The user meeting yielded no significant results. Including myself, the humans presumed to be Alpha Testers were all keeping their heads down, which meant there was no information to share, and without information, there was no way for any progress to be made.
On top of that, none of the Special Occupations stepped forward.
Of course they didn’t. The Murderer had already killed them all. This made it certain.
The Murderer had no intention of cooperating. From the very beginning, they planned to pile up achievements on their own and race ahead.
‘That won’t do!’
The next quest would be <Catching Sad Bats>.
With the number of wolves reduced after the Wolf Hunt, the Sand Bats had exploded in population. Struggling with the sudden surge, the Manager would open a Survival Quest targeting the users.
‘Enough of that. What I have to do right now is…’
To complete the Thief job quest. First, take care of that ‘Good Thief’ thing. I needed to expand the basic application range of my skills early on to maintain my competitiveness later.
[Job Quest <The Good Thief>
Steal bread from the bakery run by the ‘Evil Skeleton,’ who exploits the village skeletons to bake bread!]
‘Not even freeing the skeletons being exploited… seriously.’
It seemed the idea was to spread good influence by contributing to the exploitation of the ‘Evil Skeleton’ himself.
—Euheuheuheu
—Ppurikkyalsriboritturikari
Facing the Shadow Castle as “Human Yeo Woo-rim” felt starkly different compared to when I was a fox.
The corridor ghosts, who used to barely glance at me or occasionally throw cute looks when I was a Baby Arctic Fox, were now acting up to the fullest.
They thrust their faces toward me as if trying to scare me, and some even trailed behind, lifting my hair with static electricity.
I ignored them completely, continuing to walk while searching for the bakery’s address.
Then, the ghosts clinging to me abruptly vanished, hiding behind rocks like minnows.
A sudden chill swept through the corridor, as if the temperature of the entire space had dropped. And then, I encountered the cause.
Kessler, standing at the opposite end of the hallway.
I swallowed hard to calm my tense heart and naturally resumed my steps.
Kessler was the type who didn’t pay attention to others unless they deliberately provoked him. So, as long as I just walked past him—
Ugh. My eyes met Kessler’s.
I nodded casually in greeting, but what returned was a frosty glare, the kind you’d give a passing insect.
‘Fine. As long as I don’t do anything conspicuous.’
If I could just pass by and get further away like this—
“Hey.”
“Yes?”
It came naturally. Both hands came together politely in front of the body. Maintaining a posture akin to a servant slightly bowing, he blinked up at him.
“Did you see the Baby Arctic Fox?”
“I… I haven’t seen it?”
“If you do, report it.”
“Yes.”
Without even asking where or how to report it, he just blurted out an answer. Watching Kessler’s back as he walked away, as if his business was concluded after hearing the reply, he let out a relieved breath.
“He didn’t recognize me.”
Still, the guy was quite large. Back when he had a youthful appearance and Yeo Woo-rim’s own body was small, it only seemed like Kessler was relatively bigger. Now, seeing him human-to-human, it was clear just how imposing he was.
“Giant baby bastard.”
From now on, let’s just avoid him as much as possible.
***
The process of stealing the bread from the bakery was smooth. Since the only item available was barley bread and it was laid out as if inviting people to just take it, he probably could have stolen it easily even without relying on the Black Hand Gloves.
Clack, clack, clack.
At the counter, a skeleton wearing a name tag labeled ‘Evil Skeleton’ grinned grotesquely.
All his teeth were gold, flaunting his wealth, and something like a jewel was embedded in the center of his forehead.
Apparently, this was considered a kind of fashion statement in their society.
“Hmm, I’ll come again next time. Thanks for your hard work.”
The moment he stepped out of the bakery, a fanfare rang out, accompanied by the quest completion notification.
[You can now steal and eat food freely!]
Should he be happy about this or not?
He wasn’t sure… but his stomach was growling.
Feeling the gnawing hunger, he wandered toward the plaza that users had claimed as a camping area.
Warriors were delivering freshly hunted rabbit meat, and he randomly grabbed a table and sat down, waiting for the meat to be thrown onto the grill.
“Uh, is it okay if we sit here?”
At that moment, Bori and Jung Da-hoon appeared.
He nodded absentmindedly, and with a quick “Let’s sit,” the two of them plopped down onto the chairs opposite him.
‘That shameless bastard.’
Jung Da-hoon flashed a kind, innocent smile that was hard to associate with a murderer, while Bori pushed a bowl of corn salad toward him.
“What’s your name?”
“I’m Yeo Woo-rim.”
“I think this is our first time meeting! I’m Bori.”
“Yeo… Woo-rim?”
Jung Da-hoon murmured his name under his breath.
It happened then.
[Puzzle Piece of the Murderer’s Portrait acquired!
Current collected Murderer’s Puzzle Pieces (2/3)]
Startled by the sudden popup, he blinked in surprise.
No way. Did just facing him human-to-human trigger the collection of a puzzle piece?
But there was a more troubling thought.
Just as a notification popped up for him when he found a clue piece, it seemed a notification might have gone to Jung Da-hoon as well.
Watching Jung Da-hoon staring off into space, as if checking the system window, cold sweat trickled down his back.
‘Still, thank goodness.’
It didn’t look like he realized that gathering a hint piece might be linked to meeting face-to-face.
‘This bastard’s surprisingly careless, too.’
While that thought passed, meat was placed on the grill.
The three of them watched the meat sizzle with eager eyes.
‘I should focus on eating only my share and not touch that bastard’s meat!’
It wouldn’t do to provoke a psycho who could kill someone just because he was annoyed.
Saliva pooled in his mouth. As he was about to tear off his mask-like covering, he realized—too late—that he’d made a mistake under the weight of a gaze aimed squarely at him.
‘Ah, crap.’
Jung Da-hoon was staring directly at the FishyFishy attached to his lips.
“Pfft! Yeo Woo-rim, your lips are hilarious!”
It was the cash item that had been attached to the mouth of Jjuggumi, the Seeker who had been unfairly killed by Jung Da-hoon the previous night.
Though it looked common, it was actually a pretty rare item.
“Where’d you get that?”
“Ah… I picked it up as loot. There was, um, a deceased person, and I… got it from them.”
He answered honestly.
If he had lied about obtaining it himself and Jung Da-hoon had gone to verify the corpse, it would have caused even bigger trouble for him.
‘No way he’d imagine that a useless thief tried to loot a corpse and only managed to rip off the lips, right?’
Gathering his thoughts, he glanced at Jung Da-hoon—who promptly dropped his meat tongs.
“Oh no, Da-hoon!”
“Ah, ah… I’m sorry. I was just so shocked looking at your face. You’re not him, right? Are you a fan of ‘Poksup’?”
‘Poksup’ was the username he used in the game. It was named because he often roamed the jungle as his main champion.
“Ah, well…”
“Hey! Jung Da-hoon! Come grab some lettuce!”
Just as he was about to answer, someone at a nearby table waved their arm.
Pausing momentarily, Jung Da-hoon waved them off.
“Sir, I’m talking to Yeo Woo-rim right now.”
Honestly, admitting here that he was that Yeo Woo-rim might make his life easier.
But if he did that, it would draw way too much attention.
A way to maintain personal freedom while earning just the right amount of goodwill.
“Do you know Poksup? I’m such a fan… I decorated my character like this with cash items because of it.”
“Ah… I see.”
Jung Da-hoon, who had briefly tensed up, started grilling the meat again with a relieved expression, as if thinking of course.
“You must be a fan too, Da-hoon. You have the fan badge.”
“Yeah, I’m a fan too. Anyway, nice to meet you.”
“Wow, that’s right. I think I’ve seen it. A pro gamer, right? He’s that good at games?”
“Yeah, he’s insanely good.”
Bori wrapped a piece of meat in a leaf and stuffed it into Jung Da-hoon’s mouth as he answered.
Yeo Woo-rim didn’t bother to add anything, focusing solely on attacking the meat.
“Oh! So that’s why you modeled your character after him?”
He nodded.
There were actually a few people like that—those who styled their characters to look like their favorite celebrities.
He was about to shamelessly brush it off, pretending he was just a devoted fan, when Jung Da-hoon zeroed in on a crucial point.
“But… you must be a Shy Poksup.”
“Huh?”
“Shy Poksup. Usually, look enthusiasts go all out with flashy outfits, right? But you’re so tightly covered.”
“I don’t have enough funds to match my fandom.”
He shamelessly snapped back while popping a piece of meat into his mouth.
Surviving on quick wits was practically his job; he wasn’t about to lose at improvisation either.
“Ah, by the way. Have you seen the fox recently?”
“The fox? I haven’t seen it since yesterday.”
“Yeah, me neither.”
He responded smoothly.
‘Why is he suddenly asking about the fox? Could he have figured something out?’
“That fox seemed like a player, don’t you think? It used some pretty unique skills.”
“Eh? I don’t think so. If it was on the subway when we first arrived, it must be an NPC.”
His legs, which had been sprawled out casually, drew together.
The meat, which had been so enticing a moment ago, now seemed stuck in his throat, so he discreetly ordered a soda.
“I played on the Alpha Server, and there were no such foxes there.”
“Then maybe it’s a special event character that appeared with the current server opening?”
He shot back immediately.
‘As expected, this Jung Da-hoon bastard… I had a feeling he might be suspicious.’
“I also have a friend from the Alpha Server, and they said even the second survival game format has been modified from the previous test server version. Maybe the fox’s appearance is along the same lines.”
“Ah, Woo-rim, then have you heard anything about the formats that come after this?”
He had been trying to spin things slightly in his favor, but now the conversation had been dragged into a completely different direction.
“No, if I knew, I would’ve stepped up to help during the user meeting yesterday. What about you, Jung Da-hoon? You said you played the test server yourself.”
“I was planning to share any critical information only with people close to me. Anyway, if I had to guess as someone with experience, I’d say there are Race Quests too, just like Job Quests. For that fox.”
The topic circled back to the fox again.
‘Is he hinting because he suspects I’m the fox?’
It might be that he suspected something—or maybe not.
Right now, the last screen he could still see would have the notification lingering: that the fox had found the second hint to uncover the Murderer’s identity. His thoughts must be entirely preoccupied with the fox.
“You must really like that fox.”
“I’m suspicious of it. I think it’s hiding a lot.”
“Even if it is, what’s the problem? We’ve always gotten help from it, haven’t we?”
“There’s no guarantee we’ll keep getting help.”
He picked up another piece of meat and chewed slowly. Chew, chew.
And as he chewed, he made up his mind.
‘I must never appear before this guy again as the fox.’
