That ordinary woman wasn’t anything special.
Well, she was a bit cute, but that was all—nothing that should’ve left a mark.
I should just forget her, treat her like a fleeting encounter.
……But still, for her to dump me? If anyone was going to do the dumping, it should’ve been me!
Unbelievable. She looked like she was having a great time when we were together — was that just my imagination?
For her to just cut things off one-sidedly, no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t help but feel Iris had been far too insolent.
She even praised my brunch, said it was delicious, and she’d smiled when I told her to visit again.
If she’d just been honest when she left, I wouldn’t be this angry.
Seething with rage, Laika raised his head.
“Manager.”
“Yes?”
Laika hesitated, about to say something with raised eyebrows.
He found it hard to tell the Manager to contact Iris for him; it was a blow to his pride.
Wouldn’t the Manager ask why he didn’t reach out himself?
If so, he might realize the truth—that the great actor Laika had been dumped by his own Road Manager.
But curiosity gnawed at him more than pride.
Even if she didn’t answer his messages, maybe she’d respond to the Manager.
If she did, he planned to meet her through the Manager and ask for an explanation.
It hurt his pride, but the frustration of being ignored was worse.
After careful thought, he opened his mouth.
“You know, the one who quit being Road Manager.”
“Who… Ah, Iris?”
As the Manager rolled his eyes and finally remembered, Laika leaned forward.
His body moved before he realized, his nerves getting the better of him.
“Yeah. Try contacting her.”
“Right now?”
“…Yeah.”
Forcing himself to calm his boiling head, Laika’s dry voice came out between his lips.
His years of acting helped him hide his agitation— if he looked nervous, the Manager would think something was up.
The Manager pulled the car over to the shoulder and nodded.
“Understood.”
As the Manager sent a message, Laika bounced his leg anxiously.
After a moment, the Manager turned and showed him the phone screen.
“No reply.”
“What? Call her.”
The Manager nodded, switched to speaker mode, and dialed Iris.
The ringing tone droned on, until it finally clicked over to voicemail several times. The Manager clicked his tongue.
“I think… she’s blocked me.”
“Blocked? She blocked you?”
Laika’s eyes went wide at the word ‘blocked.’ The Manager, focused on his phone, continued calmly without noticing Laika’s expression.
“Yes. Maybe because she didn’t work long and quit so quickly—she probably thought there was no reason for us to meet again.”
“Is that so? Fine. Let’s get going.”
“But, why is Iris…”
“It’s nothing. She was good at the Road Manager job, that’s all. I wondered if she’d come back, but I guess not.”
Suppressing his anger, Laika forced himself to act indifferent.
The Manager nodded, started the car, and soon they were off again.
Staring at the scenery dyed in sunset, Laika’s gaze darkened.
If she’d blocked the Manager’s number, that meant she’d blocked his own too.
Too proud to call, he’d only sent messages. Up till now, seeing the messages unread, he’d just assumed she was ignoring him.
He never imagined she’d actually block him. If she wasn’t even reading his messages, calling would be pointless.
Even if it wasn’t a block, someone who hasn’t read your messages in days clearly wants nothing more to do with you.
He felt utterly filthy—so much so that words couldn’t capture the feeling.
Not just dirty; it was a new kind of loss, a pain throbbing in one corner of his chest, as if something vital had been ripped away.
He slouched in his seat, arms crossed, making sure his expression couldn’t be seen in the rearview mirror.
Even then, he worried the Manager might catch on that his mood was foul because of Iris.
Clearing his throat, Laika composed himself before speaking. Now that his hot head had cooled, a crushing fatigue washed over him.
“Turn off the back seat lights.”
“Yes. You must be tired. I guess Road Manager work just didn’t suit Iris. Lots of people quit that job pretty quickly, after all.”
“Yeah.”
Since Laika offered no further response, the Manager fell silent.
He couldn’t have guessed that something had happened between Laika and the short-term Road Manager.
Back in the hospital room, when Laika sent a message to Iris from the Manager’s phone, he’d just thought it was a joke—the message itself was deleted, so he’d never seen the contents.
Above all, it was hard to imagine someone as wealthy, handsome, and nearly perfect as Laika getting mixed up with a job-seeker like Iris.
And for Laika to be dumped by his own Road Manager? It was unthinkable.
He could only guess that Laika’s bad mood had nothing to do with Iris.
When Laika got home, he dragged his heavy body into the shower, forcing himself to wash.
The cold water cooled his feverish head. His mood was so foul because of Iris that all kinds of thoughts swirled in his mind.
How could he get rid of this disgusting feeling? Maybe…
‘I could easily find out where she lives or what she’s doing if I really wanted to. But… why should I? For what reason?’
It wasn’t as if she’d betrayed him, she’d just cut off contact. It felt lousy— no, disgusting— but if he tracked down a woman who’d clearly left him, he’d only look like a stalker.
A stalker, of all things— if anything, she should be the one stalking him, not the other way around.
The thought was absurd.
Drying off and slipping on a robe, he crossed the long hallway to the Training Room.
Sometimes, when he felt stiff, he’d loosen up with some skills—like exercise.
There, a wooden training dummy stood.
As he stretched his neck and loosened up, he decided to take out his anger by pretending the dummy was Iris.
But in the next moment, his jaw dropped. He’d tried to activate the <Clone> skill in his mind—yet nothing happened.
“What the…?”
Tilting his head, he tried the skill again and again. Still nothing.
It was as if the skill had vanished altogether. Staring at his palm, he was at a loss.
“No way… Why can’t I use my skill?”
He kept trying for a long while, but nothing happened.
The skills he’d awakened through the Ring had vanished.
Rushing out of the Training Room, he hurried to the display case.
Through Project X, he’d awakened skills with the Ring of the Goddess. <Clone> was one of them.
He hadn’t worn the Ring directly—he’d just kept it in the case.
Could the skill have vanished because he hadn’t worn the Ring for so long?
If so, maybe putting it back on would help.
He yanked open the display case and grabbed the Ring.
He tried to slip it on his finger, but stopped short.
The Ring, which always shrank to fit his finger, didn’t react at all.
It was as if it had lost all its power.
Staring at the Ring on his finger, Laika’s anger reached its limit.
“Damn it!”
He ripped the unresponsive Ring from his finger and flung it to the floor.
His chest heaved with rage. His skill was gone, the holy item had lost its power. Why? Why…?
Suddenly, he jerked his head up. He remembered Iris had opened the display case. He scoured it from top to bottom.
Nothing was missing again. Only the Ring had lost its power. Was he just being paranoid?
Maybe the Ring of the Goddess had lost its power for some unknown reason.
The Ring had been right there in the case, hadn’t it?
But recently, the only person who’d visited his house was Iris.
‘No way… Iris can’t be a Hero, right?’
The suspicion that Iris was a Hero began to rise again.
He’d dismissed it completely after seeing she didn’t have anything between her legs, but what if the item that awakened her, like the Ring of the Goddess, moved on its own?
Or what if she simply took it off whenever she met him? Why hadn’t he thought of that?
There was no rule that said you had to wear your awakening item all the time.
‘That White-Clad Hero who showed up at the Bakery Cafe last time is probably Angel Girl. Iris was there too. Even considering the Hero Outfit’s ability to hide her face, their appearance was strikingly similar.’