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The next day, when I returned to the guild hideout, the first thing I did was contact a few reporters to announce my official response to the dating rumor.

I’m entangled with both Seol Jungyeon and Taylor Nine, so the world will be curious about how I will respond. I just had to give an explanation. And…I couldn’t even choose between the two. It wasn’t that I didn’t like them, or that I liked them both. It’s because I couldn’t afford to form a relationship with anyone right now.

It will stay that way until I clear the Hell Gate.

[Yoo Seodam of Another League denies the dating rumors]

[“I’m not in a relationship with anyone right now…”]

Perhaps my official announcement was quite controversial. I can’t help it though. It was the best option I had.

It’s heartbreaking for me too, but I personally thought it would be good for them to keep their distance until all my issues were resolved. I still don’t know when I will die.

While doing a mission in another world, I might make a mistake and be killed by the protagonist. Or, in the future, even after completing all preparations, I might die after entering the Hell Gate.

But I couldn’t stop.

I know very well that there are people who only look at me.

[E/N: For some reason, I thought of shinzou wo sasageyo]

It seems that I have become deeply etched in other people’s lives, and it was a great honor to be relied upon…

I, too, wanted to go see the woman who had an important place in my heart and my life.

“Whoo….”

Taking a deep breath, I leaned back on my office chair. Lately, whenever I had complicated thoughts, I had a habit of going into [Library of the White Witch] and meditating on my own. Maybe it was because it was my imaginary world, but my mind seemed to be at ease whenever I was here.

When the door opened, the smell of a damp book pierced my nostrils. As I slowly walked down towards the hallway, the sound of music played by Yekaterina tickled my ears. I wasn’t a big fan of music originally, but her music somehow warmed my heart, so I would often come here to enjoy it.

“Oh, you are here?”

“Yekaterina.”

Slowly walking down the hallway, I met Yekaterina’s eyes, who was squatting at the doorway with books in her hand. The sight made me realize that my imaginary world was not my own space. I approached her and leaned against the door next to her.

“What are you reading?”

“It’s just a magic book. It’s my hobby.”

“Studying is your hobby? It’s a really unique hobby.”

“But isn’t it fun? Every time I open a new book, I get so excited…”

Hearing those words, it suddenly occurred to me that bringing Yekaterina to this library was a good idea.

“I think my magic knowledge is gone now. I don’t have any time to study…”

“That is but an excuse. I don’t have time either, but I still take the time to study, don’t I?”

“Well….”

To be honest, at some point, I completely lost interest in magic. It was simply because I didn’t have a capable brain. (P/N same with me but it’s math not magic) And maybe it was also because of the flowerpot who was busy dozing off next to Yekaterina.

By the way, why did that spirit grow up like that? It looks like she’s gotten a lot bigger than before.

I closed my eyes and listened to Yekaterina flipping the pages.

If…. In the distant future, I safely pass through the Hell Gate and manage to rescue Reina, who was like a parent to me, how will I live? When that time comes, will I be able to properly express my feelings to Seol Jungyeon and Taylor Nine?

….No. I had to say it.

They deserve to love and to be loved by a better man than me for the rest of their lives, but they were women who had been entangled with me because of ‘fate’. I have to take responsibility somehow.

The moment I thought so,

click!

The library door suddenly closed.

It’s because I accidentally leaned on it with all my weight. As a result, Yekaterina had a confused expression on her face.

“Seo, Seodam-nim…”

“What is it? It just closed.”

“It’s not that… my body, I can’t feel it.”

“What?”

At her words, even I was taken aback.

“That, that. All of a sudden, I lost all sense of connection with my body in reality. Obviously, I was lying on an extra bed in the office right now… Even if I try to return, I cannot do it. Ju…just what happened?”

In an instant, goosebumps assaulted my body.

What if something went wrong with Yekaterina’s body? What if she couldn’t go back…

As soon as I got out of the Library of the White Witch, I sprinted to Yekaterina’s office. Ignoring the new elevator, I scaled the outer wall of the building to the top of the hideout, broke the window, rolled into her office, and checked the extra bed.

There, Yekaterina was sleeping normally, as if nothing had happened.

“…aren’t you just sleeping?”

I put my finger on her nose and felt her breath. Her pulse was also normal, and on top of it, her complexion was better than usual.

Then, Yekaterina’s voice echoed in my head.

-Seodam-nim! Seodam-nim! Uh, what happened?

“I do not know. Your body is normal…”

I put my hand on her forehead to experiment.

“I’m touching your forehead right now. Can you feel it?”

-Yes…. But, I still can’t get out. Just what happened…

Then, when I went back to the library, Yekaterina was pacing back and forth while chewing her thumbs up with a pale expression.

Then suddenly, the flowerpot opened her eyes and said,

-Door~.

“What?”

-She can’t go out because the door is closed~

“Because the door was closed?”

-Stupid witch~

Then she fell asleep again. Then, I turned my head to look at the door where I was leaning a few moments ago. The door that was accidentally closed because of my weight. The very door that had always been open since Yekaterina came into my head.

With a heavy heart, I told her.

“Yekaterina, would you like to try to open that door?”

Yekaterina followed, bolted into action and tried to open the door, but no matter how hard she tried, the door didn’t budge.

Yekaterina’s magic also did not work like usual. Then, I put my hand on the door and tried to open it.

Click!

Defying my expectation, the door opened very easily.

When I came out of the library again, Yekaterina got up from her bed and looked at me in daze.

“Uh… how did it happen?”

“It looks like you couldn’t come out because I closed the door.”

It was then that I realized that Yekaterina’s soul belonged completely to me. That was even more surprising than the time when I was told that my adoptive parents weren’t really my biological parents.

“I see…”

She and I were not equal. I was the jailer and she was the prisoner. No matter how much I considered her to be equal, in the end Yekaterina was bound to me for the rest of her life. It was so heartbreaking that I wouldn’t be surprised if she suddenly looked down in a miserable mood, but Yekaterina only smiled broadly.

“Then, you’ll just have to be careful not to close the door next time!”

“Huh??”

“Seodam-nim.”

Yekaterina squeezed my contorted face with both of her hands.

“I am really fine.The moment my soul was bound to Seodam, my shackled life became more free than freedom itself. Seodam-nim doesn’t bind me with anything.”

“That’s….”

“Rather, you let me do anything I wanted to do, and if that was the shackle, I really like those shackles. And I hope these shackles will never be loosened. I don’t want to imagine a life without the library and a life without a soul connection to Seodam-nim. Do you know how proud I am knowing that the fact that I am alive is also proof that Seodam-nim is alive?”

“….”

She said so, and reassured me. I could feel Yekaterina’s feelings. She truly thanked me, and she really believed in me.

So I couldn’t help but laugh.

* * *

Since then, another three days have passed.

After getting out of the jail through the formal procedure, Smiling Shadow officially joined the Another League. Of course, no engraving was engraved on him. Because Yoo Seodam didn’t have the ability to do that.

-Oh, what? new face? Your name is?

“…..”

-Oh, my successor is here! Newbie! Please be kind to me in the future!

“You, go away.”

-Hyung-nim!! The newcomer should be the one at the bottom of the hierarchy!

“Just shut up….”

Smiling Shadow was someone with a stoic and blunt personality. His unfriendliness was extreme. He treated Yoo Seodam with respect and followed his orders as if his life was hanging on it… but he seems to ignore people who he thinks had nothing to do with him, just like how he ignored Spirit King just now.

But, strangely, he treated Yekaterina with the same respect he gave to Yoo Seodam.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Smiling Shadow.”

“Nice to meet you. My name is Yekaterina.”

Smiling Shadow was proficient in stealth. So Yoo Seodam wondered if his skill set would be useful to the guild. Because when there’s information he wanted, he could get information from various sources easily. He could also reorganize martial arts just by asking the Murim Lord directly.

However, contrary to Yoo Seodam’s thoughts, Yekaterina seems to like him.

“Heh, can I ask you as an industrial spy? Did you say that you use a weapon that can hide in the shadows? Can you get into my shadow?”

“It’s possible.”

“Then you can follow me and help me. You will learn a lot.”

“Your wish is my command.”

Yekaterina noticed that Smiling Shadow didn’t listen to someone other than Seodam. He outright ignored most of them, or answered them in a dry way. However, he did not seem to have any objection towards her orders. No, on the contrary, he was quite positive towards her.

Truth is, Smiling Shadow himself felt it was strange, so he hardened his expression a little and looked at Yoo Seodam and Yekaterina alternately.

Then, he carefully opens his mouth.

“Master. Excuse me, could I ask if maybe the miss next to you is your alter ego?”

“What?”

“Pardon?”

Both Yoo Seodam and Yekaterina froze on the spot, dumbfounded by the sudden question.

“What are you talking about?”

“The energy of the soul that I feel from Master and her is the same… I apologize if I was mistaken.”

“Could you tell me the reason you mistaken us as such?”

Smiling Shadow looked at both of them with his cloud obsidian eyes.

“It’s as if both your shadows overlap. At first glance, it feels like one person. If I had closed my eyes, I would really have mistaken that to be the case.”

Yoo Seodam nodded his head at his answer as if he understood.

“Um… perhaps it was because I have her soul.”

“I see.”

But the words Yoo Seodam heard after that came to him quite fresh.

“For some reason, my loyalty towards Miss Yekaterina is as strong as my loyalty to you, Master. That’s why I asked that question. But now, it has been resolved. If I have to say it, it was as if the emotional distance I feel from Master and Miss Yekaterina is the same…”

“The emotional distance is the same?”

“Yes. If I put my distance to master is 10, I feel the same 10 from Miss Yekaterina. From the first moment I saw her, I was amazed at how strangely loyal I felt towards her.”

Smiling Shadow felt refreshed as his curiosity had been sated. On the contrary, Yoo Seodam and Yekaterina couldn’t feel the same way.

‘The emotional distance is the same…?’

Yekaterina thought back to her relationship that had taken place quite recently.

First of all, with Taylor Nine.

From the first time she met her, she continued to treat her with kindness, even though she teased her frequently and made her feel nervous. It was simply because Taylor’s personality was originally like that, but she also had a side that was exceptionally kinder towards her than to others. That point was something that she herself and Taylor Nine couldn’t understand.

The same goes for Seol Jungyeon. When Yoo Seodam was away, she called Yekaterina from time to time to check on her condition.

‘I wonder if both of them felt the same from me and Seodam-nim?’

Recently, Yekaterina had been able to feel what Yoo Seodam felt. Whenever he was embarrassed, angry, or sad, Yekaterina would also feel the same way, and it was beyond her or Yoo Seodam’s control. It was as if her own existence was being absorbed by the existence of Yoo Seodam.

And just like her, Yoo Seodam was also able to feel what Yekaterina was feeling. Even without any physical contact, Yoo Seodam could feel whenever Yekaterina occasionally had clear thoughts. Even sometimes, when Yekaterina burns her tongue while eating something hot, her pain is also transmitted to him. And when her headache was severe, Yoo Seodam also felt the headache.

What distinguished both of them was the fact that Yoo Seodam could block some of Yekaterina’s senses at will. In other words, Yoo Seodam was slowly starting to take control of everything about her.

Yoo Seodam was very afraid of that.

The moment he could feel everything Yekaterina thinks and feels, he would no longer be able to guarantee her complete ‘freedom’. He was afraid she wouldn’t be able to think anymore because all of her thoughts were transmitted to him. Just imagining it, it was terrifying.

‘As expected, I must find a way to make her soul normal again.’

Yekaterina had told him that she was more than happy to stay in the library. But what if her freedom reaches a level where it was really violated? When she finds out that everything about her will be taken away, will she still be happy?

In the future, she would also fall in love someday, she is bound to have a shameful memory she wants to hide, and she would also have secrets that are only known to herself.

Yoo Seodam wanted to respect Yekaterina’s freedom.

“Is there something wrong?”

“No…”

Yoo Seodam said as he stroked her hair.

Unfortunately, there were no soul-related books in the currently unlocked [Library of the White Witch]. If so, Yoo Seodam must find someone who is proficient in that field. At least not in modern times. Because the most knowledgeable person, when it came to magic on earth, would be Yekaterina herself.

Is there no way though?

‘Let’s just go to another world and learn the magic about severing the soul.’

<….I am not sure Yekaterina would agree with Seodam Hunter-nim’s thought.>

‘What are you talking about? Is there no way to cut off the soul?’

<No. It’s not that, but… Nevermind, I have said something useless. Can I prepare your next mission, then?>

‘Huh… Then please, if you could, I would like for a world that has to do with magic and the soul.’

The system was quiet for a few seconds, and then she spoke.

<There is a perfect world for that purpose right now.>