32. My Buff is a Drug

"......."

The moment the door opened, my gaze locked onto her.

Eyes that seemed to hold no emotion whatsoever.

Even staring straight back at them, that old killing intent was gone now.

What seeped from those parched, bloodshot pupils was thick despair.......

The eyes of someone who had given up on life entirely.

'Just looking at it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.'

It wasn't just her eyes. She was broken as a human being.

Hollowed cheeks showing how long it'd been since she'd touched food.

Dark circles so deep they looked ready to drip down her face if left alone.

Clear marks on her neck from a suicide attempt.

The word "deathly" genuinely fit her face.

Geum Na-rin silently watched Hye-yong's movements.

Hye-yong carefully pulled a chair over and sat beside her bed.

"Senior, hello. I'm a first-year in the High Division, name's Choi Hye-yong."

Her total lack of reaction seemed to say, "And?"

"I came because I want to help you."

That, at least, she couldn't help reacting to.

"Help...... me?"

"You've been experiencing something strange lately, haven't you? Being attacked by an unknown assailant, or something like that."

Shrrrk!

The sound of blankets being roughly thrown aside.

Geum Na-rin twisted her body and clamped her hands around Hye-yong's forearms.

Then she brought her face close, her whole body trembling violently.

"You, you...... you know about it? This strange dream......!"

Point-blank range.

The emotion held in Na-rin's eyes bored into Hye-yong's brain.

It wasn't some kind of psychic power.

Anyone looking into Na-rin's eyes up close ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠right now would understand.

That she was writhing in absolute terror.

"Yes, I know. I came here to kill the thing that's tormenting you, Senior."

Na-rin's eyes trembled hard once, and then tears began to fall.

"No one listened. It didn't matter who I told, it was always the same. They listened like they had no idea what I was even talking about."

She hung her head low and kept shaking it as she spoke.

"But it's not that they ignored me...... they can't even 「perceive」 the things I say. No matter how much I talk, by the next day they forget I said anything at all."

A voice that sounded scraped out by sheer effort.

"I thought maybe I'd landed in hell......."

Na-rin lifted her head and pleaded, face streaked with tears.

"You'll...... kill him? The man! You'll kill him?"

「A man」

The Virus tormenting Na-rin apparently took human form.

This was the part where I wanted to heroically say, "Of course I would." But Hye-yong was momentarily overwhelmed, infected by the sheer terror radiating from Geum Na-rin, and he briefly lost himself.

Deciding he needed to hear more first, he spoke up.

"First, you need to tell me. What exactly have you been going through?"

Na-rin pulled away from Hye-yong, turned back around, placed her fists on her knees, and began to explain.

"A dream...... when I fall asleep, I'm in a strange room. I'm tied down to something like an operating table, and some man comes up to me, spouts strange nonsense, and injects me with something...... after that injection, my mind goes completely clear...... and no matter how much it hurts, no matter how much I suffer, I can't wake up from the dream."

Na-rin shed tears.

"The man...... says he's going to examine every part of me. My fingernails get pulled out and the insides are dissected, my skin gets peeled off and he inspects the flesh, and I can't do anything. I can't even resist...... I just lie there...... with my mind perfectly clear......."

And then she shuddered.

"Until the man says he's done, I can never wake up from the dream......."

Partway through, I found myself thinking I couldn't take any more of this.

'Ugh...... that's really fucking horrifying.'

This one was a far nastier bastard than the last.

I was starting to wonder if every Virus was just a manifestation of some insane psychopath.

'How the hell am I supposed to help with this?'

First, it seemed like I'd need to enter Geum Na-rin's Inner World.

Things had felt just as hopeless at the start with Na Hee-yeon.

If I went inside and assessed the situation, maybe a way forward would present itself.

I cast an Inner World Intrusion Buff on Geum Na-rin.

'She said the man only appears in her dreams. To see the Inner World, Geum Na-rin needs to fall asleep first.'

I explained the situation to Na-rin.

"When you fall asleep, that bastard appears, right?"

"Y-yes......."

"Then you need to fall asleep. That's the only way I can help you."

Flinch!

At those words, Geum Na-rin jolted and went rigid.

Then she immediately started clawing at her forearms with both hands, trembling like a madwoman.