Simply because I thought I could make Nam Yuri grow by leaps and bounds.
In my previous life, when I first started playing the game, I sent her to the Yeonseong Nam family without a second thought.
As a result, I was left in shock when I saw the illustration of Nam Yuri transformed into a horrible monster.
‘And on top of that, the Kang Hanbyeol Devouring Ending was waiting for me….’
Will you send Nam Yuri to the Yeonseong Nam family during this summer vacation?
Despite having already guessed her circumstances from everything that had happened so far, that question was a trap aimed at players blinded by the desire to strengthen their party.
Perhaps I was becoming overly immersed, but now that I had been reincarnated into this world, it also felt like the game was warning me to treat the characters not as bits of data, but as truly living people.
Naturally, I had no intention of choosing such an option. I did not want the world to be destroyed, and I considered Nam Yuri my friend.
Even if she weakened because she did not return to the Yeonseong Nam family, though I did not know why that would happen.
However….
‘I can’t be satisfied with that.’
In the game, choosing No allowed us to avoid the Kang Hanbyeol Devouring Ending.
For the three years in which the game’s story progressed, at least until we graduated from the academy.
But I could not guarantee what kind of future would unfold after that.
Perhaps choosing No merely guaranteed peace for a limited time.
It would only postpone the future in which Nam Yuri was transformed into a chimera by the Yeonseong Nam family.
Therefore, to create a certain future in which destruction would never come….
‘I have to solve the fundamental cause.’
According to the game,
Nam Yuri was an artificially created life-form and an experimental subject made by the Yeonseong Nam family.
She had been created for the sake of fulfilling the family’s deepest wish, a fact the game had never revealed.
Because of that, she had been used in the Yeonseong Nam family’s experiments since childhood and had come to hate the family.
That was what I had guessed.
So the fundamental solution was to make sure the family could never lay a hand on her again.
Even if that meant having her sever ties with the family in the most direct and crude way possible.
‘But something doesn’t make sense. Why does Yuri remain with the family even though she’s disgusted by them?’
If Nam Yuri herself wished to, she should have been able to leave the family at any time.
I could not help but wonder.
‘Could there be some reason…?’
Before attempting to solve Nam Yuri’s problem, it would probably be better to understand the situation precisely.
As it happened, this was the perfect opportunity.
“As for me, my vacation will probably be the same as always. I’ll hole up at the family estate, I guess? They told me there’s an important experiment going on and that I absolutely have to return without wandering off somewhere else. Ah, it’s boring just thinking about it…. I wish vacation would end already so the new term could start!”
Seizing upon the topic, Nam Yuri spoke in a bright voice.
It was exactly as the game had portrayed it.
I had been waiting for this moment, so I quickly opened my mouth.
“Then why not just not go back? If you hate it, why force yourself to go?”
“Huh? But the family….”
Nam Yuri tilted her head as if to ask what had gotten into me, then let her voice trail off.
I answered her.
“When have you ever been the type to obediently follow the family’s orders?”
“Hmm… Come to think of it, you’re right! Why should I follow their orders? Ah, now I’m annoyed. Listening to you, Gyeonu, my rebellious spirit is suddenly bubbling up like crazy! I shouldn’t go back this vacation. Instead, I’ll stay here and have lots of fun with Hanbyeol, Dubyeol, and everyone else!”
“Or come visit Seoul. With Hanbyeol and the others.”
“Huh? Seoul?”
“You’ll be bored during vacation, won’t you? I mean, come visit me, Haneul, and the twins under the pretext of taking a trip. Eunbi is in Seoul too, so we can all meet up and have fun together.”
“I’ve never been to Seoul before. Oh, great! That sounds so much fun! I’ll do that!”
Nam Yuri leaned toward me, visibly delighted.
I chuckled at her reaction and decided to invite my other friends to my house while I was at it.
Of course, I would need my parents’ permission, but I did not think I had much to worry about.
They had wanted to meet my friends for quite some time.
“I’ve been wanting to go at least once anyway, so I’ll go see Seoul too! I’m really looking forward to it. Oh, Gyeonu, I heard your father is incredibly strong too. If I ask him, do you think he might teach me a thing or two?”
“Nom nom. So we’re sleeping over at your house? And you’ll feed us too? I like that.”
“Sure, come live at our house. We have plenty of rooms. Just don’t live like a freeloader.”
“Senior, can we come too? Yay, that sounds fun. It’ll be my first time sleeping at a boy’s house.”
Kang Hanbyeol, Cha Eunsol, Yu Gaeul, and the rest of my friends were all in favor as well.
Yeon Haneul was no exception.
For some reason, though, she pouted with an displeased look on her face.
“I’m sleeping at your house too. I want to play with Ye-eun.”
“Uh… Of course, you’re welcome. Ye-eun will be very happy too.”
Was she feeling left out?
Even though we lived in the same neighborhood, Yeon Haneul insisted on sleeping over at our house.
I had no particular reason to object, and I did not want to get on her bad side for no reason, so I nodded vigorously.
In any case.
‘That means I’ve stopped Yuri from returning to the Yeonseong Nam family this summer vacation.’
I secretly sighed in relief without letting my friends notice, then decided to focus on solving the next problem.
The matter of Nam Yuri’s circumstances.
“By the way, can I ask you something?”
“Sure, go ahead! Ask me, ask me! I’ll answer anything I can!”
“Why do you remain with your family when you hate them?”
“…”
Even though I knew it was rude,
I asked Nam Yuri the question.
I judged that the time we had spent knowing each other would allow her to answer me generously.
Indeed, although she flinched at the unexpected question along with the others, she did not complain about my bluntness.
Instead, she accepted it calmly.
“Hmm… It’s not something I really want to tell people… but I think I can tell you guys. In return, promise me just one thing.”
“What promise?”
“Don’t be afraid of me.”
“…”
Nam Yuri smiled bitterly.
Then, watching our reactions, she fidgeted with her fingers.
It was unexpected to me.
She had never shown such a timid side of herself before.
‘…Does she fear it that much? Is she afraid that we’ll hate her if we learn about her circumstances?’
It was an absurd assumption.
But I could not readily deny it.
Nam Yuri had changed greatly over the year since she began spending time with us.
As proof, unlike before, she no longer wore a white dress.
“It’s okay.”
“…”
Realizing that fact anew, I felt a strange sense of satisfaction.
So, to reassure Nam Yuri, I offered her comforting words.
“Why would we be afraid of you? Does it make sense to be afraid of a friend? Right?”
“Ah….”
I sought confirmation from the others.
The quick-witted Go Eunbi, Yu Gaeul, Lisa, and Kang Hanbyeol immediately chimed in with firm voices.
Nam Yuri seemed somewhat surprised.
Then, at last—
“Thank you, everyone!”
She blinked her violet eyes blankly before breaking into a radiant smile.
Then she began.
“Actually, I’m not human. If I had to put it one way… I’m closer to a divine beast.”
* * *
What made a hunter superior?
Every family might define it differently, but the Yeonseong Nam family’s definition was as follows:
The strongest human, immortal and ageless, possessing an eternal and indestructible nature.
The Yeonseong Nam family spared no effort in creating such a being.
At times, they even defied the laws of nature and created life artificially.
“You know how people from the Yeonseong Nam family, once their bodies reach a certain level of maturity, provide the family with their genetic information? Women provide eggs and men provide sperm at regular intervals. It’s used for research purposes by the family.”
“…”
My friends swallowed hard.
Nam Yuri shrugged as if she had expected their reaction.
“It’s somewhat contrary to bioethics, but it can’t exactly be called a crime. The provision of genetic information is carried out through lawful procedures and with consent, never coercion.”
In return, members of the Yeonseong Nam family received the family’s protection, while outsiders connected to the family received appropriate benefits.
Thus, although the Yeonseong Nam family’s genetic research drew criticism from the public, there was no grounds for it to be considered illegal.
“I’m an artificial life-form born through that process—a homunculus. I was made using the Egg of Bond possessed by Hanbyeol and Dubyeol, mixed with the family head’s sperm and the genetic information of various monsters. That’s why I said I was closer to a divine beast than a human.”
In that sense, the people publicly known as her parents were actually nothing more than impostors.
They were merely acting out their roles in accordance with the family head’s orders.
“If anything, my real father would be the family head who provided the sperm.”
“…”
As my friends lost their voices in shock at the revelation,
Nam Yuri spat out the words self-deprecatingly.
“Anyway, the me created that way is currently the being closest to fulfilling the family’s deepest wish. That’s why I was accepted as a member of the family, and also…”
Whenever necessary for the sake of that wish, she was treated as an experimental subject.
Even now….
Unfortunately, she had no way to refuse.
She was weaker than the family head, there was not a single person in the family willing to help her,
and above all, whenever she tried to rebel….
“The family head forces me to obey. By taking my heart hostage.”
Nam Sion, the head of the Yeonseong Nam family.
Known by the epithet Ouroboros, symbolizing infinite circulation and absolute perfection in alchemy, he had removed Nam Yuri’s heart and kept it in his possession.
Using that heart as a medium, he controlled her.
He had even forcibly bound her to a contract with a clear hierarchical relationship, unlike ordinary divine beast contracts, which were based on equality….
As a result, she had been reduced to a state in which she could not even die at will, no matter how much she wanted to.
“That’s what happened.”
* * *
She was not human.
Beginning with those words, we listened to the details of Nam Yuri’s circumstances and were left utterly aghast.
I was no exception, despite having already guessed some things about her through the game’s information.
‘I never imagined she had been through something like this… It’s even more serious than I thought….’
Perhaps the reason it had never been revealed in the game was that the story had primarily been told from Kang Hanbyeol’s perspective, making it impossible to portray.
After learning the truth we had been unaware of until now, I could not help but feel chills.
At the same time, I felt sorry for Nam Yuri and could only pity her.
The others seemed to feel much the same, their expressions darkening.
Lisa and Min Arin sniffled, while Go Eunbi could not hold back her tears and finally burst into sobs.
“Yuru Yuri…. Yuri, I’m sorry…. I—I didn’t know any of this…. Even during the last vacation… Sob….”
“Ah! Eunbi Kkabi! Why are you crying!? Don’t cry because of me for no reason! I’m really okay. I got used to things like this a long time ago.”
“Sniff…”
The person who ought to have been comforted at that moment was Nam Yuri herself, not the sobbing Go Eunbi.
Yet Nam Yuri, flustered as she tried to comfort Go Eunbi, could only appear even more pitiful.
That made all of us want to help her even more.
I furrowed my brow.
‘I can’t naively think that all we have to do is get through this summer vacation.’
Severing Nam Yuri’s ties with the family would not solve everything.
As long as her heart remained with the family head, she would never be able to escape this chain.
Nor would we be able to prevent the Destruction Ending.
‘Now I understand why Yuri’s stats drop if she doesn’t return to the family during this vacation. It’s because the head of the Yeonseong Nam family damages Yuri’s heart. And the reason Yuri transforms into a chimera if she returns to the family is… probably because the experiment they’re conducting this time fails.’
Therefore, to truly save Nam Yuri, we had to reclaim her heart.
Even if that meant standing against the head of the Yeonseong Nam family.
Having steeled my resolve, I opened my mouth.
“Let’s teach the Yeonseong Nam family a lesson. We’re going to retrieve Yuri’s heart.”
* * *
We could not turn our backs on a friend’s misfortune.
Not a single person objected.
All of us agreed to participate, and we immediately put our heads together to devise a plan.
‘It’s not completely hopeless. We can succeed. No—we have to succeed.’
We designated summer vacation as the start date of the operation.
Until then, we would continue refining the plan to increase our chances of success.
We encouraged one another and were about to part ways when….
That was when the anomaly occurred.
“…Huh? Ah… Ugh!”
“Kang Hanbyeol!”
“…!”
Kang Hanbyeol, who had been about to rise from his seat, suddenly began to tremble.
He suffered a fit of delirium.
As if all the strength had drained from his body, he nearly collapsed onto the floor.
We could not help but be alarmed.
Park Sagun and Yong Haerang, who were nearby, hurried to support him.
Lisa also rushed toward him.
Before long, he regained his composure.
“What did I just see…?”
“Are you okay? Are you conscious?”
“Ah, Gyeonu….”
His face had gone deathly pale.
Kang Hanbyeol raised his head.
When his eyes fell on me, he let out a sigh of relief for some reason.
Then his gaze shifted to Yeon Haneul standing beside me, and—
“Yeon Haneul, you…! Gyeonu! Get away from Yeon Haneul right now! She’s dangerous!”
He suddenly revealed open hostility.
Yeon Haneul, I, and the other friends could not help but be bewildered by his behavior.
“What? What are you talking about?”
“Hanbyeol, what’s wrong…?”
No matter how I looked at it, Kang Hanbyeol’s condition was abnormal.
Had he been affected by some kind of magic that influenced the mind?
To check his condition, I brought up a message in my field of vision.
And after confirming its contents, I was horrified.
‘That’s impossible….’
[Personal Information]
Name: Kang Hanbyeol (Male · 18 years old) (1 → 2nd Regression)
Titles: Young Battle Fiend and 9 others
Affiliation: Geumgang Academy
Kang Hanbyeol had regressed.
I Became the Childhood Friend of the Mid-Boss