Chapter 19 – Episode 18 – Player (3)

Episode 18 – Player (3)

Whatever Lilith’s wicked scheme was, the group that gathered as soon as it was light out was silent and unresponsive. They needed to find a clue, but easier said than done, where in this vast city could they even begin to look?

“Let’s go into the quarantine zone.”

It was Sir Jacob, who could be considered the group’s de facto leader, who broke the silence.
The nominal representative was the Saintess Diana, but the church wasn’t so blindly devoted to the Saintess that they would give all real power to a girl who had barely passed her early twenties.

Diana herself wasn’t the type to be interested in fame or power, so it was fortunate that the roles of nominal leader and de facto leader could be smoothly divided, but.

The problem was that Sir Jacob, who actually led the group, used me like his personal assistant.
The old knight, Sir Jacob, with his white hair, was close to 70 years old as far as I knew, but looking at him, he seemed more like he was in his 30s than 70, he was that passionate.

Just looking at his face, he was a handsome middle-aged man who had aged gracefully, but his actions were so zealous, it might be fun to watch from afar, but once you got caught up in it, the fatigue was indescribable. Moreover, why was he only picking on me? What am I, the sergeant major?

“But the Saintess is also here, it’s too dangerous to go to such a place…”
“It’s alright. We can’t just sit here helplessly without any clues.”

Before I could even finish my sentence, Diana interjected.
Wasn’t that too fast? Even if it was a pre-arranged show, they should let me say my lines.

“We’ll go into the quarantine zone, but we’ll prioritize the Saintess’s safety. How does that sound?”

Sir Jacob finished it off. And with that, this hastily put-together play was over.

* * *

At dawn, as soon as I woke up, I was caught by Sir Jacob.
He said we couldn’t just wait around like this, the Apostle Church guys were running around like crazy, didn’t I know anything, were we just going to waste time like this, blah blah blah. How many complaints did he have?

I was still half asleep and dying of drowsiness, but with my superior pressuring me like this, what could I do? I barely managed to get my brain working and suggested we go into the quarantine zone.

It was part of the quest sequence to enter the quarantine zone anyway.
The protagonist… or maybe not, but anyway, the player had arrived. If I met the player in the morning and talked to them, we would eventually head to the quarantine zone. I figured it would be okay to say this much in advance, but then they asked what I would do about the people who opposed it.

Come on, old man. You could just use your authority to shut them down! …I thought I would get hit if I said that, so I forced my brain to work again and came up with a script.

Sir Jacob would start, I would object, Diana would say it was okay, and then Sir Jacob would wrap it up. I was exhausted from being harassed by a sleepless old man since dawn, so I woke Diana up, washed her, dressed her, and then attended the morning meeting where only the church members gathered.

The group’s nominal leader, the de facto leader, and me, the closest aide to both leaders. With the three of us working in perfect harmony, the other members couldn’t even open their mouths, and the meeting was over.

‘Hoo. Is this the taste of power? This is what it’s like to be a behind-the-scenes power broker.’

…I don’t need any of this, I just wish they would stop using me. It’s enough that Diana uses me. The old man should just do it himself.

“Hey, Yurian.”
“Ah, yes. Is there something…?”

I reflexively bowed. Damn it. I’d been getting yelled at by this old geezer for 16 years under the guise of paladin training, so I was intimidated by his presence. It was like seeing the sergeant major or the first sergeant from my time in the military… Ugh, suddenly I had a headache.

“When we go into the quarantine zone, don’t leave the Saintess’s side. No matter what happens. If something happens, prioritize the Saintess’s safety.”
“I understand. Don’t worry.”
“Hmm. I trust you.”

I met Sir Jacob’s trusting gaze head-on. I swear on everything I have, I have no shame in Sir Jacob’s trust.

If something happens, of course, I’ll just take care of our Diana and run away. What’s so obvious about that? Irian has monstrous physical abilities, so she can follow on her own. I don’t care about the others. They can fend for themselves. I’m too busy taking care of Diana and Irian.

After the cozy meeting with only the church members, a meeting with the city’s influential figures followed. It was called a meeting, but it was all about calming down the city’s influential figures who were trembling with anxiety.

And that’s where I met the player.
He was still wearing a cool robe and hood, I wondered if this guy had a case of middle school syndrome. That hood of his, wasn’t it stuffy, wearing it even indoors.

I glanced at him, but since he was wearing a hood, I couldn’t tell where he was looking, what kind of expression he had, or what his eyes looked like.

‘Could that be the point? …He’s a genius?’

The city’s influential figures introduced the player as an executive officer from the Empire. That guy must have diligently cleared the tutorial quests in the early stages.

Like the shitty game it was, this game was so unfriendly that it didn’t have any official tutorials, and you had to learn by banging your head against the wall, but it still had a shred of conscience left, so there were easy quests with generous rewards in the early stages.

A series of quests that weren’t connected to the main quest, quests that you could do or not do. The difficulty was low, and the rewards were generous, so I arbitrarily called them tutorial quests, thinking that they might be tutorials.

At first, I diligently cleared the early quests, but as the number of playthroughs increased, I wondered if there was any need to do quests that didn’t have to be done, so I boldly skipped them. There was some randomness, so the content of the early quests changed every time, but since I had the perception that they were tutorials, I lost interest.

The conclusion was that they could be skipped. There was no problem. However, some of the benefits of diligently clearing the early quests were lost. So after skipping them a few times, I diligently cleared them again.

The high position of executive officer of the Empire was also a benefit given when the tutorial quests were diligently completed.
…We’re both players, but why is he a high-ranking official and I’m just a priest? That’s unfair. Of course, I’m a childhood friend of the Saintess, and I have a pretty good position for a regular priest, like a behind-the-scenes power broker.

“Executive officer? Is he from a knightly background?”

Irian’s mutter. If he started in the Empire, the optimal starting point for melee types, and Irian, who had the senses of a beast, said he was from a knightly background, then he was definitely a melee type.
Let’s see. I’ll take a look at what kind of guy he is.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Yurian, a priest from the Holy Nation of Hespote.”

An executive officer was a high-ranking position, practically a representative of the Empire. I didn’t know if they had a separate de facto leader who actually led the group like we did, but the official representative would be the player who held the title of executive officer. I approached him and extended my hand.
A white hand that had been hidden by the robe grabbed the hood that was frustratingly covering his face and slowly began to pull it back. Looking at the exposed hand, it was white, with thin, long fingers and smooth skin, just like…

‘His hands are like a woman’s.’

And then, a beautiful woman’s face was revealed.
When I saw his hand, I thought, no way, but it really was a woman? Maybe… she customized her character as a female and got hit by a TS beam, a poor soul?
I couldn’t help but shudder. Come to think of it, I played more as a female character than a male character. If I wasn’t careful, I could have ended up as the female character I created, a “I’m a eunuch” development.

“Executive Officer. My name is Cha Hyewon.”
“…Your real name?”
“Yes? What about you, Yu… Yu, what was it? Yurian?”

And then she looked me up and down, which was incredibly rude. Cha Hyewon, Cha Hyewon…? A familiar name and a face suddenly came to mind. No way. It couldn’t be. This was just a woman on the outside, but a man on the inside. Get a grip.

“Well… nice nickname.”

Why was she looking at me like I had middle school syndrome? I was speechless.

“You look like you’d fit right into a ‘Shim Young’ meme.”

She paused, as if she understood the meme famous for “I’m a eunuch!”, then raised one corner of her mouth and smirked. It felt like she was mocking me, which made me feel bad.

“Who do you think is a pervert? It takes one to know one. I’ve always been a woman, you know?”
“…A woman plays this game?”
“Is a woman not allowed to play? You started shuddering as soon as you saw me, you’re so annoying. You’re not even a pervert.”

Wow. That was so unfair.
I never imagined that a woman would play this shitty game that no one else played. I was just shocked by the unexpected appearance of a woman and thought that I had been hit by a TS beam and it was going to be a “I’m a eunuch!” development, but since it was right after I saw her face, I couldn’t even make an excuse.

It was the first time I had been called a pervert with this face, and I was speechless.
Maybe it was because I had become too used to ‘Yurian’ over the past 16 years. No, honestly, I had never been called a pervert in modern times, but I was being called a pervert to my face.

“…Excuse me. Were you a student? A college student?”
“No. I was a working professional.”

…That’s right. How many people have the same name in Korea? There’s no way she’s someone I know. Hearing a familiar name made me have silly thoughts.

“Excuse me. Aren’t you being too harsh?”

As I was just laughing awkwardly, Irian stepped forward and snapped at her. Oh, right. The whole group was watching.

“If someone extends their hand to shake, you should shake it, what kind of rudeness is that in the first meeting?”
“…I’m sorry. I made a mistake.”

At Irian’s words, who was glaring at her with her sharp eyes, she finally realized that I was still holding out my hand. What a stupid thing to do. I was about to lower my hand when the player lightly grabbed my fingertips and let go, giving me a look that said, “Are you satisfied now?”

‘Wow. She’s really annoying.’

It wasn’t just me who felt that way, Irian’s nose was twitching next to me. Irian always twitched her nose when she was angry. And the familiar presence behind me was fidgeting… wasn’t our Saintess about to lose it? No, no.

“Since you apologized, let’s move on. Let’s talk about what we’re going to do.”

For the sake of Diana’s elegant image, I let it go coolly. Actually, I also calculated that it wouldn’t be good to be on bad terms with the player, and more than anything… she was pretty. Ahem.

This girl was a master of character customization. She made it quite pretty. …No. Just because a character is pretty doesn’t mean the real person is pretty. What if she was an orc in real life? …Does it matter? I can’t know what she looks like in real life, so isn’t the pretty face in front of me the most important thing? …No. In the end, it’s just a character, so the real appearance is important too.

‘…Damn it, I can’t concentrate.’

I got caught up in unnecessary thoughts and reset my brain, which was having a useless debate about whether the real appearance was important or the customized appearance in the game.

“That’s good. We were also planning to go into the quarantine zone. Since it’s come to this, let’s work together.”
“I agree. Good luck.”
“Of course. I’ll cheer you on, too.”

What was that?
It felt like sparks were flying between the player and Irian? Why was the atmosphere so tense while they were laughing and joking?

The Empire’s people disappeared, following the player who had turned away abruptly.
The conference room became quiet.
The city’s influential figures, who had been watching the situation, also hurriedly left their seats, leaving only the church’s group.

“…We can’t lose.”
“That’s right. How dare they ignore the church.”

At Diana’s quiet mutter, Irian, the Saintess’s sycophant, responded as if it were obvious. The church members looked so full of motivation, but… when did the player ever ignore the church?
I thought that our Saintess was grinding her teeth because of me. No, I was sure of it. That’s why she was elbowing me in the side right now.

“Ouch. Ouch, Diana.”
“It’s annoying. Who is that woman? Do you know her, Yurian?”
“Know her? I just met her today.”
“…But why are you two talking about things only you know? I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

Ah.
Come to think of it, we were talking about nicknames and Shim Young, things only modern people would know. Diana must have gotten upset because it was a conversation that only the player would understand.

“It’s nothing. We’re just from the same hometown.”
“Hometown? Yurian, you said you don’t remember your past.”
“…I don’t remember. I don’t, but it’s not like I don’t remember everything.”

Ugh. What did I say to her?
I had vaguely said that I was an orphan and didn’t know anything about my past, but I didn’t remember what I had said.

Yurian’s past was only before the age of 7, and even if I wasn’t a transmigrator, how could I remember that? In the first place, I wasn’t even sure if I was 7 years old. Diana insisted that she was 7 years old, so Yurian must be 7 years old too, so we decided on 7 years old. Looking at how she was growing, it seemed about right.

“Really? Yurian, you’re not lying, are you?”

I quickly nodded my head at the pressure of her blue eyes staring at me. I felt like she was getting scarier. Where did my small and cute Diana go?