Underground

,Ugh… The smell is awful… What on earth is this smell?’

Following the criminal’s footprints with her Search skill, Shueri blocked her nose with her hand as she descended underground.

‘Is there even anything here? No, there has to be. That’s why this person kept going in here.’

Contrary to her expectation that she would soon find something that could be called a base, Shueri thought something was wrong as she continued to go deeper.

‘It feels like I’m just going around in circles.’

Clearly, the footprints from her Search skill continue, but the path never seems to end.

‘Illusion? Stealth?’

Many things came to mind, but as she was contemplating how to deal with this situation, she heard someone walking behind her.

Shueri quickly hid in a corner, grabbed her staff with both hands, and began casting a spell.

The spell she was casting was a paralysis spell.

Thinking that she should paralyze the opponent and gather information, Shueri started casting, and as the sound approached right in front of her, she leaned out and aimed her staff, using the magic.

Paang!

,Eh?’

Shueri’s mouth dropped open as the magic bounced off despite the sudden attack at such a short distance of about 1 meter, and she quickly tried to run away.

,Oh? It’s Seongnyeo (Saintess) Eonni (older sister)!’

The voice she had heard earlier.

The person coming from behind was none other than Arang.

All of the world boss’s charisma was gone, and the innocent and cute Arang-i was standing there holding a one-handed sword.

,Oh! Seongnyeo (Saintess) Eonni’s (older sister) everyday outfit is so damn se- Mmph!’

Shueri was surprised by Arang’s sudden appearance, but she quickly covered Arang’s mouth.

This was because there was another set of footsteps besides the ones she thought were Arang’s.

With her mouth blocked, Arang blinked at Shueri’s gesture, which didn’t feel hostile or malicious.

With Arang’s mouth still covered, Shueri picked Arang up in her arms and hid back in the corner.

Teobeok. Teobeok.

The sound getting closer and closer.

Determined to paralyze the opponent this time, Shueri supported Arang’s bottom with one hand as if holding a baby, and began casting paralysis with her remaining hand.

Just as the footsteps came right in front of her, she activated the paralysis skill.

,Kkeueueueueueukㅡ!?’

A man who looked like he was saying, “I’m a criminal,” was trembling all over and collapsed to the ground.

,Wh- Who… are… you…’

Aiming her staff at the criminal who couldn’t make a loud noise due to the paralysis, Shueri asked the criminal in a trembling voice.

,H-How do I get further in here, here!?’

==

,She bit it, she bit it.’

I almost burst out laughing at the sight of Shueri, who was holding me, speaking in a trembling voice and seemingly biting her tongue, but I barely managed to hold it in.

Shueri.

I learned today that there’s a user like this.

When I heard that the Second World Miko (shrine maiden) had awakened, I honestly thought she would be one of the skilled users.

But what do you know, a user who wasn’t even listed in the Leore logs awakened and became a Seongnyeo (Saintess).

Come to think of it, the Miko (shrine maiden) isn’t chosen by the administrator based on fighting ability, but rather they pick someone they want to be the Miko (shrine maiden).

In the first place, the role of Miko (shrine maiden) is just a user representative, I’m just being weird.

It’s not like a UFC fighter becomes president.

After looking into Shueri, I think I know why the administrator chose this user as the Miko (shrine maiden).

After looking through the posts about Shueri in the gallery, her personality is just that of a Seongnyeo (Saintess) herself.

When I saw the posts about her giving food to the NPCs who are starving every day in Leore and healing them, I honestly thought, “Is she crazy?”

No matter how much Leore is another world that’s the same as reality, in the end, a game is a game.

That level of kindness to NPCs who aren’t even important NPCs, who don’t even give quests or items.

Her RP is definitely solid.

And I don’t dislike users like that.

Who would hate someone who works hard for someone else in the first place?

Her favorability is negative in the combat department, but her favorability went up because she’s a good person herself.

The only disappointing thing is her chest size, I guess.

‘No. My standards are weird because I’ve been with Emma for so long recently. When viewed on average, this user Shueri is also on the busty side.’

I was slightly taken aback when I met Shueri at the place I arrived at through Yesol’s information in order to dig up the secrets about the Second World Administrator Miko (shrine maiden), which I had been putting off after winning the war event.

On top of that, she suddenly covered my mouth and even picked me up in her arms.

Shueri looks like a Chinese user at first glance.

I’m not saying this in a bad way, but as a compliment.

A slender figure rather than a voluptuous one, with long legs and a figure that goes well with a pure white qipao that fits snugly.

Her neatly arranged updo and the hairpin that holds it in place make you think of her as the quintessential Chinese beauty.

The AI that manages Leore right now gave me a quest to kill Shueri, but I just closed the quest window.

I’ll have to think more about whether or not to kill her while I’m in Shueri’s arms.

It feels a little lonely to explore this place alone, so it would be perfect to move around with Shueri.

What’s more, I don’t even need to move myself, I have a feeling Shueri will give me a ride.

I’ll just have to give her instructions from Shueri’s arms.

,Do… you think… I’ll… tell you…?’

,I, If you don’t talk, I, I’ll hit you!’

,Keuheuk… Kill… me…’

,Ugh… W-What should I do?’

Does she have a nuisance Seongnyeo (Saintess) personality instead of just a Seongnyeo (Saintess) personality?

I was going to try to pick my nose without using my hands while keeping my face against Shueri’s chest, but at this rate, there’s no hope.

I jumped off Shueri’s body and walked in front of the man who had collapsed from paralysis.

,Arang-nim?’

Seureuk.

Black liquids began to bubble up from the empty space and enter me.

I held a dagger instead of a one-handed sword and stabbed one of the man’s fingers as it was.

I’m not 19 years old yet, I’m 16, so no blood comes out and the severed finger just shows a game effect, so it doesn’t seem painful.

,Kkeuaaaaakㅡ! Keuheu!’

I stepped on the screaming criminal’s mouth to stop him.

==

,Hicㅡ!’

Arang, who was in her arms, transformed into the world boss Arang and began to brutally torture the criminal.

,I, Is this okay…?’

Basically, users don’t feel pain in Leore. All sensations of pain are replaced with vibrations.

If your head is cut off, a knife is stabbed into your heart, or you take damage, you feel everything as vibrations.

But NPCs are different.

NPCs feel pain. That’s why torture works.

But knowing that and actually doing it are two completely different things.

Shueri feels that NPCs are people, so she never even thought about torture, but Arang recognizes NPCs as NPCs, so she had no qualms about torturing them.

,A, Arang-nim.’

Even so, it wasn’t a pretty sight to see a young child brutally torturing a man with a dagger.

,Don’t worry, Shueri-nim. I’ll make sure to get the method to break through this place from this guy’s mouth.’

,I, I’ll do it!’

Torture is quite scary, but I thought it was wrong to leave the torture to a child.

,It’s okay.’

Arang shook her head at Shueri, who had a quest to kill Shueri in front of her, and stretched out her hand according to the quest to brainwash the criminal.

Black liquid [Despair] began to pour from Arang’s hand and cover the criminal’s head.

Twitch, twitch.

Even though he was paralyzed, he squirmed like a stepped-on earthworm to remove the [Despair] that was starting to eat away at his face.

,Ugh…’

Shueri turned her head away, avoiding the sight of the scene that looked like someone being attacked by a facehugger from the SF movie Alien.

Before long, the criminal, whose entire face was covered in [Despair], was brainwashed by Arang.

,Get up.’

Seueuk.

The criminal got up, twisting his joints like a puppet.

,The method to break through this maze.’

,···················.’

As soon as she heard Arang’s words, the criminal started walking somewhere.

As soon as she saw the criminal, Arang jumped at Shueri.

,W, Woahㅡ!’

Shueri was surprised but caught Arang.

,Let’s go~’

Arang said, gesturing towards the walking criminal.

,L, Let’s go…?’

,Let’s go!’

==

,Shueri Eonni (older sister) also thinks Miko (shrine maiden) is suspicious, right?’

I thought it would take longer than expected to break through the maze, so I started talking to Shueri.

,Yeah. It’s like Miko-nim doesn’t see the citizens as citizens. At first, I was a little scared, so I didn’t know, but after meeting her a few times, I feel it from her tone and attitude… I guess you could say…’

Shueri stroked my head with a half-doubtful tone.

,It’s so creepy how she talks as if the sacrifice of the citizens is natural in order to win the war.’

Isn’t it a win-win to sacrifice NPCs to win the war?

That’s what I wanted to say, but I nodded and pretended to sympathize with Shueri’s serious expression without saying anything.

As soon as I said what I wanted to say, I’m sure I would have heard, “Are you a T-bal-C (T발C, Korean profanity)?” from around me.

But aren’t I normal?

Even if they’re AIs that are the same as people, they’re still NPCs in the end.

Even if Leore makes Leore feel like reality, it’s clearly making users aware that this place isn’t reality.

So I’m normal.

Hmm. Hmm.