Chapter 78

Lanterns filled the still pond like stars. I gazed at the lights for a moment before turning back to her.

And I finally asked the question I’d been avoiding.

“So we won’t see each other again?”

She smiled with her eyes.

[I told you I’d always be by your side.]

Then she added with a bittersweet softness:

[But I can’t appear before you in this form.]

“How can I meet you if you don’t appear in front of me?”

[I said I’ll always be by your side.]

“How can I know you’re by my side if I can’t see you?”

Apparently, the words meant different things to her and me. We both looked frustrated—one human, one AI—grasping at the same concept through different languages.

[But I can know.]

Even though she must have read my thoughts, she repeated it firmly.

And I understood what she meant.

We would never meet again.

The tears I had been holding back finally broke free.

[Don’t cry, Diana.]

She patted my shoulder gently, her fingers like a summer breeze brushing the past.

[Even if you can’t see me… you can still feel me.]

Her figure began to fade.

[Believe that the day will come when you can feel me too. And when that day comes, you’ll understand—]

Before she could finish, she vanished.

Only my reflection remained on the dark water.

A status window replaced her:

[Bug fixed.]

The conversation dissolved into silence. The moment shattered.
I buried my face in my hands.

Then something wet touched my cheek.

I pulled my hands away quickly.

A red thread had wrapped itself around my wrist—rough and warm, unmistakably real. I stared at it, stunned.

It wasn’t a dream.

Suddenly, a scream ripped through the still night.

“Diana!”

The twins dove into the pond.

They pulled me out as if I’d fallen in, and I let myself be dragged, still staring back at the rippling water that reflected nothing anymore.

Thud.

They threw me onto the grass. Lee-geom grabbed me by the collar.

“What were you thinking?”

He didn’t even bother to use honorifics. His voice cracked with fear.

Beside him, Sam-geom quietly wrung out the hem of my clothes.

The silence between their rough breathing stretched.

I looked up at them, then finally said:

“…I won’t do this anymore.”

I reached out my hand.

“Help me up?”

A warm breeze stirred. The wind brushed my fingertips, lingering like someone’s touch.

Lee-geom took my hand first. Sam-geom shoved his away.

“That idiot doesn’t wash his hands properly. Take mine.”

“What nonsense—your hands are covered in calluses.”

The two of them bickered over my hand like children, and a short laugh escaped me.

The knots tangled in my chest unraveled at last.

In that moment, I recovered the hope I’d hidden away.

Above us, lanterns spun like constellations.

The night my wish was granted was too beautiful to forget.

---

Everything that followed happened just as the original story foretold.

Exile from the imperial palace. My half-brother taking the throne as regent.
My eventual return.

The events didn’t just rhyme—they repeated exactly, like an echo. Only the method of reclaiming power changed.

In the original story, I led a civil war. This time, I reclaimed the palace without shedding a drop of blood.
The ministers abandoned my brother and swore fealty to me.
They had become my craftsmen.

“Even if it’s just a game… A female emperor taking concubines still feels weird.”

Regardless, the day I welcomed the concubines marked the end of my regency and the start of my main storyline.

The moment I had longed for:
The time I could finally reshape the future.

Many users were active now.
The community was vibrant. I logged in whenever I could to read their stories—and help, when I could.
I wanted to give back, just as someone once gave to me.

Fortunately, my character was busy. An emperor’s workload was immense.
But I never resented it.

The emperor was one of only three users granted access to “disaster” information.

So in between state affairs, I continued to gather data.
And waited for her.

“…What am I even feeling?”

I stared at the cotton bracelet on my desk, my chin in my palm.

Despite her promise, she never returned.

“What good is being by my side if I can’t feel it?”

Perhaps AI and humans had different definitions for presence.

Still, I had no time to dwell. And no right to resent her.

Years passed.

Even without using the time-warp, the days flew.

Then, one day, Alex sent word: the demon king extermination squad was forming.

And the second user who could access the “disaster” began their timeline.

Bit by bit, I stopped waiting.

Or rather—stopped hoping.

She had said she would be by my side.
And I chose to believe that meant she still was.

Until six years later.

---

[Isis: Anyway, Alex asked me what use oracles even are and told me to go ask the gods directly. Can you believe him? He’s insane.]

Isis’ messages always felt like phone calls.

I was sifting through a stack of petitions, half-listening, until she sent a different one:

[Isis: Oh, right! Did I tell you? The third Young-ae with ‘disaster’ access started her timeline.]

[Yeah, you did.]

[Isis: No, I mean—today she asked me about the event prize.]

[Event?]

[Isis: Yeah, the Spring Festival. You know how they give out store items as prizes? She asked if she could get something not in the store.]

[Can she?]

[I dunno. But guess what? This year’s prize is an S-rank male lead viewing ticket.]

My hand froze mid-stroke.

An S-rank male lead?

[Isis: Wild, right? If it were real, someone would’ve posted a review by now.]

She paused.

[Isis: But something feels off. The Spring Kingdom Emperor went nuts over a new user. And now a prize that doesn’t exist shows up?]

[A bug?]

The moment she said it, I felt my skin grow cold.

The word pierced deeper than I expected.

My heart started to race.

[Isis: Nah, no way a bug could exist in a perfect system like this…]

She kept typing, but I couldn’t read.

Not after that word.

Bug.

---

I went to the Winter Kingdom personally.

The others had arrived already.
I was the last. I ran through the hall, breathless.

The moment I opened the doors, cold air surged in behind me.

The lamps flickered. The scrolls rustled.

And at the center of the round table—there she was.

A user I had never seen. Her boots were tightly laced. Her borrowed coat too big.
She looked like a beginner, nervous and unsteady.

And atop her head, nestled in golden hair, was a cotton hat.

A joke, no doubt, from Alex.

Still, it gleamed in the sunlight like a crown.

She was the third user with access to “disaster.”

And I knew then: the scenario rewrite had succeeded.

Just as she had waited beside me, I had been waiting beside her.

All the missing pieces were finally falling into place.

“Did I have to come here after all?”

I looked at the blinking user.

It was clear. I was part of her rewritten storyline.

Suppressing the storm in my chest, I greeted her:

“Hello, Newbie Young-ae.”

And I made a silent vow.

To help her—to help us—reach [The End].

CH6. Immersion Warning