Ch.306301 – No Longer Human

“It’s absolutely filthy.”

“Hyaaak!”

NoName woke from her light sleep, reflexively yawning as she shook off the vivid nightmare from her mind.

Living as a data entity in virtual reality is always a battle with oneself.

Adella gently rubbed her lower abdomen, pinching the flesh that was neither too thin nor too plump.

Though it was morning, she wasn’t hungry at all.

She recalled the days when she first came to the VR world, happily enjoying all kinds of delicacies.

But at some point, she stopped feeling hungry and began skipping meals regularly.

She’d only slept for three hours after finishing her dawn stream, but couldn’t fall back asleep.

In the past, she sometimes spent entire days sleeping soundly in bed.

But lately, she never felt tired, so staying up for several nights in a row had become the norm.

“Sniff sniff. I don’t smell bad at all.”

Since her body didn’t get dirty, she’d grown lazy about bathing regularly.

When there’s no need, humans easily become indolent.

This applied not only to the mind but to the body as well.

She suddenly feared that suppressing most of her basic human desires might eventually cause her to lose her humanity.

‘Even astronauts exercise regularly when they’re in space.’

Three meals a day, seven hours of sleep.

Adella firmly resolved to live a more structured life from now on.

“I guess I’ll take a shower first.”

Adella stripped off her clothes while glancing at the wall where the beam projector was displaying an image.

NoName had installed a camera connecting to the real world so Adella wouldn’t feel lonely.

Through the wall, she could see NoName’s flat chest rising and falling as she slept peacefully.

Adella stared at this still insurmountable wall for a long time before turning back toward the bathtub.

* * *

Beep-!

Beep beep-!

Beep beep beep beep-!

Beeeeeeeeeep-

[Casting: Circuit Reconfiguration]

Beeeeeee…

It’s always too much effort to get up and reach the clock, so I always turn off the alarm this way.

Having such a spacious room can be problematic sometimes.

“Yaaawn…”

My day starts at 8 AM, a bit later than most people’s.

More precisely, 8 AM is when I become aware that I’ve woken up, and it takes me a little time to reorganize my memories.

‘It’s been a long time since I beheaded the Demon King, and even longer since I beheaded the Emperor…’

Having such vivid memories of my treasonous past often makes me confused about the current date.

I close my eyes and try to remember what time I fell asleep yesterday.

“3 AM… yaaawn, no wonder I’m tired…”

Yesterday’s conversations with people were so enjoyable that I was secretly on my phone until 3 AM, hiding under my blanket from Professor Cheon.

It was a bittersweet farewell, but overall a satisfying day.

When I announced I was leaving the “Lonely NoName Room,” fans swarmed like zombies.

Fortunately, I managed to survive by tossing five photos as bait.

[Adella: Currently Online]

The friend window on the side of the capsule shows a green light.

I can check whether Adella is awake by her online/offline status.

“Don’t tell me she pulled another all-nighter?”

She was still streaming that zombie game when I went to bed.

To check if she’d turned into a living corpse, I opened the capsule entrance to start automatic ventilation and disinfection.

To wake myself up fully, I went to the living room and spun around clockwise. The morning sunlight was gentle.

Professor Cheon seemed to have left early for an important meeting with the Raon Clan.

He hasn’t been working much lately because he’s been hanging out with me.

‘Oh right. The potion pills.’

I quickly ran to the kitchen and took the pills from the refrigerator.

The problem is that whenever I’m with Adella, all my daily plans get disrupted.

Once I go in, I never know when I’ll come out, so I took the potion in advance and slipped into the capsule.

“Nom.”

A tingling sensation spread through my mouth.

Despite taking it every day, the taste still made me want to curse.

[Private Room]

[NoName and Adella’s Home]

Shwoooosh-

As soon as I opened the front door, I heard the sound of running water from the right.

“You’re showering? That’s unusual?”

Adella basically had the mindset of a medieval lower-class citizen, and she was definitely not a water-loving cat.

My constant nagging about bathing regularly was to help her develop good habits for when she eventually obtained a physical body.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Suddenly, Adella’s shrill scream echoed from inside the bathroom.

My heart sank at the sound.

“What? What’s happening!”

Structurally, nothing serious can happen in virtual reality.

Conversely, if something serious did happen, there would be no way to resolve it.

‘I hope it’s not data collision causing her consciousness to be lost…!’

That should never happen in an open world, but there’s always that one-in-a-million chance.

I dashed to the bathroom and flung the door open as if I was going to break it down.

“Adella!”

In the well-ventilated modern bathroom, there was no steam at all.

Apricot-colored skin gleaming with moisture, curves accentuated at the chest and hips, and a silver tail flicking playfully.

Adella was gripping her toothbrush with both hands, foam flying from her mouth as she passed out…

No, she was belting out a song.

“Waaaaaaah! Faster than a bullet! Terrifying scream! Huh? Kyaaaah! What are you doing? Close the door!”

“Haaa… I’m the fool for worrying.”

I never thought something like this movie cliché would happen to me.

I was so dumbfounded that I just stood there watching.

“Heep!”

Is she finally feeling some shame?

Adella peeked out with a reddened face, covering her private parts with the shower curtain.

“Please close the door, sis… I’m taking a shower for once…!”

* * *

Adella vigorously dried her hair with a towel.

Water droplets scattered everywhere, even hitting my face.

I shifted my hips on the bed to move further away from her.

“Death metal? That screaming is supposed to be singing?”

“Hey, that’s my preference! Respect it, please?”

Whiiiiirr-

She surrendered herself to the hairdryer’s wind, shaking her head back and forth non-stop.

That rock spirit or whatever it is must have possessed her soul.

“What were you doing yesterday? Why didn’t you answer my calls?”

“Ah! I was streaming! I’m a busy person now!”

“You could have at least told me that. I thought you were mad at me for something.”

Adella crawled onto the bed and put her hands on my shoulders.

She sniffed around, smelling behind my ears and rubbing her cheeks against mine.

Did those Walpurgis people combine a cat brain with hers too?

That suspicion sprouted in my mind as her behavior was quite far from that of a civilized person.

“Hehehe. How was it, sis?”

“How was what?”

“You peeked at my body. Did you find my chest pretty? The one you don’t have? Did you feel any fluttery emotions?”

“Not at all.”

“That’s a liiiie! Your eyes were trembling like a deer’s! It gave me goosebumps how lesbian you looked! Oh, maybe you’re too young to know what a lesbian is, nyahaha!”

“Stop making things up. You’re the one who was embarrassed.”

She seems to be trying to shift the blame to me because she feels awkward.

“I’m well past the age of attaching meaning to lumps of organic matter.”

Stretch-

After I kept ignoring her, Adella pinched my cheek and pulled it.

“Mmrghh.”

When this silly cat grinned widely, her sharp canines poked out from under her lips.

“Hmm… maybe not? On second thought, living in your body might not be so bad.”

“What?”

“A juvenile offender? Isn’t that what you are? A world where everyone forgives you no matter how you live. Hehe, how nice that must be. In my awful world, I’d get stoned for stealing.”

“Do you think our world is GTA? It just means you can’t be legally punished, but there are so many cyber vigilantes.”

“Gasp! So I can’t go into the women’s bath and touch the butts of those curvy ladies?”

“Of course not. And no one would let you touch them anyway.”

Public baths are hard to find in Korea these days, what is she even talking about?

Adella hung her head as if deflated.

‘Is she really going to be able to function as a human out there?’

The current Adella is exposed to too many stimulating and sensual pleasures.

She plays provocative games and could easily be swayed by viewer donations without having established her own principles.

Above all, the biggest problem is that she’s living in virtual reality where she can temporarily forget her human obligations.

As someone with direct experience, I can tell that in about three years, she’ll feel like Crown Prince Sado with centipedes crawling over her body.

I’m not saying she should live like an ascetic monk, but instilling proper values is necessary.

“Adella.”

“Sis.”

We called each other simultaneously.

“You go first, sis.”

“No, you go first.”

“Well. I’ve been trying to go back to my roots lately.”

“Your roots?”

She couldn’t have eaten something wrong.

Adella wrapped her arms around me in what was almost, but not quite, a back hug.

“Our viewers want me to use cat-speak. So I gave them what they wanted. ‘I like-nya.’ ‘What-nya.’ ‘Wanna die-nya.’ Something like that.”

“Okay. And?”

“Then suddenly I felt at peace. I’ve been feeling really down lately. No appetite. Can’t sleep. This month might be a new record. I haven’t eaten anything for over a week, and I’ve barely slept seven hours in a week.”

I pondered for a moment.

Bodily responses in virtual reality are linked to one’s actual body.

This is to immediately recognize physical crises and maintain health and safety.

But what happens to Adella, who doesn’t have a real body?

“I’ve been trying to live more like a human recently. Trying to sleep seven hours. Forcing myself to eat foods I like.”

Satisfying physiological needs leads to pleasure.

But Adella doesn’t have that.

This was a serious issue to consider, depending on the severity.

“Adella, what’s your daily routine like? What do you do when you can’t sleep?”

“Me? Umm… I stream for about six hours. Then I play games for another four hours. Planning content with Yoonsul and Niel takes about two hours.”

“That’s only 12 hours though?”

“Walking… yeah, I go for walks or shopping for an hour or two! And I study from those workbooks you gave me for two hours every day.”

“And?”

“Umm… VTubing for about eight hours?”

“Eight hours?”

“Yeah…”

[▶Adella (Cat of Dawn)]

I pulled Adella’s status window toward me.

“Give me your phone. No, give me your account.”

“No! Wait! Privacy should be respected! Even you can’t do this!”

“Acting like that makes you more suspicious. Hand it over while I’m asking nicely.”

“Aaaah! No! No no no! It’s Adella’s!”

Her tantrum and wailing didn’t make me blink an eye.

[system: Run as administrator]

[Warning: This action will be executed with administrator privileges.]

[Retrieving account of object ‘Adella’]

[Viewing 24h screen time]

[V-Tube: 7 hours 25 minutes]

“Wow, here’s why you can’t sleep? How can you sleep living such an idle life?”

“Heeeng…”

“Wait, what else is there?”

[Metflix: 3h]

Her days aren’t empty at all.

In fact, Adella is living a full life of leisure to the point where she doesn’t have enough time to study.

She has her priorities backward.

It’s like saying ‘I need to play but studying is distracting me.’

And she’s complaining about not being able to sleep or having no appetite?

“When did you subscribe to this paid service?”

“Since you made the account for me…”

“What have you been watching? Fifty Shades of Black?”

“Ah, that’s!”

Adella got off the bed and blocked the screen from my view.

“I’ve lived a shy life…”

I don’t even need to look to know there’s a big red 19+ label on it.

While Twissy might be for her personal broadcasts, her internet usage was also substantial.

I pushed her face away with my foot and channeled my inner Sherlock Holmes to thoroughly examine her internet history.

Adella gave up and prostrated herself on the floor in a dogeza.

Her two ears folded back.

“I just wanted to understand human life…”

“What on earth… huh!”

[pornhub.com]

[hitomi.la]

There’s no room for defense.

I’ll pass judgment.

“Defendant Adella. Sentence: One week at Giga Study Boarding Academy. Reason: Dopamine addiction.”

* * *

[Adella Ch. | 34K followers]

[Meowllo everyone! Adella has an announcement-nya! Adella needs to return to Safari World for a week to study for a digital video editing certification-nya! So I’ll shake this banannya like this, won’t any of you come rescue me? Please I beg you, RaCatMom everyone ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ]

There was once a private education academy that belatedly fulfilled the dream of Chinese forces who once sought to conquer all of South Korea.

They had conquered even virtual reality, cutting off all escape routes for test-takers.

Adella was led away by assistants wearing red caps.

“Wake up, hero.”

“Eek…! Where am I? Who am I?”

“Get up, it’s self-study time.”

The study room was packed with desks side by side.

Adella wondered why they built such a prison-like environment when virtual reality offered plenty of space, but sadly, there was no one to answer her question.

She sat at her desk, holding an unfamiliar pen, and immersed herself in certification textbooks.

Unlike reading webtoons or web novels, the squiggly letters didn’t register well in her mind.

Growl-

Using her brain made her hungry.

The growling sound came like an auditory hallucination, and Adella clutched her stomach.

She gracefully walked over to a red-capped assistant and asked about lunch time.

“You mean break time? There’s still four hours left.”

“F-four hours?”

Eight in the morning.

She had already studied for two whole hours with bloodshot eyes, yet time crawled by disgustingly slowly.

Now she was starting to feel sleepy.

‘Wait, I’m feeling sleepy? I’m sleepy!’

“Could it be that sis planned this…”

NoName had it all figured out.

Adella smiled happily and crossed her arms, resting her head on them.

“Student 1042.”

“…”

“Student 1042, please wake up. This is self-study time. Sleeping is not permitted.”

“Heeng… why… why?”

Without understanding why, she was forcibly made to sit up by the assistants and hold her pen again.

Not being able to look at her familiar screen made her hands and feet tremble and tears stream down her face. Clear withdrawal symptoms.

One hour for lunch.

Then five hours of self-study.

One hour for dinner.

Another five hours of self-study.

Only then could Adella recall what NoName had said just before she entered:

[Ah- this is what we call student life. What every high school student in South Korea must go through.]

Perhaps obtaining a physical body could be postponed a little longer.

After all, Adella’s current age was that of a high school senior.