Ch.193Someone’s Memory(?)(3)

# 193. Someone’s Memory(?)(3)

“What are you suddenly talking about?”

“Of course there are eight of us.”

Subin’s serious response questioned why I would even ask such a thing. Suppressing my trembling body, I asked her again in the most natural tone I could manage.

“But there are only seven of us right now. Who’s the other one?”

“…”

At that moment.

The women who had been chatting while eating stir-fried kimchi, drinking alcohol, or absently staring at the sea all stopped their activities simultaneously.

They silently stared at me, and it felt like a scene from a horror movie—this prank had gone too far.

Why hadn’t I noticed until now?

Was it because everything seemed so real? Or because my body and mind were exhausted?

It didn’t matter anymore. Perhaps it was because I had finally noticed something strange, but judging by how blatantly they were revealing themselves now, they didn’t seem interested in continuing this charade.

“Danya.”

“…”

*Crack-*

“Radaniya.”

“…”

*Crack-crack-*

“By the power of the contract that binds us to the end of fate, Radaniya, I command you to reveal yourself to me now.”

*Crack-crack-crack-*

As if proving this world was false, each time I called for Danya, cracks formed like those in glass. After the third call, a blood-covered Danya tumbled out from the fractures. I quickly rushed forward and caught her in my arms.

“Danya!”

“[Sunghyun…]”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m truly sorry.”

“[It’s okay. In the end, you didn’t forget…]”

“Danya…”

“[I too… was able to avoid being buried… because of you…]”

“Danya!”

Danya’s head drooped. My heart sank in terror, but I could feel her heartbeat—thankfully, she had only lost consciousness.

As Danya lost consciousness, the hole in the false world rapidly expanded, and soon collapsed completely with a tremendous flash of light.

‘Fuck, can’t they do something about this blinding light?’

Clinging to the small warmth in my arms while enduring the violent light, when the brightness finally faded, what was revealed evoked anger rather than fear.

My precious raid members, every single one of them, were lying unconscious.

And it was clearly not just simple sleep.

Seeing them trembling, moaning in pain, or sporadically hitting themselves as if having seizures…

“Why don’t you just come out now?”

It was much earlier than expected, but as far as I knew, there was only one bastard who would pull this kind of shit.

“Putri.”

– Oh-ho-?

“Putri, the Demon of Fever.”

– Ho-ho-ho–??

That infuriating voice echoed through the air. He was an annoying boss type even when encountered in the game, but experiencing him in reality was far worse. And according to him, this was merely a “brief fever”—when the time came to truly face him…

– As-ex-pec-ted- of the hu-man- who climbed the to-wer- first-?

“You think acting cool and composed while hiding makes you something special? It just makes you more pathetic.”

– Oh-ho–?? Pathetic! That sounds-nice!!

Fucking hell. Why does he keep dragging out his words but pronounce “pathetic” so clearly?

His speech was idiotic enough, but combined with his voice and the situation, it was extremely unpleasant. Unlike Bongkeak’s unpleasantness, which was closer to a demon’s inherent nature, this guy’s unpleasantness was purely manufactured.

Just for his own amusement.

– Hee-hee- we’ll meet-a-gain-

“I’d prefer not to.”

– Hee-hee- I just can’t-re-sist-the fun!!!!

Though infuriating, Putri had maintained a superficially polite tone until he suddenly exploded at the end.

I didn’t bother trying to understand why he suddenly changed. That’s just how he was.

– Hee-hee- heeheeheehee kee-kee- keekeekeekee

– Keu-keu- keukeukeukeu ee-hee- eeheeheeheehee

– Heu-heu- heuheuheuheu ha-ha- hahahahaha

– Peu-peu- peupeupeuheu kya-kya- kyakyakyakya

‘Ah, he’s acting up again.’

The space filled with diverse yet bizarre laughter.

That cursed laughter had a completely random pattern in terms of frequency and effect, making it impossible to prepare for, though the damage itself wasn’t particularly severe.

Damage aside, the laughter itself was so unpleasant that I wanted to cover my ears, but I couldn’t because I was holding Danya.

I braced myself in an awkward posture, but…

“…Huh?”

Nothing happened.

The bizarre laughter didn’t inflict any damage on me.

And Putri had disappeared.

“What the fuck?”

I could imagine him watching me from somewhere, saying something like “What’s with that posture? A-ha-? You were fooled! Right? You were fooled, right? Isn’t that pa-the-tic? Eeheehee!” The thought made my blood boil again.

“Ugh, my head…”

“Fuck, my head feels like it’s going to split open.”

“Soyuuu, heal, give me some healing.”

“J-just a moment. My head hurts too much.”

“Nyaa…”

Seeing all my raid members waking up simultaneously, I calmed myself down, confirming that he had truly left.

“Thank goodness. Everyone.”

“Oh, oppa?”

“Captain!”

“Sunghyun!”

“Besides headaches, does anyone feel anything else wrong?”

Some mentioned chills, others fever, bruises, or still feeling half-asleep.

Putri, the demon who affects not only the mind but also the physical body through mental interference.

I informed everyone that this incident was Putri’s way of “testing the waters.”

As expected, my raid members’ reactions weren’t good. They seemed to have calmed down enough to speak normally.

“Putri already?”

“Well, Iseratio appeared early too.”

“And we kind of forced Bongkeak to come out early as well.”

“Has all that affected the story? I didn’t think they were supposed to be connected much.”

“Maybe the story doesn’t matter anymore. The tower isn’t 100% identical to the game, and we still don’t know why Iseratio appeared early.”

The place where Putri’s false world had shattered was the familiar reward room. I only realized this belatedly while listening to my raid members.

But there was no reward. Not even a grade appeared. Without rewards, this was just a white room with a few faded alphabet letters floating around.

‘Could this also be Putri’s doing? It doesn’t make sense otherwise.’

As my thoughts drifted in that direction, the anger I had suppressed while looking at my raid members flared up again.

“Wait! What about our rewards?”

“Yeah. Let me check our grade first… Huh? What’s this? Why isn’t it showing? Am I looking at it wrong?”

No. I’m seeing the same thing. And probably everyone else is too.

[Grade: -]

They praised us for defeating the boss well and minimizing damage, yet the grade shows up like this. I understand wanting to deny reality, but…

“What is thiiis!!!”

“Bug! The system has a bug!!”

“This is so unfair!”

No matter how much they shouted, no grade was assigned.

Truly, it was unpleasant from beginning to end.

**

“Kukukukuk. Interesting. So interesting. I was right to listen to Men-sima.”

“Putri.”

“Aah. What theme should I enjoy next time?”

“While we may not have the right to order each other around, your interference this time violated the rules.”

“Ru-les. Yes. Rules! Those should be followed. But breaking rules is so much fun. Don’t you agree?”

“You’re saying you didn’t break the rules.”

“Cor-rect! Mensima is calm, composed, and smart. Unlike someone who gets irritated at the slightest thing!”

The corners of the floating white smiling mask lifted even higher.

“I-did-not formally manifest in the tower! I merely projected a portion of my power! Men-sima knows this well, right?”

“Even so, if it damaged the tower’s system to such an extent. Looking at the result alone, wouldn’t that be breaking the rules?”

“Wo-wow- the tower’s system was damaged? I didn’t know that! Men-sima! I’m sorry!”

The white mask apologized playfully, but Mensima’s expression remained unchanged.

“Your intrusion changed the tower’s structure. No, it had to be changed. If left as is, all the upper floors from where those entrants are would be in a broken state.”

“A-ha-!”

“Strictly speaking, you didn’t break the rules, but the consequences are severe enough that you must take responsibility, Putri.”

“Da-mn-it! While it’s not my favorite thing! Since I damaged something you care about, I’ll at least listen!”

“The floor directly above where they’re heading. You will be in charge of that.”

At Mensima’s calm sentence, the corners of the white mask returned to their original position.

“While welcoming them would certainly be en-joy-able! Me, right after this? Isn’t that changing too much?”

“It would have been, normally. But residues of your power remain in the tower. To the extent that the tower can’t even determine the rewards they deserve.”

“Oh-my-!”

“Since floors are floors, you’ll have to go down in a considerably weakened state. Otherwise, the tower will completely break down.”

“A-ha-!”

If that’s the case.

Well. I don’t mind.

That might be even more fun?

The white mask silently disappeared.