The inside of the First Outpost looked as though it had been dyed entirely in the glow of sunset.
“Hmhmhm~”
And there, humming as she led the way, was Ppahppah 2.
Following slowly behind her, I turned my head and took in the scenery of the streets around us.
It was far more lively than I had expected.
Looking over each thing that caught my eye—
“I heard there was trouble in the forest again today.”
“Was another ruler running wild?”
“Apparently.”
There were people walking around with all kinds of weapons, chatting among themselves.
“Now, if you need anything, just say the word!! We have everything!!”
“Do you have hair-loss medicine?”
“No, you fool!!”
There were also merchants hawking their wares with countless goods piled up behind them.
And farther off—
Clang! Clang!
Along with the sound of iron being hammered, I could hear the noisy voices of children running about.
Rather than an outpost, it felt more like a village.
As I walked along, taking in this and that—
‘What’s that smell?’
From somewhere, the smell of freshly grilled meat tickled the tip of my nose.
“Something smells good.”
A faint charcoal aroma was mixed in with the smell, enough to make my mouth water on its own.
“What kind of food is that?”
- The Nyang tribe’s probably cooking that, I think?
- The smell is killer
- The taste is killer too
- You can taste it?
- Yeah, only in Reality Mode though
- Ah, so you’re telling me not to eat it!
- Babies playing Baby Mode can go eat baby food~
- Waaah!! Gimme food!!
I was a little surprised to hear that Reality Mode even implemented the taste of food.
To think technology had advanced that far.
As someone who had eaten even rotten food back when the world ended, I knew very well how precious food was.
They had been moments when I had no choice but to put it in my mouth in order to survive, but I had definitely realized something back then.
The most important thing was taste.
After coming to a peaceful world like this, no matter how important nutrition was, if it tasted bad, I didn’t even want to put it in my mouth.
‘If it’s like this, I’ll have to try it if I get the chance later.’
Judging by the comments saying it was delicious, it seemed more than worth eating.
As I nodded to myself, I remembered that there had been a word among the viewers’ comments that stood out.
“Come to think of it, someone mentioned the Nyang tribe. What are they?”
- Cats that cook traditional Wahheon food
- You’ll probably see them soon?
- They’re cute
- Agreed
- The charm point is that they walk on two feet
- I want one too...
Bipedal cats that cooked.
It was a bit bewildering, but there had been plenty of other races in the world I came from too.
I figured I could think of them in a similar way.
And just as the viewers had said, it wasn’t long before cats walking on two feet began to come into view.
Cats wearing clothes, holding cooking utensils or baskets of vegetables in their front paws as they sauntered around.
Calicos, mackerel tabbies, munchkins, Siamese, even Russian Blues.
There were all kinds.
One of them glanced at me.
“Ptoo.”
It spat on the ground, then scampered away on all fours.
“...What was that? Did I do something?”
I was momentarily flustered, but I couldn’t tolerate someone picking a fight like that and running away.
Thump.
The moment I caught a pebble I had flicked up with the tip of my foot, I drew my arm back and threw it hard, like a pitch.
My target was that guy currently running away.
Whoosh.
The pebble flew like an arrow.
And as a result—
Thwack!
Along with a dull impact, a pained scream rang out from afar.
“Nyaaaat!!!”
- LOLLLLL what is with the host’s pitching skills
- He hit that in one go, for real lololol
- Shitcat cut!
- That guy spat at me every time he saw me too, serves him right lol
- He’s seriously fast so I always missed him, but now I can finally rest in peace lol
It seemed the viewers had suffered from him too, not just me.
Everyone was saying how satisfying it was.
As I lightly dusted off my hands while looking at the chat window—
A leisurely voice came from behind me, accompanied by a hearty chuckle.
“That fellow’s name is Nyeo. He’s got a nasty temper, so I was going to tell you not to mind him, but it seems you already took care of it yourself, young man.”
When I turned around, I saw an old man with both eyes covered by a black blindfold.
A small body.
A hunched back.
Aside from the blindfold, he looked like an old man you might see anywhere.
But—
The strangely well-kept weapon hanging at his waist.
And the gaze that was pointed precisely at me, even though he shouldn’t be able to see because of the blindfold.
At a glance, I could tell he was no ordinary old man.
- Why is that guy showing up here?
- ???
- Huh? What is this??
The chat seemed to be talking about him as if they knew something, but that wasn’t important.
The most important thing right now was something else.
Namely, the fact that my combat sensor had reacted faintly.
‘Looks like it’d be fun to have a bout with him...’
“Who are you?”
I asked to figure out the other party’s identity.
“Hoho, just an ordinary old man passing by.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Oh? Why do you think that?”
“Well, because...”
Before I could answer—
“Commander!!”
Ppahppah 2, who had gone on ahead, was hurrying back.
Commander?
“Hoho, commander, you say. The current commander is doing perfectly well elsewhere, is he not? That title is too much for this old man now. Wouldn’t it be a little embarrassing to still be called commander at my age?”
“But to me, you’re the real commander.”
“Tsk. Reina. Are this old man’s words no longer words to you?”
“That’s not it, but...”
“Then call me Grandfather, like you used to.”
“......”
“Ahem.”
“Yes, Grandfather...”
“Good, good. Hohoho.”
Ppahppah 2 turned her head as if embarrassed, and the old man stroked his beard as he laughed heartily.
Looking at the two of them, I was able to obtain a few important pieces of information.
One was that the old man was a former commander, and the other was—
‘So Ppahppah 2’s real name was Reina.’
...It strangely didn’t suit her.
No, it just didn’t suit her.
- Ppahppah 2’s real name was Reina?
- Yeah
- First time I knew that lol
- I thought Ppahppah 2 was her real name until now
- As if
- LOLLLLLLLLLLL
- Actually, I thought so too lol
- Can’t we just call her Ppahppah 2? Reina doesn’t roll off the tongue
- To me she’ll always be Bro Ppahppah 2
As I watched the two with a sullen expression—
“So, Reina. Could you introduce that friend to me?”
At the former commander’s words, Ppahppah 2... no, Reina looked at me, her face growing even redder as she floundered.
It seemed she was embarrassed that she had shown that side of herself in front of me.
After being embarrassed for a while, she finally calmed down only after letting out a short sigh.
“Phew... This friend is my junior. His name was definitely...”
Reina seemed to ponder my name for a moment.
But in the end, perhaps because she couldn’t remember, she looked at me with trembling eyes and carefully asked,
“What was it again...? Hahaha...”
She scratched her head awkwardly.
It looked like she was doing that because she didn’t know my name...
‘She never asked in the first place, though?’
I hadn’t set an in-game nickname either.
So it was only natural that Reina didn’t know my name.
But to those two, who didn’t know that situation, Reina was nothing more than Ppahppah 2, who had forgotten her junior’s name.
“You fool! What kind of senior forgets her junior’s name?!”
“Ah, seriously!! I was just out of it today, that’s why!!”
The two bickered over my name.
In the end, perhaps Reina lost, because she looked at me with reddened eyes.
“Newbie, you tell him yourself!”
The screen once again turned gray and slowed.
Seeing that, I realized this was the timing to decide my nickname.
‘Ah, I guess I’m setting my nickname now.’
[Please choose a name.]
Even if the scenery around me was so realistic that this place felt like reality, a system message like this reminded me that I was inside a game.
‘A name...’
I thought for a moment, but there was no need to think long.
“Haerang.”
I was already using that as my streamer name too.
“Haerang, is it. It sounds similar to the names used by people from the East.”
“Well, I suppose.”
“Newbie, you were from the East?”
I nodded while looking at Reina, who was staring at me in surprise.
“Yes.”
Well, I was a native Korean, at least.
When I looked to the side, the old man was calmly stroking his beard.
Seeing as he wore a blindfold, he definitely shouldn’t have been able to see, yet his gaze felt as though it was piercing through me.
“I saw you fight from atop the wall earlier, Haerang. You fought well. If you’re Reina’s junior, then I suppose you’re an attendant, but... have you perhaps ever thought of becoming a hunter?”
- What
- Was this how it originally went?
- No, absolutely not
- I’ve seriously never seen this before, what is this...
- He gets scouted as a hunter right here? Are we playing the same game?
- Is this a new route or something?
“Commander!!”
“Tsk. Grandfather.”
At the old man’s words, Reina quickly shrank back and spoke in a quiet voice.
“Grandfather. The newbie is one of ours, so if you take him like that...”
“You didn’t even remember his name properly, so how is he one of yours? And after seeing how he moved earlier, it would be far too much of a waste to let him rot away as an attendant.”
“Still...”
“And that friend has not even given his answer yet, so what is all this fuss? Stay still. What matters is his answer.”
The old man spoke as if indifferent, while Reina looked at me anxiously.
After stroking my chin for a moment and thinking, I first asked what I was curious about.
“What exactly is a hunter?”
“A hunter...”
At my question, the old man seemed to sink into thought for a moment.
As if he were pondering what words he should bring out.
“Hunters are those who accept requests from the guild and hunt monsters outside. Fundamentally, they take on practical tasks such as environmental surveys, population control, and disaster prevention. But what matters more than that is...”
The old man paused for a moment, then pointed beyond his hunched shoulders toward the forest outside.
“They are, quite literally, the shield and spear of the front line, protecting people amid those fearsome monsters. They are not merely people who hunt, but beings who protect villages, bases, and the lives of those who dwell within them. Every time they set out, they shoulder that weight with the resolve that it may be their last. In a world where no one knows when, where, or what threat may descend, hunters are the ones who must stand against it first. Well? Are you interested?”
“To sum it up, it’s a job where you could always end up in danger of dying because of battles with monsters. Is that right?”
“Does that worry you?”
At the old man’s words, I shook my head.
“No way. As if.”
Before I knew it, there was a smile on my face.
“I like it, actually.”
“Newbie! Why did you accept that!! Do you know how dangerous being a hunter is? No matter how well you can fight, compared to real monsters, that’s nothing!!”
I covered my ears at Reina’s voice as she shouted beside me.
“You’re too loud. I appreciate the concern, but it’s fine. I’m doing it because I want to.”
“Still...”
“I mean it. More importantly, tell me about the monster that grandfather mentioned earlier. I need to prepare for that first.”
“Haa...”
Reina sighed and plopped down on a nearby box.
“The monster for the hunter qualification exam, right...”
Reina pulled a notebook from inside her clothes.
“Its name is Kukuridyaa. It’s a monster that resembles a chicken, and it uproots nearby trees to use as weapons. Its temperament is vicious too, so I heard it’s been causing a lot of damage lately.”
Reina turned the notebook around and showed me a drawing of Kukuridyaa.
“It looks roughly like this. They said it was west of the outpost, so that probably means it’s in the Boundary Forest where we came from.”
It looked like a chicken that had been strangely stretched out.
After confirming its appearance, I nodded.
“Got it. It’s late today, so we should set out tomorrow.”
“That would be best.”
“Come to think of it, what about weapons? Can I use the one I was using earlier?”
“Rather than that, it’d be better to use the materials from the Domagirius you caught today to make a weapon. It’s late today anyway, so you can just go early tomorrow morning.”
“Got it.”
“Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Reina waved and left.
I gave her a light wave in return, then went straight into the place she had told me was my lodging.
Wooden furniture, a small map hanging on the wall, and a single old chair placed in front of the fireplace.
It was a quiet, warm space, lived-in somehow.
I sat down in the old chair and began communicating with the viewers I’d left alone for a while.
“This is fun.”
- It’s fun for us watching too
- I’ve never seen things flow like this before, this is wild lololol
“Does it not usually go this way?”
----
[Gajiramyeon has donated 1,000 won.]
Yeah, like I said earlier, this development is new to us too
----
- fr
- Normally the basic route is to run away, not catch those Domagirius bastards, so nobody’s ever caught both like you did
- At most, I think Bullamyeon caught one
- And that former commander guy isn’t someone who’s supposed to show up now either
- The gallery’s going crazy too, saying a new route came out lololol
“Ah, thank you for the 1,000 won donation, Gajiramyeon. Really? He was a pretty unusual person, that’s true.”
I recalled the conversation I’d had with the old man before we parted earlier.
“Come to think of it, there’s something I’m curious about. Can I ask?”
“Yes, that’s fine. What else are you curious about?”
“You said you saw me fighting from up on the wall earlier. How did you see me? Aren’t you blind?”
- That question though lolololol
- A surprise attack of rudeness lololol
- Host is rude as hell lololol
- lolololololol
- lololol do you just start by being rude and see what happens
“Hey!”
Leaving Reina, who looked shocked beside me, I stared blankly at the old man.
The old man seemed slightly taken aback by my question.
Then, before long, he burst into a roar of laughter.
“Hahahaha. You’re the first person to ask me that right to my face. Was that what you were curious about?”
“Yes.”
At my answer, the old man smiled gently and continued.
“It’s a secret.”
This time, it was my turn to be flustered.
Wasn’t he going to answer me?
“Then I’ll be off. Let us meet again, young man.”
Watching the old man walk away with a smile, I had no choice but to stand there, feeling empty.
“He really is an unusual person…”
Ding.
The donation sound that rang out at that moment cut off my drifting thoughts.
----
[Gajiramyeon has donated 1,000 won.]
How about 100,000 won if you clear the Kukridyah you fight tomorrow without getting hit once?
----
A viewer had given me a no-hit clear mission.
Seeing them put up a mission like that, it seemed they thought it was impossible for me to clear it without getting hit even once.
“Call.”
If they were saying they’d just give me money, I had to take it.