Chapter 5
2. “Delight Project”
“Hic… sob….”
What…?
Why am I crying?
The first thing I heard when I regained consciousness was the sound of my own sobs.
I was crouched down with my face buried in my knees, crying.
“Dad, come back… If you don’t, I’m coming after you all the way to hell, got it? You know I’m serious, right?”
I think I said something like that.
I suddenly lifted my head.
My eyes, swollen and wet, blinked a couple of times.
The full moon was the first thing I saw—shining so brightly it made my eyes ache.
Just as the thought crossed my mind—I’ve seen this before—I noticed the gaping hole in the wall.
Shattered windows, bricks crumbled like paper, and the night wind sweeping through it all.
I jumped to my feet.
“What the heck! What happened?!”
I tried to calmly retrace my memories.
Just a while ago, I met Meteor Pluto in the forest. I tried to run away quickly, but he kept asking questions and I couldn’t get away.
Then suddenly, a low-level demon appeared behind him. After that, I moved purely on instinct—there was no time to think.
To avoid the demon, I pulled Meteor toward me, but I got caught by it instead. My hair and limbs were consumed, and then I lost consciousness.
At that moment, I died.
“Yeah. I definitely died….”
So why was I conscious again?
My heart pounding, I looked around.
It was a scene I remembered vividly.
How could I forget?
This was four years ago. Dad had spread his beautiful, jet-black wings and flown through the wall. I chased after him.
No matter how far I ran, I couldn’t find him. I came back home only after a long while.
And I cried when I got back.
“Dad, you’ve taken your pranks way too far. You thought I’d enjoy this?”
“I miss you, so hurry back!”
I truly believed he’d come back soon—but he never did.
From when I was eight until I turned twelve, I never saw my dad again. He had become the true Great Demon King Baal.
“But how am I back here again? Is this a dream?”
I ran to the mirror.
As I ran, I could feel my shortened legs and tiny feet.
I met my eyes in the reflection—and immediately screamed, clutching my cheeks.
“Ahhh! What is this?! I’ve shrunk so much?!”
My round eyes sat above a cute, cherry-like nose. My lips were tiny, my head small.
And that hair—excessively thick, lustrous golden curls cascading down.
It was exactly how I looked at eight years old.
“No way!”
Smack!
I slapped myself.
The pain was far too real.
“Ahh, ow…”
Still holding my cheek, I looked around. Everything was too vivid to be a dream.
That gaping hole in the wall felt so real it made my heart ache.
“Don’t tell me I’ve gone back in time?”
But how?
How did I return to the past?
And then—
<System is activating!>
Glowing letters floated before my eyes.
It was a language I’d never seen, yet somehow I understood it instantly.
“!”
What is this?
<Possessor tutorial complete!>
<Name: Seo Dabit>
<Age before possession: 19>
Huh? Tutorial?
Possessor?
What on earth is going on?
I was dumbfounded.
I had lived twelve years as the daughter of Lloyd Delight. I knew nothing beyond what I’d seen and learned with Dad.
Crescent Delight—that was my name, my identity.
Seo Dabit?—Never heard of her.
I was Crescent, beloved daughter of my father. I was twelve years old….
<Possessor’s memories returning!>
<10%—In progress>
<20%—In progress>
“……”
Then, like a flood, vivid memories began rushing into my dazed mind.
A black-haired girl who looked somewhat like me.
A girl named Seo Dabit holed up in a small room, playing a smartphone game. Somehow, I recognized the game.
“Demon Realm Crusade—Delight Project.”
The game’s goal was to defeat the greatest demon king in history: Baal.
And Baal’s human name had been Lloyd Delight. He had a daughter named Crescent Delight.
Me.
I appeared in the game’s memories.
Unbelievable, yet impossible to deny.
In the game, Crescent lost her father, starved, and died. She didn’t even make it to age twelve.
Years later, when Meteor Pluto turned eighteen, Baal was finally defeated by him.
Just before he disappeared, Baal’s final words were—
“My daughter… I failed to protect my daughter Crescent. I’m sorry, my little angel….”
“!”
<99%—In progress>
<Complete.>
<All possessor memories restored!>
<Tutorial completed. Returning to start point.>
Words continued to appear over my dizzying vision.
Seo Dabit’s memories completely overlapped mine. It turned out that I, who believed I was Crescent, had once lived as Seo Dabit!
So I’ve been living as a character in a game called “Demon Realm Crusade” this whole time?
I couldn’t believe it.
That I was a game character?!
And not just any character—but the daughter of the demon king, destined to die at nine while searching for her father!
“Delight Project” referred to the grand campaign within the game to defeat Baal.
Many characters were tied to this project. Players could choose one of them as their protagonist.
But according to the storyline, the only one who could actually defeat Baal was Meteor.
It was a game I truly loved….
Especially Crescent, who died tragically after losing her father—I was drawn to her.
Even though she only appeared in a few lines of text, she reminded me of myself.
Seo Dabit’s father—he was a notorious daughter-fool too, but one day he lost his memory and died.
Trying to forget that grief, I buried myself in the game for months.
The one person I lived happily with, leaning only on each other, had died.
I didn’t know how to overcome that loss. I just cried until I passed out, refusing to eat.
And then I died—and came to live as Crescent all this time.
“Wow. This is completely absurd.”
I wandered through the mansion, dumbfounded. Cold wind still blew through the gaping hole in the wall.
Though I had regained Seo Dabit’s memories, my identity as Crescent remained stronger.
I had no memories of my previous life, and had lived fully as Crescent for twelve whole years. That time felt more real to me.
How much I had suffered and felt lonely after losing Dad.
The joyful moments spent with Lloyd—now the Great Demon Baal—as father and daughter couldn’t possibly not be my life.
I looked toward the air where the system window had appeared and protested bitterly.
“What is this? A tutorial? If it’s a tutorial, you should’ve told me! I almost died thinking this was my real life….”
Well, I did actually die!
Just then, the system window popped up again—
as if it had heard me.
<The sponsor chat for Possessor ‘Seo Dabit’ is now open!>
<‘Dragon Slayer Sylvester’ has entered the chat!>
<‘Yuri Druid Gabriella’ has entered the chat!>
<‘From Maid to Saint—Astina’ has entered the chat!>
“…What the heck is all this?”
<‘Dragon Slayer Sylvester’ is delighted to see you again.>
<‘Yuri Druid Gabriella’ asks how you’ve been.>
<‘From Maid to Saint—Astina’ says she’s been waiting forever for you to finish the tutorial.>
<‘Yuri Druid Gabriella’ comments that you spent way too long in the tutorial.>
