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Chapter 57: Solitude and Connection

– Solitude

Three days had passed before returning to the human world.

The first thing that greeted her wasn’t a welcoming crowd or the cries of yokai,

but rather the settlement screen reviewing her performance in the last field.

[Hidden Route: Simultaneous Extermination – Achieved]
[Hidden Route: The Prince’s Return – Achieved]

[Challenges]
[Defeat both the Yokai Queen and Yokai General simultaneously. (Achieved)]
[Clear the field within the time limit. (Achieved)]
[The illegitimate prince returns to the palace. (Achieved)]

[Turning Points]
[The illegitimate prince seizes power in the yokai realm. (Achieved)]

[Sweep Rank: SSS]
[Extermination Rank: SSS]
[Challenge Rank: SSS]
[Overall Rank: ★10/★3 (+700%)]

[TOWARDS THE LEGEND]
[All field difficulties have been raised to the maximum level.]
[Sudden events and hidden events will “almost always” occur.]

[WARNING! WARNING!]
[Strong signs of historical alteration detected. (1/3)]
[If two more significant turning points occur, the preordained ending of The Half-Blooded Tale might change.]

What awaited ahead was an uncertain ending,

irrelevant to her but a fiery topic among viewers who had seen various endings of The Half-Blooded Tale.

‘We’ve reached an unusual place.’

Unfazed by the chaos in the chatroom, the Silent Swordswoman’s focus was elsewhere.

[Story Mode]

Through the dimensional portal, she arrived in the human world.

The environment here differed drastically from the previous fields filled with natural elements.

This place stood out with an overwhelming number of artificial structures.

It looked as though an entire city had been destroyed, leaving mountains of trash piled high.

Ashes danced in the wind, mingling with the acrid smell of burning garbage wafting from beyond the mounds.

[Stray Ghosts]

Creatures without distinction, mindlessly grabbing any trash they could find and stuffing it into their mouths before spitting it out again.

These pitiful half-blood yokai wandered aimlessly at the base of the trash mounds.

At the center of the path winding through the trash heaps, the Silent Swordswoman opened her eyes.

The narration unfolded before her.

[The filthiest and most despicable place, shunned even by other yokai the trash heap.]
[At its very center lies the exit from the dimensional portal.]
[This is the queen’s base of operations in the human world.]

Clang. Rumble. Clang.

[A faint sound of a massive trash compactor echoed somewhere in the distance.]

[Why did the queen choose this wretched, revolting refuge of cowards as her stronghold?]
[Those in a hurry, escape quickly.]
[Those curious about the secrets, wander the trash heap.]
[Before your corpse becomes another piece of debris amid the burning, crumpled piles.]

The ominous warning hinted that this seemingly worthless trash heap held a deeper secret.

[Player Mode]

The towering mountains of trash looked as though they had swallowed an entire city.

“You cleared a field but didn’t log off?”
“Mom, are we going to space next?”
“Is she planning an all-clear marathon?”

“Wait, when do you even sleep? LOL.”
“We’re sorry, please stop playing the game, you lunatic.”
“Isn’t this some kind of last hurrah? I’m terrified you’ll never come back after the stream ends. T_T”
“But isn’t this the merchant map?”
“Yeah, the one where you hunt for treasures with the Wandering Merchant.”
“Oh wow, this isn’t just a repeatable event quest map it’s actually a main field?”
“But you need the Wandering Merchant to even find treasures, right?”
“True.”
“So what’s the point of being here if you can’t find treasures?”
“And where is the Wandering Merchant who’s supposed to trade the treasures anyway?”
“No idea.”

In the vast, overwhelming trash heap, where it felt nearly impossible to know where to start or what to do,

Hae Eung Eung found a piece of furniture that seemed strangely familiar.

‘Why is this here?’

It was Boogieman’s wardrobe.

Why? Why was that wardrobe here?

At first, she thought it might just resemble the wardrobe,

but closer inspection revealed nicks and scratches in the wood consistent with the weapon marks Boogieman’s wardrobe had sustained.

It was undoubtedly his.

‘Did he change homes?’

Since Boogieman’s true form resided inside the wardrobe, had he discarded the old one for a newer model?

If so, could that act be considered a kind of molting, like what insects do?

Knock, knock.

When she knocked on the wardrobe, Boogieman’s signature halting voice replied from within.

“…It’s a trap.”

“???”

“This place… is a power-suppressing zone. Here, I… cannot use my strength.”

After saying that, Boogieman fell silent.

Hae Eung Eung realized the truth.

Boogieman, who usually floated effortlessly behind the party, was entirely dependent on his yokai energy to move.

If this trash heap truly was a power-suppressing zone, then Boogieman, in his current state,

was nothing more than a powerless yokai trapped inside an immobile wardrobe.

“…….
There was loyalty in the battles they fought together,

and he was the only comrade who had crossed over to this dimension with her.

As long as he didn’t abandon her first,

she had no intention of leaving him behind.

She thought he might move eventually,

so she sat in front of the wardrobe, waiting,

then leaned against it when her legs grew tired,

knocked again,

pounded on it,

even kicked it a few times.

Five minutes passed, but Boogieman remained silent.

“…

One undeniable fact began to sink in, even if it was unpleasant.

If she wanted to keep Boogieman with her,

she would have to carry this heavy wardrobe

through the vast, disgusting trash heap,

a wardrobe so big it wouldn’t even fit in her inventory.

LOL.”

  • “Boogieman’s luggage.”
  • “No, it really has become luggage. LOL.”
  • “Why is he here?”
  • “Why does he keep following? It’s so annoying. LOL.”
  • “Is she going to leave him behind?”

 

Hae Eung Eung tried to lift the wardrobe,

but as she felt its overwhelming weight from her fingertips to her arms, shoulders, waist, and legs,

she glared at it, filled with resentment.

[Ending the game.]

[The Silent Swordsman has ended the stream.]

15,500 viewers were left stranded in space.

  • “What is going on?!”
  • “I went to check out the wardrobe from the next house and suddenly my house disappeared!”
  • “The timing of the stream cut-off… ha ha ha.”
  • “Why? I’ve prayed for the stream to end, but why does it feel bad?”
  • “I think I’ll eat in the Lunch Universe… I think I’ll eat in the Lunch Universe…”
  • “Where’s mom? Where’s mom? Where’s mom?”
  • “It feels like a disaster scene. Damn. LOL.”
  • “Are you laughing? Are you laughing?”
  • “Are you really laughing? No one knows when the next stream will be, months from now.”
  • “Ah.”
  • “Ah.”
  • “Ssb.”
  • “Mom, come back, mom, come back, mom, come back…”
  • “That was the last broadcast from the Silent Swordsman.”
  • “The cursed self-destruct… he suddenly self-destructs.”
  • “These fools are like mines waiting to explode once the broadcast ends.”
  • “How long did the stream last before this one?”
  • “Altogether, it was 2 hours.”
  • “How long did that take?”
  • “Two months.”
  • “So it’s a month per hour?”
  • “I guess?”
  • “But this time, it lasted 64 hours?”

The chat, which had filled the space, suddenly stopped.

The chilling realization left viewers feeling like they were watching a scene from a horror movie.

  • “64 months???”
  • “5 years, 4 months???”
  • “Damn, is a break that long even human?”
  • “At this point, I’d forget their name.”
  • “If the Silent Swordsman had any sense, he wouldn’t do something like that.”
  • “Would someone who has sense really communicate through a B1 tool?”
  • “Ah… Ahhh…”

The final image of the Silent Swordsman appeared.

It was a V-sign, trying to look pretty on the last journey—

but it was actually their last goodbye.

  • “You bastard.”
  • “No, this can’t be the end.”
  • “5 years, 4 months??? 5 years, 4 months?????”

The forbidden truth was revealed,

and the viewers, now mad with the horror of the cosmos,

were trapped in their own madness.

The shock among the cosmic wanderers was immense,

and the audience was swept up in an overwhelming terror.”

After finishing the game, Hae Eung Eung stepped out of the capsule.

She gathered her hair, which had been pressed against her back,

and tied it up instinctively, as though wrapping up the moment.

But just as she was about to insert the hairpin, her hand paused in surprise.

“Did I lose too much hair?”

Ban-Yo-Gok was from another world.

There shouldn’t be a hairpin in the real world either.

She steeled herself, thinking she had moved past it,

but perhaps, deep down, there was still some lingering attachment.

“Maybe I’m just a little tired.”

This wasn’t the first time.
It always happened when Ban-Yo-Gok was finished.

The NPCs were so lifelike, so real,

that she couldn’t believe they were just programmed patterns.

It was impossible to think of them as anything other than real.

“What exactly is Ban-Yo-Gok?”

At the point where inner energy became usable,

she couldn’t shake the suspicion that it wasn’t just a game connected to another world.

She was almost certain now—

maybe the world she was in was real.

“How should I face this world?”

Her serious contemplation about Ban-Yo-Gok raised another question.

“How are others playing this game?”

She became curious.

What was it like for other players who weren’t seeing Ban-Yo-Gok the way she did?

Were they, like her, struggling and exhausted,

playing with so much tension, constantly on edge?

[Search: Ban-Yo-Gok gameplay videos]

[Search results: about 2,760,000 results]

Ban-Yo-Gok in another player’s video.

[Executioner 1 Death 3 Tries Clear]

[Swordsmanship Skill Tree Recommendation]

[Physical Blessing All-In Play]

“???”

Something was missing in their gameplay.

  • “Die.”
  • “Impressive.”
  • “Hah, got me.”
    The NPCs spoke in mechanical tones, offering only short, direct responses.
    The bosses, who had once been made of high-level AI capable of meaningful conversation,
    now seemed almost controlled, like puppets under some force, unnatural and stiff.
    “They’re like zombies.”
    Even with their own consciousness, they couldn’t act of their own will,
    manipulated by sorcerers, like living dolls.
    In the martial world, these were called zombies.
    And she, too, had once been controlled by the Blood Guild’s blood zombies.
    It wasn’t hard to understand why.
    At the start of each video,
    the cause was proudly displayed.

[This strategy was performed after reaching 2nd death.]

[For beginners, it’s recommended to do at least 3 deaths in the Blood-Tomb Boss Battle to make the strategy easier.]

[Remember, dying first will lower the difficulty of the boss battle.]

The difficulty of the bosses dropped due to death,

which weakened their patterns and decreased their AI capabilities.

The NPCs that Hae Eung Eung had treated as living, breathing beings,

with whom she had exchanged countless emotions,

were all rejected by other players as unnecessary.

What they desired wasn’t emotional exchange,

communication with human-like NPCs,

or an immersive game.

They just wanted a game with an easy difficulty,

one that they could enjoy at their own pace.

It was a form of entertainment suited to each individual’s skill level.

They faced the same enemies in the same setting,

but who would treat it as the same game?

“No one will understand how I feel.”

Hae Eung Eung felt a deep loneliness.

In the martial world,

in Ban-Yo-Gok,

and even in the real world,

whenever she noticed it, she was always left alone.

Normally, she would never let go of her sword,

but now she had hung it on the wall,

sitting alone as though abandoned by the world,

gazing out the window onto the balcony.

The sun, which had reached its peak,

was slowly setting,

and she felt the fleeting nature of life,

the emptiness of human existence,

as she reflected on her loneliness.

It was then that a message woke her from her thoughts.

Joo Ahyoung: Sis!! Are you free now?

Hae Eung Eung: What’s up?

Joo Ahyoung: Let’s go shopping! Everywhere I go, I get noticed, so I haven’t been able to do anything outside recently.

The only person who could treat Hae Eung Eung so comfortably

was Joo Ahyoung, and her message arrived.

  • Hae Eung Eung: Sounds good.
  • Joo Ahyoung: Nice!!
  • Joo Ahyoung: (Photo of a seal clapping)
  • Joo Ahyoung: (Photo of a dog wagging its tail)
  • (A serious selfie) Joo Ahyoung
  • Then come to this address by 9! I’ll coordinate everything from head to toe, so be prepared!! Joo Ahyoung

Was it really such a joyful thing to help someone pick clothes

when they weren’t even the ones who would wear them?

Hae Eung Eung wasn’t the type to enjoy shopping as a mood booster,

but seeing Joo Ahyoung so excited,

“She looks so eager; I don’t want to disappoint her.”

A soft smile formed on Hae Eung Eung’s lips.

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pain_07
pain_07
Author
3 months ago

If You Notice any translation issues or inconsistency in names, genders, or POV etc? Let us know here in the comments or on our Discord server, and we’ll fix it in current and future chapters. Thanks for helping us to improve! 🙂

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