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The day broke.

Hanbyeol let out a sigh as she stood once more in front of the capsule.

Though she entered the game daily to maintain her ranking, today she felt an overwhelming aversion to logging in.

It was simply because she could clearly anticipate the scene awaiting her.

“…Huh.”

However, after a moment of hesitation, she sighed deeply and connected to the game.

After all, once she logged in, there was bound to be something she could do.

Creeeak…

As she entered the game, a suffocating sensation welcomed her.

It felt as if her skin was scraped by ropes, and she could sense a faint sting penetrating through the interface.

Well, at least it wasn’t as unpleasant as she thought.

She planned to take a break from streaming for a while; it was clear that showing herself like this would lead to endless teasing.

Looking around the cave, Yor was still nowhere to be seen.

It was early morning, so he might still be asleep or perhaps out hunting.

Hanbyeol twisted her body in hope, but as expected, the ropes remained tight.

In the end, she needed to find a new method.

And the method Hanbyeol conceived was, of course, self-destruction.

Otherworlders, upon dying, would momentarily reconstitute themselves at the sanctum of the other world and respawn in the nearest village.

In other words, dying meant liberation from this place.

Of course, she would incur losses for a few days, but…

Thus, Hanbyeol’s attention turned to that, and she searched online last night, gathering various information.

Really, to search for self-destruction methods to die in a game…

She chuckled wryly, thinking that no one else would be looking for such things.

Anyhow, the self-destruction methods she contemplated summed up to three.

Biting her tongue, starvation, and dehydration.

Among them, biting her tongue was eliminated first.

As often shown in movies, biting one’s tongue wasn’t an all-purpose cheat.

It only caused excruciating pain, and the chances of dying were slim. To make matters worse, Yor wouldn’t just sit back and watch.

He seemed genuinely intent on keeping her restrained until he obtained information. He would certainly intervene. The same rationale dismissed other physical methods.

Next on her mind was thirst and hunger.

Surprisingly, the game implemented even those trivial matters.

If she didn’t eat, her stamina would drop, and her movements would slow. If hunger became severe, her mental state would become hazy.

In other words, if she refrained from eating and drinking, she could eventually see results.

“…Ugh.”

But that too, posed a dilemma.

So far, no cases of users dying from starvation had been recorded. After all, what kind of user would deliberately push through hunger to starve to death?

Also, emotionally, Shin Hanbyeol was averse to the idea.

The process would undoubtedly be painful.

In the first place, she didn’t possess much patience. And she had quite the appetite.

In her athlete days, she had to build up a significant amount of energy to withstand intense training.

That habit remained, making her appetite much larger than that of an average person.

So, whatever the method, it was bound to be unsatisfactory.

Thus, she sighed deeply.

“Ha…”

…Actually, there was one more method.

It was also the simplest and easiest solution: to grant Yor what he desired. Just hand over the holy water and reveal its source.

‘Ugh, no…’

But that thought was fleeting as she shook her head again.

This too, was equally unappealing. Dying would be better, but the issue was that even dying wasn’t an option she had control over.

As she pondered, she instinctively sensed.

Perhaps over time, she would eventually lean towards the option of providing the holy water.

*

“Happy, let’s eat~”

With time passing, mealtime arrived.

Yor, as usual, poured food onto the plate and brought it over. She hadn’t even touched her meals yet he continued bringing three square meals a day.

From a glance, it bordered on madness.

What exactly was he gaining from going to such lengths?

Hanbyeol couldn’t fathom it at all.

The plate arrived in front of her, and without hesitation, she spat onto the food.

“Ptooey!”

“Oh no! After all that effort!”

Yor appeared thoroughly flabbergasted by her actions. Seeing his reaction, Hanbyeol couldn’t help but chuckle inside.

This was the best she could think of while being bound.

‘Yeah, let’s make him mad instead.’

At the very least, she should rebel.

Even if it meant getting hit in the process, she wouldn’t mind. No, it would actually be nice.

Not that being hit would feel good, of course. Really.

Simply put… the possibility of dying from being hit was there!

If that meant she could escape, it would be a gain for her.

Once again, let me reiterate: she did not do this because she wanted to be hit. Truly.

“…I think I need to be punished a bit.”

Sure enough, that seemed to rile Yor up, as he directed a cold glare at her.

The contempt within it sent a slight shiver down her spine.

‘Got it.’

Hanbyeol smirked.

She might get slapped again, or maybe even a kick would come flying her way. Whatever happened, she was confident she could withstand it.

But what came her way was… a rather disappointing punishment.

It was just a light slap.

Smack-!

“Ugh…!”

Of course, the slap was no trivial matter.

Her head jerked back slightly from the impact. A stinging pain enveloped her head.

Originally, she was someone who adjusted her integration ratio to at least 30%.

For her, sharp senses were a crucial factor as she fought using agility.

In situations where the risk wasn’t high, she even raised her integration ratio even higher.

Perhaps because of that habit, she had gained sword energy faster than others.

In any case, the conclusion was that the pain was quite significant.

“Ughhh…”

But even this wasn’t sufficient. It seemed she wouldn’t be able to get herself killed like this.

‘Should I tease him more…?’

For a moment, that thought crossed her mind, but she dismissed it soon after.

She was, after all, a person who felt fear.

Of course, sometimes she felt a strange thrill from fear… but still, now was a time to endure. It hurt more than she expected.

Furthermore, Yor likely wouldn’t be inclined to play along.

“I’m going hunting, so stay still until then, Happy.”

“It’s Shin Hanbyeol…!”

With that, Yor stepped outside the cave.

And so time passed…

*

As time elapsed, the next night arrived.

Refusing to plant her face into the plate, she had no choice but to starve again.

Even though she logged out on mealtimes to eat, every time she logged in, that gnawing emptiness would creep back.

What kind of technology is this…?

Fortunately, they provided water freely, so she had no issues with thirst, but enduring hunger was not easy.

To make matters worse, she was in a situation where she had to sleep within the game.

Her fatigue potions had run dry, so if she wanted to survive the next day, sleeping in-game was her only option.

Why on earth did they create such a system? Shin Hanbyeol cursed the game developers as she drifted off to sleep.

Thus, it had been three days since Hanbyeol was imprisoned.

That day too, she skipped breakfast and lunch. Her pride simply wouldn’t allow her to plant her face into her plate just yet.

But the more she resisted, the stronger her hunger grew.

Evening came, and Hanbyeol again turned her head away, claiming she didn’t want to eat.

And once more came the night.

“Ugh, ugh… I’m so hungry.”

After dozing off for a bit, she had to wake up, overwhelmed by hunger.

Grrr—

Her stomach cried out, begging for something to be added.

No matter how she lowered her integration ratio, hunger wouldn’t just disappear.

After all, these things also operated on a psychological level.

‘What the hell is this suffering…?’

She stood up nervously.

She played the game to level up, not to experience starvation.

While she was grumbling, something caught her eye.

It was the bowl of rice Yor left for dinner.

Although she hadn’t eaten, the plate hadn’t been cleared away.

The plate leftover from dinner would be cleared away the next morning.

Thanks to that, she’d been sleeping with food right beside her head.

Normally, she wouldn’t have so much as glanced at it… but after three days of fasting, it was slowly becoming hard to ignore.

…Glug.

Her throat moved involuntarily.

As time passed, the rice had gone cold, but it wouldn’t have lost its taste.

In reality, the enticing scent of meat was gently wafting into her nostrils.

What he’d given this time was fried rice, the same as last time.

“…”

Hanbyeol quietly glanced around.

It was a dark cave. There was no sign of life at all.

Since it was late at night, Yor must be deeply asleep.

A variety of thoughts swirled through her mind.

‘Should I take just one bite? Just one bite?’

‘If I taste it and cover it back up with the rice, he won’t notice.’

‘No, even so, how could I put my face in the plate…?’

Various thoughts flitted through her mind.

Desire or pride.

As she gazed at the evening meal, her eyes grew deeper…