Sian and Haru were born in the same hospital at the same time, making them “hospital mates.”
Sian’s mother and Haru’s mother quickly became friends while staying in the hospital.
Even after being discharged, they continued to keep in touch, and naturally, Sian and Haru also became close.
When Haru turned 21, Sian happened to obtain a travel discount coupon.
However, due to personal plans, Sian gave it to Haru instead.
Excited, Haru went on a trip with their family.
But what was supposed to be a fun trip turned into a horrifying disaster.
An eight-car pileup.
It was a terrible accident that Haru’s family suffered.
Haru’s father died.
Their mother fell into a coma.
Haru was left with severe aftereffects.
“Siwoo, this wasn’t your fault. It was just bad luck.”
Haru said this to Siwoo, who was consumed by guilt.
Others also told Siwoo,
“You did nothing wrong. It was truly just an unfortunate accident.”
Haru, too, kept reassuring Siwoo that it wasn’t their fault.
“If it wasn’t my fault… then why did such a thing happen to your family?”
But Siwoo couldn’t shake off the guilt.
That guilt was the reason Siwoo took Haru to the hospital every time, the reason they joined “Real Mode” together with the hope of winning prize money.
Siwoo’s world was buried under the snow-like weight of guilt toward Haru.
Meanwhile, Haru continued talking to their mother, updating her about various things.
There was never a response, but still, they kept talking.
Eventually, Haru ran out of things to say and checked the clock.
It was already 10 PM.
“Let’s go home now.”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
“Siwoo, thank you for everything.”
Haru smiled at Siwoo.
“There’s nothing to thank me for.”
Siwoo averted their gaze from Haru’s smiling face.
The next day arrived.
Haru logged into the game and woke up in the room where they had logged out.
One by one, viewers started to join.
– Hi there
– Are you heading to the shrine today?
– The priest told you to visit, so probably, right?
“Today, I’ll go to the shrine first and then explore the labyrinth.”
– Oh, the labyrinth!
– Since it’s a labyrinth city, of course, you gotta check it out.
Haru looked around.
Tiamat was nowhere to be seen.
They checked the living room, but she wasn’t there either.
“Tiamat~ where are you?”
A loud crashing sound came from the bathroom.
It seemed she was in there.
The bathroom door suddenly swung open.
“You called for me?”
Tiamat stepped out.
– LTE LTE
– Thank you, thank you!
– Wow, that body is insane!
– This is today’s highlight!
Her hair was wet, likely from a shower, and her skin looked smooth, still damp from the water.
She was only loosely covering herself with a towel over her chest and lower body.
“What’s going on?”
Haru was so flustered that their jaw dropped.
Meanwhile, Tiamat, looking puzzled, simply gazed at Haru, taking slow steps forward.
“Stop right there!!”
Haru quickly turned off the broadcast.
“What’s all the noise about?”
Si-Sian, hearing the commotion, opened their door and stepped into the living room.
Then, upon seeing Tiamat barely covered with a towel, Sian’s pupils shook.
“Sian! Hurry up and go back to your room!”
Sian quickly shut the door.
“Tiamat! Dry off and put on some clothes right now!”
Tiamat knelt before Haru, listening to a lecture.
To be honest, she wasn’t sure why she was being scolded.
In her previous life—when she was a young man—she had done manual labor.
During the summer, it was only natural for her body to be drenched in sweat after working under the scorching sun…
After finishing work, the team leader always took the team members to the bathhouse.
It was natural to see each other naked in a bathhouse.
In other words, seeing the naked bodies of same-gender teammates wasn’t anything unusual.
Right now, she was a woman.
Haru was also a woman.
And they were a team that had successfully completed a request together.
That meant they were same-gender teammates.
Of course, in her previous life, she had been a man, so seeing Haru naked was somewhat problematic.
However, since Haru saw her as a woman, wasn’t it fine for her to be seen?
As for Sian, he was a man.
Although her current body was female, she still thought of herself as male.
So, mentally, didn’t that make her and Sian the same gender?
Still, since her body was now physically female, it would be a bit much to be completely naked.
That’s why she covered the important parts with a towel.
In fact, the exposed area was even less than what a swimsuit would reveal, so what was the issue?
Besides, even if, as Haru had suggested, Sian was actually some kind of pervert and tried to attack her, she was more than capable of subduing him.
No matter how much she thought about it, there was absolutely no problem.
“Are you even listening?”
“Ah, yes, I’m listening.”
— She totally looks like she’s wondering what she did wrong, LOL
— She didn’t do anything wrong! She should be praised instead. We got to enjoy the view, after all!
— LOL
“Shut up, you guys. Ah, Tiamat, I wasn’t talking to you.”
Oh. Now that she thought about it, Haru had been streaming.
Hmm… if she had been exposed to an unspecified number of viewers, then yeah, that would be unpleasant.
But Haru probably wouldn’t care about that with an in-game NPC like her.
It’s not like she had portrait rights or anything.
So, in the end, the problem must have been the stream itself.
Even if it was an online broadcast, there were probably strict content regulations.
If she had messed up, she might have gotten Haru’s stream taken down.
Her heart dropped.
An NPC ruining a player’s stream—she would have no excuse if she got kicked out.
“I-I’m sorry…”
— Wait, why is she suddenly turning pale?
— What the hell is she thinking about?
— This is Haru’s fault. How badly did he hit her off-screen for her to react like that…?
— Haru/Scandal—Abusing NPCs
“Huh? No… you don’t have to apologize that much…”
Judging by Haru’s reaction, it seemed the stream hadn’t actually been taken down due to content violations.
“Anyway… Sian is here, and you’re a girl, so be more careful.”
“Understood.”
When they arrived at the shrine, Priest Dominic welcomed them.
“Welcome.”
The shrine was still in a state of disarray.
“Let me formally introduce myself again. I am Dominic, a priest of the Alpheron Shrine. And this is Ailiya, a candidate for the shrine’s saintess.”
“I am Ailiya.”
— Wow, blonde hair.
— I didn’t get a good look last time, but Ailiya is really pretty too.
— Should have picked Ailiya during character selection.
— But I think Haru’s Estia turned out better.
— I vote for Ailiya.
Ailiya exuded a noble air, as if she were an aristocratic lady.
“I’m Haru, and this is Tiamat, my contracted partner. And this here is Sian, a mage.”
“Haru, Sian. Thanks to you, the damage to the shrine was minimized. On behalf of the shrine, I sincerely thank you.”
Priest Dominic bowed his head.
Ailiya followed suit, expressing her gratitude.
“It’s nothing. But the one who really worked the hardest was Tiamat.”
Haru grabbed my arm and pulled me forward from where I had been hiding behind him.
For a very brief moment, Priest Dominic’s expression twisted into displeasure.
But soon, he returned to smiling.
“I extend my gratitude to you as well.”
“It’s really nothing…”
It felt like I was being forced to accept gratitude… but oh well, what could I do?
Priest Dominic led us to an empty room where no one else was present.
We sat around a circular table.
“I must ask that everything said here remains strictly confidential.”
Dominic spoke with a serious expression.
“Normally, demons cannot enter the labyrinth city. That’s because of the city’s barrier stones. However, Beelzebub managed to invade the city. Although the barrier weakened him significantly, he still made it through. The reason Beelzebub could enter was because of the witch, Elzebator.”
“Witch Elzebator was once a saintess of this shrine. We do not know what led her to fall into darkness, but because she was a former saintess, she was highly knowledgeable about the barrier stones. After all, saintesses are the ones who manage them.”
— Is he talking about that white-haired witch who appeared at the end?
— Yeah, seems like it.
“Elzebator must have created a weakness in the barrier stones, allowing Beelzebub to slip through. But there is a problem.”
“To create a weakness in the barrier stones, an insider’s help is necessary.”
“So… you’re saying there’s a traitor inside?”
Haru asked.
“Most likely, it is someone in a high-ranking position within the shrine.”
— Oh, the story is getting interesting.
— Considering the state of the shrine, it wouldn’t be surprising if there were a couple of traitors, LOL.
“Why are you telling us this?”
Sian, who had been quietly listening, asked.
“We are outsiders. We have no affiliation with the shrine. The fact that you’re telling us this means… there’s no one within the shrine you can trust, is there?”
Sian sharply pointed out.
“It is… embarrassing to admit, but that is correct.”
Sian tapped his fingers lightly on the table, deep in thought.
“What exactly do you want from us?”
“We would like you to help us identify the traitor within the shrine.”
“So, we don’t even know who’s friend or foe, nor how many enemies there are.”
“That’s… correct.”
Dominic’s face darkened in response to Sian’s negative reaction.
“This time, the damage wasn’t too severe, but next time, the entire labyrinth city could face destruction. The corruption must be swiftly cut out. If a disaster befalls the city, wouldn’t that be a problem for you as well? Please, I ask you to consider this carefully.”
As Dominic grew more anxious, his speech quickened.
Despite this, Sian remained expressionless, his stance unwavering.
“Haru, what do you think? I believe it’s too dangerous, but if you decide to accept, I’ll follow your lead.”
Haru pondered carefully.
“If there’s a traitor in the shrine, it will have a major negative impact on the labyrinth city. That means we need to eliminate them as soon as possible.”
“That’s right, Haru.”
Hearing Haru’s positive response, Dominic’s face brightened.
The same went for Ailiya beside him.
“Alright, we’ll help.”
Haru said with a cheerful smile.