319. Singularity
319. Singularity
***
BaTalk!
At the notification sound, Yujeong stopped working on the lyrics for the commissioned song and checked the message.
Plea.
[Putting everyone's schedules together, next Tuesday seems to work. Before that, as a rehearsal, I'd like to meet on Monday to get in sync and then start the raid—how does that sound to everyone? If anything comes up or it won't work for you, please let me know]
"...Tuesday, huh."
She murmured to herself, thinking that timing wasn't bad.
Me.
[That works]
Just as she answered right away,
Rin.
[That works for me too]
Her gaze went to Rin's BaTalk message, which rang with almost no delay.
Even seeing her through such a trivial message stirred up gladness.
'She acts like she's receptive, but she never actually lets me get close.'
She had tried sending personal messages after they met last time, but the responses had only ever been lukewarm.
And so, for now, she was in a lull, just watching the situation.
She was holding back as much as she could when reaching out, afraid that showing too much interest might make Rin feel put off, but even so, this situation itself was maddeningly tantalizing.
To have been connected by fate like this.
And yet to be unable to actually get close.
"Hmm."
She rested her chin on her work table without thinking, her interest piqued.
The 3-person raid she would be taking part in this time.
The raid target was Zervallua, Beast of Destruction.
It was normally done as a 10-person raid, and only truly top-tier users—only about the top 0.1% of Another World players—had ever experienced it. The entry requirements alone were incredibly high.
As the most recently released raid monster, its basic level requirement was 63. To deal proper damage, the practical level requirement was at least 65, which was another huge barrier.
Beyond that, there were items, all sorts of mechanics, and traps requiring fast reaction speed lined up throughout.
The raid's difficulty supposedly changed depending on the number of users, but there was a reason people didn't form 10-person parties for nothing.
Even excluding the damage dealers, you needed to put together buffers and healers to progress through the raid without problems.
"Rin, Plea. And me too."
Thinking anew about the raid members felt strange.
Plea's reputation was already widely known, and Rin was practically at the peak of dancers.
With those two there, she didn't think the raid itself was impossible.
"Well."
But that didn't mean she thought it would be easy.
Each of them would have to handle one mid-boss-level entity on their own. Even with just a little thought, the difficulty was close to hellish.
Even if they defeated the mid-bosses, a curse that weakened their combat power would be applied, so the subsequent progress would certainly not be easy.
She had already signed a contract, so she had no particular intention of doing anything during the raid, but that made her all the more curious.
"Come to think of it, this project itself isn't normal."
A silly laugh escaped her as she shook her head.
Since Plea had planned it, there must be some suitable scheme. She just had to do what she could, and that would be enough.
Tap.
She stared at the lyrics she had been working on for a moment, and a blank laugh slipped out.
Her plan to switch to Outlaw was still valid, and she intended to set everything in motion when the time came.
In that case, she would surely be the first to officially kill Rin.
"Haa..."
Yujeong exhaled an excited breath at the mere thought of it, her cheeks flushing.
In that moment, what kind of eyes would Rin look at her with? What would she think?
And what would definitely be decided then was that she would be the one to take Rin's first.
Yujeong brought her hand to her burning cheek. The very fact that she was thinking such thoughts felt unfamiliar, yet incredibly new.
"Pfft..."
Then she stretched her arms out and shook her head.
When she immersed herself in work for a long time, her mind tired easily. If she didn't keep loosening up her body, it would stiffen, so she had to keep stretching.
"I wish reality were a bit more like Another World."
She muttered something even she thought was nonsense and could not help laughing.
Unlike her omnipotent body in Another World, her real body was utterly frail.
Sometimes she thought how nice it would be if Another World were reality. Every time she felt her body aching, that thought came to her, and Yujeong shook her head even as she stretched.
"This is a chance, so maybe I should at least suggest meeting in person after the raid."
It was a remark born of curiosity to see Rin in real life, but thinking about it, it seemed like a good idea.
Meeting in person would probably have as great an effect as the Outlaw method.
"But... if Rin's real appearance turns out to be disappointing, would these feelings just wither away?"
Tap. Tap.
Yujeong, who had been fidgeting with her pen on her work tablet, wore an odd smile.
She herself felt that she was not normal right now.
From the moment she came to know Rin, the emotions boiling in her heart had blazed like a hot fire, and those feelings had barely changed even now.
She craved Rin's attention, and her mind was full of wanting to keep being with her.
But.
If she were to see the real her—not Rin—in actual reality.
Wouldn't she be greatly disappointed by the side of her that was different from Rin?
'To be in love with a character...'
Yujeong let out a self-deprecating laugh, thinking she really had gone crazy.
But even so, this feeling was a first.
Longing for someone. Possessiveness. It was a fiery emotion she had felt for the first time in her life.
Did she really need to do something that would extinguish that fire with her own hands?
"..."
Yujeong slowly ran her hand over her lips, lost in strange thoughts.
In Another World, all sensations related to sexual matters were blocked.
Curiosity surged as she wondered if there might be something possible only in reality.
"Who knows. If it's Rin, maybe reality would be fine too..."
As Rin's soft yet distinctive voice came to mind, something like hope—though not quite hope—seemed to bloom.
Maybe Rin, even in reality... might be quite a lovely person.
***
.......
As the movie's ending credits rolled and deep darkness spread across the screen, the two women in the same space unconsciously met each other's eyes.
For a moment, the two women held each other's gaze in silence, then, as if they'd rehearsed it—
"That's it?"
"...No."
They spoke at the same time.
The ending of the movie they had been watching was shocking.
The protagonist, in the position of the structurally and socially weak, suffered hardships and was swept into crisis after crisis. In the process of facing those difficulties, the story flowed toward the protagonist working under the person who had decisively done her great harm.
Buried under a mountain of debt, the protagonist urgently needed a large sum of money. Emotionally, she hated the person who had driven her into crisis enough to want him dead, but rationally, she ended up taking on all sorts of work he ordered and earning money.
At the end of it, the protagonist ironically achieved unprecedented great success and ended up in a position of being in league with the very person who had ruined her.
The existence who had ruined the protagonist and built enormous wealth.
And the protagonist, who succeeded by ruining others just like him.
At the end, she was once again used by someone else's hands, and the movie ended with the protagonist being caught by the police.
"I get that this movie... is trying to talk about economic or structural problems."
As Serin spoke, she felt like her breath was blocked.
It felt as if someone had suddenly shoved a sweet potato into her mouth by force.
At first, she thought the protagonist would get revenge. As the movie went on, she thought it might end with the protagonist succeeding together with the villain.
But when it ended with the protagonist going to prison alone at the end, she couldn't quite understand it.
"I feel so weird."
Seoyun also spoke in a deflated voice, and Serin nodded with an odd expression.
Even afterward, as they exchanged words, they couldn't hide their sense of letdown.
They had watched a movie lasting three hours, and its ending was nothing but unpleasant.
When she checked the time, it was already 11 p.m.
After exchanging a few more words, their movie-watching session came to an end, and they each went to their own rooms.
Click.
"...This feels way too gross."
In her current mood, she didn't think she could even fall asleep.
Since she had enjoyed it in its own way, the hollow ending left a lingering aftertaste.
The movie had certainly been impressive, and its visual beauty was second to none. She also had a sense of what the movie was trying to say.
But I hadn't watched the movie expecting anything like that.
Swish.
She swept her hair back once and frowned.
"Should I loosen up my body a bit before sleeping?"
With her mind troubled by all sorts of thoughts, it seemed better to stretch and then sleep.
Slide.
She lay down in the capsule with familiar ease and murmured lightly.
"Let's hunt for exactly 30 minutes."
...
Ding!
[A new change has occurred in your quest!]
As soon as she connected, she checked the notification that popped up, and a change appeared in the quest hologram.
*
————
[Great Hero of the Chaldea Empire. Conversation with Daji]
...
—[Penalty: If you do not log in that day, permanent revocation of the Moon Dancer class] deleted.
————
*
"...Penalty deleted?"
She murmured, her gaze fixed on the fact that the penalty for the Conversation with Daji quest had disappeared.
I hadn't done anything to the quest in progress, yet its contents had suddenly changed.
'Was there ever a case like this?'
Because it had been such an outrageous penalty, she still remembered it clearly. She felt relieved, but also puzzled.
"Why?"
Wondering why it had disappeared, she looked over the quest contents once again.
*
————
[Great Hero of the Chaldea Empire. Conversation with Daji]
At the end of the long war, the representatives of each faction aligned their views, and the pact that had long been maintained between the factions developed a small crack when the Great Hero of the Chaldea Empire, Daji, made the first move.
The repercussions have already reached each faction, and Daji now wishes to speak with you.
(You have already completed your class advancement as a Moon Dancer! The quest will proceed forcibly)
————
*
Reading the quest again, she fell into different thoughts than when she had first seen it. She had skimmed over it before, thinking she would need to see Another World's story to understand it.
-That the peace between factions had cracked because Daji acted first.
-The line saying that, as a result of that influence, she wished to speak with her.
Now the meaning of the quest text kept drawing her attention. After thinking for a moment, Serin spoke.
"Because I... advanced to a hidden class?"
The line saying that the quest would proceed automatically because she had completed her advancement to Moon Dancer seemed to imply exactly that.
'It's like it's saying everything started because of me.'
Daji was also the Great Hero who had first revealed herself because of me, and for some reason, the line about her acting first felt connected to me as well.
The remaining time displayed in the quest window was now 5 days and twenty-some hours.
"What in the world is going on?"
She muttered flatly and shook her head.
In the end, it seemed all her questions would only be resolved by meeting Daji in person and hearing her out. Thinking alone would only add to her idle thoughts.
And right now, she needed to focus first on the raid that had been scheduled.