Chapter 17: Win-Win

\Dawn broke. Fortunately, I was still alive and well.

Though my mental state was in tatters.

The annoying thing about Rage Mode B is that it knows how to gently scratch at the desires sleeping deep within me.

"...Hah."

Thanks to that, my mood was always foul after sunrise.

Still... at least my body was intact.

My vitals were a bit off, but nothing a short nap wouldn't fix.

'...I'm tired.'

Maybe it was from wandering around all night, but my eyelids felt incredibly heavy.

I could probably fall asleep right away if I lay down.

I headed straight back to the cave to do just that.

The nice thing about caves is that the deep parts are always dark.

Thanks to that, you can get a comfortable sleep no matter when you decide to rest.

The downside is that it's always dark, so staying here too long might drive you insane. Still, you can't beat it for safety.

After entering the cave, I took a quick shower.

Then I lay down in bed to sleep. The cool air and lonely atmosphere greeted me.

A gray space devoid of any signs of life except for me. Bitterly enough, this is where I live. For someone exiled from civilization, this is the only place I'm allowed.

Sleep came easily, probably because I'd used up so much mental energy.

"......"

"...Excuse me! Are you there?"

"It's me, Chae-rin...! Oh, maybe you're not..."

The voice that interrupted my deep sleep came about 6 hours after I'd dozed off.

*

This would be their third meeting.

A week after the stream with Yor, Chae-rin visited his home again.

The reason was simple. She wanted to get permission to upload the broadcast footage of him to YouTube.

Of course, she'd already uploaded footage once before... but that was before she developed a conscience about it.

For her future video activities, she figured it would be better to get approval in advance.

Really... having to get permission from an NPC just for YouTube.

Strictly speaking, she didn't need to go this far.

But Chae-rin did this because she didn't want to have even the slightest guilt in her heart.

Besides, just because the other party couldn't see it didn't mean NPCs would never find out.

There were already quite a few cases where they had. Better to be safe than sorry.

Anyway, for those reasons, Chae-rin came here today without starting her stream.

Standing in front of the cave, she called out to him several times. But unfortunately, there was no response.

"Did he go somewhere...?"

Since it was broad daylight, he might be out and about.

So Yoo Chae-rin wondered if she should wait at the cave entrance like last time...

While she couldn't go inside his home, she could at least sit at the entrance.

That's what she'd done last time too.

...Though it had earned her a flick to the forehead.

As she was pondering this internally... Yor finally emerged from the cave.

"...What is it."

And looking quite tired at that. Seeing him, Chae-rin couldn't help but catch her breath.

'Oh my.'

His attire was... quite bold.

Well, his clothes weren't that different from last time.

Just that his coat was open a bit wider than before. Enough that his bare skin was somewhat exposed.

Averting her eyes deliberately, she asked:

"Um... were you sleeping until now?"

"Yeah... though someone woke me up."

Chae-rin didn't need to think hard to know that someone was her.

She made an apologetic expression. She hadn't expected him to still be sleeping when it was almost 4 PM.

Perhaps because he'd been forcibly woken up, Yor voiced a mild complaint:

"But aren't you visiting here too often?"

"Oh, um... was it burdensome? I'm sorry! I'll visit less frequently from now on!"

"...No, that's not it."

When Chae-rin apologized so sincerely, Yor scratched his head.

Actually, she was the only one who ever visited his home, so he didn't really mind.

Feeling slightly awkward, Yor looked at her and said:

"Come in for now."

Chae-rin nodded and followed him inside.

"...So what brings you here this time?"

Another distinctive feature of this dark cave:

Maybe because the walls enclose everything, when silence falls, it becomes eerily quiet.

Yor's words echoed faintly through the cave. He was still rubbing his forehead, seemingly not fully awake.

Just looking at his appearance, you'd think he'd had a drink last night. That's how tired he looked. Of course, there's no way there'd be alcohol here.

Yoo Chae-rin thought to herself:

'What could have happened yesterday...?'

Clearly he'd stayed up late.

But looking at his condition, it seemed like there was more to it than that.

Of course, the atmosphere suggested it wouldn't be good to ask about it, so she didn't.

Another notable point was... Yor's very casual attire.

Here, casual meant high exposure.

He wore just a tank top and a thin coat.

Even that coat had slipped down on the left side, openly displaying that side of him. Because of this, her eyes kept being drawn there unconsciously.

Actually, Chae-rin had seen this style of fashion before.

Usually around 2 AM on the streets, worn by the kind of guys who looked like they were up to no good. You know, those guys from school days who seemed like they might smoke and have tattoos.

Yor's fashion gave off exactly that vibe.

Even the atmosphere he gave off wasn't much different. Like meeting one of those legendary male delinquents she'd only heard about. That unique mix of intimidation and allure.

'He wouldn't actually have tattoos, would he?'

Chae-rin shook her head after a moment's thought.

No way, how could someone who lives in the forest all the time have tattoos?

As the silence was starting to get uncomfortable, she finally brought up her main point.

"Well, actually I came to ask for permission."

"Hm?"

"You see, in our world there's something called YouTube..."

She continued her explanation. Simple and specific enough for Yor, an NPC, to understand.

Of course, since Yor was actually a human who had died in the modern world, he caught on pretty quickly after hearing just a bit.

After that round of explanation, Yor gave a lukewarm response.

"That's... kind of troublesome."

From his perspective, there wasn't much benefit in it.

Her internet broadcasts at least let him see viewer reactions, so those were entertaining.

But YouTube videos? He couldn't even watch those.

Yet they'd still draw attention to him, so honestly there was no upside for Yor.

While he appreciated Yoo Chae-rin's thoughtfulness in asking permission for something he wouldn't even be able to see... it wasn't exactly welcome.

But Chae-rin had anticipated this kind of response.

That's why she'd come prepared with a bargaining chip.

"I-I'll pay you!"

"I'm not exactly short on money though?"

"...!!"

That negotiation card was shot down in less than 5 seconds.

Right... someone who could hand out mutated material items as errand payments wouldn't be hurting for money.

Thinking about it, it was obvious, but she'd momentarily forgotten since it was her only card to play. Her face instantly fell.

What now. She had nothing else to offer...

That's when Yor surprisingly made a proposal of his own.

"...How about we do it this way?"

"Yes?"

Chae-rin immediately perked up her ears.

"You periodically do me favors."

Let's think about this coldly. YouTube honestly doesn't benefit him much.

But this situation where she's coming to him with a proposal is quite good.

Because he can set various conditions with this.

He was already lacking in connections to civilization.

Even excluding human relationships, he had many difficulties in terms of information gathering and purchasing goods.

So he might as well use her as a bridge to civilization. If that works out, he could benefit too.

And... get a conversation partner while he's at it.

Yor proposed three conditions:

First, regularly supply him with bread and holy water, no questions asked.

Second, share all information about Earth and the game with him without hiding anything.

Third, if any new information comes from the city, relay it to him.

Since he was slow to receive information, he was setting up an information source.

Yoo Chae-rin nodded enthusiastically at these proposals.

"Oh that's nothing! Sure!"

Honestly speaking, from her perspective too, these were proposals with no downsides.

While the first condition might be a bit troublesome, the other two conditions were actually good for her too.

Now she had a legitimate reason to regularly interact with Yor, an NPC.

So they were able to happily conclude their exchange.

After the deal was made, something suddenly came to Yoo Chae-rin's mind.

That video she saw a few days ago. The video showing a new enemy called a Demonkin.

It had caused quite a stir across the continent afterwards, so it was quite a big incident.

But Yor, living in this forest, probably wouldn't know about it.

"...There's something that happened a few days ago."

Chae-rin immediately relayed the details to Yor.