Chapter 66

On a Saturday night after parting with Kim Ha-neul, a white-haired girl stood in front of the entrance door of a two-story residence with a blue roof, where not a single speck of light leaked out, as if nobody was awake inside. She punched in the password with practiced ease.

“I’m back.”

A life where one goes out for training early in the morning and meets friends until a little past evening, and a life where one goes to work early in the morning and returns home at a slightly earlier evening hour.

The girl, who had lived the latter life and now lived the former, took off her shoes at the entrance as if it had become a little familiar but still felt strange, glancing absentmindedly at the shoe cabinet where someone else’s shoes, not her own, were placed.

The words that slipped out of Erica’s mouth were not spoken because she thought someone was there, but out of habit. However, as if responding to those words, something twitched in the living room where the lights were off, and it darted into the corridor.

Something with an indistinct shape emerged in a place so dark that one couldn’t even see its face. The figure had a human-like form.

Instead of being startled by the appearance of something that had infiltrated her home before she even entered, the girl simply glowered at the blurry figure.

“What are you doing, Kang Yu-ri?”

Though Erica had thought no one was home while the lights were off, the truth was an entity intended to stay under her roof as a teammate was already there.

Kang Yu-ri.

The character permitted by Erica to live in her home for the sake of fostering a bond with her teammate.

As if realizing she’d been recognized, the shadowy figure smiled ambiguously, knowing Erica couldn’t see her expression due to the darkness.

“Surprising. I thought you didn’t know I was here since you left me indoors all day while you ran around.”

With a loud ‘thud,’ the hallway lights came on.

A pink-haired woman wearing a pink nightgown with white rabbits printed on it looked at Erica with eyes that were neither entirely full of resentment nor entirely free of it.

The mysterious smile she wore in the darkness had vanished as though it were an illusion.

“And you even know my name, Kang Yu-ri? Unexpected that you took an interest despite never hearing me mention my real name.”

A mistake.

She had called out Kang Yu-ri’s name to imply that she had recognized her despite the juvenile prank of silently emerging from the dark. However, Kang Yu-ri had never shared her real name.

Though Erica was scolded for the error, she wasn’t shaken as much as she might have been. She had already been misunderstood as having conducted background checks ever since the discussion about Kang Yu-ri living in the house began.

“Hmm, you likely learned my name when investigating me to accept me as a teammate. That’s only natural. So what about it?”

To the woman who had lived her life under numerous aliases and possessed no place she could call home, knowing her true name seemed even harder to uncover than understanding her lack of a fixed residence. However, if someone had dug deeply enough to know she had no “home,” it wasn’t entirely impossible. Therefore, Kang Yu-ri’s curiosity lay elsewhere.

“…What do you mean?”

The white-haired girl tilted her head, genuinely unsure what she was asking about. Without a subject in the question (“How was it?”), it was natural that she wouldn’t understand how to respond.

It was unclear whether the question was regarding today’s outing or the background investigation.

“The extent of your background investigation on me seems quite thorough, doesn’t it? Otherwise, you couldn’t have discovered a name I never told anyone.”

With a confident tone, the woman addressed the bewildered girl. Erica realized something through this obsession with one’s true name.

If “self-harm” was the keyword that unlocked Erica’s first-tier limit, perhaps Kang Yu-ri’s true name was the keyword to unlocking her affection limit.

Given that she, the heroine, carried a keyword to free her limit on affection, it seemed likely that other heroines would too.

Kang Yu-ri could be considered a “boss villain” representing a single episode, making her a different kind of character from typical heroines. However, it was not unheard of in romantic visual novels for boss villains to become heroines.

The girl who suspected she had uncovered one keyword to lift Kang Yu-ri’s affection limit drifted into thought as the woman approached her, grasped her hand, and led her to the sofa, sitting first then placing the girl on her knees.

The reason Erica’s grades were good lay in her unique focus. Her concentration was so deep that she might not even notice her body being touched when engrossed.

This was possible because an automatic supernatural ability activated to protect her body when it faced danger. Despite this, after observing Erica for a year, the woman knew well that once she got lost in thought, it would be possible to lift her and carry her without resistance.

Not a fool to assume that just because Erica knew her secrets meant she automatically had affection for her. The woman aware that close friends of Erica could easily gather information about her wasn’t naive enough to believe any of this.

Whether through favors from others or by gathering information herself, the woman judged that allowing Erica to rest her head on her knees was an acceptable gesture. Besides, she expected Erica would feel embarrassed upon realizing this position, adding complexity to her judgment.

—Ironically, the one expected to show such a reaction was so deeply absorbed in thought on the sofa that she didn’t notice being moved.

“Why can’t you speak? Was it that bad?”

“No, because I never conducted a background check.”

She hadn’t conducted any investigation herself, but instead had gathered information from others. Believing that labeling this activity as a “background check” had a negative tone, Erica rejected the idea, without realizing that conducting a background check could show a certain level of regard towards Kang Yu-ri.

This caused the previously calm woman’s face to suddenly show irritation. But Erica, who wasn’t paying attention to this, wondered why the scenery seemed suddenly changed.

“Then how did you find out? Did you beg someone else, crying? Or perhaps kneel and beg me, like you did before?”

“Why are you being so confrontational all of a sudden?”

Of course, the woman’s sudden change in emotion was merely perceived by Erica as an abrupt shift.

As Erica attempted to rise to return things to normal, she was pushed back by the stubborn woman’s fingers, forcing her head back onto her lap.

“Hmm?”

“Why? Is my lap so good to you? Hmm, it’s almost too good to lend for free. What would make me feel better in exchange?”

By forcing her to act as a pillow and then demanding something, the woman was acting much like an unscrupulous loan shark. This caused Erica to slightly open her mouth in a silent gasp.

An event would occur during the school trip. The “queen” of the school had already been defeated by the protagonist’s older sister.

However, Erica had overlooked that the queen of the school was not entirely under her sway yet, nor was she in a state where she could create a perfect “bad ending” for Erica, no matter what moves were made.

This ambiguity:

Not necessarily an ally who unconditionally helped Erica,

Nor an eternal nemesis constantly blocking Erica’s path.

Her stance depended on what she thought after observing Erica’s actions.

Contrary to what someone might have hinted, whether Kang Yu-ri would turn against Erica or not entirely depended on Erica’s conduct and the woman’s whims.

“What do you think?”

“Hmm. I’m tired, so I’ll sleep.”

Faced with such a time bomb of a woman, Erica made only one decision:

Close her eyes, and drift off.

In an instant, all the strength left her body, and the girl began to breathe evenly, as if she’d fallen into a deep sleep.

Although she appeared to be sleeping perfectly, as though under some supernatural power, Erica’s consciousness still faintly lingered. She had to be ready to wake up if anything strange happened.

“Just this once, I’ll let it go~.”

The former queen merely gazed down at Erica, who seemed to be sleeping, then gently picked her up princess-style and took her to her bedroom.

A reaction entirely different from teasing her when she was awake.

But there was a reason for it.

The queen enjoyed watching Erica fluster.

If Erica awoke and found herself changed in some way, her rage or sadness would be another form of pleasure. But Kang Yu-ri just wanted to watch her fresh reactions like live sashimi.

Since the woman wasn’t yet emotionally ready for such a moment, she merely placed Erica under the blanket without causing further disturbances and quietly exited the bedroom.

‘She’s gone.’

All the training from the agency that hunted supernaturals, meeting Kim Ha-neul, the student council president’s intrusion, and the sudden outburst from the part-time worker…

Erica couldn’t act. But despite being the “Queen of Lies,” Erica’s deceit went unnoticed because her body was already exhausted…

Before Erica could adjust the position of the blanket, her eyes were already closed, and they wouldn’t reopen until morning.