Ch.204Futri’s Stage (8)

# 204. Putri’s Stage (8)

“Wait, sis. Everything’s fine, but could you correct that to ‘our’ boyfriend first?”

“…Way to kill the mood. Is that really important right now?”

“Yes!”

“Sigh.”

The dwarf who called herself Yuri raised an objection before charging in. The other dwarves giggled while adjusting their grip on pickaxes and shovels.

“Fine. The fake bastard who dared to imitate our boyfriend without any humor or emotion, and who tainted his memories, will die here.”

“Good. Completely satisfied!”

“Get ready to catch that thing.”

“Roger that!”

The dwarf who had called himself Sunghyun—now branded a fake by the other dwarves—had been silent for a while. Instead, he was hunched over with his shoulders trembling, which to the others looked nothing like the “Sunghyun” they knew.

“If he’s fake, then that means Sunghyun is Snow White, right?”

“That’s right?”

“I can’t wait to meet Sunghyun who’s become Snow White!”

“I’m curious too.”

“Me too.”

“So sisters, we need to take care of that fake bastard quickly!”

“Yuri and Seyeon, you take the lead.”

In the game, identifying the fake dwarf was troublesome, but dealing with one was no big deal. Unless they had mistakenly identified the wrong dwarf—which was a low probability—taking care of the fake wasn’t difficult.

What’s so hard about six people ganging up on one person of similar strength? Especially when that one person wasn’t hiding some overwhelming power.

So perhaps because they had achieved their main goal of identifying the fake, they let their guard down just a little…

“…No.”

“What?”

“Given the situation, I can’t just quietly take this!”

The dwarf claiming to be Sunghyun—no, the fake who had now fully revealed his true colors—had somehow produced a hammer and started causing a commotion.

“Waaah! Shit, I almost got my head smashed!!!”

“Be careful!”

Fortunately, no one was hit by the wildly swinging hammer, but they couldn’t approach carelessly.

The seven dwarves were supposed to come back from working in the mines and discover Snow White in their home, so they had no weapons—only tools like pickaxes, hammers, chisels, shovels, and carts… Their strength was similar, their tools weren’t suitable for fighting, and they obviously had no armor.

Additionally, the house wasn’t particularly spacious, and although it was six against one, the fake had backed himself into a corner, making it impossible for all six to rush him at once.

“Look at that fake imitating Sunghyun, securing a position and hammer like a pro.”

“This isn’t the time to be impressed. If we don’t resolve this before Snow White arrives, we’re screwed.”

“But we can’t get hurt either. What should we do?”

The six dwarves pointed their tools at the fake while racking their brains. Each of these obstacles was Putri’s scheme, and the thought that she was watching and enjoying their struggle somewhere made their irritation soar.

“Fuck it, I’ll try to grab that fake bastard even if my head or arm gets smashed, and you guys finish him off somehow.”

“I told you we can’t get hurt.”

“Then do you have a better solution?”

They pondered once more, but as Yuri said, there didn’t seem to be an answer…

“Ah.”

“Huh? What is it?”

“If we don’t have something, couldn’t we make or use something?”

“Make? Use? What?”

Seyeon tapped the table beside her.

“A shield.”

“Oh!”

“I’ll try to block with it, so we can deal with him more safely.”

“Good idea.”

They praised Seyeon. The problem was that the fake was listening to their entire conversation.

“How stupid do you think I am!”

*Whoosh*

“Waaah!”

“Hehe. Since it’s come to this, I’ll make things difficult for you till the end.”

If the fake escaped outside, it would be extremely problematic. As soon as two of them stepped back to create a proper shield, the fake took advantage of the weakened encirclement and swung his hammer violently.

The space was cramped, and there wasn’t enough room to swing their tools without risking friendly fire.

Yet individually confronting him was risky too, since they had similar strength, and the fake had the best tool—a hammer—which could potentially break through their defenses.

After several minutes of this awkward standoff, Subin, the brain of the party, gritted her teeth and offered a desperate solution.

“Let’s bury him.”

“…What?”

“Yuri and Seyeon, try to hold off that rampaging fake somehow. The rest, follow me.”

As everyone except Yuri and Seyeon retreated at Subin’s order, the fake predictably went berserk, swinging his hammer.

“What are you plotting now!”

“Fakes should stay quietly in the corner! Seyeon unnie!”

“Yes! Got i—ugh.”

Seyeon was holding a shovel, and Yuri a pickaxe. These tools could be quite destructive if wielded properly, but that was difficult. Moreover, they were useless for defense.

But through sheer grit and know-how, Seyeon and Yuri somehow blocked and deflected the fake’s fierce attacks. They didn’t know what Subin meant by “bury him,” but they trusted their respected sister and wielded their shovel and pickaxe with almost acrobatic skill.

However, there was a difference in power between someone attacking with all their might, knowing they’d be doomed otherwise, and those trying to defend, and the difference in tools couldn’t be ignored.

Finally, when Seyeon’s shovel handle broke with a crack—

“Move…!”

“Move!”

Coincidentally, the fake’s and Subin’s voices and words overlapped.

And when the fake, sweating profusely from swinging the hammer, pushed past Seyeon and Yuri, what he saw was a wave of furniture.

“Bury him completely!”

“Seyeon! Yuri! Help us too!!”

“Uwaaaaah!!!”

Beds, desks, drawers, tables, chairs—all the heavy, bulky furniture in the house had been gathered into one pile and was being pushed forward to bury the fake. It was a simple yet brute-force plan.

“This is insane!”

The fake was clearly flustered. Whether those emotions and expressions were also fake was unclear, but what mattered was that the fake was panicking. While the fake was bewildered, he was swept up by the wave of furniture and pushed back into the corner where he had been holding out.

“I! I think I’m going to disappear like this!!”

The belatedly enraged fake made loud noises from inside, but in such a confined space where he couldn’t even extend his arms properly, there seemed to be nothing he could do.

“Puhahaha! What can you do no matter how angry you get~”

“So that’s what ‘bury him’ meant.”

“Phew. Everyone worked hard.”

Even though dwarves were somewhat strong, they couldn’t match their original specs, and their short stature made it difficult. Still, apart from the noise, they had successfully isolated the fake, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“But Subin unnie.”

“Yes?”

“How do we deal with that? We need to kill him eventually, but we can’t even touch him like this.”

“Yuri. It’s Subin unnie. Do you think she would act rashly without thinking it through?”

“True. I admit it.”

“A three-second admission is still an admission.”

After catching her breath, Yuri pointed out the problem, but Arang dismissed her concerns, saying there was nothing to worry about since it was Subin’s strategy.

“No. I acted hastily because it was urgent.”

“…Eh?”

“U-unnie?”

But Subin herself cut the defense in half.

“I’ll break through! These mere pieces of furniture, I’ll destroy them all!!”

The furniture was gradually shifting, the fake was still raging inside, and they didn’t know when the time limit would expire.

Subin had spoken so casually that the other five hoped it was just a joke to lighten the mood, but…

“I really don’t have a plan. I just bought us time to think safely.”

“Ah, I see.”

Looking at the chaotic house, the dwarves’ faces appeared exhausted. They were actually tired. But they couldn’t rest. Despite the unusual situation, they were still in the middle of a demon raid.

“Subin.”

“Yes, Yehyun unnie?”

“I was thinking, if we carefully remove just the furniture on top without collapsing everything… wouldn’t that create an opening?”

“Ah. Ah. Ah! Yehyun unnie. You’re a genius.”

“Ah, hahaha. The fact that you understood immediately means you would have thought of it soon too, Subin.”

Some dwarves were blankly staring at the pile of furniture or fidgeting with their tools. Seeing this, Subin was silently agonizing when Yehyun approached and whispered her idea. Subin immediately grasped the intention before Yehyun finished and, rather than berating herself for not thinking of something so simple, decided to share the information with her party members and implement it right away.

Remove the top, create an opening.

When there’s an opening, the fake becomes visible.

Smash or stab the fake’s head from above, or deal with him somehow.

Yehyun’s simple yet clear plan was unanimously approved.

The issue was execution.

They had managed to pile the furniture into the corner through sheer strength, but they were all short because they were dwarves.

And the furniture pile wasn’t properly stacked—it could collapse at any moment, potentially injuring party members.

Even if they managed to climb up safely, they’d need to remove the furniture on top, and then deal with the fake from an unstable position.

That’s when one dwarf stepped forward.

“Sisters.”

“Arang?”

“I’m the lightest, so I’ll try somehow.”

The expressions of the five dwarves turned bizarre.