Chapter 19: The Things Neither of Them Could Say

[[System (Temporary)] Before moving to the next room, a brief conversation period will be provided. Both sides, please share your impressions with each other.]

As soon as everything came to an end, the Replica cleared away the previous footage and displayed the man’s figure instead. The man staring at the screen looked somewhat dejected compared to before. Rigor seemed a little flustered by the sight and hurriedly asked him a question.

“I didn’t expect it to work this well. Was there a reason you didn’t kill them this time?”

[…I simply didn’t know that I wasn’t supposed to kill the people who appeared. The invaders we faced in the past never showed such mercy.]

The man answered curtly.

‘Wait. The Replica never explained that? He didn’t kill us because he hated us. He did it because he thought he had no choice?’

As Taehyun frowned, the Replica added another message, almost as though making an excuse.

[Apologies have been made for the omission of this explanation.]

No, an apology was fine, but shouldn’t they have told them, too?

Taehyun had spent all this time assuming that the man had been furious enough to kill the versions of them inside the memories.

‘Maybe that man is a little different from what I thought. Perhaps Rigor just kept provoking him until he lost his temper.’

The Knight’s joking remark from earlier came back to Taehyun.

It was true.

Rigor was fundamentally terrible at dealing with people, and whenever left to his own devices, he kept trying to resolve things by deliberately casting himself as the villain.

The conversation happening right now was proof enough.

The memories Rigor had sent in an attempt to make the man come to his senses seemed to have been interpreted in an entirely different way.

[Anyway, I understand what you’re trying to say. So, you intended to abandon us from the very beginning.]

“What are you talking about now? How could you possibly come to that conclusion after seeing that memory?”

[Don’t deny it. You’ve always wanted to leave us deep down, haven’t you? You kept saying you didn’t want anything to do with the Imperial Family, that you had no intention of becoming Emperor.]

“And is it supposed to be a good thing for some bastard born with commoner blood to get involved with the Imperial Family? And why does it bother you so much that I don’t want to become Emperor?”

Rigor openly grimaced in disgust.

He seemed to think the man was deliberately clinging to absurd points just for the sake of finding fault with him.

And admittedly, there were an excessive number of logical leaps in the man’s argument.

But as Taehyun carefully turned his words over in his mind, he suddenly realized something.

‘Maybe that man had already been anxious before seeing this memory.’

Taehyun thought back to the conversation between the Emperor and Rigor.

He had been so distracted by the Emperor’s presence that he had assumed the man had sent that memory simply to stir up Rigor’s guilt by bringing up the Emperor.

But had that really been his intention?

‘He had already mentioned wanting Rigor to be free back then.’

Rigor had remained in the position of General because his younger sister was too young and vulnerable to protect herself from assassination attempts.

‘Maybe that seemingly insignificant remark was actually the man’s most obvious expression of his true feelings.’

Once Taehyun reached that conclusion, one particular suspicion began to take definite shape amid the tangled mess of his thoughts.

‘I shouldn’t have blindly trusted everything Rigor said. Just like the Knight said, I know this man’s personality better than anyone!’

While Taehyun was steeling himself, the man and Rigor continued arguing.

The man repeatedly accused Rigor of being irresponsible, while Rigor kept insisting that he had changed and that the man simply needed to accept it.

But neither of them said what the truly important question was.

[Then why didn’t you return to our world? Even after all of this was resolved?]

That was the question.

Before Rigor could answer, Taehyun threw himself between Rigor and the screen with all his strength.

“Rigor, shut up! Don’t say a single word from now on!”

Taehyun shouted as he gestured toward the Prisoner and the Knight.

The quick-witted Knight and the Prisoner, who had immediately seized the opportunity to cause some mischief, worked together without needing any further explanation. They grabbed Rigor and clamped a hand over his mouth.

“Wh-What are you doing…?! Mmph!”

‘What do you think we’re doing? We’re helping you! If you say something stupid here, we’re really finished! You’re the kind of idiot who lies even when the person you care about most is standing right in front of you. If I don’t help you now, you’ll regret it later!’

[…What are you doing?]

The man, who had been angrily shouting until then, muttered almost the exact same words as Rigor and stared blankly through the screen.

Before Rigor could break free from the Knight and Prisoner’s grasp, Taehyun immediately shouted at the man.

“I can’t stand watching you two have this ridiculous fight anymore! Stop hurting each other and having these pointless arguments, and talk to me for a moment!”

[You insolent wretch. Do you think you have the right to intrude upon our affairs?]

“I obviously do, or I wouldn’t have gotten involved! Look, I don’t know what to call you because I can’t pronounce your name, but… you know what this guy is like, right? If you leave him alone, he’ll keep being nasty to people, hurting them, and picking fights!”

[Do you intend to slander the General by bringing up his flaws and tarnishing his honor?]

“You’re not getting angry at me for telling you not to lie, so you admit it too, right? Anyway, this guy has always had a terrible personality! If you don’t speak honestly and keep dancing around the subject, he’ll just keep being cruel to you! I’ve actually seen someone who suffered because of him! He’s probably gone to another world by now, but I know someone called the Watchmaker. You saw him in the memory Rigor sent earlier, didn’t you? He suffered from something roughly similar to what you’re going through, but he’s doing a little better these days! So get a grip and stop letting yourself be manipulated!”

“Mmph! Mmph!”

Rigor was struggling behind them, desperately trying to shout something through the hand covering his mouth.

Judging by his tone, he seemed to be protesting that the Watchmaker and this man were hardly comparable.

Taehyun had no intention of listening.

‘You’re both suffering because of him. Close enough!’

[…I thought you were that man’s lover, but now that I see you, do you actually hold a grudge against him?]

“I certainly have plenty of grievances against him. Before we started dating, he gave me an unbelievable amount of emotional trouble. That’s why I have to keep an eye on him so he doesn’t cause any more trouble.”

[I don’t need help from someone like you…]

“I’m not doing this purely to help you, either. Honestly, aren’t you almost exactly like Rigor? You refuse to say what you really feel, keep dancing around the subject, then eventually explode while deliberately making yourself the bad guy. Your patterns are exactly the same! You called yourself his disciple, so is that the kind of bad habit you learned from your master?”

The man seemed completely at a loss for how to respond, his face scrunched up in confusion.

‘This is half a success.’

At the very least, he was so bewildered that he was actually listening to Taehyun.

Now Taehyun simply needed to make them listen to each other without their pointless pride or defensiveness distorting everything.

He had a vague idea of how to accomplish that.

“Anyway, please. I’m asking you. If there’s something you still haven’t told Rigor, something you truly feel, please tell him this time.”

[You still haven’t come to your senses. What could someone like you possibly know…!]

“I know that you’re afraid of something, at the very least. And I also know that killing Rigor won’t solve whatever you’re afraid of!”

The man’s hesitation suggested that Taehyun’s guess had hit close to the mark.

‘Yes.’

That man had never intended to kill Rigor from the beginning.

He was afraid of Rigor becoming free.

He was afraid of Rigor severing his connection with his original world.

And then…

At that moment, the angel, who had been watching the situation from behind, approached Taehyun with a determined expression.

“If you really can’t believe what this child is saying, shall I tell you what I suspect?”

[…And who are you?]

“You didn’t forcibly capture the Emperor, tear apart her mind, and torment her simply because you wanted to punish an agent of the invader, did you? I know there was another reason. That’s why I forced my companions to come with me even though they didn’t want to.”

[…!]

“You all knew, deep down, that what you were doing was wrong. I could sense it. But you clung to it desperately, as though grabbing at a straw, because there was a desire you couldn’t bring yourself to speak aloud.”

The man’s face was filled with shock as he stared blankly at them.

Honestly, even Taehyun was startled.

’What? If revenge wasn’t the purpose, then why had they captured and tormented the Emperor?’

But instead of asking the angel, Taehyun decided to ask the man directly.

“Please tell us the truth. During the next memory exchange.”

[…]

“The next memory will be sent by me, not Rigor. So keep that in mind.”

If Rigor was allowed to send another memory, he would only hurt the man again in whatever way he pleased.

The man looked confused, but fortunately, the Replica ended the conversation before he could protest.

[[System (Temporary)] Please proceed to the next general battle room. Yoon Taehyun, will everything end in the next room?]

“…If the other side is honest enough, I think it will.”

[[System (Temporary)] That is good to hear.]

The message appeared almost as though the Replica was relieved.

The door opened.

Rigor, who had apparently beaten the Knight and Prisoner into submission and was now casually dusting off his arms and legs, looked at Taehyun.

The moment their eyes met, Rigor let out a long, exasperated sigh.

“…Taehyun, you’re really impossible.”

“And you’re really the last person who gets to say that. Anyway, let’s go. That man apparently doesn’t understand what you were afraid of, so I’m going to make sure he learns in the next room.”

“Wait, what? What are you talking about… Taehyun!”

Taehyun hurriedly threw himself through the doorway with the angel.

‘I really hope this sudden temporary dungeon is finally reaching its end.’

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