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After reading the message, I frowned.

“I don’t have a younger sister.”

[Maybe you forgot.]

How could I forget something so important?

I didn’t feel the need to respond and kept my mouth shut.

I don’t have time for this strange message and conversation. I have a mountain of things to do today.

If they keep bothering me, I’ll just find and eliminate whoever used this magic.

[Then do you remember this place?]

“?!”

I was startled. In the blink of an eye, everything in front of me had changed.

“This place is…”

[The single room where you and I used to live.]

It was a shabby room. A space that could barely be called a room, let alone a prison. It was much smaller than the bathroom in the mansion, filled with old furniture and all sorts of junk.

For a moment, I thought it might be an illusion, so I nudged the junk scattered on the floor with my shoe. I could feel the texture.

What kind of magic is this?

I’ve never heard of magic like this that doesn’t even use a formula.

Could it be an assassin from the Imperial Family trying to trap and eliminate me here?

But it was strange. The message didn’t feel like it was from an enemy.

“You’re saying I lived here with you?”

[Well… strictly speaking, our family lived here.]

Family.

That word stirred something in my chest.

A vague longing?

No… it was disgust.

I could feel the deep-seated disgust rising from within.

“Disgusting. To think I lived in a place like this with something like a family.”

[I guess so. You really hated this place.]

“I’m not your brother.”

[It’s just a figure of speech. You’re older than me, so it’s fine for me to call you oppa, right?]

Not wrong.

But the way the message feels like it’s creeping up on me must be my imagination.

“Titles don’t matter. I have nothing to say to you, so just get me out of this strange place.”

[Just one question.]

Now they’re completely ignoring what I have to say.

[What was your… father like?]

“I don’t want to talk about that.”

The answer came out faster than I expected.

For me, talking about my father was taboo. Anyone who didn’t know the circumstances wouldn’t pry if I made such a clear refusal.

But the message’s owner was oblivious and persistent.

[I’ll let you go if you answer.]

“I said I don’t want to talk about it.”

[Are you scared?]

“What?”

[Are you scared to talk about it with others?]

“Don’t talk nonsense…! I’m Tristan Ruelberta. People should be scared of me, not the other way around.”

[Really? Then why don’t you want to talk about it?]

“…Because talking about the past is pointless.”

[But I want to hear it. About your father.]

Even after I made it clear how much I disliked it, they persisted.

They won’t let me go until they hear it from my mouth.

I sighed.

It’s annoying, but what can I do?

“I killed my father with my own hands.”

It was a shocking story, but the message wasn’t fazed and asked again.

[Why?]

“Because he deserved to die. He took away everything precious from me.”

Even now, just thinking about it makes me feel like ‘wrath’ will explode.

“Let me make this clear, I don’t regret killing my father. Even if I went back, I’d kill that beast again. Because of him…”

[Really?]

“Yes. Because of him, I…”

[Is that really all…?]

“That’s… all?”

As I repeated the question, a voice flashed through my mind.

-You…! You’ll live the rest of your life being pointed at by others…!

Hearing the man’s cursed voice, memories buried in the dark abyss resurfaced.

“Because of him… because of my father, my life was completely ruined.”

-You bastard! A son! The eldest son! Not only are you useless…!

-Stop it… Father. You’re drunk. And isn’t this enough?

-What? You…! You think I’m a joke too?! Huh?! You bastard! You think I’m a joke, don’t you?!

“In this shabby single room, I was beaten with a belt until my back bled…”

It was a common story in novels—a father, drowning in debt after his business failed, taking out his helplessness on his child.

The problem was, I was the protagonist of that misfortune.

-Sob… Oppa… does it hurt a lot?

A girl in a school uniform sobbed as she applied ointment to my back.

My only younger sister.

-It’s okay. I’m the one who got hit, why are you crying?

-But… sob…

-Don’t worry. Once I become an adult, we’ll leave this house and live together.

-Oppa…

“You were the only one who cried for me. After our mother left, we only had each other to rely on. As your oppa, I was willing to do anything to protect you… Then that day came. On my birthday, the day I became an adult…”

-Get your hands off my sister! You bastard!

-Bastard? You, how dare you talk to your father like that! Ugh?!

-Shut up! I’ve endured it all this time, but I can’t take this anymore! Now you’re trying to lay your hands on my sister? Are you even human? You crazy bastard!

-Ugh?!

“When I got home, that lunatic was trying to assault my sister in his underwear. My sister was crying, locking herself in the bathroom. So I threw the birthday cake and everything else aside and beat that so-called father.”

-You, you bastard! Hitting your own father?!

-Shut up! How can you call yourself a father?!

-Ah! You, you damn bastard. Hitting the parent who raised you? Huh?! You, you’re dead!

“That bastard… he went and got a kitchen knife.”

-O, Oppa?! What’s happening?!

-Don’t come out!

-Oppa!

-Don’t come out no matter what!

-Die!!

-Shut up!!

When I looked down, blood was splattered all over the single room. Even though I couldn’t see it, it felt like someone was fiercely fighting, with junk falling and making noise everywhere.

And when the noise stopped, a pool of blood was spreading in the middle of the room.

-Huh… you… you stabbed your own father…?

-Ha… ha… stop talking nonsense…

-Look at what you’ve done… you killed me.

-Shut up…! You… you swung the knife at me first.

-You murderer… don’t make excuses.

“That bastard, covered in blood, said to me.”

-You think you can live well after killing me? Huh? You bastard. From now on, you’re a murderer who killed your own father! A murderer!

-Shut up…!

-You’ll live alone in loneliness and die alone…! You…! You’ll live the rest of your life being pointed at by others…! Haha…! Hahaha! Serves you right!

“Until the moment he died, my father laughed at me. But what really pissed me off was that what he said turned out to be true.”

-That young man, you know. They say he’s an ex-con.

-Oh my… he looks so normal…

-Ma’am. I can hear you. Or are you saying it for me to hear?

-You, you! Look at me straight when you talk!

“After serving time for killing a relative, the world didn’t look kindly on me. Everyone avoided me in public and talked behind my back. It was frustrating. I was angry and resentful…”

“I know.”

The message, which had been silent until then, suddenly disappeared.

“You took the beatings from Father for me. You always endured alone for my sake. And this time, you came here for me too…”

When I turned around, Sora, with her thin face, was looking at me. Seeing her after so long…

“Do you remember who I am and who you are now?”

“Yeah… thanks to you…”

It felt like I had woken up from a long dream.

The fog in my mind cleared, and the things I had forgotten started to come back one by one. And the reason I came here, which I had forgotten long ago.

“You worked hard to get here… Oppa.”

My younger sister, Sora, hugged me in reunion.

*

I can’t measure it exactly, but it must have taken over 100 years. With all the things I experienced in that long time flooding back, I needed a moment to sort out my memories.

Maybe it was because I had already gone through several regressions.

Feeling a bit tired, I arrived at the resting place Sora guided me to.

“I’ve been sleeping here all this time.”

The place Sora introduced wasn’t the cramped single room from before, but a slightly larger room… though it felt very familiar.

After racking my brain for a moment, I realized where this was.

“Huh…?! What? This is our house, isn’t it?”

If my memory serves me right, this is the two-room rental near Stella Corp.

“Right. This is the house you lived in.”

“What?!”

“Well. How should I explain… I don’t know exactly, but this is your house and yet not your house… Huh? Where are you going?!”

I quickly headed to the veranda of the rental house. When did I go outside? With that thought, I pulled up the blinds and looked out the window, then tilted my head in confusion.

“What’s this…?”

Outside the window were countless bear dolls of all sizes.

So many that they piled up to the second floor of the villa.

The surreal scene left me speechless for a moment, but then I remembered that this world was created by Sora’s imagination.

“…You have this kind of taste?”

“Come on, Oppa. That’s not possible. When did I ever like bear dolls?”

“Then what are these?”

“These are the Dummy Worlds you created when you became Tristan.”

“These are Dummy Worlds?”

“Yeah.”

Sora opened the window and picked up a bear doll small enough to hold. Then she said to me.

“Hug it.”

“…What?”

“Come on. Hug it quickly~.”

Sora exaggeratedly smiled and shook the bear doll in front of me.

I didn’t feel like it at all, but I reluctantly hugged the bear doll. Then…

-Count! I will never marry you!

Bella’s coldly scornful face flashed through my mind, and I quickly let go of the bear doll.

“How is it? These are all things you created when you became Tristan.”

“My memory is still a bit jumbled, but… it seems so.”

I carefully examined the bear doll in my hand. This doll must be a representation of a Dummy World. The Dummy Worlds that weren’t deleted must have piled up in Sora’s world like this.

Seeing it visually made it easier to understand.

But suddenly, I noticed something strange.

“Hey… Jeong Sora. How do you know about Dummy Worlds?”

Dummy Worlds are a concept I learned while working at Stella. It’s impossible for her, who has been trapped in this world, to know about it, yet she’s talking about it so casually.

“Well, that’s…”

Beep beep! Click-!

Just as Sora was about to explain, the sound of the front door lock opening was heard.

“Sigh… here they come again.”

Sora frowned as she saw the face of the person who entered. On the other hand, I couldn’t help but be surprised.

“Manager…?”

It was Manager Park Se-hee, who worked with me at Stella.

I was about to ask her how she knew the password to our house, but then I remembered that I had told her the password once when she got too drunk after a company dinner and I had to let her stay overnight.

Of course, that doesn’t mean she can just barge into someone else’s house like this.

“Hey. Manager? Why did you suddenly come to our house? This is illegal trespassing…”

“Sigh… should I try today too…”

“Huh?”

Manager Park Se-hee walked past me, ignoring me, and placed a cup of coffee on my desk before casually pressing the computer’s power button with her foot.

Only then did I understand what was happening.

She wasn’t ignoring me. She just couldn’t see me.

“My guess is that this place is somewhere between reality and this world.”

Sora, who was behind me, spoke.

“Probably what we’re seeing is what’s happening in reality right now.”

“No. How is that…”

I was about to ask how that’s possible, but then I stopped. Sora has been unconscious since the car accident.

She doesn’t know the true nature of this world or the situation she’s in.

I was worried about how to explain this situation to her.

But Sora shook her head.

“It’s okay. I don’t know why, but thanks to that, I’ve been able to see what’s happening outside. You don’t have to explain, Oppa. I already know.”

“Huh? You saw the recordings I showed you on my phone of you outside?”

“Yeah. Not just that, but I also know what you’ve been doing, whether here or in reality. I’ve seen it all.”

“Wait… so you know about what happened with the Stella CEO?”

“Of course. That lunatic, right? Ugh, just thinking about it gives me chills.”

I couldn’t believe she knew everything!

What was more shocking was that she even knew about what happened in reality.

I still don’t know the specifics of this phenomenon, but it seems that Sora has been watching what’s happening outside through a place like this that reflects the real world.

But that’s not what I’m most curious about right now.

“But… why is Manager here…”

“She’s probably trying to find out where you are.”

“My whereabouts?”

“Yup.”

“Is there any clue…”

Manager Park Se-hee was thoroughly examining the data on my computer. She seemed to be looking for any notes or messages I might have left, trying to find out why I disappeared.

“After you disappeared, that woman filed a missing person report. Even though she ended up empty-handed, she must have had some lingering feelings because she kept coming here to look for clues about your disappearance.”

“Manager did…?”

I felt touched. I thought no one would care if I disappeared, but here was someone actively looking for me.

But Sora didn’t seem to see it that way.

“Hmph… but I can’t just let a woman who barged into our house off the hook.”

Sora pouted and flicked the coffee Manager Park brought. I thought Sora’s hand would pass through, but the coffee tipped over from her touch.

“Ah?! It’s cold?! What, what’s this?”

Of course, her skirt got completely soaked. Flustered, she tried to wipe it with a tissue, but it was too late.

“Ah, what do I do! What do I do! I need to clean this up…”

“Pfft. Serves her right.”

“Hey… Jeong Sora.”

“Ah, was that too much…?”

“Was it you?”

I held back my rising anger and spoke to her.

“All those times you spilled my coffee.”

She flinched.

“Was that you?”

Under my interrogation, Sora’s eyes darted around.

“What… are you talking about…? Sora has no idea what you’re talking about…”

She smiled awkwardly and tried to act cute.

At this point, it’s practically a confession.

 

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