A Late Night Conversation
A Late Night Conversation
The forest night was profoundly dark.
Which was only natural. This place had none of the conveniences of civilization, so there was very little light to even rely on.
At best, there was only the moonlight descending from the sky, along with fireflies and the gleaming eyes of monsters and wild beasts.
The eyeshine of monsters meant you had to run the instant you saw it, so that was out, and fireflies mainly appeared in summer, so those were out too.
The only thing to rely on was the moonlight, but today, of all days, was the day the moon had just waned into a crescent.
Most of the moonlight was veiled in shadow, meaning the amount reaching the ground was overwhelmingly scarce.
What's more, this place was a fucking strange land where the leaves didn't fall even in the dead of winter.
In short, it was pitch-dark.
There was something about darkness that instinctively stirred fear in people. Since ancient times, humans had been vulnerable at night, so if they wanted to live, they had no choice but to hole up indoors.
The ancestors who feared the night survived, and those who didn't all returned to the soil.
The fear of darkness was etched into our genes.
I was pretty terrified by the forest night at first, too.
Though now, after over a decade, I was completely unfazed by it.
Still, as a senior who had experienced this place first, I could understand her sentiments.
"Sniffle, h-hic...! I can't see a thing, but the sounds are...! The monster howls are...!!"
[Chae-rin, you're a mess right now...]
[The fuck, is a real man supposed to be on her knees right now?]
[But it was so scary though T_T How come the wild animal sounds feel so real? T_T]
[Howling actually exists, for real...]
[Yeah... I guess a scary guy is better than a monster...]
[But going back to someone who told you to fuck off is a bit... feels like she'll get rejected for sure]
"...Fine, come in for now."
So for the time being, I allowed her inside.
[Oh?]
[That actually worked lol]
[Got to sleep with a guy by going down on her knees once omg Chae-rin, you're a real man after all]
[This chick was a goddamn pro at this shit omg]
It wasn't simply out of pity for her.
It was because I had a lot of things I was curious about regarding her, too.
Specifically, about the Otherworlders.
She'd already discovered me anyway. In that case, it was only right to at least learn something about the other party.
"What are you doing? Not coming in?"
"Ah, y-yes! I'm coming in!"
And so, an uncomfortable night of sleeping together began.
*
As she entered the cave, Yoo Chae-rin indulged in a brief fantasy.
Whatever the situation, she was still a 'woman'.
The atmosphere was a bit frightening, sure, but she was going to sleep in the same space as a handsome member of the opposite sex. As long as desire existed, it was impossible not to think about it.
Thoughts themselves were, by nature, uncontrollable things.
She didn't even hope for a special night on a special day.
But something like ending up under the same blanket because there was only one, and having their bodies accidentally touch in the process...
No matter how hard she tried to suppress it, the thought kept resurfacing.
"Sleep here."
Of course, that fantasy ended the moment the man assigned her a place to sleep.
A blanket? There was no such thing. Before her lay only the cold stone floor...
"My apologies. I don't have a spare blanket for guests."
As he said this, the man was calmly spreading out his own blanket where he would sleep. Despite his apologetic words, his expression heavily conveyed a sense of "So what?"
"Ohkay..."
She'd expected him to at least toss her a thin cloth or something...
She sat down, disappointed. But she couldn't complain. After all, no matter what anyone said, she was the one who had forced her way into his home.
Still, she'd thought they would at least sleep in the same area, but it seemed that wasn't to be either.
Leaving her behind, the man went deeper inside the cave.
A campfire was lit, but the thick darkness swallowed him up the moment he walked just a few steps away.
Suddenly, a wave of terror washed over her as she was left alone with the campfire.
He wasn't really going to leave her by herself like this, was he...?
"Um, excuse me...? Could you at least stay in the same space with me?"
"Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere. I'll be nearby."
It seemed that was the truth.
The man's voice came from beyond the darkness.
Judging by how little it echoed, he must not have gone far.
She'd felt it since they first met, but he was a man with incredibly thick walls around him.
Still, she breathed an inward sigh of relief.
'Phew...'
Though it wasn't the scenario she'd been wishing for, at least she hadn't been left completely alone in this darkness.
Where was that voice from, anyway.
Of course, strictly speaking, there were thousands of other people here with her, but...
[Bruh the fuck, show us your face]
[Imagine how disappointed Chae-rin must be after running her delulu circuits at full speed, upvote that shit lol]
[Upvote lololol]
"..."
It was hard to count the kids communicating only through text as actual people. Talking to them wasn't boring, but it wasn't enough to shake off her fear.
And anyway, she was going to end the broadcast soon.
"...Alright then, everyone, it's been so fun."
[?? Wait a sec, what's this vibe?]
[No no, you can't go, don't go]
[Ending stream this suddenly?]
"Time for me to go to sleep now."
[You're just gonna sleep in the game anyway, you crazy bitch]
[But why is she sleeping in the game?]
[The streamer didn't pack a Fatigue Potion to unequip her gear cheaper, so now she's gotta sleep in the game~]
[What a goddamn moron wwwww]
[Since you're sleeping anyway, how about keeping the stream on?]
"No way. That's too embarrassing."
[Ha]
[Drives me up the wall, seriously]
[You have a real talent for making a person want to thump you in the head]
[Hey you son of a-]
Pah-
Before a flood of abuse could fill the chat window, Chae-rin turned off the stream. The viewer count that had stayed until the very end was a whopping 3,000.
It was a massive boom.
Of course, the viewers hit by the sudden stream end were probably fuming... but that was none of her concern.
In this way, she had a knack for setting the stream on fire.
"You sure do talk to yourself a lot."
As she lingered in the afterglow for a moment, a voice came from the darkness.
It was the man's voice.
Yor thought to himself.
'How fortunate...'
He'd been mulling over how to start a conversation, and she had handed him the opportunity.
"You've looked like you were talking to someone for a while now. What's that about?"
To be honest, he wanted to ask outright, "Is that thing next to you a chat window?"
But wouldn't that be too suspicious?
He didn't know if it was visible to other people's eyes besides her own.
While the stream was still on, there was no reason for her to reveal that she had something unusual about her.
Thanks to that, he'd been very grateful when she turned off the broadcast. Not only did it give him an opening to talk, but the gazes watching Yor had also disappeared.
"Ah, you mean just now?"
As he was thinking that, Chae-rin opened her mouth to speak.
"Ah, so this thing is called a broadcast. People connect to it and just watch what I'm doing... Ah, how should I explain this."
You could obtain information from a person not just through words. You could glean even more hidden information from their attitude, their aura, and so on.
In that sense, Yor was quite satisfied with his current position.
Because he could see her, but she couldn't see him.
Having lived here for a long time, his night vision was far keener than most.
Yor nodded his head as he listened to her.
'I thought it might be a secret.'
She explained without any hesitation. It seemed the concept of a 'broadcast' was fairly well-known in this world too.
Well, it figures; he'd seen plenty of people walking down the street talking to themselves. Can't hide that.
Then Yor asked his next question.
"You said you were an Otherworlder. Where are you from? Did you come from a different world than ours?"
Though his question sounded indifferent, it was a deeply important one to him.
His future attitude would change depending on how she answered. If the world he was thinking of really existed, then perhaps... he could even dream of returning home.
"Ah, you mean where we are? It's a completely different place. A place called Earth..."
And at her nonchalant reply, Yor couldn't help but be surprised.
'...!'
He inwardly rejoiced. The link he had thought was severed decades ago had appeared before him once more.
Of course, there was no guarantee this Earth was exactly the same one he'd originally lived on... but in any case, he had found a civilization similar to the place he'd once belonged to.
That alone made Yor feel like some huge connection had been re-established.
After that, Yor asked many things. How she had crossed over into this place, what that world was like, what the most fascinating things were after coming here, and so on.
Chae-rin, who had expected to go right to sleep, was flustered but faithfully answered his questions.
Of course, she skirted around things like 'games' that the people here would likely not understand as much as possible.
Realizing the other party was much more talkative than she'd expected, she even felt regret, thinking, 'If I'd known it'd be like this, I should've just kept the stream on...'
She wasn't only on the receiving end of questions, though. She gathered her courage and managed to ask him a few things as well.
"Um, could you tell me your name?"
"...Yor."
And so, she was able to learn the man's name. As a bonus, the moment she heard his name, the name tag over his head changed from [Unknown NPC] to [Yor].
While excitedly asking questions like that, she also experienced something like this once.
"Come to think of it, Yor, why are you living in a forest like this?"
"...Look."
"Yes?"
"I am currently providing you with a place to avoid the night. In this dangerous forest, no less. I think that's more than enough goodwill provided, don't you?"
"Ah, yes, that's true."
"Then don't ask for more and stay put. Don't dig any deeper."
"...Yep."
Yor's demeanor as he said that was sharper than she'd ever seen. As if telling her not to cross this line. As if telling her not to ask about this. She had to nod, intimidated by the weight of his voice, which had dropped low.
So they hadn't gotten more comfortable after all...
After that, Chae-rin had no choice but to refrain from asking questions as much as possible.
As a result, the conversation proceeded mainly in a format where Yor asked the questions. He asked, Chae-rin answered, and he reacted. Thanks to that, the conversation took on the feel of an interview, but it had its own kind of fun.
In the first place, Yoo Chae-rin had almost never had a conversation like this with a man before. In that sense, the conversation, though a bit frightening, was also a secretly heart-fluttering time.
Chae-rin talked with Yor for a while like that, and then at some point, she fell asleep.
*
"Hey, you. Wake up."
"...Nn, nnn?"
Thump, thump.
A few hours later, Chae-rin woke to the sensation of someone prodding her body.
Her vision bleary, she looked ahead and saw the man named Yor tapping her shoulder with the tip of his foot.
"It's morning. Get out now."
At his words, she looked around. The cave interior, which had been unbearably dark, was now bright.
After that, things proceeded at lightning speed. She got up, received some venison from Yor, and then was practically chased out.
To kick her out the moment she woke up... No, still, he did give her breakfast, so that was something.
"Thanks for yesterday. I survived thanks to you."
"Fuck off. And don't come back."
Right up to the moment she left, Yor was cold.
He couldn't help it. Yesterday's conversation had been quite entertaining for him too, but one time was more than enough.
Getting any closer would only make things difficult for Yor himself. As a Demon-Blood Manifestor, he was someone who was rejected anywhere he went, after all...
Yor watched her as she went deeper into the forest, her figure growing distant, and something like regret lingered in his eyes.
Thinking of last night's sky, he let out a sigh.
"Haa..."
It had clearly been a waning crescent. The darkening moon fading away.
Which meant that soon, the New Moon would be upon him.