36. My Buff is a Drug
36. My Buff is a Drug
"Are you ready?"
"Yeah......!"
The two of them had dressed in their uniforms as if suiting up for battle.
They even stopped by Na-rin's house in between to pick up the Force Knuckle.
It didn't seem like it would be much use, but I made sure to grab the Burst Wolf too.
"So we just fall asleep now, right?"
"Yes."
Na-rin lay down on the bed, closed her eyes, and murmured.
"I'm so nervous, I can't sleep......."
For her sake, I cast a sleep-inducing buff.
After tossing and turning a little, Na-rin fell asleep in less than three minutes.
'Time for me to go too.'
Hye-yong lay down beside her and used the Inner World Intrusion Buff.
Again, that dark space.
When I came to my senses, Na-rin was standing right next to me.
"We came in together? Into the dream world?"
"It seems that way."
"Hic. I always started out tied up. At least this time I can move, what a relief!"
Na-rin was psyching herself up, reassured by the fact that her body was free.
"Fighting might be easier than I thought. I want to punch that nasty face and shatter his mask into a million pieces."
I hoped it would be possible.
Hye-yong muttered internally and gripped his pistol.
The Burst Wolf's magazine held 30 rounds.
Probably because they're Mana Bullets.
[ Pistol Power Increase ]
Pistol Proficiency +8 levels
Pistol Shot Accuracy +8 levels
Pistol Shot Power +4 levels
I figured if I cast this buff and shot everything and it still didn't work, I was out of options, so I only brought about two spare magazines.
"It seems the Virus-infected character has made up her mind!"
As if sensing that Hye-yong and Na-rin had entered the Inner World, Mina walked up from behind.
"Good, you came. Having a meat shield is better than nothing."
"I knew you'd say that."
Mina was grinning ear to ear, just happy to be useful even when told she'd be a meat shield.
Telling her she wasn't normal was completely pointless—though, either way, she was definitely not normal.
"Huh? Who are you talking to?"
But Na-rin asked what I was doing, sounding like she was interrogating me.
It seemed Na-rin couldn't see Mina.
"Of course she can't see me! I am perceived as an entity that doesn't exist to the characters of this world."
Mina then went behind Na-rin and suddenly grabbed both of her breasts.
"She doesn't know this is happening, right?"
As she kneaded them, Na-rin really did just look at Hye-yong with an expression that said, 'Is something wrong?'
'Oh.......'
It was such a rare sight that I couldn't look away.
"This wouldn't be possible outside the Inner World!"
Mina laughed and then moved away from Na-rin.
"Let's go now, senior. We can't stay here forever."
"Y-yeah!"
Hye-yong silently gestured for Mina to take the lead.
"Yes-sir!"
With her in the lead, we pushed through the darkness.
As we navigated through, a single door blocked our group's path.
The moment she saw it, Na-rin's body froze solid.
"That door......."
"Yes. He must be behind that door. We have to go even if we're scared."
Hye-yong immediately approached and opened the door.
Mina went in as soon as it opened, checked her surroundings, and shouted.
"Ah! The Virus is here!"
Sure enough, the man was waiting inside the room.
"Just when I was about to seek you out...... you crawl in on your own."
Clomp.
Clomp.
The Masked Man approached, hauling his huge frame.
Na-rin ignited Mana flames on both fists, and Hye-yong aimed the Burst Wolf.
Mina ran and blocked the approaching man's path.
"You wicked Virus! You won't lay a hand on the Creator until you've taken me dow—."
CRACK!
Before she could finish, the man threw a hook.
Mina's neck twisted around with a sickening crunch!
Collapsed on the ground, Mina trembled, raised her right arm with a thumbs-up, and then became a cold corpse.
'This crazy bastard. He's fucking strong.'
BANG! BANG! BANG!
I aimed at his head and blasted three shots.
The man flinched for a moment, then walked on toughly as if nothing had happened.
Unlike when he cut her with a scalpel, not a single drop of blood was spilled.
Did he buy time and get even stronger?
'I didn't expect I could finish him off with this anyway.'
What about Na-rin?
Curious, Hye-yong glanced to his side.
"Ah... ah... ah-uh......."
"Senior Na-rin?"
Geum Na-rin was frozen, her pupils completely dilated.
Anyone could see something was wrong.
"Resistance is impossible. That piece was on the verge of completion. The mere scent of the drug will paralyze her."
Scent?
Now that he mentioned it, there was a sticky, unpleasant smell in the air.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Hye-yong fired three more shots at the man who was still approaching.
But this time, he couldn't even slow the man's pace.
"Did you think such a toy would work on me?"
The man reached out an arm as he came within close range.
I tried to dodge, but he was too fast to even see.
When I came to my senses, the man's hand was already around my neck, hoisting me into the air.
"Kek, khek. Krugh......!"
I thought my neck would snap like Mina's, but the man didn't kill Hye-yong right away.
WHOOSH!
Instead, he hurled me across the room.
THUD!
"Ughn......."
It wasn't unbearable, but it hurt like hell.
I groaned, trying to avoid being finished off, but the man didn't seem interested in killing Hye-yong just then.
The man went to the petrified Na-rin, ripped off her knuckles and threw them aside, and then strapped her to the operating table.
Then, as if he'd prepared it knowing this would happen, he immediately injected Na-rin with the drug.
"Ah, ah-uh, ah-uh-ah......."
"Transcendence is right before us. You too will live on forever as my masterpiece......."
The Virus said the keyword 'Transcendence'.
It matched the habit Na-rin had mentioned.
"......."
After receiving the injection, Na-rin went limp like a soulless person, her eyes lifeless.
Just as Na-rin had described, the Masked Man brought his face close enough for their eyelashes to touch and peered intensely into her eyes.
"There are impurities in my perfect piece. It's a terribly unpleasant feeling. The ratio of the drug has always been perfect."
The man pulled away from Na-rin and glared at Hye-yong.
"This must be your doing, of course."
"Those...... impurities, what are they?"
Even while groaning in pain, Hye-yong asked to gather information.
"Hope."
He answered surprisingly readily.
"You carelessly breathed hope into my work, which was soon to be left with nothing. Do you have any idea what you've done?"
"I'm too stupid to know unless you explain it simply! What did I do?"
"Hmph. This is what comes of dealing with ignoramuses. The world's greatest artist, right before completing his life's greatest masterpiece, had a drop of paint arbitrarily dropped onto it."
He was actually kind enough to explain it in a really easy-to-understand way.
'Hope, hope.......'
The Virus was talking as if Hye-yong had inconvenienced him by planting hope in Na-rin.
Could I consider this as having ruined his objective?
"But no matter. Sublimating such an unforeseen accident into a unique work is what it means to be a true artist."
GRAB!
The man seized Hye-yong by the throat again and lifted him into the air.
"Krugh, khegh! Ghrk!"
"I will use you, the one who arbitrarily breathed hope into my work, to achieve a perfect finale."
Step. Step.
The man carried Hye-yong somewhere.
"Die facing my works."
And then he tossed me down a hole that led to a passageway below.
"Uwaaaagh—!"
I fell, screaming.
The flash of a light seemed to burst before my eyes, along with a crashing sound, and the violent shock of the fall slammed into me.
'Ugh. This bastard, how high did he throw me from.'
Nothing seemed broken, but my entire body was screaming from the impact.
"Ugh......."
Even if I died, I had to learn as much as possible, so I pulled myself together somehow, stood up, and walked through the darkness.
"Now, look!"
At the Masked Man's barked command, Na-rin's gaze shifted.
The monitor next to the operating table was glowing.
'Choi...... Hye-yong.......'
The monitor showed Choi Hye-yong, stumbling forward with an expression of enduring pain.
Had we failed after all?
Tears that seemed to embody despair began to flow from Na-rin's eyes.
"That must be the hope inside your eyes. Despair and the final hope blooming within despair."
"......."
"The last embers are about to be extinguished."
No.
Though no voice came out, Na-rin screamed desperately.
Anything but that.
Anything but Choi Hye-yong's death.
Seeing such a thing would truly burn everything inside her to ash, leaving nothing behind.
But her body wouldn't move.
Not even her voice came out.
It was as if it was telling her that all she could do was watch and despair.
Hah, hah.
Even while stumbling, Choi Hye-yong pressed forward, breathing heavily.
As if announcing his final moments, the Masked Man spoke.
"There, an arrow will fly at his head."
THUNK!
No sooner had he spoken than an arrow flew and embedded itself right in Hye-yong's temple.
As he fell dead with his eyes open, a pool of blood spread around him.
Tremble, tremble, tremble!
Na-rin's body shook violently, as if having a seizure.
But because of the restraints, even her trembling was constrained.
'Ah...... aah. Aaaah! No...... no...... nooooo.......'
The emotion called hope that Geum Na-rin had been holding onto was now gone.
At the same time, she became something akin to a doll.
A limp doll that just stared into space with open eyes.
The Masked Man pressed his face close again and observed Na-rin's eyes intently.
"Ho, hohoho. Hohahahaha!"
He laughed with cathartic release and murmured with satisfaction.
"Now...... I only have to wait for the paint to dry......."
The man was certain.
This girl would become his masterpiece.
"Huk—!"
Huhk, huhk, huhk.
Hye-yong's ragged breathing echoed through the room.
An arrow had definitely flown at me from close range, and it had gone right through.......
'I died.'
It was a shock, but as Mina had said, there were no aftereffects.
Hye-yong quickly turned to look at Na-rin, who was lying beside him.
She seemed to be sleeping soundly, but she was shedding tears.
It was clear the bastard was doing something terrible to her.
'Hoooh.......'
After taking a deep breath, Hye-yong looked at Na-rin's tears and steeled his resolve.
Even though I had just died in the Inner World, I entered Na-rin's dream again.
'I'm in the same spot as before.'
I examined the area cautiously, but for some reason, neither the corpse nor the bow remained.
"Huh? Seeing you came back in, did you die once?"
Mina must have resurrected too, as she walked over with a vacant face and spoke to Hye-yong.
"Hey, over there, an arrow—."
SHWACK!
THUNK!
Before I could finish my sentence, two arrows flew and embedded themselves in Mina's right forearm.
Knocked back about two steps by the impact, Mina's face crumpled.
"Hiiing! It hurts!"
"You...... it hurts you?"
"I can make it not hurt. But it's not really bad if it hurts either. Yiik, yiiiik!"
Mina groaned with a deeply grimaced face, then pulled the arrows out of her forearm by hand.
The way chunks of flesh came out entangled with them was deeply unpleasant to see.
"It hurts me just watching. Can't you just make it not hurt?"
"Then I'll eliminate the pain. Tada! I don't feel pain anymore!"
She must have been telling the truth, because her whining expression reverted to her usual face.
"Good. That puts my mind at ease. I'll be using you as a meat shield from now on."
"Ah. I'm in your care."
Hye-yong shoved Mina—who'd just said she was in my care—hard in the back with both hands.
SHWAAAACK!
The moment she stumbled three steps forward, arrows flew in from all directions and pierced Mina's chest.
"Urk."
As she collapsed, sharp spears jutted up from the floor, penetrating her entire body.
"Gurk!"
Next, something like a pendulum blade fell from the sky and sliced deeply across her fallen corpse.
This time, she couldn't even give a thumbs-up. Blood spread rapidly from Mina's cruelly murdered body.
'Ugh, goddammit, that's gruesome.'
Still, thanks to Mina's sacrifice, I felt like I understood the structure.
Hye-yong created a Night Vision buff and cast it on himself.
'I can see. I'm starting to make things out.'
Long corridors and stairs came into view.
Floating platforms for some reason.
......And countless traps.
The moment I saw it, it clicked.
'This is just like a game.......'
The kind of side-scrolling game that throws every possible trap at the player just to torment them.
Someone had dragged that into reality.
Hye-yong thought about it.
Why was this in front of him?
— The Virus is trying to slowly consume this world by using the data it has devoured.
The words Mina had said before suddenly popped into his head.
'Data......!'
To use a Japanese expression, the word had hit a blind spot.
Just as Mina had gathered recognition by exploiting the internet, the Virus invading her world might also be consuming data online and making it its own.
And it was weaving that data into constructs—like the one before Hye-yong now—to encroach upon the inner worlds of characters.
'Right. I've got it now. It took the idea from this kind of game.'
I knew this from experience.
In the Inner World, the restrictions on buffs that could be made with Buff Custom also relaxed.
'When dealing with the Malicious Virus, I could cure it by saying nice things, or I could even throw the malice back.'
It felt as though, just as the Virus manipulated data to do as it pleased, Buff Custom's restrictions had also loosened somewhat.
Hye-yong contemplated a buff to get him out of this situation.