Ch.198Putri’s Stage (2)

# 198. Putri’s Stage (2)

About three minutes after being invited to the boss’s stage that had been tormenting the raid team and causing immense irritation in real-time.

We had agreed that since which stage we’d be dragged to was completely random, we should stay calm and follow the strategy regardless of which role we were assigned.

But then…

“Ah shit, stage or whatever, I’m really craving a beer. Anyone want to grab a drink?”

No matter how you look at it, a dwarf with a bushy beard is a bit—no, very—out of place saying that.

The voice was definitely gruff, but the speech pattern was unmistakably Yuri’s. Normally, someone would have pointed out her crude language, but everyone seemed too shocked by their own situations to bother.

If anything, Yuri’s mental fortitude was impressive, speaking so casually right after her body had changed.

“D-don’t panic. It’s a play within a play. Looking at the seven dwarfs, we’re obviously in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

This was clearly Subin. True to her always-composed nature, she quickly assessed and explained the situation, though even she seemed to be struggling with the disconnect between mind and body.

“They’re all similar in size and appearance, and with the beards covering their faces, it’s hard to tell who’s who.”

“Agreed! Let’s introduce ourselves first!”

“Ah. This voice is really challenging.”

“So this is what it feels like for oppa. Wait, no? I think oppa’s was bigger.”

“Yuri, please.”

Whether Yuri intended it or not, the atmosphere lightened a bit. Of course, adapting to dwarf bodies would take more time, but at least the initial confusion had subsided somewhat.

“This is Snow White’s stage, and we’re the seven dwarfs. And this must be the dwarfs’ house.”

“You’re right. A log cabin?”

“Before that, remember what we shared before coming in here. We can’t leave this house until we solve it.”

“Huh? Oh.”

Originally, there were 7 raid members.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs totals 8 characters.

One person must be an impostor.

However, since Snow White as the protagonist is never fake, one of the seven dwarfs must be the impostor.

While Snow White’s individual mission was to somehow survive the assassin sent by the stepmother, the seven dwarfs’ mission was to identify the one impostor hidden among them.

“Wait a minute. That was in the game, but there are 8 of us now, right? Including Danya.”

“That’s true. Since there are already 8 of us, maybe there’s no impostor?”

“No. I think differently. There definitely is an impostor.”

“Why?”

Opinions diverged from the start.

“Don’t you all remember? Danya is connected to Seonghyun’s soul. And she’s the only insider among us. She’s either completely excluded from the stage or considered one entity with Seonghyun, so they’re likely together.”

“Unni has a point, but there’s no definitive proof.”

“Shouldn’t we introduce ourselves first before discussing this?”

“Right. Let’s do that.”

The dwarfs who had been eagerly expressing their opinions began stating their names one by one.

Subin. Yuri. Seyeon. Yehyun. Soyu. Arang. Seonghyun.

“…Huh?”

“I told you. One is an impostor. And Danya wouldn’t be Snow White.”

“Why are you so certain about that?”

“I’m really sorry to Danya, but right now, to put it bluntly, she’s basically Seonghyun’s pet.”

“What?”

The dwarf who identified herself as Yehyun asked, her beard trembling in disbelief.

“In our game, we have many pets too, but they’re not counted in the raid member count.”

“Wait, wait. Even so, Danya is—”

“Danya wouldn’t have escaped Ayord without Seonghyun. Even then, she got out using something close to a loophole—soul binding. Anyway, what’s important now isn’t Danya. It’s finding the impostor among us.”

“That’s right.”

Though they finished introducing themselves, the confusion only grew.

“According to the strategy, how did we identify the impostor again?”

“Stay calm. We’ve done this before. Just do what we always do.”

“But… that was easier with the game system.”

“Shh. Shhh. Let’s focus.”

“Ah, I want beer.”

Even in this situation, Yuri’s fixation on beer seemed very like her, but it was still too early to be sure.

“We can’t rely on the system’s help or use tricks now. We have to figure it out purely through logic and intuition.”

“Should we ask about past experiences that only we would know?”

“Since Putri is a demon, the impostor mixed in with us probably has access to our memories.”

“Seonghyun! What do you think?”

“Well… I expected this, but actually experiencing it is quite disorienting. I’m having trouble getting a read on the situation.”

All seven dwarfs sighed in unison.

“If we’re struggling like this, I wonder how Snow White is doing.”

“Yeah. At least we’re together, but Snow White is alone.”

“I’m worried about her too, but there’s not much we can do. We need to solve our own problem first.”

“Argh, seriously! Putri that bastard is making things complicated from the start!”

“To be fair, I think any stage would have been troublesome.”

The seven dwarfs eventually resumed discussing how to identify the impostor.

“We can’t use items, we can’t use loopholes. What are we supposed to do?”

“Actually, there is one thing we could try.”

“What is it?”

The dwarf claiming to be Yuri giggled and said:

“Sex.”

“…Ah Yuri. You really…”

“No, I’m serious. Really.”

She(?) pointed her thick index finger at the dwarf claiming to be Seonghyun and exclaimed:

“Our harem master! The SEX master is right there! We can compare memories from those times! What could be more definitive than that!”

Silence fell over the log cabin. It was a while before it was broken.

“…Is that so?”

“What do you mean ‘is that so’?! Are you crazy? How can we, how can we expose that!”

“Why not? If enduring a bit of embarrassment helps us defeat that demon bastard.”

The dwarf claiming to be Soyu blushed and tried to dissuade them, but the one claiming to be Yuri paid no attention.

“But if oppa is the impostor, he could just follow what I say. Instead of speaking, let’s each write on paper and look at them together. How about that?”

“Yuri, you’re really living up to your nickname.”

“It doesn’t hurt to try, right? Does anyone have a better idea?”

No one did. The dwarfs looked at the one claiming to be Subin, and she(?) eventually sighed and agreed.

“Since it’s come to this, let’s decide on the questions together.”

“Good. The first question should obviously be this, right?”

1. Who did Ban Seonghyun have his first experience with, where, and how?

“Oh my, even though I agreed, this level of exposure is beyond embarrassing.”

“Oppa, be quiet!”

“…No pretending to know already.”

“Ah. For question 2, how about this?”

Despite the dwarf claiming to be Seonghyun grimacing, the questionnaire was quickly filled.

“Everyone write what they know!”

“How much time?”

“Would 10 minutes be enough?”

“That’s too short. Let’s make it 20.”

“Confirmed. 20 minutes.”

And so the seven dwarfs went to separate corners where they couldn’t see each other’s answers and began recalling memories of sex…

**

‘Ugh. My arms are trembling just from fetching some water.’

Snow White’s body was more fragile than expected. She was incredibly beautiful, but that was it—being an ordinary girl, there was almost nothing she could do with physical strength.

‘The correct strategy is definitely to hide well.’

The opponent is an assassin directly appointed by Snow White’s stepmother, who controls the country. In the game, with its third-person perspective and systemic loopholes, it might have been possible to hide well even with this weak body, but…

In the current physical state, I couldn’t even think about competing with a professional assassin in terms of vision, detecting killing intent, or stealth.

So instead, I chose persuasion.

But before persuasion or hiding or whatever, there was one necessary step before the assassin arrived.

Meeting the ‘prince’!

This part was exactly like the original story.

Snow White is drawing water from a well when doves fly in, and she sings about a dream she had. It was something about meeting a handsome prince, dancing together, sharing love, and being happy—and the prince happens to overhear and approaches Snow White.

Disheveled Snow White runs away, embarrassed by her appearance, but the prince, captivated by her beauty, chases after her and sings his own song in response, confirming their mutual feelings. The stepmother sees this, gets jealous, and orders the assassin to kill Snow White…

In other words, when the doves suddenly appear, I need to sing a song about a dream involving the prince. Then when the prince suddenly appears, I need to run away, but not so far that the prince loses me or that I can’t hear his song.

In the game, this was an easy section implemented through cutscenes, choices, and QTEs…

While not a difficult section, if I mess up, the story could go seriously wrong.

Depending on the circumstances, I might not meet the prince, or we might meet but not confirm our feelings, or the stepmother might not witness our interaction.

If that happens, there would be no future where the assassin comes. And the assassin’s arrival is the most important event!

Without that, it’s not a dead ending, but the stage just ends.

Coo-coo-coo—

“Ah.”

As if on cue, doves were flying straight toward me.

Is this song lyric really okay?