Transmigrated into the Gacha Game I Abandoned for 10 Years-Chapter 197: Afterword (4)
The heroes who hadn’t received a wedding ring from Kim Hyunwoo quietly engaged in a battle of nerves, while the heroes who had received the rings began to get excited about the wedding ceremony, one that Kim Hyunwoo didn’t even fully know about yet.
Kim Hyunwoo stood in front of the door with a slightly nervous expression.
It was a place usually used as an empty room with nothing in it.
But right now, inside, there was Loria.
“Phew-”
In fact, Kim Hyunwoo’s memory had not fully returned yet.
But strangely, the more time passed, the more his memories of Loria slowly came back, and this process felt quite amazing to Kim Hyunwoo.
It was no wonder, because the process of regaining his memory didn’t come suddenly as if it had just appeared in his mind, but instead, it arose naturally as if it had always been there.
Thus, after clearing his throat naturally, Kim Hyunwoo carefully opened the door.
“Eek-! It hurts! It hurts! It really hurts!!!”
“Why do I have to go through such a hard time because of you!!”
“I said I’m sorry, didn’t I!”
He could soon see Charyll, who was putting her in a chokehold just like Merilda, who was biting Loria as much as she could.
“…?”
And in the middle of all this, Kim Hyunwoo couldn’t help but wear a confused expression.
Just after what seemed like a very quiet and touching reunion ended abruptly, Kim Hyunwoo looked at Loria, who was holding her head as if it hurt from being smacked by Charyll.
She seemed to twist her head here and there several times before she soon looked at Kim Hyunwoo.
“Hmmm…”
Loria was certainly different from before.
The cold sarcasm that had been on her lips was already gone, and her eyes, which had been loosely drooping, were now bright and sparkling.
‘To be precise, it would be more accurate to say that she hasn’t changed, but rather returned to how she was originally.’
As Kim Hyunwoo was thinking this, he saw Loria glance at him and then lower her head.
Then, she glanced at Kim Hyunwoo again and awkwardly mumbled.
A brief moment of silence.
And then.
“…Hello?”
Soon, the greeting popped out of Loria’s mouth, accompanied by an awkward smile.
Seeing her with a subtle smile as if she still found talking a bit awkward, Kim Hyunwoo opened his mouth.
“Indeed.”
“No, you haven’t seen me after a long time, right?”
“…Is that so?”
“Right, you’ve already seen my appearance when that guy was in my body.”
“Well, that’s true, but meeting you like this is still the first time, right?”
“Eh, technically, I haven’t seen you after a long time either. After all, I was the first one.”
“…You were the first?”
“There was also when I sent you a message.”
“…Oh.”
As Kim Hyunwoo recalled the moment he first fell into Arteil, he let out a soft sigh, and Loria asked with a small smile.
“Do you remember now?”
“…That was you?”
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“Yes, it was thanks to the contract with him that I couldn’t even greet you properly. But still, it was nice.”
Loria clicked her tongue and seemed a little regretful. Seeing this, Kim Hyunwoo decided to ask the question that had been bothering him the most, the one he hadn’t been able to resolve until now.
“But Loria.”
“Yeah, what is it?”
“Why did you bring me back to this world?”
In response to Kim Hyunwoo’s question, Loria immediately answered as if it was the most obvious thing.
“Because I wanted to see you.”
“…Because you wanted to see me?”
“Yeah.”
“You didn’t have some goal like saving this world?”
At Kim Hyunwoo’s laugh, Loria smirked and spoke.
“Hah, no way I cared about that. Not at all.”
“Ah…”
At Loria’s words, Kim Hyunwoo felt memories of her gradually coming back to him, almost like they were seeping into his mind.
“Definitely…”
The information about Loria started to emerge in Kim Hyunwoo’s mind, as if it were being loaded.
Her name is Loria. After Kim Hyunwoo helped her become a 3-Star, he gave her the alias “Canceller”, because she had the ability to stop time, or more specifically, to take away the “perception” of living beings within a certain radius for a brief period.
‘…To be more precise, it wasn’t the ability to stop time, but rather her power to steal the “awareness” of all living beings within a certain radius for a set amount of time. But I thought it sounded much cooler back then, so I gave her that name.’
And she, whether back then or now, always had a cheerful personality that loved to joke around.
“Right?”
“Yeah.”
Kim Hyunwoo nodded at Loria’s response.
“Definitely, I didn’t think you were acting to protect the peace of the world or anything like that.”
The more he spoke, the more he felt a flood of information about her coming into his mind, and as he continued, Loria chuckled softly and carried on speaking.
“Right, the only reason I called you here was because I wanted to see you. To be honest, I never really planned to bring you here.”
“Why?”
“Why? Of course, if you came here, it would be dangerous. Have you forgotten how Lartania was in the beginning?”
“Ah…”
“So, I never intended to call you. Originally, all I asked that guy was to let me see you once more.”
Loria sighed deeply and continued speaking.
“But then that guy called you here on his own. I just answered the question, ‘Don’t I want to see Kim Hyunwoo again?’”
After saying this, Loria made a slightly apologetic face and spoke.
“Anyway, sorry.”
“…Suddenly?”
“I’ve wanted to talk to you since we met. Even though this wasn’t what I originally wanted, it’s true that you came here because of me.”
At Loria’s words, Kim Hyunwoo was silent for a moment before responding.
“There’s no need to apologize like that.”
“…Really?”
“Of course, it was a bit hard at first, but after some time, I was fine with it.”
Kim Hyunwoo said this and then, as if recalling something from earlier, changed the subject and asked.
“By the way, what was going on with Merilda and Charyll when I came in earlier?”
“Ah, that? Well-”
Loria paused for a moment, thought about it, and then awkwardly smiled and spoke.
“…Just a secret?”
“…??”
“Well, now that my memories are coming back, I think I’ve accumulated some resentment, along with all sorts of things.”
Kim Hyunwoo gave her a confused look, but since she didn’t seem to want to talk about it, he soon nodded as if he understood.
After a while, Loria, who had been staring at Kim Hyunwoo’s face, gently touched his cheek and spoke.
“Still, it’s good to see your face again.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah, you probably don’t know, but I regretted it a lot after you disappeared.”
“……”
“If I had treated you a little better, if I had supported you instead of falling into jealousy like the other heroes, I really have thought about that a lot.”
“……”
“Like a fool, I only realized how precious something was after it was gone.”
Kim Hyunwoo was silent for a moment, seeing the bitter expression on Loria’s face, before speaking.
“But still, you’ve come back like this, right?”
“That’s true.”
“Don’t be so gloomy.”
Kim Hyunwoo said this and patted Loria’s head.
In fact, many comforting words came to mind, but he chose not to say them out loud.
At least for now, he felt that showing it through his actions like this would resonate with her more deeply than just saying comforting words.
And then.
“…I guess this won’t work.”
“Huh?”
After a brief moment, Kim Hyunwoo tilted his head in confusion at Loria’s voice that came to his ear.
Loria, now with a smile instead of her earlier bitter expression, hugged Kim Hyunwoo tightly and spoke.
“I’ll take responsibility.”
“For what?”
“Because you came to this world because of me, I’ll take responsibility for that.”
“…I keep telling you, you don’t need to feel burdened about that…”
“No, I want to feel burdened. That way, I can be with you, the Kim Hyunwoo I’ve been wanting to see again, right? And-”
With a playful smile, Loria showed him her finger.
“-I can put a ring here too.”
“……”
Hearing this from Loria, Kim Hyunwoo finally realized what she was implying, smiled wryly, and spoke.
“So that’s what you meant?”
“That’s right.”
Loria, smiling confidently, grinned and spoke.
“You’ll give it to me, right?”
“I will.”
Kim Hyunwoo didn’t say anything more.
Loria also remained silent.
However, the silence between them was only broken by the brief moment their lips met.
After a while.
“But are you really okay?”
“What do you mean?”
“Think about it, you were pulled into this world because of me.”
Kim Hyunwoo responded, as if it didn’t bother him-
“It’s fine, I can go back.”
“Huh? You can go back…?”
“Yeah. Actually, the Mysterious Merchant said they’d help me get back to my original world-”
-Suddenly, the former heroes of Lartania popped out.
And then.
“I, I was wrong. You won’t leave now, will you? Please… don’t leave me.”
“If you tell me what I did wrong, I’ll fix everything, I promise- I’ll do as you say-”
“Look, see this? I’ve repented, right? I cut it off as an act of repentance…I won’t do it again. Never again-”
“I don’t need gold, or any famous sword or artifact. Actually, I only need… I only need you. Please…don’t abandon me.”
As the heroes, seemingly waiting for their turn, began to speak.
“……”
Kim Hyunwoo looked bewildered.
