episode_0065

[High-Risk Dimensional Interference Detected – Codename: ForestEcho]

[Location: ‘DN-2000’, Sector-G, Isang City, Gyeonggi Province, Republic of Korea]

[Energy Pattern Analysis: 92.8% match with the unique flora wave patterns of pre-registered dimension ‘IDN-057’ of the same lineage]

[Interference Source Undeterminable. High probability of ‘Child’ involvement]

…

[Situation Analysis Result: Risk level elevated to ‘A’. Protocol 7 activated to prevent interference spread and ascertain its cause.]

[Directive: On-site investigation and interference source identification, initiate ‘Purge’ procedure if necessary. Immediate dispatch of codenames ‘Seraph’ and ‘Kelpie’ requested.]

[Approved.]

[Coordinates transmitted. Agent dispatch procedure initiated.]

****

The city, in early May, embraced the full bloom of spring.

In the midst of the familiar city landscape.

Although it was a weekday leading up to the weekend, the streets were unusually bustling.

I too was mixed in with the noise, idly staring at the cause of the commotion.

A single tree, towering high into the sky as if it had been rooted there since ancient times.

In front of its bizarre and immense majesty, the surrounding modern buildings looked pitiful, like miniatures.

A wide police line was stretched around the tree.

Curious onlookers gathered at the intersection in front of the crosswalk, mingling with news crews, all murmuring.

And beyond that, a building with a familiar sign caught my eye.

More than half of the building was literally terribly damaged by the gigantic roots and branches, presenting an ugly sight as if it had been attacked by a monster.

That building was my workplace, where I had been normally commuting just a week ago.

It was the building for the Travel Wiz Isang Branch.

‘My workplace was destroyed as soon as I returned from a business trip!’

It had already been three days since I received this shocking news at the airport.

Due to this surreal disaster I faced immediately upon returning home, half of the company building was destroyed, making commuting impossible.

It wasn’t that the workplace itself disappeared; it had transitioned to a work-from-home setup.

However, with company system recovery and other cleanup issues, work was virtually paralyzed.

In other words.

I was currently unemployed.

Despite this, the reason I threw aside my rest and came all the way to the company building was…

due to the strong sense of déjà vu I felt the first time I saw that tree on the day of my return.

‘…I’ve definitely seen it somewhere before.’

Its sky-piercing height.

Its branches, strangely twisted as if writhing like a living creature.

The more I looked at it, the more it stimulated memories deep within my mind.

“Hey, Child, what do you think?”

Stepping away from the surrounding crowd and leaning against the quiet shade of a building, I asked the guy who was probably still observing the situation.

[What do I think about what?]

“That tree, I mean. No matter how much I think about it, it looks like the tree I saw when I possessed the ‘Elf Hypnosis’ game.”

An endlessly stretching, vast green forest.

And the elf mother and daughter I met inside it.

It keeps bothering me; I can’t just dismiss it as a hallucination.

[Hmm~.]

With a brief static sound, his smug voice echoed in my head.

“You were watching when I was possessing, so you must remember, right?”

[I don’t know? Isn’t it just a coincidence? The world is wide, and there are plenty of strangely shaped trees.]

“Alright, let’s say its appearance is a coincidence. But the timing is too strange. Headaches, static. These are all things that happened when I experienced anomalies.”

On top of that, increased immersion.

There are too many things that fit perfectly to dismiss it as a coincidence.

[Aren’t you being too sensitive? I’ve told you many times that headaches can happen as a side effect. Hallucinations too.]

“If it were just headaches or hallucinations, then maybe, but that’s a different story!”

It wouldn’t matter if only I saw a hallucination, but this is a clear real-world event, big enough to be featured heavily in the news.

What if this is a side effect of my possession or app usage?

What if this much damage happened because of it?

Miraculously, there were no casualties, but what if, just what if, someone had died due to the building damage?

[Oh, come on. I’ve told you this countless times, but there’s no proof anywhere that that tree is directly related to you. Don’t overthink it.]

He subtly dodged the core issue as always, mocking my suspicions.

[Have I ever lied to you?]

“…”

He hadn’t lied, but he had hidden important things or ambiguously glossed over them quite a bit.

Until now, trusting Child had always benefited me, so I had simply remained silent and accepted it.

[Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that this is all due to side effects. So what are you going to do?]

“…What am I going to do?”

[Worrying about side effects means giving up on possession and hypnosis. Are you going to give up everything you’ve gained so far, and the countless pleasures you could gain in the future?]

Child’s words left me speechless.

Giving up the pleasure and status gained from this ability.

I didn’t even want to imagine it.

However…

[Think positively. The building might have collapsed a bit, but no one died or got hurt, right? If something bigger happens later, it won’t be too late to quit then. Don’t you think?]

His ulterior motives were obvious, but his words weren’t wrong.

Setting aside Child’s wordplay to entice me.

I had no idea how to investigate the phenomenon currently happening.

The only one who might know, I didn’t even know his whereabouts, let alone his appearance.

In other words, there was nothing I could do in this situation.

[Alright, stop with those boring worries. The company’s on break for a few days anyway, so let’s find our next enjoyment.]

“Whew.”

I let out a deep sigh and averted my gaze from the giant tree.

For now, I’d do as he said.

Still, one thing was clear: Child was hiding something important.

From now on, I’d need to keep a close eye on that.

“Whoops!”

“Ugh?!”

After staring at the tree for a few more minutes, just as I was about to turn around and head towards my villa.

Lost in thought, I bumped shoulders with someone who was turning the corner.

The other person was a woman much shorter than me.

“Are you alright?”

“…”

When I apologized and asked, the woman, instead of answering, swept her gaze up and down me with an annoyed expression.

A striking white bob cut the moment I saw it.

Sharp eyes full of rebelliousness.

It was a quite impressive appearance, but her gaze was filled with blatant wariness and displeasure.

“Tsk.”

The woman, who had been silently staring at me, quickly clicked her tongue, then turned around without a word and disappeared with quick steps.

“What was that woman about?”

Her temper is quite prickly.

Is she a delinquent? Her sloppy fashion suggests it too.

Feeling unnecessarily annoyed, I stared in the direction the woman had disappeared, then resumed my steps towards the villa.

****

After that, I arrived at the villa without incident.

By the time I reached the front of the building, it was already dusk.

Clutching my stomach, which was starting to feel hungry, I was passing by the first-floor apartment unit to go up the stairs when…

Bang!

“Shriek!”

A loud noise resounded from inside.

It sounded like a woman’s scream.

And also like the sound of something hard bursting or breaking.

‘What is it? Did a fight break out inside?’

The first floor is Seungah’s house.

It was usually a quiet house without much noise, so it concerned me even more.

Just in case, I strained my ear to the crack in the door, but no louder sounds came out.

Come to think of it, I’ve barely run into Seungah in the hallway recently.

Although we weren’t particularly close, she was still a neighbor living in the same villa, so I was worried something might have happened.

‘But then again, it’s not right to meddle in someone else’s affairs.’

Still, as I listened closely, I could hear small snippets of conversation a few times.

Hearing that, I felt relieved and continued up the stairs towards my home.

But who was she talking to? Why was she screaming one moment and suddenly so ‘excited’ the next?

Boyfriend?

****

Climbing the stairs that always felt burdensome, I entered my home, and as always, Ms. Lizetta greeted me.

“Welcome home, Hyunsung-nim.”

“Yes, I’m back.”

Unlike her usual habit of greeting me at the entrance and attending to me, she was sitting on the sofa, intently watching something on a tablet.

Curious, I glanced over and saw a woman with a flashy 3D avatar on the screen, interacting with viewers in real-time.

A so-called VTuber stream.

“It’s a VTuber stream, isn’t it?”

When I sat down beside her and asked, she nodded.

“Yes. Hyunsung-nim, are you also aware of VTubers?”

“Not in great detail. I watched it for a bit a long time ago. Even that, I haven’t had time to watch at all since I got a job.”

Of course, playing adult games was already time-consuming enough.

Recently, I’ve been even more so, enjoying my real life in various ways.

“Since when did you become interested in VTuber streams?”

“I found out about them a few days ago.”

She replied calmly, without taking her eyes off the tablet.

“Indeed, I’ve had a lot of time alone recently, so I looked for various things to pass the time.”

So, she stumbled upon it by chance?

But why did I feel a subtle prickle in her last words?

True, recently, with nights out, overtime, and business trips, time spent at home has been rare.

“Anyway, this VTuber existence is quite interesting.”

“In what way, for example?”

“The way they hide their true selves and put forward a constructed persona to communicate with the world.”

Unlike her calm tone, her eyes seemed to hold emotions different from usual.

Could she be feeling a sense of kinship?

Although I sometimes forget, she isn’t an ordinary human, merely extremely similar in appearance.

Perhaps she’s seeing the world from a different perspective than ordinary people.

“Oh, and of course, the broadcast content itself is quite entertaining.”

She added, subtly extending the tablet screen towards me.

On the screen, the mature, older sister-type virtual avatar ‘Mocha’ I had seen earlier was skillfully eliciting viewer donations with her dazzling, seductive voice and fluent speech.

Judging by the chat reactions, she seemed to be quite popular.

“Ms. Lizetta, are you not interested in broadcasting yourself?”

“Broadcasting?”

Ms. Lizetta tilted her head at my question.

“I haven’t thought about it, but if Hyunsung-nim or Child-nim commanded me to…”

“Ahaha. I’d like to hear Ms. Lizetta’s opinion, though?”

Anyway, broadcasting, huh.

A thought suddenly crossed my mind: what if Ms. Lizetta were to broadcast?

With that level of appearance, she’d gain immense popularity even with just a cam stream, not just a VTuber one.

However, considering the internet broadcasting environment where all sorts of people come and go, I was quite reluctant to expose her to such a place.

“Oh, right. I prepared dinner for your arrival. Would you like to eat right away?”

At Ms. Lizetta’s question, which cut off my thoughts, I nodded.

Only then did the hunger I had forgotten while talking rush back to me.

“Yes, my stomach feels glued to my back.”

“I figured as much, so I prepared a meat dish.”

The fragrant smell wafting from the kitchen made my mouth water.

Now, there was no longer any doubt about Ms. Lizetta’s cooking skills.

****

After dinner, I returned to my room and lay on the bed.

From outside the door, the gentle sound of Ms. Lizetta washing dishes drifted in.

“Tomorrow’s the weekend again.”

With the project temporarily concluded.

It was free time I hadn’t had in a long time.

In the past, I would have been thinking about which game to possess next, but…

‘What should I do…’

Buzz-.

The vibration of my phone in my pocket put an end to my endless worries.

I checked it right away; it was a messenger notification.

[Jooyoung: Assistant Manager Lee? Are you free this weekend?]

[Jooyoung: If you happen to be free, how about we meet up for a while? We haven’t seen each other at all lately.]

[Jooyoung: My husband has his first day at work tomorrow, so the house will be empty. Want to come over?]

[Mina: Sunbae? What are you doing this weekend?]

[Mina: You probably don’t have anything to do anyway, so let’s have a drink for the first time in a while.]

[Mina: If you don’t like alcohol, somewhere else is fine. Anyway, let’s just meet.]

[Mina: Oh, well… if you don’t want to, then don’t. Hmph.]

As soon as I checked the messages from the two women that came one after another, a hollow laugh escaped me.

How could they both have the exact same thought, as if they had made a pact?

Furthermore, although they were making all sorts of excuses, their texts reeked of a desire to vent their sexual urges.

Meeting them one by one would be a hassle. Since it’s come to this, should I just call them both to my place?

Now, there was no particular need to hide Ms. Lizetta either.

And I was also looking forward to seeing what kind of situation would unfold if I gathered all three of them in one place.

I didn’t know what would happen, but it would certainly be an excellent change of pace.

I put down my phone and closed my eyes, a satisfied smile on my face.

My mind was complicated in many ways, but for now, I decided to focus on the pleasure of the upcoming weekend.