With her hands clasped behind her back, she paced back and forth, thinking deeply before coming to a conclusion.
There might come a day when she would have to steal his power, but not today.
According to the plot of the comic, he was indeed a Villain.
But Iris couldn’t bring herself to say he was a Villain to her as well.
She decided not to steal Johannes’s power out of concern for his true intentions, but she couldn’t help but wonder if it was the right choice.
Iris kept mulling over her regrets until she finally shook her head and cleared her mind.
‘Anyway, what on earth is with this necklace….’
Standing in front of the mirror, Iris untied her scarf.
She stroked her neck, sticky with sweat, her brows lowering in worry.
“Haa, just what is this thing! …No, it’s only been a day. I’ll awaken soon, right?”
But still, nothing appeared in the mirror.
Iris sighed and rolled her eyes, then leaned her head toward the mirror.
Because a storm was starting to swirl within it.
“Oh, finally… huh?”
But in the next instant, her expression turned grave at what she saw reflected.
She saw herself in her Hero Outfit, a white light glittering at her head and her neck still glowing.
It was as if the necklace wasn’t a Relic at all.
Biting her lip, she suddenly looked down in shock.
Something that shouldn’t be there was reflected in the mirror.
Iris frowned and stepped closer to the glass.
When she raised her hand, the hand in the mirror was wearing a ring.
She was sure Laika had taken the Ancient Ring from her, yet in the mirror her hand still wore it.
In reality, she wasn’t wearing the ring.
She had already confirmed that her abilities remained unchanged.
But she hadn’t expected her reflection to remain unchanged as well.
‘I thought the Chastity Belt absorbed the ring’s power, but maybe the ring itself was absorbed into my body.’
Whatever it was, the abilities she’d gained from the ring remained, so it didn’t matter.
What mattered now was that the neck in the mirror was shining white.
That meant, plainly, the necklace she was wearing was a fake, not a Relic.
‘Ha… come to think of it, that <Insight> window didn’t appear when Abellus gave me the necklace at first. That meaningful smile… it really was a trap. But what was that strange power in the necklace that Theresa-sunbae mentioned?’
It didn’t seem like Abellus had installed some mechanical device inside.
But what if it was some mysterious ability?
Uneasy, Iris hurried to the entryway to put on her shoes and go see Teresa, but hesitated.
She’d been about to ask Theresa-sunbae for Split-Body Summoning, but it didn’t seem proper to visit at such a late hour.
When she checked the time on her Hero Phone, it was nearly midnight.
‘No. I have to solve this now. How am I supposed to sleep with this on?’
Who knew what might happen while she was asleep.
Nervously biting her nails, Iris finally decided to at least head to the Main Building where Teresa lived, and left the Annex.
“Iris, what brings you here at this hour?”
Fortunately, Teresa was not only awake but exercising in the yard.
Even in retirement, her commitment to training was worthy of respect—a true Hero.
“Sunbae, you said earlier there was a strange power coming from my necklace, right?”
With no time to waste, Iris got straight to the point.
“Yes, I did. Why?”
“The thing is, this necklace won’t come off, no matter what. Do you think it’s suspicious?”
Teresa’s eyes grew sharp at Iris’s words and she pulled Iris straight into her own room.
For over thirty minutes, they fervently chanted the Split-Body Summoning incantation again and again, but nothing happened to the necklace.
“Whew, even Split-Body Summoning does nothing. Iris, I can’t figure out what this is. I definitely sense a strange power, but….”
“…Haa. What am I supposed to do?”
Iris’s shoulders sagged in defeat.
She’d not only committed the faux pas of visiting Theresa-sunbae in the middle of the night, but all her effort had been for nothing.
The fact that Split-Body Summoning, which had helped awaken the Chastity Belt, was useless now made things feel hopeless.
“Well. I don’t have any good ideas either… where did you get the necklace?”
“That’s… actually, I took it from a Villain.”
She might not have told just anyone, but Teresa was trustworthy.
When Iris hesitated and confessed, Teresa’s eyes widened a bit.
Then she sighed and rubbed her forehead.
“Sigh. So it could be a trap.”
“It’s my own fault for accepting it without question, thinking it was a Relic.”
“A Relic?”
“Ah, that is… Yes. I’ve been collecting Relics.”
There was nothing left to hide.
If she made a mistake, it could cost her life.
Once she told the truth, a look of surprise appeared on Teresa’s face.
Her hunch that Iris might be the legendary Hero was now all but confirmed.
After checking the area, Teresa closed the slightly ajar door and turned back to Iris, leaning in.
“Can you tell me more about it?”
“…Yes. At some point, I started hearing a voice in my head telling me to collect Relics, and I was drawn to where they were without even realizing it. And then…”
Now that she’d started, Iris told the whole story in detail.
Given the situation, there was no room for secrets.
Leaving out only her ability to see the State Window and to steal Villains’ Skills—powers that were shameful to mention—she confessed almost everything and felt relieved.
It was as if the weight of the crown she’d carried alone had grown lighter.
After listening to everything, Teresa stroked her chin and looked up.
Her eyes were brighter than usual; she saw hope in Iris.
“As I thought, Iris, you really are the legendary Hero. My guess was right.”
“The legend? Do you really think so…?”
“Yes. That’s what I’ve believed. According to the legend…”
When Iris answered uncertainly, Teresa shook her head and began to explain the legend in detail.
In fact, since suspecting Iris was the legendary Hero, she had quietly been investigating the specifics of Gyodam City’s legends.
The more she researched, the more convinced she became that Iris was the main character, and hearing Iris was collecting Relics turned suspicion into certainty.
“…So, the one who gathers all the scattered Relics will obtain tremendous power. With that power, she will save Gyodam City. Some say that Relics draw the chosen one to themselves. Iris, that matches what you said.”
When Teresa finished, Iris nodded.
“So I’m the Hero who will save Gyodam City.”
“That’s right. Even when I was an active Hero, rumors said the legend wasn’t about the past, but a Prophecy soon to come true. You must have sensed it as you started gathering the Relics.”
“…I did.”
Teresa’s gaze landed on the necklace.
Iris fiddled with it, sighing.
“Hoo, when I first saw it, it was definitely a Relic, but it seems the Villain swapped it for a fake. A Fake Necklace containing some kind of power I can’t identify.”
“There’s a truly wicked force coming from the necklace. But I don’t feel a killing intent. Only persistence and immense greed….”
“Haa, what am I supposed to do. I’m so anxious, I can’t do anything because I don’t know what might happen.”
As Iris sighed as if the ground might swallow her, Teresa suddenly sprang up.
Maybe she’d thought of something?
With hopeful eyes, Iris watched Teresa’s back as she rummaged through a drawer and pulled out a pair of pliers.
She tried to cut the necklace, but only hurt her hand; nothing happened.
With a scowl, Teresa tossed the pliers aside and let out a sigh as deep as Iris’s.
“Ugh! As I thought, it’s impossible.”
“Sigh….”
As both despaired together, Teresa lifted her head, her eyes lighting up.
“That’s right. If my guess is right, the source of this evil power is an Evil Spirit. According to the legend, there was an Evil Spirit who stood as the counterpart to the Goddess.”
“An Evil Spirit? Oh, from the legend! But isn’t that just an old story?”
“No. If you’re the legendary Hero, it’s likely that Evil Spirit exists somewhere too. The Evil Spirit is a being that wants Gyodam City to be filled with evil power. So this kind of sinister force likely originates from the Evil Spirit. I can’t drive out the evil power from the necklace, but I can suppress it. After all, I am both an Exorcist and a Hero. As long as the power isn’t some unknown force but a curse of the Evil Spirit, that is.”
Teresa jumped up and lifted the carpet in the corner of the room.
She pressed down on the floor and a wooden door opened like a lid.
Inside were all sorts of items for exorcism.
After rummaging through them, she laid several objects before Iris.
Sprinkling holy water, chewing garlic, scattering red beans, hanging crucifixes—she performed every ritual, and finally, the choking sensation at Iris’s throat eased.
“You’ll have to perform a purification ritual every day to keep the evil power at bay. But that’s only a temporary fix. Ultimately, you’ll have to eliminate the one who cast this curse on the necklace.”