Chapter 23 – Isolation Zone (4)

Cha Hyewon was in a state of mental breakdown for a while after first falling into the game world.
It was understandable, considering she had only wanted to play a game, but suddenly found herself dropped into the game world. If she were perfectly fine, would that be normal?

She had some close calls while floundering in her mental breakdown, but thankfully, her character’s body was so high-performing that she easily overcame them. After that, she regained her senses and solved quests by recalling her first playthrough, realizing once again how easy the game was and making great progress.

Around that time, Cha Hyewon, now accustomed to the game world, began to take the initiative, which accelerated the growth of her character, who was already showered with all sorts of perks. She easily crushed the simple early quests and grew rapidly, and just as she was about to get the title of Imperial Governor, a system message popped up out of nowhere.

● Main Quest – The Beginning of the Journey

The few words that appeared before her eyes made her want to die of frustration.
Cha Hyewon, with vivid memories of her first playthrough, remembered that this was the phrase that appeared after the early part, or what her neighbor called a tutorial section.

She had worked so hard to grow, but now it was just the beginning?
But what could she do? There was no other way.

Cha Hyewon racked her brain. What should she do here? Her neighbor, who had recommended this game, had definitely said something.

‘After the early part, grind in the Irup Lowlands… That’s right. The Saintess is there too. And the redhead. Good. The Saintess, who is a healer and buffer, and Irian, who will be the vanguard, are a good combination.’

She decided to target the Irup Lowlands, but unlike in the game, a high-ranking official like the governor couldn’t just move around quickly.

For her, protocols, procedures, escorts, and all that were just a nuisance, but if she wanted to keep her governor title, she had to follow them even if she didn’t like it. In the end, it was about two weeks after the main quest was unlocked that she finally set off for the Irup Lowlands.

While waiting, she left all the work to her subordinates and spent her time hunting, and she felt hopeless about when she would ever finish all the quests. The only good thing was that even if she arrived at the Irup Lowlands a bit late, there wouldn’t be any problem recruiting the Saintess. She would probably be wandering around until the protagonist arrived.

When she arrived in Grampo, what was this? The system window in front of her was saying something strange.

[Another player is requesting to view your status window.]
[Y/N]

Another player? Could there be another player besides me?
Cha Hyewon, flustered by the unexpected situation, looked around from under her deeply pulled-down robe. And she found them at once.

‘The Saintess and the redhead. And Jacob is next to them. Then who is that man?’

A man with an unrealistically beautiful appearance, as if someone had put a lot of effort into creating him. He stood naturally next to Jacob and Irian, who were key figures in the Order, and even the Saintess.
If such a person were an NPC, there was no way she wouldn’t remember him.

She was convinced that he was a player, since he was with the Saintess’s group. As a final check, she opened the man’s status window. And as expected, he was.

Their eyes met.
The man nodded slightly, as if acknowledging that she was a player, so Cha Hyewon nodded back. As the hood she was wearing shifted with the movement of her face, she realized that he might not have been able to see her face, but the other person had already turned his back, following his group.

Was he going to think she was rude for wearing a hood? She worried for a moment, but it was too late. It wasn’t like she could go after him now and explain that she didn’t realize she was wearing a hood. Cha Hyewon decided to apologize next time, and she saw him again that evening.

In reality, she had a habit of going to bed early and waking up early, so how much more so in the game world, where there was no electricity and nothing to do when it got dark? Cha Hyewon, who went to bed even earlier and woke up even earlier, couldn’t fall asleep even though it was the middle of the night.

She had thought she was all alone in this strange game world, but knowing that there was another player made her feel much lighter. It seemed that worries did decrease when shared. She was excited about meeting the other player soon, sharing information, talking about reality, and relieving stress, so she couldn’t fall asleep.

Having no choice, she went out for a walk in the garden, and what do you know? The other player was there. And with a pretty woman who caught her eye.

‘Wow. What are they doing?’

There was a pair of cockroaches acting all lovey-dovey.

‘Oh my, what’s going on?’

She quickly hid and watched, and it was like watching a drama… They weren’t going to do anything in the garden at night, were they?

‘Kyaa~ What should I do~’

She was stomping her feet and watching when suddenly the woman ran away? What was going on?
Cha Hyewon opened the status window behind the fleeing woman.

‘…Lilith?’

Why was a succubus here?
She looked back at the garden and saw the player looking dejected and laughing. There was no way a player with a status window wouldn’t recognize Lilith.

‘Wow. Did he get rejected by a succubus after trying to flirt with her to seduce an NPC? Ugh, tsk tsk.’

It was one thing to hit on a succubus, leaving the Saintess and the redhead aside, but for a player to get rejected by an NPC. And above all, that bulge sticking out above his priest’s robe… Ugh, my eyes are going to rot. Is that a club or what? Why did he make it so big?

‘Is he a loser in real life?’

Thinking that, his handsome appearance reminded her of a loser who was working hard on character customization.

Her favorability, which had been skyrocketing due to the thought that he was a real-life comrade she had met in this game world and his handsome appearance, plummeted as soon as she thought he was a loser in real life. On top of that, he seemed to be too busy seducing female NPCs to even think about escaping the game world.

‘Ugh, what a pathetic guy. Look at him hitting on her. Ugh, how disgusting.’

Once a bad memory is etched, it lasts a long time. And his name is Yurian? Yurian? Is he a chuunibyou?
While investigating the isolation zone, the monsters were so weak that she could only think about random things.

“Ugh. I’m really going to check this place one last time.”

Cha Hyewon, who had failed again, moved her heavy steps to the last place, for what felt like the hundredth time. And there, the playboy she had just been thinking about was sticking his slick face out.

“Cha Hyewon?”

* * *

This was the nth search. It wasn’t a problem to move forward while dealing with the hideous monsters, but the fact that their appearances reminded her of their former selves was causing mental stress.

“Left. A little brat. I’ll take care of it.”

She glanced and saw Irian on the other side slicing two monsters in an instant, but because of what had happened earlier, she lightly jumped to take care of it herself.

The monster’s face was horribly twisted and withered, and she swung her foot towards the head of the small, squat monster with purple glowing eyes and a long, thin tongue flicking out like a snake.

“Kiek!”

It jumped up and dodged, which was quite agile, but she had expected that much. She lowered her leg, which she had swung with moderate force from the beginning, and used the unspent force to spin her body around. A nasty sound, like a crack, and a dull sensation felt through her elbow.

There was a slight resistance, but she had successfully spun her body around, and the fallen monster was spilling its brain matter from its half-broken head. It was still twitching, so its life force was tenacious. She lifted her foot and crushed its face.

“Do you have to deal with them like that?”

She shrugged at Irian, who was frowning.
Did he think she liked killing them so cruelly? She was doing it all for him, you idiot.
The secret place she was searching so hard for was a place that was incomparably more cruel than this. Before seeing that place, which was more grotesque than cruel, she had to get used to this much to lessen the shock.

“Tsk.”

He clicked his tongue as if he was displeased, but as a holy knight, he had a calm expression even after seeing the corpse of a monster with its brain matter spilling out.
They had been wandering around, killing dozens of monsters, but the secret place was nowhere to be found.

“Hey, Yurian. Aren’t you just wandering around this area and that area aimlessly?”
“It’s your imagination.”
“Is that so? I’m sure we passed our area a long time ago.”

Irian tilted his head, but soon followed with an ‘oh well’ expression. He was easy to handle.

“Isn’t it this way either? Hmm. Let’s see. The only place left is… Let’s go over there this time. That blue-roofed mansion.”
“Hey! That’s not even our area!”
“It’s your imagination.”
“Do you think I’m stupid? We passed our area a long time ago!”

Oh, he noticed.
But when lying, you have to be shameless.

“Oh dear. I’m a bit directionally challenged, so I guess I came the wrong way. You should have told me sooner if you knew.”
“It’s, it’s my fault?”

Adding blame to others was the icing on the cake.
Looking at his dumbfounded expression, he was completely out of it. She started walking in the direction she wanted, and Irian naturally followed, chattering on and on.

She just agreed with him, and somehow she had become the bad guy. But she had achieved her goal.

“So, you’re very… Huh? When did we get here?”
“Okay, okay, now that we’re here, let’s just investigate this side and go.”

Irian, who had finally realized that he had been tricked, was about to get angry, but she quickly headed towards the blue-roofed gate. And there, she met a woman with a familiar name and an unfamiliar face.

“Cha Hyewon?”

Did this woman also know the main respawn points? Or was it a coincidence? Anyway, where were all her subordinates? Her expression was sullen, which she didn’t like, but for now, she had to get along with her, since she was the only other player in this world. She greeted her first.

“Are you alone?”
“Yeah, I’m single.”

She was a woman who knew her stuff.
She grinned, and the woman made a face like she was regretting her own dad joke. She felt a sense of familiarity, as if she knew her.

“That’s good. Want to go in together?”
“No, I’m going somewhere else… No, I’m not. Let’s go in together then. We’re kind of comrades, so I can’t send a comrade into a dangerous place alone.”
“……?”

Why was she so talkative? Her body, which had been half-turned away, quickly returned to its original position, and she stood side by side with her in front of the gate.

“Aha. You’ve been to all the likely places, haven’t you?”
“……”

She was keeping her mouth shut, so it must be true. Then there was a high probability that the secret place was here? She had also been to almost all the main respawn points, and the fact that this woman had also looked around and come here meant that she hadn’t found it yet.

“What the heck are you talking about? Hey, Yurian. What are you talking about?”

Our redhead knight was looking back and forth between her and Cha Hyewon with a bewildered expression, asking them to tell him, but she ignored him.

“Hey. Hey! Excuse me. Hello. Can you hear me? Can’t you hear me!”
“I think it’s here. Should we open it?”
“Do whatever.”
“Can’t you hear me!!”

Ugh, my ears hurt. How could his voice be so loud? Irian, who was short, was even standing on tiptoes and yelling near her ear, making her head spin.
…Huh? Why was she so dizzy? And why did her ears hurt so much?

“…Wow. You’re bleeding from your ear.”
“……?”

She was leaning against the wall, feeling dizzy from the sudden anemia, and wondering what was going on, when Cha Hyewon was looking at her with an amused expression. What was it? What was she saying? Why couldn’t she hear?

She looked at Irian, and he was avoiding her gaze. …Why? Ah, her ears hurt like crazy. She wondered if she had been injured, so she healed herself, and then the dizziness and pain disappeared. And the sounds of the world, which had been muffled, returned.

“Wh, what was that just now? Where did the attack come from?”
“Next to you.”
“Next to me!? What guy… There’s no one there?”

No way.
Had he attacked her while even deceiving Irian’s eyes? There was no way there was a mob that strong in the isolation zone… Why did he keep avoiding her gaze?

“S, sorry.”
“For what?”

And he was even apologizing to her? Was he that sorry that he couldn’t stop the attack right next to her?

“F, for yelling. I’m sorry.”
“…Huh?”
“Tsk tsk. He yelled in your ear, so your eardrum burst. You’re bleeding from your ear, wipe it off.”

At the mention of blood, she unconsciously ran her fingers over her ear, and there was some liquid… Blood?
She turned her head sharply towards Irian, and he was whistling and avoiding her gaze. Was this for real?

“That’s hilarious. Aren’t you going in? Then I’ll go in first.”
“No, is that what’s important right now? My eardrum burst, you know?”
“You healed it. Does it still hurt? Or are you dizzy, or can’t hear?”
“Of course it doesn’t hurt, I’m not dizzy, and I can hear fine.”
“Then it’s fine. Let’s go in.”
“No, no, no, wait! Is that the problem right now!”
“Oh, come on! Why are you men so talkative? I’m going in first, so you two can figure it out.”

With that, Cha Hyewon opened the gate and went in, so she followed her. And the moment she glared at Irian, something appeared before her eyes.

▼Sub Quest
▶Create a party! → Completed!