Chapter 29
Lia recalled the day she first t a human.
An inexplicable hostility and hatred.
And violence.
After escaping from the monster’s hand that had imprisoned her, she instead felt the terror of death from humans.
“She’s the woman from the monster’s mansion. She must be a monster too.”
“Look at that enormous body and pale skin! We have to kill her right now!”
Their swords cut her flesh, and their torches burned her body.
She begged for her life, pleaded for rcy, but the humans never listened.
In the end, she had no choice but to flee from them— and walked back into the monster’s house on her own.
The monster approached her as if it had known she would return.
Frankenstein embraced Lia tightly and whispered,
“In this world, only you can understand , and only I can understand you.”
The monster’s voice was sweet, as though comforting her.
But she realized it then.
The reason why he had never hard the humans near the mansion, despite hating them so deeply— was precisely for this mont.
That mory, even after all the years she had lived, remained one of the traumas that bound Lia most strongly.
Her first mory of humans was close to the worst possible one, and that perception had not changed for a long ti.
Even the countless humans she had seen within the fragnts were no different.
They were still destructive, selfish, and greedy.
That was the kind of beings humans were.
What made her see humans differently was not the endless challengers who ca seeking her.
It was one human— a girl captured for the creation of a puppet.
A girl who had been taken along with her younger brother. She was weak and powerless.
But she never broke.
To protect her brother, she never hesitated to risk her life. In countless mories, she had seen the girl beaten to death by prisoners, or turned into a monster by challengers who never ca to rescue her.
Lia had watched the girl die over and over throughout countless challenges.
But in all those deaths, one thing never changed— the girl never died before her younger brother.
Amid the prisoners’ violence, she would hold her brother tightly in her arms to shield him.
And when monsters ca to take them away, she stepped forward first, delaying her brother’s turn.
It was all aningless struggling, nothing more than desperate resistance, and yet Lia couldn’t take her eyes off that girl.
A selfish, greedy human… showing self-sacrifice?
Wasn’t that strange, no matter how one thought about it?
That was around the ti she began to take interest in humans.
To understand them, she wrapped her body in a thick hide and joined them in their short journeys.
Thus, she began to observe humans up close.
Humans were still greedy.
They betrayed their comrades for great rewards and drew their swords against one another.
But not all of them were like that.
So joined forces to defeat monsters. So gave up their own shares for their comrades.
These were sights she had never seen before— no, that she had never tried to see.
They weren’t just monsters driven mad by greed and destruction.
They were beings who struggled precisely because they were weak, seeking aning in their fleeting lives.
Lives that burned like flas— that was the life humans lived.
Soon, she began to admire those human lives.
Yet, at the sa ti, she felt a terrible loneliness.
No matter how closely she watched humans, she could never share in their joy.
Only then did she begin to understand what that monster had once told her.
‘We are beings abandoned by our creator and forsaken by God. That is why we belong nowhere, and are dood to eternal loneliness. In the end, you will seek out and understand .’
The more she longed for humans, the deeper her emptiness grew.
And she realized—
Hiding her true nature and living among humans was no different from being trapped in the monster’s grasp that once confined her.
From that mont on, everything began to lose its aning.
The freedom she had so longed for, her yearning for humans, even her hatred for the monster— all of it.
From then on, she simply wanted to leave this place.
But escaping this space was not easy.
She had to awaken the monster’s true power.
She had to gather his hearts and hand them directly to him— but what kind of mad challenger would ever imagine that such an act would make the enemy stronger?
Then one day, soone appeared— soone strong enough to fight and defeat that monster.
A Black Knight clad in dark armor.
He possessed imnse strength and wielded flas that would never extinguish.
He not only defeated monsters with ease, but also saved the girl who had never once survived before.
Upon seeing that, Lia beca certain.
He could free her from this terrible prison and grant her rest.
Growing desperate, she interfered in his challenge for the sake of her freedom.
She borrowed a physical form that was supposed to remain asleep inside the glass chamber
and appeared before him.
And when he saw her, he said to her—
“Co with .”
He reached out his hand to her without hesitation, pulling her out from the darkness.
The hideous creature that she was.
The one abandoned by everyone.
The one who never belonged anywhere.
It was only a few simple words— yet with those words, she was saved.
From the monster who had bound her, and from the humans who could never understand her because she was different.
And at the sa ti, she resented the one who had finally appeared before her.
‘If only you had appeared a little earlier… and reached out your hand like that….’
But such thoughts were aningless now.
Her long-awaited rest was right before her.
And at last, the ti for that rest had co.
She handed him the complete heart of The Naless One— the core that had maintained the fragnt.
All that remained was to find peace amid the loneliness of being left behind once more after he departed.
She had no lingering regrets.
Or so she thought.
But then, he asked—
“Will you co with ? Rather than disappearing like this, wouldn’t it be better to go outside with ?”
Hearing those words again, she felt her heart sink.
She wanted to think he said it casually.
That it ant nothing.
But soon, large tears welled up in her big eyes.
At that sight, Sung-woo’s face filled with surprise.
From his perspective, Lia suddenly bursting into tears must have co out of nowhere.
“Did I… say sothing I shouldn’t have?”
She shook her head.
Large tears fell from her big eyes as she did.
They were tears of joy—
Tears of joy for finally obtaining what she had truly longed for.
At last, she could escape that loathso place.
She had t the knight who would rescue her from her endless solitude.
Though he wasn’t a fairytale prince on a white horse, but rather a dark, devil-like knight in black armor—
It didn’t matter.
Sung-woo approached the woman who sat down, crying.
“So, will you co with ?”
“……Yes!”
Through the endless tears, she smiled brightly.
It was the first radiant smile she had ever shown after years of loneliness and oppression.
But at the sa ti, she wondered.
How exactly did he plan to take her out of here?
When she asked, instead of answering, he showed her The Naless One’s complete heart in his hand.
“Could it be…?”
The Naless One’s heart could store anything and release it for use.
While it couldn’t absorb a physical body, it could store a soul.
He asked,
“Then I’ll take that as consent and begin the absorption.”
“Alright.”
When she nodded, Sung-woo brought the pulsating, glowing jewel to her chest.
A radiant light soon burst forth from the jewel, enveloping her.
As The Naless One’s complete heart absorbed her soul, sothing strange began to happen.
【The Naless One’s Heart resonates with the soul of its counterpart.】
【That which could never unite despite countless attempts has finally achieved union.】
【The counterpart’s soul is now bound to The Naless One’s Complete Heart.】
【The counterpart’s soul joyfully accepts this bond.】
【The item’s information has changed.】
【Homunculus Core
– The core, the most essential part of homunculus creation.
– The item possesses an Ego.
– Contains the secret magic of a prestigious magic family.
– Increases the power of magic by 20%.
– Can absorb, store, and manifest.
– Magic power 5.
– When creating a homunculus, the Ego pledges loyalty to you.
– This is a soulbound item.
– When bound, the item’s stats are enhanced.】
【Would you like to bind this item?】
【Y/N】
“What the hell…”
The item’s entire information had changed.
He had never seen anything like this back when it was a ga.
Its performance had skyrocketed— even the na of the item was different now.
And on top of that, it had gained a soulbound option.
A soulbound item.
Items of extraordinary power— impossible to steal unless the player died— and so rare that most could only dream of having one.
The result was beyond anything he had imagined.
A grin ford on my face as I carefully read the item’s description.
Perhaps the entire situation surrounding Seo Da-hee’s assassination would change completely.
Without hesitation, I pressed Y.
A clear, bright laughter echoed inside my head.
Then, the fragnt’s space began to collapse.
With Lia, who had maintained the fragnt, now gone, the space could no longer sustain itself.
My vision flickered— and was swallowed by darkness.
[Husband! Wake up, husband!]
“……You’re noisy.”
At the familiar voice, I slowly regained my dazed consciousness.
When I lifted my head and looked around, walls entirely made of tightly packed books ca into view.
I had finally escaped the dungeon.
[Is this… your world, Husband?]
Lia’s excited voice rang out.
I felt a weight in my hand.
When I lifted it, I saw the Homunculus Core resting in my palm, emitting a mysterious, pulsing glow.
“Why do you still call that? You don’t have to act like a child anymore.”
[Because you and I are now connected halves of one soul, Husband.]
“? Since when?”
[When you bound the heart in your hand to your soul.]
“Ah.”
It wasn’t wrong—so I had nothing to say.
Still, the word husband made uncomfortable.
Lia, thrilled by the sight of this strange new world, chattered endlessly inside my head.
Ignoring her, I pulled out my phone to check the ti.
22:49.
When I had entered the Forbidden Zone, it was Saturday morning at 8 a.m.
So about fourteen hours had passed.
Roughly the sa amount of ti as I had spent in the dungeon.
Unread ssages filled one corner of the screen.
Seeing them, I tilted my head in confusion.
“Why the hell is he calling ?”
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