34. My Buff is a Drug
34. My Buff is a Drug
She wanted to stay together.
It was already time for bed—did she mean she'd just hang around for an hour or two?
That's not what Hye-yong heard, though.
From the look on her face, the implication was that no matter how late it got, she intended to stay in this room.
'Hmm... if that's what she wants.'
It made things a little uncomfortable, but there was no reason to put up a fight and refuse.
She'd probably just barrel ahead anyway.
'Spending the night with a cute girl does get your heart pounding, I guess.'
An older girl, younger in actual age, clinging only to him, begging to spend the whole night together—
when he thought about it, it was a pretty damn exciting situation.
"It's a humble room, but you're welcome to come in."
"Y-Yeah!"
When he told her to come inside, she looked overjoyed.
The fact that a girl he'd met for the first time today was this desperate just to be near him even stirred a small sense of gratitude in Hye-yong.
'If the situation weren't so serious, I could really let myself enjoy this, though.'
Then again, if the situation weren't like this, a girl like Geum Na-rin would never be so frantic just to be at his side.
"There really isn't much here."
"How much stuff can you expect in a guy's room? He lives alone."
"Yeah? This is my first time in a guy's room. I guess it's emptier than I thought."
Her first time in a guy's room.
If you're an only child or only have sisters, that could happen.
"But, Senior, didn't you already get plenty of sleep?"
"Hm? What about it?"
"I'm going to sleep now... what are you going to do all by yourself in a room with nothing in it?"
"Just... be here, I guess."
"You're going to be pretty bored, Senior."
"It's way better than trembling in fear."
The conversation cut off there.
They had only just met today.
Sitting together in the quiet room, there wasn't really anything to talk about.
"I should sleep now. I've got a regular raid tomorrow."
"A raid... when are you going and when does it end?"
Seeing her ask about that too, she clearly intended to cling to him all day.
Since it didn't really matter to him, he answered readily.
"It starts at ten and will be over before lunch."
"Let's have lunch together! I'll treat you to something good!"
To hear a girl who, by original age, was much younger offering to buy him a meal if he'd just eat with her—
he'd been trying to hold back, because openly enjoying this felt a bit sociopathic, but this he couldn't help being happy about.
'Well, what can I do? I'm not the one controlling the Virus. I'm here bleeding my ass off trying to help her however I can. It's gotta be fine to be happy about this much.'
Hye-yong smiled as naturally as he could so his inner thoughts wouldn't show.
"Is it okay if I go for something expensive?"
"Anything works! Anything!"
"I'll look forward to it."
With that answer, he took out a spare blanket and spread it on the floor next to the bed.
'Now I just need to change clothes and go to sleep...'
The dorm room was basically a studio.
Was there even anywhere to change? Then he remembered the laundry room.
He went to the laundry room, changed into his sleepwear, and came back.
"But, Senior, aren't you going to change clothes?"
"Me? I...."
Hearing that, Geum Na-rin immediately started taking off her clothes.
When she took off the Facility uniform, she had pajamas on right underneath.
"I wore them underneath."
Geum Na-rin had apparently come here already full of plans to sleep over.
'She's impressively prepared.'
Thinking that, Hye-yong turned off the light and lay down on the blanket on the floor.
Seeing that, Geum Na-rin spoke, sounding surprised.
"Huh? You're sleeping there?"
"You want me to make you, the senior, sleep on the floor?"
"But... this is your room."
"Even so, you're a senior who spent a year here at this Facility before me—I ought to at least give you this much consideration."
"That...."
Geum Na-rin looked like she had more to say.
Why was she hesitating like that? What did she want to say?
"Just... sleep here with me. It's big enough for two people to lie down."
Hearing that, Hye-yong thought for a moment.
'Wait, is she seducing me right now?'
But he immediately dismissed the thought.
'No way. Even if I'm a lifeline, we just met today. She's probably just scared to be without me right beside her.'
'I'm scared... I want you right next to me....'
Right—that was the answer.
'If that's what she wants.'
If the person sharing a bed with him had been one of his fellow party members from his year, he'd have been tense out of his mind and a total mess, but for some reason, with Geum Na-rin, he didn't feel that way.
Maybe it was because she was still a bit undergrown, or maybe because the killing intent he'd sensed in her gaze when they first met had been so intense. He wasn't sure.
"If you're okay with it, Senior, I don't mind."
"Th-Then let's sleep together."
Still, sharing the same blanket seemed absurd, so he brought over the separate blanket he'd prepared and covered himself.
As he was trying to drift off, Geum Na-rin lay down beside him and pulled her blanket over herself as well.
He felt Geum Na-rin's left arm slip out from under the two layers of blanket.
'Yeah, with two people here, you do end up touching a little.'
It was a little distracting, but not enough to keep him from sleeping.
Hye-yong tried to fall asleep like that.
"Um...."
Just as he had closed his eyes and was trying to clear his mind, Geum Na-rin spoke to him.
"What is it?"
"Do you think... it's okay to hold hands while we sleep?"
"......."
What is she, a little kid?
'Well, that much isn't hard to do.'
Considering the story of everything terrifying and sad she'd endured, he decided to indulge this one cute request.
He slipped his right arm outside the blanket and said,
"Do whatever you like, Senior."
As soon as he said it, Geum Na-rin's fingers slid between Hye-yong's fingers.
He hadn't expected her to go that far and interlace them tightly.
'Whoa... isn't she being way too forward?'
The feeling of her warm, soft hand.
If he put it in slightly crass words, it was plush and silky.
He was supposed to be sleeping, but his heart started beating a little faster.
"Like this, I can sleep without worrying...."
Geum Na-rin may have felt reassured, but on the contrary, Hye-yong could no longer feel at ease.
'Let's just cast Comfortable Feeling and go to sleep....'
Hye-yong had to put in the effort, like a sudden insomniac tonight, just to fall asleep.
'.......'
After Hye-yong fell asleep, Na-rin, who'd been awake alone for over two hours, let go of his hand and smoothly sat up.
She could see Hye-yong's face, sleeping without a care in the world.
'He didn't disappear. He's here. He'll keep being here. Thank goodness.'
Aberrations.
The secret society.
If she hadn't gone through something so horrible, she never would have believed those words.
But Na-rin had gone through things so horrible they made her shudder, so she had no choice but to take Hye-yong's words at face value.
However, just because she believed them didn't mean her doubts vanished completely.
Was the existence known as first-year high division student Choi Hye-yong actually real?
Wasn't it just an illusion she'd created to escape reality because she was suffering so much?
When she came to her senses, would that man be carving out her heart again?
Those kinds of thoughts came to her over a hundred times an hour and tormented Na-rin.
But if he kept staying by her side like this, she could feel safe.
She could stop doubting that first-year high division student Choi Hye-yong was a person who actually existed.
For over an hour, Na-rin just quietly stared at Hye-yong's face, then got up from the bed.
'There's no guarantee he'll stay with me all day. I have to find something. I have to find anything.'
What Na-rin was searching for was an object that might carry traces of Hye-yong and his special ability.
If she had something like that, maybe the aberration's influence would lessen even a little.
Something he treasured would be best, so she quietly searched through Hye-yong's room.
'There really... isn't much....'
Hye-yong's room really held nothing but the bare essentials for daily life.
Spoons, bowls, toothpaste, a toothbrush, some clothes....
If there'd been something like a treasured doll, that would've been perfect, but there was no doll and nothing even similar.
'Still, he'd notice right away if his toothbrush disappeared. Clothes... clothes are too big... he'd catch on instantly.'
In the end, there was nothing she could take.
'There's one thing... but.'
There was one thing she'd had in mind from the start.
That thing that was probably the most thoroughly saturated with Hye-yong's essence.
But she felt that stealing it would deal a massive blow to her dignity as a human being, so she'd wanted to consider it only as the very last resort.
And now it looked like that very last resort had arrived.
In the end, Na-rin turned and headed for the laundry room.
The laundry basket next to the washing machine.
She rummaged through it and pulled out a gray scrap of fabric.
'Should I take this...?'
Unfolding it, Na-rin fell into deep thought.
'This is... what he wore yesterday, isn't it...?'
That gray scrap of fabric was Hye-yong's underwear.
'It was in direct contact with his skin all day. It'll definitely be helpful....'
A thief of men's underwear (unwashed).
The moment she got caught, it would be the end of her as a woman—that thought crossed her mind.
But for Na-rin, who had already suffered so many horrifying things, ending herself as a woman mattered less than securing even the smallest chance to block the aberration.
Thinking that no one would notice a single pair, she quietly slipped out with it tucked in her arms.
She stuffed Hye-yong's underwear into the inside pocket of her own uniform hanging on a hanger, then pressed the button firmly to seal it.
'You never know... this just might protect me.'
She felt more joy at having obtained an item carrying Hye-yong's traces than shame at having stolen a man's underwear.
Na-rin lay back down, gripped Hye-yong's hand tightly, and tried to sleep.
Morning.
He ate the school meal together with Na-rin, listened to her say over and over that he absolutely had to come back, then assembled in the Otherworld waiting room.
After clearing an E+ rank raid once and exchanging a round of "good work" with everyone, Hye-yong headed straight for his room.
Creeeak!
"Welcome back!"
Before he could even open the door, Na-rin flung it open.
She must have had her ear pressed against it, on high alert, listening for footsteps.
'At this point, it's kind of frightening....'
He came in quietly and gave Na-rin a warning.
"Senior, there's something I think you're forgetting—this is the boys' dorm."
"So?"
"What do you think happens to me if a rumor spreads that I bring a middle division girl into my room and let her sleep here every day?"
"Does it... cause trouble? We're all adults, so what's the big deal...."
"Yes, it causes trouble. Inside the room doesn't really matter, but you can't open the door and speak loudly."
"Okay. Got it."
Of course, there's no rule that says you can't bring a girl into the boys' dorm.
But still, there's the way other people look at you, isn't there?
Surrounded by male peers.
"It still seems like we've got a bit of time before mealtime... shall we just look around while we walk?"
"Let's do that."
So they stepped out of the Facility for a while and walked, and when Na-rin suggested they go eat steak, he ended up slicing into beef from lunchtime onward.
The per-person price for one meal was a whopping 175 points.
Anyway, she was a second-year and seemed well-established, so he ate without feeling any burden.
Now that they'd filled their stomachs, it was time to have a proper conversation about the Virus.
Back in the room, he sat facing Na-rin on the bed.
"Now we really need to think about how to eliminate the aberration."
"Th-That... you're not telling me I have to dream that dream already, right?"
"Right now, I just want to organize our thoughts."
Na-rin let out a small sigh of relief.
"Is there... a way?"
"First, you have to tell me in detail about the characteristics of that aberration."
"Like what, for example?"
"How it acts, what habits it has, what it says—things like that. I'm sorry for making you recall unpleasant memories, but it can't be helped."
"No. It's necessary. Just recalling it... I can handle that much."
Na-rin gave him a detailed account of what she'd been through.
There was nothing but horrors that made his face involuntarily grimace.
Sensing that she was having a hard time even while speaking, he cast a Comfortable Feeling buff on her as he continued to listen.
"That's... the end of it... guh...!"
Her face had gone pale at some point, and now she was dry-heaving in distress.
"You did well. Lie down and rest a little."
"Yeah...."
Hye-yong decided to sort out the story he'd heard from Na-rin by himself.
Thinking it would be easier if he wrote it down, he sat at his desk.
Scritch, scratch.
He jotted down the thoughts that came to mind into a hand-sized notebook.
〔 Let's refer to it as the Masked Man 〕
〔 The bastard's verbal tic is referring to himself as an artist 〕
〔 He seems especially fond of saying "a true artist" 〕
〔 Whenever he injects her, he always brings up the word "transcendence" 〕
〔 He seems particularly sensitive about the ratio of drugs, repeatedly drawing the drug into the syringe and pushing it back out 〕
〔 The purpose of dissecting Na-rin alive is to see everything about her 〕
〔 What exactly does he intend to do by seeing that? 〕
〔 Occasionally, rather than dissection and observation, he also seems to torture her purely to inflict pain 〕
〔 True to his verbal tic about being an artist, the man calls Na-rin his "work" 〕
〔 Every time a dissection and observation ends, the man brings his face so close that their eyelashes almost touch and stares intently into Na-rin's eyes 〕
〔 Sometimes he says, "This isn't it," and looks disappointed; other times he says, "The work is nearing completion," and looks satisfied 〕
〔 In the man's eyes, visible between the mask, she says not a single shred of emotion can be felt 〕
'Artist... art... huh.'
The bastard's goal could be seen as "completing" his "work"—Geum Na-rin—as part of his rebirth into the "true artist" he pursues.
Just what kind of work was he trying to create?
What state would count as completion?
Was observing Na-rin's eyes actually meaningful?
'Something worth trying would be to ruin his purpose.'
Think back to when Na Hee-yeon was infected.
The purpose of that insect Virus was "to make the person who heard the venom firmly believe they were a worthless, insignificant existence with no use whatsoever."
In a sense, you could say it was eradicated because, contrary to its purpose, Hye-yong and Hee-yeon had come to believe they were valuable people.
'If we ruin the purpose, the power to manipulate the inner worlds of the characters might weaken, and a weakness might reveal itself.'
This was worth trying.
〔 Ruin the Virus's purpose 〕
After writing that in the notebook, he underlined it and drew two stars.
'The problem is how to ruin the bastard's purpose.'
Even assuming that this Virus's purpose is definitely to complete Na-rin as a work, he still couldn't figure it out.
Perhaps the most critical role in eliminating the Virus wasn't Hye-yong's, but Na-rin's.
'From here on, this seems like a problem I'll have to face directly and experience for myself. There's no choice but to wait until Geum Na-rin is ready to fight back.'
He had already told Geum Na-rin that he couldn't keep suppressing the aberration forever.
It wasn't just her—Hye-yong himself also needed to steel his heart.