Becoming someone specifically targeted by Kessler wasn’t bad enough—now even a murderer had seen his face.
‘Is there really no such thing as dying when you’re meant to live?’
They said even when the sky collapses, there’s a hole to crawl through. He pressed the ‘Humanization’ button, which could be activated once a day.
First Achievement Unlocked! ‘The Fox Who Became Human!’
Regardless of how complicated he felt, the system let out a cheerful fanfare without the slightest hint of tact.
‘The one relief is—’
The Baby Arctic Fox’s Humanization will persist until you manually deactivate it.
Transformation was only possible once per day, but once transformed, the duration was unlimited.
He tried opening his—no, his mouth—wide and articulating.
“Ah, ah. Asphalt! Dogdogdog.”
Random words spilled out. The sounds came out so clearly. Living as a Baby Arctic Fox with no teeth, he’d forgotten—humans really did have a whole different resonance.
Now he looked into the mirror.
It was the real him. Standing there in just underwear and a sleeveless undershirt, exactly what he had fallen asleep in while playing the game.
“…This is insane.”
He looked like a dried-up cigarette butt. If he went out like this, he’d no doubt be beaten half to death as a pervert.
He touched his face. Was there no cosmetic adjustment function or something?
“Cash Shop!”
It seemed that was the only way. But since he had transmigrated into this world, even that was restricted.
He rummaged through his bag. Anything—anything—to cover up these shabby underpants.
The first thing his hand grabbed was a sock. Mismatched, half-burnt, and stinking to high heaven, but after spraying it liberally with deodorizer, it was at least tolerable.
[System]: You have equipped ‘Burnt Sock.’
Other than that, there was really nothing else to wear.
“Well… this’ll have to do.”
Conveniently, he still had the murderer’s puzzle pieces. He slapped the plaster-like fragments together and used an empty glass bottle as a makeshift roller to flatten them out.
“…What kind of pointless suffering is this?”
He crudely punched a hole big enough for his head and squeezed his body through like a playing card soldier.
Though the outfit looked pathetic, at least the necessary parts were decently covered.
The real problem was his face. Yeo Woo-rim. Thanks to his occasional buzz as a pro-gamer idolized by fans on community forums, plenty of people recognized him even at local convenience stores.
Even if the game had a lot of players, considering they saw each other daily, it would be extremely suspicious if someone new suddenly popped up out of nowhere.
“This is such a headache.”
He started moving. He wasn’t completely broke, and with the Shadow Night Market now open—and the ability to haggle—he figured he’d just muscle his way through whatever problems came up.
Still, without the tail that was always dangling behind him, his back felt oddly empty. Feeling strange, he absentmindedly patted his own butt—only to lock eyes with a ghost creeping down the corridor.
Rather than startling it, he was met with a look of pure contempt, like he was some deranged lunatic not worth dealing with. The ghost scattered in panic, leaving him momentarily dumbfounded.
“Well, a mountain is built by gathering even ten-won coins.”
Determined to make something work, he scraped together the remaining coins from his bag. In the process, his hand brushed against a pair of unfamiliar gloves tucked away in the corner.
“What’s this?”
[You have found ‘Black Hand Gloves’!]
Huh?
Sensing this was no ordinary item, he glanced around and quickly ducked into a nearby storage room to check the details.
[‘Black Hand Gloves’
When you wear these gloves, your hands will be cloaked in darkness. Steal anything you want.]
“This is insane.”
He immediately checked his status window. His stats were mostly the same as when he was a fox—except for one thing: the ‘Perfumer’ occupation was gone.
Apparently, ‘Perfumer’ was only active while in fox form. Which meant that as a human, he could now acquire a different occupation.
And right now, in his hand, was a pair of black gloves—practically served up like a free offering.
‘But why would this job come to me?’
Most occupations required a specific item to be held—like the Perfumery Kit for the Perfumer. And the description of these ‘Black Hand Gloves’ blatantly hinted at a certain job.
He stared down at them. Although Special Occupations might appear to be randomly assigned to players, in truth, they required specific conditions to be fulfilled. There was even a rumor that Special Occupation items would observe the players’ behavior on the first day and personally choose their candidates.
Had he… stolen something on the first day? Memories of using his ‘Bad Paw’ flashed through his mind like a panoramic film.
“…I stole Haru Noona’s brownie.”
Technically, he had snatched the “Poisoned Brownie” Haru Noona was about to eat at the waiting room’s catering table.
“And I snatched Kessler’s Jewel Ice too.”
Maybe the activation condition for the ‘Thief’ Special Occupation was “the one who stole the most on the first day.”
Back then, since he had been a fox with no hands to wear gloves, the condition must have been pending—only now, as a human, it finally manifested.
…The truth, no one knew. What mattered was that the item was now in his possession.
Without hesitation, he equipped the gloves.
For his first theft, he stood silently, contemplating for a long time, before quietly slipping away into the noisy back alleys of the Shadow Night Market.
Because he was wearing clothes like a sack, the passing Day-Ghosts walking the narrow alley kept bumping into him, casting annoyed glares, but he paid them no mind.
Where he arrived was a field of corpses. Three bodies lay piled together, looking freshly killed, presumably by the murderer.
Among them, he picked the one with the most decent-looking face and tore it off.
[You have stolen something for the first time! Skill ‘Theft’ acquired!]
What he had stolen was the face of a dead man.
[Due to your low proficiency in the ‘Theft’ skill, you have only partially obtained the face.
+See More]
Huh? What do they mean “only partially stolen”?
He clicked to check the details.
[Due to your low proficiency in the ‘Theft’ skill, you have only partially obtained the face. You have stolen the lips of player ‘Jjuggumi.’]
‘Fuck.’
Of all things, what he ended up stealing was the lips embedded with the cash item ‘FishyFishy’. Only the cash item got ripped along with it and—smack!—it attached itself right onto his lips.
Grumbling in frustration, he rifled through the dead user Jjuggumi’s belongings. From what he found, it was easy to guess the man’s occupation.
‘Sigh.’
[System]: You have acquired ‘Map of Curiosity.’
[System]: You have acquired ‘Broken Compass Fragment.’
“This is fucking crazy.”
This corpse was the Seeker he had been searching for all along. Had someone realized Jjuggumi was a Seeker and intentionally killed him? It was definitely possible.
He went on to search the corpses of the other players lying dead nearby.
[System]: You have acquired ‘Unknown Second Hand Fragment.’
[System]: You have acquired ‘Crushed Minute Hand Fragment.’
One of them, it turned out, had even been a ‘Time Traveler.’ That was an extremely rare occupation, one you could only unlock by grinding through insane quests starting from day one.
‘Goddamn it.’
“They specifically went after Special Occupations.”
It looked like the killer had struck while everyone was distracted by the Shadow Night Market.
Now that crucial cooperative resources were gone, it would have been perfectly reasonable to sit down and cry. But in his current state, he was way too ragged and pitiful to even allow himself that luxury.
At this rate, if he wandered around like this, he wouldn’t be arrested for theft—he’d be arrested for public indecency.
He quickly stripped the Time Traveler’s basic shirt and threw it on. He also stole the Seeker’s wide pants. For shoes, he just grabbed whatever pair fit among the ones scattered nearby.
Finally, he wrapped a bandana around his face to cover it. Except for the absurdly protruding fish lips and his eyes, the rest of his features were neatly concealed.
Though he looked every bit the part of a thief, he still had enough of a conscience to think of the small vendors. So when he returned to the market, he bought the ‘Withered Fish’ he needed for a quest instead of stealing it.
That’s when it happened.
[?! Your occupation questions your actions. You, a thief, have purchased an item through legal, proper means, rather than stealing it. You can now proceed with the occupation quest.]
“What the hell is this now?”
[Occupation Quest: Steal bread from the ‘Evil Skeleton’s Bakery,’ where the town’s skeletons exploit others to make bread!
Reward: Removes restrictions on stealing food.]
“…These developers are freaking insane…”
Seriously. Instead of punishing the exploiters, the game told him to steal and eat the bread they made and called it the ‘Good Thief’ quest.
It was technically a good deed quest, but there was no rush, so for now, he focused on completing the Perfumer quest first. Having two occupations kept him constantly busy.
[You have delivered the items to Smellbone and completed the occupation quest <Find the Baby Fox’s Protective Scent!>.
Consumed Items: Wolf’s Hide Fur (1/1), Withered Fish (1/1), Soft Vanilla (1/1)
—You can now change your scent to hide.
—Duration: up to 5 hours / Usage limit: once per week.]
That was done. Next, he checked the upcoming Survival Quest schedule.
‘Friday night, four days from now.’
If there were no changes, it would be the quest he already knew.
And tonight, there was supposed to be a user meeting to discuss the next quest schedule.
***
Even though more than half had died, over four hundred people were still alive.
He slipped quietly into the chapel where players were gathering, and no one found him suspicious. His clothes were ordinary enough, and many others wore bandanas just like he did.
Across the way, Jung Da-hoon and Bori Noona were seated together, and he kept a discreet eye on them. Jung Da-hoon, who had been chatting with Bori Noona, seemed to feel the gaze and glanced over. Their eyes met for a moment before he naturally looked away.
A banner hung in the center of the hall.
「Group Quest Strategy Meeting」
“Alright, everyone here? Let’s get started!”
The user meeting commenced.
“First of all, starting with the next quest, we’ll gather in the chapel before it begins for a quick idea-sharing session.”
This was to prevent the same chaotic mess that had happened during the zombie hunt last time.
“And for that, all Special Occupation holders must reveal their identities.”
But when did anything in this world ever go so smoothly?
“Is there no one? Even a whisper to me would be fine…”
He looked at Jung Da-hoon, who was smiling with one corner of his mouth raised.
The Seeker, the Time Traveler… All the valuable Special Occupations—except for himself, the Thief—were already dead.
At the hands of the Murderer.
