19. My Buff is a Drug
19. My Buff is a Drug
[ Seo Ha-yoon : I'm sorry. I couldn't convince her. Hee-yeon seemed like she was really struggling....... ]
[ Choi Ah-young : Oh my god. What happened to those marks? ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : That Na Hee-yeon girl did that? ]
[ Seo Ha-yoon : Yeah. She kept apologizing over and over, but I can't forget those bloodshot eyes from that moment....... ]
'Could this be that anomaly?'
It sure seemed that way, but Hye-yong asked again, just to be sure.
[ Choi Hye-yong : She wasn't originally the type to have sudden, violent mood swings, was she? ]
[ Seo Ha-yoon : Not at all! Hee-yeon is acting strange. She would never, ever do something like that normally. She's a kind kid who always thinks of others first. How should I put it... earlier, she seemed completely overwhelmed by anxiety, like she was being chased by something. She had this really sharp, on-edge vibe....... ]
[ Choi Ah-young : That's weird. What on earth could have happened? ]
[ Seo Ha-yoon : I'm so worried about Hee-yeon. I'm afraid she might do something extreme at this rate...... I want to go see her again, but honestly, I'm a little scared. Guys, won't you come with me? ]
An anomaly, a sense of disconnect.
He had a strong feeling this was something he needed to go confirm for himself.
It looked like Seo Ha-yoon was already planning to go back.
[ Choi Hye-yong : I'll be right there. Where should we meet? ]
[ Choi Ah-young : I'll come too. ]
[ Seo Ha-yoon : Thanks, guys. Let's meet in front of the dorms and go together. ]
Seo Ha-yoon, despite being treated like that by a friend, was intent on going back because she was worried rather than angry.
She really was an idiotically kind girl.
At this point, you'd almost think Seo Ha-yoon was the one affected by the Virus anomaly.
'I need to contact Bwitgwitgak right away.'
[ Choi Hye-yong : I think I found that Virus anomaly. ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : What's the situation!? ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : One of my friends seems to have suddenly snapped. She apparently lunged at someone, choked them, and then apologized? ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : They said she'd never do that normally. Doesn't that sound suspicious as hell? ]
Bwitgwitgak : ( An emoticon of a blonde-haired female character pointing her finger and saying "That's it!" )
[ Bwitgwitgak : It sounds definitive! ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : When confronting the Virus, you'll likely need to enter the character's inner world. ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : Inner world...... You mean going inside their mind? ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : Yes. It would be impossible with your current abilities, Creator, but I can squeeze out some power to help you create a skill that lets you enter the opponent's inner world. ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : Please open the Buff Custom window. ]
Hye-yong opened the Buff Custom window as Bwitgwitgak instructed.
[ Bwitgwitgak : The buff name is Inner World Intrusion. The buff description is: renders a target infected by the Virus in a state that allows intrusion into their inner world and enables interference with it. ]
And just like that, a buff was created.
[ Inner World Intrusion ]
Renders a target infected by the Virus in a state that allows intrusion into their inner world and enables interference with it
[ Choi Hye-yong : Is that it? ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : Yes. Cast that on the target and then cast it on yourself, Creator, and you will be able to enter their inner world. ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : Once it's applied, you can interfere with their inner world from anywhere, so please make sure you do so from a safe location when you try. ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : That buff won't consume any of the World's Power available to you, Creator, so don't erase it with your ability and keep it with you. ]
So it's their inner world, not the otherworld.
He didn't fully grasp it, but it seemed like he just had to dive in and figure it out.
Even if it wasn't the Virus, leaving that Na Hee-yeon girl in that state didn't sit right with him.
'At least I can try something now. Let's hurry up, meet up, and go see Na Hee-yeon.'
Hye-yong left his room without even locking the door.
5:32 PM
Dormitory Entrance
'I see them.'
He spotted Seo Ha-yoon and Choi Ah-young, standing with their hands neatly clasped together, one of them holding a paper bag.
"What's the paper bag for?"
"I didn't think Hee-yeon had eaten anything. So I bought some porridge."
Unbelievable.
'No matter how I think about it, I need to marry someone like Seo Ha-yoon.'
But in reality, people like Seo Ha-yoon didn't exist.
And even if they did, they wouldn't marry the real-world Hye-yong.
Absolutely not!
"If she's mentally unstable, you never know when something bad might happen. Let's hurry up and go see this Hee-yeon."
"Okay. It's this way. Follow me."
They followed Seo Ha-yoon and arrived in front of Na Hee-yeon's room.
Knock, knock, knock!
"Hee-yeon, are you in there?"
Seo Ha-yoon knocked on the door and called out for Na Hee-yeon.
But Na Hee-yeon didn't answer.
There were no signs of life coming from inside, as if the room was empty.
Creeeak!
Seo Ha-yoon carefully opened the door to Na Hee-yeon's room.
"I knew it, she didn't lock it......."
It was still evening, but the inside of the room was pitch-black, like the middle of the night.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Choi Ah-young pressed the light switch next to the door, but no matter how many times she flipped it back and forth, the room refused to brighten.
"Looks like the lights are broken too. It must be incredibly inconvenient with them off. Could she not have left this room at all?"
Unlike the two who went straight in, Hye-yong decided to hang back and wait.
"It feels a bit wrong to just barge into a girl's room, so I'll stand right by the door and come in if something happens."
"Okay."
Seo Ha-yoon nodded once and went deeper inside.
Choi Ah-young slowly followed behind her.
"Hee-yeon."
"H-hiik!"
Na Hee-yeon was startled out of her wits even though Seo Ha-yoon had only spoken quietly.
He could catch glimpses of her in the dark because a little light was seeping in through the slightly open door.
Her hair was a complete, tangled mess, and her face was streaked with layers of dried tear tracks.
She was stripped down to nothing but her underwear, which barely covered her vital parts, her bare skin blatantly exposed.
In short, she was a complete wreck.
"I got worried and came back...... You can't just not eat and stay like this. I bought some porridge. Try to eat a little."
"H-Ha-yoon. I'm sorry...... Please leave."
"Don't be like that, Hee-yeon. I'm worried about you."
"Leave......!"
"Hee-yeon......."
Na Hee-yeon curled up tightly and tore at her own hair.
"Leave! Leave! Leave! Leave! Get out of my room! Leave! I said get out of my room!"
Seo Ha-yoon flinched and backed away from her shrill voice and sharp attitude.
"Ha-yoon. I think we should go."
Realizing it was no use, Ah-yeong grabbed Ha-yoon's arm and led her away.
"O-okay, okay...... Hee-yeon. I'll leave the porridge here. You have to eat it, okay?"
"Haah, hic, I'm sorry, Ha-yoon. But please leave. Get out. I want to be alone......."
Splurt!
"Hngh......!"
Just as Ha-yoon and Ah-yeong were turning to leave, Hye-yong witnessed it.
A gash of blood suddenly burst open on Na Hee-yeon's arm, out of nowhere.
It looked like she'd been cut by something like a razor blade.
But that made no sense.
'Impossible. There was nothing around her.'
Hye-yong was certain.
That blood, that wound, was exactly......
'Something that shouldn't be there.'
It looked certain that Na Hee-yeon was infected with that Virus particulate matter.
Hye-yong cast the Inner World Intrusion buff on her.
Just then, Ha-yoon and Ah-yeong came out of Hee-yeon's room and closed the door.
"I heard some shouting. What happened?"
"That Hee-yeon, I don't know what it is, but it looks like she's suffering really badly inside."
"What do we do, I'm so worried about Hee-yeon......."
Choi Ah-young comforted the tearful Seo Ha-yoon.
"Don't worry too much about it, let's come back tomorrow. She might feel a bit better after some time passes."
"Okay......."
Their gathering, despite them making time for it, ended anticlimactically as the three split up again.
Hye-yong returned to his dorm room and let out a sigh.
[ Choi Hye-yong : I'm pretty sure that girl is infected. She suddenly got a wound and started bleeding, even though there was nothing there. ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : If you've confirmed that, then the only thing left is to enter her inner world. ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : I already cast the Inner World Intrusion buff on her just now. I just need to cast it on myself and that's it. ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : The Virus can only harm a Creator like you, who came from another world, within the inner world. ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : Even if you die in the inner world, you don't actually die, and it doesn't deal a massive blow to your psyche, so please be at ease and actively take out the Virus! ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : Take it out...... Is that something I can even do? ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : Don't forget that I am suppressing the Virus's main body. What you're dealing with, Creator, is nothing but residue. ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : And you don't have to succeed in one go. It's fine to take your time and clear it out slowly. ]
So it was suppressing the main body.
'For the first time, this guy's words are actually reassuring.'
Hye-yong steadied his heart and lay down on his bed.
"Haaah, hoooh."
He took a few deep breaths and cast the Inner World Intrusion buff on himself.
The moment he received the buff, he just knew.
He knew exactly how to enter Na Hee-yeon's inner world.
Hye-yong's consciousness was sucked somewhere.
"This place is......."
A room blanketed in darkness.
As he stood there, his eyes, now adjusted to the dark, began to reveal the room's layout.
Having roughly confirmed the structure earlier through the light coming in the crack of the door, Hye-yong could tell that this room's layout was remarkably similar to Na Hee-yeon's room he had seen before.
'So I've successfully entered Na Hee-yeon's inner world, then.'
He walked slowly and tried turning on the light, but it still wouldn't come on.
He even tried opening the door to let some light in, but it wouldn't budge.
'Right now, Na Hee-yeon's inner world is limited to just this room.'
It couldn't be helped.
In times like this, he had to use his wits.
'A way to see well in a dark room.'
Hye-yong opened the Buff Custom window.
[ Night Vision ]
Level 3 Night Vision
'Done. This should work.'
The room brightened until it was no longer too uncomfortable to look around.
He saw Na Hee-yeon curled up on the bed, crying.
"Hic, huuuh, stop itttt......."
What did she mean, stop it?
Hye-yong kept as quiet as possible and observed Na Hee-yeon's state.
Splurt!
"Ahhk......."
Another gash of blood spurted near her shoulder.
Something in this darkness was attacking Na Hee-yeon.
Where was it? Where was the attack coming from?
'According to Bwitgwitgak, now that I'm in the inner world, the Virus should be visible.'
The fact that he couldn't see it even with Night Vision active meant there was a high probability the enemy was invisible.
'I wish I could at least figure out how it's attacking.'
The moment he thought that.
A disgustingly grating voice rang out from around him, as if scraping against his insides.
― Why are you alive?
― You're completely useless.
― Nobody wants to get tangled up with someone like you.
― Just rot away in this corner of your room and get left behind.
Splurt! Splurt!
The moment the voice ended, Na Hee-yeon was wounded.
'I-I can see it.'
He could finally see why Na Hee-yeon kept getting hurt.
Letters!
[ You're completely useless ]
[ Nobody wants to get tangled up with someone like you ]
[ Just rot away in this corner of your room and get left behind ]
The voice he had just heard had transformed into visible letters that flew through the air and embedded themselves into Na Hee-yeon's body.
'The letters have warped into something sharp and are stabbing her.'
Even the blood flowing from Na Hee-yeon's body had shifted form before he knew it, turning into red letters dripping down.
"Uuuh, uuuuuhhk."
[ So mean, so mean, so meaaaan....... ]
[ Why, why are you saying that....... ]
'This is incredibly bizarre......?'
There were limits even to surrealism.
Faced with a situation so eerie it made his spine crawl, Hye-yong unconsciously took a step backward.
― No matter how much I think about it, I don't get it. Why are you alive?
― What can you even do here?
― How do you think other people see you? They definitely don't think anything more than "absolute loser," right?
― You've got bottom-tier talent, so why are you still desperately clinging on here?
Splurt, splurt, splurt, splurt!
New letters pierced through Na Hee-yeon's body.
Again, blood made of letters dripped down.
[ I know! I know that already! ]
[ I'm going to drop out. I'm going to quit. So why do you keep doing this! ]
[ You don't have to say that stuff....... ]
― Drop out? That won't cut it.
― Think you can do well out there? You? Absolutely not.
― It'll be the same thing in the end, so just die.
― Die! Die! Die!
Splurt, splurt, splurt, splurt!
Drip, drip, drip.......
[ Stop it, please, I'm begging you....... ]
[ Don't say things like that. ]
[ Please, please. It hurts, it hurts so much. ]
― Hey, didn't your mom get hit by a car and die in your place when you were little?
― After surviving like that, don't you feel any guilt living a worthless life?
― Die! Just die! It's better for you to die!
― Something like you should never have been born in the first place! Die now and fix it!
― Die, die, die, die, die!
Splurtsplurtsplurtsplurtsplurtsplurtsplurtsplurt!
Pierced by countless letters, Na Hee-yeon buried her face in her knees and wailed at the top of her lungs.
"Whaaaaaah...... uuhuhuhuh! Hic, waaaaaaaaah......."
[ Mom. ]
[ Mom, I'm sorry. ]
[ Mom, mom, mooooom....... ]
After reading the red letters flowing like blood, Hye-yong clenched his fists.
Hye-yong was someone who could see all kinds of vile curses without batting an eye and was no stranger to throwing around "your mom" jokes in games, but this was hard to just stand by and watch.
'Ugh, the more I hear, the worse it gets, this fucker. He's running his mouth off something awful, seriously.'
An opponent whose form was invisible.
Na Hee-yeon couldn't defend against attacks made of words.
How was he supposed to take that bastard out in this situation?