Chapter 65 – Connection

Re​ad on ​KatR​e​adingCa​fe

Things have gotten bigger than I expected.

Older Sister Hyesun overreacted to the first tears I’d shed since living as Arang.

I’d only wanted a painkiller for my period cramps, so I was thinking sad thoughts and trying to make a slightly pitiful expression, but tears just started flowing.

It’s an expression that hasn’t worked until now, so I don’t know why it suddenly worked. Older Sister Hyesun, seeing my tears, was incredibly flustered.

She mistook my condition as serious, and I had to urgently stop her.

I didn’t expect to shed tears like that either, so I calmly explained that I wasn’t severely ill, just wanted a painkiller.

“Really? Really?”

“Yeah… I didn’t know I would cry either, sorry. For surprising you…”

“Hoo… No, it’s a relief if you’re okay. You need to know how scary your face is when you cry like that… Do you know how much my heart aches?”

Older Sister Hyesun took a deep breath and sighed in relief.

“Sorry, Unnie… For being noisy at this hour…”

“No, no. Ugh, tears are too much, too strong for that pretty, cute face…”

“Sorry…”

“It’s okay. It’s okay. But just in case, I’ll draw a little blood.”

“Okay…”

I went to the examination room in Older Sister Hyesun’s arms.

Maybe it’s because I’m sick, but Older Sister Hyesun’s embrace, while familiar, felt warmer and better today.

I closed my eyes and completely entrusted myself to her.

I’ve caused trouble for so many people yesterday and today.

Everyone rushed to the hospital at the mere mention that I was sick and sincerely worried about me.

It was the opposite of when I lived as a man, when I’d just take a few pills at home, lie in bed, and groan under the covers, feeling lonely.

I feel pretty good, actually.

But…

‘I need to be careful from now on.’

I realized it again after seeing Older Sister Hyesun’s reaction.

I’m cute now. Very cute, in fact.

And that’s the problem.

The situation I’m in now…

A condition where my limbs were severed due to a rare disease. A mind that came back to life after dying. A situation that would make even an ordinary person sympathize and feel sad.

But now, I’m a beautiful girl who I’m startled by when I look in the mirror, and I’m flawless, missing nothing in beauty, cuteness, or even sexiness.

So, when such a beautiful girl cries and says she’s sick… I think I would react like Older Sister Hyesun, too.

I shouldn’t shed tears like that when I’m sick or in a negative state.

This is too dangerous of a weapon.

Let’s save it for when I’m in a positive state or when I’m being spoiled.

‘That said… it’s become difficult to say that I’m sick.’

You can’t live without getting sick. You catch a cold, get a headache from fatigue, have a period like this time, or get sick for various other reasons.

The situation I’m in now exponentially increases the intensity of the expression “I’m sick.”

I express a pain intensity of about 3 out of 1 to 10, but because I’m a flawless beautiful girl without limbs, the pain intensity that Older Sister Hyesun feels seems to be 8.

I need to think about this a little.

Who says “I’m in pain with an intensity of 3!” when they’re hurting? They just say they’re in pain.

“Arang, I’m going to draw blood.”

“…Okay!”

Blood draw. This is quite a scary test.

Before becoming Arang, it was just something that ended when I stretched out my arm without thinking and spaced out.

But now, I have a body that is very sensitive to pain, and I don’t have arms…!

They put something like a rubber band around my armpit and draw blood from the little bit of arm that’s left. This is the second time since I did it once before, but it’s still a little scary.

I’m not usually scared of things like this, but I can feel that Arang is quite afraid of needles due to her long hospital stay.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

Swish.

“Haa.”

“It’s okay. It’s okay. Almost done.”

Because I don’t have arms and legs, my body is sensitive, so I can clearly feel the cool needle entering my arm and even feel the blood being drawn.

The test results showed that there were no problems; it just confirmed that I’m sensitive to pain and have more severe period cramps than others.

Older Sister Hyesun is lying on the bed with me, holding me in her arms and stroking my stomach so I can sleep.

Before falling asleep, I apologized again, and she smiled and stroked me, saying it was okay.

==

This 7-day period made me fully realize that I am a woman.

This tearful period incident made my parents, who were working overseas, come to Korea, and I spent time with Older Sister Anna while my period was ending.

Everyone was worried about me at first, but they all liked my condition.

Having a period means that my body is normalizing, after all.

No, what’s with having to feel this pain for one week every month being “normalization?” It’s unfair.

It was the first time in a long time that I’d lived in reality without connecting to the virtual world.

It wasn’t particularly difficult or uncomfortable living as Arang, but this time I definitely felt discomfort.

Periods.

They’re truly a sin. I feel insanely good now that mine is over, but the worst part is that I have to do it again in about 30 days.

What’s annoying is that my body tends to produce a lot of menstrual blood during my period.

I have to keep lying down, so I have to forcibly remove the menstrual blood for the sake of cleanliness.

When Older Sister Hyesun holds me and strokes my stomach, pressing down firmly, the menstrual blood gushes out, and the feeling is so unpleasant it’s hard to describe.

At this point, I’m not a person, but an Ottogi ketchup bottle.

I sighed and connected to LEORE.

As soon as I entered after loading, an announcement appeared.

Usually, even update announcements don’t do this, but seeing it pop up as soon as I connect, it must be a bigger announcement than I thought.

I clicked on it.

[Legacy of Raid Server Merge Announcement]

Hello, this is Legacy of Raid.

We are announcing the Legacy of Raid server merge schedule on August 29th (Thursday).

The Legacy of Raid servers [Korea], [Asia], [Europe], and [America] will be merged.

Legacy of Raid will be inaccessible for one week for the server merge.

Please check the schedule to avoid any inconvenience.

[Maintenance Time]

20240829 (Thursday) 16:00 ~ 20240905 (Thursday) 16:00 (7 days)

[Maintenance Details]

Legacy of Raid server merge.

[Precautions]

You will not be able to use the game service and website during the maintenance, and the maintenance may end early.

Please exit the game in a safe place before the maintenance begins.

“Huh? Server merge?”

I thought they were going to do some big event, but it was a sudden announcement that they were merging the servers.

A big event is a big event, but… this is a world-class event.

All-server merge. Originally, the servers were separate, so we couldn’t meet or talk to each other, but if they’re all merged, it means we’ll be doing all content, from matching to raids, with people from all over the world.

I didn’t expect this.

Now is the perfect time to merge the servers. It’s the last season anyway, and there’s nothing to do, so it’s not a problem even if they maintain the server for a week.

They didn’t say anything and did it so suddenly. Still, it seems like it would be fun if the servers were merged…

Wait, then what happens to our Guild House? Surely they’re not going to randomly kick us out or something. I’ll really go to the LEORE company if they do.

Hut.

I’ll meet Reina and Emma if the servers are merged? Oh… this is very good. Emma. I need Emma.

The guild chat is very active.

They’re talking about the server merge announcement.

“Arangniiiiim!!!”

“Huh?”

[Spicy Seafood Noodle Soup] ran up and hugged me tightly.

“Hello, Mara.”

“Arangnim, I was so worried! How’s your body? Are you okay!?”

“I had my first period and it was so painful. The doctor told me not to play games during it.”

“Are you okay now?”

“Yes. It’s all over.”

“Hoo… Do you know how surprised I was when Pink Berrynim said in the guild announcement that you had a health problem and couldn’t connect for about a week!?”

“No, did Pinku Unnie announce that?”

“Yes!”

Aigoya… No wonder they welcomed me so enthusiastically.

No, it’s true that I had a health problem, but announcing my period like that makes me sound like I have a terminal illness.

Then again, it’s somewhat true. I originally *did* have a terminal illness.

“It was just a period, so you don’t have to worry too much.”

“I was so worried when cute Arangnim said she was sick.”

“What did Maranim do for a week?”

“I helped my friends try raids as a healer.”

“Well, there’s a big shortage of healers in those groups. What did your friends say when they saw your title?”

“Hehehe, everyone applauded and looked up to me!”

I was chatting with Spicy Seafood Noodle Soup about this and that, and the topic led to the server merge.

“What are you going to do until the server merge, Arangnim? Haven’t you done everything except raids now?”

“I’ve finished all the main quests. I don’t have anything to do now, so I’m thinking of trying other games.”

“No!? A, you can’t! You can’t abandon us!”

“Abandon? Anyway, the server will be under maintenance for a week, right?”

“That’s true…”

“Aranga~”

Older Sister Soonchu came while I was talking to Spicy Seafood Noodle Soup.

“Aranga, I’m sorry, I should have come…”

Older Sister Soonchu hugged me with a tearful voice and rubbed her cheeks all over mine.

“It’s okay. You were very busy, right?”

“Uuuung~ I was so busy… I should have gone at least in the evening.”

“Hey, it’s burdensome to come when you have family.”

“That’s true, but…”

“Soonchunnim is very close to Arangnim… I’m jealous.”

“I’m Arang’s older sister and best friend~”

“Huh! Real friend…!”

“That’s right, that’s right, I’m Arang’s real friend~.”

“Hooeeok…! M, Master!”

Hmm… Our guild members get along very well.