Chapter 3

“Haru, are you really okay?”

“Yes, I’m really fine.”

Haru and her family were sitting at the dining table, having a late dinner.

In front of them was a bowl of easily digestible vegetable soup.

It was a soup hastily prepared by the maid for Haru Euphoria, who had collapsed and remained unconscious for half a day.

‘She really seems like a mother worried about her daughter. If I didn’t know this was inside a game, I would have mistaken her for a real person instead of an NPC.’

Haru was amazed by how advanced the technology was.

No wonder there were protests demanding personality rights for AI, she thought to herself.

“By the way, Haru, as far as I know, you were planning to go to the Alperon Church tomorrow to find a beast to form a contract with and then stay at a nearby inn. What do you plan to do now?”

Haru Euphoria’s father asked her.

“But she just recovered after being sick all day! How could she possibly have time for that? Haru, you should stay home and rest a little longer.”

According to her mother, Haru Euphoria had suddenly collapsed and remained unconscious for half a day.

She had only just regained consciousness.

“You know what Haru is like, don’t you? She absolutely hates when her plans get disrupted. Her mind is probably already filled with thoughts about the contract beast she’s supposed to meet at the church tomorrow.”

So, the original Haru Euphoria must have been quite the planner.

Probably an uppercase J in MBTI terms.

Meanwhile, Haru herself was an uppercase P—a free-spirited, spontaneous person who never bothered making plans.

But at this moment, she was grateful that Haru Euphoria was such a meticulous planner.

It gave her an excuse to leave this house tomorrow.

Haru found this house uncomfortable.

Even if they were just NPCs, the people in front of her truly believed she was their daughter.

Strictly speaking, she was deceiving them.

Haru decided to go along with her father’s words.

“That’s right. If I made a plan, I should stick to it. What’s the point of making a plan if I don’t follow it?”

She simply repeated the words of her only friend, An Siwoo.

Siwoo was also a strong J-type personality.

“Alright then… But if you start feeling sick again, promise me you’ll come back home right away. Okay?”

Her mother looked at her with deep concern.

“Okay.”

After giving a few appropriate responses, Haru got up from the table.

“Then, I’ll head up to my room and rest.”

“Alright.”

Only after entering her room did Haru let out a sigh of relief, finally free from the uncomfortable situation.

“Ugh~ I didn’t even do anything, but I feel exhausted.”

—Well, you cried so much. Of course you’re tired.

—Do you need to hydrate?

“What? Nothing happened. Nothing at all.”

—Did you erase it from your memory because it was too embarrassing?

<Sniff… Sniff… I-I’m sorry… Sniff… Why am I like this…? Haha…>

“Aaaaahhh!”

A sudden video clip appeared, making Haru’s face turn bright red with embarrassment.

“Haru! What’s wrong?!”

“A-Ah! It’s nothing! Just a bug…”

“Are you sure it’s nothing?”

“Yes…”

Taking a deep breath, Haru muttered under her breath.

“No, seriously! Why did you even clip that?!”

—Because… that’s the only way Haru-chan pays attention to me…

“Ugh… That sounded way too real.”

Haru spent quite some time bickering with the viewers.

—By the way, are you playing solo this time? What about Sian-oppa?

“Sian? Someone actually wants to see that jerk?”

Sian.

That was An Siwoo’s in-game nickname, her long-time rival.

—Sian is Haru’s destined partner, though!

“Who said that? Whatever. He’ll probably show up tomorrow. By now, he’s probably creating his character too.”

—What kind of character do you think Sian will make?

“Knowing him? Definitely some overly edgy character. The kind that acts like a loser in front of others but secretly controls the underworld behind the scenes.”

—LOL, I can totally picture that.

—Your understanding of Sian is 120%.

After a long chat about Siwoo, Haru checked the time.

“Oh wow, it’s already this late. Alright, I’ll end the stream here and be back early tomorrow morning. Bye-bye~”

—Bye-bye!

—Bye!

Haru logged out of the game.

The capsule opened.

It was so dark that she couldn’t see anything.

As her eyes adjusted, she started making out the shapes of objects in her room.

She turned on the light, and the room instantly brightened.

Her stomach growled.

She was starving.

Haru checked the rice cooker.

There was still some leftover rice from yesterday.

Then she opened the fridge—no side dishes.

She needed to cook something…

But what?

She grabbed her phone and searched for “easy recipes.”

Scrolling through the list, nothing really caught her attention.

Then, she suddenly thought of the soup she had in the game.

It had tasted really good.

Something about it felt nostalgic.

She searched for a vegetable soup recipe and clicked on a blog post that seemed promising.

“Ugh… Making soup is harder than I thought…”

Haru had assumed she could make it as easily as cooking instant ramen, but that was a mistake.

In the end, she thought, I’ll just cook ramen again today, but there wasn’t any ramen left.

She was too lazy to go out and buy some, so she ended up mixing the remaining rice with gochujang (red pepper paste).

“So salty…”

Since she couldn’t taste the spiciness, the saltiness stood out even more.

Still, since she had already mixed it, it felt wasteful not to eat it, so she finished it all.

After eating, she sent a message to Ahn Siwoo.

Did you create your character?

– O O

What did you pick?

– A wizard who just graduated from the magic tower.

That’s it?

– What do you mean?

I mean… It’s just too ordinary.

– Then what kind of character did you expect me to choose?

Something like… a vampire secretly ruling the night, or a member of a secret society trying to prevent the world’s destruction without revealing their identity?

– Just what kind of image do you have of me?

Edgelord.

– 1

I was just surprised by how normal it was.

– There weren’t many choices other than something standard.

So you actually looked for something more dramatic, huh?
– Shut up. What did you pick?

A Beastmaster.

The name was Haru Euphoria.

It was the same as mine, so I picked it.

– Beastmaster?

Seems like a job that controls beasts.

– That’s a good job, right?

I have no idea.

By the way, where should we meet tomorrow?

– You decide. I’ll adjust.

Then come to Alpheron Church at 10 AM tomorrow.

Apparently, I have to form a contract with a beast there.

– Got it. What does your character look like?

Black bobbed hair.

Looks like a noble family’s well-behaved daughter.

– LOL, got it. See you tomorrow.

Yup, see you tomorrow.

The next morning, Haru logged into the game.

Haru Euphoria packed her things lightly.

She wasn’t sure what to bring or what was unnecessary, so she ended up stuffing in everything, making her luggage quite heavy.

As she was about to leave the house, Haru Euphoria’s family came to see her off.

Her mother still had a worried expression written all over her face, and while her father didn’t show it, he was clearly concerned about her as well.

“Come visit home often.”

Haru couldn’t bring herself to answer and just gave an awkward smile.

Her father handed her a heavy pouch of money.

Since she wasn’t familiar with the currency’s value yet, she had no idea if it was a lot or a little.

Haru felt uncomfortable with these people—not her real family, but Haru Euphoria’s family.

That’s why she quickly left the house.

Following the map to her newly rented house, Haru finally arrived.

After unpacking her luggage, she immediately headed outside toward the temple.

“That must be the temple.”

As she passed through the gate, she saw a massive building that practically screamed ‘I’m a temple’.

– Whoa… It looks like a historical ruin.

– It’s huge.

Numerous statues surrounded the temple, and there was even a fountain along the path leading up to it.

Around the temple, men and women dressed in black priestly robes were walking around.

Haru looked around, feeling like a tourist, until someone tapped her on the shoulder from behind.

It was a rather handsome man.

“Haru?”

“Siwoo?”

“I remember you saying you had black bobbed hair and looked like a noble family’s well-behaved daughter. That description fits perfectly.”

– Finally, the legendary Haru & Siwoo duo meets!

– This is gonna be hilarious. LOL.

“Now that I think about it… Are two people really enough? The game allows up to four people per world setting. Wouldn’t it be easier with four?”

“Then call some of your friends. Someone you can trust.”

“Hmm…”

Haru thought for a moment, but of course, she had no one to call.

Still, if she pretended to think about it, she might at least look like she had friends.

– Look at her pretending she has friends. LOL.

– She has no friends to call.

But her audience, who knew her all too well, weren’t fooled by her act.

“Tch, these guys…” Haru clicked her tongue before turning to Siwoo.

“What about your friends? Or… do you not have any either?”

She smirked at him mockingly.

“Do you think I’m like you? Besides, I don’t think having more people in this game is necessarily a good thing.”

“Huh? Why not? Wouldn’t it be easier if four people worked together?”

“You know how the rewards get distributed based on contribution when we clear the game?”

“So what?”

– Oh, I see where this is going.

– But our dumb Haru won’t get it, LOL.

– Don’t bully Haru! She’s just a little slow!

“Haa… Looks like it’s time to dance with my sword.”

– Duck!

– Dictator alert!

– Down with Haru!

“If I, for example, eliminate you before clearing the game, I get all the rewards, right? And the more people there are, the more likely someone will have that kind of thought. There’ll also be more conflicts. People could form factions and try to wipe out the opposing side. Someone might even try to turn us against each other.”

“Ugh… No way…”

“In the face of greed, even saints should be doubted.”

– Exactly! Siwoo is totally right.

– People will betray their own parents for money, let alone friends.

Haru wanted to believe that friends wouldn’t betray each other, no matter how important money was.

But in most cases, following Siwoo’s advice led to better outcomes, so she decided to just go with it.

“By the way, I need to form a contract with a beast, right?”

“Oh, yeah. Apparently, we do it here…”

Haru looked around, then stopped a passing priest to ask.

“Ah, so you’re just starting out as a Beastmaster.”

The young priest responded kindly.

“I’ll guide you personally. Please follow me.”

“Thank you. You’re very kind.”

“Thanks to your efforts, the citizens of the Labyrinth City can sleep peacefully at night.”

Haru scratched her head at the unexpected praise.

“If you go through this door, Priest Kruif will explain everything in more detail.”

Haru and Siwoo passed through an extravagantly decorated door, so grand that they even questioned whether this was really a temple.

To be continued…