Episode 18
Adam, the Jeoba tribe’s army doctor and resident lunatic. He had just shattered the setting that the Jeoba tribe and the Bia tribe spoke different languages and could not converse, and addressed us like this.
After running into Jaesugang in the hidden story, I’d thought I wouldn’t be surprised no matter what came up anymore. But the moment I let my guard down, something new popped out, and I couldn’t help but be shocked.
That was only natural, because this world’s lore had firmly established that conversation between the two races was close to impossible. Of course, it wasn’t as shocking as when I’d encountered Jaesugang here.
My character, startled, instinctively tried to draw the sword at his waist, while Abrea’s mouth fell wide open. Jaesugang, who had always met Adam through quests, also seemed unaware that he could speak the Bia language; when Adam suddenly spoke words he couldn’t understand, he looked puzzled, then his eyes widened.
[- Adam : “Why are you so surprised? Is it strange that I can speak the Bia language? Hmm, well. I suppose it would be. I’m the only one who broke through the formula the ‘gods’ had blocked off, so of course you’d be surprised to see a Jeoba talking to the Bia for the first time.”]
[- Abrea : “W-Wh-Wh-Wh-What……! How is this possible!”]
[- Adam : “More importantly, you. Can you see this mineral shining?”]
Abrea’s question was brutally ignored.
Adam had picked up the mineral my character had kicked earlier and was holding it in his hand. This time, no choices appeared; Kkulppang immediately nodded, confirming that the mineral was glittering. At that instant, only for a very brief moment, I saw Jaesugang’s character whip his head around and glare at Kkulppang.
[- Adam : “Interesting. Something even an army doctor can’t easily see, yet a divine knight who swears loyalty to a god can?”]
[- Abrea : “W-Wait. You…… were Bia? No, that can’t be. I’m sure…….”]
[- Adam : “Looks like your eyes are busted.”]
Abrea flared up at Adam’s sarcasm, but soon let out a short breath.
[- Abrea : “Fine! Good. I don’t know what’s going on, but if we can talk, this will go faster.”]
[- Abrea : “You know what this is, don’t you?”]
At Abrea’s question, Adam’s eyes narrowed.
[- Adam : “And what are you going to do if you know?”]
What the hell. Hadn’t he spoken up to explain it? Usually, when an NPC addressed you like this, it was to go on and on about what the item was and what situation you were in.
Abrea must have been just as dumbfounded as I was, because he glared at Adam with a scoff. If this hadn’t been the Eunseo tribe’s territory, he looked ready to spew curses and smack him upside the head.
[- Adam : “If you were Eideas, I would have told you what this is, but you’re Witerahit. I can’t be bothered to spend time explaining, and even if I did, for you Witerahit, it would only bring confusion.”]
[Please select a line. Time remaining: 15 seconds.]
▷ Then why did you talk to us?
▷ If you don’t want to talk, get lost.
If this had happened in reality, I would have just told him to get lost, but maybe because it was a game, curiosity came first. Without thinking too long, I chose the first option.
[- Then why did you talk to us?]
[- Adam : “Because it was interesting. That divine knight singled out and chose this mineral, and the puppet commander-in-chief can see this light too. So I wanted to ask for certain.”]
[- Adam : “Well. Since you’re a puppet, it might actually be stranger if you couldn’t see it.”]
As Adam said that, he looked Kkulppang and Abrea up and down. It was a gaze that seemed to look down on them.
[- Adam : “After that, I started to wonder what results would come from you seeing this. How would the clerics, followers of god, react if they learned the secret of this mineral?”]
[- Adam : “And how would the ‘gods’ respond? How would the world change because of it? Things like that.”]
[- Abrea : “What do you mean? What on earth is that mineral?”]
[- Adam : “I told you, didn’t I? I have no intention of explaining in detail to ignorant Witerahit. If you can handle the aftermath, investigate it yourselves.”]
Abrea, who had been silently listening to Adam, ruffled his hair and muttered irritably.
[- Abrea : “Ha! This is why I hate scholars. All of you just mumble to yourselves about what only you know, never explain properly, and when someone asks, you call them ignorant. Is it fun saying things only you can understand? Is it fun making someone stand in front of you while you just talk to yourself?”]
Weren’t you the one who told me not to fight? Though this was definitely something worth getting pissed about.
This time, Abrea’s eyes turned sharp, as if he were about to tear into him and start a fight. But Adam, just like before, calmly met his gaze and spoke in a whisper.
[- Adam : “No matter what I say, if it goes against your principles and doctrines, you’ll just call it sophistry anyway. Is there any need for me to explain?”]
It wasn’t exactly wrong. Just as Adam said, if something someone else said went against the will, principles, or doctrines of god, divine knights dismissed it as sophistry without question.
Of course, they didn’t flat-out ignore people to their faces; they would politely and earnestly say that it made them very uncomfortable and ask the other person to mind their manners. But in the end, the fact remained that they drew an extreme line against anyone who held opinions contrary to doctrine. Not only divine knights, but priests and clerics all did the same. They had an almost eerie lack of personal judgment, yet all clerics explained that this was their personal judgment. Considering that “almost all” clerics had been like that, Adam’s assessment wasn’t all that wrong.
But that didn’t apply to Abrea.
[- Abrea : “Why are you deciding I’m that kind of person?”]
Adam looked surprised.
[- Abrea : “Simply because I’m a divine knight? I hate that sort of thing. Every word should be heard directly and judged for yourself. At least, that’s what I think. Why do you assume every divine knight will listen only to the words of god or scripture and obey them completely? Have you ever had a proper conversation with me?”]
[- Abrea : “No matter how rigid other clerics may be, no matter how sick you are of clerics, you shouldn’t arbitrarily judge the person in front of you without exchanging even a single word. Especially if you’re a scholar.”]
Silence followed for a moment. Unable to understand the conversation, Jaesugang’s eyes darted around at the suddenly cold atmosphere before meeting Kkulppang’s gaze.
He stared hard at Kkulppang, then jerked his eyes toward Adam and Abrea a couple of times, as if asking what was going on. Seeing that, Kkulppang, unable to explain even if he wanted to, could only press his lips together and shrug.
Adam broke the silence, which could by no means be called short.
[- Adam : “Now that you say that, I think I understand why you could see that light.”]
[- Abrea : “Again with saying things only you understand…….”]
[- Adam : “Even if I explain, you probably won’t believe it, and it’s something difficult to accept right away anyway. I’ll give you one hint, so see it for yourself, experience it for yourself, and judge for yourself.”]
Adam suddenly wrapped the mineral in his hand, brought it to his mouth, and murmured something. His voice was so quiet that I couldn’t tell whether it was the Jeoba language, the Bia language, or an entirely different language.
After that, he gave Abrea a look and tossed the mineral to him. Before Abrea, who had reflexively caught the mineral, could demand an explanation, Adam spoke first.
[- Adam : “A certain ‘child’ inside it will show you the way. If you follow that path, you’ll learn what is hidden in this mineral and what the ‘gods’ tried to conceal.”]
[- Adam : “If, after seeing that, you still feel like talking to me again, then I’ll be a proper conversation partner for you.”]
[- Abrea : “……Fine.”]
[- Abrea : “If you’ve toyed with me over something insignificant, I’ll find you and kill you somehow, so you’d better wait for me.”]
At Abrea, who glared at him murderously, Adam smiled for the first time. It wasn’t a gentle smile, but a sly one that gave the impression he found this so amusing he could barely stand it. I’d felt it often while watching Jaesugang’s streams too, but he really was a pervert steeped in curiosity and the thirst for knowledge.
[- Adam : “Now! Then, before I go back to investigating, one last thing.”]
Adam abruptly changed the mood and called Jaesugang.
[- Adam : “As an apology to our commander-in-chief, who had to stand here alone looking blank, I’ll interpret just this once…… Ah, no. I’ll translate.”]
While I was wondering what that meant, I saw Jaesugang’s character fluster. Then the message saying the other party was choosing a line appeared again. It seemed to be the final choice. This time, the time limit was a full 30 seconds. Curious about what lines could possibly require that, I waited.
The time limit was long, but Jaesugang made his choice faster than expected. About 7 seconds later, the message disappeared, and I saw Jaesugang move his lips, briefly saying something. Adam heard it and, with a face like he was holding back laughter, gestured for Kkulppang’s character to come over. Why. Why are you grinning. What did he choose?
When Kkulppang approached, Adam cupped a hand by Kkulppang’s ear and took the pose of whispering into it. Then, at the same time Adam’s mouth moved, the script appeared.
[- Adam : ㅗ]
“……Huh?”
Dumbfounded, I stared blankly at the script. ㅗ? Fuck you? Cheol + Hanja + 9? ㅗ? Did he just…… flip me off?
No matter how long I looked, it was a middle finger. I took my hand off the mouse and raised only my middle finger. It was a middle finger. I raised my left hand too and lifted only the middle finger in the same way. It was definitely a middle finger.
With my mind going distant, I pressed the screenshot button and advanced the script. Adam, who had dumped the bomb on me, waved his hand and walked off in the opposite direction, and the story ended just like that. The cutscene turned off, and Jaesugang stood in front of my character.
[General] Kkulppang : ?
I sent a question mark, full of confusion, and Retake set me as his focus target and stared at me intently. When I stared right back at him in the same way, he used the kneeling motion and neatly dropped to his knees in front of me, sitting there politely.
No, so that guy had actually typed “fuck you (ㅗ)” himself and sent it to me? And that was why he was suddenly on his knees in front of me now?
I heard a notification saying the quest had been updated, but I couldn’t even bring myself to care. Between Retake’s sudden behavior and the somewhat frantic feel of his movements as he tried to fix it, I was about to burst out laughing. So I pressed my lips together and tried to keep my breathing steady, letting the laughter spill out only on the inside, and when I finally felt a little calmer, I looked back at Retake.
But as if to make all my efforts meaningless, Retake was still kneeling there with a blank face, staring up at me, and in the end a laugh leaked out of my mouth. Not content with laughing out loud, my fingers joined in too, and the “ㅋ” characters I typed began multiplying in the chat window.
[General] Honey Bun : Ah fuck
[General] Honey Bun : ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[General] Retake : ; - ;).....4 & 6|-|.......
[General] Retake : uyii...uyii... uyiiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyi
The chat was being translated into alien gibberish, but which alphabet letters each character turned into was fixed, so I could infer simple consonants and vowels like this much. That was the Jeoba race’s “ㅠ” character.
Retake must have been far more flustered and apologetic than I’d thought, because he started crying in chat while shouting “I love you.”
[General] Retake : ; 0 ;)52......52 52 52 52 52 52....,,.., uyiiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyi,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,uyiiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyi
[General] Honey Bun : ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[General] Jwigok : ????
[General] Negotiable : What is this;; what the hell are you two laughing and crying about
[General] Honey Bun : Noㅜ
[General] Honey Bun : First, someone tell him to stop crying already;;
[General] Honey Bun : ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ