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 [Chapter 152]

[Lee Yoojung]

Lee Yoojung.

How could that name come out of Lee Yucheon's mouth?

It's impossible.

There's no way.

It's an absurd thing.

Lee Yoojung being a direct descendant of Luminous Group.

To think the person he had been desperately searching for was so close by.

It must just be someone with the same name.

But Eunha who had been telling himself that had no choice but to acknowledge it after hearing Lee Yucheon's words.

"─Yoojung is my half-sister. A long time ago, father's eyes met with a servant working at home, that is, Yoojung's mother..."

"..."

Lee Yucheon's story was detailed.

A servant who caught Lee Jeongin's eye.

The servant who became Yoojung's mother suddenly disappeared from the mansion one day.

Though it was just a brief encounter,

Lee Jeongin couldn't forget the servant and tried to find her somehow.

"Yoojung's mother was scared. Father was already married with a family, and it was an illicit affair that wouldn't be allowed."

"..."

"So she disappeared from in front of father without telling anyone she had become pregnant with Yoojung. If Yoojung's existence became known to mother or other people in the group, it would surely become a source of trouble."

Lee Yucheon said he couldn't know Yoojung's birth mother's feelings exactly, but

He asserted that her mother didn't disappear to blackmail Dawn Group at the time using Yoojung as leverage.

"Maybe just... No, I don't know. As mother's son... It's absolutely not right for me to defend father or Yoojung's mother."

"..."

"I'll just tell you what happened as it is."

Receiving only her mother's blessing,

Yoojung was born like that.

That day was─

"─September 1st. The day Yoojung was actually born." "..."

September 1st.

The day Yoojung was actually born.

The birthday Eunha remembered.

But the day she was born wasn't recorded in the world, he said.

That was why when he previously asked Twenty-five to find Yoojung using her birthday as a clue, he couldn't find her.

Because her birthday recorded in the world was different.

"She lived in hiding without leaving traces to avoid father and the group's tracking. So... worried that even her pregnancy with Yoojung might be discovered, she intentionally delayed registering the birth."

"..."

So Yoojung's birthday was recorded in the world as February of the following year.

She became an early-born child.

Even going that far, her mother wanted to erase her traces and raise Yoojung, he said.

However─

"─It was when Yoojung was 3 years old."

"..."

"How hard must it have been to raise Yoojung alone without receiving help from others. Moreover, she had to avoid the group's tracking."

"..."

"Yoojung was already suffering from mana depletion... so the burden doubled."

To raise Yoojung alone,

She worked while overworking her body, he said.

Nevertheless, raising Yoojung who was suffering from mana depletion was realistically too overwhelming,

After ruining her body over and over─

"─She reached a state where she could no longer take care of Yoojung. Realizing she didn't have many days left to live, she sent a letter to father." "..."

"Saying she didn't care what happened to her, but please do something for Yoojung." "..."

"After receiving the letter, father rushed to Yoojung's mother. But by the time father arrived, it was already too late."

A slum neighborhood where it was hard for people to live.

When Lee Jeongin arrived there, Yoojung's mother had already passed away.

Yoojung who was clinging to her mother's side and crying loudly was waiting for him.

"So father brought Yoojung home, and mother pitied her and adopted her as her own child. So though Yoojung is my half-sister, she's no different from my real sister." "..."

"Yoojung is really a good kid. Actually, before Yoojung came home, the relationship between the two who were married for political reasons wasn't very good." "..."

"But as they took care of Yoojung, their relationship improved. Originally they didn't know how to treat each other because of the thought that they were married for political reasons. Mother focused only on her role as a wife, and father focused only on his role."

Lee Yucheon's mother just fulfilled her role as a wife, he said.

The same for Lee Jeongin.

They who were connected for political reasons tried not to harm each other while creating a formal relationship.

Then Yoojung came in.

Unlike her elegant appearance maintaining dignity, Lee Yucheon's mother who actually loved children very much and had a heart that could pity others revealed her true self while taking care of Yoojung, he said.

Lee Jeongin fell in love seeing her true self.

"That's why our family cherishes Yoojung. She is... a treasure to our family."

So please, he begged.

Lee Yucheon bowed his head and continued speaking again.

"─Please save Yoojung." "..."

"I don't want to see Yoojung die. I want Yoojung to live healthily and happily."

Lee Yucheon's voice was desperate.

Eunha looked at him endlessly.

The silence was long and truly heavy.

After the long silence, Noh Eunha─

"─I'll think about it."

Unlike before, Eunha couldn't speak firmly.

"I'm sorry but let me be alone for a moment. Give me time to think."

After learning that Lee Yucheon's younger sister was the Lee Yoojung he had been looking for,

Eunha was in a confused state of mind.

He needed to organize his thoughts.

So Eunha said that to Lee Yucheon.

"...Okay. Thank you."

And Lee Yucheon who noticed Eunha's hesitation finally relaxed his expression.

He kept saying thank you.

"─If you save Yoojung, Eunha, I'll never forget this favor for the rest of my life."

Until the moment he left the hospital room,

Lee Yucheon was polite to Eunha.

☆

"Pipi..."

"Sorry, let me be alone."

"Pi..."

Fire Chicken flies out the window.

It was being considerate of him.

Eunha who was left alone in the hospital room sat on the bed hugging his knees.

To think Yoojung is a direct descendant of Luminous Group.

Now everything seems to fit together.

Why didn't Lee Yoojung enter the Player Academy unlike in the previous life?

It was because she was a direct descendant of Luminous Group.

Unlike before the regression, in this life the future changed with Lee Jeongin... no, Yoojung's father becoming chairman instead of Lee Byungin.

In the previous life, Lee Jeongin committed a crime and ended his life by suicide.

Of course, Luminous Group didn't exist, and

The chairman of Dawn Group was Lee Byungin, not Lee Jeongin.

Then how would Lee Byungin have treated Lee Jeongin's children who could leave room for a succession dispute in the previous life?

...Lee Byungin's personality was selfish and tyrannical, whether you put it nicely or badly.

So─

─He surely would have tried to exclude Lee Jeongin's blood relatives so they couldn't threaten him.

He would have tried to eliminate or exile them.

So that's why Yoojung entered the Player Academy.

At the time Lee Byungin became chairman, Yoojung would have been just an elementary school student.

There's no way she could have had the power to oppose Lee Byungin.

In the end, she had to survive Lee Byungin's evil schemes,

And at the same time, she had to cut ties with Dawn Group to avoid his suspicion.

She who was no longer a direct descendant somehow ended up at the Player Academy while seeking ways to survive.

She had no choice.

"So that's... how it happened."

In the end, a direct descendant who wasn't a direct descendant.

That was her situation.

In a way, you could say she was exiled to the Player Academy after losing a political battle.

At the same time, she was also─

─I wondered why the academy students found it difficult to deal with Yoojung before the regression... They all knew about it and were keeping quiet.

Lee Jeongin was like a criminal who had committed a crime,

So she was the daughter of a criminal,

And she was also a deposed royal.

Nevertheless, the fact that she was of Dawn Group's blood remained unchanged.

In that context, I could understand why people in the political and business world were reluctant to talk about her and tried not to touch her as much as possible.

"I didn't know anything about Yoojung..."

Eunha lamented.

Lee Yoojung, his partner for over 10 years in his previous life.

Eunha didn't know what kind of life she had lived before meeting him.

No, he didn't try to know.

If he had asked about her, she would surely have happily told him anything he was curious about.

"..."

Eunha always only thought about his own pain.

He didn't pay attention to the pain Yoojung must have had.

Though she kept showing interest to know about him.

In the end, he selfishly only thought about himself.

What a selfish bastard.

Nevertheless─

─I'm really glad you exist.

While cursing himself, Eunha felt relieved.

When he entered middle school academy,

Eunha was startled to learn she hadn't enrolled.

Wondering if her existence had been erased in this life as the price for .

But she was alive in this regressed world too.

The reason she didn't enter the Player Academy in this life was simply because unlike the previous life, there was no reason for her to enroll.

─The future changed, that's why.

In this life, Dawn Group was dissolved and Luminous Group was born.

Lee Byungin didn't become chairman, and was executed as the mastermind behind monster terrorism.

So unlike the previous life, Lee Jeongin became chairman of Luminous Group.

There was no reason for Lee Yoojung, who was treated fully as a direct descendant, to become a Player.

"I... changed it..."

Eunha muttered blankly.

The terrorist attacks by Lee Byungin he faced as an elementary school student.

Back then, he thought he was just unlucky to be caught up in the incidents.

But thinking about it now, Eunha unknowingly changed the future that would have been unfortunate for Yoojung.

He was really lucky.

"I didn't know I had such good luck..."

Come to think of it, since regressing,

Weren't all the things that seemed like misfortunes to him actually good fortune?

Looking back on his second life one by one, he naturally felt emotional.

Meanwhile─

"─Because of me..."

Lee Yoojung who was weak from birth and suffered from mana depletion.

Eunha couldn't hide the gloomy voice when that thought occurred to him.

It was because of him.

The reason she was so sick unlike in the previous life was─

─It's the price of .

It was the price of .

She received an unhealthy life in this life as the price for regressing him.

"─I need to check for myself."

I need to check for myself.

No, I want to check for myself.

I want to go see Yoojung.

Eunha suddenly got up.

"..."

According to Lee Yucheon's story just now, bodyguards are constantly guarding Yoojung's hospital room.

Visits are strictly prohibited except for family members.

Then he couldn't go up the stairs to her.

Eunha stepped on the windowsill without hesitation and decided to climb out the window.

Fortunately, my mana circuits aren't damaged to the point I can't walk on walls.

My mana circuits should have recovered to some extent. Eunha manifested his internal mana and stuck his feet to the wall.

Defying gravity, the world inverts.

Eunha walked on the wall like the ground and searched for Yoojung's hospital room.

It should be somewhere around here...

Lee Yucheon told him.

Yoojung is located in the hospital room on the floor right below the rooftop.

Just above Eunha's hospital room.

"...Is it here?"

Eunha deployed a mana detection net in front of three hospital rooms.

Yoojung who is suffering from mana depletion is currently protected by high-level protection magic.

So if he traced the flow of mana, he should be able to find her hospital room.

So Eunha headed towards the most likely hospital room window.

Zap

The moment he touched the window,

Protection magic activated to block his approach.

This level of protection magic...

It's not the type that sounds an alarm.

It was simply protection magic that blocked the flow of mana from outside to prevent changes in the mana environment.

Eunha reached out and cleverly made a hole in the magic formula.

A very small hole.

He created a hole small enough for the formula to automatically repair, then put his foot through the hole.

"...Interference."

There were a few more spells.

Even those Eunha easily made holes in, finally succeeding in opening the hospital room window.

Then Eunha quickly entered the hospital room─

"─..."

Countless protection spells.

A hospital room with magic formulas swirling.

Eunha walked to the bed placed on one side of the spacious hospital room.

"..."

Wearing a device to help with breathing,

A woman lying on the bed with her hair loose, receiving help from other unknown devices.

Eunha who approached closely couldn't control his emotions seeing her.

"Really─"

There's no doubt.

It's certain.

Though she was younger than in his memories,

And much thinner,

With her hair loose,

Eyes closed,

"─It's you, Yoojung."

The person before his eyes was indeed Lee Yoojung who he had been searching for so desperately.