Who would have thought things would turn out this way?

Just knowing that Jeliel shed tears made it very easy to understand what was happening now.

The [Villainess Jeliel Redemption] route. It was something that only a very few gamers in Aether World Online had witnessed.

There was a reason why only a handful of players could see it. It required meeting very high difficulty conditions to reach that point.

The first condition: Raise your favorability enough to be able to interact with Jeliel.

The second condition: Help Jeliel find the ancient ruins of Carmen Set.

The third condition: Win a game of Soul Chess against Carmen Set on behalf of Jeliel.

The conditions seemed easy at first glance, but ordinary players were barred from the very first condition.

Approaching Jeliel, who was difficult to even talk to and raising her favorability was a miracle in itself. That’s not all, even establishing an interaction with her was enough to make any player be considered a hardcore player in the community.

The second condition was relatively easy. You only needed to follow the strategy guides posted by hardcore players to obtain the keywords for heading to the ancient ruins of Carmen Set.

But the third condition... was practically impossible.

The NPCs in the game surprisingly had artificial intelligence and learning capabilities, and they could be taught Soul Chess.

Even if you could play chess against Jeliel, you needed the skill to play better than her and educate her, which was a very tough journey.

Baek Yu-Seol, too, eventually failed,

"... Your father disappeared?"

At the abandoned platform.

The rain continued.

Baek Yu-Seol sat next to her on a half-broken chair and listened to Jeliel’s story.

"It's my fault."

She blamed herself, but if you think about it, it was more of his fault.

He was the one who taught Jeliel Soul Chess, hoping she would defeat Carmen Set.

He never thought she would actually win... By now, the prestigious magic towers would be in chaos trying to find Melian, wondering what rewards might come from rescuing the Chairman of the Starcloud himself.

But unfortunately, he could confidently say all of that would be futile effort.

Did he irresponsibly lead to this situation knowing well that Jeliel would be in such a state if she defeated Carmen Set?

Fortunately, Melian could be restored to his original form. Probably, with a 100% chance.

Even now, it was something he could do if he set his mind to it, but here he had to act as a cold-hearted person.

To transform Jeliel. He couldn’t save her father without any compensation. He planned to impose restrictions on Jeliel again this time.

In the Aether World Online, there were many villains, but there were two main villainesses who were closest to the protagonist and most hostile.

Hong Bi-Yeon, who held the highest power, and Jeliel, who controlled the world's finances.

They were formidable opponents for the commoner girl protagonist to confront, but the benefits of transforming them were also immense.

There was no need to explain the reason.

Especially when Jeliel was transformed, there would be enormous changes in the world. Jeliel, who had lived selfishly, would donate her vast financial resources for the development of the world to atone for the heinous wrongs she had committed until now.

Of course, even though she made amends through financial means, it didn’t erase the numerous annoying episodes she caused for the protagonist, making her one of the tragic villainesses with many anti-fans despite her pretty appearance.

… Honestly, Baek Yu-Seol wasn't that fond of Jeliel either.

"I'll take responsibility and find your father."

"... Really? Can you really find him?"

Even though she was the one who asked for help first, she spoke in a shocked voice. What a situation.

"Yes, it's possible. By the way, there's something I'm curious about."

Jeliel looked at him with blank eyes. She still seemed like she hadn't fully come to her senses.

"How and why did you come to find me?"

He was curious why she came to cling to him in the first place. By now, the Class 9 Archmage Haeseongwol would be helping her; wouldn't he be more reliable than Baek Yu-Seol?

She hesitated a little, then slowly opened her lips.

"A fortune-teller... came and told me. They said there would be someone here who could help me."

"... Wait, a fortune-teller? A fortune-teller?"

Could that fortune-teller be the one he know?

Previously, New Moon Silver said that someone who had recently met him and had goodwill towards him was a divine artifact.

Many candidates came to mind, but the most suspicious person he recently encountered was that mysterious fortune-teller on the train.

He hurriedly took out the poster he had hidden in his pocket and showed it to her.

"Does this look like them?"

(Seeking a fortune-teller who looks like this)

Features: Quack

Jeliel looked at his drawing and crumpled her expression with an utterly incredulous look.

"Your drawing... is terrible..."

"What? No, it's good."

"... No, it's not."

"It's a good drawing."

‘This friend doesn't understand art. Well, maybe it's too much to expect modern people to appreciate my drawings.’

‘My art is about a thousand years ahead of its time. It's truly heartbreaking that there are no talents yet who can recognize my drawings.’

Jeliel furrowed her brows and stared at Baek Yu-Seol’s drawing for a long time before nodding.

"This person... seems to be right."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"W-where are they now?" Baek Yu-Seol asked urgently, and Jeliel's eyes widened in surprise.

"That. I don't know..."

She said she met them by chance, but honestly, he found that hard to believe.

"By chance. Huh."

If his guess is correct, that fortune-teller was definitely New Moon Silver’s divine artifact. It would never orchestrate this meeting by chance.

Especially since it was said to possess the ability to oversee the 'future.'

In terms of purely seeing the future, it was said to be even more adept than New Moon Silver himself.

'How many abilities has this old man divided?'

Well, it made sense.

In the original game, when you got closer to New Moon Silver, he would candidly share his inner thoughts, and he once revealed his hardship.

'Seeing the past, present, and future simultaneously is not a good thing. Imagine knowing exactly when the beautiful relationships I have now will end.'

'Imagine loving someone, but constantly seeing her death haunting you for the rest of your life.'

That... would be not a blessing but a curse.

"Well, it's fine then."

Baek Yu-Seol stood up and tilted the umbrella toward Jeliel. According to the forecast from the Magic Tower, this rain wouldn't stop for a while.

By now, he heard that Haeseongwol from the Sakwol Tower was helping Jeliel.

That was just perfect.

Normally, he wouldn't even dare speak to the great Archmage, but he might as well take advantage of this opportunity.

———-

Lotus Guesthouse.

About a thousand miles from here.

A pavilion built on a cloud.

This place served as a model for the famous painting 'Immortal's Paradise.’ This was the place where immortals gathered to play Go. It was almost developed into a tourist spot in modern times but was eventually abandoned, and now, no one set foot here.

The immortals all left, and ordinary humans couldn’t reach this place.

Thud!

There.

New Moon Silver was playing Go alone. Though it was an open place where anyone could come, no one ever visited, making it his exclusive sanctuary.

"... What brings you here?"

With his eyes fixed on the Go board, New Moon Silver spoke, and as the clouds parted, an old lady appeared.

She held an old bag in one hand, and had a bundle of cards hanging from her waist. She was covered in what seemed to be cheap accessories.

Her name... was unknown.

New Moon Silver had not given her a name. If there were a term used for her in current society, it would be 'fortune-teller.'

She lowered her thick, cheap sunglasses just enough to reveal her bumpy teeth as she smiled.

"Old man, what are you up to these days? Why do you live like a hermit in a place like this?"

"Time is precious, but one cannot live busily every single moment."

"Have you ever lived busily? I don't recall that."

"What brings you here?"

Clack!

The old man placed the final Go stone. The white and black stones on the Go board were perfectly symmetrical, yet interestingly, the white stones were one move ahead.

"I came because I was bored. Haha, does an old lady's journey need a reason?"

The fortune-teller sat across from New Moon Silver, pushed all the stones aside, and picked up a black stone.

"So, old man. How about giving me a little concession?"

Clack!

When the fortune-teller placed her stone, New Moon Silver picked up a white stone with a clattering sound. However, he didn't place his stone but spoke instead.

"It seems you're still wasting your time on useless endeavors."

The fortune-teller, who had been chatting non-stop, didn't respond to this question.

"Stop it."

"Well~ that's difficult. It's become my destiny, old man."

New Moon Silver had eyes that could see the future. The fortune-teller had inherited this ability even more strongly, allowing her to see the future more clearly.

Naturally, she also knew that the world would be destroyed in ten years.

Thus... The fortune-teller was struggling to change the present to alter the future.

She worked tirelessly behind the scenes, finding countless variables and guiding them in the right direction to create a better world.

However.

"So, have you changed anything?"

The fortune-teller still didn't know that all the countless efforts she made were also done by New Moon Silver.

In those days, when he didn’t share his power with anyone, he had the ability to manipulate time at will.

He rewound and repeated the world hundreds of times, trying to steer it in a different direction, but failed.

All that remained for him was despair.

'In exchange for mastering the power of time, I cannot interfere with the events of the world.'

Because of this curse that came with the blessing, he could do nothing.

"Well... I've made some small changes."

For instance, orchestrating the meeting between Jeliel and Baek Yu-Seol.

The two were destined to meet and help each other eventually.

But if that meeting was too late, bad things could happen, so she made them meet a little earlier to prevent any other probabilities.

Since they were fated to meet anyway, making them meet a bit earlier didn’t really count as changing the future.

"Baek Yu-Seol. You have an interest in that child as well."

"Haha, yes. That child kept appearing in the future I was watching."

"... I see."

New Moon Silver could not see it. His current abilities were so weakened that he could only probabilistically calculate events happening right in front of him.

"That child is special."

He had tried something similar before.

If the ability to turn back time were given to someone other than himself, what would happen?

He could turn back time, but he couldn't interfere with it.

So, he decided to let others turn back time and change the future.

The result?

It failed miserably.

Some lost their purpose and wandered for the rest of their lives, aware only that they had returned in time. Others lost all their memories and lived like wrecks, and some didn't even realize they had traveled back in time.

The toll for an ordinary being to reverse and travel back in time was... 'memories.' Time took away only their happiest memories as payment.

For humans, who live relying solely on their memories, this was an unbearably cruel price.

Since that day, New Moon Silver completely abandoned the plan of letting someone else return in time and trying to prevent the future's destruction.

One day, as he lived, waiting for the impending doom while idly playing around, Baek Yu-Seol came to him.

"That child changed the future."

New Moon Silver said as he placed a white stone. It was in a completely unexpected position.

"It was a very trivial change, but... that child showed me potential."

He raised his head and met the fortune-teller's eyes directly. New Moon Silver spoke in a heavy, somber voice.

"I have decided to reclaim your powers."

The consciousness of the divine artifact was created with the power of New Moon Silver. Taking back that power essentially meant it would perish.

But... Despite the killing intent behind those words, the fortune-teller laughed, baring her crooked teeth.

As if she had let go of all regrets.

She laughed like that.

"Old man, you're being quite verbose for the last game of Go. Are you scared of losing?"

"... You damn hag."

Thud!

The fortune-teller placed a black stone on the Go board.

Her movement seemed completely unburdened as if she didn’t have any regrets.

And so.

The last game of Go between two people who could pry in the future began.