Chapter 98

“How are you even here?”

Beep! Beep!

Bee inside the locker looked strangely out of place. An existence that shouldn’t belong in this world was calmly staring back at me—it was no wonder I felt unsettled. Blinking in confusion, I looked down at my palms.

From Jang Hyunji’s body, I couldn’t feel even a single trace of mana. Before, I hadn’t even been able to sense mana, so I couldn’t have known. But now I did: this body couldn’t use magic.

It wasn’t a problem of the person, but of the world itself. Compared to my world, the distribution of mana here was vanishingly thin. In a world where magic existed only as fantasy in books, Hyunji had still managed to adapt to mine. Even if she’d read about it beforehand, it couldn’t have been easy. She must have been either shamelessly bold—or had longed desperately for another world.

I needed to learn more about Jang Hyunji.

“Bee, come here.”

I didn’t know how you could exist in this world, but—

Bee fluttered up and landed on my head. Warmer than human body heat, but not hot, and with just enough weight to feel comforting.

“Even when Shuriel and Jin can’t be summoned here… you can exist. You really are special.”

You never leave me alone.

It had been that way from the start. I had thought Hyunji summoned you and resented you for a time, but Bee had stubbornly stayed by my side. You had followed my soul across unfathomable timelines.

Beep, beep, beep!

If only Bee could speak. I kissed its wing, then checked the smartphone screen. The battery percentage was low. Taking the charger back to bed, I noticed Bee hop down from my head and press itself against the window. I worried someone might notice its faint glowing form.

I thought animals weren’t allowed in hospital rooms…

But I wasn’t sure. And in a world without magic, it wasn’t as if a bird made of fire would exist. If someone did discover Bee, I would deal with it then. Let them think Hyunji was strange—it didn’t matter to me.

Plugging in the charger, I began pressing icons on the phone.

Then, for a moment, the black screen reflected “my” face.

The features looked awkward. Naturally, very different from my real self.

The single-lidded eyes were fairly large. They must have looked quite cute once. But with the skin stretched from burns, the eyelids sagged so much I couldn’t fully open them. The small nose was straight, the lips small as well.

Skin pale from long absence of sunlight, dark circles under the eyes, a body reduced to skin and bone, and short bobbed hair to the shoulders.

Like most people of this world, the hair and eyes were a dark brown-black.

Though she had received burn treatment, the scars remained. Discolored, uneven, patchy. More treatments were required. From temple to jaw, the scars were faint, but below the neck the red, fused tissue was severe. Before further treatment, Hyunji had been declared terminal.

With little life left, she couldn’t endure more pain just to erase scars. She had undergone chemotherapy, but no new drugs or costly methods had worked. Being young, the cancer spread quickly; the doctors had admitted they could do nothing.

Hyunji must have wanted to escape anywhere.

A life with death already scheduled.

Enduring pain like her organs were melting, suffering phantom burn pain every night.

She must have wanted to die. Must have resented why such misfortune fell only on her.

So she wanted to live—even if it meant stealing another’s place.

And she convinced herself it was justified: For someone this miserable, a little compensation was only fair.

That was as much as I knew about Jang Hyunji.

The hospital staff had done their best to comfort her misfortune. Don’t lose courage. Time is precious, so spend it as happily as you can. What do you want to do? Let’s try something. We’ll help you…

Why, I wondered, did Hyunji always seem so lucky with people?

I turned the smartphone back on and began reading line after line.

Her misfortunes were not mine to acknowledge. Even if losing her entire family in a fire, being burned head to toe, and receiving a terminal diagnosis was pitiful, I wasn’t about to sacrifice my life to pity her. She had already stolen and ruined enough.

If anyone deserved pity, it was my Mari—whom she killed.

My head was cold; my emotions unmoved. I had been that way ever since Mari’s death.

To you, who stole my life whole and killed my soul—

Was this the banking app…

What could I return to you?

Inside the small device was Jang Hyunji’s life.

She had been a lonely human being.

In the messaging apps, not a single person worried for her. Only ads, notices, insurance, contracts, bills. A few people from what seemed like childhood, but in group spaces, Hyunji had no place.

Family consisted of one aunt and one uncle.

I opened a message from the uncle. It began straight with curses, and from start to finish was all about money:

“Are you planning to hog your mother’s insurance payout all by yourself?”
“When my sister worked her ass off to pay premiums, you didn’t chip in a single won.”
“You lived off the money she earned—eating, wearing, shitting—and now what right do you have to take it all?”
“I raised your mother. I worked myself ragged raising her.”
“I deserve it more than you.”
“You’re going to die anyway, so hand over the money before you croak.”
“Not picking up the phone? You bitch. My sister had a good life until you ruined it by being born.”
“This is why you have to be careful which women you bring into the family.”
“Just wait till you get out of the hospital. I’ll find you no matter where you hide…”

Hyunji hadn’t replied a single word. But she hadn’t blocked him either.

Next, I opened the chat labeled “Aunt.”

“Are you feeling better?”
“I heard about the cancer…”
“Please don’t contact me anymore. For caregivers, look elsewhere. These days, if you have money, you can hire one easily.”
“We weren’t close anyway…”
“I cut ties with your mother over a decade ago.”
“I don’t need money. I just don’t want contact.”
“You’re twenty now. You don’t need a guardian.”
“I never once contacted you in all these years, so don’t start now just because you’re dying.”
“Do I care if my niece lives or dies? Honestly, yes. I want to forget. Your mother tormented me so much I just want peace.”

Hyunji hadn’t been looking for a guardian.

By then, after the terminal diagnosis, she had just been desperate to anchor herself to anyone. She had begged her aunt, offering money just for a visit. But the answer had been that cold.

“Your mother was always afraid of fire, so she was meticulous about prevention. To die in a fire—and to have taken out fire insurance—is ironic.”
“If she had the presence of mind to do that, she should have quit drinking sooner, or left that man.”
“You say the fire was an accident? Of course. In an old house, a short-circuit somewhere, surely.”
“The insurance paid out, so fine. But I still think it’s ridiculous.”
“When you were a baby, I begged her to quit drinking. Even hit her. But she always went back to your father. I never want to be tangled with your family again. Honestly, I don’t even want people to know you’re related to me.”
“Don’t contact me again. Blocking you now.”

I opened the next chat.