Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“Kim… Hyun Lee?”

“You can call me Hyun or Hyun.”

“Sorry, I’m having a little trouble pronouncing it.”

“That could be.”

Leila breathed a sigh of relief. The conversation had been flowing smoothly.

“I’m Leila, and I’m part of a lab called Cellbrossix Labs, but I don’t want to go into too much detail about the lab because it’s going to be boring.”

“And your friend next to you? I’ve never seen a researcher stick a gun in a stranger’s face before.”

“……Oops. I apologize.”

Pablo readily admitted his culpability. At least we’re talking to each other. He wasn’t armed, so it was an overreaction.

That doesn’t mean they let their guard down. Kim understood that, too.

‘He’s part of the lab. I suppose that’s true.’

However, the researcher is not here. All three, including Ghost, are combatants in the setting.

They didn’t even label themselves as researchers, but it was clear that they were consciously hiding it.

The sense of crisis is palpable. Even if it’s Riley who’s the one who’s being yelled at.

“That’s pretty fresh.

It’s not scripted, it’s the characters coming to life. As a user, it was a pleasant sensation.

“So, Mr. Hyun, you’re a survivor of Tulavia…?”

Careful questioning. Kim snorted. He answered, immersed in his setup.

“Survivors. Are you outsiders? Tulavia may be fucked up, but not everyone left, and neither did I.”

“Why? You know it’s dangerous here, you’re better off going to the city…….”

“You can see it in my face, it’s hard enough to live where I’m from, and moving is a pipe dream, because people here hate immigrants.”

“There was a neighborhood called Ulanz, which I only passed through briefly, but at first glance, it didn’t seem like immigrants like Hyun were uncommon.”

“Ulanz? Ha, that’s just a camp. Wouldn’t you rather be a wild animal than be bred like cattle there?”

Even abandoned areas are home to street rats.

Kim Yi Hyun’s outfit made the case. He looked like a lone yellow man. His hair was like a magpie’s nest because he was on the ground during the fight.

Apparently, the fiction worked.

“……Yes.”

Leila replied to herself, then shut her mouth. Her face revealing her complex thoughts. There were more settings, but she didn’t need to tell him right now.

After a while, the ghost returned.

You approach Leila with somewhat urgent steps. She begins to whisper something to him.

You didn’t have to listen to it. Or maybe not.

“Me, really!”

It was almost a scream.

Soon, he realizes Kim’s presence and gasps, covering his mouth with his hand. Even so, the overwhelming emotions were clearly visible on her face.

“Sorry, excuse me for a minute!”

Leila shook her head in disdain and ran off to the commons. Kim watched with amusement, not offended in the least.

“Oops, this is railroaded.

Each of her actions was big and fun to watch. Although it’s an exaggeration to call her a love interest, Kim liked Leila’s characterization.

“There are a few characters I just don’t like.

I became more and more relaxed. His knowledge of the game was proving to be effective, and he was becoming surprisingly calm.

“Can I follow along?”

My jaw dropped.

Ghost and Pablo didn’t say much. They just glanced at each other briefly. They took that as a yes and followed Leila.

In a cavity.

The vines that had covered the glass tube like a bush had already been neatly cleared away. Ghost had trimmed them out of the way, and they lay in a messy heap at his feet.

“It really was…….”

Leila muttered, running her hand over the surface of the glass tube.

Thinning gray hair. But a face without wrinkles. Even the fleeting lashes.

Sometimes like a mother.

Someone who was sometimes like a big sister.

The last thing I remembered, the professor was asleep. Leila clasped both of my hands to her chest. Her expression was unmanaged.

“What’s the professor’s status?”

Pablo asked, not even approaching the glass tube, but standing guard at the entrance.

Outside is outside, but Kim was also on the radar.

The corpses of speeders rolling around. All three had something in common.

“Penetration?

It’s impossible with your bare hands. Obviously, a weapon would have been used, but no such tool was found nearby.

If so, you are assumed to be an Ability with a Spell.

“No visible trauma. Life support…yeah. He seems to be doing well.”

“Then get me out of here. I understand, but I can’t afford to be any later.”

“I know.”

Leila touched the panel beneath the glass tube, sparks flying from her fingertips.

Spell.

This skill is the equivalent of magic in the Polaris universe. It is more of a unique ability of the wielder than a universal concept of magic.

Kim sees his skills in a similar vein. I don’t know what the truth is.

Cheers!

The glass tube slowly opened with the sound of steam escaping. The solution poured out, and the sleeping professor’s body collapsed like a wave.

Leila didn’t mind getting my clothes dirty, and I gingerly picked her up to avoid any small bites.

And guess how many seconds passed.

“Ah……!”

Leila squealed with delight. The professor’s lips twitched. It was the sign of life. His eyes trembled as if it were contagious, and his tightly closed eyelids fluttered up and down.

“It’s been a while, Professor.”

“……You, are…?”

“…You’ve forgotten all that, too. You’re confused right now, who I am in front of you, even who you are.”

Leila squeezed the professor’s hand. Her cold hands gradually began to warm.

“Don’t worry, I remembered you, professor.”

I could see Kim’s sideways grin, which was quite touching.

‘I wasn’t really immersed in the game.

At first, I complained to myself, “What kind of a prologue is this?” because I didn’t know anything about it.

Still, what the heck.

“It’s like a movie, so it’s nice to see.

Two beauties doing that, it’s a picture.

* * *

Leila and the others walked out of the hollow and onto the tracks. The professor was carried on Pavel’s back. He had been asleep for a long time and was in no condition to move on his own.

“…where is this…?”

“It’s underground in Tulavia.”

“Tulavia? I….”

“Don’t try to think of too many things at once. Take it slow right now, start with your body….”

The words rang in her ears from memory. As he followed the group, Kim rubbed his chest.

‘We got over the hump somehow.

We talked about this and that.

He started off with a rant and then told me his story. I came into the station looking for food or something, and I happened to find a glass tube. Suddenly a speeder appeared, and after a fight, I was resting, and this time you guys came out…….

It was a three to seven ratio of truth to falsehood, which wasn’t a bad explanation. There were plenty of bums wandering around looking for something to use.

I may be a bum and I may look clean, but… I can’t help it. We’re strangers, we’re supposed to have a secret or two.

Anyway, it was a flow that didn’t feel unnatural to act together right away. The power itself wasn’t bad, even though we didn’t have a lot of people.

Leila has 6-star potential. A special character with a lot of scope for growth.

It’s the hope of no charges.

“Right now, I’m a four-star, just like Pablo.

In reality, 4 stars is not a low rating. Kim herself is only a 1-star, which is a 4x difference in simple math.

On top of that.

“Hyun. What are you going to do next?”

Ghost. As we said, he’s not a fully playable character. A special character that can only be used in five stages.

However, Leila and Pablo are a few notches above the rest. At this point in time, he’s the most elite agent of the Cellbrox Labs.

“What’s a bum to think about the future, there’s nothing here, so I’ll get out, and then I don’t know.”

I didn’t really think about it after I joined. I was more concerned with keeping myself alive.

……Not. It’s not too soon to get comfortable.

“I saw the carcasses of the speeders, and they were stabbed with something pointed… long… like a spear… and two of them were killed in one blow each.”

“Huh? What?”

“Did I miss something?”

“Well, no. I’m surprised it’s so accurate.”

It was a genuine response.

You know it when you see it? I wasn’t looking at the body, so I wasn’t sure what condition it was in.

“It also looked like you spelled it out.”

“Do I even have to say that?”

“You just answered your own question.”

It’s not mean, it’s nosy.

“But, um.”

The Ghost paused in its pacing, then hesitated. Impression so far. Add to that his in-game behavior, and it was out of character.

“My words may sound offensive, but I’m not trying to be condescending, so don’t take it the wrong way.”

“What’s wrong?”

I was wondering if I shouldn’t have paused, and Ghost spoke up, his eyes serious.

“To be honest, it’s a little immature.”

Kim stopped walking. Ghost continued to speak.

“There were stones in the cavity, and the way they were trodden on gave an idea of what the battle was like. They didn’t look very experienced.”

Gulp.

Kim stared at the Ghost wordlessly, her eyes narrowed. Ghost took a deep breath, as if expecting a reaction.

“……I made a mistake. I apologize.”

He concludes by asking her to forget about it. After a long silence, Kim bursts out laughing.

“I’m sorry. What the heck, I’ll let you smoke.”

I said something.

It was just a no-brainer. Experience? Do they give you the kind of fights you had with your friends in middle school?

Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to fight. Besides, your opponent is a beast, so there’s no reason to get upset about being called inexperienced.

Because he’s right a hundred times over.

“But why? I’m sure you didn’t bring it up just to make a point, so I can teach you something?”

I was half joking. The other half of me just wanted it to happen.

At least, I didn’t expect it to be like this.

“If you want.”

“…… Really?”

“If you have nowhere else to go, come to the Celbrosics Labs. You won’t be treated badly. With the professor back, it’s going to be energized. It’s a good time to bring in new people.”

A suggestion to join the player’s faction altogether. It wasn’t a bad idea. I could fulfill my personal greed as a player, and it would be safe.

You’re confident that your knowledge of the game will help you get ahead. It’s not that I don’t want to see what the player, the professor, is like.

But if the only problem is.

‘Why would you say that…….’

Ghosts. An elite agent of the Cellbrox Labs.

This is the first character to be eliminated in the plot.

After rescuing the professor, exiting the subway station, and two more stages on the ground, 0-1 and 0-2.

They die at exactly 0-5 stages.