Dependence or Obsession

Once the war was over, I finished giving them a brief rundown of what the Fibron Empire needed to do going forward. The novel Plimia—holly trust—and Princess Brainy had possessed was called Empire of Endless Massacre. The fighting had lived up to that title; the outcome, however, could not have been more different.

"Thank you... truly, thank you so much."

Brifen, reunited with his sister at last, hurried over the moment he heard I was leaving to offer his gratitude. Knight Commander Tekeloman, dressed in full formal attire, bowed his head toward me as well.

"It was an honor to fight at your side, Lord McDeras!"

One by one, people were reclaiming their vitality. The battlefield was being cleared. Voices rose from those already daring to dream of a future. Feeling all of that settle into my bones, I was certain.

It was time to go home.

"You're leaving right away? It would be nice if you stayed a few more days... Once things settle a bit, we're going to hold a festival. It would be even better if you could stay until then..."

Princess Brainy asked with clear reluctance. McDeras nodded.

"I have to go. Whatever remains is for you to handle."

Choi Yebin, of course, was coming with him. The only real difference from their previous party was the presence of Plimia standing at McDeras's side.

"You're going too, Lady Plimia?"

"Yes..."

After a long stretch of private deliberation, Plimia had decided to follow McDeras. Part of her wanted to stay and help the people of both the Caelon and Fibron Empires. The larger reason, though, was that the mere sight of Caelon knights still made it hard for her to breathe from time to time—PTSD, most likely.

And for some reason, she said that unease vanished whenever she stayed close to me.

Her fingers clenched tight in my collar again. If I simply took her hand, she would flinch and scramble back several steps, so I had grown used to angling my back just enough for her to grip my clothes without trouble.

"Relax. It's all over now."

Plimia nodded. The moment McDeras activated the Admin Warp, a vast circle bloomed in the empty air as if ready to swallow them whole.

Then Brainy suddenly seemed to remember something and hurried over.

"Right—I never told you my community nickname. It's a fixed name, in English: Queen."

"King?"

"Not King. Queen... Q-u-e-e-n..."

McDeras watched the princess carefully spell it out letter by letter and smiled. Moments like this—easy conversation in a light atmosphere—were finally possible now.

"Lord McDeras, if you ever need my help, please say so anytime. Just leave me a comment, or—wait. Admins can send messages to users, right? Could you open a chat room for us?"

"Hold on."

McDeras clicked a few times at the empty air, and a chat room opened.

Brainy looked at me with a faintly flustered expression.

"You speak perfectly normally the rest of the time. Why do you only talk like that on the community?"

"Everyone wears a mask in anonymous spaces."

"Ugh..."

Brainy sighed, though her face looked bright.

"Can I message you often?"

"Do you actually have something to say?"

"No... I just thought you might want to know how the Fibron Empire is doing, so I figured I'd send you updates."

"Suit yourself. But I get so many messages I might not see them all."

"Well... alright."

After that brief farewell, McDeras was about to step through the portal when something occurred to him. He leaned in and whispered to Princess Brainy.

Once she heard what he said, she looked at him with open confusion.

"Sorry? Why would you want me to write something like that...?"

"The Extinction Gallery kids look at me weird. Last time I asked Choi Yebin to post something, people accused me of making a sockpuppet."

"Hmm... alright..."

Brainy answered with visible unease, but McDeras just beamed.

"If the chance comes, I'll see you again."

And so the long fight came to an end.

The first thing I did after returning was check the Extinction Gallery. Scanning the posts, one name jumped out immediately.

Brainy was getting dragged for no good reason, but so what. I happily hit recommend on the post.

A notification was waiting—a message from Brainy.

McDeras opened Brainy's post history and pinned one of them as a Featured Post.

Downvotes ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and furious comments exploded in seconds. Brainy scrambled for me in the chat.

For the record, Featured Posts cannot be edited or deleted by anyone but an admin.

For the crime of being embarrassed by my praise, Brainy was sentenced to twenty-four hours as a Featured Post. She kept spamming the chat with frantic messages, but I didn't bother reading them.

I was browsing the gallery for the first time in a while when a message arrived from LovePeace.

I hadn't assigned a deputy for no reason. While I was fighting a war inside Plimia's novel, I had no time to log into the gallery, so I had temporarily handed admin privileges to LovePeace—someone I at least knew. She was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠only a deputy admin; her powers amounted to deleting other people's posts and issuing temporary or permanent bans. That was it.

Even with that limited toolkit, she seemed to have thrown herself into the work. And yet, contrary to her proud little reaction, the gallery was plastered with posts about her.

I almost felt sorry for the users who couldn't even finish a swear word for fear of getting banned. Checking LovePeace's ban log revealed a staggering two thousand and seven bans. That number alone told the story of the last few days. I half suspected she had been banning people without even pausing to breathe. I messaged her at once.

LovePeace's nickname snapped back to gray in an instant, and the gallery erupted into celebration.

No matter how strange her methods had been, LovePeace was someone who had worked hard at my request. The direction was wrong, but the effort was real. So I banned the people who had insulted her too viciously.

Leaving the burning gallery behind, I checked the new abilities I had acquired.

Plenty of useful tools had opened up, which meant more options whenever I warped into another novel. The best of them was Selective Penalty Release—it let me forcibly strip away a chosen penalty within its limits.

For example: even if Admin Warp's side effect forbade magic use for twenty-four hours, that function could remove part of the penalty. I didn't know the exact range or power yet, but the risk of warping had dropped dramatically. I no longer had to worry about getting killed by some street thug no matter where I landed.

There were functions like Possession as well, but I saw no particular reason to possess anyone else and decided I wouldn't need them. The rest were intuitive enough to set aside. What I examined carefully was Guide.

Information that assists scenario progression, huh...

Vague wording. Everyone in the Extinction Gallery was a possessor. You could say they were living out scenarios. But me? I bounced between novels. When you hop across multiple stories, can there even be a single fixed scenario?

Then again, magic from completely different worlds has worked in each other's realms, and a lot of inexplicable things have happened... Scenario, huh. I'll figure that out someday too.

I decided not to dig deeper for now. Thinking harder wouldn't produce answers anyway. Instead, I confirmed roughly what Guide could do. It was an information-providing function.

I clicked the message floating in the air, and a name appeared.

Nothing else came with it.

I started digging through the gallery for information on the man. One user used that nickname as a fixed handle.

Fifteen posts. Thirty-five comments.

Someone with almost no activity, and yet the nickname felt familiar. Looking through his post history would make the reason clear.

But I never got to check trying man's posts. Someone knocked on the door outside.

"Come in."

The door opened to reveal Choi Yebin in her sleepwear, with Plimia peeking out from behind her, only her face visible.

I had put the two of them in the same room so they might grow closer. The suite was over a hundred pyeong—plenty of private space—so I hadn't expected any real discomfort. Looking at Plimia's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠expression, though, that clearly wasn't the case.

"Something wrong?"

Worried they might have fought, I asked. Plimia said nothing; Choi Yebin spoke for her.

"She says she's scared. That she gets anxious when you're out of her sight."

I pushed the Extinction Gallery window aside, walked over to her, and spoke.

"This place is safer than anywhere else. To exaggerate a little—even if every knight from the novel you possessed charged this place, they couldn't take it. So don't worry. Go to sleep."

Plimia shook her head.

"I know that, but... if Lord McDeras isn't in my sight, I get so anxious..."

I had saved her on the battlefield and comforted her whenever she trembled. Somewhere along the way, I had become the vessel that soothed her fear.

I looked at the girl with quiet pity.

"What do you want me to do, then?"

Plimia clutched my collar the way she always did.

"Tonight... can we sleep together...?"

I watched her in silence. Eyes trembling with unease. Dilated pupils. Cold sweat beading on her skin. Arms and legs that wouldn't stop shaking.

Regrettably, the war seemed to have broken a great many things inside her.