Chapter 43: If I Hate You, I’ll Do It Again (2)

“…No, you ran away leaving behind something you made with your own Despair Core?”

To be honest, I didn’t really understand it.

The Despair Core was no different than the heart of a monster, so you ran away like that leaving behind me, who you made with your own Despair Core?

You really made me with your own Despair Core?

“That, that was really scary back then!

The monster girl I made with all my effort wouldn’t even listen to me, and the magical girl who sensed the mixed aura of hope and despair of the test subject was approaching me in real time!

She was a psychopath who destroyed everything she found in my secret laboratory!”

“Aha.”

Emerald, who had returned from the previous world, seemed to have been searching for traces of the doctor.

It was only natural that she would develop PTSD after destroying her own laboratory so much.

Even though she still didn’t understand why she left me behind.

“Th-and the escape mode was a single-person mode, and-th-because I was the monster girl I made, I thought she wouldn’t lose to a magical girl!”

“.. Didn’t he just throw it away, saying, ‘Just tell that disobedient kid to suffer~’?”

“_”

“__*”

He checked the mood.

He checked the mood with all his might.

Was I right?

The doctor couldn’t meet my gaze and rolled his eyes here and there.

No, really?

Are you saying that he threw away something he made with his own heart for just that reason?

‘Don’t act like that, heart, it’s not even the same.

What the…”

“Ugh.”

“Ugh…”

He let out a sigh and the doctor’s shoulders flinched.

What on earth should I do with this person?

As he clicked his tongue and looked down at the doctor, the doctor began to flinch.

It seemed that he knew that he had done wrong.

“I, I was wrong… Please help me…”

“…Well, fine.”

It would be rude not to help him when he was talking so pitifully.

I could have just slapped him away, but the doctor’s control command or something seemed to be working just a little bit.

Ugh, it’s a sin to be born as Apocalypse.

“Really? Really? Are you being so soft?”

“What do you like so much?”

“It’s the first time you’re listening to me, so of course I’m happy!”

“Those words don’t sound good, are they just my feelings?”

Our Geumijok has changed, is that so?

The doctor’s expression was exactly that.

The expression of a parent who sees their disobedient child listen to them for the first time.

He was so touched that he could die, but when I saw his face, I wondered if I had really been that disobedient.

“So what should I do to help him?”

Of course I have to get rid of him.

Tsk, my lab…!

My research records…!”

It’s annoying.

Do I really have to get rid of him?

Since the Curse guy hides around here and there, it’ll probably be quite annoying to find him.

And since the magical girls will take care of him anyway, there’s no need for me to step in, right?

I didn’t want to turn my despair circuit on and do something that would catch the magical girls’ attention.

“Do I really have to get rid of him?”

“Of course!

I have to get rid of him no matter what!

How dare he act so cocky after being human!

How dare he approach me!”

“I have a good idea, would you like to hear it?”

I don’t know if it will work—no, it will work for sure.

I started explaining my plan to the doctor, who was tilting his head.

The way he laughed heartily as my explanation continued was really friendly.

“Pooha, puhahahahahahaha!!!”

“How is it, is it better than you thought?”

“Well, good.

This is the first time I’ve seen someone crazier than me!

Pooha!”

It’s like saying who is crazier than who.

I lightly tapped the top of his head, and tears welled up in the doctor’s eyes.

It seemed like my fist filled with love was quite painful.

Ascension using despair.

And even revenge on Dr. Jong-eon who ruined his lab.

Even though he had missed it, Curse was not too bad about it.

He had obtained Dr. Jong-eon’s research records and realized that his own power was enough to overwhelm Dr. Jong-eon.

“Did she really try to create a god…”

The records left by Dr. Jong-eon contained information on using the Despair Core to create a circuit that would function like the hope circuits possessed by magical girls—a Despair Circuit.

The details on how it was made and how it was made were erased, so it was unknown, but Curse was thrilled by the fact that something called a Despair Circuit could be created.

“Hmm?”

Curse, who had been reading Dr. Jong-eon’s research records for a long time, raised his head because of a sudden sense of discomfort.

The despair gathered inside the laboratory.

Another ray of despair bloomed in the gap.

It was a despair that he felt for a very short time, but Curse could clearly sense that disparate despair.

It was as if he were throwing a pebble into a calm lake—no, this wasn’t a pebble, it was as if— “__!!”

Following despair, hope appeared.

Hope, who had suddenly approached from far away, began firing without giving him a chance to respond.

It was a loud noise that was almost inaudible.

Curse reflexively stood up from his seat as the laboratory collapsed in an instant.

“…I guess we have no choice but to abandon this place.”

He had no intention of confronting a magical girl when he was not even prepared.

Perfect preparation, a flawless plan.

That was all that made him who he was.

Curse, who had slowly hidden in the shadows, walked while picturing the next stronghold in his head.

With a determination that the next stronghold would never be discovered.

“Pooha, puhahahahahahaha!!

Running away like a fool!

Keu, this looks good, good!”

“How is it, better than I thought?”

I met the doctor’s hand as he raised his arm with a cheer.

The doctor seemed relieved that the plan I had told him was going smoothly.

“You’re using your despair to summon a magical girl and make her beat him up…. Ahahaha!!”

Maybe it was because Curse felt the same way as I did when I ran away from Emerald every day, but his reaction was really good.

Make the other person experience the most annoying thing you’ve ever experienced.

The plan that started with that one thought ended successfully.

“By the way, it’s good.”

“Right?

It’s one of my masterpieces!”

Grow, groan—

“Yes, yes, it’s nice to see you again after such a long time.”

I recalled the situation just before as I greeted the monster I first met at the shelter.

I rode the monster to sneak into Curse’s lab, turned the despair circuit to call Emerald, and then rode the monster again to escape.

I even had the ability to hide in the shadows and move instantly without a trace, so there was no reason to get caught.

“Can I give this to you?”

To be honest, I was tempted.

If I had this, wouldn’t it mean I could run around here and there sucking up despair without worrying about Emerald’s reaction?

How could I possibly resist when the teleportation device that office workers want is right in front of me?

“Oh, no!

This is absolutely not possible!

This guy is my lifeline!”

“Don’t be like that.

Think of it as giving your daughter a present.

It’s said that parents give their children their lives.”

“I already gave it to you!

If you made it my despair core, didn’t you say everything already!?”

That’s right.

I licked my lips and gave up cleanly.

It would be a bit excessive to take away the means of escape from someone who can’t even act like a monster because he doesn’t have a despair core.

I’m a generous monster, so I’ll let it slide.

“By the way, what are you talking about, daughter or whatever?

Who’s the daughter and who’s the parent?!”

“Just kidding, kidding.

Don’t you know how to joke, Doctor?”

I was speechless when he spoke so shamelessly.

To be honest, parents like the Doctor are a bit like that too.

“So, when are you planning on doing it next time?”

“Next time?”

“Huh?”

“Oh?”

Weren’t you just going to do it once and that’s it?

It seems like we were thinking of different things.

It seems like the Doctor thought I would do the same thing over and over again.

Hey, no matter what, that’s true.

How many times did you want me to do this?

“Ha, don’t you think just once is too much?

You think so too, right?”

“Haa.”

Seriously, you’re not some kind of kid.

It was like the doctor’s head screws fell off as his despair core fell off.

He only did it once, so what was he trying to do by doing it multiple times?

Maybe he was thinking, “I didn’t do it just once, so you shouldn’t do it just once!”

“No, no. If we keep doing this and a magical girl finds out, we’ll be in big trouble, right?”

“As long as we don’t get caught…”

“I’m not a kid…”

He felt like a child who whined and asked to keep doing it because it was fun if they made him fly an airplane.

I think it was probably because he was excited to make the person who ruined his lab go through the same thing he did to himself, but maybe it was because of his appearance that he made the doctor look even more like a child.

If anything, it might be scary that a pesky mad scientist was hiding inside this appearance.

“Then just once!

Just once!

Okay?

Please!

Okay, uh, should I get on my knees?”

“…Whoa, fine.

Just one more time.”

“Fine!”

When I sighed and nodded at the doctor, who had become the embodiment of desperation, the doctor raised both arms and cheered.

Well, what could possibly happen?