2. Spider Woman Yurakne (7)
2. Spider Woman Yurakne (7)
The first day I fell into the world of Tril Trillo.
The most shocking thing wasn't that this was the game world, nor that I was Wonderstein.
The hardest thing to adjust to was.......
Beep.
Trait: Arm
Application Area: Shoulder
Effect: It is an ordinary arm.
Required Resources: [Devolut 16]
This painfully unfamiliar body of mine.
I had things attached to me I'd never once used in my entire life — strange, alien things.
I stood. I touched. I walked. I picked things up.
People are supposed to feel terror when they confront the unfamiliar.
This unnatural sensation was something I had never once felt before.
But the emotion that came to me wasn't fear.
It was elation.
An illusion, but for a moment I heard something explode.
Something that had been suppressed — crushed down at the very bottom — burst free.
The smile painted on my lips had nothing to do with The Smiling Man.
For the first time in my life, I stood on my own.
Without anyone's help. Without any tool's help.
That sensation — the one I'd dreamed of dozens of times every year.
It was a little different from what I'd imagined.
Still, I was more certain than anyone that this was real.
But joy was joy, and unfamiliar remained unfamiliar.
It took four whole days before I could move this body naturally.
Actually, it took only four days.
Babies take months just to learn to toddle.
For me, learning new things was less about acquisition and more about realization.
Nobody thinks about every single step as they walk.
Nobody thinks about the movement of every single finger every time they pick something up.
Moving a human body is less a technique and more a habit etched into the flesh.
Walking and running became comfortable in under a day.
Wonderstein's body remembered.
Higher-order motions like using chopsticks took quite a while to adapt to.
So I had to eat meals alone in the carriage for several days.
Right. It's only two and a half years.
I don't cling to my original life.
Living would be nice, but dying doesn't really matter either.
But this body — I wanted to enjoy it for a long time.
I wanted to survive somehow, to fill every last one of those days, and feel this sensation for as long as possible.
Beep.
Trait: Arm
Application Area: Shoulder
Effect: It is an ordinary arm.
Required Resources: [Devolut 16]
"Aaaaugh! She really does have six arms!"
"It really was the Spider Woman! I didn't imagine her!"
"Disgusting!"
"Ugh, look at that body."
"Ech, how can something like that count as a person?"
A festival of revulsion.
And huddled, trembling at its center, a frail woman.
I knew the Monster Circus Troupe members' pasts.
Not in detail, but the game provided enough information on the growth arcs they went through.
When I saw their pasts in the game, honestly, I was indifferent.
Maybe because of the misery I went through.
Maybe because the material itself was just unpleasant.
Understanding their motives didn't make me want to sympathize.
So what?
Not everyone who goes through that turns into a crazy murderer like you guys, you know?
I'd scoffed.
Once you start trotting out sob stories, it's over.
But seeing a scene like this right in front of me, those thoughts vanished.
I shut my eyes tight.
An era I never wanted to remember again surfaced, unbidden.
- Ugh, look at it, wandering around looking like that.
- Shh, you know. That orphanage from the whistleblower program.......
- Oh dear, tsk tsk. Living like that, you'd be better off killing yourself.
People can feel pity for a bug crawling on the ground, but feel disgust toward a bug that flies.
I learned that only after I left the orphanage.
- You're the only child who survived.
- The director......committed suicide.......
- From the foundation, the remaining funds......all of the hundred million won will be allocated to your support.......
Everywhere I went, people recognized me.
It would've been strange not to, with media coverage that massive.
Some approached me, eyeing the director's inheritance and the funds I'd supposedly received.
Plenty held an odd animosity, picking fights or staring at me with sneering contempt.
There was a silver lining to the days I crawled on the ground begging.
Back then, it was only pity.
- Can you eat alone?
- Can you go to the bathroom by yourself?
Beep.
Trait: Leg
Application Area: Pelvis
Effect: It is an ordinary leg.
Required Resources: [Devolut 24]
My lips twisted.
The Smiling Man was still forcing a smile onto my face.
But I didn't want to smile right now.
I didn't want to wear that kind of expression while looking at her.
No, at the very least, I didn't want to show her that kind of expression.
- Once you get used to it, an eye tracker is much faster than a mouse or keyboard.
- An assistant from the welfare center will come every day.
- Personal care and meals will be at set times every day.......
Beep.
Trait: Leg
Application Area: Pelvis
Effect: It is an ordinary leg.
Required Resources: [Devolut 24]
It wasn't about something like an Affection level.
As someone who'd lived through something similar, I simply didn't want to show her that face.
I didn't want to make the same expression as this garbage surrounding her.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Trait: Arm
Application Area: Shoulder
Effect: It is an ordinary arm.
Required Resources: [Devolut 16]
Trait: Arm
Application Area: Shoulder
Effect: It is an ordinary arm.
Required Resources: [Devolut 16]
Trait: Leg
Application Area: Pelvis
Effect: It is an ordinary leg.
Required Resources: [Devolut 24]
Trait: Leg
Application Area: Pelvis
Effect: It is an ordinary leg.
Required Resources: [Devolut 24]
Yurakne's situation had summoned up the memories of those days.
The things I had wanted most back then.
The things I didn't have.
The things I wanted to have.
The Evolution Lab was calculating them on its own, without asking.
But whatever disgust I felt, resisting The Smiling Man was impossible.
I smiled, and my eyes met hers as she looked at me.
"Troupe Leader......?"
The noise was so loud I couldn't hear her voice, but the shape of her lips was enough.
I could clearly see, too, the way both her pupils were staining with despair.
***
'So that was it.'
The moment Yurakne saw the Troupe Leader's smile, she understood everything.
Why he had been so lenient about her blunder earlier.
Why he had insisted on coming with her.
He knew how to inflict pain far deeper than mere physical violence.
The day she first met him.
Drunk, she had poured out everything she had endured.
She told him all of it, except the most agonizing memory.
She told him, too, about being dragged out by the villagers as a child, locked in a cage, and pelted with stones.
He had remembered that story.
To reenact it — that was his goal.
"Disgusting freak!"
"How dare you come in here!"
It was exactly like that day.
Surrounded by people brimming with hatred, made into the target of a mob.
The only difference from that day was that there was no husband to step in front of the crowd and shield her.
Splat. Splatter. Clank.
Rotten shellfish meat.
A fish head.
Broken conch shells.
Filthy, reeking garbage of every kind struck her body.
She could only keep her head bowed and endure the violence.
Experience had taught her that if she tried to resist in any way, people only turned more merciless.
She had to endure.
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
It hurt.
More than the places she was hit, her chest hurt unbearably.
Over there, beneath the lights, among the crowd.
The Troupe Leader stood watching the whole process, smiling.
He stood in that spot without moving.
Simply savoring the sight of her fall into despair.
A demon who trampled people like insects, who laughed as he turned them into performing freaks.
What had I expected from him?
They told you not to trust demons.
You're such a fool.
I know.
I know, and yet.......
Still.......
Still, you know.......
"Get lost, monster!"
At that moment, someone scooped up a heavy fishing weight and hurled it at her.
This was nothing like the barnacles or fish of a moment ago.
It was made of iron — something that could genuinely injure someone.
Ah, that's going to hurt terribly.
She squeezed her eyes shut.
Fine. If she bled once here, maybe the crowd would hesitate.
They'd spit on the ground, mutter about bad luck, and turn away. That was the most likely outcome.
Meanwhile, a few awkward bystanders would finally step forward, put on a belated show of conscience, and say, now, that's enough.
It had happened a few times before.
It always happened.
It would stop at that.
If she just took one hit.......
Thwock.
A dull impact rang out.
But Yurakne felt nothing.
The fishing weight never reached her.
Something blocked it.
The lump of iron, the size of a man's fist, rolled to the ground.
"Heh heh, that smarts a little."
A voice full of mischief, utterly out of place in a serious situation.
No way...... no way.......
When she carefully opened her eyes, the first thing she saw were shoes.
Familiar black shoes.
That's impossible.
It must be a mistake.
Slowly, she raised her head.
Black trousers, a black jacket, and even a black cloak.
Not remotely appropriate attire for a dawn fish market.
But that man always wore those clothes, no matter when or where.
Frank Wonderstein.
He had planted himself in front of her.
A single line of red blood trickled down his forehead.
He had taken the flying lump of iron head-on.
So his blood really is red.......
The thought surfaced in an instant.
He turned to her and smiled.
As though he hadn't felt a thing.
"Are you all right?"
- Are you all right?
It was exactly like that day.
The day she first met her husband.
Her husband had also stepped in front of the crowd and shielded her.
But.......
But why would he?
"If anyone does anything more to my wife, I won't stand by."
Wonderstein showed no sign of anger.
He only smiled and spoke in a low voice.
Neither his appearance nor his actions held anything threatening.
But those watching felt a chill of killing intent in that smile.
A man so handsome it gave you goosebumps.
A kindly smile that utterly defied the circumstances.
That combination was what filled people with dread.
The mob's blazing, frenzied heat guttered out in an instant.
No one dared lunge at Yurakne anymore.
"We'd best be leaving now."
He extended his hand.
Yurakne replayed the words he had just spoken.
Wife.
At that moment, her husband's silhouette overlapped with Wonderstein's broad back.
Don't take it.
This is another trick.
Are you trying to get fooled again?
"I......I'm filthy......."
Her body was plastered with grime.
The stench of seafood filled the air.
Far from taking her hand, she was in a state anyone would hate even to be near.
He who always insisted on immaculate formalwear could never tolerate someone like this.
Ah, was this also a trap?
If she approached him like this, he'd swing his hand and slice her neck open, saying she stank.......
Step, step.
He strode toward her.
That smile was still fixed on his lips.
He bent down and brushed the worst of the grime from her body.
His suit was getting filthy, but he paid it no mind at all.
He checked her over, asking if she was hurt anywhere.
"Let's go back. To our lodgings."
A smile too radiant to bear.
Tears.
Tears fell.
Two streaks of starlight rolling down Yurakne's cheeks.
The same tears as before, but their meaning was entirely different from a moment ago.
"Yes......darling......."
Leaning on his support, Yurakne rose to her feet.