Interrogation
Interrogation
Whoa, shit. That startled me.
Someone had clubbed me over the head, so something had definitely happened.
Fortunately, they hadn't hit all that hard, thank goodness. It nearly would've hurt quite a bit.
Hm? Didn't people normally say they nearly got their skull caved in, in that situation?
Sorry, but my head's pretty damn hard. Meant I wasn't going down easy to some ordinary hammer.
It'd take a fair bit of force to one-shot me.
Honestly, even when I first took that hit to the head, my mind was perfectly clear.
I just played dead for a moment to lull the other party into letting their guard down.
Not to brag, but I'd had this kind of experience once or twice before.
A forest being dangerous didn't mean people stayed away, and the ones who did come were highly likely to be types who could handle themselves.
And among those bastards were some who were after the bounty on my head, or after my body itself.
Damn it, back then I was a minor, not even twenty yet. Fucking filthy child sex offenders.
... Anyway, at the time, taking down bastards like that took more than just skill.
You had to use whatever you could.
In that sense, 'playing dead' like this boasted impressive efficiency.
Because not moving naturally drew out the other party's carelessness.
Some of them even let the tether of reason slip a little and fixated entirely on me.
"Hahh... hahh..."
Just like this one. These cases were a bit easier to handle.
Winter was a nice advantage too. All I had to do was pull the dagger I'd hidden up my sleeve and swing it.
Shuk!
"Kyaaaak!"
Just like then.
With slight resistance, the other party's wrist was severed.
The other party was a thief wearing thin leather armor. Her face... looked uglier than average, I'd say.
It wasn't a particularly important fact, so I immediately pinned her down and started the interrogation.
What mattered at that moment was what this bitch came here for and how she got here.
"Now, do tell. What's your purpose in coming here?"
"Nnghh... nghhh..."
"Answer."
Stab!
"Nghhhhh...!"
Unfortunate for her, but I was not exactly a gentle interrogator.
Since ancient times, pain and fear had been the finest confessional aids. By poking a little hole in her thigh, I let her know that not answering meant she'd get a taste of hell.
I hadn't really interrogated anyone before, so I wasn't sure, but usually they'd talk by now.
'Huh?'
But her reaction was a bit strange. Instead of talking, she was flailing at empty air with her remaining hand.
It looked less like she was just in pain, and more like the flailing had some purpose to it.
Once I noticed that, I had a hunch and immediately activated 'Player's Eye.'
Then, a window began to appear before my eyes.
[Would you like to adjust Assimilation Rate?]
[15%<----------------◆>90%]
It was the Assimilation Rate adjustment window. In any case, seeing the skill activate meant the other party was a Player too. Once I'd seen that, I immediately skewered her remaining hand with my blade.
"Ah-ah, bad hand."
"Kyaaaak!!"
It was my first time seeing that Assimilation Rate window, but I'd heard what Assimilation Rate was from Yoo Chae-rin.
She'd definitely said it was the degree of sensation you could feel in the game.
The other party had jacked her Assimilation Rate up to the maximum, fully prepared to feel pleasure.
Which was why she was feeling pain like this. A disaster she brought on herself.
Anyway, I'd confirmed the other party was a Player—an Otherworlder.
"Nghh, ngh. You're so handsome I was going to... have a go at you. I'm sorry."
Maybe because I'd stabbed her three times. At last, the other party seemed in the mood to talk.
The other party spoke with a tearful expression.
I asked her.
"How did you get here? Shouldn't be a place you can reach easily."
"W-well, that's..."
The other party seemed to show hesitation, so I took out my dagger and waved it in front of her.
She then opened up smoothly, in a panic. As expected, a blade was the ultimate conversational tool.
"A stream! I saw it on a stream! They showed the location there, so I searched it out!"
Hearing that, I let out a brief sigh.
"Hahh..."
Yeah, a stream. I had a feeling being exposed was going to blow up into a problem one of these days. And it had already blown up.
"Given you mention a stream, I take it you're an Otherworlder."
I already knew she was an Otherworlder, but I said it while playing dumb.
No need to give away the 'Player's Eye' information.
After that, I asked her a few more things. Whether the route to this place had been shown in detail, whether others were likely to come here besides her.
The silver lining was that they hadn't come knowing about the bounty on my head.
Fitting for an internationally-wanted criminal, I was someone who even had a wanted sketch—a Composite Sketch—of my own face.
Luckily, it was drawn twelve years ago, so it looked very different from me then... still, there were some points of resemblance.
But since her goal was simply 'to tap that,' it seemed she didn't know that bit of information yet.
Other than that, she said finding this forest was something she'd done alone through a lot of diligent research.
Apparently, it was hard to figure out the whole path from a first-person-perspective stream.
[Would you like to adjust Assimilation Rate?]
[15%<◆---------------->90%]
"Nghhh! Hoo... hoo..."
Oh, and something I'd just discovered was that Assimilation Rate could apparently also be adjusted with your eyes.
Made sense—if you were being tortured with no use of your limbs, that'd be a serious problem.
Thanks to that, her face, which had been twisted in agony the whole time, grew much more at ease.
It did piss me off a bit, but well. She gave me plenty of info, so I might as well let it slide for the moment.
"One last question."
Having kept the interrogation going like that, I asked the thing I was most curious about.
"Among Otherworlders, roughly how strong are you?"
It was an important question. Depending on her answer, my future response would change.
If Players were overwhelmingly strong, I would have no choice but to relocate.
I wouldn't be completely unable to handle them, but there'd be no need to go out of my way to meet and fight them. I'd also have to account for them swarming me in groups.
But what if the majority were around this level?
No need to move my residence. At this level, I could handle them just fine with a bit more vigilance. Of course, I'd have to be careful when Berserk triggered, or if there were clergy among them.
That level of risk was worth bearing for the time being.
"M-me, you mean? I am still considered pretty strong among Otherworlders..."
The answer I got from her was somewhat hopeful.
Still, it could be a lie, so I waved the dagger near her eyeball.
"Really?"
"I-I'm serious! My level's around 79, which is really high among Otherworlders!"
I didn't know exactly how high level 79 was, but her words seemed sincere for the moment.
Then again, how could she lie with a blade—that conversational tool—right in front of her eyes? Pain didn't just vanish because you lowered your Assimilation Rate.
"Hmm, is that so?"
Hearing that, I smiled slightly. This was considered high?
The Otherworlders' abilities were still pathetic, it seemed.
That was a relief, at least.
This was plenty manageable. No need to abandon my precious little nest just yet.
Even if they swarmed me, it'd be fine. This forest has natural defenses aside from me—namely, the monsters.
"Good, then I'll send you off now."
And so, toward the now-spent woman, I extended my dagger. Seeing that, she uttered a question laced with terror.
"Uh... you said you'd send me off?"
"You're an Otherworlder, so you'll just respawn anyway, right?"
As if I'd just let someone who tried to rape me walk away alive. Shame I couldn't keep her from eternal rest.
And with that, I drove my blade toward her heart.
[Fatal Strike!]
[Your HP has reached 0!]
"Keuheok... ah, no! My gear...!"
With those final words, she turned into a cluster of light and ascended to the sky. Even the blood scattered on the ground, even the severed hand. All of it scattered and vanished as if they'd been mere illusions.
What remained were the greaves she'd been wearing and a single high-quality dagger.
Looking at those, I gave a scoff.
"Hmph, pretty damn cheap."
That they could respawn like that while I only had one life.
The way they treated my life as light and fake, and the irresponsible attitude that came from it.
For me, life was war itself—for them, it was a pastime.
The feeling didn't sit well with me.
*
Even if you went through unpleasant things, time still flowed.
Waking each morning, the frost that had settled on the leaves gradually melted away.
The bitter winter that had pierced to the bone gave way to milder weather, warming up. The only thing that stayed the same were the lush trees whose leaves never fell even in winter.
The season where even the frozen dirt thawed and the life hidden within it began to bloom, little by little.
Already five weeks since Yor appeared on YouTube.
Winter passed, and spring arrived.
"...Okay."
Yoo Chae-rin took a light, deep breath before entering the 'Forbidden Forest.'
It was when she was carrying out the quest to get closer to Yor, which her editor had requested.
Of course, the man named Yor had told her to get lost and not come back. But she figured she'd at least try saying something.
'S-still, he'd seemed like a good person at heart...'
Even if he looked a little scary and was prickly.
After all, hadn't he given her food and a place to sleep?
Chae-rin ran her hopeful circuits just a bit before entering. Otherwise, the nerves would've made her truly unable to go.
"...Shall we?"
Having steeled her heart, Yoo Chae-rin moved her steps deeper into the forest.
It was just a few hours before she'd be on the receiving end of Yor's bottled-up irritation, packed down tight over several weeks.