Malicious User
Malicious User
The waning moon passed, and the waxing crescent came again.
Which meant I was safe for another month.
Thankfully, there was only one moonless night a month.
If there had been two or three, I probably would've killed myself a long time ago.
The day after enduring the berserk state, I slept the entire day.
Berserk B might be different, but A-type drained a lot of stamina.
I'd pulled an all-nighter too, so sleeping after Berserk A had become a routine before I knew it.
After sleeping another full day, I started cleaning up my blood.
I walked and walked further into the deepest part of the cave. When I shone a light into the darkness, I saw walls caked with dried blood and a floor soaked in it.
I let out an exclamation.
"Whoa."
It felt like looking at a killer's workshop. Anyone would think several people had been butchered here.
Unfortunately, the only one who'd been chopped up here was me.
Unfortunately, I hadn't cleaned that up either.
Blood had been splattered and dried dozens of times already, so the stains were deep, like mottled marks.
Well, what could I do? It's only a place I came when the berserk state triggered anyway, so I just had to leave it.
Once I'd finished cleaning up my personal blood-fountain show, I started to shower.
If this cave had one advantage, it was that groundwater flowed inside it. Thanks to that, I almost never had to go all the way to the distant stream to bathe.
Of course, when the groundwater froze over, I had no choice but to head to the stream... but fortunately, that didn't seem to be the case today.
"Ugh, cold."
If it had a disadvantage, it was being unbearably cold in winter. In a cave with no heating device but a campfire, I couldn't expect anything awesome like ondol floor heating.
Mercifully, I could heat the water, but today I was too lazy and just washed up cold.
I was a Demon-Blood Manifestor anyway, so I rarely caught colds.
After finishing my shower, I started doing laundry alongside a light meal.
Since I'd bled so diligently yesterday, I had to wash the blood-soaked clothes too.
Sometimes, when laundry was a hassle, I'd face the berserk state with my clothes off, but unfortunately, that was tough in winter.
"Phew, done."
After hanging the laundry outside the cave, I lightly swept my hair back.
Aside from dealing with the aftermath of the berserk state, this was my usual daily life.
Eat, shower, do laundry. If I had time left, I'd scavenge for food or something.
It was no different from being an unemployed shut-in living alone. Not having any friends to meet was another similarity.
'I want to make a friend.'
Today again, I quietly muttered the wish that would never come true to myself.
Life in the forest was generally boring and lonely. Enough to make me think such thoughts.
'...Will someone come looking for me again?'
What suddenly came to mind was that streamer woman I'd seen a few days ago, Yoo Chae-rin.
Damn. I'd told her never to come back with my own mouth, yet here I was thinking like this inside.
Even I thought I was a contradictory human being.
But I couldn't help it. Reason and desire were different things.
I knew that contact with society threatened my safety. But I was so starved for conversation that I could forget that for a moment.
"Haah..."
Of course, just because I wished for it didn't mean my desires would be fulfilled.
Another day in the forest was safe today too.
*
Yor's face appeared on YouTube.
And its impact was quite substantial.
The post was popular enough to fill half a page of Featured Posts on the [Demon's Saga Gallery], commonly called the Gallery.
A good-looking NPC had appeared after a long time, and in the Forbidden Forest of all unexpected places.
What's more, this was a man who had once been mentioned in the past.
After all, a few months ago, his silhouette had been captured in a screenshot by some user.
Back then, it was concluded to be either photoshop or an urban legend.
But that urban legend turned out to be a real man!
Whether as a joke or a talking point, Yor had all the qualities to become excellent firewood for gossip.
Of course, half a page of Featured Posts on the Demon's Saga Gallery was only a ripple in a teacup compared with all the world's breaking news, but...
Put another way, he had managed to create even that ripple. That's how good a piece of firewood Yor was.
Most people just consumed the topic as gossip.
But just as when hundreds of people gather, dozens of idiots emerge among them,
communities weren't only full of clean users.
Like any other game, [Demon's Saga] had its share of malicious users.
One difference from other games, however, was that the malicious users here were of considerably worse quality.
The game itself was incredibly realistic from the start, enough to advertise itself as 'another reality'.
The degree of freedom was also absurdly high. Given that the game officially supported a '19+ Mode' to begin with, what more needed to be said?
Without a single lie, most things a user could imagine were actionable in the game.
However, this caused one minor problem...
There were people who tried to commit sleazy crimes in the game that they couldn't in real life.
'Stupid bitches.'
The 27-year-old jobless NEET (never-been-kissed) Bang Ji-woo, who lived her life addicted to this game, was a prime example.
She was currently heading into the Forbidden Forest shown on the broadcast. The reason was, of course, to meet Yor, who lived in the forest.
'There's a nice doll like this, and no one thinks to go find him?'
To explain more precisely, it was to subdue and forcibly fuck him.
She had already replayed Yoo Chae-rin's broadcast dozens of times and figured out the entire route.
The terrain being a forest meant every path looked similar, but she managed to plot a course through sheer desperate tenacity.
The fact that she was the same class, Rogue, as Yoo Chae-rin helped too.
'Good thing I saved up some points.'
She mentally praised her past self.
Thanks to that, she was able to learn the Stealth skill without leveling up much. Truly, everything was falling into place.
At this point, a question might arise.
No, seriously, no matter how high the freedom is, is it okay to put things like rape in an open-world RPG?
Of course it's not.
That's why malicious users who committed such criminal acts got Permanent Bans the moment they were caught.
The perception among ordinary users was also practically garbage-tier to begin with.
Moreover, since character customization could only differ by up to 5% from real-life appearance, they could be identified and publicly exposed.
There were safety measures in many ways.
However, as the way of the world goes, if you don't get caught, you're innocent.
Because getting permabanned usually came after being caught by users or NPCs and thrown in jail first.
Meaning, as long as there were no witnesses, committing a crime didn't matter.
In that sense, Yor was a prime piece of prey.
The Forbidden Forest had harsh paths and strong monsters, so there wasn't a single other person around.
If she just took care of the target, Yor, she might even dream of a perfect crime. By killing him, for example...
Strangely, in this game, NPCs didn't respawn even if they died. If they died, it was over for good.
Rape and murder in one go... But Bang Ji-woo, thinking such thoughts, felt no particular guilt. Partly because she had antisocial tendencies, but also:
'He's just an NPC anyway.'
This thought lay at the root of it all.
It was all an illusion anyway. An NPC permanently disappearing was a shame, but that was all.
A real person wasn't dying, so what was the problem? The real weirdos were the other users who tried to champion 2D rights.
Subduing Yor was no cause for concern either.
Appearances aside, she was a considerably high-level user. Her level was a whopping 79.
Considering the current world rank 1 user had just barely passed the 90s, she was a truly powerful player.
Of course, this place was also an extreme high-level zone, so she was a little nervous... but she thought there'd be no issue subduing one 'man'.
After some time passed, she finally arrived at the cave.
Maybe he'd done laundry, as there were clothes hanging from a nearby tree. The man from the YouTube video she'd watched was currently gathering those clothes.
Since it was still winter, he was wearing fur clothing as before.
Like the Rogue she was, she crept stealthily up behind the man and swung her hammer hard at his head.
Not enough to kill him, just enough to knock him out.
Thwack!
With a dull sound, the man's body collapsed powerlessly to the ground.
Perhaps because it was a hammer, thin trickles of red blood ran down from his head.
"Heh heh..."
She chuckled softly and headed straight for him. The lust she'd been building up since watching YouTube was gradually erupting. Even bleeding, the guy's Looks were pretty damn hot.
She didn't stop there and started loosening the fur clothes he was wearing. Doing anything with those thick clothes in the way would be a hassle, after all.
As she unfastened the fur coat and pulled his top up a bit, the man's body was clearly revealed.
Six-pack abs sculpted like a statue, and broad shoulders. Seeing that, she involuntarily let out a curse-laced exclamation.
"Whoa, holy shit..."
The man on YouTube had been wearing fur clothing.
Thick fur clothes that completely hid his body shape.
Because of that, the comments section was occasionally full of speculation written by people brimming with inferiority complexes. They claimed that only his face looked like that, and his body underneath was surely pathetic.
Of course, those were baseless words, so she'd just snorted and moved on.
But honestly, there was a sliver of anxiety in a corner of her mind. What if, as the comments said, his body was a total dud?
It was like Schrödinger's box since you couldn't know the truth until you opened it.
That worry was completely dispelled the moment she opened the box.
His body was a dud? No, this was an even bigger jackpot than his face. A beautifully trained physique was revealed, as if someone had pressed and packed in women's ideals.
Just how did male muscles grow so provocatively?
It was exactly because they uselessly bulked up like that, that their bodies were so fragile.
Chiseled abs, flawless white skin without a single blemish, a solid chest, and more. Just looking made her feel a tingle down below.
Thanks to that, she half-lost her mind and was about to pounce on him.
But that was when it happened.
"...What a pity."
The voice of the man she thought was unconscious reached her ears.
What? He definitely wasn't moving? Had he woken up already?
Several questions surfaced in her mind. But those questions didn't last long.
"If you'd been just a bit prettier, I might have considered just letting you do it."
Shink!
Because before that, her wrist was severed.
Her wrist flew off, and terrible, searing pain arrived.
"Kyaaaaak!"
Since she'd maxed out her Assimilation Rate before coming here, the pain was beyond imagination.
Clutching her severed wrist, she thought with a confused mind.
What? He had a weapon? But I didn't even see him swing it?
She had all her armor equipped, too.
Even if her defense was a bit low since she was a Rogue, it should've been far tougher than normal skin.
It should have been, yet it was cut clean off.
Multiple questions surfaced in her head.
Whether she thought them or not, the man continued his actions. He kicked the whimpering woman over, then pinned her down, pressing his weight onto her.
Now she could see a dagger in his right hand. He must have hidden it inside the sleeve of his fur coat.
He aimed the dagger at her neck and spoke.
"Yeah, as I thought, you're ugly."
Whether from pain or sorrow, she wanted to cry.