Chapter 41
* * *
The original novel "Possessed by an Idle Game" began by introducing a game where the player played as a hero raising a saint.
The game was called "Make the Idle Holy Maiden Happy," focusing on raising the affection of Azazel, a saint with succubus blood.
"Welcome! You're quite late today!"
Kang Si-woo, an office worker at a black company where overtime and all-nighters were common, preferred these types of games. Idle games where characters grew automatically without investing time or money.
"While you were away, Hero, our party defended against the northern monster offensive! I specifically suggested setting aside your compensation!"
"[Click to receive 5,800 GOLD]"
He simply enjoyed being greeted brightly by Azazel when he turned on his smartphone after returning home with his exhausted body.
"...How nice it would be if reality was like this game, earning money without doing anything."
Lying on his bed, Kang Si-woo feared tomorrow's arrival. He preferred his hero character acting in the game over his miserable reality.
"[Kang Si-woo], there's a small play at the theater today. Would you like to watch it together? They say it's a heart-fluttering romance...!"
For good reason - in the game, his protagonist had women flocking to him without effort, and didn't worry about money or food.
Though they shared the same name, how could their treatment be so different? Azazel's affection level, smiling brightly at him, had already moved beyond trust toward love.
"Azazel... if you were real, would you like me?"
Looking at Azazel, who was both the game's main icon and the heroine appealing to male players as a succubus, Kang Si-woo fell into thought.
Poor family circumstances due to lack of money, and a limp from a factory accident.
He too easily concluded that no one would like such a man.
Kang Si-woo was unfortunate from birth. As if someone had deliberately made his life this way.
"Hmm, the play was quite ambiguous. I didn't like how the Outer God suddenly appeared and made the characters unhappy."
The dialogue after finishing the theater event. After hearing Azazel's words, it was the player's turn to choose an option.
"[I enjoyed watching it with you.]"
"[I didn't like how it suddenly turned unhappy either. No matter how many hints were dropped, people watch plays for happy endings after all.]"
Through such events, various gifts, and story progression, Kang Si-woo could raise his affection with Azazel.
As always, Kang Si-woo chose the first option.
He was considering deleting the game, tired of seeing repetitive dialogue and scripts.
Though there might be people in this world who found salvation through games or met lovers and married.
"...This is boring. It's just virtual, not reality after all?"
To Kang Si-woo, it was just another game. The story and direction weren't particularly good; he had only started playing because of Azazel's revealing outfits.
"[Kang Si-woo], are you leaving already? Ah, there's still so much I haven't shown you!"
Just as meeting was easy, parting was too light for him.
Azazel's attempts to stop him when closing the game now felt too cliché. Updates had stopped, with only a few posts appearing in the inactive community.
After sticking with it for over two years, he'd done enough.
"[Are you sure you want to delete the game?]"
As if it was time to let go, Kang Si-woo raised his hand to the delete button.
"Huh? Why did my phone freeze..."
At that moment, the smartphone screen flashed, and Kang Si-woo vanished from his bed.
When he opened his eyes, he had become his customized hero character, and,
"Oh my, hello?"
"...Azazel?"
"Do you know me...?"
As if by fate's trick, he met Gabriel, who looked identical to Azazel.
* * *
Time passed, and Kang Si-woo eventually unleashed his twisted personality on Gabriel. The reason he expressed his sadistic and violent tendencies toward his lover was.
It stemmed from the feeling that she wasn't a living person, but just a game character.
This world was like the game brought to life. He thought it didn't matter what he did to characters he'd only seen on screen.
He thought it was fine to act like a playboy however he wanted.
"...Azazel? Is it really Azazel?"
Kang Si-woo swallowed hard looking at Azazel before him. He wondered how she found him when he thought they'd never meet.
"Did you think I was my sister?"
Azazel showed her displeasure seeing his expression. She had expected him to look forward to their meeting, but he was fidgeting uncomfortably.
"I'm sorry for confusing you and your sister. I had my reasons..."
Honestly, some feelings remained like sediment. After all, she was once someone he loved.
But why did seeing her face make him so angry?
Originally, she hadn't properly known about Kang Si-woo without meeting Bing Yeon. She had been trapped in the game, loving a man who lived in a different world.
Though it might have been false emotions for him, she had genuinely loved the man.
"Is that all you have to say? If I were you, I'd be too sorry to say anything."
In the waiting room where tournament participants gathered, their sharp voices drew surrounding attention.
"...How ridiculous. Is that kiss mark on your neck from my sister?"
Such traces seemed to make it worse. The fresh-looking blue bruise. It was absurd that he came to fight Azazel after leaving such marks of love.
Azazel glared at Kang Si-woo with crossed arms. Unlike the original work, she had learned from her master why her sister Gabriel had an affair with Kang Si-woo.
No matter how perfectly an author crafted the setting, as the work progressed, the flow of events changed according to characters' personalities and actions.
"Reasons? Very well. Let's hear them."
Azazel now held feelings of love-hate rather than longing for Kang Si-woo. This contrasted with how he blamed his unfortunate past or continued his trashy behavior even after entering this world.
"I thought your sister was you, Azazel. You looked identical, and I came from a different world from the original you, so I didn't know properly!"
Unaware of this fact, Kang Si-woo made a tearful plea to Azazel. He simply thought such appeals would work on her.
The Azazel he remembered was a naive girl who easily believed others, so he judged she would easily fall for his excuse of "not knowing."
"No matter how many times I called her Azazel, your sister didn't deny it, so I had no choice but to believe! She pretended to know our memories through succubus abilities!"
Dream demons were always like this. A race that dug into prey's hearts to find weaknesses, then enjoyed trampling them.
Azazel truly hated her bloodline. Even chosen as a saint, she wasn't properly treated due to the conservative Papal Curia.
"Yes, I deserve your curses, I'm a bad person. But my love for you remains unchanged?"
"......"
Instead of answering, she bit her lower lip and furrowed her brow.
"Azazel. Can't we start over? There won't be any problems if you become my lover too. If we form a harem..."
Azazel hated every word Kang Si-woo was uttering now.
Though his face and voice were as she remembered, his true intentions were about wanting to form a harem with her sister.
Like thorns caught in her throat, all her memories - their adventures together, him getting hurt because of her and her healing his wounds - felt tainted.
"...No. You knew I wasn't my sister when you slept with her."
Unlike the original work, she knew the truth from Bing Yeon. Halfway through, he knew it was Gabriel, not Azazel, but turned away from the truth and pursued women.
And she knew her sister had tried to keep that man from leaving for her sake.
"That was your last chance. I thought you would at least repent now and apologize with truth rather than lies."
She had thought he wouldn't say he didn't know.
She had thought he wouldn't claim he was deceived.
Perhaps she would have felt better if he had said it was all his fault, his mistake.
"You shouldn't have asked to meet again. You shouldn't have tried to leave deeper wounds."
Meeting his greedy gaze that looked her up and down, Azazel saw the future.
A future where she blindly believed Kang Si-woo's words and started dating him again.
There she was mired in various forms of violence and drugs. Yet she presented a pathetic sight, unable to break free from the man called Kang Si-woo.
"I was foolish to trust a man like you until the end."
After seeing that future, Azazel turned to leave the waiting room, not wanting to hear any more of Kang Si-woo's excuses.
"Wait! There seems to be a misunderstanding, I was really deceived by your sister...!"
"Let go!"
As Kang Si-woo grabbed her wrist, Azazel swung her arm with all her might and slapped his cheek.
The sharp sound spread through the air, with everyone around watching them.
"How dare a mere game character...!"
Humiliated by Azazel, Kang Si-woo tried to strike her cheek just as she had done to him, but.
"Why don't you take your hands off my disciple."
"...Ugh! Let go!"
He was stopped by a white-haired man who had appeared beside them.
Unable to lower his wrist no matter how much strength he used, Kang Si-woo could only grind his teeth at the clearly one-sided contest of strength.
"Brother? Why are you here..."
Azazel couldn't help but be surprised seeing Bing Yeon protect her. Why had he come to save her when he knew she had always waited for and missed only Kang Si-woo.
Perhaps due to this change of heart, at some point Azazel's way of addressing her master had changed from "you" to "brother."
"Verdandi said you seemed to be falling for lies again."
Looking where Bing Yeon nodded, Verdandi was waving vigorously and smiling. She had known Kang Si-woo was continuously lying to Azazel.
"I found an evil person telling lies!"
She appeared to have tipped off her master Bing Yeon.
- Rather than that Kang Si-woo you've been waiting for, that master seems much more manly.
Morgidian added a comment after watching the whole situation.