Chapter 56
Chapter 56
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: The Rabbit Princess's Fanart
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Usa (Fanart)
Thanks to properly subduing the heart demon, that fucking bastard no longer lost his mind even when Yuri didn't tack "usa" onto the end of his sentences.
Instead, Yuri was the one struggling to stay sane.
USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎ was a girl?
[I'm the rabbit princess from Rabbit Star, usa.]
USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎'s self-insert character was a silver-haired beauty with rabbit ears and a tiny crown, dressed in a gaudy gown even real-world princesses wouldn't wear.
Cat Panties had bought self-insert illustrations from multiple artists, so each had a different art style, but USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎'s were all consistent.
USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎ drew her own self-inserts.
While FUCKINGSEXY—FS—posted his sleazy masturbation diary every day, USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎ didn't post daily but regularly shared her drawing practice.
Her early sketches looked like something an elementary school kid drew, but as time passed and posts piled up, they improved steadily. Right before USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎ hit number one on the leaderboard, they were comparable to Cat Panties' self-insert art.
[Today's the rabbit princess pulling an all-nighter, usa.]
[Rabbit princess is so depressed she's eating carrot cake, usa.]
[I wanna go back to Rabbit Star, usa. Earth is too harsh for the rabbit princess, usa.]
[I don't wanna work, usa. Why do you have to work on Earth, usa? Rabbits on Rabbit Star can live without working, usa.]
[Rabbit princess is so exhausted she's gonna drink, usa.]
[Got a call from the office, usa. Rabbit princess has to go back to work, usa. I don't wanna go, usa.]
[Already ten straight days of overtime, usa.]
[Coffee taste coming down from upstairs, usa. Rabbits shouldn't drink coffee, but I can't hold out without it, usa.]
While Cat Panties poured six figures into commissioned self-insert art to build her concept, USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎ put effort into her concept by fully identifying with her self-insert.
Lee Soo-hyuk had never once thought USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎ was really a girl. Playing a female character in-game or drawing one as a self-insert didn't automatically make someone a girl.
"USAUSAMI's a girl...!"
Yuri muttered, still reeling in shock. Ha-ryeong, who had pulled her mask back down before regaining her composure, muttered back as if she couldn't understand his reaction.
"Is it a problem if she's a woman?"
It wasn't, really. Yuri shook off the shock and composed his expression. Once he forced himself back to his senses, he could rethink what the shit-talker had said.
"USAUSAMI's dead?"
It was just as shocking as her being a girl. This world was such a clusterfuck and not exactly welcoming to possessors, so he had considered the possibility that someone he knew from the community might have come over already and died...
But Ox God Head, who openly advertised himself as a possessor, was alive. Not just alive—he was one of the top powerhouses in this world.
That made him subconsciously assume FS, USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎, and Cat Panties were fine too.
But she was dead.
He thought he was pretty close to USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎.
[Rabbit princess has to go to work, but you ain't showing up, usa?]
[Yeah]
[You a NEET, usa?]
[What's a NEET]
[Don't go to work, usa?]
[Yeah]
[wwwwwwwwwwwwwwww]
[lmao]
They even checked in on each other often.
"Revenge?"
Yuri narrowed his eyes and glared at the shit-talker. Since he'd brought up revenge, he was definitely involved in USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎'s death.
"You from the community?"
"...!"
"What's your ID?"
"I, I didn't post much..."
"ID first. The one on the leaderboard."
"Houseman951..."
"How long ago did you possess, and what year and month on 'Earth'?"
The shit-talker's pupils shook with anxiety as his personal details were dug up. But in his current situation, defying the questions was impossible.
"On Earth... March 2021, and I've been in this world for 13 years..."
Over 30 years since the first possessor appeared, and ZEROMAN cleared the hidden boss and topped the leaderboard at the end of 2018. So, one Earth year was roughly 7-8 years here.
He racked his memory. 2021 was around when leaderboard number one stabilized, and veterans started topping it one by one before vanishing.
He remembered. Houseman951. The guy who raised a generic fire mage and whined about never hitting number one. Yuri remembered him because he'd spent days tweaking his build out of pity for the whining, only for the guy to vanish without even a thank-you.
'This motherfucker.'
Actually, he wasn't the only one who dipped without thanks. You couldn't really thank someone if topping the board shot you to another world—who could've imagined that?
Still, the hollow rage he'd felt back then was real, so Yuri now felt an urge to smack the guy's head.
'Should've hit him harder earlier.'
Yuri swallowed his boiling anger and forced calm.
"What happened with USAUSAMI?"
"If I... answer, will you kill... me?"
"No. I won't kill you, so talk."
He asked while blatantly radiating killing intent. He worried the heart demon might flare up again, but thankfully it didn't. The shit-talker steadied his breathing a few times and spoke.
"I..."
Getting isekai'd while gaming was already horribly unlucky, but even who you possessed was luck-based.
The shit-talker was unlucky. The body he possessed was from a poor family...
"Get to the point."
Yuri had no interest in the shit-talker's long-winded backstory.
Anyway, thanks to possessor talent, the shit-talker became a mage despite his circumstances and reached 3rd Tier in 7 years.
With that talent, any magic tower would've taken him as a disciple, letting him learn proper magic systematically and climb higher.
But fear of being exposed as a possessor kept him from magic towers.
"Get to the point."
The shit-talker met USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎ 5 years ago in the Eastern Continent rift 'Gangyu'.
Logos rifts were just grind spots for low-level builds before power scaled, but some were efficient farming spots in-game.
Gangyu was one. Hordes of yokai spawned there, with a low chance of dropping yokai inner cores. Nothing compared to elixirs usable post-max level, and limited to 5 uses, but stat-boosting items were valuable in any game.
Problem was, a 3rd Tier couldn't solo Gangyu. The shit-talker, unaffiliated with towers and steadily working adventurer guilds, joined a party of senior adventurers as a lowbie support mage.
Unlike sitting at a PC grinding cores for hours, real life grinding sucked. But rare cores in yokai guts were real too, so he entered Gangyu with hopes.
Ten days later, the party wiped—except him.
Not from yokai. They got ambushed mid-debate over a luckily found core.
[That belongs to the Rabbit Princess!]
The intruding woman subdued all four party members.
[The merciful Rabbit Princess will hear the fools' last words. Fool, have any final words?]
Everyone who left words died. He was last.
'Never thought I'd die like this.'
[Pizza... pizza... cheeseburger... wanna eat cola...]
Pizza and cheeseburgers could maybe be made here, but cola? Impossible.
[You... a possessor?]
That's how the shit-talker met USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎.
She wasn't alone.
Two other possessors in Gangyu served her as "princess." Their stories weren't much different. They'd come to farm cores like in-game, got jumped by USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎—the Rabbit Princess—and exposed as possessors via final words, becoming her slaves—"fools."
"That woman was a demon, insane..."
The shit-talker shuddered as he muttered.
"We were literal slaves. Every day, we risked our lives herding yokai, building shelters, cooking, raiding other adventurers, going to villages for supplies..."
The Rabbit Princess was strong enough to survive Gangyu solo. She'd eaten 4 cores already.
The three secretly hoped. Game limit was 5 cores. After one more, she'd be done. Maybe then she'd farm one for her slaves?
[Why should the Rabbit Princess go to that trouble?]
[Fools, you should've died long ago! You're alive only by the Rabbit Princess's boundless mercy! She spared you out of mercy, and you dare demand more, forgetting your place?!]
Courageous questions got rage in return.
Then shit hit the fan.
The rift rampaged. A grand yokai far beyond normals appeared—right near the princess and slaves.
[Grand yokai! Fools, protect the Rabbit Princess!]
She was strong, but so was the grand yokai.
Either could fall; a tiny interference would decide the brutal fight.
As her hand ripped the grand yokai's chest and gut, extracting the core—
The fools' rebellion was inevitable.
[How dare you, how dare you!]
Clutching the core, the princess fled desperately, but exhausted, she couldn't shake pursuit. Fatally wounded, she plummeted off a cliff with the core...
"...She probably didn't die, though?"
Yuri muttered when the shit-talker's tale ended.
Fatally wounded, cliff fall. But no body confirmation. Plus clutching a core? Movies and wuxia always survive that.
"N-No way. It was a fatal height...! And she was mortally wounded!"
"Body?"
"Cliff too high..."
"River below or something?"
"No, no river... just ground."
Maybe dead then.
"What about the other possessors?"
"...Dead."
"Why?"
"..."
"You killed them?"
Yuri smirked.
"Because they were possessors?"
"I, I... I didn't try to kill first."
The story: Post-rebellion, the three ex-fools tried cooperating to escape Gangyu.
Like Logos, yokai everywhere. 3rd Tier mages were barely reserves in Gangyu, but the other two were 4th Tier. Weak solo, but combined, escape possible.
Then a core dropped from a killed yokai.
Who gets it?
Yuri knew this world favored strength over talk.
Before peaceful negotiations, the two 4th Tiers attacked each other. Strike first to win—they agreed. Ignoring the shit-talker; 3rd Tier no threat.
One died, one gravely wounded.
That one died to the shit-talker.
"Had to kill... or I'd die...!"
"You eat the core fine?"
"..."
"Yeah, happens. Couldn't be helped."
Was USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎—the Rabbit Princess—really dead? Honestly, Yuri wanted to believe she lived. No body, cliff fall.
The shit-talker called her a demon, but that wasn't Yuri's business now. The abused "fools" were him and the dead two—not Yuri.
"But..."
The shit-talker, shoulders hunched, glanced at Yuri and spoke.
"You... who the hell are you?"
"Me?"
What to say? No way he'd reveal Padrip Immunity. Borrow someone else's ID.
"Cat Panties."
"Wha... what?"
Among the four community buddies, Ox God Head possessed first.
Second: FS.
Third: USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎.
Fourth: Cat Panties. Her plan to line up for number one together was moot since Ox God Head went first.
But Cat Panties held off topping long.
Out of obsession to beat USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎'s score.
"So you were a guy after all...?"
The shit-talker muttered in realization, then stiffened.
"If... you're Cat Panties, then... the Rabbit Princess's friend...?"
"Huh? What're you talking about? Not friends. Hated her, actually."
Yuri had no grudge against USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎ personally, but role-playing Cat Panties now.
"Still, sucks she's dead."
"..."
"Don't freak out. Told you, not here to kill. Just wanna chat. And ask stuff."
Hearing USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎'s status was a bonus. Yuri entered Pantheon Sector 4 hunting possessors for another reason.
"You a cultist?"
The shit-talker's face stiffened.
"Lie and I'll do bad shit too. Be straight—I don't wanna fight or kill fellow possessors."
"...I-I'm not a cultist."
"Bullshit, shit-talker. Why else you here? Hiding from a crime? Nah. You suck at hiding reactions, so drop it and fess up—easier for everyone."
"I..."
"I'm trying to talk civilly. Keep this up, maybe I won't bother."
Yuri's voice lowered.
The shit-talker closed his eyes again, sighing deeply.
No choice. Captured, could die anytime.
"Why ask about the cult?"
"Why? Same reason as you."
"...?"
Should he spit on his lips for luck?
"I'm serving the evil god too, for some blessings."
If Lorellia heard, her Holy Flame Force Emission might've exploded his head—but she wasn't here.
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god."
Instead, Ha-ryeong in her fox mask was freaking out.
"Little bro—or Cat Panties. Gonna join the cult?"
"Shut up."
"I respect religious freedom, but a cultist? Shocking."
"Told you to shut up."
Yuri glared and snapped at Ha-ryeong. The shit-talker, eyes open, eyed Yuri and Ha-ryeong oddly.
"No way... that... woman's... Padrip Immunity...?"
"No, asshole."
Yuri couldn't hold back and smacked the shit-talker's head.
'Wait, Padrip Immunity?'
That honorific bugged him.