Ch.206Putri’s Stage (10)

# 206. Putri’s Stage (10)

When Snow White safely escapes from the city and enters the forest, in the original story, animals gather around her as she wanders through the unfamiliar woods. Snow White attracts animals so well that one might wonder if she was actually a druid; this was likely a device to reveal her pure and kind heart.

Anyway, seeing Snow White crying with sadness as she faces hardship and uncertainty, the animals pledge to help her and guide her to a house deep in the forest.

That house belonged to the seven dwarfs. Finding it small and messy, she assumes it’s an orphanage, tidies it up, and then, exhausted, falls asleep on one of the dwarf beds. When the dwarfs return from their work at the mine, they’re startled to find Snow White sleeping in their bed, but after hearing her story, they take pity on her and allow her to stay.

The flow of the story was largely the same in the game.

Which meant that I had to wander around the forest until the animals gathered around me.

Go straight to the dwarfs’ house?

Such tricks wouldn’t work. The maps were completely separate, and the spot where animals appeared was randomized with each attempt, making it pointless to memorize locations.

With good luck, you could progress quickly, but with bad luck, you might wander for several minutes. With really bad luck, you might encounter predators instead of gentle animals and have to run for your life or even die.

So, what about me, trapped in this game?

‘What else can I do? Ugh, why is this so creepy?’

First, there was quite a distance from the city to the forest itself. I barely reached the forest after walking hard on my frail legs, but realizing this was just the beginning made it truly depressing. At least there was only one forest here, which was fortunate.

“I miss them…”

Had becoming a delicate woman made my heart weak too? My chest ached, my limbs trembled, and my feet felt like they were being torn apart, but the hardest part was the loneliness.

Beyond how much help we gave each other, just how much strength their very existence gave me…

Their captivating faces and figures that I never tired of seeing, their pleasant voices, their kind personalities without any rough edges, their caring and trusting gazes, and their warmth that comforted me.

From start to finish, I realized inside Snow White’s body that without them, not just the game conquest but life itself would fail—the thought made me laugh bitterly.

‘Keep walking…’

I couldn’t rest for long. If I rested too long and my legs and feet completely gave out, I wouldn’t be able to walk anymore. Even now, I could fall asleep within 10 seconds if I lay down, but that wouldn’t just risk facial paralysis—it could be fatal.

Additionally, since I hadn’t packed anything to keep myself light, I had to finish this quickly. Snow White lived so poorly that there wasn’t much to bring anyway.

I picked up a sharp stone and marked trees or rocks at regular intervals, just in case. Getting lost was inevitable, but if I left marks, I could avoid wasting effort by going down the same paths again.

‘I seriously wish I had PreLaw Wiki right now.’

With Subin’s memory, who had memorized even mountain paths, I wondered if she could map this forest in real-time instead of using my primitive method.

Woo- guguguguk-

Peeyu- pipipipipit-

As if mocking my thoughts, bird calls sounded from somewhere. The timing was so perfect that I felt annoyed for a moment, but thinking that friendly animals might be nearby gave me a bit of strength.

“Putri, you bastard!”

**

After Arang shouted that she had killed the impostor, the others quickly dismantled the pile of furniture.

What they saw afterward was a corpse that had turned pale from excessive blood loss and Arang covered in blood.

“W-what do we do…”

“Arang?”

“He still hasn’t come back… what do we do?”

“Stay calm. Judging by that guy’s reaction, we definitely didn’t kill the real one.”

Subin approached, ignoring the pool of blood, and patted Arang’s shoulder. Soon the others came over to comfort or praise Arang. As her expression improved slightly, Subin, who had been thinking with her arms crossed, began giving orders.

“Let’s clean up the house first. We need to wipe away all the bloodstains, put the furniture back, and fix anything that’s broken.”

“It shouldn’t be too clean. You know. Not a pigsty, but moderately dirty. So Snow White will have something to tidy up when she arrives.”

“What? The bloodstains won’t come out completely? Ah, that’s problematic… Oh, let’s rearrange the furniture. We’ll cover it with furniture.”

“What about the broken shovel handle? Let’s keep it for now, not throw it away. We’ll try to fix it if we have tools.”

It’s practically an axiom of fantasy that dwarfs are strong and good with their hands. Under Subin’s direction, they quickly restored the house that had been in chaos.

Except for the impostor’s corpse, which still hadn’t revived.

“Maybe we killed him the wrong way.”

“Are you saying we should have restrained and strangled him?”

“There weren’t any restrictions like that in the game.”

“If we’d done that, one of us would have been seriously injured.”

“I think our response wasn’t perfect, but it was about 80% right. But if the fake’s corpse doesn’t come back to life, it all becomes meaningless.”

It was one problem after another. Putri’s malice and mischief could be felt everywhere. The dwarfs gathered together, racking their brains to figure out what they had missed or done wrong.

“At least I think we had no problem identifying the fake.”

“Then the issue is how to expel the fake.”

“Even if we know the problem… originally the fake would revive on its own after being killed, how are we supposed to resurrect it?”

“I’m sorry…”

“No, no! I’m not saying you did anything wrong, Arang! If it had been me, I would have split his head in half, but you killed him much more cleanly. Right?”

They were going in circles.

“No matter how evil Putri is, he wouldn’t include unfair elements in the stage. Surely, surely we missed something or triggered a trap. Let’s think carefully again. Don’t overlook even the smallest detail.”

“Tsk…”

At Subin’s strong insistence, the others couldn’t argue and followed her suggestion to retrace their memories. They had no alternatives anyway. But nothing was nothing. Being asked to find what they did wrong when they hadn’t done anything wrong was like the absurdity from a military story Sunghyun had once mentioned in passing…

“Ah.”

“Ah? Arang, what is it?”

“Unnie! Did you remember something?”

“Ah. Well…”

“Shh. Everyone quiet except Arang.”

When Arang tried to say something, Subin silenced the others who had gotten excited. With all eyes on her, Arang, who had shrunk back, began to share something that had been bothering her, hoping against hope.

“Just before I killed the fake, he seemed to be trying to say something.”

“What did he say? As exactly as possible, without missing a single word. Include what you said too, if anything.”

“My words too? Hmm… I think it went like this.”

– Aaaaargh!!!

– ….

– Gurgle, this, this can’t be! I can’t, disappear like this!

– Die. Fake.

– Ugh, huk, puhuk.

– Don’t make those sounds with Sunghyun oppa’s voice. It makes me really want to kill you.

– I, I am.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“Hmm.”

“Hey, Subin. Doesn’t this just sound like a final struggle?”

“I think so too. It sounds like he was just babbling anything in his death throes.”

“If there’s something unsettling, it’s that last part… but he’s already dead.”

After hearing Arang’s words, they felt there might be something there, but judged it wasn’t enough to break through this situation.

“If he doesn’t revive like this, we’ll be six dwarfs instead of seven…”

“Will the stage still progress?”

“Since the dwarfs are supporting characters, I don’t think it will end right here…”

Failing to identify the fake would definitely lead to a bad ending. But when the fake was identified, users had never failed to deal with them, so this situation was clearly an irregular among irregulars, and naturally, no one had experienced it before.

“Let’s wait a bit longer, and if nothing happens, we’ll just have to proceed.”

“I guess that’s all we can do…”

“Then what about the corpse?”

“We’ll have to bury it. Just in case, we’ll place it in a coffin with air holes and bury it in ground with air holes too. That way, even if he revives later, he won’t die from lack of oxygen.”

“So, we need to make a coffin and dig a hole right now…?”

At Yehyun’s words, the dwarfs all clutched their foreheads and sighed.

“If we leave and Snow White comes in and sees that corpse while we’re gone.”

“That would be a heartwarming story.”

“…Let’s hurry. Snow White could come at any time.”

Three of the six dwarfs dismantled the most damaged piece of furniture to make a coffin, while the other three began digging a hole in a secluded spot.

“Life…”

“I miss Sunghyun…”

Sweat streamed from their eyes.