[Will to Sacrifice].

Since Kim Dokja hardly had any stigmas to begin with, I knew well what that stigma was.

‘Don’t tell me this is the plan?’

―Yeah. Now just trust me.

With that breath bearing down right in front of my nose, what on earth was I supposed to trust?

‘This is just a stigma for sacrificing yourself.’

―That’s right.

I could no longer trust this insane backer.

[Rank-4 earth dragon species, ‘Earth Python,’ bares hostility toward you.]

Fine. If I was going to die, I’d at least take that thing with me.

What held up my staggering body yet again was Yu Joonghyuk’s Tale.

[Tale fragment, ‘Mad Soldier Yu Joonghyuk,’ glares at you.]

Planting ‘Unbreakable Conviction’ point-first into the ground in a reverse grip, I slowly rose to my feet.

[Your comprehension of the character ‘Yu Joonghyuk’ increases!]
[Tale fragment, ‘Mad Soldier Yu Joonghyuk,’ resonates with the skill ‘Agitation’!]
[The effect of ‘Agitation’ intensifies!]

“I’ll kill you, Kim Dokja.”

―Huh?

“You told me to trust you and only you. Why has it turned out like this?”

My mouth ran off on its own, and a sense of injustice washed over me.

―Hey, drop [Agitation] and get a grip! You’re not Yu Joonghyuk now!

“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you no matter what!”

Throwing myself into it like I really had become Yu Joonghyuk, I gripped ‘Unbreakable Conviction’ with everything I had.

With my other hand, I activated ‘Thoughts.’

Normally, nothing good came of [Agitation] running wild like this.

But this time was different.

The instant the earth dragon species’ breath surged in right to my face, ‘Thoughts’ flared bright and mimicked the ‘Shield of Heracles.’

[Special skill, ‘Area Defense,’ activates!]

Area Defense.

Yet there was no way a replica item’s special skill could block a Rank-4 earth dragon species’ breath.

With a fierce blast of air, fine debris pelted the surface of the barrier. [Landslide], the hallmark of a sustained breath. On top of that, a [Sandstorm].

The barrier cracked in an instant and shattered in less than a second.

But by the time the breath crashed in, I was no longer there.

―Oh……

“I’ll kill you! Kill you!”

Even as my mouth stupidly repeated the same words, my body moved with razor speed—like I really were Yu Joonghyuk using [Narrow Escape].

[Tale fragment, ‘Mad Soldier Yu Joonghyuk,’ nods.]

My legs, pushed to the limit, trembled uncontrollably. By the time the earth dragon species, having lost sight of me, let out a cry and swung its breath around, I was already at its back.

“Kill you!”

‘Unbreakable Conviction,’ loaded with all my magic power, flew through the air.

Gyaaaaaaah!

As the ‘Blade of Conviction’ spun like a top and struck the creature’s foot, a wave of limpness surged through my whole body once more.

[‘Agitation’ is dispelled.]

A brutal recoil. Now I truly couldn’t so much as move a finger.

With both its feet pinned, the creature was spewing its final breath at me.

―Good work. Now it’s perfect.

A faint light flowing off my whole body streamed away somewhere. It was the light of [Will to Sacrifice].

[Will to Sacrifice].

A stigma that, when the caster wagers their life for their comrades, massively amplifies the entire party’s attack power in proportion to that desperation.

The problem was that I had no comrades here right now.

―It’s the stigma that even brought Yu Joonghyuk back for a moment after he died.

That couldn’t possibly be true.

And even if it were, there was no Yu Joonghyuk here—

―There’s no Yu Joonghyuk.

With those words, a boom sounded from far away.

A thin thread of light stretched from me toward the origin of the blast.

―But there is that person.

With blood-tears streaming from both eyes, Jeong Heewon was sprinting this way.

[Stigma, ‘Will to Sacrifice Lv.1,’ activates to its limit!]

*

Jeong Heewon remembers the moment she first met the man.

―I like you, Jeong Heewon.

The man who flashed a strange smile right there in blood-scented Geumho Station.

―Ms. Heewon… I love you… I’m serious…

The man who said strange things.

―There’s a character named Jeong Heewon in a novel I wrote.

The man with the slick face who loved to chatter.

―On the outside she looks incredibly strong, but inside she’s soft. She’s so unyielding that she won’t avoid fights, and that’s why she breaks often, too.

The man who risked his life again and again to save her.

―I ran away from home in high school. Did I not tell you?

The man who made her talk about family for the first time.

「Family.」

A stabbing headache.

―Jeong Heewon. Aren’t you curious what the ‘original story’ was like?

A woman’s voice in a white coat. And with it rose a memory.

It was like the ‘novel’ he talked about.

The Jeong Heewon in the novel was similar to her, and yet a little different.

―It’s not like I want to step forward every time.

Strong outwardly, tender within.

―But that guy keeps rushing forward, so there’s nothing else I can do. I have to step forward—because I’m stronger.

The one who had to screw up her courage over and over, and become stronger still.

Jeong Heewon wondered.

Why did the her in that world have to become so strong?

Did she want to become strong?

―Don’t talk crap! I won’t let you go! Don’t go alone again! Please!

The Jeong Heewon of that world called one name many times.

―Reader!

A name she had never called once.

―Kim Dokja!

Family?

Or the person she loved?

She didn’t know.

But when Jeong Heewon thought of that name, it felt like her heart would tear.

Even though she knew it was only a story inside a novel.

“Again.”

Whenever she thought of that name—

“I can’t let him die.”

She grew angry, and sad, and grief-stricken, and heartsick.

And for some reason she couldn’t explain—

[‘Madness’ runs rampant!]

Right now, Jeong Heewon felt the same emotion from that man.

Explosive magic power poured from her whole body. Mikazuki Munechika trembled roughly in her right hand. Her heart rate spiked abnormally high.

“Don’tdieDon’tdieDon’tdie.”

With her muscles contracting and expanding, every step she took shot tens of meters of terrain backward like a bolt.

[‘Madness’ is affected by ‘Will to Sacrifice’!]
[The stigma’s owner has wagered their life for another.]
[Attack power of the party rises massively in proportion to the desperation of the life at stake.]

Even as the incoming breath swallowed the world in black, Jeong Heewon never lost sight of the man’s shocked face.

Strangely, the instant she saw him, Jeong Heewon felt she’d found something she had searched for her whole life.

*

I couldn’t pull my mind together before the sword-strike spectacle unfolding in front of my eyes.

Even Yu Joonghyuk might or might not pull off a divine art like that.

Kwakwakwakwakwa!

Jeong Heewon’s sword auras, spinning so fast they were nearly invisible, swept aside every breath the earth dragon species hurled.

Grrroooaaaar!

Startled, the earth dragon species spewed an even fiercer breath, but Jeong Heewon didn’t yield an inch.

Each time the blade of Mikazuki Munechika traced a bright blue radiance, it was the earth dragon species that got pushed back.

As Jeong Heewon, as if possessed by a ghost and fearing no death, advanced one step at a time, the Rank-4 earth dragon species faltered and backed away.

“Heewon?”

It was as if she couldn’t hear me; she only repeated the same motion and the same words.

“Don’tdieDon’tdieDon’tdie.”

A chill crawled over my skin.

‘Why is she suddenly like that?’

―Well…

As if something had occurred to him, Kim Dokja hesitated a beat, then continued in a brazen tone.

―I don’t know either.

The Rank-4 earth dragon species’ breath cut off. The instant the creature, its face gone pale, gulped a quick breath, Jeong Heowon’s figure vanished from sight.

Faster even than me using [Leap].

With its feet bound by my earlier strike, the Rank-4 earth dragon species had nowhere left to run.

At the same time as its sluggish claw groped at the air, a blood-red thread-line formed on its neck.

In a blink, Jeong Heewon circled once around its neck and cut it, then landed at my side in the span of an eye-blink.

And then, like a puppet whose strings had been cut, she pitched forward.

[You have routed the Rank-4 earth dragon species, ‘Earth Python’!]
[You have achieved a miraculous feat!]
[Contributors: Jeong Heewon, Cheon Inho]

I hurriedly propped up the collapsed Jeong Heewon.

“Heewon!”

At the same time, all kinds of messages began to pour down over my head.

[You have received ‘Lesser Dragon Heart’ as a reward!]
[You have obtained 150,000 coins!]

[Constellation, ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire,’ sponsors 2,000 coins for your battle.]
[Constellation, ‘Prisoner of Gingoa,’ …….]

Even with a cascade of coins raining down, I couldn’t smile. Because Jeong Heewon, eyes wide open, was staring up at me.

“Don’t die.”

Her hand went limp as if she’d lost consciousness.

Quickly shoving ‘Essence of the Elain Forest’ into her mouth, I looked up at the sky.

Only then did I grasp what Kim Dokja had done, what [Will to Sacrifice] was.

“You… you really are—”

I couldn’t bring myself to finish.

―A bad person.

But Kim Dokja was the one who read the unsaid better than anyone.

He must have known from the start what would happen if we used [Will to Sacrifice]. What kind of wound my comrade would take.

“I—”

―Didn’t you want to become Kim Dokja?

For a moment, I was at a loss for words. What did it mean to become Kim Dokja? The meaning of becoming Kim Dokja was growing more and more unclear to me.

[Synchronization with your backer increases.]

My ragged breathing gradually steadied.

Kim Dokja fell silent for a moment, then spoke in a calm voice.

―All right, let’s check the rewards.

“The Dragon Heart?”

―That’s fine too, but first, that one.

At the spot where the huge earth dragon species’ body had fallen, I saw a faintly glowing fragment. Its shape was a little unusual.

‘Backer. That there.’

―Right.

There lay something like a small doll.

A doll missing its left arm and right leg.

Much smaller and shabbier than the one I remembered, but unmistakable.

It clearly resembled—

‘Little Kim Dokja.’

With a trembling hand I picked up the doll. Then the doll slowly opened its eyes and looked at me.

No—maybe not at me—

[Constellation, ‘Demon King of Salvation,’ looks at his own fragment.]

The little Kim Dokja doll trembled faintly. It almost looked like it was crying.

It wasn’t crying out of fear.

―So, you can see me.

A cry that sounded deeply, achingly homesick.

In a soothing voice, {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} as if comforting the doll, Kim Dokja spoke gently.

―It’s all right now. You’re safe.

Hearing Kim Dokja’s voice, the doll slowly closed its eyes. As if waiting for an important decision.

―Hakhyun.

I took a deep breath. I knew what I had to do, but my feelings were complicated.

―Take your sword. Hurry.

‘…What?’

―Hurry!

That was when a rift opened in the air. Through the pitch-black torn space, a black hand appeared.

The same hand that had appeared when Grandmaster Jeong Munho died at Seoul Station.

The hand lunged for the little Kim Dokja doll in my arms.

Back then with Grandmaster Jeong Munho, it had been snatched away helplessly, but this time was different.

―Now!

On his signal, I slashed the hand lunging for the fragment.

The hand that met the blade crumbled to dust. A pained howl rang from beyond the rift, and in an instant, the rift sealed shut.

In a low voice, Kim Dokja spoke.

―Looks like there are others collecting ‘fragments,’ besides us.

I thought of Asmodeus’s theater where the ‘little Kim Dokja’ had been gathered.

―It’s not him this time. That’s…

The moment I heard his voice, I knew. If Kim Dokja had been in front of me, he would have been knitting his brows.

―Probably the ones who killed ‘me.’