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Seventeen months have passed since the Otherworlders appeared.

Naturally, the levels of the Otherworlders have been steadily growing during this time.

Although their growth rate has slowed, they are still making progress.

However, the top rank is not firmly established, as it seems to change frequently due to this slowed growth.

Therefore, there is no clear number one rank; there are only hungry contenders eyeing that position… or so I heard from Haneul.

But in their country, Korea, there is a definitive number one rank. Additionally, there is a valuable talent aiming for the world’s number one rank.

That would be a person named Shin Hanbyeol. She is so famous that even I, stuck in the Forest, know her by name.

‘Is that her?’

And the figure that appeared before me now seemed to indeed be that Shin Hanbyeol.

In the chat window visible through the Player’s Eye, she was being referred to as Hanbyeol.

Of course, she could be a person with the same name, but I thought that was unlikely.

To have come this far alone suggests there must be something she believes in.

And that thought soon solidified into certainty.

She charged at me.

Whoa!

They say the techniques of masters differ from those of novices. The speed at which she rushed at me was rather fierce.

Her balance was stable, and her swordsmanship was solid.

No, in fact, those are just secondary points. What truly shocked me was the blue energy emanating from her sword.

In other words, it was sword energy. She was the first among the Otherworlders to draw forth such energy.

‘Oh?’

Because of that, an air of curiosity naturally filled my eyes. I was quite interested in her skill.

Soon, her sword plunged toward me. I too infused my weapon with sword energy and blocked her strike.

Clang-!

A clear sound echoed. I evaluated the situation inwardly.

‘The power is decent.’

Considering the level difference, it still wasn’t overly strong or weak—just an average strike.

However, her attack didn’t end there.

She swiftly withdrew her curved dagger and aimed for my side with the sword in her other hand.

It was a seamless, fluid motion.

Of course, I dodged again. But it seemed her barrage of attacks would continue unless I intervened. She wasn’t recklessly swinging her weapons.

Adding momentum to her attacks, she was nonetheless ready to withdraw at any moment.

Her stance hinted experience, making her threat even more pronounced.

Waving her long purple hair while wielding two curved daggers gave her a dancer-like vibe.

In fact, she wore some form-fitting clothing resembling tights, accentuating her curves.

‘Whoa…’

I cleared my throat slightly and jabbed my spear toward her.

I had seen enough. I couldn’t let her keep attacking indefinitely.

And to be honest, I felt it was time to strike back at least once.

Swish-!

As I thrust my spear forward, realizing that she felt threatened, she quickly pulled back her foot.

Her evasion technique wasn’t common either.

She executed a backflip away from me.

In all my life, I hadn’t seen someone do a backflip right in front of me like that.

I couldn’t help but give a wry smile and began evaluating her abilities.

‘Her technique is top-notch.’

She certainly felt different from any Otherworlders I had faced before.

I wondered who she had trained under; even in her unstable stance, her balance was impeccable.

Honestly, her swordsmanship was better than my clumsy rookie attempts.

But then again, having never trained before, that wasn’t saying much.

I turned my head for a moment to check her chatroom.

[How did she dodge all that?]

[Holy crap, that was a backflip, right?]

[Waaaah! Sister! So cool! ㅠㅠ]

[Seeking romance has donated 50,000 won!]

– She’s a regular for a reason.

[Nami has donated 30,000 won!]

– Hanbyeol, you’re amazing! You’ve given me enough to fill my YouTube content today. Can you stop and go back now…? You’re rich enough, so why are you trying to kill Yor? ㅠㅠ

It seemed this wasn’t an ordinary scene; the whole chatroom was buzzing.

I noticed a few donations coming through as well.

Seeing that, I couldn’t help but feel puzzled. As the donations mentioned, she didn’t seem to be in need of money.

The 5 million gold around my neck was indeed a significant amount but felt a bit ambiguous.

After all, those with an S-rank level can gather wealth without issue. They know their worth.

Of course, it looked like she was still far from achieving S-rank adventurer status.

But now that I thought about it, the money she earned from streaming probably wasn’t insignificant. Anyway, among the Otherworlders, she was a formidable force.

So, what was this about? It probably wasn’t merely for the chance to earn 50 million won that she came all this way.

‘Did she really come here just to film some YouTube content?’

I had plenty of questions, but honestly, it didn’t matter to me.

I just needed to get my hands on the Holy Water she had, right?

While I was mulling that over, my opponent sprang into action once more.

“Whew, you’re strong indeed. At this point, I could take on a slight handicap. Right?”

She rummaged through her inventory and pulled out Holy Water.

As two vials of Holy Water popped out, she splashed one on her dagger and threw the other onto herself for buffs.

It made sense, as hitting with a thrown dagger wouldn’t produce the effect she was going for.

I couldn’t help but lick my lips at such a wasteful use of that Holy Water…

‘To waste such precious Holy Water…’

But if used wisely, the Holy Water buff would indeed add damage to her attacks against me. Even my prized Blood Weapon could withstand it for a brief moment.

In various ways, this was quite annoying.

But like always, if you don’t land a hit, it doesn’t matter.

The difference in ability between us was still, after all, quite pronounced.

And so, I charged at her, infusing my spear with sword energy and thrusting with all my strength. The battle of both our wills had come to an end.

Sure enough, true to her skill, she managed to block my attack somehow.

“Cough…!”

Although it seemed heavy, her expression tightened dramatically.

After several exchanges, it didn’t take long to subdue her.

Smack-!

With a dull sound, she flew far away, crashing into the wall.

The two daggers she had been holding during the kick had slipped from her grasp.

I approached her and pressed a dagger against her neck. It was time for some fun interrogation.

“So, shall we have a little chat? Tell me, how many Holy Waters do you currently have? Where did you get them?”

[The dagger is so scary ㄷㄷ]

[In the end, she got wrecked ww]

[Oh, a super close-up of Yor ㅗㅜㅑ..]

[He really is handsome…]

[Do I really have to capture her…?]

I noticed the flurry of reactions in the chat next to her.

She frowned and shot me a glare.

“Ha, do you think I’ll answer that? Stop wasting time and just kill me.”

“Hmm.”

Well, it wasn’t a surprise she wouldn’t answer immediately.

I nodded and then suddenly slapped her cheek hard.

Smack-!

A sharp sound resonated, and her head turned sideways. Blood dripped from her split lip.

Perhaps she didn’t expect to be hit that way, as her eyes widened in shock.

I looked down at her and uttered, “These days, the Otherworlders are really stubborn.”

To be honest, I was starting to resent the Otherworlders a bit lately.

While many of them were friendly, there were still numerous NPC-like individuals like that one the other day.

And seeing her attitude, she didn’t seem too different in her perception.

So I decided a few strikes wouldn’t be a problem. Being a streamer, I should set an example.

With that in mind, I grabbed her chin and delivered a few more slaps.

Smack-! Smack-!

“Ugh… Cough…!”

The sharp sounds echoed through the cave. With each slap, faint groans escaped her lips.

She came to kill me; she can endure this much.

…Yet, the responses in the chat were somewhat unusual.

[Wow, this is some reward ㄷㄷㄷ]

[Can you actually get slapped like that? Shit, I wanna get slapped too!]

[Heeung… Brother… Heeung… Brother….]

[I’m not a masochist, but this setup is kind of… ㅎㅎ;]

[Saving… adding to the folder….]

[These pervs have gone mad.]

[No! Sister!]

[Oh no, why is he so cruel? ㅠㅠ I’m definitely going to kill that demon Yor!]

I was picturing my brutality invoking fear.

But there was an unexpected feeling of lewd desire flowing through the chat.

Realizing I was witnessing something unexpected, I quickly pulled my hand away.

But thankfully, the actual person seemed to fully understand my intentions.

I saw her glaring at me, her voice low and dangerous.

“You bastard….”

Her face twisted in rage, her lips curling slightly.

“Ha, go ahead and hit me all you want. It won’t really hurt, thanks to the fusion rate. Honestly, it’d be quicker for me to die. I will never speak.”

I raised my eyebrows slightly. I was thankful she understood my intentions, but it wasn’t the reaction I wanted.

I had thought that after a bit of interrogation, she might open her mouth just to avoid another slap.

But still, her gaze was cold and defiant. Proud or not, it looked like she wouldn’t budge even at the brink of death.

I clicked my tongue.

“…Tsk.”

That wasn’t going to work out very well.

What to do?

Other Otherworlders wouldn’t matter if I just killed them, but this one is somewhat essential to me.

I had to get the Holy Water she possessed at minimum.

And if possible, I also needed to figure out how she managed to obtain it during this drought.

But with her being this uncooperative…

‘Should I stab her with the dagger a bit?’

As that thought crossed my mind, I quickly shook my head.

No, if that resulted in her dying from blood loss, that would be problematic.

After all, with a fusion rate of 15%, it would probably sting a fair bit.

So what should I do…

‘Aha.’

Just then, while pondering, a decent idea struck me.

If she wouldn’t talk even after interrogation, I could just keep her locked up, right?

Fortunately, even with Otherworlders, tying them up is possible.

Even if they logout and their body disappears, they won’t untie themselves.

While I had chosen not to keep someone at home till now, that changed when Holy Water was on the line.

So I began quickly tying her up.

Fetching some rope and iron stakes from the storage, I planted the stakes into the ground.

Then I tied her with the rope and secured it to the stakes.

‘She has quite a chest…’

There was a bit of physical contact as I bound her resisting form, but ultimately I managed to tie her up well.

Her limbs were thoroughly restrained; she wouldn’t be able to free herself.

With her tight clothing tied up, the scene was somewhat lewd, but that was a secondary issue.

Bang! Bang!

“Ugh! Let me go! Let me go…!!!”

It was obvious she went into a frenzy. While she had expected the death, being confined was clearly beyond what she had anticipated, resulting in intense resistance.

Watching her struggle against the stake, it struck me.

“Hmm…”

Come to think of it.

In the past, I had once wanted to keep a pet.

A wish that had persisted since my previous life.

While I wasn’t particularly fond of animals, I needed something to help ease my solitude.

But I hadn’t had the means to raise one in my previous life, and the beasts in this Forest were all untameable.

Thus, I had to let that desire remain as just that—a desire.

But now that I’ve invited someone into my house, couldn’t I say maybe I’ve fulfilled that dream?

Of course, she looked a bit fierce, but that could be managed with time.

Indeed, the world is full of unforeseen twists.

So, much like approaching a fierce dog, I cautiously moved closer to her.

And carefully, so as not to get bitten, I started patting her head.

Her soft hair felt just like fur.

With a warm smile, I spoke to her.

“From now on, your name is Happy.”

And thus, I had acquired my very own pet.