I Became the Drug-Addicted Childhood Friend

Translator: Elisia

Editor/Proofreader: SemiPickle

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Han Si-Hoo had played with balloons before.  

Throwing them filled with water was fun.  

And inevitably, there was one thing he had to try.  

Just how much water could a balloon hold before it burst?  

Where was the fine line between endurance and rupture?  

He filled the balloon with water.  

He attached the balloon's opening to the faucet, secured it in place so it wouldn’t fall off, and waited.  

It swelled and swelled until finally—pop.  

Ha ha ha, he laughed, and the game was over.  

The problem was that Seo-Ah was in a similar position as that balloon.  

She hadn't burst yet, and her elasticity was surprisingly strong... but she was a balloon on the verge of bursting.  

The water inside the balloon, in Seo-Ah’s case, was mana.  

If even a little more mana entered her, she would burst.  

Like a balloon that should have already popped but was being forced to hold together with layers of tape, it was now unclear whether it was still a balloon or just a bundle of tape.  

There were truly very few options left.  

Han Si-Hoo had two plans in mind.  

One was to find a way to heal Seo-Ah.  

It was a plan already in progress.  

"...I have to do something."  

Han Si-Hoo had even injected himself with the drug in search of a cure, but he could feel himself becoming slightly addicted.  

With purification penalties, the drug was eating away at his mind.  

Of course, thanks to the drug, he had been able to eliminate villains much faster.  

He dismantled interfering organizations, seized factories producing the drug, and killed enemies whenever they appeared.  

He had even obtained proof that the doctor was still alive.  

But the cure remained an unknown.  

Even after researching several treatment methods with the Saintess, nothing worked.  

Han Si-Hoo himself had started feeling something dragon-like within him.  

There seemed to be no answer.  

Unless he could go back in time, it felt unsolvable.  

So, there was truly only one last resort.  

If a happy ending couldn’t be achieved through normal means, Han Si-Hoo was prepared to return to the past.  

Not just turning back memories, but literally changing the past.  

In other words, Han Si-Hoo’s ability was that of a protagonist.  

A protagonist possessed the power to make his wishes come true.  

Because he wanted to use a sword well, he gained swordsmanship skills.  

Because he wanted to use magic, even at a basic level, he acquired magic skills.  

Because he wanted to run faster, he developed a sprinting skill.  

Because he wanted to erase evil, he obtained purification skills.  

Because he wanted to illuminate everything with light, he gained light-based abilities.  

Recently, because he wanted to resist the drug, he acquired a drug resistance skill.  

And there was one thing Han Si-Hoo desired the most.  

To return to the past.  

A skill was born from his intense longing to live as he once had.  

[Retry]  

Retry.  

The skill description read as follows:  

[Can be used when everything is abandoned. Return to the past to fulfill your wish.]  

The phrase “when everything is abandoned” carried a heavy implication.  

It was a skill that Han Si-Hoo found difficult to use, even if he wanted to.  

Because he had never truly abandoned everything.  

He suspected that the skill would only activate if he attempted something like suicide.  

In games, there was always something like that.  

Inserting a coin to revive a character.  

This retry was probably something similar.  

So, if there was really, truly no other way, Han Si-Hoo had no choice but to entrust his fate to this skill.  

"...No, this isn’t right."  

He spoke while looking into the mirror.  

He thought he understood why Seo-Ah had murmured to the mirror so often.  

"This isn’t right."  

[Retry]  

A strange sense of reassurance that there was still one more chance.  

A temptation that whispered that maybe he could live more freely.  

If Seo-Ah broke down, he could just go back and fix it.  

If an unsolvable problem arose, he could simply return to the past.  

Thoughts like these surfaced from every direction.  

"Try harder."  

Was this how Seo-Ah felt too?  

Even with the skill, enduring was difficult.  

Using the drug, he found himself being consumed by it.  

Seo-Ah must have struggled immensely.  

Han Si-Hoo was crushed by guilt.  

Now that he had experienced the effects of the drug firsthand, he realized just how well Seo-Ah had endured.  

At some point, he had thought that only the weak succumbed to drugs.  

Now, he concluded that if that were true, then all humans must be weak.  

"Si-Hoo, what are you doing?"  

"...Just looking in the mirror."  

"Are you going out again today?"  

Yeah.  

He gave a small nod and got ready to leave.  

Today, he was going to raid what was suspected to be the doctor’s hideout.  

"...Why do you keep going out?"  

Seo-Ah always asked him this.  

It had become routine to either say he couldn’t tell her or make up an excuse about having things to do.  

"Uh, Seo-Ah?"  

But today was slightly different.  

Seo-Ah was holding a kitchen knife.  

She didn’t seem to be trying to attack him, but it was definitely strange behavior.  

"You know... I’m only asking because I’m worried about you..."  

"Why are you holding a knife?"  

"You’re not hanging around bad people or anything, right?"  

"I’m not."  

Holding the knife made her seem scary.  

Of course, Han Si-Hoo could subdue Seo-Ah immediately, but that wasn’t the kind of fear he was feeling.  

"Ah... um... Is there anything I can do to help? Hm?"  

Saying that while holding a knife didn’t put Han Si-Hoo at ease.  

Seo-Ah’s expression was kind, but the object in her hand looked like it could be used as a weapon at any moment.  

"It’s okay."  

I don’t need your help.  

I really am fine.  

"...Really? There’s nothing I can do? Hm? You’re not going out and doing something dangerous, are you?"  

"There’s nothing to worry about."  

That was a lie.  

If Seo-Ah knew even half of what he was doing, she would be horrified.  

"I see... I understand."  

Then, the purpose of the knife in her hand was decided.  

"Here."  

She handed the kitchen knife to Han Si-Hoo.  

"Huh?"  

"Hm?"  

Neither of them understood what the other was thinking.  

"Ah, this is sharp, so you can just use it as it is. Look."  

Seo-Ah naturally dragged the blade of the kitchen knife across her palm.  

"What—what are you doing?"  

Han Si-Hoo snatched the knife from her, but it was too late.  

Blood was already flowing from Seo-Ah’s hand.  

"You need a weapon, right? It seems like you haven’t been carrying anything lately."  

She must have thought she was giving him a weapon.  

But she was mistaken—Han Si-Hoo wasn’t unarmed.  

Whether it was called a subspace pocket or an inventory, his weapons were securely stored in an unseen place.  

At first, the storage wasn’t large enough to hold weapons, but as his skill level increased, weapon storage became possible.  

"I'm fine. Look."  

Paah.  

A sword appeared in his hand.  

It was one of the weapons he had stored.  

He showed her as he placed it back into subspace.  

"Wow..."  

"I keep my weapons stored separately. For now, go wash your hand quickly. I’ll disinfect it and apply medicine."  

Casually cutting one's own flesh—was that something a normal person would do?  

Even if it was just a shallow cut that would heal quickly...  

Would the Seo-Ah from the past have done this?  

No way.  

It was proof that no matter how much Han Si-Hoo tried to bring Seo-Ah back to her original self with medicine, it was impossible.  

Of course, Han Si-Hoo already knew.  

This was just a temporary measure.  

A deception meant to cover the wound so Seo-Ah wouldn’t suffer.  

If there was no fundamental cure, then eventually, everything would collapse.  

[Restart]  

Would the time come when he abandoned everything?  

It was a skill he had refused to even consider.  

Not even a second option—he had never included it as a choice.  

But as time passed, the skill felt more and more tempting.  

Still, Han Si-Hoo refused to give up.  

He would endure.  

Because Seo-Ah hadn’t given up either.  

"Huh? Why are you staring at me?"  

Seo-Ah looked at him with a puzzled expression.  

Or maybe... Seo-Ah had already given up.  

She was the one who had said the memory-rewinding drug was a good thing.  

She was the one who had murmured about wanting to die.  

She was the one who had lost her sanity due to addiction, the one who had tried to kill Han Si-Hoo.  

"Oh, this kind of looks like a smile. Hehe."  

She drew a picture on her skin with the blood flowing from her palm.  

It was questionable whether this could still be called innocence.  

—This isn’t the Seo-Ah you know.  

—Just put her out of her misery.  

—Though, she already looks dead.  

The purification penalty whispered in his head.  

And lately, the things it said didn’t even seem all that wrong, which was an even bigger problem.  

"Si-Hoo?"  

Seo-Ah noticed his troubled expression and asked.  

She started to reflect on herself, wondering if she had done something wrong.  

"...Ah, uh, I must’ve done something weird. Ah. Yeah... Cutting my own hand is strange. I guess I just did it out of habit..."  

She was rambling.  

"My mind has been messed up lately, that’s why. It’s all because of that person... No... I mean... I’m sorry..."  

It was painful to see Seo-Ah looking so lost.  

There was no way he could give up.  

There was no way he could give up on Seo-Ah.  

Fwump.  

He simply pulled Seo-Ah into an embrace.  

"Uh, ah, um... Oh..."  

She was flustered for a moment, then hugged him back.  

"I'm sorry..."  

Han Si-Hoo apologized.  

He had no idea how many times he had already done so.  

If she asked why he was apologizing, he wouldn’t even be able to answer properly.  

Because he had done too many things to be sorry for.  

"Ah... Yeah... Si-Hoo, if anything is too hard... I know you won’t tell me, but... It’s okay to just stop. I won’t say anything about it."  

She whispered in his ear.  

That it was okay to give up.  

"You said you’re going out because of me, right...? Don’t overdo it. You don’t have to force yourself to hold onto something that’s too difficult."  

But giving up wasn’t an option.  

He had to find a way out.  

"So... Hm... How about just staying here with me instead of going out?"  

That sounded nice.  

Han Si-Hoo almost answered that way without thinking.  

He could feel the warmth of Seo-Ah in his arms, and that made him want to say it even more.  

But still...  

There were things he had to do.  

Or... maybe he should just give up on everything and take drugs with Seo-Ah.  

Things were already ruined, so wouldn’t it be fine to just play around for a while and then restart again?  

"No, I have things to do."  

He shook off the temptation.  

"...Okay."  

"I’ll finish quickly, so just wait a little longer."  

He wouldn’t give up.  

No matter how hard it was, he couldn’t just throw away his responsibility.  

For Han Si-Hoo, the only thing that mattered was taking responsibility for Seo-Ah’s happy ending.