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I had been thinking about this question.
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Reik and the System knew of each other’s existence. Perhaps they could even communicate somehow. The world’s original hero and heroine had been dead for years, yet the world contin- ued to function. The System, tormented by Reik, was barely surviving. It should have hated him. Yet it chose to “resurrect” me.
Therefore, my “resurrection” could only be the inevitable result of something Reik had done.
After I asked the question, Reik paused, then smiled softly and stroked my hair again. He looked into my eyes and gently kissed the scar on my cheek.
“So clever,” he whispered.
“In the first two years after you were gone, after I killed the hero and heroine, I discovered the rules of this world. The world needs energy to run. Before, that energy was supplied by the hero and heroine. Once they died, the world should have descended into chaos. But I forced the System to reveal itself.”
“The System told me that a thriving economy, population growth… that was also energy it and the world could survive on. So for all these years, I’ve expanded my business empire, frantica- lly developing in every sector imaginable. I supplied the System with energy, and I demanded that it bring you back to life.”
I blinked, looking at Reik’s gentle face. The man before me and the monster the System had described were like two different people. Their “communication” could not have been as harmo- nious as he made it sound. The business empire he had built over the past decade, vast enough to support an entire world and its System, could not have been as easy as he described.
So I asked, “You were holding its weakness over it. You were threatening it.”
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Reik wrapped his arm around the back of my neck and chuckled softly. “Yes. I can supply the energy for its survival, and I can also destroy it completely. It was used to being untouchable, but I forced its hand, so of course it resents me. That’s why it’s been sending all those smokescreens all these years–the candidates. And this time, it didn’t even heal you completely.”
Reik narrowed his eyes, a dangerous glint flashing within them. He gently stroked the scars on my skin. “But that’s my problem to solve. I’ll find a way to heal you. As for the System… I won’t let it off the hook either.”
Hearing him say such things so plainly, I no longer felt afraid. I just covered my mouth with my hand and laughed
My.“Just this afternoon, you were telling me how innocent you were.”
Reik smiled too. “I didn’t know what the System had told you about me. I was worried you’d be afraid of me.” He let out a soft sigh and looked at me seriously. “Nora, I will never, ever hurt you. Don’t be afraid of me.”
