IBRIP l CH 99

Chapter 99 

‘So this is Oscar’s trauma.’

Oscar was crying hard, and Joseph—who had a bruise on his lip—was mumbling to himself with a confused expression.

The magic had replaced Joseph’s face with Boris’s, but it couldn’t erase the emotional scar that stayed in Oscar’s heart.

No matter how much it was hidden, Oscar still remembered that face. The pain of it was burned deep inside him.

‘Ugh…’

I felt like throwing up and had to look away.

Even though the face looked mostly like Joseph’s, it was twisted and had bulging veins, making it too disturbing to look at again.

But that wasn’t the real problem.

‘Oscar has to realize what’s on the back of his own head to break the magic.’

The only way to break this magic is for Oscar to notice the error himself. But the error—Joseph’s face—is literally stuck to the back of his head.

“How am I supposed to make him see it?”

This was truly a complicated spell, definitely worthy of a royal court magician.

“Raglia, aren’t dragons supposed to be great at magic? Can’t you do something?”

[This isn’t a spell with no solution! But the person who cast it was clever. It won’t be easy!]

Joseph’s creepy face turned and looked right at me.

We had come this far. I had figured everything out. And now you’re telling me we can’t fix it?

We were running out of time. At sunrise, Oscar and Boris would fight.

I clenched my teeth and lowered my head.

“…What if I distort the memory again? Like… if I show Oscar a mirror so he can see Joseph’s face on the back of his head? Then he’ll realize the memory has been messed with.”

Step 1: Show him me, so he realizes someone else is in his memory.

Step 2: Show him Joseph’s face on the back of his head so he understands something is seriously wrong.

Of course, if I do that, Oscar will realize I’m interfering in his mind.

But the roots of this trauma were so deep that someone had to do it. And if anyone had to do it, it would be me.

It would also be easier to explain later if it were me.

[Don’t you dare ignore me, Raglia, the great one!]

Raglia shouted angrily at me.

[Even I—and the other dragons—thought of that idea! But we didn’t tell you for a reason!]

“What reason?”

I crawled carefully around like a spider, trying not to alert Oscar’s unconscious mind.

[Because of you, of course! If you try to distort the memory yourself, that means you’ll be using magic from your own body! But your body is weak and untrained. The recoil from the magic will come back and hit you hard! That’s why no one told you!]

Oh…

So it’s not that the plan is impossible—it’s just dangerous for me because I’m weak.

“Be more specific. What kind of recoil are we talking about?”

[Magic should be controlled using magic circles or spells! But if you try to interfere with a memory directly using raw magic from your body, it’s like pulling energy out wildly with no control! Your weak body can’t handle that!]

“What will happen to me? Will I die?”

[If you run out of magic, you will die! Or at the very least, your magic output circle might shatter completely!]

In this world, everyone has something called a “circle,” which controls how much magic they can release.

So depending on how this goes… I might die. Or not. No way to be sure.

‘If I succeed, it’s a happy ending. If I die, I’ll just return to the past again.’

And if I die now, I’ll probably go back to the moment of the truth game with Joseph.

That would buy me some time to think through a better plan.

I slowly got up from my knees.

“So you agree that this is the only way, right? Former greatest magical genius of the continent, Raglia?”

[I’m still the greatest magical genius of the continent!]

Then, I locked eyes with the face of Joseph stuck to the back of Oscar’s head.

Joseph’s face blinked slowly, as if seeing something fascinating.

Then, in a young and clear voice, he asked:

“Do you know what I did wrong?”

It’s starting!

Suddenly, the ground beneath me began to sink.

Joseph’s face was part of Oscar’s unconscious. And now that the unconscious mind had noticed me, it was turning the ground into a swamp to swallow me up.

[What’s going on?! What is this?!]

As I stood up, Raglia panicked.

But we didn’t have time to panic.

“Raglia, you’ll cover me, right?”

The ground around us—except for the main stage where Oscar, Boris, and Count Bluebell stood—began to shake.

Then, armored knights with swords and helmets began rising from the swampy ground.

[If you keep this up, you’ll really die!]

I untied Raglia from my wrist and threw her like a boomerang at the incoming knights.

[Ahhhh! I can’t deal with this human! You’re the worst kind of fool!]

Yeah, yeah… you’re already dead anyway.

I turned my head as Raglia grew bigger and started flying around, slicing off the heads of the knights.

Even though this was only a memory, it was still hard to watch.

Just as I turned away, I gasped.

“What? It’s farther away now?”

The “main stage” that had been just 10 steps away was now over 30 steps away.

The ground between me and Oscar had stretched out like melted cheese.

The grass around me had turned from green to a purplish wilted color, and the ground was now sticky like a swamp.

‘Good thing I practiced.’

The mind world was full of unexpected surprises.

I clicked my tongue and raised a hand.

“Come here, Bamboo-copter!”

This was Oscar’s mental world.

It seemed to follow the laws of physics—but actually, it didn’t.

It wasn’t real. In this place, I could create anything I imagined.

It was like a lucid dream. In a dream, anything is possible.

If I hadn’t figured this out back when I entered Lottie’s mind, I probably would’ve been trapped there forever.

Anyway, I imagined it—and a bamboo-copter appeared in my hand.

I placed it on my head, and my body—sinking up to my knees in the swamp—slowly began to rise.

‘I always wanted to ride one of these…’

I flew, not too high, just enough.

Raglia shouted as she flew through the air, cutting down incoming knights.

[What is THAT supposed to be?!]

I ignored her. But something felt off.

No matter how much I flew, I wasn’t getting any closer to the main stage.

Oscar’s unconscious was trying to push it farther away.

Just like I could break the rules here, so could Oscar’s unconscious mind.

‘Flying won’t help. I need to make Oscar come to me.’

In that case…

“Come here, a handkerchief that looks like it was embroidered by a noble lady in a romance novel!”

Poof! A handkerchief appeared in my hand.

Hmm? The embroidery was… ugly.

Well, of course. I don’t know how to embroider.

I shook my hand and focused again.

“Come here, a handkerchief embroidered beautifully like in a noble romance!”

There we go!

A classy handkerchief with roses and swords embroidered on it appeared in my hands.

I held it tightly and shouted dramatically,

“Oh, Oscar! The way you wield your sword has pierced my heart! Ever since I saw you training at the arena, I haven’t been able to forget you!”

I sneaked a glance.

…Yes! The main stage was getting closer!

“To mend my broken heart, I stitched every night with tears… and in the end, I created this bright red rose!”

The stage moved even closer.

[Ugh! Urrgh!]

Raglia screamed as she angrily deflected a knight’s spear and flung it toward the stage.

I didn’t stop.

I held out the handkerchief and bent forward, shouting in a bashful voice:

“So please accept my feelings, Lord Oscar! I can’t take it anymore! Every time I sleep, you appear in my dreams!”

…

Suddenly, I smelled the sweet scent of grass.

I slowly looked up.

The green field I had been lost in earlier… was now right in front of me.

‘Ha… seriously…’

I had a lot I wanted to say, but in the end, I said nothing.