Whoa, I was startled!
Someone suddenly hammered my head like there was something to do.
Fortunately, they didn’t hit as hard as they could; I almost avoided a world of pain.
Huh? Don’t we usually say you’d be out cold in those situations?
Sorry, but my head is pretty tough. You can’t just smash it in with an ordinary hammer.
To take me down with one hit, you’d need a lot of power.
Honestly, even when I got hit the first time, I was still perfectly conscious.
I just pretended to be knocked out for a moment to lure my opponent into carelessness.
I’m not bragging, but I’ve had this kind of experience more than once.
Just because it’s a dangerous forest doesn’t mean no one comes here; the ones that do are usually pretty strong.
And among those types, there were ones who aimed for the bounty on my neck or even for my body itself.
Damn, back then, I was just a minor who hadn’t even turned twenty. I hated those disgusting child predators.
…Anyway, back then, catching those guys required more than just skill.
I had to use whatever I could.
In that sense, this ‘pretending to be faint’ strategy proved to be quite efficient.
Not moving naturally led to my opponent’s carelessness.
Some of them would even drop their guard and focus their attention on me.
“Haa… Haa…”
Just like right now. It’s easier to handle them in situations like this.
Winter was also a good advantage. I just needed to whip out the dagger I had hidden in my sleeve and swing it.
Swoosh!
“Ahhh!”
Just like now.
With a bit of resistance, I severed my opponent’s wrist.
They were a thief dressed in thin leather armor. Their face was… well, a bit more unattractive than average.
It wasn’t a crucial detail, so I immediately crushed them and started the interrogation.
What mattered now was what this jerk was doing here and how they got here.
“Alright, spill it. What’s your purpose for being here?”
“Grr… urgh…”
“Answer.”
Thud!
“Grrr…!”
It’s unfortunate for this guy, but I wasn’t exactly a nice interrogator.
Historically, pain and fear are the best confessions. I slightly jabbed their thigh to let them know that if they don’t answer, they’ll taste hell.
I hadn’t really interrogated anyone before, so I can’t say for sure, but usually, at least this much gets them to talk.
‘Hmm?’
But this guy’s reaction was kind of weird. Instead of speaking, he flailed his remaining hand in the air.
It looked like there was some purpose behind that hand gesture, rather than just being in pain.
Having seen that, I immediately activated the ‘Player’s Eye.’
Then, a window started appearing in front of my eyes.
[Would you like to adjust the assimilation rate?]
[15%<----------------◆>90%]
It was an assimilation rate adjustment window. Since my skill was activated, it seemed like he was a player, too. Seeing that, I quickly pierced his remaining hand with my knife.
“Hey, bad hand.”
“Ahhh!!”
It was my first time seeing the assimilation rate window, but I had heard what it was from Yoo Chaerin.
Apparently, it was the degree of sensation you could experience in the game.
The guy seemed to be fully prepared to feel pleasure and had raised the assimilation rate to the max.
So, he was currently in pain, which he had brought upon himself.
In any case, I knew he was a player, or rather, an otherworlder.
“Urgh, I just thought you were too handsome and wanted to eat you… Sorry!”
After about three stabs, it seemed he finally felt like chatting.
With a tearful expression, he conveyed his words.
I asked her.
“How did you get here? It couldn’t have been easy.”
“Th-that’s…”
Seeing him hesitate, I waved the dagger in front of him.
He seemed flustered and began to spill his guts. Indeed, a knife is the best conversation tool.
“I saw it on the stream! They showed the location so I came looking!”
Hearing that, I let out a sigh for a moment.
“Haa…”
Yeah, the stream. I figured at some point, something exposed would become a problem. Looks like it’s already happened.
Hearing him refer to it as a stream, it made me suspect he was an otherworlder.
I already knew he was an otherworlder, but I pretended not to catch on.
There was no need to share that information about the ‘Player’s Eye.’
After that, I asked him a few more questions. I wanted to know if the route to get here was detailed, and if I should expect other people to show up as well.
Fortunately, he said that they didn’t know about the bounty on my head.
As an international criminal, I even had a montage with my face on it.
Luckily, since that was drawn twelve years ago, it looks very different from me now… but still, there are some similarities.
Since his goal was simply to “take me down,” it seemed he didn’t have that information yet.
He also said that he figured out how to find this forest solely through his own research.
It seems like it’s hard to figure everything out from a first-person perspective stream.
[Would you like to adjust the assimilation rate?]
[15%<◆---------------->90%]
“Grrr! Huh… huh…”
Oh, and I just discovered that the assimilation rate can also be adjusted with the eyes.
Well, if all four limbs are useless, it’d be a disaster if he was tortured.
Thanks to that, the guy’s face, which had been constantly in pain, became much more relaxed.
I was a bit irritated, but hey, he provided me with information, so I should cut him some slack for now.
“I’ve got one last question for you.”
While continuing my interrogation, I asked the most curious thing.
“How strong are you compared to other otherworlders?”
It was an important question. Depending on his answer, my future actions would change.
If the players were really strong, I’d have no choice but to move my base.
I might not be incapable of handling them, but there’s no need to engage in a fight unnecessarily. I had to also consider if they came in a swarm.
But what if most of them were around this level?
In that case, I wouldn’t need to move my base. Just paying a bit more attention would be enough to handle them. Of course, I’d have to be cautious if a berserk mode or a priest showed up.
That level of risk was acceptable for now.
“Are… are you talking about me? Well, amongst otherworlders, I’m pretty strong…”
His response was somewhat hopeful.
Although it could be a lie, I waggled my knife near his eye.
“Really?”
“I swear! My level’s around 79, which is quite high among otherworlders!”
I wasn’t sure how high level 79 was, but his words seemed genuine.
Well, with a knife in front of him as a conversation starter, how could he lie? Just lowering the assimilation rate wouldn’t erase the pain.
“Hmmm, really?”
Hearing that, I smirked slightly. So, this is high level?
It looks like the skills of otherworlders are pretty pathetic.
That was somewhat reassuring.
At this level, I could definitely handle them. It didn’t seem necessary to abandon my precious home yet.
I’d be fine even if they came in numbers. This forest naturally has monsters that act as a defense barrier besides me.
“Alright, I’ll let you go now.”
Having used up his usefulness, I pointed the dagger at him. Seeing that, he uttered a terrified question.
“Uh… you said you’d let me go?”
“Well, if you’re an otherworlder, you can just resurrect anyway, right?”
Am I really going to let a guy trying to rape me just walk away? It’d be a pity not to prevent him from entering eternal sleep.
With that thought, I stabbed the knife toward his heart.
[Critical Hit!]
[Your HP has dropped to 0!]
“Gahhh… no! My items…!”
With those words, he became a mass of light, ascending to the sky. The blood scattered on the ground and the severed hand vanished, as if they were all just an illusion.
All that remained were the greaves he was wearing and a high-quality dagger.
Looking at it, I chuckled.
“Hmph, how petty.”
My life is one, yet they can resurrect like that.
Taking my life as lightly as a fake, and that kind of irresponsible attitude is just maddening.
To them, life is merely a pastime, while for me, it’s a constant war.
Not a pleasant feeling at all.
*
Even if I experience some unpleasant things, time keeps flowing.
Every morning when I wake up, the frost clinging to the leaves slowly melts away.
The icy winter that pierced to the bone gradually warms as the days pass. The only things unchanged are the lush trees that don’t shed leaves even in winter.
Even the frozen dirt floor starts melting, and the lives hidden within slowly begin to emerge in this season.
It’s already been five weeks since Yor appeared on YouTube.
Winter passes, and spring arrives.
“…Alright.”
Yoo Chaerin took a deep breath lightly before entering the ‘Forbidden Forest.’
It was when she was about to complete the quest the editor had requested, to get close to Yor.
Of course, Yor had told her to stay away and not come back. But still, she thought about giving him a preliminary greeting.
‘W-well, he looked kinda nice…’
Sure, he looked kind of intimidating and grumpy, but he did feed her and let her stay, after all.
Chaerin turned her hope circuits slightly. Otherwise, she felt she wouldn’t really be able to go due to nerves.
“…Should I go?”
Having completed her mental preparation, Yoo Chaerin moved her feet into the depths of the forest.
It was just a few hours before she would bear the brunt of Yor’s pent-up irritation from the past few weeks.
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