Chapter 114

I blinked. Dietrich’s face was still in front of me. It wasn’t blurry at all. I could see it clearly.

I muttered harshly, “Am I crazy?”

“Who is?”

Who else? Me, of course.

Ignoring Dietrich’s question, I groped around the bed.

“Where’s my phone…?”

“Here. This is what you’re looking for, right?”

I needed to check my phone first. As soon as I found it, Dietrich smiled and handed it to me. His gentle expression remained fixed as he scrutinized my every move, which was slightly unnerving.

I quickly turned on my phone and checked the compensation I had seen in my dream.

It’s the same. Exactly the same.

“[    ].”

Barely regaining my composure, I frowned as I tried to say Dietrich’s name, but the words wouldn’t come out properly. Though my thoughts were clear, their names seemed to dissolve into thin air every time I tried to speak them.

“Yes, Saintess.”

“What happened?”

As I scowled, Dietrich peered into my face, letting out a soft hum before responding, “The commander wouldn’t step back, so we did it together. You looked exhausted, and I didn’t want to push too hard… Sorry, does anything hurt?”

That wasn’t what I was asking. I wanted to know how you two ended up here.

Dietrich placed his hand on my abdomen with an apologetic expression. His delicate fingers moved languidly over the sheet that barely separated us.

The gentle touch, meant to soothe any pain, felt strangely indecent, making me lower my head in a daze.

“W-wait…”

I recalled the condom I had last seen in my memory and quickly scanned my surroundings. The condom in the trash bin showed no signs of use.

Damn it, if this was truly reality, I needed to get birth control pills immediately.

“Ah, birth control pills… But if I stop to buy them before work, I’ll be late…”

“Birth control pills?”

“Yes. You didn’t use a condom yesterday, right?”

“Oh, that.”

Checking the time again, I ran my fingers through my disheveled hair and jumped out of bed.

“Ugh…!”

The moment I took a step, my pelvis throbbed as if it had been pried open. As I groaned and clutched my waist, Dietrich swiftly got up and supported me.

“Be careful.”

“[    ]!”

Haniel—a familiar name—flitted through my ears like an echo. At my shout, Ardal entered the bedroom, his brows furrowing as he saw Dietrich holding me.

“Saintess, are you unwell?”

“Yes, I am. My muscles ache… way too much.”

“The body you used before was healthy. What a shame.”

Dietrich sighed regretfully and pressed lightly on my waist.

“Ah, that hurts.”

“…Should I do more? We need to loosen the muscle tension. Here, lie down…”

As I whimpered with tears in my eyes, Dietrich spoke in a voice that was unsettlingly suggestive. Just as he was about to lay me back down on the bed, Ardal stepped in to stop him.

As the two of them glared at each other, arguing, I grabbed my clothes and slipped into the bathroom.

The broken door handle from yesterday was still in the same state. I couldn’t wrap my head around what was happening. If this were just a dream, none of this would be concerning, but if it were real, it was a serious problem.

The warm water washed over me as I tried to scrub away the marks covering my body, clearing my mind in the process. Unfortunately, this wasn’t an illusion, nor was it a dream. Ardal and Dietrich were truly here.

“How?”

They were characters that only existed in the game. Moreover, they were the protagonists of a rather infamous R-rated game. Since The Saintess is a Spy! was the only company that used neural electrode technology, its character designs had been featured in the news multiple times.

Anyone should have recognized them. But yesterday, when people saw them, there hadn’t been any signs of recognition.

After finishing my shower and stepping out, I saw that Ardal and Dietrich had stopped fighting and were now standing in the kitchen, seemingly preparing something.

Did they even know how to use a gas stove? That was seriously worrying.

“This looks right.”

“You should just stay in the bedroom, Grand Duke.”

Hearing their bickering, I hastily put on my clothes and stepped out. In the kitchen, Dietrich had taken something from Ardal and was now smiling at me.

“You overexerted yourself yesterday, so you should at least have a meal before leaving.”

Ardal frowned in disbelief before seating me at the table and asking, “Saintess, I think I overheard something about birth control pills earlier… Do you need them?”

“Oh, yes. You didn’t use a condom yesterday.”

“Was that a contraceptive? I thought you had developed a peculiar taste, Saintess. I assumed you enjoyed forcing something on that wouldn’t fit.”

The man with unusual tastes whispered to me with a smile.

Dietrich sat across from me, resting his chin on his hand, and laughed. Watching me use my chopsticks with a radiant expression, he spoke in a light tone.

“But Saintess, you don’t need to take birth control pills.”

“What? But yesterday, surely…”

I was certain he finished inside.

I furrowed my brows and tried to recall. I vividly remembered that he had done it multiple times without using any contraceptives.

Dietrich explained nonchalantly, “I heard they’re not good for your body, so it’s best not to take them. And don’t worry, you won’t get pregnant even if you don’t take them.”

“How do you know that?”

My voice came out sharper than expected. It was because I was unnerved by how he seemed to be reading something in the air.

Dietrich looking into the air felt eerily similar to how I used to play the game. Tensing up, I questioned him, and he replied with an innocent face.

“I’m using the ‘system.’ You know about it too, Saintess.”

I couldn’t say anything as I watched Dietrich smile brightly.

***

I went to work, but it was hard to focus. In between tasks, I searched my phone for information about hallucination-inducing mental illnesses, then sighed.

I had eaten the breakfast Ardal prepared for me, and my whole body ached from muscle pain—there was no way this was a hallucination.

I decided to change my search.

[The Saintess is a Spy!]

I typed in the familiar game title into the search bar.

[Information blocked.]

[Information blocked.]

[Information blocked.]

[Information blocked.]

[Information blocked.]

[Information blocked.]

[Information blocked.]

[Information blocked.]

As soon as the loading finished, my phone screen filled with red letters.

“Huh…?”

[Information blocked.]

[Information blocked.]

The screen kept scrolling downward, continuously generating text. The glowing red letters flickered like an error message, sending chills down my spine. I turned off my phone and threw it into the drawer.

It was the same with my laptop. No matter what device I used, all I got was [Information blocked.]

“Assistant Manager Lee.”

As I stared at my laptop, I closed it and turned around at the voice behind me.

“Can we have lunch together today?”

“Huh?”

Yoon Kihoon asked stiffly. The team members, who had been glancing at me with curiosity since morning, shifted their gazes toward us.

They had been waiting for a chance to ask me about yesterday’s events, and now, right after someone else had suggested having lunch together, Yoon Kihoon had approached me first.

“What’s this about?”

“Let’s talk over lunch.”

“Ah, sure.”

Rather than dealing with multiple people, I’d rather put up with just Yoon Kihoon. When I answered shortly, his face twisted as if he wanted to say something but kept silent and walked away.

After he left, I reopened my laptop and tapped my fingers against the desk as I stared at the blocked information message filling the screen.

I couldn’t search for it on my laptop or phone. But that didn’t mean I was out of options. I already knew where the company was located.

I’ll take a half-day off in the afternoon. I’ll probably get scolded, but who cares? I don’t even mind getting fired.

I went straight to the team leader and requested time off. I told him I wasn’t feeling well after drinking so soon after being discharged from the hospital. The team leader accepted it without much questioning. Honestly, even if I hadn’t gotten permission, I would have left anyway.

When the agreed-upon lunch time arrived, Yoon Kihoon approached me and spoke, “I heard you’re going to the hospital this afternoon. Let’s eat somewhere near there.”

Watching Yoon Kihoon pretend to be considerate about dropping me off at the hospital, I merely nodded.

After entering a restaurant near the hospital and placing our orders, he remained silent for a while.

“Juha.”

Only after our food started arriving did he finally speak, looking straight into my eyes.

“Who were those people yesterday?”

His thin voice was drowned out by the restaurant’s background noise. As he called me familiarly, I scowled, and he hastily tried to explain.

“The timing is too short for you to have met them right after we broke up. If you got involved with someone strange, I can help—”

As soon as he started speaking, I lowered my hand beneath the table and searched for the intern’s number. She picked up immediately. Seeing the call time ticking, I placed my phone on the table and spoke.

“Why do you care, Manager Yoon?”

“Don’t say it like that. You know I worry about you.”

Does someone who worries about me not visit even once when I’m hospitalized?

Scoffing, I replied, “You should worry about your girlfriend instead. You two seemed so in love.”

“I was just being nice to her during her internship. She won’t even get a full-time position… In a few months, she’ll be gone.”

“Didn’t you promise to help her get a permanent position?”

“What power do I have? More importantly, Juha, I don’t want things to end like this with you.”

This was exactly why I thought the intern was too good for him. Yoon Kihoon only looked good on the surface.

Watching his sly smile, I let out a sigh and flipped my phone over. When I showed him the ongoing call screen, his face turned ghostly pale.

Bringing the phone to my ear, I could hear faint sobbing. Without hesitation, I ended the call and stood up.

I hope the intern realizes the truth. It was too late for me, but at least she shouldn’t waste her time with a man like this.

After all, I should be grateful to her for exposing what kind of person Yoon Kihoon really was.

“L-Lee Juha! Were you on a call just now—?”

“I’m not feeling well. Enjoy your meal alone. I’ll pay for it.”

Yoon Kihoon shouted after me as I walked away, then quickly pulled out his phone to call someone. He desperately called the intern’s name, his voice full of excuses.

Any lingering emotions I had for him crumbled with every word he spoke. By the time I stepped out of the restaurant and his voice faded away, they were completely gone.

A worthless connection had finally been severed.

***

“What is the purpose of your visit?”

With the lingering ties now cut, my steps felt lighter. Arriving at the company, I was greeted by a strangely welcoming receptionist.

It was the same employee from last time. Flashing that eerie smile, he repeated the question.

“What is the purpose of your visit?”

Even his repeated phrasing was identical.

Is this person also part of the game system?

With Ardal and Dietrich existing, could this receptionist also be… not human?

“Player Lee Juha.”

As I slowly examined his face, he suddenly called my name, making me stutter.

“Y-yes? You remember me?”

“Yes. You selected the real-world reward, didn’t you? What brings you here today?”

“Ah, well… This might sound strange, but… When you created the game characters, did you base them on real people?”

I asked the most plausible question. If there were people in reality who looked exactly like the game characters, it wouldn’t be impossible to explain…

“No.”

That made no sense.

I rubbed my fingers together, struggling to find the right words, when the receptionist spoke in a monotone voice.

“Player Lee Juha. Since you have already received your reward, there is nothing more I can assist you with.”

“Ah…”

Right. I had already received my compensation.

After taking the money, coming back now to claim something was wrong wouldn’t change anything. Letting out a deep sigh, I watched as the receptionist extended his palm.

“I will verify your device.”

“Huh?”

Caught off guard, I handed him my phone and observed his actions. The moment he touched the screen, the game launched. I barely caught a glimpse of the words [Administrator Mode] before they disappeared.

“You are a second-playthrough player.”

“And?”

“I wondered why you chose the real-world reward. Most players who make it this far choose in-game rewards.”

“Really?”

“You must not have known.”

Leaning against the counter, I listened as he muttered in his flat tone. It sounded like he was merely stating facts rather than having a conversation.

I debated whether to get angry but decided to stay silent and watch his actions. After a few more taps, he handed my phone back.

“Make a wiser decision this time.”