Chapter 7
Dungeon & Saga's 7th anniversary event hall.
It's packed with people.
I wonder how many of them are as serious about games as I am?
"Waaah!! Ryu-gyeong oppa!!"
"Encia! Encia!!"
Did these people come to a game event or a fan meeting?
At a venue like this, where people who aren't interested in the game are lurking for a chance to see celebrities, the bodyguards stand out.
Among them is Go Kang-su.
And there he was—the one who was stalking Encia and would eventually kidnap, rape, and murder her.
If it were up to me, I'd like to say, "That bastard is a bad bastard." But...
The future hasn't happened yet.
The only charges I could pin on him right now are stalking and trespassing, probably.
But that's enough.
For now, it's important to keep him away from Encia—Seo Yurim.
"Hmm..."
I could see the past and future of the man shouting at the fans not to approach him.
Nothing special.
He was also pestering other female celebrities in his agency besides Encia.
He stole their underwear and stockings.
And, crucially, he had even sent multiple threatening letters to a male idol close to Encia.
I have no idea how he never got caught, but anyway, after killing Encia, his crimes are exposed, and in the not-too-distant future he ends up serving decades in prison.
What matters is that the future in which that woman dies does not change in the end.
"If this is also something I have to do, then I’ll do it."
She’d die unjustly, after all.
If I can stop it, then stopping it is the right thing to do.
.
.
.
"Right this way!"
After going inside the venue, submitting my ID, and actually logging into the game, I was able to get in faster than everyone else.
So there was a reward for playing the game consistently after all.
"You’re MushroomerIsMushroomMushroom, right?"
"Yep."
"Thank you for always loving our Maple Saga. The invited performers are inside."
I received the gifts.
A mouse pad, a limited-edition figure.
And coupons for in-game items, too.
Even this alone means I’ve achieved more than half the purpose of coming here.
"Nice to meet you!! I’m Encia!!"
When I arrived at the place where we could talk with the invited singers, several people had already come and were greeting them and chatting.
"It’s an honor to meet you."
"Yes!! Your game ID is..."
"It’s MushroomerIsMushroomMushroom."
"...Aha."
Huh?
Wait a second.
This woman...
"Ms. Encia. By any chance, do you play Maple Saga?"
"Yes! Since I’m a guest performer, I couldn’t not try it at least once, so I played it this time! It was really fun!"
"...Aha. I see."
A beautiful woman laughing brightly.
She looked like the ultimate extrovert, totally at ease.
But I could see it in her past.
IWantToSuckMerleBoobs.
...she was one of the hardcore gamers like me.
And she was a guildmate of ours.
I can’t believe that lunatic who spammed guild chat and the gallery every day with 'Ah~! I want to suck Merle's boobs!' was Seo Yurim.
No, more importantly, she was hiding the fact that she was a gaming addict...
Are you ashamed of Dungeon & Saga?!
Huh?!
Ashamed?!
But honestly, if a popular girl idol’s game ID is IWantToSuckMerleBoobs, that would be kind of embarrassing...
"This is a fan letter. Please be sure to read it."
"...Yes! I’ll read it carefully! Thank you, Mushroomer!!"
No need to thank me for that.
.
.
.
In the waiting room, Encia let out a sigh.
Her heart was pounding with excitement.
'That female lineup was totally my type.'
When the game company first contacted her, she almost screamed in delight.
No, she couldn't hold back and screamed in the end.
To think she'd been invited as a guest singer to the 7th-anniversary event of Dungeon & Saga, a game she'd enjoyed whenever she had time since her trainee days.
It made her feel that becoming an idol had been worth it.
The only regret was that she couldn't reveal she'd been playing since the early days.
'Still...'
Given everything she'd done in the game so far, plus the fact that her ID was 'IWantToSuckMerleBoobs,' how could it not be?
How could an idol's game ID be...
She held her head in her hands.
'No. Even if people found out I play games, there’d be no benefit anyway.'
Even if a single song goes wrong.
Even one dance mistake can get you flamed in the idol world.
If people found out she was gaming like this, what kind of flak would she get?
Just keep quiet.
Let's treat games as games and move on.
'Wait for me, gallery nerds.'
With the guest-performer perks, I'll keep pestering the devs until I somehow shave even one second off that bastard raid boss's invulnerability phase.
She resolved herself.
"It's about time I head out."
"Ah. Yes, Oppa Kang-su."
"And you haven't forgotten anything, right?"
"Yes."
Recently, something strange has been happening at the company.
The belongings of female idols and actresses have been disappearing little by little.
Nothing particularly important.
At most, inexpensive belongings.
And only things like stockings or socks they'd worn.
"The company has been telling us to tighten security lately. You know Save, right? They said a thief broke into their dorm and their underwear went missing."
"Ughhh...!!"
"If you've got any stockings you've worn or are throwing out, give them to me. The company says to do it that way from now on."
Disgusting.
To think there really is a pervert like that.
That's even grosser than the ridiculous pervert nonsense people shout into the game over megaphones.
Though maybe the gallery's unicorn-detector guy is still better.
'Come to think of it, that Mushroomer...'
MushroomerIsMushroomMushroom.
The guy who took down that big name with a single comment.
As an early user herself, she thought of him as a comrade who'd survived the game's chaotic early days with her.
'Last time I checked, he'd become a mod. Did he block that because he knew the unicorn guy?'
Whatever it was, fine.
Anyway, the important thing was that she had to go out for the event now.
She gently closed her eyes.
Idol Encia is asleep.
From here on, it's the gaming addict's turn to go out.
Her eyes shining, she went out.
But she had no way of knowing.
That Go Kang-su was looking at her like he wanted to devour her.
That he had his eye on the black stockings she was wearing.
.
.
.
The event ended safely.
Nothing happened.
Though the developers did break into a cold sweat from her sharp questions during the event.
It was an event both she and the game company could be satisfied with.
"Good work. Get some rest tonight."
"Yes! You too, oppa~!"
After saying goodbye to Go Kang-su, who had driven her back to the dorm, she returned to her room.
A roomy 30-pyeong apartment, too big for one person.
Lying on the luxurious sofa, she recalled the fan letters she’d received earlier.
I should read these and then get back to gaming.
"Heehee."
The fan letters sent by her fans made her feel giddy.
She giggled as she read through the fan letters, then stopped halfway through.
It was the fan letter from MushroomerIsMushroomMushroom.
"This bastard. What kind of nonsense did he write?"
She wouldn't know.
That the slacker chatting with her in the guild and on the gallery was actually him.
Chuckling, she pulled the letter out of the envelope.
And froze.
[Go Kang-su is the stalker. The evidence is in the trunk of his car and under the bed in his house. If you want to catch him for his crimes, secretly cancel your variety show schedule four days from now and go home. You'll catch him at the scene. And since it's dangerous, if you're going to storm the scene, go with other people.]
Her excited mood cooled rapidly.
Her face turned cold and rigid.
Her heart was pounding madly.
'What... are you talking about?'
Go Kang-su is the stalker?
He's the culprit behind what's happening now?
She couldn't believe it.
He was a reliable manager and bodyguard she'd been with since her debut.
How could someone like that...
'But...'
It was MushroomerIsMushroomMushroom.
The guy who took down the unicorn with a single post.
And he knew the variety show schedule four days from now—something only people in the company would know, right?
Wrapped in a strange feeling, she held her breath.
'If... if it's really true?'
Trust MushroomerIsMushroomMushroom vs. trust Go Kang-su.
She squeezed her eyes shut.
.
.
.
"Have a good shoot."
"Yes. Oppa. You're heading home from work, right?"
"Yeah. Haechang will pick you up."
"Yep! Then I’ll be back later!"
Watching Seo Yurim get into the car for her variety show schedule, Go Kang-su smiled faintly.
Then he drove off in his own car.
His destination was Seo Yurim's dorm—Encia's place.
'If it's now, it'll be there.'
Her laundry was done by a helper who came once every four days.
The helper had come two days ago, so the clothes she wore yesterday would still be there.
He couldn't miss that.
Her scent, her sweat.
Her effort.
He wanted to feel the clothes imbued with her affection as soon as possible.
As soon as he arrived, he slowly entered the dorm.
By principle, a female idol's dorm is not somewhere a manager should enter alone.
Much less when she wasn't even there.
Even so, Go Kang-su didn't care.
"There it is..."
The clothes she wore for yesterday's schedule.
Palm-sized hot pants.
A tight, short T-shirt.
Warm stockings still carrying the heat of the performance.
And snow-white panties and a bra.
"Hahaha... haah... hahahaha..."
He laughed.
He couldn't stop.
So beautiful, so sexy.
Because she, smiling only for him, was so lovely.
He couldn't stop himself.
Laughing happily, he brought her clothes to his face.
He placed his hand on his swollen manhood.
And then it happened.
-Click!!
"...Good heavens."
"Go Kang-su... what is this..."
"Uh... uh... th, this is..."
Go Kang-su's face turned blue.
She was standing there—despite having gone to her variety show schedule.
The security team leader, and the company president.
Along with the police.
"P-President. Team leader. I-it's not that... this is a misunderstanding... really, a misunderstanding... Yurim. Yurim. Y-you know, right? This is all..."
"...Kang-su oppa."
She held up her phone.
On the phone was footage of everything he'd been doing with her belongings at home until just moments ago.
"...You installed cameras? You? How...?!"
"That was easy."
It was simple.
When she asked the gallery guys, they explained it to her very simply.
So she did it.
She bought it secretly and installed it secretly.
"......"
"There was a hidden camera in my room, too."
"........"
The police approached.
Caught in the act.
What more was there to say?
Seeing that, Go Kang-su felt his vision go black.
.
.
.
"Yurim. Are you okay?"
"Yes. I was a little shocked, though..."
"From today on, please have the team leader stay with me."
"Yes."
If it's the female team leader, that'll be fine, right?
The president, having assigned a female team leader in her mid-forties, let out a sigh.
"But how did you know?"
In Go Kang-su's trunk.
In Go Kang-su's house.
There was evidence of the thefts and stalking incidents up to now.
With that, the bastard wouldn't be able to wriggle out of it and would spend years in prison.
Naturally, he'd never be able to set foot in this industry again.
"Ah... that?"
Encia.
Seo Yurim.
IWantToSuckMerleBoobs.
With all those names, she called out to the one who had helped her to help her? Wait no—she called out to the one who had helped her. Actually the final line should be a quote, so: "A friend helped me."