Chapter 53
#053
1.
The trash incinerator in the inactive E Sector.
With soot from the blackened walls and half-burned ash piled up to ankle height, even homeless people who don't want to freeze to death won't come near the place.
“Good. This is perfect.”
Meaning it was a perfect place to rough someone up without drawing attention.
-Clunk!
I roughly dumped the bag containing Shion onto the floor and opened it.
“…….”
Shion was still sleeping peacefully.
As I'd felt during those five days we lived together before,
with her eyes closed and behaving herself, she had the cute air of a peerless beauty.
But to me, she looked like nothing more than an utterly shameless dine-and-dash criminal.
My head still feels numb.
Pretending to be a True Ancestor while sucking me dry, then running off without paying?
Because of her, Brother Iming died, and I ended up killing myself with a clone.
“I understand.”
You must've been desperate in your own way. You probably had your reasons.
In the end, she was also a victim of Twilight Resource Development's brutal human experiments.
But so what.
Fraud, extortion, threats. And breach of contract on top of that.
If you had a miserable childhood, does that give you free rein to commit crimes and stab people in the back?
Who in this fucked-up city doesn't have a story?
“I also have a fuck ton of baggage!!!”
-Smack, smack
I rolled up my sleeves and gave Shion's cheeks a brisk series of slaps.
“Wake up, Princess.”
Even after I tapped her cheeks a few times, she still didn't wake up.
Does a little tapping really not do it?
“You're not pretending to be asleep, are you? If you are, get up. I'm going to hit you harder this time.”
The moment I raised my arm a little higher.
Shion's eyes snapped open.
Her crimson eyes, eerie as a cursed ruby, scattered their glow through the darkness.
I folded my arms and took a step back.
Wrapped in a straitjacket, Shion rose from the spot like a ghost.
“Was it you who woke this one's long slumber?”
This was the same script as last time.
The moment Shion recited the line, the air in the ruins turned heavy.
A chill, as if insects were crawling over my skin.
An intimidating aura that didn't fall short even compared to Kisara Yagyu.
The pressure of a predator so overwhelming I couldn't possibly think of us as the same species.
Last time, I was so scared I practically bowed like a robot.
If Shion said 'bang,' I'd roll over onto my back and go, 'Woof woof, Master!'
But I'd looked at the data, hadn't I?
Shion is a fake True Ancestor.
A total dunce who can only use 0th-tier magic.
So what was this presence that made me want to kneel right away?
Wouldn't that be illusion magic or hypnosis or something like that?
She was probably just putting on a show of force.
“Will you not show proper respect? I am the sole Red Moon, the head of the Tsukimiya family, Shion Tsukimiya.”
Shion lifted her chin stiffly and growled.
Fine, if that's how it was, I crossed my arms and waited to see how far she'd go.
“…….”
Shion glanced around in obvious fluster, then drew blood-red mana up from her fingertips.
“…To think you wouldn't even answer this one's words. You need to learn manners. Lower your head, if you can!!!”
A wave of mana echoed through the wide chamber, sending a prickling chill through my skin.
Wow, that is pretty convincing.
But that's as far as it goes.
This seems to be the only move Shion can make.
A strategy of spreading her arms wide and shouting, 'Rawr~! I'm a True Ancestor~! Scary, right!!!'
“Done?”
“What…? How dare you speak so casually to this one….”
I cut her off and gathered my mana.
“You know who I hate most?”
Black mana filled the circuit even more densely than in the previous loop.
“The kind of bastard who runs off without paying his debts.”
“Y-You insolent thing! How dare you spout such nonsense at this one…! This one doesn't owe any debts!”
This was the reason I'd gone out of my way to drag Shion all the way out to this lonely place.
To drill some manners into her.
Going forward, I needed Shion's cooperation.
With Arbel in full sleepy-cat mode these days, I'd have to clear the loop all by myself.
And in the meantime, I couldn't keep watch over this one all day long.
So if I wanted to keep her from pulling any nonsense, I needed a more animalistic approach.
In other words, I had to burn into her mind who was on top and who was on the bottom.
“Y-You're a human who needs education. I shall show you this one's power clearly!”
Black flames violently swirled around me.
The newly unlocked Death Sentence, Incineration.
And if we were both 0th-tier,
“Really? Then go ahead and teach me.”
Me, Cedric? I wasn't about to lose.
It was very satisfying to watch Shion's face go pale.
2.
After roughly finishing my etiquette lesson for the True Ancestor pretender,
I left Shion tucked away in my studio apartment and headed quickly to Chuihong Hall.
“Brother!!!!”
“Fuck, you startled me!!! Rowen! What's going on!”
Iming, who was trimming his nose hairs with a pair of tiny scissors, nearly jumped out of his skin.
In the past, even that asshole of a face, the kind that would've made me skip a meal, would have looked cool to me.
“I missed you, Brother!!!”
My eyes stung.
Even though I knew we'd meet again, the reason his face still felt this welcome…
was probably because of how intense the brotherly affection Iming had shown in the previous loop was.
I could still picture Iming in Overlord mode, charging in bravely like Don Quixote.
“Jeez, gross, you freak. What kind of bullshit are you up to now? You here to borrow money or something?”
I hugged the reluctant Iming tightly.
Iming looked briefly startled, then chuckled and patted my back with a hand like a pot lid.
After that heated embrace,
“Brother, there's something I've been hiding from you.”
I told Iming everything honestly.
That I was Maman Ceres's spy, and that I'd even slept with her.
Iming's reaction was a little different from what I'd expected.
“Hmm, is that so?”
he said, tilting his head.
-CRUNCH!
“Hup…!”
Iming's body hook slammed into my solar plexus.
Even though I was tense, I didn't even have time to react.
In boxing manga, when a body hook comes flying up from below, the person lifts up and folds over like a shrimp, right?
It was exactly that kind of punch.
“Gyaaaah!!!”
Everything in front of me turned yellow, and I couldn't breathe properly.
The contents of my stomach spilled onto the floor in a rush.
What the hell?
Had I not built up enough favor yet?
Or had Brother Iming been a little drunk on great-hero hype back then?
“B-Brother….”
As I crawled along the floor in confusion, vomiting like a broken faucet,
“Bwahahaha!!!”
I heard Iming's hearty laughter.
“Hey, you shabi bastard. How could you sleep with a woman your brother had his eye on? Get up, idiot. A man shouldn't be such a wuss about something like that.”
Then he grabbed me and hauled me to my feet….
-Smack!
And Iming landed one more shot to my stomach.
“Kuhk!!!”
After those two heavy body shots,
Iming patted my shoulder with a relieved expression.
“I've been waiting for you to tell me.”
“I-I'm sorry… Brother….”
“Anyway, now that you've told me, it's fine. Does it hurt a lot?”
“Not at all!”
“You must be hungry with your stomach empty. Let's eat a little and talk.”
The radiant Iming, Golden Iming.
The hero himself.
He was so dazzling I couldn't even look directly at him.
3.
A mountain-and-sea feast was laid out, so lavish it looked like the round table's legs might buckle.
As if an oil field had burst, the glistening grease on every plate flashed beneath the golden lights.
While the meal was being prepared, I gave a rough account of my situation.
As planned, I still didn't bring up Shion's story.
Again, it wasn't because I didn't trust Iming.
Rather, I was hiding it because I was certain I'd be able to get his help whenever I needed it.
Because, when it came to sneaking the fake True Ancestor away and making use of her, a nameless 8th-rank fixer would stay under the radar better than someone like Hyangju of Hyeongwi.
Instead, I only told him that I might have to be away for a while.
“Hmm, so you want leave? That shouldn't be too hard. But Rowen.”
“Yes, Brother.”
Honestly, I thought that if I told Iming everything, he'd propose a double-spy arrangement.
Planting someone on Twilight Resource Development's board would be too good an opportunity for Iming to pass up, after all.
But Iming said something entirely different.
“How about you officially come work under me? I'll settle things with Ceres. If you hand over the original Project Z data that woman leaked… I should be able to make that happen.”
“Pardon?”
“I'm saying you should cut ties with her entirely, while you still can.”
It was advice given in all seriousness.
Iming continued, dipping a crisp-roasted duck skin in sugar.
“Ceres Cassian. She's an attractive woman. You might even think you've charmed her well. But remember this: that woman is a poisonous flower.”
“Pardon?”
“Rank aside, she's a woman who's lived in this filthy underworld for over two hundred years. Keep walking that tightrope and you're going to fall.”
“…….”
It was heartfelt advice I was genuinely grateful for, but…
“I'll think about it a little more.”
I trust Maman Ceres.
I still have more magic to learn, too.
And even if she was overshadowed by Brother Iming's radiance, Maman did her best in her own way.
Absolutely not.
It's not because Maman Ceres's embrace is warm, or because I want to see a Ceres-and-Ines one-person, two-role performance someday.
I'm not that shallow a man!
“Anyway, don't mind me for a while and take care of your business. If you need help with anything, ask.”
“Yes sir, thank you! Brother!”
“Take care of yourself.”
“By the way, Brother, I have a gift for you.”
“Huh? A gift?”
Anyway.
“W-What is this!!!! This beautiful outfit…!!!!!!!! Is it even okay for such an outfit to exist in this world?!!!!! Truth! It contains truth!!! Rowen!!!! You must be a genius!!!!”
“It'll suit you well, Brother.”
“Wahahahaha!!!! I really did get myself a fine younger brother!!!! I'll try it on next time!”
After expressing my gratitude for my big brother's boundless affection in the form of a bunny girl, I headed out.
And so, on the way home,
as I walked through an alley in Sector C,
I don't know how to put it.
I felt weirdly restless, just like I did back with Akit Areng.
In the previous loop, I was Ceres's spy.
But in this loop, I'm being helped by Iming.
Yesterday's enemy becomes today's benefactor.
The cycle of regression makes it hard to fully trust even yesterday's companions.
Within this fickle causality, I felt the loneliness of being the only one who never changed.
“Jung-hyeok… I finally understand you now.”
Still, it's not all bad.
For example, getting to experience things I never could have in the previous loop?
“Boksun, Master is home.”
I grinned as I opened the door to my studio apartment and called out the alias I'd given Shion.
I heard a rustling from inside…
Then Shion, my timid little pet, appeared.
“Kya….”
I couldn't help but admire that figure.
“See? I knew it would suit you!”
“H-How dare you… treat this one, this one like this….”
The bunny-girl fake True Ancestor is a true legend.
The feminine charm radiating from her slender waistline stirred up a protective instinct.
Her white, straight collarbones stood out against the pink bunny suit.
Her thighs trembled faintly with shame beneath the stockings.
Her two arms pitifully covered her body, as if trying to make up for the lack of fabric.
The upright rabbit ears pushed the costume's perfection to the limit.
“S-Such a vulgar outfit….”
Shion glared at me, her face flushed bright red, grinding her teeth.
She seemed to like it so much that tears were even welling at the corners of her eyes.
“Ahem.”
When I gave her a warning,
Shion flinched, then said in a trembling voice,
“M-Master… y-you're ba-ba-back….”
“It's not ba-ba-back. Say 'you're back.'”
“Hiiyaaaak!!!”
Yeah.
In the previous loop, there's no way I would've ever seen a bunny-girl fake True Ancestor hissing like that.