“Did Kessler kill him?”
Bori noona nodded cautiously and added,
“Da-hoon is okay, so don’t worry. Just focus on yourself, Woo-rim.”
“……”
“Woo-rim, you look awful. It’s okay. Once you win and get out, you’ll see him again, right?”
I felt stifled, like something was clogged in my chest. Honestly, I never expected Jung Da-hoon would go like this so easily.
“Woo-rim…”
I buried my face in my knees right where I sat and closed my eyes. The cold chill running through my entire body touched my cheeks.
“This is my fault.”
“It’s not your fault, Woo-rim.”
“Then is it Kessler’s fault?”
“Of course!”
“Then yeah, it’s definitely my fault.”
There might not have even been a hole. But I got fixated on it for no reason. And because of that, I sent a perfectly fine gamer straight to hell.
“Shit. Fuck.”
It made all the crises we had overcome together seem meaningless.
My emotions were a mess. Not even when I tasted my first defeat as a pro gamer in a finals match did I ever feel like this.
I was simply overwhelmed by how absurd this entire situation was.
Even though Kessler was already being punished for his previous mess, he went ahead and committed an even heavier offense. And this time, it likely was not even an accident. That infuriated me.
“Woo-rim.”
Here I was, running every single day to save this bastard, while he—
“Yes. Tell Da-hoon to trust only me. That I’ll figure it out no matter what. But before that, I need to go demand accountability for this rage.”
Bang. I got up from my seat and headed straight for Kessler’s room. And there I saw it—the soul flower of Jung Da-hoon blooming at the end of the hallway.
‘He died here.’
I gently picked it up and tucked it away. Then I entered the room.
On the table, there was already a new stack of restraining warrants piled up. Red ones—urgent notices. Inside, they must have detailed the additional charges from Jung Da-hoon’s death.
When I opened a drawer, I found Jung Da-hoon’s camera. A faint smell of something burnt tickled the tip of my nose. The uneasy feeling I had when I first woke up finally made sense.
“I woke up again.”
Kessler approached from behind and rubbed his face against my back. Then he slowly released his arms that had wrapped around my lower abdomen.
Of course, the primary fault was mine. After all this time together, I still failed to predict his actions.
“You fucking lunatic.”
Still, I was furious. So I grabbed him by the collar.
“You really don’t get how I feel? Is killing someone that easy for you?”
“Am I supposed to go crazy over how precious that guy was to you?”
With no change in his expression, Kessler shook off my hand and threw the accusation back at me.
“You said you two were nothing, didn’t you?”
That was what frustrated me.
“You could at least understand the situation before you act. Fix your damn behavior. I’m doing this to save you!”
“You’re trying to save me by pulling your pants down and shaking your ass?”
“Did I take off my pants? I pulled his pants down, didn’t I? I checked the others too to see if they had assholes. I did it to save you!”
“I’ve never had an asshole since birth. And what does the existence of one have to do with saving me?”
“What if you die permanently from acting like a self-righteous dipshit? I have to get out of here with you—”
I glanced at the bright red system window, as if signaling me to be careful. He had warned me before—this was something I had to do without Kessler knowing.
I took a breath and continued.
“I’m going to leave this place with you.”
“This is our newlywed home. Where do you think you’re going?”
“I’m looking for a bigger newlywed home. I’m taking you with me. Jung Da-hoon was my ally. Now do you get it? If you do, then show me your ass!”
Kessler stared down at me, fuming and breathing heavily, then silently turned around.
Annoyed, I yanked his pants down and exposed his butt. I spread his cheeks wide open and rubbed roughly. …Contours. Contours. I even tried pinching and pulling, but there was no reaction.
“How is it?”
“…Just squishy.”
As if there had never been anything there from the start.
***
Every morning and evening, Kessler used to eat his meals faithfully with me. But ever since he killed Jung Da-hoon, he had fallen into an even deeper sleep. …It was the expected course of events.
No matter how much I shook or hit him, he would not wake up. So once again, I was left to eat alone today.
Still, Kessler insisted that he would never go to prison, even if he killed. I had no intention of sending him there either. If something went wrong during the quest, I would need him to help me.
I gathered the mist-like shadows leaking from his body and forced them back inside. Throughout our time together, I had to keep doing this over and over.
–Gol-gol
Watching me go days without a single smile, ServerGol offered a few words of comfort.I tossed the ever-growing pile of restraining warrants into the trash and left Kessler’s room.
Friday afternoon.
Even though Jung Da-hoon no longer existed, the night of the Survival Quest arrived once again.
Only now was the information shared that the group of twelve players had become eleven.
“Hey, is it true that the Castle Lord killed Jung Da-hoon? You’d know, since you’re close with him, right?”
The remaining ten players crowded around, bombarding me with questions. I refused to answer and sat silently in a corner.
“Mr. Yeo Woo-rim, I know you’re heartbroken, but everything will be okay.”
“Yes, thank you.”
For others, this world might just be a high-quality virtual reality made up of pixels and graphics, but for me, it was nothing short of reality itself.
In that sense, the aftershock of losing Jung Da-hoon lingered for a long time.
It felt like losing a long-time friend. Like my camel dying while crossing a desert.
Had his death at least fallen into the “he fought well but lost” category, I could have made peace with it. But he died simply for showing me his asshole after diligently working to improve his dexterity…
And the more time passed, the angrier I became at this game’s developers. As if possessing me was not enough, now they made me feel this deeply personal sense of loss.
‘Am I losing my mind?’
Sitting alone in the far corner of the now-empty chapel pew, I felt as if life itself had become meaningless.
Maybe I should pray. Ask for the strength to keep my sanity.
“Um… Mr. Woo-rim. Are you okay? Hang in there.”
As KebabGudasaai gently offered comforting words and left, Bori noona sat down beside him.
“Woo-rim, you need to stay strong. Both Da-hoon and I are cheering you on.”
“……”
“I know I can’t be as much help as Da-hoon was, but I’ll do everything I can to support your victory. Let’s give it our all!!”
Her words, as she gently grasped my hands, helped me lift my head. Right. I still had people who were helping me. This emptiness was just part of the process. I had to rise above it and press on toward my original goal.
Since I had already involved Bori Noona, sitting here sulking any longer would only burden her.
[Nightfall approaches.]
The now-familiar message faded before my eyes. I prepared myself for the next quest that was about to begin.
–Tick-tock, it’s time for Yeo Woo-rim to depart~
Before the game started, skeleton attendants approached each player and escorted us to the skeleton village.
“Go get ’em, Baby Fox!”
“Let’s keep things fair this time! Don’t expect mercy just ’cause you’re a baby fox!”
“……”
The other players shouted at me in my human form.
Since the count had dropped to twelve earlier, and now to eleven, each player’s behaviors had become easier to track. Seeing me in place of the missing Baby Fox and knowing my close relationship with the Lord, they had pieced it together—“So Woo-rim was the Baby Fox all along.”
It was partially my fault for wandering around carelessly without much thought after Da-hoon’s disappearance. But now there was no need to hide it any longer.
[Survival Quest: Protect Your Shadow Tail
Convert all your assets into Shadow Resonance Pills at the exchange. Wealth, skills, unique items—everything you own will be assigned a value.
—Your converted value will manifest as a tail, with length increasing accordingly.
—You may steal others’ values and make them your own.
—Ranking is based on tail length; only the top three players will survive.
—Time remaining to protect your tail: 2:59:57]
I closed the quest window. The exchange station was right ahead.
***
– – –
Title: Baby Fox = Pro Gamer Fox, maybe? (32)
Poksupㅇㅇ Not a pun.
└ ? Where’d that come from?
└ Wasn’t that person around in Alpha?
└ That guy still hasn’t explained why he bailed on the BBQ Awards…
– – –
Killed by Kessler, Jung Da-hoon was reading through posts in a community largely filled with Beta-server rejects.
– – –
Title: I’m a Survivor (33)
I’m one of the twelve who made the Best Post. Since only twelve people—including the fox—survived, we all know each other’s faces. But now Yeo Woo-rim suddenly appeared in the chapel, and there’s reasonable suspicion he used Polymorph.
└ Whoa
└ He’s so good at acting cutesy, I was sure he was a player
– – –
Da-hoon checked a few more related posts.
– – –
Title: People think he got 1st place in Poksup Alpha and earned a special perk (23)
Maybe he gained a pet ability and joined Beta that way.
└ Holy shit, this is probably it.
└└ Yeah this tracks.
└└ ㅠHe was probably pretending to be a pet this whole time to collect safe intel.
– – –
According to the Beta rules, testers received certain privileges in the official launch depending on how they participated in events or how they died.
So the theory that Yeo Woo-rim, a player from the Alpha test, had obtained a Polymorph skill and joined the Beta server was highly plausible.
“Hope he makes it out okay…”
Jung Da-hoon shut off his monitor. The speculations were half right, half wrong.
There was nothing else Da-hoon could do now. It really was the end of the Beta season. All he could do was trust in him and wait for the results.
