Became the Academy Romantic Phantom Thief

314 – A choice without regrets

“I hope I can see you again next time.”

Victoria’s farewell message as they parted ways in front of the cafe somehow sounded meaningful.

If we meet again next time, it will mean that I have ‘chosen’ to remain in this world.

I trudged home alone in a daze.

I checked the address using the resident registration card in my wallet, but surprisingly, I didn’t get lost at all and was able to guess where the way home was as if it were obvious.

It was as if my body remembered the 18 years I had lived in this world.

Suddenly a thought occurred to me.

In fact, my memories of living in the other world are just an illusion I created, and in fact, I think I may have existed in this world line all along.

It may have seemed like nonsense, but there was no way for me to check the correct answer at the moment.

That’s because there is no way for ordinary humans to go back and forth between two worlds that exist at the same time.

People live and die their entire lives in one world line.

You may be able to picture parallel worlds existing at the same time in your head, but it is impossible to actually move into another world.

The reason I came to this world and was immersed in these worries was only because I accepted the test suggested by the goddess of fate.

Therefore, if you are an ordinary person, there is no need to even worry about this.

As Victoria, who majored in psychology, said, the world on the other side is as good as non-existent anyway.

There is no need to worry about something that can never be observed until death.

At midnight the next day, it was as if I chose one world and the other world line evaporated.

If that is the case, there will be no reason to have regrets.

If you cannot live in both worlds at the same time, you will eventually have to give up one of them.

“······.”

I returned home. The unfamiliar family that I had no memory of somehow felt so familiar.

After naturally washing my body and changing my clothes, I lay down on the bed and stared blankly at the ceiling.

There is still a long time left to wait until midnight tomorrow, the moment of choice.

There are 24 hours and 10 more hours to go.

If you think about it, only half a day has passed since I fell into this world.

After just six hours, I was so mentally tattered that even thinking about it for even a minute more seemed terrifying.

Do I have to choose one of the two?

Could there be some kind of detour?

Isn’t there the best way for everyone in both worlds to be happy together?

It is only now that I fully understand that such thinking itself is meaningless.

Even if both worlds become happy at the same time, it doesn’t really mean anything to me.

Because we can only observe one side of the world anyway.

So, to put it more accurately, no matter what happens, there is no way to know what kind of ending the world on the other side will face the moment I make a choice.

At this point, there is only one problem left for me to worry about.

Then which world line will be happier for me?

If you don’t need to consider other people or the world anyway, you have to limit your thinking to yourself.

At first glance, it felt like a topic not even worth thinking about.

Of course it is this world. Here, everyone lives in an environment that is objectively much happier than in the other world.

Because there are no fantasy elements such as gods or magic, the possibility of someone being in a crisis serious enough to lose their life is much slimmer.

There is only one annoying element.

The only fact is that it feels unfamiliar to me because I have no memories of living here.

If you could just accept that, this place was like a perfect utopia with no flaws.

Compared to that, what are the advantages of the original world?

The biggest factor is that it is a familiar world that I have lived in so far.

Even if the environment is more desperate and full of danger than here, it is a world overflowing with so many precious things that it is difficult to imagine easily abandoning it.

Of course, I also like Eldina, Eterna, and Hayang, who go to the academy together and live happily together in this world.

But more than that, I also like the original girls who shared memories and lived together in the original world so much that I can’t replace them.

I have to place the two worlds on a scale and compare them.

I have to choose a world where my heart leans toward something heavier.

When midnight comes tomorrow, which one will I choose?

***

The next day, I went to school at the academy.

Because I decided not to ignore this world anymore.

After thinking about it last night, I decided to accept the fact that neither of them were fake.

Of course, you still have to choose one of the two.

However, the criteria for selection must be based on which world is more precious.

Treating one world as a fake and forcibly ignoring it is no different from cheating by not placing the two worlds squarely on the scales.

Now I felt like I could understand to some extent what the goddess of fate said.

There is no right answer anyway. Whichever one you choose, that choice is absolutely not the wrong answer.

So, you have to make the best choice so you don’t regret it.

Surrendering to fate is the same as not choosing your own life.

Defying fate means choosing your own life.

Now I understand why Goddess Fate gave me this test.

No matter which one I choose, if I regret that choice later, it is the same as surrendering to fate.

If you do your best to make a choice, you can’t regret it.

Because you will happily accept the life you have chosen.

So I don’t turn away from this world.

I will not treat it as a fake.

“I was worried because you said you left school early because you weren’t feeling well the day before, but fortunately, it looks like you’re feeling better.”

Eldina came up to my seat in the morning and spoke to me while smiling.

“Does it look like that?”

“Of course. “It’s a much better look.”

She wasn’t the only one. Everyone passed by my seat and spoke to me subtly.

I’m glad you look okay. He said he was very worried.

After the assembly time, the actual academy class time continued.

Surprisingly, no matter which world it was in, class was the same as boring.

I went to the art room for a mobile class and fell asleep using the tiring class content as a lullaby.

When someone gently patted my shoulder and woke me up, I barely woke up, stretched and looked around.

“···Huh? “Is class over?”

There was no one in the art room. Only Julia, who had woken me up, remained by my side, smiling softly.

“Everyone returned to class. “I stayed to wake him up, but he was sleeping more soundly than I expected, so I ended up watching without thinking.”

“Eh. “It would be a bit embarrassing to say that I was staring at you while you were sleeping.”

Yulia chuckled, took a step to her side, and began to look at the picture displayed on the wall.

It was hard to believe that it was a painting hanging in the school’s art room, and it was a work of such high quality.

No, that was a picture that remained in my memory for some reason.

“···Lighthouse on a stormy night.”

“hehehe. Did you remember? “It’s a painting we saw together at an art museum before.”

I felt drowsiness disappear in an instant and hesitated to ask a question.

“Have we ever gone to an art museum together?”

“Huh? ···What? I know. Now that I think about it, there are no art museums near my neighborhood. I guess I was mistaken. Why did I suddenly think that I had been to an art museum with Cro?”

I was mesmerized as I looked at Julia smiling shyly and apologizing.

A page of faded memories that are now so old that they remain hazy.

When I was just beginning my career as a phantom thief, while doing preliminary research to steal jewelry from an art museum, I happened to run into Yulia at the art museum and looked at this painting together.

But those are memories from the ‘other world’ that cannot exist in this world.

Even in the other world, it is a future event that has not yet occurred.

The Yulia of this world remembers that now.

···I was able to realize what that meant.

The two worlds, which were thought to be completely separate, are connected to each other.

The women who were thought to exist separately were in fact the same personality, retaining the same memories, albeit deep in their subconscious.

In other words, this world is a world of ideal possibilities where everyone’s wishes come true.

A utopia where only the events and background are reconstructed while retaining the memories of the original world.

I kept thinking about this as I returned to class with Julia.

Thanks to the incident I just experienced in the art room, I was finally able to make a decision.

Yes. Make the best choice you won’t regret.

Today was enough for me to confidently say that the day I spent was the best day of my life so far.

And I will continue to have a day like today every day.

“Okay. “Have you decided?”

The time is midnight. Goddess Fate appeared before me and smiled.

I answered while nodding.

This is the world I chose.