Pain

To enter the virtual world, you need a connector.

When using a connector, most of the senses in the original body are blocked. But pain is still felt.

The reason is simple.

It’s to prevent people using the connector even when their body hurts, and to allow them to notice sudden abnormalities in their body.

However, there is a connector that can prevent even that pain from being felt.

It’s the connector [MDB] that Arang-i is using.

As it’s a connector made for terminally ill patients in pain, [MDB] blocks all senses of the body 24 hours a day.

As a result, it allows them to die without feeling any pain until their final moments.

But the situation has changed for the [MDB] that Arang-i is using.

You might think [MDB] is an almighty connector, but [MDB] also has side effects.

If the senses of the body are completely blocked for 24 hours, no matter how amazing the human brain is, the senses of the body will inevitably disappear.

After Arang-i regained consciousness, she somehow regained her health and didn’t feel pain, so I turned off all the blocking functions of [MDB] and made her feel only pain.

This decision was made to reduce the side effects of [MDB] for Arang-i and to facilitate rehabilitation training for her prosthetic hands and feet.

With all the sensory blocking functions of [MDB] turned off, Arang-i experienced pain for the first time and slid coolly across the floor, falling flat on her face.

Pinku Berry was taken aback by Arang-i’s sudden collapse and pulled her in with a rescue skill.

The [Mind-Controlled Orc]’s axe attack slammed into the bare floor.

,Arang-ah?”

Pinku Berry felt something was wrong with Arang-i, who wasn’t responding at all.

Arang-i naturally makes mistakes while playing Leore. But Arang-i was someone who quickly assessed the situation and got back up, not just doing nothing because she made a mistake.

But Arang-i was limp in her arms like a person whose soul had left their body.

-Dalgeurak.

The two daggers Arang-i was holding fell powerlessly.

,Arang-ah!”

Pinku Berry urgently turned Arang-i’s body to check her condition.

,Arang-ah…!? “

Empty eyes. Not a trace of vitality, and empty eyes that felt like they would drag you into the abyss just by making eye contact.

It was Arang-i from reality.

Arang-i is brighter than anyone else in Leore and enjoys playing Leore. But that Arang-i became the same as her state in reality.

Pinku Berry, who knows all of Arang-i’s situation, realized that Arang-i’s current state was more serious than she thought.

[Uwoowoowooo!!!]

‘Ah, shit…!’

Pinku Berry was so focused on Arang-i’s condition that she forgot she was in a battle situation with the [Mind-Controlled Orc].

Before she knew it, the [Mind-Controlled Orc] had reached Pinku Berry and was bringing down its axe.

==

Living as Arang-i, I had never felt like I was going to die.

Pain, even when using my abilities, was just a slight headache? That was the extent of the pain, I had never really felt true pain.

But with a sudden stomach ache that felt genuinely painful, I momentarily lost control of my body.

The problem was what came next.

Falling to the floor was a problem that could be solved by getting up. But it was difficult to move my body due to the unexpected pain.

Having lived for so long without knowing the sensation of pain, it was difficult to regain my senses when I suddenly became aware of it.

What’s the difference between me and Arang-i?

It’s pain.

Suffering from a rare disease that no one knew about, and going through the worst situation of terrible pain and having her arms and legs cut off, Arang-i lived in pain.

Arang-i gave up her life, her mind, and her emotions to escape that pain.

After that, I entered the dead Arang-i.

My original mind and Arang-i’s mind harmoniously melted together, and I was recovering thanks to the warm attention and love around me.

But with the sudden extreme pain, I felt that the emotions of Arang-i, who had the disease, were coming out.

Pinku Berry is pulling me in with a skill and shouting my name.

I can see Pinku Berry’s face. And behind her, I can see the orc’s axe.

The [Mind-Controlled Orc] is a field monster, but since it’s being controlled by the final raid boss, it’s a field monster, but its strength is higher than other monsters.

No matter how much Pinku Berry is currently armed with the latest equipment, Pinku Berry is a healer. She can’t withstand the [Mind-Controlled Orc]’s attack unscathed.

I immediately got up from Pinku Berry’s arms, picking up the daggers with both hands that were lying on the floor.

The parry I failed earlier.

With a body faster than usual, I entered the orc’s arms, and this time, instead of one dagger, I used two to swing them in a crisscross pattern towards the part of the axe with the least killing power, the shaft.

Kaaang!!!

A clean and cheerful sound.

It was a perfect parry.

Due to the effect of the perfect parry, the orc was stunned and I was not.

An attack speed twice as fast as [Soma], and extreme multitasking that requires using skills with each of the two daggers, instead of using only one skill like [Soma].

But now it felt easy.

I was already showing overwhelming performance in terms of physical ability, but now that physical ability was being used to its maximum potential.

The feeling now is like normally using about 60-70% of my mental capacity, and then when I use my abilities, it exceeds 100% and I feel a headache, but now it’s like I’ve erased all the unnecessary emotions from Arang-i’s emotions, so I’m only using 10% of my mental capacity and my mental capacity feels overwhelmingly lighter.

All of the [Mind-Controlled Orc]’s movements are visible. The movement of its muscles. The gaze of where it’s aiming.

At the same time, I can feel everything about my body.

How to reduce the pre-delay and post-delay of skills, which skill to use now, how to attack, everything flowed smoothly.

There was no hesitation or waste of even 0.01 seconds in switching from regular stance to reverse stance, and from reverse stance to regular stance.

Before the orc’s stun wore off, I slashed the orc’s body with a crazy attack speed.

==

Arang-i suddenly got up from my arms and took down the [Mind-Controlled Orc] in an instant.

I thought Arang-i had thankfully returned, but when Arang-i turned around after killing the [Mind-Controlled Orc], there was no change from the way she looked earlier.

Empty eyes. Eyes like a living corpse were staring at me.

,Arang-ah, are you okay…!? “

I quickly approached Arang-i.

,Are you okay, Unnie*?”

,Ugh…!”

I got goosebumps all over my body at Arang-i’s voice.

It was definitely Arang-i’s voice… but it wasn’t Arang-i’s voice. It was a depressed, gloomy, and dark voice, not the cute and lively voice that I was used to hearing.

,I’m okay! Arang-i is the problem! Arang-ah, are you really okay? Does it hurt somewhere? I’m worried about Arang-i’s condition right now…!”

If a normal person did this, I would just think they were putting on a persona? But Arang-i is different.

She has a rare disease, and although her condition has improved, it’s a disease that suddenly appeared and suddenly got better, so I was scared thinking that Arang-i’s disease might have relapsed because I don’t know when it will relapse.

‘Should I contact Anna Unnie* right now…!? “

,It hurts.”

,I, it hurts…!? W, where does it hurt! Does it hurt a lot!?”

,Yeah. It hurts a lot…”

,Log out right now! I’ll contact Anna Unnie* and the doctor Unnie*!”

,It feels like something is flowing down…”

I immediately sent an emergency call message to Anna Unnie* and Arang-i’s doctor, Hye-sun Unnie*, and I was also going to log out and go to the hospital where Arang-i is.

But I felt something familiar with the words Arang-i said while covering her stomach with her hands.

,Flowing down…?”

,Yeah… it feels like my stomach is stabbing… it hurts…”

,Ah…”

The moment I heard that, I realized why Arang-i was in pain.

,Arang-ah, log out right now and Anna Unnie* and the doctor Unnie* will be here soon, okay? So just wait in Arang-i’s room for a little bit. Okay?”

,Yeah…”

As soon as I saw Arang-i log out, I also logged out.

I immediately turned off the connector and got out of bed, and immediately called Anna Unnie*.

==

Hye-sun, Arang-i’s doctor, was taking a break at home after handing over her work to her junior.

Arang-i spends most of her time in Leore, and the remaining time is spent sleeping, one hour of rehabilitation training, and bathing, but being in the hospital 24 hours a day is quite difficult.

So Hye-sun also entrusted her work to her trustworthy junior one day a week and was resting at home.

But then an alarm went off on her phone.

It wasn’t just a simple phone alarm, it was a warning alarm. And that alarm was only related to Arang-i.

Hye-sun urgently turned on her phone.

There was an emergency call from Pinku Berry Hayan, who spends almost the whole day with Arang-i in Leore and checks Arang-i’s condition in Leore.

Emergency call number 1.

That meant Arang-i was feeling pain.

She had asked Hayan to take good care of Arang-i in preparation for any possible events, as she was turning off all the sensory blocking functions of [MDB] for rehabilitation training.

But this time, Hayan pressed the emergency call.

Hye-sun immediately called her junior who was currently in Arang-i’s building.

[Yes, Senior.]

,Is there a signal from [MDB] right now!?”

[Uh, uh? No, there isn’t. It’s just the level you always see when you’re fighting in Leore.]

Hye-sun’s junior was flustered by her shout, but quickly checked the signals of the various medical devices connected to [MDB].

,Go directly to Arang-i right now and check Arang-i’s physical condition first!”

[Yes!]

As soon as she finished the call, Hye-sun immediately finished preparing to go out and got into her car, calling Hayan to check what was going on with Arang-i.