“Sniff… Sob….”
Huh?
Why am I crying?
As I regained consciousness, the sound of my sobs filled the air.
I was crouched down, my face buried in my knees, crying my heart out.
“Dad, co back… If you don’t, I swear I’ll chase you down in hell! You know I an it, right?”
It felt like I had just said sothing like that.
Suddenly, I snapped my head up.
Blinking several tis, my swollen, tear-soaked eyes adjusted to the light.
The first thing I saw was the full moon, shining so brightly it almost hurt my eyes.
As soon as the thought struck that I’d seen this scene before, my gaze landed on the broken wall.
Shattered windows. Bricks crumbled like paper. And through the gaping hole, the night wind howled ominously.
I shot to my feet.
“What’s going on? What happened?”
I forced myself to think calmly, retracing my steps.
Earlier, I had been in the forest, where I encountered teor Pluto. I was trying to get away quickly, but he kept pestering with questions, making it hard to escape.
Then, out of nowhere, low-tier Magi appeared behind him. From that point, I didn’t have ti to think; my instincts had taken over.
I pulled teor away to protect him from the Magi, only to be struck by it myself. My hair and limbs were engulfed by the dark smoke before my consciousness faded.
In that mont, I… died.
“Yeah, I definitely died…”
But if that’s true, why am I awake again?
My heart pounding, I scanned my surroundings.
It was a scene seared into my mory.
How could I ever forget it?
This was four years ago, the mont my dad—Lloyd Delight—unfurled his magnificent black wings and burst through the wall, flying off into the night. I had chased after him in a panic.
But no matter how far I ran, I couldn’t catch a glimpse of him. After wandering aimlessly for what felt like hours, I returned ho in tears.
“Dad, this is too much. Do you think this is funny? You think I’m going to enjoy this?”
“Co back soon! I miss you!”
I had been so sure he’d co back quickly, but he never did.
From the ti I was eight years old until I turned twelve, I didn’t see him even once. That’s when he truly beca the Great Demon King Baal.
“So why am I here again? Is this a dream?”
I dashed toward the mirror.
My shortened legs and tiny feet felt strange as I ran.
When I reached the mirror, I froze. My wide eyes locked onto the reflection. The instant I recognized myself, I clutched my cheeks and scread.
“Ahhh! What is this? I’ve gotten so small!”
Under my round eyes, my nose was as tiny and plump as a cherry. My lips were adorable, my head small.
And my hair—thick, silky, golden locks that shimred unnaturally for soone so small.
It was exactly how I looked when I was eight years old.
“No way!”
Slap!
I smacked my cheek.
The sharp pain was far too vivid.
“Ow! It hurts…”
Rubbing my stinging cheek, I took another look around. Everything was so clear, too detailed to be just a dream.
The broken wall was especially real, the sight making my chest ache.
“Could I… have traveled back in ti?”
But how?
How could I have gone back to the past?
It was then that a voice echoed in my mind.
Dazzling letters appeared before my eyes.
Though it was a language I had never seen before, I understood the aning as if it were instinctual.
“!”
What the hell is this?
Huh? Tutorial?
Possessor?
What on earth is this?
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
I had lived twelve years as Crescent Delight, the daughter of Lloyd Delight. I knew nothing beyond what I’d learned and experienced with my dad.
Crescent Delight—that was my na and my identity.
Seo Da-bit? I had never even heard of such a na.
I was Crescent, my dad’s beloved daughter, and I was twelve years old. Nothing else made sense.
“…”
Before I could react, vivid mories began flooding my mind like a rushing tide.
A girl with black hair, strikingly similar to mine, appeared in my thoughts.
Her na was Seo Da-bit, and she was sitting in a small room, playing gas on her smartphone. Sohow, I knew exactly what ga she was playing.
“Demon Realm Conquest—The Delight Project.”
It was a ga about defeating Baal, the worst Demon King in history.
And Baal’s na before he beca the Great Demon King was Lloyd Delight. He had a daughter nad Crescent Delight.
That daughter… was .
The mories of the ga included , clear as day.
I didn’t want to believe it, but the mories forced to.
In the ga, Crescent loses her father and dies of starvation. She doesn’t even live to see her twelfth birthday.
Years later, when teor Pluto turns eighteen, he defeats Baal once and for all.
And Baal’s final words before his demise were—
“My daughter… I couldn’t protect my daughter Crescent. I’m so sorry, my angel…”
“!”
As the glowing text faded, my vision swam with dizziness.
Seo Da-bit’s mories overlapped completely with mine. It felt as though I had been Crescent, but I had also lived as Seo Da-bit.
“So… I’ve been a character in a ga called Demon Realm Conquest this entire ti?”
It was hard to wrap my head around.
I was a ga character?
Not just any character, but the daughter of the Great Demon King, dood to die tragically at nine years old while searching for her father.
“The Delight Project” referred to the campaign to defeat Baal in the ga.
That project involved countless characters, and players could choose to play as one of the key figures.
However, in the storyline, the true protagonist destined to defeat Baal was none other than teor Pluto.
“It was one of my favorite gas…”
Especially Crescent. I had been so drawn to her tragic story.
Though she was nothing more than a minor character in the ga, appearing only for a few lines, I had felt deeply connected to her.
Seo Da-bit’s father—he was also a well-known doting dad in their town. One day, though, he suddenly lost his mory and died.
To escape the grief of losing my father, I had buried myself in Demon Realm Conquest for months.
In the ga, the one I had relied on the most—the one who had made my world bright—was gone.
I didn’t know how to cope with that pain. All I could do was cry myself to exhaustion, barely eating.
And then… I had died.
But now, I was living as Crescent.
***
"Wow. This is absolutely ridiculous."
I wandered aimlessly around the mansion, still feeling the cold wind blowing through the gaping hole in the wall.
Even though I had recovered Seo Da-bit’s mories, my identity as Crescent remained dominant.
After all, the twelve years I had lived entirely as Crescent, without any recollection of a previous life, felt far more vivid.
How much pain and loneliness had I endured after losing my dad?
The happy tis I had spent with Lloyd—the Great Demon King Baal—were so real and irreplaceable that there was no way they weren’t truly my life.
Looking toward the empty space where the system screen had appeared earlier, I voiced my indignation.
"What is this? A tutorial? If it’s a tutorial, you should’ve warned ahead of ti! I thought it was my real life, and I almost died from how hard it was…"
Actually, I did die!
At that mont, the system screen reappeared, almost as if it had heard my complaint.
"...What the hell is this?"
"…!"
What… is this madness?
Reviews
All reviews (0)