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.”
I didn’t even bother asking where I was supposed to report it—I just blurted out an answer. Watching the back of him retreat like his business was done, I let out a quiet breath of relief.
He didn’t recognize me.
Still, he’s bigger than I thought. I used to assume he only seemed large because I was tiny and he had a boyish face. But now that I was seeing him human to human, the difference was obvious.
“Giant baby bastard.”
From now on, let’s just avoid him as much as possible.
***
Stealing the bread from the bakery was a breeze. There was only one item—barley bread—and it was laid out so generously that I could’ve grabbed some even without the help of my 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 I stepped out of the bakery, a fanfare played and a quest completion alert popped up.
[You can now steal and eat food freely!]
Should I be happy about this… or not?
I didn’t know… but I was hungry.
Stomach rumbling, I wandered into the plaza that users had taken over as a makeshift camping area.
Warriors were delivering freshly caught rabbit meat, and I grabbed an empty table at random, waiting for the meat to hit the grill.
“Uh, is it okay if we sit here?”
That’s when Bori Noona and Jung Da-hoon showed up. I gave a confused nod, and without waiting, the two of them sat across from me, saying, “Let’s sit here.”
‘That shameless bastard.’
Jung Da-hoon smiled at me with a face so gentle, it was hard to believe he was the Murderer. Meanwhile, Bori Noona pushed the corn salad in my direction.
“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 my name.
It happened then.
[Puzzle Piece of the Murderer’s Portrait acquired!
Current collected Murderer’s Puzzle Pieces (2/3)]
The sudden pop-up startled me.
No way—did I collect a piece just from facing him human-to-human?
What really threw me off was something else. Just like I’d get a notification if someone found a piece of my clue, it seemed he did too.
Watching Jung Da-hoon stare into empty space like he was reading a system window made cold sweat bead on my back.
‘Still, thank goodness.’
He didn’t seem to suspect that just making face-to-face contact had triggered the clue. Guess this guy’s more clueless than he lets on.
Meanwhile, the meat hit the grill. As the sizzling started, the three of us began salivating.
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!’
Getting on the nerves of a sociopathic killer who murders when irritated? No thanks.
My mouth watered, and I reached up to pull off my mask—instantly realizing my mistake when I noticed his stare.
‘Ah, crap.’
Jung Da-hoon was staring directly at the FishyFishy attached to my 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.”
I told the truth. If I’d claimed I got it myself and he went to check the corpse, I’d be screwed.
Surely he wouldn’t imagine that a weak-ass thief had looted only the lips off a corpse after failing to get the face.
While I tried to organize my thoughts, Jung Da-hoon suddenly dropped the meat tongs he was holding.
“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 my in-game nickname. I’d chosen it because my main role was jungler.
“Ah, well…”
“Hey! Jung Da-hoon! Come grab some lettuce!”
Just as I was about to answer, someone at a nearby table waved at him. I paused mid-sentence, and Da-hoon quietly waved the guy off.
“Hyung, I’m talking with Yeo Woo-rim right now.”
Honestly, admitting right here that I was the Yeo Woo-rim would make things a lot easier. But that would also draw way too much attention.
I needed to win just enough favor to keep moving solo.
“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’d looked tense for a moment, nodded with an ah, that makes sense expression and went back to grilling meat.
“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.
I didn’t say a word and focused on the meat.
“Oh! So that’s why you modeled your character after him?”
I nodded.
There were a few people like that—customizing their avatars to resemble their favorite celebs. I was about to shamelessly pass it off like that when Jung Da-hoon struck a critical nerve.
“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.”
I shot back shamelessly and popped a piece of meat into my mouth. I make a living off quick thinking—spontaneous reactions are my thing.
“Ah, by the way. Have you seen the fox recently?”
“The fox? I haven’t seen it since yesterday.”
“Yeah, me neither.”
I echoed the answer naturally. Why’s he suddenly asking about the fox? Did he suspect the truth?
“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.”
My legs, which had been spread out, subtly pulled together. I couldn’t even swallow the meat anymore, so I quietly 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?”
I parried right away. As expected, Jung Da-hoon—he’s definitely 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?”
I’d only meant to steer the topic with a deflection, but now he was dragging it in a whole 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 conversation veered back to the fox. Was he saying all this because he suspected I was the fox?
Maybe. Maybe not.
Still, that alert saying the fox had found the second clue to the Murderer’s identity was likely still up in his system window. His attention was probably completely fixated on 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.”
I popped another piece of meat into my mouth and chewed slowly. And I made up my mind.
I absolutely couldn’t let this guy see me as the fox again.
