold the title of a ‘household man,’ but perhaps I shouldn’t have boasted.

When Seo-ra had previously said “no,” she was indeed telling me not to cook.

Although I understood that my skills as a chef might be lacking, it was probably more about this body’s culinary expertise being insufficient.

“Should I make a proper observation of you?”

“… No, we’re done with that. If I already lost my memory, why didn’t you mention it earlier?”

By simply asking you about the house, something I should have been most familiar with, it was evident you knew. So why didn’t you say anything? It felt somewhat suffocating.

Perhaps because of the feeling that the person who could effortlessly sacrifice themselves for this body was keeping a secret, I finally admitted something I had intended to hide unless we reached a more intimate level.

“Well, if I may say, I knew since the first day of school after the incident.”

“How? Did I act that poorly?”

I did contemplate whether it was possible for you to know about my memory loss.

Given that the system had already warned me about the insightfulness of the ability called “wisdom,” I had assumed it wouldn’t be that incompetent.

Unlike what Kim Ha-neul implied, Seo-ra’s phrases like “Just endure a little, if you still consider me as your lover,” felt like she was testing my reactions simultaneously.

“It wasn’t poor acting. It’s just because we’ve known Erica for so long. Didn’t even Inna figure it out right away?”

“Yes, correct.”

I judged that it would be difficult for me to replicate the unique nature of the original Erica.

The genuine version I encountered was mysteriously enchanting.

Although I would only confirm if it was truly real when checking my reflection in a mirror later, I felt that the girl exuding an eerily otherworldly aura resembled someone who, in a different sense, bore similarity to me falling into this romantic visual novel.

I thought that if I had deliberately acted, perhaps no one would have detected my memory loss.

Since such matters were now past, I didn’t reflect or regret too deeply.

As I sat there, the lady waiting for me to speak finally prompted a response.

“I thought no one would come. But I guess the moment I went to cook, you must have realized.”

-Ding Dong Ding Dong Ding Dong!

Just as the proverb goes, the moment a tiger speaks and it appears. At the very instant I spoke, a loud doorbell rang. A faint idea of who might be waiting outside the door formed in my mind.

“Should I open the door?”

Moreover, the thought crossed my mind that the relationship with this woman wasn’t very good. Glancing at her still in a pink sleepwear, she disappeared back into the room I had vacated.

She would be changing into something else soon, signaling it was fine to roughly welcome Inna.

Dashing to the entrance immediately, I opened the door.

“It’s been a while.”

“What do you mean? I just saw you the other day.”

Inna greeted me with a wave as she was dressed in a green sweater and a brown skirt, quite a fresh look. However, her gaze wasn’t on me but directed towards the exercise shoes the chairman was wearing.

Did she come today, or maybe yesterday? As I had spent practically the whole day outside yesterday, I likely wouldn’t have noticed if she came.

Initially, it wasn’t about checking whether I was home or not upon arriving here. It might have been after she confirmed I went upstairs and came down that she arrived.

Or could there be hidden cameras in this house besides the conspicuous ones on the second floor? Given it wasn’t feasible to keep her standing at the doorstep, just as I tried to usher her inside, a system window appeared in my line of sight.

[You have encountered the owner of “Enchantment” ability. Please be careful in managing your likability.]

Simultaneously, I regretted that it might have been better if I hadn’t met Inna for the time being.