The Malicious Sniper Suffers Defeat
"...!"
I jolted awake from my sleep with a start.
The bad dream had been vivid, leaving my mood anything but pleasant.
Just as I had treated others so cruelly in the game, I had once again dreamed of being relentlessly stalked by people in real life.
...Perhaps that dream was already unfolding around me.
......No, I’d admit it. I was already receiving massive attention from people.
The moment I turned on my phone in the morning, I dove straight into the community.
[vvDarkWarriorvv······]
The posts related to me had surged even more overnight.
Thankfully the photos had all been taken down, yet they were spreading secretly like wildfire, fueling even stronger backlash in the community.
My heart pounded in my chest.
...Better not check the posts after all.
"..Uh."
I washed my face with my hands and patted it gently.
...The address had been exposed, but of course I didn’t have the luxury of moving right now. For the time being, I swore I wouldn’t open the door to strangers lightly.
Just like always, I sat down in front of the computer.
V-Route... I’d decided against it for now.
With just a bit of VR gear on, I logged into Volcan Online—the one where I’d sniped Seolgam nineteen times in a row.
...The instant I logged in, the first thing that caught my eye was the mailbox inside the estate.
I figured it was the usual garbage, or those insulting messages arranged for decoration, and didn’t even bother to look before tapping the delete button.
But one notification popped up—one I’d never seen before.
In fact, I hadn’t even known such alerts existed.
High-value items included. Delete anyway?
..?
I opened the mailbox.
Heart-shaped items... and right beside them, items labeled with “SEX” in bold. All of them.
These items were anything but cheap.
...First, I decided to grab them. Then I stepped out of the estate for my daily quest.
Whoosh—ting—
"..?!"
As I walked outside the estate a little way, an arrow suddenly shot through the air and slammed into the ground.
Next, I looked up at the sky.
It was raining.
An arrow rain.
They all followed a perfect trajectory, rising slowly into the sky.
As the speed of ascent slowed, the heavy tips eventually dropped straight down toward me.
"......"
I simply stood there and watched them.
Zeeng—
Hidden defenses near the estate activated. The force fields blocked the arrows, and the subsequent magic tower attacks fired toward the distant users on the hill.
With no way to handle magic attacks, they all died in one shot.
Monster 100 defeated (incl. players): 124/100
Thanks to that, the daily quest was cleared in one go. Still, I immediately logged out and headed back to the estate.
The fact that over a hundred people had swarmed me in pursuit was chilling enough.
...The mailbox earlier was no different.
...Whether I liked it or not, being noticed and targeted by people was exhausting.
I turned off the game, collapsed onto the bed, and lay there staring at my phone.
Just when I was relaxing, the sound of footsteps in the hallway made me jump with tension again.
Then, the moment the footsteps faded, I breathed a sigh of relief.
How many hours had passed like that? I simply couldn’t endure it anymore. Living like this was living like this.
First, I decided to leave the house.
I threw on a hoodie and a mask, prepared for an outing, and grabbed the trash bags I’d piled up by the front door.
...I cracked the door open, peeking out only my head to check the surroundings.
Even in reality, no guarantee existed that they wouldn’t attack me like they had in the game.
Fortunately, no one ambushed me in the hallway.
I boarded the elevator with my heart in my throat, just like a criminal.
While descending, I kept jumping every time the elevator stopped and other people got on.
When I reached the garbage disposal area in front of the apartment, that was when I saw him.
"Excuse me, you."
A man’s voice called out to me.
My heart shrank again.
No one else was here. He was definitely speaking to me.
"...Y-yes..?"
I answered without even looking at him, my voice trembling unnaturally.
Could it be... someone who came looking for me? What if he meant to harm me.
A bad feeling spread through me like roots.
Soon, the man’s voice continued.
"I’m talking about you. Last time I told you to throw the styrofoam in the separate bin in front, didn’t I? You’re throwing it in the plastic again."
I turned my head and looked at the owner of the voice.
...Fortunately, it was the apartment security uncle wearing the security uniform.
"..Ah, s-sorry."
"Bring the styrofoam here. I’ll sort it separately."
"...Okay."
I smoothed down my racing heart.
Next, I headed to the park a short distance from the apartment.
There, I washed my hands and scanned the surroundings.
People walking like pets, couples hugging tightly and strolling through the park from the morning, office workers wolfing down breakfast before rushing to work.
Real people, busy with their own lives, had zero interest in me.
Somehow, that fact made me feel relieved. Yeah, the world shown through my cramped computer wasn’t the whole thing.
I sat on the park bench, stopped my paranoid scanning of the area, and pulled out my phone.
I opened the broadcasting app and searched for “Seolgam.”
Among the streamers, she had a uniquely dominant position, which meant she had a huge number of followers.
"......"
......As I quietly looked at her profile, anger surged inside me.
Truth be told, I blamed Seolgam for everything that had happened to me.
Seolgam’s stream was oddly still off.
Normally she streamed once in the morning and again in the afternoon, but today there was a one-day break notice.
If I’d been streaming, I would have been tempted to snipe her on impulse, but even that was impossible now.
...Fine. Sniping would have to stop for a while. Stimulating people here would only risk them actually coming for me...
"Huu.."
I let out a long sigh.
A chilly autumn breeze brushed my bare legs in short shorts. Not being used to going out much, I hadn’t realized it was already this cold.
My heart had calmed a bit, too. The weather was too cold to be ignored...
...I should head back home after all..
...As I thought that, I stood from the chair and was about to leave when—
"...??"
I realized a shadow had fallen over me.
Slowly I lifted my head and looked up at the owner of the shadow.
And in that moment, the world itself seemed to freeze.
The force in my legs vanished, and I collapsed back onto the bench.
Wall-like features rare even in this world, cascading white hair without a single strand out of place.
And snow-white skin.
Our eyes met, and her deep navy pupils, like the depths of the ocean, widened just slightly.
Arms crossed, she looked down at me, brushing her long hair behind her ear. She radiated not just dignity but an overwhelming pressure.
The cold gaze she gave me as she looked down felt like the queen of winter, signaling the end of autumn and the arrival of the harsh season.
She had completely frozen me over.
"...You are, right?"
A sweet, clear voice rang out. The same voice I’d casually heard through her streams, now piercing straight through my heart.
It was Seolgam. She had come looking for me.
"..W-what.. who..?"
I tried to play it cool.
But when I heard my answer, her eyes widened even more and she frowned. It only backfired.
I eventually answered her question truthfully.
"...Y-yes.."
"......"
She let out a long, drawn-out sigh.
I lowered my gaze to the ground.
Swish—
The sound of padding rustled as she moved.
She must have uncrossed her arms.
"...Lift your head."
I predicted what would happen if I lifted my head.
A hand flying toward me, followed by a sharp pain in my left cheek with a “crack” sound.
My collar being grabbed and yanked up, then thrown down again.
A fist flying at my stomach, or jaw.
I considered all possibilities, closed my eyes, gritted my teeth, and thought it didn’t matter if I got hit before raising my head.
But nothing flew at me—no fist, no palm, no hand grabbing my collar.
...I opened my eyes.
"You were trying to enter, weren’t you? I saw you about to get up."
She said that while pointing at our apartment with the tip of her finger.
"...Yes."
......I stood up and took a step.
Seolgam naturally followed me.
"I know who you are, right?"
She asked me with her usual arrogant tone, without any hesitation.
"...Ah, I know. You’re... Seolgam-nim, right?"
That I didn’t know was strange. It felt like I was seeing the real-life version of her virtual avatar.
...The only difference was that, compared to her virtual avatar, her real appearance was even more stunning.
We rode the elevator together.
...Was it okay to take her to my house like this? Or, more importantly, why had Seolgam come looking for me..?
Unable to figure out the meaning, I glanced at her face.
But I couldn’t read any intention on her face.
She kept her expression completely blank.
Eventually the elevator doors opened, and I had no choice but to let her into my house.