Chapter 58

A chilling silence descended.

It was the kind of silence where it felt as though I could hear the sound of the candles burning.

It took a moment to realize that every person in the underground chamber had stopped even breathing at the same time.

I swallowed dryly.

The decisive reason I became convinced that I had summoned him was the butlers of Clean3.

‘Dominic, just like the butlers, was connected to my past gameplay.’

However, I had failed to clear CallOVo.

The god I had summoned had been left behind inside an unfinished game, and after losing his memories, he became trapped within Doctor Dominic.

‘Although it’s possible the game broke because I summoned an existence like Dominic.’

Regardless, one thing was certain.

I had fulfilled the conditions for the true ending.

Because the player, as the cult leader, had summoned the God of the Void.

The fact that the choice window had been unable to force my actions and instead caused an error proved it.

But…

The system window announcing the ending had still not appeared.

Dominic also continued to exist.

He silently stared at me.

His gaze felt as if it were digging through my very essence.

My body naturally shrank back at the piercing sensation.

An instinctive fear dominated me.

‘I’ll die.’

I had the intuition that my existence would be torn apart completely by Dominic.

Strange thoughts kept appearing in my mind.

They were not thoughts I wanted to have.

The longer I remained locked in Dominic’s gaze,

the more I continued to think.

Something.

“…!”

The moment his gaze fell away, I immediately bent forward.

Unable to hold it back, I vomited, but only saliva and stomach acid came out.

Several red drops fell onto the floor.

I wiped beneath my nose with the back of my hand and raised my head.

Dominic stood with his arms crossed, looking down.

Those blue eyes, positioned impossibly high above me, were cold.

“It’s a boring joke.”

He was giving me an opportunity.

A chance to retract my statement and apologize.

Like teaching a child, Dominic spoke slowly once more.

“It was a joke, wasn’t it?”

But I could not cling to the mercy he offered.

I sincerely apologized to him.

“I’m sorry, Dominic-ssi.”

I truly felt sorry toward Dominic.

I did not know how I had brought an existence like Dominic into the game, but I felt even more guilty because I had no intention of helping him recover the memories he had lost.

Even from now on, Dominic would not easily regain his memories.

Before revealing the truth, I had become certain after hearing what Dominic said.

No matter what I said, he would not recover all of his memories.

Dominic had to find his own existence.

Of course, hearing my words might restore fragments of his memories.

But if I wanted to clear the true ending and leave, this was a risk I had to accept.

After finishing my own calculations, I had told Dominic the truth.

That was why I…

Was prepared to pay the price.

“……”

When I refused to give him the answer he wanted until the very end, Dominic’s expression became blank.

A system window appeared before me.

He did not ask me anything else or say another word.

He simply expressed his emotions through his actions.

“Gasp…!”

The instant death and revival caused my vision to spin.

My stomach churned, and I felt like I would vomit at any moment.

There was nothing in my empty stomach, but the unbearable urge remained.

However, I could not even steady my breathing.

“Haah… ugh….”

A groan escaped my mouth.

This was my first time experiencing death and revival repeatedly, and it was considerably painful.

Was it not simply something done through the system?

“……”

A sensation I had never felt before crushed my entire body.

I felt that this action could not continue being repeated.

“……”

“……”

“……”

“……”

“…….”

“Stop!”

A cry close to a scream rang out.

It was a desperate voice, clear enough to pierce through my muffled hearing.

Dominic stopped the action he had been repeating indifferently.

He lowered his gaze toward where the voice came from.

I was lying face-down on the ground, unable to move.

‘Am I… alive…?’

My body trembled with relief at surviving.

The aftermath of repeatedly dying and reviving in such a short period of time was horrific.

It was a sensation that could not be described simply as pain.

My outer skin was completely unharmed.

But deep inside, it felt as though something had been damaged.

It might be an exaggerated comparison, but it felt as if my soul itself had been torn apart.

It was a pain I never wanted to experience again.

If Dominic asked me once more whether I had been joking, I might have answered yes.

I forced myself to raise my gaze.

‘That was definitely Edel’s voice….’

Dominic was already in a very bad mood.

There was nothing good about getting caught up in this.

My vision was blurry, and I had to blink several times before I could see properly.

Edel was hanging below Dominic.

She had stabbed him with an obsidian dagger, but no blood flowed from Dominic.

The dagger almost looked as if it had simply been absorbed into Dominic’s body.

Edel’s eyes widened as she gasped for breath.

She seemed unable to control herself because of fear over what she had done.

Yet Edel did not close her mouth.

Even while cold sweat poured from her face under Dominic’s blue gaze, she spoke.

“Please forgive me, Doctor.”

Almost completely out of her mind, she begged for my life.

“If you would show mercy to the cult leader just once….”

It was an unexpected situation.

Edel was an apostle who worshiped Dominic.

Even if I was the cult leader, there was no reason for her to protect the target of her god’s anger.

The shallow companion relationship created by the system was not enough of a reason either.

And yet she attacked Dominic for my sake.

Edel lowered her head.

She had gathered her courage, but she could no longer look at Dominic because of her fear.

The woman who had been trembling so badly her teeth had been chattering suddenly turned her head.

Her eyes met mine.

I wanted to tell Edel thank you, but no voice came out.

So instead, I blinked several times.

Edel’s face suddenly crumpled.

The area around her eyes turned as red as her irises, and tears began falling.

The emotions in her gaze toward me were mixed together without order.

Resentment, worry, and fear.

It was as if she believed something terrible would happen to me at any moment.

Watching her cry silently, I could only blink helplessly.

‘At this point, I’m still doing fairly well.’

From the moment I told Dominic I had something last to say, I had prepared myself for something bad to happen.

I had prepared myself for something far more cruel, so compared to that, this was actually rather mild.

My heart had not been consumed, so I still had one extra life remaining.

Since I could not explain this and comfort Edel, all I could do was watch her cry.

Edel, struggling desperately to hold back her sobs, moved her lips.

“Roasted Chestnut-nim….”

I stared blankly at Edel.

But she seemed unaware of what she had just said.

She only continued looking at me and crying.

Then a calm voice filled with weight called my name.

“Roasted Chestnut.”

It felt as if ice water had been poured over my head.

I snapped back to awareness.

I spat out the blood pooled inside my mouth onto the floor.

Then I tried to stand, but my arms and legs had no strength left.

I wondered if this was what it felt like to have your limbs severed after failing an epic quest.

Perhaps impressed by my struggling attempt to move on the dirty floor, Dominic grabbed the back of my neck and lifted me up.

He placed me back onto the altar.

My body tried to fall forward, but Dominic lightly supported me with one hand.

“Are you all right?”

It was a question that almost made me laugh, but I did not even have enough strength to move the corners of my mouth.

I hung limply, gathered whatever strength I had left, and barely moved my tongue.

“Dominic-ssi….”

My voice sounded unfamiliar, as if it belonged to someone else.

“Has your… anger calmed… a little….”

I stopped speaking and clenched my teeth.

The pain made my hair stand on end.

Dominic looked down at me suffering and answered.

“I have cooled down enough to think clearly.”

“……”

“So, Roasted Chestnut. What will you do now?”

“……”

“I no longer see meaning in holding you accountable. What has happened has already happened. What I want is to find myself again.”

“……”

“Will Roasted Chestnut help me recover my memories?”

“……”

“If you cannot, then you should never have told me the truth from the beginning. I can make Roasted Chestnut, or those who matter to Roasted Chestnut, suffer.”

“……”

“I could simply keep Roasted Chestnut here forever. At least I would not be bored.”

“…Let’s.”

I forced myself to gather my strength.

And I spoke the final condition for the true ending.

“Let’s make a contract, Dominic-ssi.”

For the first time, Dominic, who had calmly continued speaking by himself until now, fell silent.

I could feel his gaze observing me.

It was so clear it felt as if it had physical form, making my skin ache.

I leaned my head back, my face damp with sweat and tears.

Looking into Dominic’s eyes, I said,

“And let’s go outside together.”

After some time passed, Dominic asked again.

“…Wasn’t your intention to keep me trapped here?”

So he knew.

When had he realized?

The feeling of having everything exposed made me let out a small laugh.

I immediately groaned in pain after laughing, though.

“That was the original plan, but now…. I want to leave with you, Dominic-ssi.”

At first, I truly intended to keep Dominic trapped inside CallOVo with everything I had.

But after realizing that I was the one who summoned him, my thoughts changed slightly.

‘Because I summoned him.’

It was an unintended accident, but I felt responsible.

With Dominic’s power, sooner or later, he would eventually leave CallOVo.

Since it would happen someday anyway, it would be better to keep him beside me from now on, observe him, and think of a solution.

Toward a being who might become the greatest disaster imaginable, I offered the best promise I could.

“As your companion, I will stay with you until you recover your memories, Dominic-ssi.”