Ch.114[Episode 114] Case File

“Ouch!”

Star I’m Not Little bumped into a suspicious person in the alley.

“I’m sorry! Excuse me for a moment!”

Just as I’m Not Little was about to say something, the suspicious person suddenly embraced them and pressed against the wall.

I’m Not Little was speechless with surprise at the sudden turn of events.

At that moment, people suddenly rushed out from the alley where the suspicious person had emerged.

“Lost visual contact!”

“Damn! Check all the alleys! They couldn’t have gone far!”

I’m Not Little couldn’t get a good look at the people pouring out of the alley because the suspicious person was blocking their view, but they all seemed to be wearing similar clothes.

“What on earth—”

“Shh.”

The suspicious person covered I’m Not Little’s mouth and pressed closer to the wall.

Two people were walking toward them.

They were clearly trying to hide from being seen.

“We’ll search here!”

“Huh? There’s a suspicious person over there!”

And just like that, the suspicious person was caught.

“Damn it. This works in movies.”

Reality differs from fiction.

“Surrender now!”

“Wait, senior! There’s someone else there!”

Hearing this, the suspicious person suddenly changed tactics, grabbing I’m Not Little’s neck with their arm and spinning around.

In an instant, the suspicious person had switched from hiding to holding a hostage.

“Back off! Back off or I’ll inject ‘that’ into this person!”

“You think we’ll fall for such nonsense?”

“Wait! Hold on, Jackson!”

“Senior!”

A sudden hostage situation.

Star I’m Not Little was completely bewildered by the situation, but everyone except I’m Not Little was deadly serious.

Taking the opportunity, I’m Not Little observed their surroundings.

The suspicious person, judging by their voice, was a man in his 20s, about 170cm tall.

And the people confronting the suspicious person were police officers, evident from their uniforms and hats.

“Tch… if only Inspector Javert were here!”

The younger-looking of the two officers vented his frustration.

Whenever the police officers tried to move even slightly closer, I’m Not Little felt something cool against their neck.

What could this ‘that’ the suspicious person mentioned be?

“Excuse me, sorry to interrupt this standoff…”

Finally, I’m Not Little couldn’t contain their curiosity and spoke up.

“What exactly is ‘that’ you’re talking about?”

At those words, both the suspicious person and the officers all looked dumbfounded.

They had thought I’m Not Little was being remarkably composed, but it seemed they simply didn’t understand the situation.

Finally, one officer carefully began explaining the current situation.

“The man holding you is a member of Mountain Bridge Marsh. And he’s holding a syringe with a ‘hacking tool’ to your neck.”

Star I’m Not Little knew those terrifying words all too well.

Their face instantly turned pale.

Hacking tool.

In the early days of Gacharand, the world was still unstable, leaving many security vulnerabilities.

And hacking tools were illegal viruses created to exploit those vulnerabilities.

By now, hacking tools had become relics of a bygone era, blocked by perfect security, yet they were still active viruses.

A relic yet still active. A contradiction.

But understanding the characteristics of hacking tools made this contradiction clear.

The original purpose of hacking tools—hacking—no longer worked.

That’s why hacking tools had become relics of the past.

However, hacking tools became active again when an unintended purpose was newly discovered.

It was the ban system.

Under Gacharand’s current security system, confirmed use of illegal programs resulted in immediate expulsion from Gacharand.

So what happens if you deliberately ‘inject’ a hacking tool into someone else?

The injected person would be identified as a hacking tool user and banned.

That’s why hacking tools were one of the few things that could deliver true death in Gacharand, where death had otherwise become a trivial joke.

“W-weren’t those all collected? I thought they were disposed of!”

I’m Not Little said, almost whimpering.

As they said, it was widely believed that all hacking tools had been collected and disposed of.

“Please calm down. We haven’t confirmed if it’s real or not.”

The senior police officer tried to calm I’m Not Little.

Indeed.

The claim that all hacking tools had been collected and disposed of also meant that hardly anyone knew about hacking tools anymore.

There was no way to verify if that syringe was a real hacking tool or not.

It was impossible to know whether the Mountain Bridge Marsh underling holding I’m Not Little hostage was bluffing.

Of course, the police officers thought he was bluffing, but they had secretly called in an expert just in case.

“Everyone back off! No more talking! If you try to talk, I’ll stab right away!”

“Eek!”

Star I’m Not Little felt the cool sensation of a needle against their neck.

It hadn’t actually touched them, but the situation was escalating so rapidly that it felt that way.

Now Star I’m Not Little was crying miserably, with tears, snot, and even drool flowing.

Why does this always happen when I come to Gacharand? I’m just an innocent Star who wants to collect Sir Dominic merchandise!

“It’s dangerous outside the blanket,” I’m Not Little finally lost their grip on reality and was now hiccupping, unclear whether they were laughing or crying.

That’s when it happened.

“…Huh?”

The suspicious man suddenly thought the sky had darkened.

He instinctively looked up.

A shield was falling.

And then he lost consciousness.

With a bang, dust billowed up in the alley.

Star I’m Not Little coughed through the suddenly rising dust, waving their hands to try to clear their vision.

And suddenly realized they were free.

“What on earth—”

“Master! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. How about you?”

“As if you don’t know!”

I’m Not Little’s body flinched.

That voice. It was familiar.

No, it was a voice I’m Not Little couldn’t possibly fail to recognize.

After a moment, as the dust settled, three silhouettes appeared besides the two police officers.

“Did we succeed?”

Sir Dominic.

I’m Not Little recognized him first.

“I think so.”

And Alice.

They had recently seen an article about Sir Dominic taking on a disciple.

The child looked exactly like the photo in the article, so this must be that disciple.

As the dust continued to settle, the silhouettes’ faces were revealed one by one.

Now it was time for the identity of the smallest figure to be revealed.

“!”

What is this?

A small Sir Dominic…?

I’m Not Little couldn’t believe their eyes.

They rubbed their eyes and looked again at the small Sir Dominic, repeating this several times.

Yet the “small” Sir Dominic was still there.

Small enough to fit in one’s arms.

A plush body filled with cotton.

Finally, I’m Not Little recognized what it was and their eyes widened.

It was the Little Sir Dominic they had lost a few days ago!

…

Rewinding to a few days earlier, in I’m Not Little’s room.

I’m Not Little was streaming then too.

“So, the deck with Sir Dominic scores in the late 1230s, while the deck with Pluto instead scores in the 1240s, so there’s hardly any difference, right?”

-Of course there’s no difference when you’ve built up Sir Dominic that much;;

-Even Porter Hines would pull his weight if you built him up that much;;

That day too, I’m Not Little was peacefully arguing with viewers while formulating lightning battle strategies.

“Oh right. They’ve been selling these lately. This.”

I’m Not Little looked at the overheated chat and decided it needed cooling down, so they changed the subject.

They picked up a Sir Dominic doll that had been placed beside them.

“Ta-da! I found this merchandise. It’s not official, but it’s pretty good, so I bought it to review.”

-Wow, and you call yourself a Sir Dominic fan?

-Claims to be a fan but uses bootlegs;;

“Hey, what! I want to fangirl over Sir Dominic, but what can I do when there’s no merchandise!”

Everyone knew that Star I’m Not Little was a fan of Sir Dominic.

That fandom led to the chance purchase of one doll.

“The finishing is surprisingly detailed, and oh? There’s a magic circuit in this? I wonder if it can move like some kind of stuffed golem?”

And by chance, this Star discovered that the doll contained a magic circuit.

-Maybe it moves if you insert a Sir Dominic card? Like a pioneer android.

Also by chance, a viewer suggested inserting a card.

“Oh, that’s a good idea. Let’s try it right now.”

-Come on, it’s bootleg merchandise, it won’t work lol

-It would be legendary if it actually worked lol

“I know, right? No way it would… it works?”

The synergy created by all these coincidences.

The stuffed doll suddenly stood up with a soft sound.

“!”

And it began to brandish its sword and shield valiantly.

“Whoa!”

Fortunately, true to being a stuffed doll, its equipment was made of cotton and some soft material, so it had no killing power, but it was a critical hit to I’m Not Little’s heart.

“E-everyone! Why is this working?”

-? You should know that, why are you asking us;;

-Wow, that’s cute…

I’m Not Little frantically asked the viewers for help, but they were equally clueless about why it was moving.

“!”

The small, chibi-proportioned stuffed doll looked around, and seemingly judging there was no danger, put away its sword and shield.

Of course, it also made eye contact with I’m Not Little, but Little Sir Dominic had judged her to be harmless.

“…This feels kind of strange?”

-Lol, not as good as a capybara, right?

-At least capybaras are friendly, this is more like a dandelion?

A legendary moment in the history of I’m Not Little’s broadcasts!

The viewers watched this legendary scene and teased them.

And among those viewers, there were a few with sinister thoughts.