Delusive Fate

#074

Jung Yi-dam wasn’t interested in Ki Baek-woo. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say he had no intention of being interested. The reason was clear.

Because love is precious.

It was on that day, now a distant past, when Jung Yi-dam first met Ki Baek-woo’s eyes. Ki Baek-woo, who had a cold expression with a somewhat uncomfortable air. As befitting someone prepared for Jung Yi-dam, he was flawless in every aspect. An information window popped up next to Ki Baek-woo’s well-crafted face. Jung Yi-dam read it, and at that moment, Ki Baek-woo was excluded from his heart.

♥ 

Ki Baek-woo (S)

– Age: 22

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– Likes: Home, holidays, Lee Han-sol

– Dislikes: Lee Han-sol’s relationships with others, things Lee Han-sol dislikes, things Lee Han-sol likes

⁝

‘This Ki Baek-woo… his information is full of Lee Han-sol. Who on earth is Lee Han-sol?’

The personal information of Ki Baek-woo that Jung Yi-dam read was repetitively filled with the name ‘Lee Han-sol’ to the point of annoyance. His personality, characteristics, likes, dislikes, and so on. Ki Baek-woo seemed like a person made of Lee Han-sol. Jung Yi-dam was curious about this Lee Han-sol person who plastered Ki Baek-woo’s profile, and his curiosity was resolved in less than a few seconds.

 TIP  Obstacles must be overcome decisively. When targeting a man who’s taken, a powerful move is important. Let’s erase the X completely, leaving no room for ambiguity!

Ah, a taken man… Jung Yi-dam nodded slowly. As soon as he realized the relationship between Lee Han-sol and Ki Baek-woo, he lost all sexual interest in Ki Baek-woo. No, beyond that, Jung Yi-dam even felt a sense of camaraderie or comradeship towards Ki Baek-woo. Because Jung Yi-dam loved love, and he also loved people who were in love.

Regardless of the purpose of their creation, those who are in love should all be blessed. That’s what Jung Yi-dam thought. Even though Ki Baek-woo was a being prepared for him, he had no desire to be unnecessarily greedy. Rather, he wanted to pray. If he already had a lover, he hoped that Ki Baek-woo could have a perfect love like himself. To be happy through eternal love with Lee Han-sol.

Love is the most valuable thing in the world. Jung Yi-dam had many options besides Ki Baek-woo. It didn’t have to be him, and he didn’t want to do the terrible act of ruining an already existing love for such a small reason.

‘Because the world needs more love.’

No matter how much there is, it’s never enough. Love must only multiply. Only then will this lonely society, people who are unhappy because of loneliness, be healed. That was Jung Yi-dam’s principle, so he had no intention of targeting Ki Baek-woo and trampling on Lee Han-sol’s heart. That would be too wasteful. What suits love is not plus-minus zero, but only addition.

For that reason, Jung Yi-dam targeted only other partners except Ki Baek-woo for a very long time. Countless times, probably well over a hundred times, he yearned for perfect love, until he finally began to doubt, ‘Is a complete love that defies death perhaps just a fantasy?’ … He didn’t even glance at Ki Baek-woo. Jung Yi-dam still had three men who had maintained pure hearts without any disturbing past. He wasn’t suffering from some strange sexual desire to snatch and lick someone else’s leftover plate when there was a new cake available.

‘But…’

But thinking about it… While I was disappointed by incomplete love and repeated targeting so many times, those two seemed to have been happy all along. Ki Baek-woo and Lee Han-sol, I mean.

Jung Yi-dam recalled, sitting on that bench in a dark park where courting moths flew around the streetlights and the sound of crickets searching for mates pierced the ears, where Ki Baek-woo’s whining for Lee Han-sol’s undivided attention gradually faded away. When he sat there, disappointed by Ji Woo-won’s changed attitude after the ending and his unproven fake love, Ki Baek-woo and Lee Han-sol passed by him, looking as if they hadn’t changed at all from before. Watching them still so lovable, Jung Yi-dam silently muttered.

‘Why does that seem better than my love?’

The two who are crazy about each other. The two who stick together as if they can’t be without each other. Although I haven’t specifically seen a scene where they throw away their lives for each other, anyway, that looks close to perfect love. While I’ve been dying and dying to complete a constant heart. From when I loved Choi Tae-hyuk to when I came to love Im Geon-woo, and now when I who loved Im Geon-woo have come to love Ji Woo-won… Ki Baek-woo and Lee Han-sol haven’t changed. Even while Jung Yi-dam, born for love, shifted his heart from one partner to another… the two only looked at each other.

‘Moreover, those two are the same even after the ending.’

The relationship of Ki Baek-woo and Lee Han-sol, always the same as if it would be eternal. That was what Jung Yi-dam had wished for. What Jung Yi-dam should have had. So on that day, just before dying from slashing his own stomach, Jung Yi-dam thought.

‘It seems that the person who could give me perfect love was… Ki Baek-woo after all.’

He loves even Lee Han-sol, who’s not particularly an important character, like that. Then he would give me the same love. I’m sorry to Lee Han-sol, but…

Hoping to complete love in the next round.

After that, Jung Yi-dam started targeting Ki Baek-woo. He felt guilty when he thought of Lee Han-sol. But it couldn’t be helped. Jung Yi-dam was a person without immunity to bad things. He was a noble person who shouldn’t know about misfortune and poverty. But he kept feeling like he might get depressed. At this rate, he might become as miserable as those pitiful people scattered outside. So wretchedly because of the lack of love…

‘No, that will absolutely not happen. I will definitely have love.’

What Jung Yi-dam wants is just one thing, perfect love. That’s all he needs. But why can’t I have just that one thing? I’m the center of the world. I’m a precious person… Then isn’t it okay for me to have just that one thing? Jung Yi-dam’s conviction gradually became precarious.

Does perfect love really not exist in this world? The sublime love that can sacrifice everything for the other person, might it really be a fantastical concept that only exists during the game’s progression, only while the main story continues? So maybe Choi Tae-hyuk and the others all change so trivially once the ending passes. Even though they were all so desperate in the face of destruction…

‘Have I been living in a fairy tale all this time?’

The game is called BLUE HEART FANTASY from the start. Maybe everything I’ve dreamed of is just a fantasy…

‘Ah, if that’s really the truth, it’s unbearably sad. I was born to love, I lived my whole life for it, but if such a thing doesn’t even exist… What should I live for now?’

Jung Yi-dam gradually began to doubt what love is. It felt like the axis of the world was shaking. In that uncertainty, Ki Baek-woo seemed to be the only one who could save Jung Yi-dam. Unlike Choi Tae-hyuk, Im Geon-woo, or Ji Woo-won, Ki Baek-woo… at least knew how to love Lee Han-sol a hundred times over. All he had to do was change the object of that love to Jung Yi-dam, himself.

So Jung Yi-dam finally decided to ignore Lee Han-sol’s love. He seduced Ki Baek-woo. It was, as expected, too easy. When the main story started, the minds of the leads were like dogs on a leash. Deeply involved in the story, they were under the strong control of the system, and the system was the same as Jung Yi-dam, and Jung Yi-dam moved only for his own love.

Therefore, the moment Jung Yi-dam decided to love Ki Baek-woo, the moment he suddenly kissed him following the content of the information window’s “Conquest TIP: Obstacles must be overcome decisively. When targeting a taken man, a powerful move is important. Let’s erase the X completely, leaving no room for ambiguity!” From that moment on, Ki Baek-woo’s heart had no choice but to become Jung Yi-dam’s. It was natural for Lee Han-sol, who would become the ‘X’, to be erased from Ki Baek-woo’s mind.

It didn’t matter how long their relationship had been, or how much they would suffer because of this conquest. This was an irresistible fate. Neither Lee Han-sol nor Ki Baek-woo had the right to feel wronged. It was Ki Baek-woo’s fault for being a lead arranged for Jung Yi-dam, and Lee Han-sol’s sin for not being Jung Yi-dam. So it’s not my fault. Jung Yi-dam thought repeatedly.

‘Everything is going smoothly. It was a bit trickier than with other people… but anyway, now that the favorability has exceeded 70, there’s nothing to worry about.’

Jung Yi-dam suddenly thought, sitting in the cozy living room of his single-room dormitory provided within the Central Center. Quietly observing Ki Baek-woo sitting on the single sofa across from him, he broke the silence and asked.

“Hunter Ki Baek-woo, shouldn’t you be heading home soon?”

Smoothly, Jung Yi-dam gave a gentle eye smile. His kind, docile eyes curved into a rainbow shape. Even through his narrowed view, he could read Ki Baek-woo’s status window.

♥Favorability: 72

Ki Baek-woo (S)

Ki Baek-woo, who had now given over 72 percent of his heart to Jung Yi-dam, was staring blankly out the window lost in thought, then moved his lips briefly like a malfunctioning machine. And belatedly asked back.

“Why should I go home?”

It was a voice tinged with confusion, as if he really didn’t understand. Jung Yi-dam tilted his head and asked back, “Huh?”

“When Jung Yi-dam the Healer is here, why would I…?”

“There’s someone at home anxiously waiting just for you, Hunter Ki… Isn’t it a bit much to make them wait too long?”

Jung Yi-dam responded with an affectionate expression. His tone was as if he was testing the waters. In fact, he was.

Ki Baek-woo frowned and fell into thought for a while. He often showed such an attitude after his favorability exceeded 70 and he came to love Jung Yi-dam for sure. After being lost in thought for a while, not long after, he looks at Jung Yi-dam with eyes that seem to say he really doesn’t understand. Just like now.

“Who… is waiting for me?”

To Ki Baek-woo, who was asking sincerely, Jung Yi-dam kindly explained about Lee Han-sol.

“You said you live with a hyung who’s like family, didn’t you? I love having Hunter Ki by my side, but shouldn’t you at least contact him? I think he’ll be waiting too much…”

“Hyung…?”