Did we win in the end?
No.
I consider it a total loss.
Without realizing it, I returned to that forest where I first appeared when I arrived at this story.
So many months have passed since I arrived...and since my arrival, there has been nothing but misfortune.
If I had never tried to change history, what would have happened?
...
Don't know.
Honestly, I don't know anything anymore.
"Jeon..."
I gently laid Anser on the ground; his burn wounds must be hurting him terribly. I can tell just by looking at him. I never wanted this to happen to him.
"..."
Again, I have this feeling of guilt.
"I'm sorry, Anser...in the end, since my arrival, I haven't been able to save any of you."
I looked at Anser's face. The absence of his green right eye made me understand that although for me it was always just a story, for him it was his world.
I must admit that I never felt any real empathy. 'He was just a character' but he was also the reason I had something to eat on the table.
"That doesn't really matter."
"Literally, it does matter..."
They are all dead.
Perhaps everyone will die for Doepul-i.
"They're all going to die, and it's all because I wanted to stick my nose where it didn't belong...It was my fault that all this happened, damn it, Anser...why do you keep defending me? I suggested you kill your adoptive father, I dragged you into danger you no longer want to face...why? Why did you follow me even though I was an intruder?"
He looked at me, and now that I've looked at him...
His face shows nothing but tranquility.
I don't understand.
He lost his entire family, and yet, how can he be so calm while I'm the one falling apart?
"Jeon, throughout my entire life, I never knew my true purpose in life," I realized that the day I met him—when he was completely alone in that cart in the middle of a sect march, in the middle of a demonic attack...he seemed to accept his fate if he died there. And I never understood why. "I thought all I had to do was follow what Sherly and Randy told me...but after getting what they told me, I didn't feel any change. Did I really have to get revenge for my mother's death?"
Every protagonist is supposed to dictate their story with a goal in mind.
In the end, in the original story I wrote, when Anser achieves his goal of revenge, and about to kill Randy...he doesn't.
I lied to Randy a little while ago.
If he had never tried to change history like I did, in the end, he would still be alive, not only him, everyone would be.
Anser takes pity on Randy, so after a deal, Randy ends up only banished from Anarxie. Sherly, the only person who brought him food and smoked beside him, dragging Frederick along with him. Although Randy didn't say it, he was happy that at least someone was with him in his loneliness.
Thanks to alchemy, they managed to use Joakim's DNA to make a miniature version of him from scratch; Hans Kim. And he was left in Karmen's care.
Layla and Renato remained at their base after helping to bring Joakim back. They continued working, and every afternoon, they flew all over Anarxie.
Probably, although I didn't write it...Gene would still be the apprentice of the witch of the heart. And perhaps there, she would have been an excellent student.
In Liam's case, she took care of the members of the Moon Sect as if they were her own children. And every day, she would always stay at home waiting for Anser so they could talk together.
Probably...Enver didn't need to stop Randy either, so when he found out about his exile...he was probably so happy that he had disappeared. Just like his colleagues, living the life they could now live in peace.
And after the Rosicrucians dissolved, Mandeleine joined the same sect as Karmen; the Third Round Sect. And finally, both spoke of the bitterness of the tough training sessions left behind by their leader's departure.
Elmetron had died, but having so many unfinished matters, he was left wandering the third world harassing small demons for fun. Typical.
And in Anser's case...
...
He became Anarxie's number one sect.
His responsibilities ended, having been able to exterminate the demons that used to haunt them.
All he had left to do was walk around Anarxie, admiring his work, and return home to his beloved who was waiting for him.
That was the end of Mr. Detective.
When I arrived and felt the need to change everything, it was simply because I forgot that, really, this story had already ended. And thanks to the changes, the real end never came.
We left off at the point of draft to final delivery.
"..."
If only I had tried to stop Randy from the beginning instead of playing along...I could have saved everyone.
"Jeon, I always felt empty. I never knew why."
"I...I know..."
"Do you know?" I looked up to see him; he seemed...confused? "I've always felt empty; there were times when I hurt others just to feel something..."
What is he talking about? He could barely speak...
...
"I want to feel, Jeon, with you, I could always feel something, something more than anger...I could feel love, Jeon, love..."
Love?
"No, you must be confused..." The sudden confession of love left me speechless. Why was Anser saying he loved me? Did he hit his head really hard during the battle? "Why love me, who took you beyond your limits so that you would kill? Why me, who made you see horrible things throughout this whole trip?"
Suddenly, Anser's hands were on my cheeks.
"I know."
I opened my eyes in surprise; the white feathers of my demon transformation seemed to bristle at the touch.
"..."
He knows it. And yet he doesn't blame me?
First of all, I wrote this story, I was the cause of his existence and his traumas.
"...You know we live in a story, right? This isn't the real world..." I know he knows, for some reason, he can hear all of that while others can't. "I created you, I created this world, I created all your suffering, I am the cause of everything, will you still love me?"
No, at least he must despise me a little.
However, his calm expression did not change.
"I know."
My heart stopped, did he know?
Perhaps Liam told him without me knowing?
"Jeon," Suddenly, he smiled, a smile I know hurt too much to make, but he was making it anyway. "...I waited through all the drafts of this story so I could be with you again."
...
What is he saying?
"...What?"
Then, he pressed his forehead to mine, an act of affection, but for me it only made me more confused.
"The wait was almost an eternity, I thought that...I had simply come to the wrong world...but I couldn't die until the moondid, so I just had to wait."
Wait, that reminds me of something...
In that dream, that first dream...
That boy...what was his name? Moon Ji-Hael! That's it! He felt empty too, even I could feel it!
"...Moon Ji-Hael?"
Perhaps they were the same person?
"..."
But Anser didn't answer me, and instead, he brought his face closer to mine, and before I knew it, he had kissed me.
It took me by surprise, of course...it was gentle, it was...my first genuine kiss.
Did he really love me too much?
I want to cry.
Why is ■／That day, Joakim's answer to his question was simple.
'A demon is the one most affected upon entering the third world.'
The fact that Ji Noo didn't remember things during his trip to the third world was precisely because of that, because of his demonic side.
"Jeon...don't you remember me?"
Ji Noo should remember him as Anser Ciro, but not as him.
"...I—"
But suddenly, Ji Noo's chest lit up, and from it came a hand, which squeezed Ji Noo's heart.
Time stood still for Anser.
"NO!" He immediately got up from the ground, held Ji Noo's body in his arms, and when he looked behind him; it was him, that demon. "Y-YOU!"
Doepul-i.
Doepul-i extracted Ji Noo's heart, removing his demonic transformation and the feathers disappearing at the same time, leaving Ji Noo's body lifeless.
The demon dodged Anser's slash in time, and counterattacked with his blue flames, directed towards Ji Noo, but Anser covered Ji Noo's body with his own.
"You should be thanking me instead of attacking me..." Doepul-i said, holding the heart at his sight. "This little game of my Duke of Hell went too far, and because of it, that defective one found us."
Anser's back was exposed, his clothes falling to the ground, but most importantly, he had at least protected Ji Noo's body.
"Return it..." He murmured, trying to get up from the ground again, and walk towards Doepul-i, wielding his silver sword. "He still...has...to remember!"
"Remember?"
Ji Noo still had to remember those things that his soul refused to remember; the best cure that would serve Anser were those memories from before all the damage he caused.
"Isn't it better that he forgot about it?" The demon said, with a smile. "I say that way, you stop hurting him."
And then, he destroyed Ji Noo's heart in his hand, the cursed energy pouring out of it, just like Ji Noo's pure energy, or rather, his soul.
"NO!" Anser ran towards Doepul-i, raised his sword and with the brightness of the moon, let out a devastating cut that managed to cut Doepul-i in half, however, he regenerated immediately.
Ji Noo has just died.
"Brat!"
The demon's scream made him turn around, and when he did, Anser managed to see her; Ryuka.
His pupils shrank, and the shock of seeing her again; her running straight towards him, made him very confused.
«What is she doing here?»
And suddenly, Ryuka knocked him down, touching him and causing the silver sword to crumble on the ground.
"Ryuka..." He murmured from the ground, his power failing to create any weapon. "What are you doing here? Why..."
He didn't understand what was happening, and that's why Ryuka didn't dare look him in the face.
"Ryuka?" Doepul-i said, with a half-smile. "So that was the name they called you this time?" He told her, but she didn't answer, and instead just turned to look at Doepul-i.
"I couldn't stop him, he's already coming closer."
Anser frowned, but he still stood up, even if it had to be with his bare fists...he wouldn't let Doepul-i get away with it. Even if it meant hurting her too.
"Maybe you don't understand now..." But before Anser could get close, Doepul-i was already moving, throwing him aside with a kick, making him hit the ground hard. "Maybe you'll do it later."
Anser looked up, too tired and weak, and for the last time, he looked at Ryuka.
"Why..." Tears welled up in his eyes. "Ryuka...don't leave me alone..."
And all she could do was turn her back on him.
And behind him, a red, blood-covered silhouette was approaching.
It was him, the 'defective' one.
Doepul-i and Ryuka locked eyes, and immediately, both of them stepped back, both were enveloped in the flames of Doepul-i and disappeared.
"RYUKA!" Anser shouted one last time, but it was useless.
There was nobody there anymore.
On the ground, Anser crawled to Ji Noo's body, and tired, defeated above all, he hugged him on the ground.
"W-Why...why have you left me alone?"
If only...
No, rather, if only he had never chosen to repeat his life, this would never have happened.
And that's how the repeater came out of hiding, and just as this story began, that's how it ended.
In a flash of red, the repeater went up to the sky; once again, the sky turned red.
And at that moment, time sped up with inhuman speed.
Each season passed quickly: winter, autumn, summer, spring...and at each of the seasons, Anser remained embracing Ji Noo.
At least his body.
He had hoped that if he waited again...he might come back.
Day after day, night after night, week after week... he never moved, his wounds healed and some became infected, but it didn't matter, he only wanted him.
He didn't want to repeat the same mistakes as before.
And ironically, everything was repeating.
The fall of empires, births, chaos, wars, mystical creatures, demons, wars, and him...he remained by his side until his corpse decomposed along with the earth beneath it.
How many more times would I have to live through that cycle before finally finding him again?
No, he couldn't die, so he just had to wait. The odds of history repeating itself were now impossible, since it was confirmed that the story had ended. So this world...it would simply continue to evolve, forgetting Ji Noo, everyone.
But even if he does return...
«Will I still have value for you, even if you no longer remember what we went through?»
That was his last monologue through eternal tears.