I Possessed the Heroine’s Teacher

“So that’s why you became a great wizard cripple afterwards?”

“It’s a crude way of putting it, but you could say that.”

“Don’t you blame Iris and Media, or Zig?”

Werner, still looking like he didn’t care about anything in the world, gave an unexpected answer.

“Why would I need to blame anyone?”

“What?”

“I was careless and got stabbed, and they were parents who worried about their daughter first… Where is there room to blame anyone else?”

Is this guy an adult? Jesus, Buddha, and Confucius would probably allow this guy on their club.

“I was too young at the time, so I went astray. I beat up nobles when I was upset, smashed national treasures, and even used magic to beat up the crown prince and princess.”

He wasn’t an adult, he was just a villain. A crazy guy who would make Joker look like a saint. It’s not okay to do bad things just because you have a sad story. But this crazy guy went around doing all kinds of bad things just because he was in a bad mood.

He was a juvenile delinquent at the time, so people let him get away with it.

“Every time that happened, Zig took care of the aftermath. He bowed his head to the trashy kids and compensated for the damage I caused with his own money.”

“Did you apologize to him for that?”

“No, Zig just took care of the aftermath and didn’t scold me.”

I had never heard of such a setup.

“And Media kept telling me to go back to my old self, and it’s funny to think of her chasing after me with Iris in her arms.”

Werner, who was now holding his legs like he did when he was a child, looked like he was 14 years old again, even though he was 29. Thinking about what he went through at such a young age made me feel a little sorry for him.

“Even so, if they knew what kind of trouble their daughter had caused, they would have felt guilty, right?”

“No, the couple never even knew I was hurt.”

What the hell is that, like Uganda launching a nuclear missile at the United States? How could they not know that?

“Why don’t they know that?”

“Because I told the other brothers and sisters not to tell them.”

“Are you crazy?”

“Because I didn’t want the two of them… and the grown-up Iris to feel guilty.”

He was crazy, really crazy. He had wanted affection so badly, but instead of taking the easiest way to ask for it, he had just gone astray? It didn’t make sense. There has to be a limit to how unbelievable something can be.

“You’re misunderstanding, so let me tell you that what I wanted was affection. Not the feeling of guilt that comes from causing someone to become like this.”

Isn’t love that comes from guilt still love? People also realize how important someone is through regret. Werner seemed to read my thoughts, and he chuckled, took a puff of the medicinal herb cigar, which had a pain-relieving effect, and exhaled the smoke before speaking.

“What do you think is the emotion most distant from love… or rather, the opposite of love?”

“Um… hate? Indifference? Hatred?”

“No, the answer is guilt, regret, and pity.”

“It’s not very convincing when you say it like a kid… it just sounds like you’re being a rebellious teenager.”

“Regret and guilt arise from certain conditions or events and are quietly held in the heart. Love grows without any conditions and is expressed loudly and roughly. Aren’t these emotions completely opposite?”

“It’s a difficult topic to understand.”

“Let me try to explain it with a car from the world you lived in. Is the flower you give to your child sitting in the passenger seat next to you the same as the flower you place on the grave of a child who was accidentally run over by a car you were driving?”

Werner, who had thrown out a rather philosophical topic, opened the bottle of liquor and started drinking. It seemed very dangerous, but since his soul was actually old, it might not be a problem.

But I had something I wanted to say to Werner.

“You’re an idiot, aren’t you?”

“What?”

“So, I’m not going to say anything, so you have to figure out why I’m having a hard time on your own. And love me unconditionally, that’s what you wanted, right? Zig and Media were also wrong, but you’re the one who’s been keeping quiet, and how can the people around you not get frustrated with you?”

“…Don’t analyze people’s emotions arbitrarily.”

“If you want to be loved, you have to say it. How can the other person know if you don’t express it, you idiot? If you’re upset, say you’re upset. If you’re hurt, say you’re hurt. If something sucks, say it sucks. Why are you keeping quiet to the person you should be talking to, and then getting mad at your friend who’s worried about you?”

Werner put down the bottle of liquor and started to think for a moment.

“Maybe you’re right. But I…”

Werner couldn’t make an excuse and just looked at the ground. I couldn’t read his mind, but he could read my thoughts and feelings.

He put his hand on my shoulder and said,

“Maybe… I never loved anyone after losing my great magic.”

“What?”

“I told you. Regret is one of the emotions most distant from love. So, I have a request.”

Werner’s body suddenly started to turn into flower petals. He wasn’t feeling sick, so why was he suddenly disappearing?

“Hmm… ‘You nailed it to the hearts of the brothers and sisters’… I had nothing to say because it was too accurate. It’s the only regret of my life.”

Werner said that was his only regret. He didn’t regret getting stabbed while saving Iris, or not living a happy life.

Werner put his finger on my forehead.

“So, please tell the people around me the words I wanted to say. Or cast a spell so that I will automatically say those words when the time comes.”

Werner was trying to cast a spell on my soul. How dare he hypnotize me?

“What will you give me in return?”

“You’re terrible at using magic. I’ll give you all the knowledge I have about combat. I’ll help you out when you’re in danger.”

“Deal.”

The best deals are always the cool ones. Why would I refuse when he’s giving me skills and proficiency? It’s a huge win-win situation.

“So, do I just tell the brothers and sisters?”

“No, tell everyone who has ever cried because of me.”

“That’s too broad a range, isn’t it?”

I had signed the contract too hastily.

“You should have been more careful when agreeing to the terms.”

Most of Werner’s body had turned into colorful flower petals and disappeared, leaving only his upper body. In that state, he closed his eyes and began to chant a spell. I could feel an energy that was somehow distant from magic.

“My soul is your soul, your soul is my soul. All opposites are two sides of the same coin, and we are no different. According to this law, I transfer all the traces engraved on my soul to you.”

Werner began to transfer his power to me. A warm and cozy feeling passed through my forehead and into my heart.

His knowledge, skills, and emotions began to merge with me. It was a strange and uncomfortable experience, but I didn’t dislike it. Rather, it was strangely addictive, like a tingling feeling.

“I was definitely foolish. So, walk a different path than me, not as a game, but as a substitute for Werner Alton’s life.”

Most of Werner’s body had disappeared, and he left with a bright smile and these words.

“And show me. The best ending that Werner Alton can achieve. The greatest happiness that Werner Alton can enjoy.”

Werner was the second person to leave me with a request.

Personally, I had a favorable impression of Werner as a character. He was a magnanimous man who cared for his disciples, loved his brothers and sisters, remained humble to the end, and always put others before himself. I thought he was a flawless, virtuous person, like those often seen in games and novels.

But he was also human. He had felt jealousy, gotten angry at people who hadn’t done anything wrong, and ultimately, he was just an ordinary person who wanted to be loved. He was not a bodhisattva-like figure.

And he was a human who only began to realize his regrets at the end. He was not a fictional character with a simple, one-dimensional personality. He was a person who was eerily similar to me.

Goodbye, Werner, I will definitely fulfill your request. I’m the kind of person who always fulfills the requests of the dead, even if I don’t always fulfill the requests of the living.

A door appeared in the white space where I was trapped, and I turned the doorknob and went outside.

Werner was no longer a stranger to me.

I decided to accept that I was Werner.