Chapter 13 : Exile (1)

“Sniff…”

In the cold underground prison, tears streamed down my face.

“Ah, it hurts… it hurts so much…”

One day, I suddenly fell off the balcony railing in an accident.

At that moment, light enveloped me, and when I opened my eyes, I was here.

It was the world inside the game Hero Fantasy.

I was briefly fascinated to find myself in a game filled with memories of my younger sibling.

But that didn’t last long.

Worried about my boyfriend in reality, I pleaded to return.

But all I received was a cold command: “Go back by dying.”

After that, a sealing stone was placed on my neck, and strange things began happening to me.

They injected needles into my arms, tortured me with electricity, and forced me to swallow the nauseating magic power of demons to forcibly open my magical circuits.

Even when I begged for mercy, they never stopped doing things that made me feel like I was losing my mind.

And every time, a voice echoed in my head.

Along with text in front of my eyes:

[Level Up!]

“Eek?!”

The level that increased belatedly due to the effects of the drugs they’d forced on me.

Because of the sound of the level-up notification, I could only tremble in fear.

I was terrified of leveling up.

“I don’t want to suffer anymore…”

“I just want it to end…

“…Please, just kill me instead.”

What scared me even more was that every time I sobbed like this:

[The King does not permit your mental collapse.]

My mind would snap back to sanity.

If only I had gone mad, if only I had broken down.

If that had happened, the pain might have lessened.

But tonight, once again, I fell asleep in tears, trembling at the thought of the tortures awaiting me tomorrow.

Hoping that tomorrow, I might finally lose my mind.

“I don’t want to hurt anymore…”

I drifted off to sleep while staring at my arms, bruised horribly from countless needle punctures.

-Tap, tap.

I felt someone tapping my shoulder.

“Mm…? Minho…?”

“…Hero.”

“Ah! H-huh?!”

It was the magician. The young male magician who always watched me through the glass window.

The moment I looked into his eyes, I knew.

I was being dragged away again.

The torture would begin early this morning.

Today might be an especially unbearable day.

Or perhaps, the last day of my life.

I weakly struggled against him, my dust-covered body flailing desperately on the stone floor.

“D-don’t come near me!!”

“Hero, shh! Shhh!!!”

Why was he telling me to be quiet?

Terrifying thoughts began racing through my mind.

“Please… I’m begging you… I don’t want to do this anymore.”

“Please, let me go…

I don’t even need to return to where I came from, just… please.”

Tears poured out of me uncontrollably.

But I knew better than anyone that crying wouldn’t help.

These people didn’t care whether I cried or not.

Even when I screamed during torture, they continued piercing my body with strange needles, injecting bizarre drugs, and running mana-generated electricity through me.

No matter how much I sobbed and begged, they didn’t flinch.

No, they laughed.

They laughed as they watched me break down.

The fact that I remained mentally intact through it all only added to my suffering.

Perhaps God hates me.

Hates me so much that they didn’t know what else to do but turn my life into this.

I lost my parents, I lost my sibling.

And just when I was trying to rebuild a family, they sent me to another world entirely.

Whenever I felt like I was about to lose my sanity, something would rummage through my mind and bring me back to clarity.

Thinking about all of this made my tears flow even harder.

Looking at my unstoppable tears, I found myself apologizing repeatedly to the magician.

“…I-I’m sorry! I’ll stop crying!”

Not long ago, I was beaten nearly to death for crying too much.

“…Okay.”

The magician, seemingly angry, bowed his head and mumbled something to himself.

It was terrifying. I was scared because I had no idea what this man was about to do.

“Let’s escape! Together.”

I was stunned when those unexpected words left his mouth.

Did he even realize what he was saying?

Desertion from the empire was punishable by death.

It was a crime so grave that even a soldier like him, with a golden lion emblem on his cloak—marking him as part of the Emperor’s personal guard—would not be spared.

“This country is insane. They’re grinding people to dust, claiming it’s to fight against non-existent threats.”

“The dragons… they’re not as weakened as humans think.”

“They’re still the rulers of this land.”

He shouted passionately at me, his expression filled with determination.

“I’ve always wanted to help you, Hero! I’ve grown sick of this country, too!”

“…Wh-what are you talking about?”

“Let’s escape together!”

Honestly, I was confused. Was this really the right thing to do?

Was the empire testing me, taking advantage of my weakened state?

What if that’s what this was… What should I do?

As dark thoughts filled my mind, the magician’s voice jolted me back.

“Hero! If we don’t go now, it’ll be too late! Answer me!”

“Ah, y-yes! I’ll go!”

The magician grabbed both my shoulders and urged me for an answer.

Perhaps because of his forcefulness—or because my mind was in shambles—I ended up agreeing without thinking it through.

Normally, I wouldn’t have made such a mistake, but I was too overwhelmed.

“Then let’s go quickly!”

“Ah, wait—that hurts a bit.”

“…Oh.”

In his rush, the magician had grabbed my arm too tightly, where bruises from the injections were severe.

“My apologies. Let’s move. I’ve set up a teleportation array ahead.”

“…Okay!”

Was this… a glimpse of hope?

That night, we spent the night in the forest.

And the next morning…

“Wow! So high up!”

“Ahaha! The wind feels nice, doesn’t it?”

For the first time in my life, I was flying.

“This is amazing! To think I’d get to see Her Highness the Princess with my own eyes!”

I was riding on someone’s back.

Wait… Was this a dragon?

Was it really a dragon?

“Excuse me, sir, are you a dragon?”

“Yes, Your Highness. Well… it’s a bit complicated right now.”

Complicated?

What could be so complicated about being a dragon? A dragon is a dragon.

As I tilted my head in confusion, Void unnie proudly spoke up.

“I made him! Out of a corpse!”

Wait, a corpse?

I turned to Void unnie with a disgusted expression, and she quickly tried to explain.

“Th-this! It’s not what you think! I only used a little blood to infuse magic into the soul—”

“Void, you’re explaining this in a way the young princess can’t understand,” said the dragon.

“…I know.”

Void unnie puffed out her cheeks and lightly tapped the dragon’s back.

How could someone like this be 800 years old?

“Anyway, just know that unnie is amazing for creating this!”

“…Mm.”

“You don’t care about me, do you, Minho?”

“…N-no! I care!”

“Really?”

That was close. I almost said no.

“Minho~”

“Stop calling my name!”

“But I just learned it! Let me say it a bit more.”

“You’re saying it for no reason!”

“Minho, what was that pronunciation just now?”

Ah, how embarrassing.

Void unnie only opens her eyes when she gets emotional.

So normally, her eyes are closed like this.

“Hehe, it’s so cute and funny.”

-Poke!

-Poke, poke!

How could someone with their eyes closed still have such expressive facial features?

She teased me with that rich expression while poking my cheeks, and it made my blood boil.

I tried to warn her sternly, but…

“Unnie, stop it!”

Ah, I slipped up.

Void unnie didn’t miss my mistake.

“What did you saaaay~?”

“I-I told you to stop it~!”

“…Pfft! Hahaha!”

(“I told you to stop it…!”)

So embarrassing. My face felt like it was burning.

What was so funny that Void unnie was making such a fuss?

I was on the verge of tears.

Even though I tried to endure it, not wanting her to feel bad…

“Stop it, huh~? Stop it~~!”

Now, she was imitating me, teasing me even more.

Could anyone doubt she was the Demon King with how wicked she was acting?

My breathing grew heavier and rougher until finally—

“Waahh! I hate you, unnie!!!”

“Minho?!”

My tears spilled over.

“…Hey, you should know when to stop.”

“Be quiet!”

-Bonk!

“…Why are you yelling at me? You’re the one who messed up,” grumbled the dragon uncle, rubbing the bump on his head.

It had been three days since the dragons began preparing for war.

The dragon fortress was bustling, but the atmosphere was far from lively.

It was tense—so tense that it felt like even the smallest mistake would cost someone their head.

From the king to the lowest servants, everyone had dark circles under their eyes, but their gazes burned with resolve.

“We must crush the demon army!!”

“Uwaaaahhh!!!”

The king’s speech was met with roaring cheers from the citizens.

The proud war of the dragons was a sacred event, one that wouldn’t end until their enemies were utterly annihilated.

Now, all that remained was to formally declare war on the demon realm.

The declaration would be made, and then the army would march out.

As the king returned to his throne and closed his eyes for a brief moment of rest—

-Bang!

“Y-Your Majesty!! I have urgent news!”

“…Hague?”

The captain of the royal guard burst into the audience chamber, drenched in sweat.

“A-an unidentified dragon has appeared in the sky!”

“What?!”

An unidentified dragon was reportedly flying over the airspace.

Soon, the royal family—and the entire nation—would be stunned.

“I’m back!!!”

“Princess!”

“Minho! I missed you so much…”

“Hehe.”

The princess returned unharmed, smiling brightly.

And shockingly, she returned from the clutches of the worst and strongest Demon King ever known.

“It’s been a while,” said Void.

“…Yes, it has been,” replied the nameless one.

Void and the unnamed one exchanged awkward glances.

‘What’s this vibe? Like two exes running into each other.’

‘…Hmm, should I challenge them to a fight? Maybe slap them again, like last time?’

Of course, their thoughts were entirely different, but the tension was palpable.

And then, the dragons were thrown into chaos once more.

“I want to live here!!!”

The Demon King had just applied for asylum in the Unified Dragon Kingdom.

And no, the dragons weren’t shocked because the Demon King bit their tongue.