Chapter 6: Night is Scary

I had never used "Player's Eye" until now.

Well, I hadn't encountered any Otherworlders before. Actually, I hadn't met anyone at all recently.

Because of that, I could only imagine what the "Player's Eye" skill might be like.

What abilities would it have? What happens when you use it? What does it mean to see through a Player's eyes? Actually, what even is a Player in the first place?

With only the skill name as a clue, I could only ponder these questions deeply. Fortunately, time was the one thing I had plenty of.

I don't know who Players are.

But looking at the name "Player", they must be people living in a game-like world. Maybe they even have status windows similar to mine.

If that's the case, then "Player's Eye" must be a skill to see the world through their eyes.

While I don't know where these Otherworlders came from, this was my most reasonable guess.

Fortunately, my guess was correct. The problem was that there was something more beyond that.

[Ask him to move the knife from your neck]

[Impossible, too scared to talk to him...]

[Reminds me of my school days... my hands are literally shaking...]

What the hell is this? Text is scrolling up like multiple people having a conversation.

And surprisingly, I vaguely knew what this was. It was a design I used to see quite often decades ago.

22 years ago, when I was still a modern person, streamers' chat windows looked exactly like this.

This relic of a distant past that I thought I'd never see again had suddenly appeared before me.

"Um, I won't do anything so could you maybe move your face back a bit...? You can keep the knife where it is, just your face..."

[lololololololol]

[She's asking him to move his face instead of the knife lololol what a crazy girl]

[I, Yoo Chae-rin, have a trait where I get scared around handsome men]

[Same, men are scarier than bloody knives... fr]

[That's like a reward though...?]

[Almost Fourth Knights' Order Commander level visuals wow]

[ㄴ Not quite that level;-;]

At that moment, a very ominous thought crossed my mind.

Wait, if this is really what I think it is. Then killing or silencing her would be pointless anyway?

"...ah, fuck."

"Eek, I'm sorry!"

I stepped back from her, my face turning pale.

Maybe because I muttered a curse, she showed signs of fear. But actually, I was the one who should be most afraid right now.

I asked her in a serious tone.

"How long have you been here?"

"Huh?"

"How long have you been watching?"

She hesitated before answering.

"I think about 5 minutes..."

[Confessing to her voyeurism lol]

[Stop lying, we know you've been watching for over 15 minutes]

[Talking shit cause she thinks he won't know]

[Exactly 15 minutes and 37 seconds of watching]

[You pervert lol you have no right to talk]

[Well~ I didn't know it was a man back then~]

15 minutes...

Seems I'm way too late, even if it's late. If it's been 15 minutes, hasn't everything already been exposed?

The only fortunate thing is that she didn't see the mark near my collarbone, but just having my existence discovered was a problem.

What should I do now?

My mind is incredibly confused. Due to shock and tension, I can't string together proper thoughts.

Come to think of it, I don't think I've been exposed to this many eyes since the day I was captured.

As a shut-in of 12 years, suddenly being exposed to so many people?

Ugh fuck, feeling nauseous rising up, I quickly told her:

"...Get out."

"What?"

"Get out of the cave right now!"

"Y-yes!!"

Immediate expulsion.

That was my treatment for her, since I couldn't kill or silence her.

With those words, she quickly fled outside the cave.

*

"Wow... what was that just now? I was so scared, seriously."

[lololololololol]

[So that urban legend was real wow]

[Sorry for ignoring that poster back then...]

[Chae-rin, you're too timid]

[fr if it was me I would've gotten his number first]

[Where's all that ambition you showed when talking to us? lol]

[fr he's probably just an NPC ffs should've pinned him against the wall]

[I'm the one getting pinned fr]

[Chae-rin if you're not gonna use that face properly just give it to me]

After leaving the cave, Chae-rin caught her breath while sharing her thoughts about what just happened.

If she had to describe her strongest emotion, it was... absolutely terrifying...

Originally, she had followed the typical forever-alone route of girls' middle school, girls' high school, and engineering college.

Basically, she had no immunity to "men". She'd barely even talked to them, let alone had any close encounters.

That hadn't changed even now that her stream had gotten somewhat popular and she was focusing on streaming.

She had lived almost her entire life without the existence of "men".

Then suddenly today she had a knife held to her neck and got cursed at by a man!

That was really... even considering he was an NPC, it was a nightmare-inducing experience.

His face even reminded her of those delinquent guys who used to smoke in back alleys......

[But he was seriously handsome]

[fr wanted to see below his face too but it's winter so sad ;-;]

[ㄴ You have been blocked by the moderator.]

[ffs mod just stay quiet we all know you wanted to see too]

[Who knows lol might be thick layers of fat under there lol]

[ㄴ No slander]

Of course, the next emotion she felt was naturally admiration. His looks were truly outstanding.

Even in this age where you can see countless beauties online, it was enough to make you marvel. And finding this in such a remote forest, the impact was bound to be huge.

Finding such unexpected visuals in such an unexpected place.

'Wow... the viewers.'

Thanks to that, her viewer count had increased quite a bit. Even now after leaving the cave, there were 3,400 viewers.

Then how many were there when she encountered him in the cave... She quickly checked the peak viewer count.

'Gasp, 6,500!'

While she wasn't a tiny streamer, for someone who wasn't quite corporate level either, this was an incredible number.

For her who usually didn't even break 1,000 viewers, this was extremely unusual.

[But why did you just take it?]

[fr lol Chae-rin you could've pulled out your weapon and been like "let's fucking talk" and faced off]

[OP has all her equipment off rn. And even if she drew it, winning would be questionable]

[How strong can a man be anyway lol]

The chat continued discussing the man for quite a while after that.

"Alright everyone, let's stop talking about that and continue exploring."

Finally Chae-rin redirected the mood and continued her stream.

There was still quite a way to go before reaching the deepest part of the forest. There was plenty of content left to extract here.

Enough time had passed that a red glow had settled over the forest. The sun had set in the sky.

The reddened forest created quite a dreamlike atmosphere. Yoo Chae-rin marveled at the sight with her viewers for a moment before heading deeper into the forest.

*

When suddenly caught in rapids, people tend to panic. And I was someone caught in such rapids.

After sending her away, I had to spend a while calming myself down.

12 years of hiding rendered meaningless, my existence exposed to countless people in an instant.

And needless to say, this was an extremely serious matter. To what degree? Comparable to when I faced off against Mountain Lord a few years ago.

In other words, I'm completely fucked.

'What should I do now?'

So I had to continue thinking for a while.

Was sending her away the best choice? Honestly, no. It was a hasty decision made because I wanted to be alone in my confused state. A decision led by emotions can't be the best choice.

But even thinking about it now, I couldn't see any clear solution.

Should I move to a new location? That's a decent option.

Even if I've been discovered, going to the deepest part would make it quite difficult for anyone to find me properly. The problem is it would be difficult for me to live there too, but with my current abilities, survival should be possible.

But even this didn't need immediate execution. I shouldn't move too hastily.

And above all, I had many resources stored in this cave.

To be honest, I don't want to give up this comfortable lifestyle......

I continued thinking about various possibilities after that.

Would pursuers come, would the Empire act, or would nothing happen at all.

But no clear answer emerged for any of these questions.

"Sigh......"

After much deliberation, this was the decision I reached.

Just stay put. If something happens, it won't be too late to move then.

The Rage Mode cycle is approaching anyway, I don't want to waste mental energy.

'Still, she was pretty...'

After all that anguish, what came to me was a simple observation.

Except for those unsavory bastards in the back alleys, it had been a very long time since I met someone. And a normal person at that.

Honestly speaking, her appearance looked much better than those filthy bastards in the back alleys.

When meeting such a normal person, sometimes these kinds of thoughts cross my mind.

'If I could have lived normally, couldn't I have had more comfortable conversations?'

Living normally like regular medieval people, making friends normally.

Having casual conversations and joking around, eventually forming a relationship with someone.

Of course it was a meaningless hypothesis. Being isolated from civilization, my interactions with people were extremely limited.

Continuing such fantasies would only make me sad.

As I stayed still for a while, night had fallen.

Additional darkness settled into the already dark cave, with only the lit bonfire driving away that darkness.

It was an eerie atmosphere, but I'd gotten used to it after living here so long.

'Time to eat and sleep.'

Just as I was thinking that and about to prepare dinner.

"Excuse me!! Um, is that man from earlier still here?"

Suddenly a voice called from outside the cave.

It was the voice of that woman from earlier. Startled, I quickly grabbed my spear and went outside.

"What."

The woman was standing in front of the cave, fidgeting nervously.

"Ah, hello... hehe."

I maintained my guard first.

"I'm pretty sure I told you to get out earlier, so why are you back?"

"Ah, well that's..."

I lowered my voice heavily while pointing the spear in her direction.

While she showed signs of shrinking back, she didn't run away.

Looking at her, seems she has something she wants to say.

After fidgeting for a while, she finally seemed to make up her mind and took action.

"P-please!"

She suddenly dropped to her knees like she was begging! The sight even looked somewhat desperate.

"Just one night! Let me stay just one night! I won't do anything, I'll really stay still!"

"...What?"

"Waaah! It's too scary outside! It's so dark I can't see anything!"

"......"

Her behavior was quite an eyesore.

I was momentarily at a loss for words.