Chapter 5: What the Hell is That?

"What the fuck are you?"

...Yoo Chae-rin thinks to herself.

How did things end up like this?

To understand that, we need to go back a few dozen minutes.

At that time, she was being extremely cautious.

As expected of a high-level zone, even halfway through, the monster levels were beyond imagination.

Since most of them were tough enough that even fighting one would be a struggle, she had no choice but to keep her Stealth skill constantly active.

That's when she discovered an unusually deep cave while exploring the Forbidden Forest.

"Oh, what's that?"

Her first reaction was naturally curiosity. As someone exploring the map, such a cave couldn't help but catch her interest.

The viewers were showing the same curiosity too.

[Oh, there's something like that here]

[What is it?]

[Could it be a hidden boss room or rare mob habitat?]

[Or maybe there's some special item?]

Various speculations flew around about the cave. In such a situation, there was only one conclusion she could reach.

"Should we go in?"

[Yeah]

[Let's go]

[Gooooooo]

So Chae-rin entered the cave without hesitation. The cave's uniquely desolate and eerie atmosphere greeted her.

"Wow, this goes pretty deep..."

She and her viewers made many guesses while going in. Monster's lair, hidden piece, secret treasure room, even the forest's boss mob. But among her expectations, a 'person' wasn't one of them.

After all, this was a high-level zone where people couldn't easily survive.

That's why everyone was shocked when a human silhouette suddenly appeared inside the cave.

[?????]

[What is it??]

[Is that a person? Why are they here??]

[Is it an NPC or a player?]

There it was. Far ahead, someone wearing fur clothing was sitting.

They seemed to be doing something, with an eerie scraping sound continuously echoing - shwick-shwick.

Though the atmosphere was quite terrifying, it wasn't enough to overcome the group's curiosity.

[Let's get closer]

[Hurry up and go closer dammit]

[Try talking to them]

"Ah, wait everyone..."

She opened the chat window to continue speaking.

[Chaerin: I'll chat through the window since talking might give us away]

[Just talk to them already]

[Our host is too timid to do that~]

So she crept closer to the figure.

As she got closer, their appearance became more distinct.

Wearing thick fur clothing made of bear hide, sharpening a knife - that was the figure's appearance.

The blood-stained tools scattered around them only added to the already brutal atmosphere.

What is this? Why are there so many blades?

What were they cutting up that left so much dried blood on the knives?

[...I don't think we should talk to them]

[We'll die if we do...]

[Isn't that a humanoid monster rather than a person?]

[No, look at how they're sharpening the blade, definitely human]

[wowowow]

Yoo Chae-rin stopped about 15 meters away from approaching halfway.

As the chat said, she was too scared.

The cave's unique atmosphere, the blood-stained tools, the eerie sound of blade sharpening.

People feel fear from the unknown.

Unknown things are full of potential dangers. Various ominous thoughts were running through her head.

What happens if I'm discovered?

Even with the Synchronization Rate lowered, she could still definitely feel pain. Enough to really hurt.

She didn't particularly want to get stabbed.

[Is that a woman? Or a man?]

[The fur clothing is too thick to tell]

[Hey host, get closer, we can't tell]

Though there were loud demands to get closer, she had her own defense.

[Chaerin: No, you guys come here yourself; the atmosphere is scary af;-;]

[I get that but let's get closer anyway]

[Looking at the shape, seems like a man..]

[Maybe it just looks that way because of the thick fur clothes?]

[Could it be that urban legend?]

[Wow maybe it really is wowow]

[Tibetan Fox has donated 100,000 won!]

-Please go a bit closer

Finally, she started moving forward after getting hit with money.

When you get hit with money, there's nothing you can do. Ignoring such a large donation could make viewer sentiment plummet.

She let out an internal sigh.

'Huu...'

[Chaerin: Tibetan Fox.. thank you so much for the 100,000 won donation...]

[lololololol]

[Of course you should be thankful lololol]

[lololol Are you really thankful?]

[Hah lololol you money-grubbing bitch lololol this is what you wanted lololol]

She approaches the figure again. From behind them to their side.

At one point she kicked a stone on the ground, briefly drawing their attention.

"...?"

After briefly looking around, they went back to focusing on their work.

She let out a sigh of relief internally.

'Phew...'

[wowow what horror game is this]

The distance to the target was now about 7 meters.

But she couldn't get any closer than that.

Shuck-!

The moment she took another step, a dagger flew towards her.

Though dulled from being covered in blood, it still looked capable of easily killing someone.

Her screaming was only natural.

"Kyaaah?!"

And following that, the figure's sharp spear.

Fortunately neither weapon struck Chae-rin, but it was enough to freeze her in place.

...Well, actually there was another reason she froze.

Because in the motion of thrusting the spear, the face hidden under the fur clothing was finally revealed.

The figure was male. Black hair as if painted with ink, amber eyes with a slight cloudiness.

Overall sharp features creating a handsome but decadent impression.

The chat went wild at his outstanding appearance that was completely different from the brutal atmosphere until now.

Well, it was natural for it to go wild since it was full of thirsty people excited about a 'man' appearing.

[wowowow]

[He's so hot wowow]

[Man!!!Man!!!Man!!!Man!!!Man!!!Man!!!Man!!!Man!!!Man!!!Man!!!Man!!!Man!!!Man!!!Man!!!Man!!!]

[Look at him cursing... so sexy....oppa...]

[Why is there a man here??]

In normal circumstances, she might have been blankly admiring him too.

"Hey, what are you? Are you mute? Can't talk? Should I cut open your throat to help?"

...If she wasn't currently having her life threatened by him in real-time.

*

Taking the spearhead out of the wall where it was stuck and placing it against the woman's neck.

Though surprised by the unexpected person, what ultimately came to mind was.

'Should I kill her?'

Originally I was planning to kill if it was a monster.

Just because it turned out to be a person doesn't change the fact that she trespassed into my home.

But since she's the same species, I couldn't help but hesitate.

'Ah, shit... killing people gives me bad dreams.'

No point hiding it. I've killed people before.

There were too many people hostile to me, and back then there were even bounty hunters who would come this deep into the forest.

Some of the worst ones even tried to kill me and force themselves on me.

After all, this is a remote forest with no social gaze or laws.

I could kill those kinds of people without hesitation.

"Eek! N-no, I'm sorry! I was just curious about what kind of cave was here so I came in and then..."

But this case is a bit different.

The other party didn't seem hostile to me. Looks like she really did just happen to come in and find me.

While she did intrude into my home, even that doesn't seem intentional.

So what should I do, let her live...?

But there's still something worrying about that. Namely the danger of my very existence.

What happens if she goes back to the city and spreads rumors about a man living in the forest?

If I'm not careful, trackers might swarm in like that time in the past.

Then what exactly should I do...?

"Ah."

In the middle of such worries, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

What if the other party is an Otherworlder? After all, killing them would be meaningless if they resurrect like Jesus after 3 days.

In that case there's basically no point in killing them.

So I activated 'Player's Eye' both to check if they were an Otherworlder and to test my skill.

Seems they were indeed an Otherworlder.

Various system windows appeared before my eyes.

[An unnamed NPC is hostile towards you!]

One strange message that seemed to be referring to me...

[Chae-rin's nerd instincts are showing lololol]

[Reminds me of my school days...]

[Their way of speaking is pretty rough huh? wowow]

[It's fine since they're hot, that makes everything forgivable]

[sex]

[Come to think of it this is pretty messed up, how dare a man threaten a woman with a knife?]

[fr lol Chae-rin let's teach him a lesson, show him your feminine superiority]

[Let's subdue him!! And have our way with him!!]

[ㄴYou have been kicked by the moderator.]

[Forget teaching lessons, looks more like we're about to get taught one...?]

[Hey you idiots, did you not see how fast that spear was? Even though our host is pretty high level she couldn't even react]

[s]

[Isn't that just because the host has bad physical stats and stripped all their gear?]

[Forget everything else, did you see how that casually thrown knife got stuck in the stone wall...? Can you do that?]

[Don't care about anything else just take off that fur clothing, it's covering too much and I can't get off...]

[ㄴYou have been kicked by the moderator.]

[sex]

.

.

.

.

I couldn't help but be bewildered at the endlessly scrolling chat window that appeared.

"...Huh?"

What the hell is this now??