Chapter 72: The two researchers were slaves but the strongest

“Today is the ‘Saving Yoo Da-hee’ stream until clear that our Pados (Waves/Fans) have been waiting and waiting for! Finally! At long last!! Let’s staaaart!!”

At Summer’s declaration, the chat window caught fire right from the start.

[-No, you’re only doing this now??]

[-Damn it, I’ve been waiting…!]

[-No, I tried this because I was too curious, but it’s f*cking hard???]

[-TRPG expert Summer is going!!]

[-Saw the announcement yesterday and ordered chicken in advance…]

[CrazyForSummer has donated 10,000 won]

[Did you know? Humans don’t die even if they hold their breath for about fifteen days.]

There was quite a bit of positive opinion too.

But more than that, there was a sharper sentiment asking why she was only doing it now.

Understandably so, as it had already been over two weeks since Summer last played ChatRPG.

Also, the stream was cut off just when it was getting interesting because she was called away by the general manager. Everyone was disappointed.

Well, an external schedule couldn’t be helped. The next day was Summer’s regular day off, so they thought she’d continue two days later.

…Or so they thought.

No one expected that 2 days would turn into 2 weeks.

Not even Summer herself.

Of course, Summer understood immediately after hearing the rough situation from Youngjun.

“Ah~ You think I wasn’t curious about the backstory?! I wanted to play it so badly. But I told you, right? There were some circumstances.”

[StarDustMember0 has donated 10,000 won.]

[The embargo’s lifted, right? Now explain yourself, Streamer-ppo-ppi. Why was the ChatRPG stream delayed so much?]

[-Seriously, what circumstances prevented you from doing it until now?]

[-The ChatRPG fans must have ground their teeth down ignoring the constant 1,000 won punches LOL]

[-Did you film an official ad with ChatRPG or something?]

“It’s nothing special, just…”

Summer shrugged her shoulders with a nonchalant expression.

“I was busy with official schedules, and also… I practiced a bit secretly behind the scenes~”

[-So you had all the fun by yourself?]

[-Did you play… off-stream?]

[-Disappointed in you, Kim Summer]

[-Don’t run away! Fight back! And die!]

“Hey, why is everyone like this? It’s no fun if I just keep dying~”

Summer said, sticking her tongue out slightly.

“But actually~ there’s a real reason. Why I kept delaying… It’s because this game was being made into a VR version!!”

The chat window began to be flooded with countless question marks and exclamation points.

As if pouring oil on the fire, Summer put on goggle objects over her avatar’s eyes.

“Coincidentally, the trial version development finished today~ And I was selected as the first tester, you hear!”

The chat window literally became chaos.

Summer watched the whirlwind of various emojis and text for a long while before bursting into laughter, “Nyahahaha-“.

“Shall we start right away then? Oh! And since I plan to focus on the game, I’ll turn off donations for a while~”

This had been discussed beforehand with Jina, Rosy, and Youngjun.

It was to immerse herself more deeply in the world the two had created.

Summer is also a master of over-immersion.

“Yoo Da-hee, just you wait!! This unnie will grab you by the collar and save you!!”

---

Entering the game world, Summer took a light breath.

An unknown earthy smell seemed to linger at the tip of her nose.

Of course, it was an illusion.

This is virtual reality. There couldn’t possibly be an object that stimulates the sense of smell.

Nevertheless, Summer’s brain suspected this world might be real.

Understandably so, as the scenery unfolding before her eyes was incredibly realistic.

“Hiya~ The level of immersion is completely different from VR Chat?”

Summer exclaimed inwardly.

A desolate village dyed in ash caught her eye.

Collapsed walls, dust clouds covering the dirt paths, low houses built here and there…

All of this was implemented with delicate textures, just like reality.

“Doesn’t it feel like I’ve dimension-hopped or something, this?”

She almost got slightly sentimental but quickly snapped back to reality.

‘I’ve perfectly memorized the early game strategy.’

Summer took shallow breaths and steeled her resolve.

From here on, she had to move ‘according to plan’.

She intended to replicate the early route of Saving Yoo Da-hee, which she had played dozens, no, hundreds of times in the ChatRPG version, in this VR version as well.

It was a strategy known as the ‘Guilt Route’.

Deliberately lure a monster, create a crisis situation.

Get slightly injured in the process of fighting the monster.

Then Yoo Da-hee feels guilty and leaves the village of her own accord with a very high probability.

Of course, the VR version’s progression might flow differently from the chatbot version.

“Yeah~ Whatever, if it doesn’t work out, I just move on to the next playthrough~”

Then, ‘I’ll die’, she just needs to say that.

If she couldn’t save the Yoo Da-hee of world #1, she just needs to save the Yoo Da-hee of world #2.

“Uh. Oh. There. Is. A. Wolf.”

Entering the village entrance, Summer deliberately spoke in an awkward, dramatic tone.

Soon, a dark shadow bloomed in a village alley, and an undead wolf engulfed in black flames appeared.

Its appearance was more brutal than expected, and Summer felt a cold sweat break out for some reason.

“Wow, this…”

‘This won’t be easy,’ Summer muttered inwardly.

The feel was different from the monster she saw in illustrations.

That thing growling low and baring its teeth right in front of her.

It was a real wolf itself.

‘Calm down, it’s just a game anyway. Before I kill it according to plan, I need to let it bite me once…’

Wait, bite me?

…With those teeth?

If it bites… it looks like it would hurt a lot?!

Soon, the wolf revealed its ferocious teeth and charged towards Summer.

“Bow! Wind Arrow!”

Moving instinctively was faster than thinking rationally.

Summer, bow in hand, nimbly stepped back.

Then, she plucked the empty bowstring, shooting a wind arrow towards the wolf.

Whoosh- Thwack!

An arrow engulfed in green smoke pierced the wolf’s torso.

‘Ah, I shouldn’t have killed it…’

But Summer had overlooked something: the undead wolf’s vitality was surprisingly tenacious.

‘Ugh…!’

Even though it was just virtual space.

Even though it wasn’t real.

Summer unknowingly squeezed her eyes shut.

That’s how realistic the modeling Jina had carved out was.

“Rapier!”

Summer, rapier in hand, thrust her arm towards the wolf’s side.

Pook- With a somewhat exaggerated sound effect, the undead wolf let out a silent scream and collapsed.

“Phew- This is kind of intense?”

Summer caught her ragged breath, grimaced, and clutched her thigh.

It didn’t really hurt; it was just acting to appeal ‘I’m injured’ to Yoo Da-hee.

Perhaps because it’s virtual reality, there’s a certain flavor to acting it out directly.

“It should be about time for Yoo Da-hee to appear…”

Sure enough.

As soon as Summer finished speaking, a faint presence was felt from the other end of the alley.

A girl with long, flowing white hair and shabby clothes appeared.

“…Uh oh?”

The moment their eyes met.

Summer’s mind went as blank as the girl’s hair color.

‘Wait. Come to think of it, the person who carved the 3D models for this game… was Jina Mama…!’

She had forgotten for a moment.

That Jina was the one who created all the 3D objects appearing in this game, including the avatars.

And the female avatars Jina carved with all her heart are all beauties that captivate people’s souls.

While Summer was just blinking blankly, Yoo Da-hee approached right in front of her.

Summer’s and Yoo Da-hee’s eyes met.

The two, similar yet dissimilar, took in each other’s faces.

“You are… who might you be?”

An unfamiliar, yet clear tone.

At that single phrase, a chill ran down Summer’s back.

The early game strategy she had thought out beforehand instantly evaporated from her mind.

‘What… Why, why is this so realistic…?’

Summer prided herself on having played quite a lot of VR games.

She even speedruns VR horror games that others find scary while making Chucky laughs, so that says it all.

Because of that, her standards had become incredibly high, and average 3D models didn’t even catch her eye…

‘This… How is this a game?!’

Faced with a game heavily powered by Jina, the master of 3D modeling, and Rosy, the master of voice processing, even Summer couldn’t keep her composure.

The line ‘I am the hero who came to save you’, which she had typed countless times with a blank expression like a Tibetan fox in ChatRPG.

In front of the white-haired country girl… she couldn’t bring herself to say it.

Summer awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck.

As she kept looking at Yoo Da-hee, she felt an inexplicable pull.

The reason… she didn’t quite know.

It wasn’t like Yoo Da-hee’s modeling resembled an old acquaintance from her memories or anything like that.

An indescribable heat spread within her chest.

This is… right.

Like when inspiration for a new song suddenly strikes.

That feeling she had forgotten for so long.

Just then, Yoo Da-hee frowned slightly and asked again.

“Um… It looks like your leg is bleeding, are you okay?”

Then, she carefully reached her hand out towards Summer.

“Stay still. I’ll heal you.”

White light emanated from Yoo Da-hee’s hand.

Watching the wound gradually begin to heal, Summer unknowingly put on a determined expression.

‘How could I use a kid like this?’

This isn’t an expendable item.

Even though she had killed her hundreds of times until now.

This time…

“This playthrough is the first and the last.”

[This message may harm the game’s setting and will not be processed.]

“Yes? What did you say?”

“…No, it’s nothing.”

There is no next worldline.

She would somehow save this Yoo Da-hee right in front of her.

She would somehow protect this worldline.

Summer took a deep breath, steeling her resolve.