177. Jukai Forest (2)
177. Jukai Forest (2)
WHOOSH—!
"!!!!"
It happened in the blink of an eye.
Without any warning, shadows shot out from the forest, wrapped around Jin Yu-ha, and dragged him inside.
As soon as they realized what was happening, the Utopia Party members frantically reached out, but they were a beat too late.
"Jin Yu-ha—!!!"
"Y-you... Yellow Dog...?"
"H-hoobae!!!"
"Jin Yu-ha!?"
And the party members immediately tried to launch themselves after him.
But, in that moment.
Claaaaaaaang—!!!
A metallic screech tore through the air and pierced their eardrums.
Sofia and Im Ga-eul turned their heads, dazed.
Kang Do-hee's gaze was also forcibly wrenched around.
"Lee Yu-ri...?"
"...Hoobae?"
"You... ."
There stood Lee Yu-ri, shield and short dagger in hand.
"You—what the hell kind of bullshit are you pulling right now—!!!!!!"
Crrrrrack—
Kang Do-hee summoned her Mana, forcibly broke through the restraints entangling her body, and tried to head for the forest again.
But,
Claaaaaaaang—!!!
Lee Yu-ri's skill, Taunt, activated once again, snagging their ankles.
Kang Do-hee glared at Lee Yu-ri with bloodshot eyes, as if she wanted to kill her.
"Hey, I asked what the hell kind of bullshit you're pulling!!! Fuck, let go of this—!?"
"Calm down."
"Calm? You want me to calm down? Right now, Yellow Dog just got kidnapped into that place, and we barely have time to go find him! What?! Calm?"
"Yeah, shut your mouth. Kang Do-hee."
"... ."
Lee Yu-ri bit her lip hard and spoke, her face rigid.
Kang Do-hee's jaw dropped at the sheer absurdity of it.
Lee Yu-ri and Kang Do-hee had rarely clashed before.
But now, a sharp killing intent rose between them.
The air turned frigid.
Im Ga-eul and Sofia, though not reacting as strongly as Kang Do-hee, were looking at Lee Yu-ri with the same eyes demanding an explanation.
How could Lee Yu-ri not know what they were feeling?
A moment ago, when Jin Yu-ha was dragged into the forest,
she, too, had been about to launch herself after him.
But what came first was her principle that, in unexpected situations like this, you must above all stay level-headed.
'...Everyone's way too worked up.'
Acting on emotion when something unforeseen happens never leads to a good outcome.
And wasn't this the very place that both Jin Yu-ha and Shin Se-hee had unanimously stressed was dangerous?
'I need to cool their heads first.'
Lee Yu-ri thought through how to handle the current situation and let out a long breath.
"Kang Do-hee, what exactly are you going to do by charging in there with no plan? Do you know what that place is, what kind of place it is, that you're trying to follow?"
"That's exactly why we have to follow!!! If we stay like this, we'll only lose him worse! So quit spouting bullshit and let go of this, now!"
"No. I can't allow it. That's just falling for the enemy's tricks."
"Who are you to say what you'll allow and not—"
"Because I'm the vice-leader Jin Yu-ha personally appointed."
Lee Yu-ri cut her off in a resolute voice.
"...What?"
"If a situation arises that he can't handle, Jin Yu-ha said he leaves full authority to me."
At that, Kang Do-hee, who had been staring at Lee Yu-ri blankly for a moment, felt a thick vein bulge on her forehead.
"Heh. Fuck, so you're wearing the armband and playing leader? Fine, good, that's great. So what. Do we just wait here? Until Yellow Dog comes back? When we don't even know what kind of shit Jin Yu-ha might be going through in there!?"
Lee Yu-ri turned her head and looked at Sofia this time.
"Sofia."
"...Yeahuh?"
"Repeat what Jin Yu-ha said just now. Summarize it; we don't have much time."
"Uh, um, s-so... . That this forest is truly cursed. And that inside, you have to doubt everything... . Also, you mustn't trust anyone, no one at all... . Pay attention to anything that feels off. And... . A sacrifice."
Sofia, though stammering at the sudden question, relayed Jin Yu-ha's words perfectly.
Lee Yu-ri nodded as if to say, exactly.
"Right. Jin Yu-ha said 'sacrifice.' I don't know what's in there. But seeing that they dragged him in, they're probably not going to do anything to him right this instant. If they were, they would have ambushed us back when no one had noticed anything."
"...Ah."
"Th-that... definitely makes sense... ."
The hostile atmosphere subsided a little.
Because more than anything, what mattered most to them right now was Jin Yu-ha's immediate safety.
"And he said that inside that forest, there are traps that distort our senses and warp our common sense. Charging into a place like that with no plan is nothing short of suicide."
"...That's still just speculation, isn't it. You—can you really be sure? That Jin Yu-ha will be okay?"
Kang Do-hee spat it out, her earlier agitation having subsided somewhat.
"No, I can't be sure. So we need to prepare. The intel Jin Yu-ha gave us. The items Shin Se-hee packed for us. And the topography and features of this forest. We have to figure this place out based on that information and then tackle it. And that's the fastest way to rescue Jin Yu-ha."
Lee Yu-ri's shining eyes pierced through every party member.
* * *
WHOOOOSH—
I was being dragged deeper inside, seized by unknown shadows.
'Hmm, this is a problem.'
Swiish—
I drew the sword at my hip and swung at the shadows, but it only felt like cutting through empty air—nothing was sliced.
Still, surprisingly, I didn't feel any sense of crisis.
'Well, I don't sense any particular killing intent... .'
The floating ride wasn't bad either, and even though we were moving through a dense forest, it seemed like they were navigating between the tree trunks, trying not to scratch me.
'Even if I can't cut the shadows for now... .'
Seogak—
Seogak—
I intermittently sliced at the trees we passed, flashing by my sides.
If I left gashes on the trunks like this, my party members could follow the marks and find me.
Even if they didn't, I could use them as markers when I head back to the entrance, so it was a good precaution to take.
'But, what the hell is going on here?'
Honestly, I was seriously flustered right now.
Back when Velvetsra was a game, I'd never once heard of or seen any event like this.
'Could this be... a personal story exclusive to the Jin Yu-ha character...?'
The first thing I suspected was the personal story of this character named Jin Yu-ha, the one I'd transmigrated into.
Because sometimes, when a request you accepted was connected to a character's background, personal stories would unfold like this.
'Umm, is this an event that triggers if you accept the Jukai Forest request while using Jin Yu-ha, Velvetsra's weakest character...?'
But I soon shook my head.
'No... . If something like that existed, there's no way I wouldn't know about it.'
No matter how little I cared about a shitty character like Jin Yu-ha, and even if I'd never cleared his personal story,
there's no way I wouldn't have known about a special event like this.
This was even the Jukai Forest, a hunting ground favored by Velvetsra veterans.
Among all the no-lifers who'd devoted their lives to Velvetsra, there had to have been at least one who had taken Jin Yu-ha and attempted to clear this forest. There would definitely be a proof post up from ages ago.
'Then what the hell is it? Since I'm the one being dragged in, it's definitely triggered by me. Something that doesn't exist for other characters, but only for me... . And something even Velvetsra Players never managed to achieve—'
Then a hypothesis flashed through my mind.
'Come to think of it. That voice just now said I was handsome, didn't it...? Could it be... Charm...!?'
Yeah, if it's the Charm stat, that changes everything.
Originally, this Jin Yu-ha character had a pointlessly high base Charm stat compared to other characters.
On top of that, as Utopia gained fame starting in the first semester, the Charm stat rose steadily.
And we'd gone through the Star Promotion event by killing Demons.
So at this point in time, my Charm had reached the absurd value of '100.'
'That's it. Jin Yu-ha's base Charm was high. And it was only possible to reach this number because of the trick of forming a party in the first semester.'
Charm was both an innate stat for each character, and beyond a certain point, Ability Stat Increase Coupons obtained from gacha don't work on it.
It's a stat that only rises through the fame and exploits of the party the Player controls.
Reaching triple digits at this point, when the mission window normally opens, is honestly something you'd have to consider impossible through normal means.
'You're insane... . The requirement for this is to hit 100 in a garbage stat that just gives slightly more rewards and gets slightly more bonus points in chemistry...? Are the devs seriously out of their minds? Who the hell did they make this stupid Easter egg for, expecting someone to clear it?'
I already thought they were crazy, being the kind of people who'd stuff a normal guy who just had a little good gacha luck into a game.
But isn't this too much?
I let out an incredulous laugh.
Once I'd reached that conclusion, the next thing that popped into my head was the party members I'd left at the entrance.
I'd been separated from them before I could even properly explain this place.
'Tch, I didn't even get to tell them how to use those items.'
Would the kids be able to figure out how to use the items we'd brought?
And if they'd just blindly charged into the forest right after I was dragged in, then it would truly be hopeless.
'No, it'll be fine.'
A face surfaced in my mind.
And with it, my anxious heart regained its calm to a degree that surprised even me.
'Because Lee Yu-ri is there.'
Of course, I'm the party leader of Utopia.
But my role is to be on the front lines, setting the direction the party should go and leading them.
I'm not the one responsible for the party's safety, the pillar that steadfastly supports them from behind.
Actually, the person who keeps the party centered and brings stability is Gukbap.
'Which is also why I can pull off things that seem a little reckless.'
Especially in a dungeon like this where mental attacks come into play, Lee Yu-ri shows her true worth.
Though I can't know for certain, as long as Lee Yu-ri is there, I doubt a situation where the party members are genuinely in danger will arise.
Thinking back now, appointing her vice-leader when we received the mission window was a really good move.
'Gukbap has gotten much stronger than her original specs through all the training we've done, too. Yeah, I'll trust them.'
With that, I was able to set aside my worries about my party members for a moment.
'But how much further am I going?'
I thought we'd already gone in pretty deep, but the path still continued.
After traveling a long while more,
Sliiide—
the shadow that had been holding me let me go.
And what I saw then was...
'Huh...? Wait, isn't that him? He was alive at this point...?'
Someone I had never once encountered alive in the original game,
the 'client' of the Insomnia Resolution Request.