Chapter 12: Chapter 11

“So… Um… what that was… was just out of habit when speaking, you know?”

Agrita rolled her eyes in panic and started babbling out excuses .

It seems like she’s thinking that she was strange after letting me hear a word I suppose to have never heard before .

Of course, a ‘phone’ is a word that I’ve heard in my previous life .

“It’s a name of a toy I used to play with when I was young… . ”

“Agrita . ”

I wasn’t curious about the excuses that she had prepared for this so I cut to the chase . I considered briefly, how I should explain myself . Then I opened my mouth to speak,

“Do you perhaps know a country named Korea…… . ”

“Ehhhh!”

Argita jumped out of her seat . She approached me and grabbed my hand .

“Perhaps you’re from Korea too!?”

It felt awkward for her to be grabbing my hand like this and she had addressed me so casually, with ‘you’ . But that isn’t the important thing right now .

Argita continued . “For real . Are you really Korean?”

“……”

“Ah, sorry . It’s just too welcoming but surprising to me . Are you really Korean?”

With my hands still grabbed by Agrita, I nodded my head despite the fact that I used to be Korean in my past life and not anymore .

Agrita starting jumping in the spot once I nodded my head .

“My gosh! We’re from the same place! Wow! I really met another Korean in this world . ”

“……”

“I thought it was only me . It’s so fortunate . ”

Agrita had originally seemed happy but now she seemed touched to the point that she looked like she was about to cry .

I watched her crazy reaction before tightly closing my eyes and opening them up again .

Just what happened?

‘Why Agrita?”

I recalled the plot of the novel that I had reread so much that I was close to memorizing it . If my memories are correct, then there was never been a scene where Agrita had a past life ‘till the very last page of the novel .

‘Why did she come here and remembered her past life?’

It was possible . Since it wasn’t written in the book that I would remember my past life .

‘Then…… . ’

My head started spinning .

Agrita began speaking as I tried to figure out how to organize this matter in my mind .

“What happened to you for you to come here?”

“Hmm…… Huh?”

“O-oops . I keep on making mistakes . I’m just too excited . How did you come to this place? It’s supposed to be a novel here . ”

Agrita asked, blinking her eyes while being so close to my face .

I could see my reflection in the round and clear hazel pupils .

I panicked for a moment from her actions, then was able to focus on the question she threw at me .

‘How I got into this place?’

Is she asking how I died?

I was going to answer her but closed my mouth .

Wait . I was suddenly feeling discomfort .

‘The way she speaks…… . ’

Is she from Korea or is she actually a native Korean?

The aura wasn’t fitting well with the question she asked . Is she really asking about how I died and reincarnated?

That kept me from answering and I don’t know how she took my silence as when she opened her mouth .

“Right, should I tell you what happened to me before asking? It wasn’t too special . I was going down the stairs to go to a store but it was very slippery . Someone seemed to have cleaned the stairs but had forgotten to dry them . So I slipped and fell…”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

She let out a breath before continuing, “And when I woke up, I was here . ”

“Wait . ”

“Hmm?”

“What do you mean by that? You fell from the stairs and opened your eyes and appeared here?”

“It’s really weird, right? I thought that too . How does this happen? Transmigration into a character in the novel!”

I felt a bell ring in my head .

What?

“Transmigration in…… a novel?”

“Why sis…… I’ll just call you sis for now . Isn’t it the same for sis? It’s like… I woke up in an unfamiliar place in an unfamiliar body . But then you realize you’re in a novel… . and what I am is a character from the novel! OMG! Isn’t that right?”

Agrita told me her story .

That made it easier for me to understand but there was a major problem .

“Then you’re saying you’re not the real Agrita?”

“Of course not . Agrita is this character’s name . Agrita Grace, a long name . ”

“…… . ”

“I’m Ari . Shin Ari . How about sis?” Agrita asked for my name .

I couldn’t answer though . I was barely able to stiffly shake my head .

“No . ”

“Pardon?”

“I didn’t transmigrate . I didn’t just wake up in this place . I died and reincarnated here . The time I lived in Korea is my past life…… and ‘I’ am currently a dead person . ”

Agrita’s eyes widened . It was to the point that it looked like it should’ve been impossible to widen your eyes like that .

Agrita opened her mouth with her eyes still wide, “My gosh! What the– does sis mean that sis is actually a person who belongs here?”

“… . ”

“And you only know Korean because you remember your past life? Oh! This is unbelievable!”

Agrita’s situation was unbelievable to me .

Transmigration? What’s that? No, of course I know what that means…Its a soul going into another’s body and she just transmigrated into a character in a novel . But is that actually something that can possibly happen?

“Wow, how could that be? Very cool . Wow, just how,” Agrita said all the words I wanted to say… to the point that I had no words to say .

I asked Agrita who was amazed, “Agrita, no, Ari . ”

“Yeah, is not what I meant to say but yes?”

“How long has it been since that happened?”

“When you ask ‘when’……”

Agrita folded her fingers one by one . She stopped when she folded her fourth finger, “Four days? It hasn’t been too long . ”

‘It really hasn’t been that long . ’

It was really recent when she transmigrated into Agrita’s body . Only 4 days . I recalled how Agrita died recently .

‘Is this it?’

I stared at Agrita who’s not Agrita .

‘Was this the problem with Agrita for these past days?’

So .

‘The world is trying to kill Agrita because some other person got into her body?’

I blinked my eyes in shock .

It made sense .

The world of this novel is trying to kill the female protagonist . Why? Because the female protagonist isn’t the female protagonist . Agrita, no, Shin Ari transmigrated into Agrita’s body all of a sudden . In the world’s point of view, she was a stranger . To describe it negatively, a foreign matter .

It’s been 4 days since her transmigration and Agrita started dying this morning . To consider it simply, it’ll take a bit more than 4 days for the world to notice this .

‘If our body recognizes that there is a foreign substance within our body…… . ’

We get it out . We don’t just leave it be but we try to get rid of it .

And the world chose to kill her .

‘Shoot, that’s too much!’

“…… Sis?”

I fell on the spot from this insane matter . It was only an ‘if’ but I couldn’t think of any other reason .

‘I mean, even so, did it really have to go so far as to kill her?’

If it kills the fake Agrita, then what about the real Agrita? If she died and thought that her soul could safely return to the world it came from…

But even so, what about the original body? It’s dead .

Then the real Agrita who belongs here is just a dead person . The end .

The heroine just disappears .

“Sis, why are you like this? Are you okay?”

“Insane world…… . ”

“Pardon?”

“No, nothing . ”

I stood up again with Agrita’s help . I stared at her with no power in my body .

I opened my mouth because there was one thing I was curious of, “I’ll ask you something . ”

“Ah, yes . You can ask me anything . ”

“…… How did you realize that this was the world of a novel? Did the place you used to live in had novels?”

Agrita shook her head immediately, “No . At first, I didn’t know . But after panicking for a day, I saw an eye-catching book on the library shelf . I realized after reading it . It’s the ‘The beautiful Agrita’s spring’!Right?”

“…… Yes . ”

“Since the situation occurred, It seems like I was living from a scene in the book and the characters were the same, I thought I was in the same novel as the heroine . ”

Agrita, Shin Ari seems to be a person who understands things quickly . It would have been hard to accept it this easily if she were a different person .

She then tapped on her head a few times .

“I also have a bit of memory left, the memories that this body possesses . Thanks to that, I’m able to act like the original Agrita . ”

“Why are you acting like Agrita?”

Now I realized, Ari went to the clock tower today morning like she was supposed to . I didn’t check if she went to the charity event so I’ll just disregard that, but she participated in the party afterward .

To put it simply, she was moving like how the novel was written like .

Agrita explained the reason, “Uhh, I thought it would help me get back . Since I can’t do anything else than that . I thought maybe I could go back to where I came from when the story comes to an end . Doesn’t it somewhat make sense?”

She smiled happily .

“I suspected if this was the right thing I should be doing . But I’ve been well these past four days so I’m thinking of continuing . ”

“…… . ”

Agrita’s smile seemed innocent and sweet .

I couldn’t possibly tell her that she’s already died 3 times .