NOVEL WEB Chapter 8
After spending a night (?) in Yor’s Cave, did Yoo Chaerin make it back alive?
Sadly, no.
As soon as Chaerin woke up, she turned on her stream and continued her exploration of the Forbidden Forest.
And just a few minutes into the Deep Layer, she was dead.
Monsters that live in the Deep Layer can detect even the slightest signs of life without needing to see.
Well, just because a person is invisible doesn’t mean all traces they leave vanish too—sound, footprints, smell, etc. There were too many gaps.
Thus, her [Second Day of Forbidden Forest Exploration] ended in less than a few hours.
Given her ambition to explore to the end, it was somewhat disappointing, but… she decided to be satisfied since her viewer count was pretty high.
She had some entertaining moments, especially the scene where she screamed after being caught by a mutated wolf, which gave the viewers a good laugh.
Having finished her stream, Chaerin immediately sent the footage to her editor. It was to be edited nicely and uploaded to YouTube.
The stream itself was fun, but after going through the skills of a seasoned chef, it becomes much easier to digest. After all, the viewer base is overwhelmingly larger on YouTube.
[BlackKitty: Looks like about three episodes will come out.]
[Chaerin: Oh really?]
[BlackKitty: Yeah, there’s a lot of funny material to work with, so I think I can squeeze out some content.]
Three episode’s worth of content from just one day’s stream? It seemed even the editor found yesterday’s stream quite entertaining.
It was certainly worth it to have gone to a high-level zone despite learning the stealth skill.
The editor lightly explained how the videos would be structured—Episode 1 would cover her entering the forest, Episode 2 would focus on meeting that man, and Episode 3 would showcase the footages of her dying to monsters right after leaving the cave.
Since speed is crucial for this kind of content, she also mentioned that she hoped to upload one video every two days.
One video every two days? Chaerin knew well how long video editing really took.
With genuine concern, she asked,
[Chaerin: Are you okay? Don’t overwork yourself, okay?]
[BlackKitty: I’m fine! It’s all coming from one video, so it’ll be quick.]
Chaerin thought she was lucky to have such a capable editor.
Time flew by, and six days later, all three videos were finally up.
When Yoo Chaerin saw the view counts of the uploaded videos, she was shocked.
“Insane…”
All of the videos were over 200,000 views. Considering she had only 70,000 subscribers and that it hadn’t been long since uploading, it was remarkable growth.
Even accounting for duplicate views, just how many people had seen them?
If it continued like this, she might even exceed a million views.
The interesting part was that the second video had a higher view count than the first. The silhouette of Yor on the thumbnail apparently had a significant effect. The laws of instinct applied just as well on YouTube.
The rule was simple: if you had a well-built or handsome man on the thumbnail or cover, the view count would soar.
The second video began with witnessing Yor sharpening a knife, showing Chaerin being threatened with it, and her being chased out of the cave.
Yoo Chaerin immediately jumped onto the video to check the comments.
[He’s really handsome ㄷㄷㄷ]
[But his personality kinda sucks.]
[If someone invaded your home and spied on you, would you have nice things to say?]
[And the best part is that he let her in quietly at night after all that ㅋㅋ.]
[Even after being spied on, life is still the man’s first priority…]
[Why isn’t Chaerin fighting back?]
[I repeat, the owner has been stripped of all her items 524631 times.]
[Still, can’t you handle one little guy?]
[Then why don’t you try to go and do it? ㅋㅋㅋ]
[Please go visit in the summer, Chaerin. It was too disappointing not to see him in a fur coat.]
[Seriously, he probably has a body that would be killer if not for all those heavy clothes ㅋㅋㅋ.]
[What a potential criminal bastard.]
[What do you expect? ㅋ He obviously wrapped himself up because he’s insecure about his body ㅋ.]
[Ugh, those spam bastards are acting up again.]
[It’s winter, of course he’s bundled up. You guys should bundle up your inferiority complex, please.]
[Seriously, he’s got a big frame. Quit your whining ㅋㅎㅋ. Think before you speak.]
[But you’re big too, right? ㅋ.]
[So why is he living there?]
[Huh? :)]
[Can a person even live there in the first place…?]
[It’s a little strange for a male NPC to pop up in such a weird location ㅋㅋ.]
There were so many comments. While there were plenty of both positive and negative opinions, most of them revolved around that man. Even as an NPC, men have a charm that catches people’s attention.
Well, the NPCs in this game were already quite human-like.
Regardless, it felt incredibly good to have filmed a video with such high views for the first time in a while. Maybe it was time to treat herself.
Yes, today she would order some chicken. Expensive chicken.
As she was thinking this…
Bing-bong~ Bing-bong~ Bong!
Suddenly, her phone rang. When she pulled it out, she saw it was her editor calling. Chaerin answered the phone.
“Hello?”
“Get that NPC, no matter what.”
Her editor jumped straight to the point without any casual greetings.
Hearing that, Chaerin frowned.
“Um, sister, that…”
Then she recounted the story from the night after the stream had ended.
About how she had talked to the man named Yor all night, how he had nudged her awake in the morning, and the words he left when parting ways…
“Get lost, don’t come back.”
When she heard those words, Chaerin felt a slight sting in her heart. Given that she had no real immunity to ‘males’, she couldn’t help but feel affected by that response.
She consoled herself thinking, ‘Maybe he has his reasons…’
Yet, hearing such words made it hard for her to approach him again without reluctance.
“What? You had such a funny experience and didn’t stream it…?”
Of course, her editor didn’t give a damn about how she felt.
“Hehe… Well, I turned it off and forgot about it.”
“Great job! Let’s go back there later and have a chat.”
“Wait, did you hear what I just said?”
“Are you really just going to let that view count copying machine be?”
She compared her YouTube view count to her editor’s words.
The three recently uploaded videos weren’t the highest in views, but they were already climbing the ranks. An incredible growth rate.
“Honestly, it’s just an NPC. Who cares about that? We need to copy that view count.”
“Ugh…”
That was the truth. Just a bit of her mental well-being could fetch her views.
To her, views were directly tied to money since streaming was her job.
Thus, her worries deepened.
‘What is that person doing now?’
She even entertained such pointless thoughts in between.
*
The crescent moon feels reassuring, while the new moon brings fear.
If someone doesn’t know much about the moon, they might ask, what’s the difference?
The only difference in the images of the two phases is the direction.
Both are shaped like a thumbtack, and the brightness of the descending moon is quite similar.
But for me, it’s a sign of the worst day of the month coming soon.
When the crescent moon rises, the full moon follows, and the new moon signals the approach of the dark night.
The new moon (朔) is a dreadful day that reaffirms my existence.
As darkness intensifies, demons run wild.
Therefore, the new moon, being the day with the least light, is indistinguishable from the day demons gain the most power.
And for someone like me, who possesses the trait of Demon’s Blood, it’s an extremely troublesome situation. That’s when “Berserk” kicks in, and oh boy, what a mess it is.
‘What is it this time?’
In the deepest part of the cave, I gnawed at the flesh of my thumb, thinking. After all, it hardly mattered; it would quickly regenerate.
Berserk was categorized into two types, A and B, depending on how it affects me.
A pertains to Berserk that affects my body, or more precisely, my blood. B pertains to Berserk that affects my mind more than my body.
Both types are similar in that they’re equally annoying, but personally, I find type B a bit more comfortable.
Even if one gets hit with some severe sulking and anger for a while, at least it doesn’t hurt.
But this time…
Squirming.
“…Shit.”
Unfortunately, it seemed to be A.
As night fell and darkness enveloped the world, my blood began to pulse unexpectedly.
It acted like it was alive, thrashing uncontrollably beyond my control. The more it thrashed, the tighter I gripped the dagger in my right hand.
No matter how good my regeneration and sturdiness might be, if the blood inside me goes wild, all kinds of troubles arise.
The blood makes my skin itch and detach pieces of flesh, while veins might burst.
Once, the blood raged inside me and shattered my ribs.
“Guh… Gah…”
Fortunately, there’s a way to deal with this situation.
Generally, the blood has a tendency to gather and go wild in one area. Since this rogue blood must be expelled from my body, it gives us a solution.
Thinking that, I immediately took the dagger and cut into my flesh.
The spot was my left shoulder. As I split the skin and flesh, the raging blood burst out uncontrollably. Intense pain was just a bonus.
Fortunately, the ownerless blood couldn’t last long in its anger and died. What was left was a handful of red blood splattered across the cave.
I, drenched in cold sweat, muttered to console myself.
“…It’s okay. I’m fine.”
This was something I had repeated dozens of times over the years, and I had managed to endure it well. Just one day out of the month… no, just one night to endure.
Now I just had to repeat this mess throughout the night.
Squirming…
Eventually, the next episode approached. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a favorable spot.
My right side. Deep inside, an ache came as something thrashed around.
I wanted to leave it be, but if I did, that thing would surely ruin my bones and organs.
“Ha… Shit…”
So, I had no choice but to curse myself as I pierced my own side.
The only silver lining was that this unruly blood could be maneuvered just a little bit.
So even if blood starts raging from an important area, I can still slightly maneuver it away from that specific part. In simpler terms, I can avoid crucial areas.
Of course, it still has to be expelled from the body regardless.
As I cut my flesh again, the willful red liquid burst forth.
It felt like I had become a self-harming madman.
But can I even call this self-harm if it’s something I don’t want to do?
I didn’t know. The pain muddled my mind.
But even within that pain, unpleasant thoughts continued to arise.
This is your true identity.
You’ve been a sinner since you were born, cursed with the Demon’s Blood, so do not forget your essence.
As such, rather than suffer this pain regularly, it would be better to either die or surrender your body to the demons.
“Fuck off…”
Every time such thoughts crossed my mind, I cursed to expel the murmurs in my head.
Thus began the cycle of my blood pulsing, flesh being cut, and cold sweat.
I lost track of time, solely focused on enduring… until suddenly, I felt my blood calming down.
The reason was simple. The long night had passed.
“Ha… Ha…”
Worn out, I looked around. Everywhere was drenched in blood.
The floor was littered with blood now turning dark, while nearby, dry patches were already hardened, transformed into stains.
I had endured dozens of instances of pain in this place. The remnants of those moments were etched throughout this space as stains.
Looking at the grotesque scene, I let out a small sigh.
Was I sighing because what was before me was disgusting?
No, it was because I had to clean all that blood up.
‘I’ll do it tomorrow. Tomorrow…’
Muttering that in my head, I lightly washed my face and exited the cave.
“…Heh.”
The world was bright, as if nothing had happened. The sun rose as always in the east, and the trees stretched as if to greet it.
I quietly muttered at the sight.
“What a fucked-up world.”
It truly was a hard place to live.