What Can I Do?
What Can I Do?
Im Ha-neul.
Twenty-four years old.
Yoo Chae-rin's editor, she was someone who'd grown up in quite a conservative household.
Her mother had been fairly strict, an old-fashioned figure who believed in distinct roles for each sex.
And in this reversed world, even those beliefs worked in reverse.
From a young age, she'd been taught that 'women' were supposed to be strong and resolute, and that 'men' were supposed to know how to look after their own bodies.
In her family, which had puritanical leanings, promiscuity was naturally something to be kept at a distance.
"No sitting together after age seven" was a given.
Of course, children who grew up in such strict households often turned rebellious against those very things. She hadn't been all that fond of her family's conservative views either.
That was why, the moment she turned twenty, she'd found a studio apartment and declared her independence.
But just because she'd left home like that, it didn't mean twenty years of upbringing simply vanished.
Her family's conservative ideas still lingered in her heart.
A 'man' brazenly exposing his body was promiscuous!
It was completely in line with the saying that people should shun pleasure and that debauchery was vulgar!
Of course, she did have a little—no, quite a bit of a sex drive herself, but having grown up learning those things, she couldn't help it.
She was basically what the internet called a sanctimonious prude.
Serious, taciturn, and strict. That was why she didn't just manage the chat window with an iron fist for nothing.
Maybe that was why she hadn't had a single relationship until she was nearly twenty-six in Korean age.
So she wanted to fix that about herself, but... it was always hard to easily change a personality formed in childhood.
At any rate, for all those reasons, she had zero immunity to 'men'.
As was often the case with internet sanctimonious prudes, she tended to freeze up the moment a 'man' was in front of her.
And then, a certain man appeared right in front of her eyes.
"Wha-wha-what...?"
And what's more, he was half-naked. She saw a man frozen in place, his top stripped off.
Razor-cut six-pack abs that seemed like something you'd only see in photos, broad back and shoulders, long limbs. And there was even some tattoo on his right collarbone, adding to the man's air of debauchery.
A tattoo in this medieval era, of all things!
Just how promiscuous a life had this person led?
To this Confucian girl, the sight before her was far too stimulating.
Naturally, Yor wasn't in a position to care about any of that.
He was still bare-chested, but the thought of covering up didn't so much as cross his mind.
Because right now, his mark had been seen by someone.
'That fucking...'
Having thought that far, Yor immediately resolved to subdue Im Ha-neul.
He didn't entertain a single naive thought like 'she didn't see it, right?' She'd already been frozen in a brain-stopped state for at least two seconds.
And the human field of vision was more than enough time to clearly see a mark on the collarbone over two seconds.
So first, he'd subdue her before she could do anything.
Having made his decision, Yor immediately grabbed the nape of her neck and threw the woman back down as she tried to rise.
"Ack!"
Im Ha-neul, who'd been lifting her upper body, had no choice but to lie flat on the ground again.
It didn't end there.
In case she tried to get up again, he mounted her completely.
Still bare-chested, no less. Thanks to that, it looked like a rather lewd scene on the surface, but Yor didn't care one bit.
Because if this went wrong, he could be seriously fucked.
"Ah, uh. No, wait, just a moment...!"
Of course, Im Ha-neul, who didn't know the situation, was simply turning red in the face.
Yor looked at the woman and thought.
'Damn it, what do I do?'
If it came down to it, he might have to kill her to silence her.
Because having his mark discovered was that serious a problem for him.
But since she could be an Otherworlder, Yor decided to activate Player's Eye first.
[The opposing NPC is hostile toward you!]
And sure enough. Right on cue, her Status Window popped up.
So the woman was indeed an Otherworlder. In other words, he couldn't carry out the silencing he'd been planning either.
Realizing that, Yor let out a long sigh.
"Haaah..."
Should he have sunbathed with more caution?
No, honestly, he thought he'd done everything he could.
He'd held it in for a long time, and he'd checked the surroundings thoroughly before stripping down.
But who could've predicted that she'd fall from the sky?
And at the exact moment he'd had his shirt off, no less.
Yeah, this was, you could say, unfair targeting.
He'd been subjected to absurdly unfair targeting, as if someone up in the heavens was just dying to torment him!
He truly felt wronged, but the situation had already happened.
So Yor decided to start by thinking of a way out.
'What should I do?'
Killing her to silence her was already off the table. Even if I killed her, she'd just resurrect in three days anyway.
If anything, he was in a situation where he had to hold her here.
At the very least, he needed to shut her mouth, to keep her from going somewhere and spreading the word.
So how would he shut her mouth?
...Well, unfortunately, he still couldn't picture that far ahead in his head.
"Um... I really am sorry about seeing your body. But could you maybe move aside a little...?"
It was while Yor was continuing his thoughts like that.
Suddenly, the woman's voice came from below.
By then, her face had gone red as a beet.
Maybe because she'd been in this position too long, she couldn't stand the embarrassment any longer.
If he exaggerated a little, if this went on much longer, her brain would overheat and she'd get a nosebleed.
Yor, who'd honestly forgotten about her for a bit, thought for a moment, then moved off of her.
Since she was an Otherworlder, she could escape through 'log out' anyway, so it no longer mattered.
And if she tried to physically run away, well, he could catch her anyway.
As Yor moved aside from on top of her, he couldn't help but be surprised for a moment.
'...Whoa, damn.'
Because he was just now registering her upper body.
He saw two massive mounds nearly the size of her head. He could say with confidence they were the largest breasts he'd ever seen in person.
Even though she wore a rather baggy robe, he could feel how big they were.
It wasn't unbearably overwhelming, but the breasts occupied a significant portion of his field of view.
Thanks to that, his gaze was stolen for a moment, but Yor, knowing the seriousness of the situation, was able to snap back to his senses quickly.
That was how Yor came to sit cross-legged across from her.
For now, he put his top back on. He needed a proper conversation, and even though she'd already seen it, he couldn't keep staying shirtless in front of her.
Just look at that face, flushed bright red.
Incongruous with her cynical expression, it looked like it would burst at the slightest touch.
Of course, Yor remained stiff throughout all this.
An awkward silence hung over the heavy atmosphere for a moment.
It was Yor who spoke first.
"So... did you see everything?"
"Ah, I'm sorry. No, I mean, it's not like I was looking on purpose..."
Im Ha-neul said, flustered. Yor cut her off and continued his own words.
"No, not my body. This."
He pointed to his right collarbone as he spoke.
Understanding what he meant, Ha-neul averted her gaze and said.
"Uh, I think... it's possible for someone to have a tattoo."
"Hoooh..."
Yor let out a sigh and continued.
"...What you saw today. Especially the tattoo on my collarbone. Don't you ever tell anyone about it."
Let's think about this bluntly.
He had to shut her mouth.
So was there a way to definitively shut her mouth?
"Ever."
...No.
No matter how much he thought, no answer came to his mind.
The woman was an Otherworlder. To them, this place was just a game, and they could always escape back to the world where they lived.
And that world was one where the internet was extremely developed.
It meant the moment she went back and lifted a few fingers, his identity could be exposed in an instant.
Torture was impossible too. Even if he could shut her mouth then, he had no way of knowing how her heart might change once she returned home later.
Imprisonment was probably impossible as well. As mentioned before, she had an escape button called 'log out.'
In the end, all he could do was a bit of threatening and coaxing.
He had no choice but to rely on her goodwill.
And he was someone who didn't trust other people's goodwill. The life he'd lived so far had not been that kind.
So he'd have to prepare for the worst.
He needed to think about the situation of abandoning this cozy cave and leaving.
If it got bad, he might even have to go into the Deep Layer, where his very life could be at risk. The monsters in there would be better than the dozens of hunters coming to kill him.
'...Damn it.'
Thinking that, he suddenly wanted to blame the world.
He was living his life so damn hard, so why wouldn't things just go his way.
Even after that, Yor repeatedly urged her to keep her mouth shut.
The atmosphere had turned hostile. Im Ha-neul nodded repeatedly, saying she understood, but he didn't let her go easily.
The air around them was utterly murderous.
But why was it? Im Ha-neul didn't feel any particular fear.
It wasn't that Im Ha-neul was especially fearless.
She still flinched a little when she passed a convenience store and found a group of high schoolers gathered nearby.
And as it happened, Yor had a very sharp-featured face, too.
But why was it?
For some reason, it seemed like the one cornered right now wasn't Im Ha-neul, but Yor.
The one making the threats seemed more precarious, instead.
His appearance was like... yeah.
It felt like a hedgehog backed into a corner, raising its quills. The feeling of shooting spines in every direction to protect itself.
And so, Im Ha-neul wasn't released until nearly sundown.
As if he didn't even care that she'd seen his bare chest, the only thing he'd forced her to keep quiet about was that tattoo.
'What on earth is that tattoo...?'
Did he hate revealing his past that much?
No, rather than simply not wanting to reveal a past where he'd fooled around a bit, there seemed to be something more to it.
In the first place, it was questionable whether such an intricate tattoo was even possible in this era.
"Hmm..."
That curiosity lingered even after she logged out.
Exiting the capsule, she immediately went onto the internet.
It was absolutely not to spread the information in an online community.
She didn't have that kind of personality in the first place.
But she was simply curious. Just what was it that made the man react so hypersensitively.
After only a brief time wandering the sea of the internet, she was able to find one piece of information.
Information regarding 'Demon's Blood', that is.