243 – My Name is ‘Misa’ -1-

◎ You have earned the right to view the hidden side story.

◎ 〈The 666th Side Story〉 Back to original form…

– Would you like to view it?

I thought finding the key would end all misfortunes.

The continuing nightmares.

Living by looking at justice.

I thought having the key would end that story.

“Sigh…”

Mikhail swallowed a deep breath to calm his troubled heart. It was time to hear the answer to the efforts that had been made with a single hope. His heart wouldn’t settle easily.

The reward for all his efforts up to now.

If possible, he would risk his life to know the hope that lay before him, and Mikhail nodded his head as he let out a trembling breath.

“I’ll view it.”

The blue window whispered in a cold voice into Mikhail’s ear, changing his perspective.

– The viewing begins.

Mikhail envisioned a happy future.

And then.

That hope crumbled.

***

Returning to the mansion, I swallowed a deep breath in the dark room.

“…My mouth is itching.”

[Q. Mikhail’s Guardian.]

·

·

·

◎ Reward: You can view 〈The 16th Side Story〉 ‘The Peril of Truth’.

The limit was coming to keeping the secret I had been postponing. Blocked by the hill called restraint, I couldn’t play the secret game forever. I looked at the status window before me and smiled bitterly.

“I’ve never been one to follow orders.”

Even as a child, when the young lady drew a map on the bed, I spread the rumor throughout the mansion, but the constraints that tickled the lips of the possessed stirred a pointless rebellion within me.

“Suddenly, I’m annoyed.”

I rarely listened to the status window’s words, which gave little in return, and now, lost in various thoughts, I felt a bit irritated, as if I had lost my initial resolve.

“…Maybe I should just shout it out.”

The thought of shouting out in a fit of pique crossed my mind, but I chuckled and shook my head.

‘No, I held back because I hate the hassle… It should be fine to say it later.’

If Mikhail’s awakening was delayed, I would be the most troubled, so I sighed and shook my head.

“Hmm…”

Maybe it’s time to look at these constraints.

How remarkable must it be, to be hidden so tightly, I wondered, looking at the status window.

-◎ Reward: Access to 〈Side Story 16〉 ‘The Perils of Truth.’

A reward from a quest I completed while serving as a short-term teacher in Hamel. Looking at the postponed reward, I nodded slightly and said,

“I’ll take a look.”

With a warning that I’d blow it off if it were nothing significant, I comfortably accepted the darkening of my vision.

*

The view goes dark.

Having experienced this before, I wasn’t too startled. After all, the first time is always the hardest.

‘I wonder what they’ll show me this time.’

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much.

It would be strange to expect anything, and I had a rough idea of what kind of events would unfold.

Surprised.

Regretful.

Apologizing seemed to be all there was.

But I thought there might be a problem with the awakening since the process was long. As my vision slowly brightened, I lifted my head and let out a chuckle at the sight of myself standing in a familiar space.

‘Ha.’

Familiar buildings.

People frozen in place.

And there I was, standing amidst their gazes, alongside the young lady.

‘Damn it…’

As soon as I opened my eyes, I cursed.

There were no fond memories in this space. The curse flowed naturally, a testament to the deity’s malicious hobby.

The courtroom.

I stood in the very place where I had faced my end at the academy.

I saw a lady glaring at people with a face about to explode, and my own, clenching a fist, trying to contain my anger.

Facing the committee’s moderator, Chartia, and the witnesses standing in their box—Mikhail, Yuria, the Crown Prince, Ruin. After a long time, they were all gathered in one place, looking at us from the past with cold eyes.

And I looked back at them, frozen in the past, with equally cold eyes.

‘…I’m not sure how to take this.’

I thought I was okay, but seeing myself standing there from a third person’s perspective, I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.

‘Really… this is crap.’

After standing still for a while, I tightly closed my eyes and reminisced about the past.

“Banish the wicked villainess.”

“Drive her out!”

“Never let her set foot in the academy again!”

“Booo!”

Recalling the past filled with criticism, reprimands, and curses, I felt a gloomy mood wash over me. I regretted not cursing more back then.

The trial hadn’t even started yet, and I was already considerably upset.

I took a calm breath and lifted my head.

“The viewing will start in 10 minutes.”

Getting angry wouldn’t change anything, but it seemed I still had a long way to go before becoming an adult.

Time passed.

Time, which seemed immovable, struggled to step forward, clumsily leaping to convey the truth of ‘restriction.’

Just when I was about to get tired of waiting.

“The viewing begins now.”

A cold voice cautiously announced the start of the story.

“Ah. Ah…”

Chartia’s voice could be heard.

The voice of the student council president, strong and cold, echoed through the hall, signaling the start of the recollection to my ears standing in the center.

“From now on, the 307th Academy Strategy Committee will commence.”

As Chartia’s voice announced the trial of the evil villainess, the audience began to murmur.

“Miss…”

“I told you, Ricardo.”

“…”

“If you’re too kind, they’ll keep crawling up endlessly, right? I could have been worse, I could have just killed you, but I endured and this is what it’s come to.”

“Miss.”

“I’m going to kill you.”

The whispers of the past me and the miss quietly echoed. Our voices, which were the most aggrieved yet became the protagonist that day, were ringing without anyone’s attention.

Chartia silently carried out her duties.

“Today’s case involves the violence, swearing, intimidation, and ostracism of first-year student Olivia on May 15th. And the decision on the disciplinary level for the use of black magic.”

Back then, I didn’t understand.

-Murmur murmur.

-Is it her again?

-The rumors are already out.

I didn’t realize their gaze on us was so blatant, but looking at everyone from a third person’s perspective, it felt like a sting to the skin to realize there was no one on our side in this courtroom.

I knew it, though.

I let out a hollow laugh, looking at the miss with her veins popping in anger and the past me who worried about her, and I smiled awkwardly.

‘Sigh…’

The students claiming to be victims are coming out one by one as witnesses.

“Yes, it was all Olivia’s doing…”

“I did tell them to do it, but you all joined in!”

“Scream!”

“Ricardo, make that girl kneel right now.”

With the miss’s unhidden reaction, the atmosphere in the courtroom darkened, and public opinion naturally flowed against us.

I wasn’t aggrieved.

It was our fault after all. Even now, I didn’t think we were framed and didn’t want to argue. I just regretted not being able to curse those who stood as witnesses back then.

Since I had no intention of becoming a hero, I shook off the dark emotions and silently looked back at the past.

The next witness to appear was Yuria.

“First-year Yuria. Can you tell us about the situation where student Olivia threatened and tormented you?”

-Nod.

Next, Mikhail.

“First-year Mikhail. Can you testify about the misdeeds Olivia committed?”

“Yes, and that man. I will also testify about Ricardo.”

As the stack of misdeeds was revealed one by one, naturally, the lady and I from the past lost our words and tightly shut our mouths.

The lady, once blinded by love, wept over the betrayal of someone she trusted.

I, who had been generous in the face of the best opportunity, waited for the trial to end with a bitter smile.

And then.

“I will now announce the decision. The academy’s student council executives will expel Olivia, the main instigator in this case, and impose a one-month reflection period and a one-year ban from ranking competitions on Ricardo, who participated and sympathized with her actions.”

The moment the verdict was delivered, all the blame and reprimands of that day poured down on me.

“What did I do wrong!”

The lady’s frustration and.

“Get lost!”

The students’ resentment.

And the condemnation from those I trusted rained down upon us.

– Let’s never see each other again.

– You, I will never forgive.

– Idiot.

That day, I responded with a middle finger to their curses, but one man kept following me, pouring out his own.

“Aren’t you going to apologize until the end?”

To Mikhail, who came just like in the past, I stood there with a painful smile.

And as always, I responded with a smile.

[The perspective changes.]

[The scene shifts to the moment when you took someone’s kindness for granted.]

The perspective changed.

It shifted to the day when I saved Mikhail for the second time from ‘Yung’.

“Don’t act so high and mighty.”

And that day, I gave a different answer than in the past.

“Mr. Mikhail.”

“…”

“I feel let down.”

“What’s there to feel let down about. I never expected any help from someone like you…”

“Lee Minhyuk.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t you remember?”

Mikhail’s face began to crack.

*

That moment.

Mikhail started to breathe within a different future shown by the blue window.

“I…”

The face of the boy that had been obscured in blackness began to reveal itself.

Mikhail clenched his fists and slowly lifted his head.

Beneath the academy’s fountain.

While hearing the voice of the man claiming to be ‘him,’ Mikhail clenched his fists.

“The truth is I…”

And then.

‘Uh…?’

-Drip.

Tears fell.