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Chapter 6
“Azell.”
I called his name in a composed voice, and the familiar black of his hair slowly turned toward me.
“What are you?”
Our eyes met for a moment. As expected, his first words were cold.
“You said you came here to save me, didn’t you? Cute idea, but that’s where it ends.”
As if he had been waiting for me all along, the moment he saw me, he started interrogating.
‘Not like he’s some skittish stray cat…’
I bit my lip and searched for the right words. Before I could respond, Azell spoke again.
But what he said next caught me completely off guard.
“Stranger still… is that I can’t find anything about you. No matter how hard I search, there’s nothing.”
“…Excuse me?”
Nothing…?
“No records, no testimonies. I can’t even tell when you started waiting for me in that square. Every record is blank.”
“…!”
“It’s as if you fell straight from the sky.”
His voice was sharp, like a blade, pressing me coldly, yet I was momentarily speechless.
‘No records? So this isn’t an ordinary possession?’
My mind instantly became a chaotic mess.
“What are you?”
“……”
“And why did you approach me?”
But now was not the time to stand there dumbfounded.
A single misstep, and he would tear me apart.
“I… I don’t really know what I am, but I do have a purpose. I came to save you.”
“That again? You’re starting to bore me.”
“Bored or not, it doesn’t matter. That’s all I can do.”
The moment I finished, Azell’s composed mouth twisted into a dangerous sneer.
A silence unlike any before settled between us.
“You? How?”
His low voice cut through the quiet like a knife.
“I’ve been watching how far you’d go… and it seems there’s no end.”
“You don’t trust me.”
“How could I? I’ve never seen you before.”
“…!”
“What’s with that look? Are you still pretending I’ve forgotten you?”
You little…
He was right, but it annoyed me.
He was deliberately picking cruel words just to get a reaction out of me.
But I wouldn’t be shaken by something so small.
‘Sorry, but I have nowhere to retreat.’
He underestimated me. If I were the type to be scared by this, I wouldn’t have even started.
“For the first time, I actually thought… it was lucky you forgot me.”
“What?”
“If you knew I said that, the Azell I know would surely regret it.”
“…!”
Click. Drop.
The tears forming in my eyes rolled down my cheeks.
‘He never expected me to react like this.’
Looking at him with wounded, hollow eyes, Azell finally reached the limit of his patience.
“That expression again…”
He showed a faint irritation with a face I couldn’t read, then finally erupted.
“…Annoying.”
“Azell.”
“Why do you keep looking at me with those eyes?”
The air between us turned even colder, but I wasn’t about to flinch.
“…I’m sorry.”
Yes.
Honestly… that was a little scary.
I averted my eyes subtly and mumbled a weak excuse.
“It’s okay if you don’t trust me. But there’s one thing I can say. I came here to stop your regression, and even if you don’t believe me, I’ll do everything I can to save you.”
It was partly a lie, but I truly intended to save Azell.
So it wasn’t a complete falsehood.
But then a problem arose.
Azell’s reaction… was strange.
“Stop… your regression?”
Unlike my vague claim of saving him, mentioning regression directly seemed to trigger something.
“I said it. I’m going to stop your regression.”
“Azell…?”
Confusion, hatred, fear, mockery—raw emotions swirled in his red eyes.
“How could you even think of stopping regression? You… you dare say such things in front of me?”
In an instant, Azell moved closer, and he was a completely different person from a moment ago.
“I don’t know what you think you can do, but fine. Go ahead. Let’s hear what clever plan is in that tiny head of yours.”
“I can’t tell you that right now.”
“Are you joking with me?”
“I can’t tell you the method. But believe me—I am not lying.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! You expect me to believe you without telling me anything?”
Even I knew how absurd that sounded.
But the Azell in this world was trapped by a strange conviction that he would regress again.
To convince him, I needed concrete evidence—but I couldn’t provide it.
‘Because I’m a damn extra.’
So I had to try another way.
“If I tell you, you’ll get hurt.”
I pretended to be calm, mumbling nonsense, and Azell’s eyes rolled.
“Annoying. You’re beyond annoying! All of it—saying you’ll save me, pretending to know me, looking at me with those eyes—it’s all unbearable!”
His anger erupted like a sword, and I instinctively trembled, but there was no backing away.
Azell’s heavy breathing and furious stance made him look dangerously unstable.
“Calm down, Azell! Just breathe—”
“Move your hand! Stop that disgusting act and answer me properly!”
This was bad… if I didn’t act, something terrible might happen. I instinctively hugged Azell.
“…!”
My chest pressed against his from his rapid breathing, but instead of pulling back, I rested my cheek stubbornly on his heart.
“What are you doing—!”
“I’m sorry. For not telling you, for making you doubt me, for hurting you—I’m sorry.”
Our hearts pounded so loudly I could hardly tell whose was whose.
“But I promise—nothing will be taken from you again. I will return your life to you.”
I was an extra and couldn’t use any clues from the game.
But this wasn’t a game anymore.
This was reality.
As an extra without a fixed role, I could save Azell in my own way.
“Just one month. Stay with me for one month, and you can escape this eternal hell.”
According to my plan, one month was enough.
“When it’s all over, I’ll leave quietly. Like I never existed. So please… just once, trust me.”
And when everything was over, I would leave this place.
I had no intention of staying beside the mastermind for long.
“If I fail…?”
“Then kill me.”
“…!”
“I’ll gladly die by your hand then.”
So please… just let me deceive you for one month.
‘I will save you. And when it’s over, we’ll never meet again, Azell Biotz.’
I was certain.
Exactly ten minutes later…
I was sitting alone on the cold stone floor.
“Is this right?”
The words escaped my mouth and echoed off the walls.
The chill from the floor seeped through me, but it was still better than the iron bars overhead.
“No, I mean—is this really right?”
Yes. This was a prison.
I had only been confident for ten minutes, and now I was locked in—an impressive accomplishment.
“…Damn it.”
I seemed to have failed.
‘Sure, I said a few awkward things, but locking me up for that?’
The unfairness stung even more because the mood had been fine until just moments ago.
‘He’s reckless enough to be unstable alone.’
I had planned to stay by his side until things settled, but now I was locked up.
What now?
“Alright… time to escape.”
“Are you seriously crazy, sis?”
I thought I heard my sister’s voice, but it was probably just my imagination.
It was a rational decision after all!
‘I had no choice.’
Azell awakening his power recklessly was one thing—but the possibility of being trapped here and not released was worse.
There was no time for hesitation. I started knocking along the walls of the prison.
‘I remember there being an escape mechanism somewhere around here.’
I had once been known as the “Rotten Water” in the game—so escaping a prison should have been easy…
Tap, tap, tap…
“…?”
Easy… supposed to be easy…
Tap, tap, tap!
“Huh?”
It should have sounded hollow… but nothing.
“….”
I think I’m truly… screwed.
