Chapter 58 - Chapter 56: Episode 55 - Loss (2)
After Seon-ah and Miel collapsed in the bathroom, Yu-rin carried Seon-ah to her bed, laid him down carefully, and tucked him in.
Then, she smashed the computer that had been blaring those lewd, incessant moans.
With the computer destroyed, the speakers finally fell silent, replaced only by a low, persistent hum.
Even so, Yu-rin's fist trembled; she couldn't contain her rage.
Deep down, regret gnawed at her, tangled with her inner turmoil.
The realization that her own poor judgment had nearly cost her Seon-ah again was agonizing.
Miel's claim that his mind had shattered out of sheer terror at the prospect of having sex with her felt like a dagger to the heart.
She was at a loss for how to fix this broken relationship.
She watched the soundly sleeping Seon-ah, her emotions a chaotic mess.
It felt as though her pride as a woman had been utterly crushed.
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Miel stirred, the biting cold of the floor seeping into her skin.
The bathroom tiles were freezing, making her entire body shiver.
As she pressed her palms against the tiles to push herself up,
something felt slick.
Realizing her hands were coated in a cold liquid, she forced herself to focus, squinting as she brought her palms into view.
Red liquid was smeared all over them.
There was so much of it that it hadn't even begun to dry.
'Still?'
A sudden wave of unease washed over Miel.
To push the dread away, she struggled to recall the moments before she'd blacked out, her head throbbing with every thought.
Realizing the blood belonged to her and Seon-ah, she began to frantically search for him.
She had to know if he was alright.
"Seon-ah! Seon-ah..."
Perhaps because he couldn't hear her, the bathroom door remained shut.
The pounding in her head refused to subside, and Miel cried out for him even more desperately.
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Yu-rin had dozed off for a moment.
Beside her, Seon-ah was still sleeping soundly.
She had wiped the blood from his nose so many times that the skin underneath was raw and inflamed.
Even with wet wipes, the constant friction had left him swollen.
Seeing the damage, she knew this hadn't been a dream.
Seon-ah yawned, muttering weakly in his sleep.
His eyelids fluttered, signaling he was about to wake.
His eyes opened, and he began to scan the room.
Looking startled and confused by his surroundings, he sat bolt upright.
As soon as he saw her, he scrambled backward.
"Where is this?... Who are you?"
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Part of her thought it might be a clean slate if he didn't remember her, but she feared that if they had to go through that ordeal again, she would lose him for good.
Since Seon-ah seemed unable to even recall his own identity, a worried Yu-rin took him to the bathroom where Miel was.
When she opened the door, she found Miel sitting on the floor, tear-stained, hugging her knees.
Not wanting her tears to be seen, Miel wiped her eyes quickly and spoke with a forced nonchalance.
It was as if she'd known I would come to ask about his condition.
"Just hand Seon-ah over... I won't do anything else. I just need to check on him."
Miel pleaded.
"If you try anything funny, I'll make sure you end up in a state where you can neither live nor die, and I'll lock you away where you'll never see him again."
Yu-rin glared at her, her voice dripping with a cold, subtle threat.
Yu-rin was being coercive for someone asking a favor, but considering what that bitch had done, she felt her reaction was perfectly justified.
"I get it. I really won't do anything like that."
Miel promised, sounding sincere.
She placed a hand on Seon-ah's head, beginning to assess his condition.
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Because she hadn't been in her right mind earlier, she hadn't been able to piece his psyche back together properly, and too many fragments had been lost.
It was already too late to restore them.
The only option was to break his mind down and reassemble it, but Seon-ah's psyche was already so cracked that if she messed up, it would be shattered beyond repair.
Miel had no choice but to erase the remaining fragments.
The loose memory fragments were still drifting in his subconscious, but Miel swallowed them whole so they wouldn't irritate the memories she had bundled together.
Now, most of Seon-ah's memories would be a blank slate.
The parts related to his 'best memories' had acted as the framework for his mind, but that foundation had been almost entirely ground away.
She couldn't leave the remaining pieces as they were, so she began to rebuild the framework by implanting new, false memories.
It was selfish, but she planted memories of them being together, claiming she was his girlfriend and that they were already married.
To solidify this new framework, she needed memories of herself, so she worked with a devious heart, certain that Yu-rin wouldn't be able to stop her and Seon-ah from having sex.
In the end, Yu-rin's worst fears were becoming reality, though she would never know it.
She would have no choice but to accept Miel's word as truth.
After all, she couldn't exactly argue with an expert.
Miel began assembling the memories she had swallowed, one by one.
The memories she had consumed to "fix" him—even though she had no choice—were the very moments that had once sustained him.
They were the memories of his parents.
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Seon-ah's expression softened considerably once Miel finished the manipulation.
Believing Miel was his wife, he was full of questions about why he had forgotten her.
But it didn't really matter.
The sensation of her hand on his head had felt good.
However, that peace was short-lived.
He noticed the iron collar and chain around Miel's neck.
And the mysterious woman who had brought him here.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember how he'd arrived.
Furthermore, he felt an instinctual need to avoid that woman.
For some reason, just looking at her filled him with fear.
"So, what happened?"
The woman asked Miel.
"As his mind collapsed, quite a lot of his memories disappeared. Especially the ones that supported his psyche, so many..."
Miel's words were a shock to Yu-rin.
Yu-rin's complexion turned pale.
"Then did the memories of the days Seon-ah and I spent together fly away?"
"You crazy bitch. How many times do I have to tell you that what you and Seon-ah shared was trauma!"
Seeing them growling at each other, it was clear they knew one another.
But their relationship was clearly toxic.
The atmosphere was so volatile that if I'd asked if they were friends, they probably would have exploded in rage.
Miel continued, sounding perfectly natural.
"Now, most of what supports his mind are the memories of the days he spent with me. There's no way to maintain his stability other than living with me. To stabilize him completely, I need to be there."
"The crazy bitch is you. Why would what Seon-ah did with you be a good memory? You've brainwashed and deceived him so fucking much, and you did it again this time, didn't you? Right, you crazy bitch?"
Miel felt a sting, but she didn't let it show.
"Think whatever you want. What are you going to do if I just leave him alone and his mind collapses one day and he dies?"
Truth be told, Miel held all the cards in this argument.
There was no amateur who could outmatch an expert.
If his mind collapsed and he died, Yu-rin had no way to fix it.
"Ugh... you fucking bitch.... I can't even kill you... then what am I supposed to do now?"
Yu-rin kept cursing, her language having grown rough from her time working as a hunter.
"We just have to live normally, like when Seon-ah and I were in the Demon World."
"Sex with you too?"
Yu-rin glared at Miel, looking as if she might beat her to death right then and there.
Miel was intimidated, but she couldn't give up on having sex with Seon-ah.
"Of course! He has to do it with me—his wife!"
"Ah!! Fuck!!"
Frustrated, she swore and kicked the bathroom wall.
A few tiles shattered with a loud crack.
Seeing Yu-rin like that, Seon-ah and Miel trembled, clinging to each other in fear.
Miel knew all too well that the woman was a lunatic who would do anything when excited.
She was the type of bitch who had once tried to kill herself by smashing her own head against a wall.
"Huu... Huu...."
Yu-rin took deep breaths, trying to calm herself.
"So when will he be completely stable?"
She asked, her voice tight.
"Well, I'm skilled, so it won't take that long... About three years?"
Yu-rin felt like she was choking.
Having to watch her man live with another woman in her own house for three years was pure hell.
He didn't even recognize her.
No, he was actively wary of her.
As Yu-rin pondered how to resolve the situation, a devious idea began to form.
She couldn't stop him from having sex with Miel.
But the idea of occasionally covering Seon-ah's eyes and taking Miel's place on top of him occurred to her.
She had seen such things in her collection of erotic videos, and Seon-ah would be none the wiser.
Yu-rin looked at Seon-ah with a twisted expression, then back at Miel.
She needed Miel's absolute cooperation.